UK’s smartest 100 small businesses unveiled
Smarta.com and O2 have named den investment Value My Stuff as one of the 100 winners of the 2011 Smarta 100 awards: its collection of the UK’s savviest, enterprising, most disruptive small businesses.
Voting is now under way to find the overall O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year, winning £10,000 courtesy of O2.
This year’s Smarta 100 provides a fascinating snapshot of UK small business today: a cross-section of ingenious new ideas, individuals seeking self-employment after redundancy, the innovators of the cloud and crowd and the fast-growth big businesses of tomorrow.
Value My Stuff is the brain child of ex-Sotherby's director Patrick van der Vorst. Patrick is bringing the Antiques Roadshow to a monitor near you: the online valuation concept allows punters to receive valuations of their precious goods within 48 hours. The model is bringing the old school valuation method into the 21st century with smart back end systems that allow experts from all over the world to process requests remotely. Turnover this year is set to double with niche offshoot businesses launching in the early half of 2012.
Beyond this, there are 99 other businesses, all battling it out for the title of O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year. From the weird and wonderful world of non-spill potties, pillows for long-distance lovers and non-tooth pulling toffee, to market changers like crowd-powered wine dealer Naked Wines, parcel innovator MyParcelDelivery.com and fast-growing retailer WedgeWelly, innovation and entrepreneurship are alive and well in Britain.
Commenting on this year’s Smarta 100 winners, Dragons’ Den star and Smarta board member Deborah Meaden – who wasn’t part of the judging process – said, “This year’s Smarta 100 has uncovered some superb small businesses, many of which I’ll admit I’d never heard of but have enjoyed discovering and am very much looking forward to meeting.”
She continued, “What pleases me is that these awards are championing passionate and ambitious people with brilliant ideas who’ve acted on those ideas and turned them into flourishing businesses. These small businesses and individuals are hugely important and deserve our recognition and support.”
Voting for the overall O2 Smarta 100 Business of the Year is now live. The winner will be presented with their £10,000 prize - courtesy of O2 – at The Smarta 100 Awards final on Wednesday 21st September at London’s IndigO2.
To find out more click here to visit www.smarta.com/100
To find out more about Value My Stuff click here to view their page on this website or click here to visit theValue My Stuff website.
About Smarta
Smarta is the UK’s largest leading news, tools and advice resource for small business owners. Smarta recently launched Smarta Business Builder, an online toolkit offering accounts, website, email, legal docs and business planning software from a single web page from £20 a month.
Smarta was founded by Shaa Wasmund and is backed by some of the UK's top entrepreneurs, including Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis, Michael Birch and Sir Richard Needham. At the heart of everything we do is a commitment to encourage more people to start and grow successful businesses.
