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2023 Winners

Business Person of the Year

ANDY HIRST

SUDLOWS

Andy began his career at technical services specialists Sudlows as an electrical manager tasked with revitalising and developing its electrical division.

In 2018, Andy was promoted to his current role of Managing Director of Critical Infrastructures, overseeing the entire division.

Having over 35 years’ worth of experience in the electrical industry, Andy has been instrumental in transforming Sudlows from a £2m data cabling company to a multi award-winning £65m data centre infrastructure design and build company. He continues to work closely with his fellow directors to define the growth strategy and commercial direction of the business

Andy has played a critical role in the championing of energy efficiency and sustainability in the data centre industry, earning an international reputation that has led to Sudlows successfully delivering data centre projects in Dubai, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, India and most recently South Africa.

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Business of the Year £5m – £10m

Rowan Ashworth Ltd

Rowan Ashworth Ltd is a civil engineering contractor established in 2001 and based on a 250-acre farm site in Shaw.

Its work includes highways infrastructure, drainage, retaining structures including retaining walls and bridges.

In recent years it has been working on town centre redevelopments and for local councils such as Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside, concentrating on a 10-mile radius of its operation to ensure loyalty to clients and to deliver an unrivalled service at extremely competitive rates.

The company has grown from £880,000 turnover in 2017 to £5.9m in 2022 and has increased the workforce from 15 employees to 50 during this period.

Future business objectives include steadily increasing turnover with a target of £15m by 2026, increasing its social value commitment, building on the success so far, continuing to train apprentices and hit its net zero target by 2035.

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Business of the Year £1m – £5m

TECHNOLOGY POWERED SERVICES LTD

TPS is a trusted infrastructure specialist. It is a rapidly growing business and fast becoming one of the leading providers of infrastructure, technology, break fix services, connectivity and sustainability solutions.

Since its inception in 2019, TPS has outgrown its business premises twice and has increased its operational headcount to 19 contracted staff, with a nationwide footprint of 80 technical engineers in the space of 3 years.

TPS was founded by MD Andy Hanlon from his home in Saddleworth after working in the IT infrastructure sector for 18 years, with a vision to connect people and businesses together, optimising performance through expert consultancy, design, installation and support services

Revenue has grown steadily year-on-year and has been buoyed with TPS’ largest contract to date – a £12m deal over two years, beating off the likes of BT, SKY, Digital Space and Three mobile in the process.

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Business of the Year Under £1m

DREAM BIG SPORTS

Dream Big Sports works in the crowded education and community sports sector and has created a niche in the industry based on trust, reliability and an evidence-based approach. Launched with the aid of a grant from Oldham Enterprise Trust in 2016, Dream Big Sports has grown rapidly. It now has a staff of 23 full time employees and diversification has resulted in the employment of a swimming teacher and lifeguard.

It currently works with 33 partner schools and offers holiday camps at seven venues and has an estimated turnover of £720,000. Two brand new programmes are being delivered from September 2023.

The aim now is to become the market leader for physical education, physical activity and school sport provision in Oldham and Rochdale, working with 50 partner schools each week whilst offering holiday camp activities at 10 different venues, engaging 50,000+ children each year.

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Young Entrepreneur

BOBBIE-LEIGH TINDALL

B&L AESTHETICS

B&L Aesthetics is a beauty and aesthetics training academy, teaching students new to the beauty industry through to more experienced therapists wanting to refresh on their existing skills

Launched in 2022, B&L Aesthetics is a joint venture between Bobbie-Leigh and her business partner, the pair having previously run their own businesses but knew each other well after growing up together on the same street.

Well known in the beauty and aesthetics industry, single mother-of-two Bobbie-Leigh has trained and treated hundreds of students and clients in recent years.

Last year B&L teamed up with the Prince’s Trust Charity and is offering young people the opportunity to become part of the beauty world. The business is now looking forward to another busy 12 months of exhibitions, shows, more training, new courses and new products.

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Start-up Business of the Year

CHANCES MENTORING

Chances Mentoring Alternate Provision is a sports-led business that prides itself on achieving high levels of success in re-engaging students back into education. It is currently based in a leading sports and fitness gym in Oldham, with access to state of the art equipment, high staff professionalism and a calming environment.

Its aim is to mentor students to achieve their best potential by identifying what their barriers to learning are, ensuring long term strategies are implemented to allow the reintegration into school being sustainable and achievable for all.

Each student follows a development plan which tracks their progress which is then shared with all the relevant professionals and parents/guardians.

Over the next three years, Chances Mentoring is looking to expand by increasing its staff numbers to support as many young people as possible

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Micro Business of the Year - – The Dawn Torrington Award

M GROUP MANCHESTER LIMITED

Winner of the Micro Business of the Year - M Group Manchester, which is based in Failsworth, is predominantly an electrical firm within the construction industry serving the domestic, commercial and industrial sectors. Its team is always looking for innovative ways to improve service and client savings and is currently working on financial packages whereby clients can lease to buy energy-saving lighting systems to enable customers to go green.

Business objectives for the next three years are to achieve a high level of sustainability, enabling greater planning and future investment. It is looking to increase the current client base and in turn increase its workforce.

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Supporting Young People

CONEXUS TUITION

Conexus Tuition specialises in expert tuition solutions in the core subjects of English, maths and science and only uses qualified teachers to ensure quality.

Operating in Chadderton, Royton, Shaw and Rochdale since April 2022, Conexus Tuition is part of a national tuition company, and an approved partner of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), meaning it can provide tuition in secondary and primary schools for a wide range of learners – many of whom would not ordinarily have the means to access tuition services.

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Community Engagement

Ultimate Products

The firm’s Charity Committee was rebranded into Community Committee to encompass the wider work in the community. This year its chosen charity is Oldham Foodbank, which it has supported through fundraising, food donations and volunteering. Since last August, food equivalent to around £3,500 has been donated and more than 50 members of staff have volunteered.

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Workforce Health and Well-being

Oldham College

Oldham College has developed a holistic strategy towards employee health and wellbeing shaped by feedback from employees.

Wellbeing has been a key element of the college’s overall people strategy and continues to be so. The work it does supports its ambitions to be the best place to work and learn, and it uses the Great Place to Work accreditation process to assess itself against ‘the best in class’, making the best workplace list for the last three years.

The college has held staff health and wellbeing events, introduced a mental health questionnaire and worked with unions to agree workload principles for teaching staff to help address work pressures.

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Supporting Young People

Pearson Solicitors

The Supporting Young People Award 2023 sponsored by Oldham College goes to Pearson Solicitors, for their outstanding dedication. The firm recruits apprentices through Oldham Sixth Form College, where it provides support to their Aspiring Lawyers Programme by speaking at events organised by the college allowing students to have a real insight into the role of a lawyer.

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Special Recognition

Krzysztof Zemlik

Billington’s Oldham.

We are thrilled to present a Special Recognition Award to Krzysztof Zemlik, the man behind the sympathetic and sustainable restoration of Billington’s Dance Studio, also known as the ‘Ascroft Street Academy.’

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Our charities

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Entry Process & Information

The Oldham Business Awards are open to all business in the Borough of Oldham with 11 different categories available to enter including, Start Up, Business of the Year > £5M, and Community Engagement. The entry process is simple and it is ok to enter multiple categories so long as an individual entry form is submitted for each category. All applications are judged by an independent panel made up of an Oldham Business Awards Steering Group Member and the individual Category Sponsor.

Please direct any queries to info@oldhambusinessawards.co.uk

2025 Oldham Business Awards timeline

Applications open: Wednesday 26th February.

Applications close: TBC.

Awards Judging: held during June 2025.

Finalists Event (sponsored by Grains Bar Hotel Ltd): Thursday 3rd July 2025.

The Event – The Oldham Business Awards Gala Dinner and Award Celebration will take place on Friday 3rd October 2025.