Mr B & Friends founder wins Director of the Year award – while he’s celebrating firm’s 10th birthday

June 10, 2016
By

Simon Barbato, founder and CEO of Bath-based brand digital and marketing agency Mr B & Friends, has been named South West IoD Director of the Year.

Simon, pictured, launched the agency in a bedroom 10 years ago. Today it the city’s largest firm of its kind and one of the fastest-growing in the region. 

It now employs 36 people having doubled its staff over past three years and has a portfolio of blue-chip clients such as Intercontinental Hotel Group, Principality Building Society, Unite Students and SSE.

Ironically, the Institute of Directors 2016 Awards were staged in Bristol last night, coinciding with Mr B & Friends’ 10th birthday celebration at Bath’s Holburne Museum. As a result, Simon was unable to collect his trophy in person.

It was accepted on his behalf by last year’s winner Chris Smith of Marshfield Bakery.

Simon, who was previously highly commended in the category, was praised by the judges, who said that since then his strong entrepreneurial approach and progressive risk-taking had really paid off.  

They singled out his investment in people and process, led by passion for the brand.

Mr B & Friends has cemented a reputation for producing outstanding work across the UK and beyond and this had grown by 48% as well as topping the RAR (recommended agency register) tables in terms of client satisfaction.

Brady George, managing director of Keynsham-based facilities management company Almeda Facilities, won the Corporate Responsibility award.

Brady became managing director of Almeda last year, taking over from his father Gary who set up the business in 2007.

Brady joined the firm seven years ago and worked in every department of the business before taking on his previous role as operations director.

The family-owned business, which turns over nearly £6m and employs more than 50 staff, puts corporate responsibility at the heart of its business.

Collecting the award, Brady said it was important businesses operated with purpose and made corporate responsibility part of their culture.

Almeda works with organisations to manage their buildings and ensure they are run as efficiently as possible. Clients include At-Bristol, Arnolfini, Bristol & Bath Science Park and SS Great Britain.

Judges said of Brady: “A fantastic story with a great growth profile – the business plan clearly articulates the passion this individual has for his business. Strong evidence of new ideas, lateral thinking, belief and trust in the team to get excellent results in a highly competitive sector.”

Other IoD South West award winners were: 

Young Director – James Piper, commercial director of Ecosurety in Bristol, which enables clients to meet waste obligations under UK and EU regulations;

Third Sector/Not for Profit – Mark Crutchley, chief executive of Circadian Trust, which manages leisure centres across South Gloucestershire on behalf of the local authority;

Family Business Director – Andrew Robinson, managing director of Arc Energy Resources, near Gloucester;

John Ford, of the family business Ford Fuel Oils, based in Bristol but with a further six depots across England and Wales, was the highest scorer in the South West who has taken the IoD Certificate in Company Direction Exam in the past 12 months, with Alan Woolford, of Qinetiq in Salisbury as runner up.

Ann Lee, Chief Executive of Somerset based St Margaret's  Hospice  and Dean Bennett, Managing Director of the China Fleet Country Club in Saltash were Highly Commended in the Third Sector/Not for Profit  and Director categories respectively.

The South West’s IoD Director Awards seek to highlight and celebrate outstanding business people across the region, bringing the enterprise community together and focusing UK-wide attention on South West success.

IoD South West chairman Nick Sturge said: “Once again we had an extremely high standard of entries demonstrating the breadth and depth of talent, enterprise and leadership across the region.   

“The judges were particularly impressed by the clear leadership demonstrated by all the shortlisted entries, as well as the emphasis on people and values, which are essential to steer an organisation forward in any sector.    

“Some of the categories were very close, which is always exciting, so to have been shortlisted or highly commended is a real achievement.”

The awards were presented at a gala dinner at Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol.

Bristol entrepreneur and start-up success story Helena Hills, co-founder of True Start Coffee, was guest speaker.

The event was hosted by the BBC Radio Bristol presenter Laura Rawlings and sponsored by Common Purpose, who awarded Simon Barbato a place on the Meridian leadership programme, and airline bmi regional, which donated flights from Bristol Airport as raffle prizes.  

Bath Business News and its sister titles Bristol Business News and Swindon Business News were once again media partners for the awards.

More than £1,100 was raised at the dinner for Bristol-based micro loan charity Deki, which supports entrepreneurs in Africa. Deki founder Vashti Seth won last year’s Third Sector title

The award winners will be considered for the national awards this autumn.

Pictured above: Brady George, centre, with executive assistant Louise Coles, collecting his award from Nick Sturge of the IoD

Below: award winners and runners-up. From left: Dean Bennett, Mark Woolford, Andrew Robinson, Mark Crutchley, Ann Lee, Brady George, James Piper and John Ford. Both photos by Clint Randall of Pixel Photography Ltd

 

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