Poundland founder named guest speaker at Shropshire Business Awards
The co-founder of discount retail giant Poundland will share his business experience as the guest speaker at this year's Shropshire Business Awards.
The Shropshire Chamber of Commerce-run event will take place at Telford's International Centre on June 23, and Mr Smith has now been named as the speaker at the event.
He follows in the footsteps of Olympian Derek Redmond, supermodel Caprice, and John Timpson, the founder of the Timpsons shoe repair chain, who proved an inspirational speaker at last year's event.
"A key part of the night is the quality of the high profile guest speakers who have encapsulated the audiences year after year," said chamber chief executive Richard Sheehan.
"This year we are delighted to have secured another outstanding speaker with connections to our area as we welcome Steve Smith."
Entries are now open for this year's awards, which are expected to attract a crowd of more than 600 members of the Shropshire business community.
In total 12 categories are up for grabs at this year’s ceremony, including sector-specific categories such as Manufacturing Excellence and Travel, Tourism & Hospitality, through to the key Company of the Year Award, which recognises the county’s best overall business of the last 12 months.
This will mark the 17th year of the business awards. Last year’s Company of the Year award winner was Tenbury Wells-based Orchard Valley Foods, which has experienced strong growth in the last few years.
Other previous winners have included Grainger & Worrall, construction equipment specialist Hawk Group, and Oswestry company Natural Welsh Water.
Entries for the awards close on Friday, May 5. A website has been set up for the awards, which can be found at shropshirebusinessawards.co.uk.
