• One of our MD’s is a finalist for The Business Desk.com’s Leadership Awards!

    Here at Astute, we love to celebrate success, so tonight we are keeping our fingers crossed for one of our founders, and MD, Sarah Stevenson who is one of the finalists at The Business Desk.com’s prestigious East Midlands Leadership Awards.

    After a couple of difficult years, it is brilliant for us to have most of our team together and celebrate an evening toasting the most talented leaders in our East Midlands business community!

    Our table is booked at Nottingham’s Crowne Plaza.

    TheBusinessDesk.com wanted to create the East Midlands Leadership Awards to celebrate the leaders in business who are role models within their organisations. The bar is set high this year with a great selection of business owners and leaders who have done so much for their organisations and teams.

    The winners will show the qualities of extraordinary leadership and be able to demonstrate the positive impact this has had.

    The Leadership awards offer a great opportunity to recognise and showcase the achievements and success of businesses in the region.

    There are ten categories at this year’s awards evening, which will see the winners acknowledged in front of the cream of the East Midlands business community.

    The judging panel for this year’s awards was: Amanda Fletcher of the Nottinghamshire Golf and Country Club; Reshma Sheikh of Octavian Security UK; Richard Blackmore of the CBI and Jude Weston of NG Chartered Surveyors.

    TheBusinessDesk.com’s Midlands editor Sam Metcalf, who chaired the panel, said:

    “The standard of this year’s entrants was higher than ever, displaying the depth and breadth of the leadership talent in the East Midlands.

    “I’d like to thank our judging panel for their time and expertise and wish all the shortlisted individuals all the best for our awards evening in March.”

    We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for Sarah, but we wish the best of luck to all the finalists this year. You have all done brilliantly to be shortlisted and all deserve to celebrate!

    The Categories and Shortlists for this year’s business awards are: –

    Young Leader of the Year


    Adam Horton, Hortons Estate Agents
    Louisa Hackford-Gentle, Autistic Nottingham
    Roheel Ahmed, Forsyth Barnes
    Samantha Wilde, Retail Assist
    Stephen Mair, Andrew Granger & Co

    Transformational Leader


    Adrian Buttress, PermaGroup
    Alan Forsyth, Hockley Developments
    Bev Wakefield, Vibrant Accountancy
    Roland Kendall, Retail Assist
    Sarah Stevenson, Astute Recruitment

    Public and Third

    Sector Leader


    Amo Raju, Disability Direct
    Ann Bhatti, Connect Derby
    Ian Cooper, Speakers for Schools
    Marysia Zipser, Art Culture Tourism
    Naomi Watkins-Ligudzinska, NW Counselling Hub CIC

    Mentor of the Year


    Adam Rhodes, Rhodes Wealth Management
    Justin Donne, Art Culture Tourism
    Kirin Abbas, Paragon Law
    Laura-Jane Turner, Jigsaw24
    Richard Fairey, Rushton Hickman

    Emerging Entrepreneur Leader


    Amad Tababa, Autify Digital
    Daniel Connor, DC Personnel
    Luke Draper, IDT
    Rob Spence, Paragon Sales Solutions

    Diversity & Inclusion Leader


    Amo Raju, Disability Direct
    Barjis Chohan, Art Culture Tourism
    Kul Mahay, Ignite Your Inner Potential
    Mark Esho, Easy Internet Services
    Thalej Vasishta, Paragon Law

    Professional Services Leader


    Amit Sonpal, Barclays Corporate Banking
    Andrew Robinson, Andrew Granger & Co
    Carl Hilton, BSP Consulting
    David Ryley, Ryley Wealth Management
    Tony Sherwin, Retail Assist

    Green Leader


    Becky Valentine, Spenbeck
    Gary Styles, Zellar
    Lance Hill, Eight Days a Week Print Solutions
    Roger Whittle, Jigsaw24

    Non-Executive Leader


    Jade Martin, Rushton Hickman
    Justin Donne, Autistic Nottingham
    Rita Carta Manias, Art Culture Tourism

    Company Leader

    (up to 100 employees)


    Adrian Buttress, PermaGroup
    Alan Forsyth, Hockley Developments
    Arran Bailey, ALB Group
    Edward Acres, Acres Group
    Lance Hill, Eight Days a Week Print Solutions

    Company Leader (100+ employees)


    Ian Williamson, ITP Aero UK
    Rob Darby, 200 Degrees Coffee
    Stewart Vandermark, Nelsons

    Leader of the Year?


    To be announced on the night !

    We wish everyone the best of luck!