A TIPTREE business owner has accepted a prestigious award from a Dragons’ Den star.
John Hales is celebrating after being crowned a winner at the Small Business Sunday awards ceremony.
The 49-year-old runs Tiptree-based business JMH Design which provides a design and build service for bespoke furniture.
He had been running his business as a side role for a few years before being made redundant during the early stages of the Covid lockdown in 2020.
This is when he decided to make JMH Design his full-time work.
It was his hard work throughout the pandemic which led him to winning an SBS award in the same year in November.
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The win was for the design and building of a library-style book case and some walk-in wardrobes which he had fitted in a house the week before.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and Government restrictions, there was no SBS award show last year when John was supposed to collect his prestigious award.
The entrepreneur has now attended the return of the ceremony and was presented his award by SBS founder Theo Paphitis.
Mr Paphitis is the chairman of Ryman and best known for his appearances on the TV show Dragons’ Den.
The return of his annual event was held in Birmingham with more than 1,000 small businesses attending.
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John’s wife, Carla, said: “Winning SBS was a massive boost as it means John is able to call on the SBS crew for advice and meet and communicate with winners from all aspects of the business world.
“The awards event was an opportunity to meet other winners, get some expert advice and listen to guest speakers, including Theo Paphitis and Touker Suleyman from Dragons’ Den.”
John is especially proud as he says 0.4 per cent of the businesses which enter win the award.
At the ceremony he met fellow Tiptree business owner Nigel Richardson, who runs Secret Hamper which first won an SBS award in 2016.
Nigel was presented with the inaugural SBSWay award for being an active member of the SBS community and supporting fellow businesses.
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