Hampshire Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year

Winner: Brightbulb Design

BRIGHTBULB flew the flag for the Isle of Wight at the awards and made the return journey across the Solent clutching the Small Business of the Year award.

Based at Wooton Bridge, Brightbulb is a leading, multi-award winning, web, design, branding and graphic design studio based on the Isle of Wight with an enviable reputation of delivering proven results for many of the south’s most successful companies.

The company was founded four years ago by husband-and-wife team Matt and Fiona Jeffrey. Matt is the CEO and Fiona, the project manager. It’s a real family business as Matt’s father, Alan, is the financial director.

After winning the award Matt said: “I’m actually in shock. To be given this award by Geoff Hurst, a major icon, I’m flabbergasted.”

Matt said the firm’s success was built on “out-of the-box” thinking.

“We have achieved above our target and have doubled turnover every year for four years.”

Brightbulb has worked with big names such as Hugo Boss and Top Shop.

The judges said: “This company is passionate about their clients and think outside of the box. They mix creativity with professionalism which has seen their business grow significantly over the past two years with exciting plans in place for the future. Brightbulb show strong support for their local community and are constantly looking for new ways to expand and grow.”

Maureen Frost, chief executive of sponsors Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “All of the shortlisted entrants had shown the desire to stand out from the competition and had the potential for growth in the future.”

PAUL BASHAM ASSOCIATES

Paul Basham Associates is a transport planning, highway design and civil engineering consultancy, combining a personal approach with a keen commercial awareness and an in-depth knowledge of current policy, practice and legislation.

With offices located in Fareham and Oxford, it has supported a wide variety of projects across the UK and within 251 local planning authorities, ranging from individual dwellings to 1,000-plus home developments, five-star hotels and business parks. As well as supporting our clients, the company also supports a charity of the year – Pancreatic Cancer UK – and has challenged itself to raise £10,000 by the end of the year.

J WILLIAMS & CO

J Williams & Co is a chartered accountancy practice, which endeavours to stand out from the rest and offer a satisfaction guaranteed service.

Rather than offering ‘compliance, tick box accounting’ and the firm sets out to be an integral part of the client’s business – a ‘professional consultant’ to alleviate the stress of running a business. J Williams can offer advice to grow the business and strengthen its current financial position. J. Williams offers “ a modern, fresh approach for clients who want peace of mind that their accounts are being handled in the best way. Put simply, they trust us.”

DIGI TOOLBOX

Digi Toolbox’s vision is to provide the South’s SMEs with hassle free IT, website and telephony solutions to empower their business to be more effective, reliable and secure. This is all achieved through the core values of integrity, reliability, efficiency and creativity.

Digi Toolbox is an IT/Web and telephony provider established by Mark Viccars in 2007. After years of working for large IT companies, Mark was unhappy with the levels of service provided to clients. With a passion for providing excellent IT and web services at a competitive price and backed up by superior support services, Digi Toolbox was born.