Four Northamptonshire businesses given royal seal of approval on Queen's 94th birthday

Four businesses from Northamptonshire have been honoured with an award from the Queen on her 94th birthday today (Tuesday, April 21).

Queen's Awards for Enterprise - the UK's highest accolade for business success - have been given to Bambino Mio, Blue Skies, Goodwill Solutions and James and James Fulfilment.

The awards recognise excellence in a range of categories, including international trade, promoting opportunity and sustainable development.

Goodwill Solutions joint founder and chief executive, Graham Tomkins, said: “When we started the business 12 years ago, we couldn’t have hoped to be recognised as an industry leader by Her Majesty the Queen.

"Winning this award highlights all the hard work we have put in, continuously striving to develop our ‘for-benefits’ business model and meet our customers’ needs.

Goodwill Solutions won the promoting opportunity award for the East Midlands, which celebrates firms for helping people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Moulton Park-based warehousing and logistics provider was set up in 2008 as a community interest company, meaning it supports the community through various projects.

As well as its ‘back to work’ courses and National Lottery building business opportunities programme, the firm also hosts Northamptonshire Police's early crime intervention unit.

Graham added: “Social change lies at the heart of our business model and is integral to the way we operate as a commercial logistics company.

"We are delighted to receive this royal seal of approval."

Blue Skies Holdings is celebrating receiving its fourth Queen's Award in the sustainable development category for the East Midlands.

The gong is in recognition of the Pitsford company’s sustainability plan, called the ‘blueprint’, which sets out the present and future needs of producing fresh-cut fruits, freshly squeezed juices and dairy-free ice-cream.

Chairman and founder, Anthony Pile, said: “The principles of sustainable development are firmly embedded within our business.

"However, we know there are growing issues of interest among our stakeholders, such as plastics, waste, and carbon emissions.

"Our 'blueprint' enables us to escalate focus on the most important areas and accelerate ideas and projects that will enable us to lead the way.”

James and James Fulfilment won its second Queen's Award in the international trade field in the West Midlands, following a 1,700 per cent increase in export revenues over the last five years.

The Brackmills Industrial Estate-based firm, which supports online companies with a cloud-based, real-time fulfilment system, exports to 27 countries worldwide.

James Hyde, chief executive and co-founder, said: “Part of our mission is to help online retailers scale internationally and deliver a consistently brilliant experience to customers, no matter where in the world they are.

“So over the last few years, we’ve set up our own fulfilment centre in the USA, partnered with New Zealand Post to develop another there, and brought clients from 27 new countries on board.

“We’re proud that our international expansion is helping other businesses grow globally and has now been recognised with this new Queen’s Award.”

Bambino Mio, which sells reusable nappies and accessories worldwide from its base at Brixworth Industrial Estate, also won in the international trade category.

Founder and managing director, Guy Schanschieff, said: “We’re absolutely delighted by this achievement.

"It’s brilliant to see that our continued international success has been recognised and our constant global growth shows that there is a clear trend for the reusable nappy product category.”

All the winners will celebrate their awards at a royal reception in the summer.