WE WOULD like to congratulate all the firms who took part in this year’s nebusiness awards.

They truly represent the best of the best and, as associate sponsor, the Business & Enterprise Group was particularly impressed with the calibre of this year’s finalists.

We find it a very valuable process to remind ourselves via the scores of entries just what an enterprising and diverse place the North East of England is to do business.

Here in the North East we have a well deserved reputation for producing fantastic businesses, products and services. And last night’s ceremony just reinforced that reputation.

Seeing their names listed as winners today will inspire those who collected the awards to push ahead even further and others to aim to achieve similar recognition.

The fact that there are so many newcomers to the awards is immensely positive for the region and we are already looking forward to next year’s search.

The companies who have been recognised by the awards, and many more out there, all represent great reasons to be optimistic about the future of our region. It’s time for us to shout about our successes and show the rest of the UK that the North East really means business.”

Alastair MacColl is chief executive of The Business & Enterprise Group – one of the country’s leading specialists in business improvement, enterprise and economic development. It is also one of the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to work for.