NW Business Masters: Vote for the Pride award

BUSINESSES and individuals making a difference to the lives of people outside their organisations will be recognised in TheBusinessDesk.com’s North West Business Masters awards.

The five contenders for the North West Pride award, which recognised the sost meaningful philanthropic initiative by a business, organisation or leader, are:

Booths – The family-owned North West supermarket group, which has grown from a tea shop in Blackpool in 1847 into a 27-strong chain, has ethics and community involvement in its DNA. The Preston-based company, led by chairman Edwin Booth, a member of the fifth generation to run the business, has led the way in recognising and seeking to tackle its own greenhouse emissions.
Supporting North West producers and suppliers is also an integral part of Booth’s offering – at least 25% of all products in its stores arelocally-sourced, including 85% of meat. In February Booths signed up to support The Prince’s Countryside Fund – a unique collaboration of food businesses working together to secure a sustainable future for British agriculture and the wider rural economy.
The company is also sponsoring the Harris Charity Young Musicians of the Guild Competition 2012.

Bruntwood – Another prominent North West family business, Bruntwood, led by chairman Micheal Oglesby and his son Chris, is a major regional property company based in Manchester. Giving to chairity and involvement with community good causes are fundamental to Bruntwood’s ethos. Every year the company donates more than £800,000 to worthwhile causes in the North West, Yorkshire and the West Midlands, while staff devote more than 500 hours a year to arts, not-for-profit or public sector bodies. Beyond Bruntwood, the Oglesby Family’s Charitable Trust awards almost £700,000 each year to more than 50 charities. The Oglesbys and Bruntwood are currently veavily involved in OnSide a North West charity, building new, world-class, town and city centre facilities for young people. Bruntwood’s commitment to the arts has seen it support the Manchester International Festival since launch while this year it is sponsoring the Arts & Business North West awards.

NCC Group – Rob Cotton is chief executive of the listed IT security company. Last year Mr Cotton led a high profile team of North West business people on an arduous charity fund-raiser for the NSPCC’s Hear our Cry Appeal. Defying the volcanic ash cloud – which disrupted the team’s travel plans – Mr Cotton and his colleagies ran 10, 10km races in 10 countries in just five days. The epic run, which began in Manchester at the Great Manchester Run, raised £125,000, taking the total raised by Manchester-based NCC Group to £250,000. Never one to rest on his laurels, Mr Cotton is leading a group of business leaders on a cycle ride from Paris to Moscow – a distance of some 1,500 miles and is also organising a fundraising ball for breat and postate cancer charities, with a target of raising a further £250,000.

Oliver Valves – MIchael Oliver heads the Cheshire-based valve manufacturing company which bears his name. The company supports a wide range of charities and causes, close to home and overseas. Mr Oliver’s support is centred around three key areas – the armed forces, helping needy children and young people and encouraging a new generation of engineers.  Among the many charities he helps are Royal British Legion, Combat Stress and the East Cheshire Army Benevolent Fund . He is a major supporter of the NSPCC and the Mancheseter and Salford-based charity Wood Street Mission. Further afield he funds a bursary in Kenya for bright but impoverished children. As an engineer, with a burning passion for British industry, Mr Oliver – Deputy Lieutenant for Cheshire sinc elast October – is funding an apprenitce scheme for local teenagers which will see them giuded through an NVQ course.

Opal Foundation – Stuart Wall is the founder of the Manchester-based student accommodation provider Opal Property, and also chairs the Opal Foundarion – a charity devoted to improving the the lives of children, in both its home city and also in Africa. The Foundation has provided more than £500,000 to various intiatives and charities in the last few years – including Mancat, Cedar Mount school and the Manchester Children’s Hospital. Since last year The Foundation has widened its remit and is now no longer entirely dependant on the Opal Property Group, and now includes the work of the Opal Foundation staff, customers and partners.  One successful recent initiative led by the Fundation was to raise £25,000 to provide safe water to 5,000 people in South Omo, Ethiopia one of the poorest regions of the world and is now looking to raise £30,000 for a sanitation project in an Addis Ababa slum.

Click here to cast your vote. Winners of will be announced at a high profile awards lunch at The Point at Lancashire County Cricket Club on April 7.