Celebrating business and cultural links with China

The winners of the Leeds City Region China Business Awards have been announced at an awards night attended by both business and civic leaders and Zheng Xiyuan, Consul General of The People’s Republic of China in Manchester.

Held at The Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds the awards recognised the strength of the relationship between the region and the world’s second largest economy.

Opening the event Roger Marsh OBE DL, chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership said: “This is an evening of celebration and an opportunity to showcase our increasing partnerships with China.

“We believe that the partnerships that we’re building will provide mutual benefits over the coming years.”

Cllr Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council added: “Every time we come together, we take the opportunity to reflect on our wonderful partnership and the important work that Leeds and China have done together. It’s fantastic to be holding these awards here tonight as we enter our 32nd year of being twinned to Hangzhou.”

Consul General of China in Manchester Zheng Xiyuan concluded the opening saying: “I have been to Leeds with colleagues many times and every time I feel quite at home. I hope that in coming years Leeds can be at the forefront of collaboration between the UK and China.”

The awards were held in partnership with the Business Confucius Institute at the University of Leeds, China-Britain Business Council and Visit Leeds. It was sponsored by Market Gravity, Mills & Reeve.

There were five categories of award with each featuring a highly commended and a winner:

• Leeds City Region – China partnership: TPP (winner) and Scott’s Fish and Chips (highly commended)
• Exporter of the Year: A W Hainsworth (winner) and Nine Health Global (highly commended)
• Chinese Investment: OSO Polymer (winner) and Dahua (highly commended)
• Tourism, Arts and Culture: Dane Royd Junior School (winner) and Bradford City of Film (highly commended)
• Significant contribution to Leeds. City Region-China relations: Howard Grindrod, vice president of Hisense UK (winner) and Will Zhaung, founder and chief executive of OE Media.

The event also saw Roger Marsh suggest that the City Region will be taking a delegation back to China in 2020 focused around high technology businesses.