Awards night celebrates the resilience of the Glasgow business community

It was a night to remember for Glasgow based packaging manufacturer, Cullen Eco-Friendly Packaging, who won big at last night's Glasgow Business Awards. Taking home three awards for Best Performing Large Business, sponsored by Openreach; Innovation in Business, sponsored by KubeNet and the most prestigious accolade of the night – the Royal Bank of Scotland Award for Most Outstanding Business.

For over 100 years, Cullen has worked with a range of industries to provide high-quality, sustainable packaging. Originally setting up shop in Glasgow’s Tradeston area as a cardboard box manufacturer in 1921, Cullen has expanded over the years to become an industry powerhouse, boasting an annual turnover of £15 million and manufacturing over one billion eco-friendly products since 2019.

In total, 17 awards were won by a selection of Glasgow's best and brightest business talents at last night’s Glasgow Business Awards at DoubleTree by Hilton Glasgow Central.

Sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, with The Herald as media sponsor, this year's ceremony highlighted the resilience and determination of Glasgow businesses in the face of ever-challenging circumstances. In celebration of this, the first ever Glasgow Business Award for Business Resilience, sponsored by the Glasgow City Innovation District, was awarded during the ceremony.

The inaugural winner of this award was Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, receiving high praise for its proactive approach to safeguarding its operations through resilience planning, ensuring that it can continue to operate when disruption occurs.

Following on from the 2021 ceremony and legacy of COP26, sustainability continued to be a core focus of the event with three sustainability themed awards. This included Matthew Algie being named Green Champion, sponsored by ScottishPower, GlasGo Bus Alliance recognised for Net Zero Achievement, sponsored by Glasgow City Council and Barclays taking home the Award for Sustainable Development, sponsored by Scottish Water. The latter was awarded for its recently opened Glasgow Campus, situated on the south banks of the river Clyde, a structure that represents £330 million worth of investment in the local area.

KC Group Shipping also triumphed, taking home two awards - International Trade, sponsored by ChamberCustoms and CEO David W Milne being crowned Entrepreneur of the Year sponsored by Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP. KC Shipping Group recently established the first Scotland to China direct shipping route, that has been hailed as a game changer for Scottish trade.

Glasgow’s Favourite Business sponsored by Glasgow Times, the only award of the night that was determined by public vote, was taken home by Glasgow Science Centre.

The business, which celebrated its 21^st anniversary this year, played a key role in the redevelopment of Glasgow’s clydeside, being the first major entrant to the area which has now been populated with a range of iconic businesses including BBC Scotland and STV. Furthermore, the centre has worked relentlessly to remove the barriers for people of all backgrounds accessing its facilities, providing over 100,000 travel grants to people from Glasgow’s most deprived areas to encourage the next generation to engage with STEM.

The final accolade of the evening, the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Award for Lifetime Achievement was awarded to Professor Pamela Gillies CBE of Glasgow Caledonian University, for services to education.

Richard Muir, Deputy Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “This year's awards ceremony comes at a time where many of our members are entering into more uncertain, challenging and unprecedented times. It feels pertinent to recognise the hard work undertaken by Glasgow’s business community to continue to innovate and flourish at this time.

“Glasgow Chamber of Commerce has been highly impressed by the high standard and variety of nominees celebrated tonight. It demonstrates the unwavering passion and entrepreneurship present in Glasgow and its pivotal role in restrengthening the Scottish economy.

“Thank you to our sponsors and all our entrants, and congratulations to our deserving winners on the evening.”

Judith Cruickshank, Managing Director, Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “The Glasgow Business Awards provide a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the ingenuity, innovation and resilience of the city's businesses, and the individuals behind them.

"We are proud to continue our longstanding support for the event and for Glasgow's business leaders. This year's winners reflect the core values which have shaped Glasgow into the forward thinking, thriving city that it has become today.

"We'd like to extend our congratulations to all the winners, and we look forward to continuing to provide the support that Glasgow businesses need to drive the economy forward and lead Scotland into a bright future".

The full list of winners for Glasgow Business Awards 2022 are:

The Glasgow Business Award for Best Performing Large Business sponsored by Openreach

Cullen Eco-Friendly Packaging

The Glasgow Business Award for Best Performing Small-Medium Business sponsored by Beam Digital and Design

WEEE Scotland Ltd

The Glasgow Business Award for Business Resilience sponsored by Glasgow City Innovation District

Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity

The Glasgow Business Award for Community Wealth Building sponsored by Glasgow City Council

Pest Solutions

The Glasgow Business Award for Excellence in Communications sponsored by The Herald

A.C. Whyte & Co. Ltd

The Glasgow Business Award for Fair and Healthy Workplace sponsored by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

City of Glasgow College

The Glasgow Business Award for Family Business of the Year sponsored by Help to Grow: Management at Strathclyde Business School

Allied Vehicles Group

The Glasgow Business Award for Green Champion sponsored by ScottishPower

Matthew Algie

The Glasgow Business Award for Innovation in Business sponsored by KubeNet

Cullen Eco-Friendly Packaging

The Glasgow Business Award for Net Zero Achievement sponsored by Glasgow City Council

GlasGo Bus Alliance

The Glasgow Business Award for Sustainable Development sponsored by Scottish Water

Barclays Glasgow Campus

The Glasgow Business Award for International Trade sponsored by ChamberCustoms

KC Group Shipping Ltd

The Glasgow Business Award for Entrepreneur of the Year sponsored by Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP

David W Milne, KC Group Shipping Ltd

The Glasgow Business Award for Young Business Person of the Year sponsored by City of Glasgow College

Caitlin White, fatBuzz Ltd

Glasgow’s Favourite Business sponsored by Glasgow Times

Glasgow Science Centre

Royal Bank of Scotland Award for Most Outstanding Business

Cullen Eco-Friendly Packaging

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Award for Lifetime Achievement

Professor Pamela Gillies CBE, Glasgow Caledonian University