Register your interest for the 2012 Awards

About the Awards

By entering the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards 2011 you will have the opportunity to be one of our provincial winners in Leinster, Ulster, Munster and Connacht in one of our eight award categories. You will also compete to be our overall national Ulster Bank Business Achiever Award winner for 2011!

Entries are open to all businesses north and south of the border regardless of size, location, sector or turnover. There are eight categories in total and businesses can enter a maximum of two of these categories choosing the ones that best match their business description and profile.

  1. Innovation and Emerging Technology Award*
    This category is for businesses with innovative and technology based products or services. Regarded as high potential start-ups (must be less than three years old), the businesses in this category must have strong growth and export potential. The judges will be looking at a combination of what the business has achieved to date and the plans it has to expand, grow and develop in the future particularly on international markets.
  2. International Business Award
    Achieving and being competitive and profitable on an international scale is important given the nature of our small, open and export led economy. This award recognizes the challenges of competing in the international marketplace and will reward the business who is succeeding with an export led product/ service strategy.
  3. Social Entrepreneurship Award
    This category is for businesses with a firm focus on addressing the social based challenges that we face today. Not motivated by profit, the entrepreneurs involved in these organizations have a strong social conscience and are inspired by achieving wider social objectives.
  4. Best Business Start-up Award*
    If you have embarked on your entrepreneurial journey in the past three years, regardless of the size, sector or location of your business, this awards category is for you. The judges will be interested to hear about your motivations for starting the business and how you have grown and developed the business through the start-up phase.
  5. Family Run Business Award
    Family businesses face many challenges including increased international competition, changing technology, succession planning and difficult economic conditions domestically. The award winner in this category will be the business that epitomizes the characteristics of this important sector.
  6. Green Business Award
    This category is for businesses who are involved in the growing environmental and green sectors of our economy, who can demonstrate clear environmental benefits from the use of their product and/ or service. The winner of this award will have enjoyed business success for physical products with environmental advantages or success in environmental advisory and allied green service sectors.
  7. Agriculture, Food & Drink Award
    Recognised as a cornerstone for our economic development comprising of 6% of total industrial sector output in Ireland and some 10% of total exports, this category recognises the achievements of companies succeeding in the agriculture, food & drink sectors of the economy.
  8. Service Business Award
    Services contribute an estimated 60% of value-add to the Irish economy and over 40% of services produced here are exported. This award will recognise the innovators and leading service delivery companies in this important sector. If you’re a professional services firm, services based franchise, an on-line/ technology based service firm or involved in the retail, financial services (or any other area of the service economy) and have a strong export potential or track record, this category is for you.

* Businesses started in 2009, 2010 and 2011 only are eligible for these categories.

For customers resident in Republic of Ireland and dealing with Ulster Bank Ireland Limited:
Ulster Bank Ireland Limited. A private company limited by shares, trading as Ulster Bank, Ulster Bank Group and Banc Uladh. Registered in Republic of Ireland. Registered No 25766. Registered Office: Ulster Bank Group Centre, George’s Quay, Dublin 2. Member of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Please note that the provision of this service does not require licensing, authorisation or registration with the Central Bank of Ireland and, as a result, it is not covered by the Central Bank’s requirements designed to protect consumers or by a statutory compensation scheme.

For customers resident in United Kingdom and dealing with Ulster Bank Limited:
Ulster Bank Limited. Registered in Northern Ireland. Registration Number R733 Registered Office: 11-16 Donegall Square East, Belfast BT1 5UB. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and entered on the FSA Register (Registration Number 122315) except in respect of our consumer credit products for which Ulster Bank Ltd is licensed and regulated by the Office of Fair Trading.