SFA National Small Business 2022 Winners Announced
Aalto Bio Reagents Limited, a Dublin based company founded in 1978, is the overall winner of the Small Firms Association National Small Business Awards 2022 title.
Aalto Bio is a leading global developer of critical raw materials and reagents for the development of diagnostic tests. The company is the leading producer and provider of existing and emerging infectious disease pathogens and is at the forefront of the earlier test development for diagnosis of many global diseases over many years, including HIV and Covid 19.
The SFA National Small Business Awards celebrate the achievements of small businesses in Ireland and recognise the important and vital contributions of this sector to the Irish economy. Forty two finalists and five Emerging New Businesses were selected from hundreds of applications received for the 2022 programme.
Announcing the winner, Graham Byrne, SFA Chair said: “Congratulations to Aalto Bio Reagents, this year’s overall winner of the SFA National Awards Trophy. Adding to the company’s past success, Aalto Bio, last week announced its commitment to developing diagnostic targets to 15 of the world’s biggest health risk pathogens as identified by the World Health Organisation and, is next week, attending the World Vaccine Congress in Washington DC to meet and discuss their new products with all their international clients.”
SFA Director, Sven Spollen-Behrens added: “It is wonderful to be back in the RDS Concert Hall celebrating the Awards after two years of Covid. We continue to grow the SFA Business Awards programme that positions the small business brand as the backbone of the Irish economy. Congratulations to all the finalists. Each finalist represents the best in small business and are all winners. Small businesses are present in every village, town and city and contribute enormously to economic activity and community engagement”.
The nine category winners are:
Manufacturing sponsored by permanent tsb: Bevcraft Group, Mullingar, Co Westmeath
Food and Drink sponsored by Bord Bia: VITHIT Drinks, Dublin 2
Services sponsored by SAGE: Campion Pumps, Thurles, Co Tipperary
Highly Commended: Carlingford Adventure Centre, Carlingford, Co Louth
Outstanding Small Business sponsored by Cisco: Equine MediRecord, The Curragh, Co Kildare
Innovator of the Year sponsored by NSAI: EcoVolt, Dublin 11
Highly Commended: One Agency Recruitment, Dublin 15
Exporter of the Year, sponsored by Enterprise Ireland: Aalto Bio Reagents, Dublin 14
Sustainability sponsored by SBCI: Ballykilcavan Brewing Company. Stradbally, Co Laois
Highly Commended: Bread 41, Dublin 2
Workplace Wellbeing sponsored by DeCare: ZOMA, Dundalk, Co Louth
NEW for 2022: Retail sponsored by One4all Rewards: Verve Boutique, Donegal Town.
Highly Commended: Reflect AutoCare, Dublin 11
The winners of the Emerging New Business Awards sponsored by .IE, a category to encourage emerging entrepreneurs to promote and grow their business are: Coopman Search and Selection; Craft Cocktails, Lakeland Kayaks; BiaSol; and Sea Green Health. Entrants in this category are under two years in business and the winners were identified by the judging panel as companies that will grow into successful organisations.
This is the 18th year of the SFA National Small Business Awards, an initiative of the Small Firms Association.
The Awards prize package for ALL finalists included strategic management training; participation in the SFA Business Connect event last February and a half page media exposure in a special supplement published with the Irish Independent today (13 April). The total prize for finalists is valued at €50,000 each.
The category winners were presented with a trophy and free membership of the Small Firms Association for one year. The overall winner also received a bursary of €5,000 for the charity of their choice, kindly donated by KORE Insulation, overall winner in 2020.
Awards Partners are Irish Independent and Skillnet Ireland.
