SportStars wins national business award

A Cardiff-based sports specialist company is celebrating after winning a prestigious business award.

SportStars, a company which specialises in providing high quality sports coaching for children aged 4-12, has won Small Business of the Year in the Nectar Business Small Business Awards 2009.

Established by James Taylor in 2005, SportStars provides both structured PE, music and drama lessons in primary schools to fill teaching time left by teachers who are away from the classroom planning lessons and courses throughout the school holidays. From five school contracts in year one, the company now works with 100 schools, working with over 25,000 children each week.

Nectar Business launched their first Small Business Awards in March 2009. The Small Business Awards were open to all UK Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and set out to acknowledge best practice, great ideas and outstanding achievements. After receiving some truly outstanding entries, Sportstars secured the top prize winning £2,000 cash prize and 50,000 Nectar points.

On winning the award, managing director James Taylor, says: “It’s fantastic to be recognised for the positive work we’re doing with young people and to show that you can run a highly successful business whilst doing something extremely positive within the community.

“While there is a strong enterprise community in the UK, sometimes you can come across people with a 'no can do' attitude that can hinder this entrepreneurialism. When I was starting out, some people told me that the business wouldn't work and asked me when I was going to get a proper job. They looked at reasons why it couldn't be achieved instead of looking at how it could be, so it’s great to now be winning prestigious business awards that recognise the work that we’re doing as a business and the effort of the fantastic team we have at SportStars.”

Since starting the company, Taylor has won an array of National Business Awards for his rapidly growing company including being named as Shell Livewire Entrepreneur of the Year, HSBC Start-up Stars, The Daily Mail’s Enterprising Young Brits and was crowned number one SME in the UK at the Natwest Startup Awards. James has also featured on the BBC hit TV programme “The Last Millionaire”.

Charlie Humphreys, Nectar Client Development Director says: “We're delighted to announce SportStars as the winner of the Nectar Business Small Business Awards. It's staggering to see how successful this business has been in its individual way. SportStars spotted a gap in the education market to create a highly successful business - it's inspiring to see how his business is leading in its field.

“Everyone who runs a small business, especially in the current climate, has to work extremely hard to get it off the ground and make a success of it. The awards have represented a fantastic opportunity to celebrate great business ideas, business practice and people and I would like to congratulate all the small businesses from across the UK that entered.”

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