This year’s International Trade Awards winners were announced at yesterday’s (3 December) Import Export Show, hosted by the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade.
The awards, which are run annually by the Chartered Institute, recognise the achievements of UK trade professionals and internationally trading businesses.
The winners were:
- Investment in Trade Award: EBS Ltd
- Micro Business of the Year: Creative Nature
- Rising International Trader: Omar Ebeid, Zeal
- SME of the Year Award: Ramsden International
- Sustainable Trade Award: HMM (Europe) Ltd
- Trading for Good Award: Foothold America
- Young Trader of the Year Award: Cameron McCall, Ramsden International
- Innovation in Trade Award: iCustoms iClassification
Recognition
Marco Forgione, the director general of the Chartered Institute, said of the awards:
“Everyone involved in international trade has been through a period of considerable uncertainty and turbulence in recent years, which makes it more important than ever to recognise the excellent work of the many people working hard to innovate and inspire across the global trade community.
“How inspiring the award winners have been, and how inspiring it is to listen to other businesses and to see what is possible. Their success offers fresh motivation as we go into another year after the holiday season.”
Judges’ views
The judges of the awards hailed the achievements of the winners ahead of the announcement.
On the win for iCustoms in the Innovation in Trade category, judge for the award Tom Campbell-Smart of Brand Organic said that iCustoms had made “innovative use of AI to solve a large problem”, speeding up processes and “increase[ing] efficiency”.
Tim Reid, the chief executive of UK Export Finance (UKEF) and judge for the Investment in Trade category, said that EBS Ltd’s win was marked by strong engagement “across a broad range of stakeholders”.
Di Li from WMG at the University of Warwick, who was a judge for the Rising International Trade Award, said that winner Omar Ebeid of Zeal was a “visionary fintech entrepreneur”. Fellow judge Charles Peter, of PG Paper Company, added that Ebeid was an “excellent candidate” who provided “clear evidence” of his “innovative solutions and international presence”.
The Young Trader of the Year Award went to Cameron McCall of Ramsden International, and Li, who was also a judge in this category, noted that McCall had shown “not only a keen ability to build strategic partnerships with major manufacturers but also a capacity for team collaboration, leadership and management”.
‘Good principles’ and ‘innovation’
Anthony Kirkbride, international trade adviser at Business Wales, said of Ramsden International’s win in the SME of the Year category:
“[Ramsden International provided a] great history of the development of the business into international markets, reason for development, [and account of the] key aims and markets with the successes that have been achieved with innovation.”
HMM (Europe) Ltd’s win in the Sustainable Trade category was the result of a “really impressive submission” that demonstrated how the company has placed ESG issues “at the forefront of how they operate and how they trade”, said judge and director of Latitude Consulting, Gabriela Alvarez.
Foothold America took home the Trading for Good Award, meanwhile, and the executive director of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) at the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ratnakar Adhikari, said the company “not only have good principles and values but also they seem to have applied [them] in practice”.
