Brady kicks off Business Awards

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Karen Brady

One of the world’s powerful women is set address Cornish businesses this summer, after the Cornwall Development Company confirmed Karren Brady as keynote speaker at the Cornwall Business Awards 2010.

Recently appointed vice chairman at West Ham United FC and unveiled as Margaret Mountford’s successor advising Alan Sugar in The Apprentice, Brady has been named by Cosmopolitan among its “100 most powerful women in the world”.

Best known as the dynamic managing director of Birmingham City FC, during a time of great change in the national game, her speech will mark the start of Cornwall’s most prestigious business awards event.

No less than 300 business leaders are expected to attend the presentation dinner at St Mellion International on May 20, organised by the Cornwall Development Company to highlight the county’s best businesses.

Brady said: “I am delighted to be speaking at the Cornwall Business Awards 2010. Cornwall is undergoing a renaissance in its economy and it is fantastic to see the number of businesses that are flourishing in the county.”

Any business based in Cornwall or the Isles of Scilly can enter one or more of 14 award categories, which include Best Young Business Person, Best Website and Customer Focus, sponsored by Business Cornwall magazine.

Martin Brooks, chairman of Cornwall Development Company, said: “We are seeing significant change in the business landscape in Cornwall as businesses seize new opportunities in the knowledge economy and make the most of the latest technology to reach out to new markets in new ways. Karren Brady is an expert in change management, so we are looking forward to sharing her insights.”

Cornwall’s reigning Entrepreneur of the Year, Lyn Thompson of Milkwood Publishing, added: “It is great that one of the world’s most powerful women will be addressing the Cornwall Business Awards this year. Women account for a high proportion of all new business starts and we see this vividly in Cornwall, where women are now driving many of the county’s most successful businesses.”

Entries for the Cornwall Business Awards 2010 are open now, and can be made online until March 14.