Over 140 of Britain's leading businesses, business leaders and social enterprises, of all sizes and disciplines, have today been revealed as finalists for the 2016 Lloyds Bank National Business Awards. Some of the shortlisted finalists include Westfield Europe, Missguided, the University of Sheffield, World First, Hotel Chocolat, MKM Building Supplies and Ziferblat.

The finalists represent categories including The Amazon Digital Business of the Year, Howard Kennedy Employer of the Year, Smith & Williamson Scale-Up Business of the Year and The QBE Insurance New Exporter of the Year Award, in association with Exporting is GREAT.

The finalists were chosen from the hundreds of businesses that entered or were nominated across 18 award categories. They will now prepare for live presentations to an expert judging panel who will decide the overall winners.

Described as “the Oscars of great British business” by David Cameron, former Prime Minister, this year's prestigious award ceremony will take place on Tuesday 15th November, at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane, where the winners will be revealed.   

For the first time, Conor McGinn MP recently hosted a reception for the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards at the House of Commons. This enabled finalists to meet fellow entrants, the National Business Awards Advisory Board members, judges (who they will present to in September) and sponsors of each category.

Tim Hinton, Managing Director, Mid Markets and SME Banking, Lloyds Banking Group said: “We are proud to be the headline sponsor of the National Business Awards for the second year running, as part of our support for British enterprise. These awards recognise the vital role that businesses play in driving growth and value in our economy and the exceptional individuals behind them. I wish all the finalists the very best of luck.”

Angus Thirlwell, Co-Founder & CEO of Hotel Chocolat, a finalist in the Lloyds Bank Mid-Market Business of the Year Award category said, “This has been the most exciting year in our brand history and everything we have achieved is through our amazing team. Being shortlisted for this award is great recognition for our whole team.”

Colin Shenton, CEO of Ziferblat UK & Ireland, a finalist in the Lloyds Bank New Business of the Year award category said, "Ziferblat is such an exciting new business to lead, in its first 18 months it has evolved dramatically and far surpassed our initial expectations and we have beaten every projection. When prestigious awards such as the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards recognises the efforts of our committed team it is a reward for hard work, focus and the goals we have achieved thus far. I am incredibly pleased to be shortlisted from such a strong field; this will benefit our business in so many different ways."

Tom Broughton, Group Brand Director of the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards said: “Due to the high number of entries for this years' awards, narrowing the entries down to 140 finalists was a difficult task. But through a thorough and comprehensive judging process, the selected finalists demonstrate exceptional quality and diversity across a range of business sectors within the UK. We are now looking forward to the next step of the process and meeting some of the finalists face-to-face.”