Tracy Clark of ITC Hydraulics, based in Inverurie and Turriff, has scooped the Established Business of the Year award at the annual Business Women Scotland Awards.
The co-founder and managing director of the business has worked to see it grow organically to become a beacon in the hugely competitive oil and gas sector.
“Winning this award reflects the company’s significant business achievements,” said Tracy.
“ITC celebrated its 21stanniversary this year and has been recognised by many customers over the years for its efforts in the industry. This year has been difficult because of COVID-19. Our priorities remain 100% clear: protect the health and wellbeing of our workforce, suppliers, customers and their families while ensuring we deliver top quality products and excellent service.”
Tracy launched ITC Hydraulics with her husband Ian, while juggling a young family of three. The business has developed and grown, working with clients across the globe. Tracy has gained the respect and admiration of her peers in a male dominated industry. Years of hard work and determination have paid off and she is acknowledged as a successful businesswoman.
The sixth annual Business Women Scotland Awards went virtual for the first time this year with attendees logging into a private YouTube channel to watch the live event.
Among the winners at this year’s awards were Sarra Bejaoui of SmartPA in Edinburgh, who won Business Woman of the Year Award; Susie Fraser of Glasgow’s Adeo Group, who won Inspirational Woman of the Year; and Claire Murray of Emotion Works in Edinburgh, who took Social Impact of the Year award.
Hayley Wilkes of Angus-based WeeCOOK was named the overall winner, for which she wins gifted airtime to the value of £20,000 from sponsors STV as well as membership of the STV Growth Fund. She was also named Resilient Woman of the Year.
Entrepreneurs from the fields of engineering, property, food, design and the third sector were winners at the annual awards, which put the achievements of women-led businesses firmly in the spotlight.
Guest speaker was Lara Morgan, an entrepreneur who founded her first business, Pacific Direct, at the age of 23 and went on to sell her majority share in the specialist global supplier of luxury high end brands for five-star hotels 17 years later for £20million.
Judge Victoria Allison, STV’s creative director, commercial, said: “STV is delighted to support the Business Women Scotland Awards. It was a pleasure to sit on this year's judging panel, although selecting the winners was no easy task.
“The standard of applications was exceptional across all categories, and the achievements of the women represented would be inspiring in any given year - but even more so in a year which has been so challenging for businesses everywhere due to the pandemic. Congratulations to all those shortlisted and today’s winners. We are really looking forward to working with Hayley at WeeCOOK on her STV Growth Fund campaign.”
Lynne Kennedy MBE, founder of Business Women Scotland, said: “This year we have all faced the challenges of living with a world pandemic and recent statistics have reported that women-led business were impacted more adversely than those of men, seeing their businesses experiencing lower trading volume.
“In this year’s awards we have paid tribute to the incredible achievements of our shortlist of established and rising stars. Every single one of the finalists is an inspiration and a role model - not only to their peers within the sector but also to the next generation who are considering starting a business. We need to encourage now, more than ever, our future generation.”
Judges of this year’s awards include June Walker, executive coach and board advisor; Michelle Ferguson, director of Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company; Victoria Allison, STV creative director, commercial; Tricia Halliday, director at Martin Aitken; Yvonne Greeves, head of women in business at Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland and Adrian Murphy, managing director of Murphy Wealth.
Overall winner
Hayley Wilkes, WeeCOOK, Carnoustie
Board Member of the Year
Sue Bomphray, Scottish Veterans’ Residences, Glasgow
Business Woman of the Year
Sarra Bejaoui, SmartPA, Edinburgh
Established Business of the Year
Tracy Clark, ITC Hydraulics, Aberdeenshire
Inspirational Woman of the Year
Susie Fraser, Adeo Group, Glasgow
Resilient Woman of the Year
Joint winners:
Hayley Wilkes, WeeCOOK, Carnoustie
And
Michelle Milnes, Property Studios, Edinburgh
Rising Star of the Year
Katie Murrie, Service Design Academy, Dundee and Angus College
Social Impact Award
Claire Murray, Emotion Works, Edinburgh
Highly Commended:
Elaine Brown, Edinburgh Remakery
Sole Trader of the Year
Francia Boakye, Frank Francia, Edinburgh
Start-up Business of the Year
Melodie Paterson, Heather Street Food, Dundee
Business Women Scotland is an organisation dedicated to helping women find support and networking opportunities to allow them to strengthen their business. As well as a bi-monthly digital magazine supporting women in business, Business Women Scotland also runs a series of live virtual events and awards to celebrate and empower women in business while tackling the gender gap in enterprise.
STV Growth Fund launched in 2018 and was set up to support SMEs and help boost the Scottish economy. Growth Fund investment is available for businesses to boost their marketing activities and aims to connect them with consumers across Scotland earlier in their business journey. In March 2020 STV doubled the size of the Growth Fund to £20 million to extend marketing support to even more businesses.
STV is delighted to be providing £20K gifted airtime from the STV Growth Fund to the overall winner of the Business Woman Scotland Awards 2020. The winner will receive an STV Growth Fund membership giving them access to STV airtime marketing space, full campaign optimisation, account management, marketing insights and post-campaign analysis. (Terms and conditions apply). Further information is available at www.stvgrowthfund.tv
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Very inspiring! Thanks for sharing