Business Person Of The Year
28th November 2013
The Little Island Business Association (LIBA) held their inaugural Awards ceremony last Friday night, November 22nd. The LIBA Awards were designed to recognise and honour the businesses and community of Little Island.
There are close to 1,000 businesses operating in Little Island, at present employing an estimated 15,000 people. The Little Island Business Association was formed to promote and market Little Island locally, nationally and internationally, as well as to provide a platform for businesses in the area to network and do more business.
Over 325 people attended the black tie event, which was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Spa in Little Island.
The President of Little Island Business Association, William Cuddy presented eight awards on the night and said, “It is very fitting that in our first year of operations as the business association for Little Island and district that we should have such a large business and community gathering here tonight in the year of the gathering. We are delighted that there is so much planned to happen in Little Island and we look forward to implementing a programme in conjunction with all stakeholder in the time ahead. Our nominees for The LIBA Awards 2013 are wonderful ambassadors for their businesses and organisations, for Little Island and for Cork and I thank them for their participation. Our eight awards tonight are being made to a group of people and organisations that have demonstrated exceptional leadership and skill for their businesses and organisations and we are delighted to recognise them.”
Chris Mee, Managing Director of the Chris Mee Group, accepted the award for “Business Person Of The Year”. The Chris Mee Group has achieved a huge amount over the last three years since arriving in Little Island. The Group has grown by over 60%; they now have 80 full-time Consultants, Trainers, Managers and Staff; they also have over 90 part-time Consultants and Trainers working in their main sectors of Health and Safety, Environment and Carbon Emissions.
Commenting after the event, Chris was quick to determine that while the award was an individual one, it was a team effort from all staff at the Chris Mee Group that made the award possible. “It was a really great honour to receive the LIBA Business Person of the Year Award for 2013. While this award is given to an individual it is of course really given to the company as a whole. I would like to thank all the people who made this major achievement award possible. I am of course referring to the dedicated Staff, Management and Board of Directors of the Chris Mee Group. Your dedication, hard work and professionalism has made this great award possible.
Our main strength as a company is all the hard working staff both in head office and on various projects countrywide. The people who represent us so well in the various client locations nationally and internationally are key to our success. These key people are not always in our clear vision. But I want to recognize you and include you directly both individually and collectively in this award. You are our ambassadors. You are the representatives of the Chris Mee Group. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize your hard work, dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism at all times. Without you the organization would not succeed and develop. We must always celebrate our successes for a little while and then look again to the future and the next challenge. “
The full list of LIBA 2013 award winners are as follows –
• The Little Island Customer Service Person of the Year Award for 2013 – Dee O’ Regan of Centra
• The Little Island Employee of the Year Awards 2013 – Karen Caplis – Greif Flexibles Ireland
• The Little Island Community Project of the Year Award 2013 – Fr. John P Hegarty, Glounthaune
Church Centre
• The Little Island Business Person of the Year 2013 – Chris Mee of the Chris Mee Group
• The Little Island New Business of the Year 2013 – Brian O’ Riordan, Auto Direct
• The Little Island Area of the Year 2013 – O’ Flynn Construction for Eastgate Business Park
• The Little Island Company of the Year 2013 – Yasmin Hyde, Ballymaloe Country Relish
• The Judges Special Merit Award 2013 – Derek & Lorraine Walsh, The Elm Tree Bar & Restaurant
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