Market Makers Reach for the Stars

Award winning firm Market Makers has outperformed hundreds of hopeful new businesses to become the winner in the HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards.

The company, which is the holder of the business of the year title in The Business Excellence Awards, is now hoping to go one better and clinch one of the top titles and take a share of the Stars Awards’ prizes, worth a total of £85,000.

The national contest seeks out the most promising new businesses in the UK.  Portsmouth-base Market Makers is the brainchild of Paul Thomas and Henry Braithwaite, now 25, and it specialises in supporting other companies in their growth strategies through marketing and telemarketing.

The school friends invested their life savings to set up the business, which is now four years old.  The firm has grown impressively, from a staff of 10 and a £125,000 turnover in year one to last years performance of £3.5m and a staff of 85.

In January Market Makers moved into its own high tech offices in Quartremaine Road, amid plans to become a full services marketing agency.

Mr Thomas said: ‘We were delighted with the business of the year award from The News, and off the back of that our bank manager thought it would be good if we went in for the HSBC awards.  It means a lot to have come this far.  As a young business we’ve done very well.  We’ve got a large number of blue-chip clients and also small-to-medium-sized clients - very few agencies can handle both equally as well.’

Simon Wainwright, chief operating officer for HSBC Commercial banking, said ‘Market Makers can be very proud of their success in such a keenly contested fight, and we wish them luck.'

For more information contact us or call 0845 468 0880.

return to NEWS page