PURPOL Marketing founder Denise O’Leary has been recognised by the National UK Small Business awards as one of the ‘Leaders of the Year.’

Ms O'Leary, who is the managing director of Chippenham-based consultancy Purpol Marketing, has been shortlisted for the award of Leader of the Year in the small business leader category (1-50 employees) most inspirational as the driving force behind the success of the company.

Key factors including key business decisions made, contracts won, responsibility for revenue and/or profit growth and marketability.

Small businesses today account for 99.3% of all private sector businesses and together produce a combined turnover of £1.2 trillion, contributing 33% of all private sector revenue in the UK.

Ms O'Leary founded Purpol Marketing in 2014 as an agency specialising in the construction and manufacturing industries, providing director level marketing strategy and bid management expertise on a pay-as-you-go basis.

She works with small and medium-sized enterprizes to help guide them through major tender and the bid management processes.

In 2016, the Government announced it wants 30% of its £260bn spend to go to SMEs.

Ms O'Leary has met the Prime Minister’s policy advisor at No10 and the Head of Innovation and Growth in the Cabinet Office to discuss how policy can be changed to ensure the bid process is not so onerous for SMEs, helping SMEs take their ‘place at the table’ for major projects.

She said: “I am thrilled to be shortlisted in these prestigious national awards. They recognise that it takes a lot of character and resilience to be a strong small business leader and that you have to fulfil all tasks including service delivery, product development, admin, marketing, and investment.

"Purpol took the decision early to recruit a senior consultant as well as latterly an intern and expanded network of additional resource.

"We look for key employees who share our vision and constantly innovate to make sure our service stays relevant.

"Purpol is recognised as a micro-business making an impact with the business community, and for our unique service working with SMEs with a 95% success record on winning bids against an industry average of 60%.

"Whilst our business has been aggressive in terms of growth in its two and a half years since start up, we measure our success by how much our clients win.”

Ms O'Leary can be contacted at denise@purpolmarketing.co.uk or visit purpolmarketing.co.uk

  • The British Small Business Awards is the leading celebration of the UK’s small business sector, recognising the nation’s best sole traders, micro businesses and small companies. Its big name sponsors include KPMG, Yell, Salesforce, Vistaprint, FSB and Start Up Britain.