Shortlisted for Top Rural Business Award

We’re delighted to be shortlisted in the Best Rural Professional Services Business in the 2019/20 Rural Business Awards, held in partnership with Amazon.

With the Rural Business Awards entries being on a regional basis, our Northern team submitted the entry on behalf of our consultants across the country. We are now into another round of regional judging by an independent panel of judges drawn from the rural sector. We’ll find out if we’ve won the North finals at a region awards presentation on 11^th October 2019 at Newcastle University, ahead of the National Final next February.

The Rural Business Awards are in their fifth year. They aim to celebrate the achievements of rural businesses and develop a strong network for rural business owners.

Speaking after being shortlisted for the award, Jim Richards, R&BS Co-Founder and Co-Director said:

We’re delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award and the dedication and commitment of our national team to supporting rural clients and communities has been recognized.

Most businesses need capital funding at some time to progress, whether to purchase a property, diversify, restructure borrowings or for other purposes. The demand for funding for rural businesses is significant and growing. However, given the diversity of rural businesses and the uniqueness of rural property, the number of banks and lenders that serve this sector are few and it takes particular knowledge and skills to access this type of funding.

In our 15 years of business, we’ve helped over 700 clients access long-term sustainable finance. Without that finance, these clients wouldn’t have launched, developed or grown their enterprises, moved to the country, provided the jobs or contributed to the rural economy as they now do.

Without doubt, our national team makes R&BS unique and has been pivotal to our ongoing success. The team recognise that our role in obtaining funding is often critical to a client's business inception, survival and success – and as a result, has a huge impact on our clients’ livelihoods. Each team member takes that very seriously, is dedicated, compassionate, and has a natural affinity with the cultural and ethical values of R&BS to put the customer at the centre of everything we do.

Looking to the future, we want to proliferate the countryside with more consultants to provide advice locally. The team is nine at present but there are others in the pipeline. Our aim is to be the number one ‘go to’ point of contact for all funding related to rural property and rural business, so we can help every client achieve their aims and aspirations as easily and as prudently possible.”

Director and Co-Founder of The Rural Business Awards, Anna Price, said:

The 2019/20 Awards have seen record numbers of entries and it’s encouraging to see so many rural businesses express a desire to celebrate their successes on a regional and national scale. We are passionate about creating a nurturing environment where rural businesses can develop, and this starts by showcasing the great work they do. On behalf of everyone at the Rural Business Awards, we want to say well done to Jim, Rob and the team at R&BS and all the shortlisted businesses, and wish them luck ahead of the regional finals.”