24th of September hundreds gathered to LondonlovesExcellence Awards held at London Marriott Hotel on Grosvenor Square. That night was a celebration of excellence and growth in business and proved that even during difficult times, businesses can succeed. The standard was astonishingly high this year and in many categories the esteemed judges had trouble picking a winner but, as always, in each category there was one who stood out.

That night Tony Goodwin, Founder & Chairman of Antal International, has been awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year 2014 where the global recruitment company was shortlisted among some highly successful UK businesses:

• Amit Bhatia, Hope Construction Materials
• Piers Daniell, Fluidata
• Oli Hyatt MBE, Blue Zoo
• Dr Richie Nanda, The Shield Group (UK)
• Ivan Retzignac and Andrew Bucher, MedicAnimal

Announcing the award, LondonlovesBusiness.com editor Sophie Hobson commented; “Tony Goodwin founded his management and recruitment firm in 1993. Today Antal International has 120 offices in 30 countries and last year the company turned over more than £16m. The judges loved the fact that he has built recruitment empire from scratch. He started with just £10,000 and had no support or external funding. He’s led Antal’s expansion into emerging economies that larger and more established rivals haven’t dared to, and succeeded through pure entrepreneurial savvy”.

In his acceptance speech Tony Goodwin dedicated the award to the partners, management team and everyone at Antal including his closest friends and wife, Noreen Goodwin: “This business is the ultimate people business, 360 degree, clients, candidates and colleagues. So I dedicate this to the 1000+ people working at Antal today in 140+ offices in 37 countries. To them I say congratulations and a huge thank you.”

“Entrepreneurship is all about having a dream and doing something about it”, added Tony Goodwin to encourage those who are thinking of launching their own business.