hub.awards: discover the 15 nominees!

Published the 22 June 2019

Just weeks ago, we opened applications for the hub.awards! This initiative aims to highlight the expertise of Brussels-based entrepreneurs. 150 of the city’s SMEs put their names forward in the hope of winning an award on 20 June. Today, we reveal the 15 shortlisted contenders!

Rewarding businesses with a positive social impact

Remember, these prizes aim to highlight the inspirational, innovative, daring and, of course, uniquely “Brussels” nature of the companies competing. Therefore, it’s not a matter of applying performance criteria in the strict sense of the term, but rather rewarding the values lived by all 320 hub.brussels employees, which will be essential in the business of tomorrow.

With six prizes up for grabs, these awards allow all SMEs to participate: ‘Start’ for new businesses trading for under 3 years, ‘Grow’ for businesses trading for over 3 years, ‘Invest’ for overseas businesses setting up in Brussels, ‘Export – goods’ for exporters of products and ‘Export – services’ for companies exporting services. Finally, the ‘Public Prize’ will be awarded to one shortlisted business from any category, via a public vote.

Who are the big names?

9 personalities from the world of business in Brussels, both private and public, have agreed to be members of our jury and rank the candidates.
This Monday, they announced their verdict, nominating:

in the Start category: BC Materials, Spentys and Zarafa
in the Grow category: Simone a Soif!, SUMY and Wooclap
in the Invest category: Farrah Floyd, LITA.co and Sake Bar
In the Export – Goods category: APA-Intemporal, Corniche and Whoo Whoo Whoo
In the Export – Services category: Edebex, Kazidomi and wannapplay

Values above perfomance

Benjamin Cadranel

CEO of Citydev.brussels and member of the jury

The diversity and quality of applications have made the jury’s task very difficult, but once again demonstrate the dynamism of entrepreneurship in Brussels. For a public body responsible for finding business development solutions, this is the greatest source of motivation.

Pierre Hermant

CEO of Finance & Invest Brussels and member of the jury

Over 150 applications! What a great success for the first ever hub.awards. I am proud of the applicants. They give a good impression of the entrepreneurial fabric of Brussels with its inspirational diversity of industries and life stories. They prove that you can do a lot in Brussels.

Arnaud Jacquet

Vice-Chairman of Solvay and member of the jury

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality and diversity of the entries, both in terms of technology, and their positive impact on the environment. They exhibit a great deal of creativity, innovation, expertise and soft skills! Many of the projects aim to help others, fostering communication between individuals, while, obviously, doing good business. They prove that this is not incompatible.

And the nominees for the hub.awards2019 are….

9 personalities from the world of business in Brussels, both private and public, have agreed to be members of our jury and rank the candidates.

This Monday, they announced their verdict, nominating:

in the Start category: BC Materials, Spentys and Zarafa
in the Grow category: Simone a Soif!, SUMY and Wooclap
in the Invest category: Farrah Floyd, LITA.co and Sake Bar
In the Export – Goods category: APA-Intemporal, Corniche and Whoo Whoo Whoo
In the Export – Services category: Edebex, Kazidomi and wannapplay

Vote for your favourite company!

Do you want to see a specific company take home the Public Prize? Hurry, you have until 10 June to choose your favourite candidate. Vote here!

There has been great enthusiasm, not only from the businesses, but also from the teams, partners and members of the jury. We have 15 superb nominees, who embody this new approach to the economy, which strives to impact on the environment, both socially and technologically. Thank you to all involved for flying the flag for Brussels, in Belgium and globally.”

Isabelle Grippa, CEO of hub.brussels

We invite you to join us at Bozar on 20 June from 19:00, to discover the winner of each category and the public’s favourite.

The awards ceremony will be broadcast live on BX1 at 20:00 and on the radio on BXFM.