Today, Monday September 1st, 2008, Enterprise Nation, the home business company, announces online language tuition company, Toniks, as the 2008 Home Business of the Year.

Award Judges were unanimous in their verdict that Toniks was the business showing most progress and promise across three areas of business, lifestyle and technology.

Toniks beat off stiff competition from more than 300 other home based businesses to be crowned ‘2008 Home Business of the Year’ and to win a package of prizes including 12 months of a Moneypenny PA, a printing package from Brother worth £1,000 and 10 days access to top London members club, One Alfred Place.

Of the submission. Award Judge, Tracy Vegro said:

“This is clearly a business with even greater potential than its current strong progress has already demonstrated.  I think the way it has harnessed new technology like Skype is great and they have taken a very innovative approach in making links with other countries through technology. It’s a great example of a home- based business playing on a global stage.”

The 2007 Home Business of the Year and member of this year’s judging panel, Wendy Shand, had this to say:

“Toniks is boundary-less and shows an excellent use of the internet.  It’s an appealing concept for all sorts of different people from my dad to myself.  They have impressively re-negotiated their key contracts to increase profit margin which shows an eye for the business detail and need to bring home a profit.

If they can keep ahead of the competition there is a massive worldwide market for their services and they have an excellent (easy to use) website with a tantalising free offering and fab conversion rates (75% of people who see the demo go on to book).  I think that for these reasons Toniks has the most potential and is my first choice!”

Karen Hollands was told the news of her win on Monday morning and her jubilant response can be heard at Enterprise Nation

Other category winners in 2008 were:

Young Home Business Owner of the Year
Helen Rhiannon Gill – Helen Rhiannon – Helen Rhiannon

Home Business Couple of the Year
Steph and Paul Savill – Foxy Lady Drivers Club

Home Office of the Year
Justina Perry, – MamaBabyBliss

All winners will receive profile and prizes to recognise the fantastic companies they have started – and are growing – from home.
Notes

The 2008 Home Business Awards were hosted by Enterprise Nation HYPERLINK “http://www.enterprisenation.com” www.enterprisenation.com

In 2008 there were 4 categories of Awards

Home Business of the Year

Home Business Couple of the Year

Young Home Business Owner of the Year

Home Office of the Year

The 2008 Judges were:

Emma Jones, Founder, Enterprise Nation

Mark Barber, Enterprise Editor, The Times 

Rachel Clacher, co-founder,  Moneypenny

Tracy Vegro, Director of Enterprise Strategy at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform

Wendy Shand, Founder of Tots to Travel and the 2007 Home Business of the Year

The Home Business of the Year will receive:

A virtual assistant for 12 months from Moneypenny UK

Printing package, including printer and consumables, worth over £1,000 from Brother UK

Accounting software, QuickBooks Pro, valued at £299.95

Senseo coffee machine, plus coffee supplies, provided by Douwe Egberts

10 days of free access to private members club in London, One Alfred Place

The Home Business Couple of the Year will receive:

Two night, full-board stay at the luxury Cotswold Water Park Four Pillars Hotel

The Home Office of the Year winner will receive:

£200 of vouchers from home office specialist, Flujo

The Young Home Business Owner of the Year will receive:

£200 of online shopping vouchers from fashion website, OSOYOU

All winners will receive profile on Enterprise Nation and across media partners, Travelguru.tv, mydeco and Make Your Mark, plus a copy of Emma Jones’ book, Spare Room Start Up: How to Start a Business from Home – packed with useful content for the most successful of home business owners!