Local businesses celebrated at Waterford Digital Awards
AN ONLINE tax practice took home the Overall Winner Prize at the 2023 Waterford Digital Awards, earlier this month.
The awards are presented by Waterford Local Enterprise Office together with Waterford City and County Council and aim to recognise and reward small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based in County Waterford who have developed their ecommerce and digital platforms as part of their product offering.
The awards, in their second year, are open to all businesses with less than 50 full time employees based in County Waterford, and took place at Dooley’s Hotel on June 9.
Overall winner Expat Taxes is a boutique online tax practice that works with employees and their employers when they are moving to or from Ireland. It offers tax advisory and tax compliance services and aims to make taxes less stressful and to help clients navigate the complex work of international tax.
Owner Stephanie Wickham was delighted by the win, saying: “It’s such a thrill to win this award, we’re genuinely very surprised. There were so many fantastic local businesses shortlisted. After last year’s awards we applied for a Trading Online Voucher from the LEO and used it to upgrade our website. It has certainly increased our business and I’m sure made the difference in winning this award. We’d like to thank the team at the LEO for all their help over the years.”
The winners of each award category were: Best Business to Business Website – Learn Right Ltd, Best Business to Customer Website – Phoenix Mind and Body Performance, Best E Commerce Website – Hill’s Standard, Best Export Website – Expat Taxes Ltd. and Best in social media – Pepper Hustle.
Acting Head of Enterprise with Local Enterprise Office Waterford, Brid Kirby, was extremely impressed with the standard of entries. “In what is only our 2nd Waterford Digital Awards I’m delighted to see the increase in entries and standard of entries this year,” she said.
“Following a review of last year’s competition, we tweaked the categories and qualifying, and it paid off. Each of the category winners were excellent and it was so difficult to choose a winner.”
“Through training and Trading Online Vouchers many of our clients have transitioned to include digital sales and promotional platforms. This development has reaped financial rewards for many, while these awards are an opportunity to give them some public acclaim also,” Ms Kirby said.