Water Babies has been shortlisted for the Lloyds Bank Small to Medium-Sized Business of the Year Award for 2016.

Since it was co-founded in England by Paul Thompson in 2002, Water Babies has grown into the world’s largest baby and toddler swim school with its head office based in Honiton, Devon. Today Water Babies teaches more than 47,000 babies every week through a network of family businesses across the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, China, New Zealand and Canada, and will soon be opening in Germany.

The network currently has a turnover of over £25m, which also includes its unique underwater photography and baby and toddler swimming products and apparel.

Paul Thompson, Co-founder said: “It is a real honour for everyone at Water Babies to be shortlisted for what is recognised as one of the nation’s most prestigious business awards. To have got this far is all down to fantastic team effort.

“We are a small company with a big vision. Over the last 14 years we’ve always retained our sense of family plus a very strong culture that has been built upon by every franchisee, administrator, teacher and staff member. Water Babies has never had a business failure – a unique achievement in the world of franchising.

“We’ve been on a journey in developing people and international growth; so to be included as one of the finalists in the Lloyds National Business Awards really is a celebration and one which demonstrates what a world-class business Water Babies has become.”

The finalists were chosen from the hundreds of businesses that entered or were nominated across 18 award categories. They will now prepare for live presentations to an expert judging panel who will decide the overall winners.

Described as “the Oscars of great British business” by David Cameron, former Prime Minister, this year’s prestigious award ceremony will take place on Tuesday 15th November, at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane, where the winners will be revealed.

For the first time, Conor McGinn MP recently hosted a reception for the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards at the House of Commons. This enabled finalists to meet fellow entrants, the National Business Awards Advisory Board members, judges (who they will present to in September) and sponsors of each category.

Tom Broughton, Group Brand Director of the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards said: “Due to the high number of entries for this years’ awards, narrowing the entries down to 140 finalists was a difficult task. But through a thorough and comprehensive judging process, the selected finalists demonstrate exceptional quality and diversity across a range of business sectors within the UK. We are now looking forward to the next step of the process and meeting some of the finalists face-to-face.”

Visit www.nationalbusinessawards.co.uk for a full list of all finalists or for details on how to attend the event. Winners to be revealed on 15 November 2016.

For more information about Water Babies or any interview requests please contact Tony Gray tony.gray@waterbabies.co.uk T:01404 548348 / www.waterbabies.co.uk