stelios award for disabled entrepreneurs 2009

Nominations are now open for The Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs, an annual competition run by Leonard Cheshire Disability and sponsored by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou of Easyjet to “reward those with disabilities who have demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurial spirit in the face of significant barriers”.

Applicants must have a registered UK business with a turnover of at least £10,000 a year.

The first prize is a personal cheque for £50,000, which will be presented by Sir Stelios at the Growing Business Awards at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square on Thursday 26 November.

“With 50 per cent of disabled adults in the UK out of work, removing barriers that disabled people face in business is essential,” says Sir Stelios. “Self-employment is often the only viable option for many disabled people as it offers flexibility and helps bypass much of the prejudice that sadly still exists.”

The deadline for entries is Friday 4 September and an application from can be downloaded from here.

specialist support for disabled entrepreneurs

In the autumn of 2008 LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY entered into a partnership with the award-winning INNOVATORY to develop new fully accessible business support services across the UK for business owners with disabilities and people with disabilities interested in starting new enterprises or becoming self employed.

Discussions are now underway with five regional development agencies on funding for specialist projects, which will be delivered with local partners. In London a new service to raise finance for disabled entrepreneurs and start ups - ENABLED FOR GROWTH - is expected to go live during the summer.