Last night the Gloucestershire business community celebrated an exceptional home-grown success story when E. G. Carter & Co was named both the Family Business of the Year and crowned overall Business of the Year in the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2021.
As sponsor of the Family Business of the Year category I had the privilege of sitting on the judging panel alongside 16 other independent judges, and there is much about E. G. Carter’s almost-80-year story that makes the company worthy of recognition.The fourth-generation regional building contractor delivers building and construction services across many different sectors with projects ranging from general works at sites including Dean Close School and Gloucester Royal Hospital, through to complex and often high-profile, multi million pound projects such as the regeneration of Kings Square, Gloucester.
Edward George Carter founded his own company in 1945 and as a master craftsman, his personal commitment to workmanship and service is legendary. Today the business remains committed to Edward’s founding principles, namely to provide the best possible construction service, to do so with good grace and courtesy and without recourse to contract, to ensure the prompt payment to all subcontractors and suppliers and provide the long term commitment of all employees through a compassionate and supportive employment culture.
Today, Michael Carter is the Managing Director and proudly carries the torch that ensures the values established by his grandfather and father still shine brightly today. Michael plays an active role in overseeing the development of the fourth generation with Joshua, Sam and Gavin all involved in the business.
Despite challenging conditions and huge setbacks along the way (including the impact of a global pandemic), the business has been able to achieve consistent growth and has set a vision to reach their hundredth anniversary in 2045 with the ownership and their values intact.
Investing in your staff and skills are important considerations for any business that is growing and E. G. Carter continues to invest in making their environment the best and safest place to work, inspiring employees to achieve their personal ambitions by forging a career within the business. This commitment to their almost 200 strong workforce is reflected in the fact that a large number of their employees have been with E. G. Carter for more than 10 years, with many having joined the business as apprentices or management trainees.
We are delighted to have worked with their managers on our leadership development programs, LEAD™ and GOLD™.
Watching Sam Carter and Thomas Jones and their colleagues celebrating their highly deserved awards as they took to the stage, it’s clear that winning together means so much to all of them. "After 76 years of trading...not only have we won the Family Business of the year but we have also won the Business of the Year award. We are thrilled to be taking home not one but two awards. Thank you to all of our employees, clients and friends who have helped this happen."
What an achievement, we heartily congratulate them!
If you'd like more information on how we may be able to help you, or you'd like to hear more about our effective leadership and management development programs, please do get in touch here; we'd be delighted to speak to you - our next LEAD™ program starts in November. And in the meantime, please take a moment to have a look at our website here.