The winners of the 2021 Sussex Business Awards were announced on Thursday evening (2nd December 2021) at The Grand Hotel in Brighton.

The black-tie ceremony, which recognised the outstanding achievements of the county’s business community, was hosted by the award-winning comedian, Zoe Lyons (Brightonian, well Hove actually) who entertained the crowd with her hilarious and energetic spirit.

(L-R: Zoe Lyons, Adam Spinks (Director of Governance & Legal Affairs), Lyndon Johnson (CEO), Hugh Collard (COO))[/caption]

This year saw a record-breaking number of nominations for each category, with hundreds of applicants whittled down to 75 finalists. The winners included individuals and companies from across a wide range of sectors – from technology to education to retail to the public sector – who have managed to succeed despite a year like no other.

We were thrilled that 8foldGovernance was victorious amongst the worthy winners this year, picking up a prestigious award in the Micro Business of the Year category.

Fiona Graves, Events Director at Platinum Media Group and organiser of the awards, said:“It was such a special evening celebrating the success and resilience of our business community. Congratulations to all the winners – and the finalists should also feel extremely proud of their achievement.”

Lyndon Johnson, CEO of 8foldGovernance, added: “We are truly honoured to accept this award, particularly after what has been a difficult year for everyone. It symbolises the triumphs but also the challenges that together we have overcome to get us to this point. We sincerely thank all our clients and friends that have supported us on this journey, including the team at Sussex Innovation who nominated us.”

The journey to the present day

Founded in 2019 as a specialist NHS governance and compliance support agency, 8foldGovernance’s wider potential to support the health and technology industry was quickly realised and we now offer end-to-end services that enable innovators to safely, securely and successfully develop and launch their products and services in the UK health and care market. Using this experience along with our well-established networks, 8fold has helped to launch and scale digital health technology pioneers across flagship hospitals such as Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust in London, where little ideas have been transformed into big solutions.

But this journey has not been easy. Like many businesses, 8foldGovernance was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As clients’ budgets tightened and funding lapsed, this initially caused a knock-on-effect to the service 8foldGovernance was able to provide. However, with the need for the NHS to quickly adopt new technologies in a bid to offer remote services for patients, the 8foldGovernance team worked tirelessly to ensure that data protection and privacy laws were not compromised in the speedy implementation of these new services.

The ‘Noble Eightfold Path’

8fold’s success is largely attributed to our ability to provide a much needed specialist support service to the industry. These skills have unlocked the barriers to sharing data safely between health technology suppliers, NHS provider organisations, and ultimately patients receiving care in the community. Our practical, go-to-market strategies and solutions for sharing data, products and services – safely and securely between these groups, has meant that innovations can be rolled out and effectively scaled to improve outcomes for patients and healthcare professionals. However, it is our principles and ethics that underpin our success. We are a team of professionals that have grown organically from the NHS and healthtech industry, so whilst providing value for money and a quality service that puts patients and professionals at the heart of our approach is second nature to us, what many people do not know is that we are also guided by the principles of buddhism.

8fold is derived from the teachings of buddhism. It comes from the steps of the ‘Noble Eightfold Path’ which Buddhists believe need to be observed in order to bring harmony to the world. These steps are: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration.

Through the 8foldGovernance service, our team strives to adopt the principles of these steps in our approach to create better harmony between suppliers, providers and patients – in a bid to improve outcomes for people using health and care services in the UK.

Future aspirations

These bold ambitions have also driven 8foldGovernance to become an aspiring B Corporation. ‘B Corp’ is a movement of a growing community of companies that are reinventing business to operate for people and the planet as well as profit. Put more simply, holding B Corporation certification is to business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee.

CEO, Lyndon Johnson, believes that B Corporation is the force for social good which will allow 8foldGovernance to practice and conduct itself through a clear social purpose. As a member of the B Corporation, Lyndon hopes that 8foldGovernance will be tested against rigorous standards for its social and environmental performance, accountability, transparency, and its wider impact and contribution to its employees, clients, communities and the planet.

The Sussex Business Award recognises our achievements to date, but there is still more to do. Over the coming years, we will build our bold ambitions to become a one-stop shop for health and care innovation by expanding the support services offered to our clients, while also continuing to provide a dedicated specialist support service to our existing client base.

Find out how we can support your business. Get in touch with our award-winning team today!

Sussex Business Awards 2021

Disclaimer: The awards were judged by an independent panel of business experts who possess a wealth of knowledge and experience. It included representatives from BIPC Brighton and Hove, Brewin Dolphin, FRP Advisory, Handelsbanken, HSBC, Kreston Reeves, Lloyds Bank, Loch Associates Group, Mattioli Woods plc, Ridgeview, Sussex Innovation Centre, University of Sussex Business School, Verlingue UK and World of Books.