Leah Hutcheon, CEO and founder of Appointedd, has won Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year at the Scotland and Northern Ireland round of the Royal Bank of Scotland Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

The award was presented to Hutcheon last night (Thursday 9 November) at the Gogarburn Conference Centre in Edinburgh. Leah was also runner up in the Innovation Entrepreneur of the Year award category.

On receiving the award, Leah said: “This award comes at a really exciting time for Appointedd as we continue to grow and evolve from start up to scale up.”

“Although we are a small business, we work with companies and organisations all over the world. Thank you to the amazing team Appointedd for their continued drive and ambition at a time that is truly transformational for tech.”

Appointedd, the Edinburgh-based tech company is revolutionising the way bookings are made online, and the award comes after a successful 12 months for Appointedd.

The company won International Growth Business of the Year at the Business Women Scotland Awards in November 2016, was ranked in the Top 5 for software in the 2017 IP League Table and was a finalist in this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

The number of businesses that entered the Great British Entrepreneur Awards tripled this year, with well over a thousand entries received across five regions. Judges included Scottish entrepreneur and innovator Russell Dalgleish, and serial entrepreneur James Caan CBE.

Gordon Merrylees, Head of Entrepreneurship for Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “We are incredibly proud to support these important awards. It has been so inspiring to see the number and calibre of entries this year, which proves that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

I want to extend my huge congratulations to all the winners of this year’s categories and hope that their businesses continue to grow in the future.”