A mother who came up with the idea of her frozen baby food company while spending hours in the kitchen preparing meals has won the £20,000 top prize in this year’s HSBC Startup Stars Awards.

Sally Preston, founder of Babylicious Ltd, beat off competition from over 500 businesses to be crowned overall winner in front of an audience of 250 entrepreneurs at London’s Savoy Hotel last night.

Babylicious was one of ten finalists chosen by HSBC to go forward for the overall award, with companies specialising in everything from hairdressing to black puddings featuring on the shortlist.

Sally discovered while preparing meals for her young child that there was not an existing supplier of frozen baby foods to the major retail chains.

Using her experience as a food scientist, she decided to cook and freeze quality baby foods and sell them onto stores in plastic trays.

Although Sally, a single mother, had limited income at the time, she took the plunge and re-mortgaged her house and gave up her regular job in order to launch Babylicious in October 2001.

Using innovate techniques such as marketing her firm in partnership with other baby products, Sally saw her company rapidly grow.

Babylicious now supplies its products to over 270 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK and there are now plans to introduce the company’s goods to the American market.

John Rendall, head of business banking at HSBC, said that Sally sets an “outstanding example” of what can be achieved when ambition, determination and sound business skills are directed to a clear market opportunity.

“This year’s awards have been the hardest to judge so far. The breadth and quality of applications really highlights the imagination, flair and sound business skills of entrepreneurs in Britain.

“The judges felt that Babylicious really demonstrated the spirit of the HSBC Startup Stars, it’s an innovative and creative new business.

“Startup Stars in an important part of the HSBC’s commitment to supporting new businesses.

“They are vital to economic success and they are a growing part of our business – this year alone we have helped 70,000 start up.

“We hope that highlighting the achievements of Sally and the other finalists will inspire others to make their business dreams into a reality,” he said.

The Startup Stars awards are now in their third year. They are open to any business that has been trading for less than two years and can demonstrate they have made great progress with their original idea.

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