Techbuyer is presented with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade

You may remember that back in April 2020, Techbuyer won the Queen’s Award for International Trade. Fast forward 14 months, we are delighted to announce that we have finally been officially presented with this huge honour here at the Techbuyer HQ in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

The Queen’s Awards are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. As one of 220 companies recognised last year, it was incredibly satisfying to finally receive this honour. Although the pandemic had resulted in delays in receiving the award, the event still felt extra-special, with the Lord- Lieutenant Mrs Jo Ropner, Mr David Kerfoot, former Chairman of North Yorkshire LEP, and influential individuals from the Harrogate region joining us to celebrate the tremendous achievement.

Behind-the-scenes access

The event began with Managing Director, Mick Payne, leading a tour of our facilities. Mick introduced our guests to Techbuyer team members, who then explained how their part of the business works and the positive impact their contribution has on both the environment and our customers. Within the UK office, 1 order is received every 3 minutes and we have over 250,000 IT systems and parts in stock. We wanted to ensure that our guests came away with a good understanding of how each business segment works together to achieve these significant outputs.

With the likes of Good In/Out, Repairs and Testing providing insight on their leg of the business, it was great to have such an inquisitive selection of visitors who clearly had a genuine interest in learning about each business function. With guests including Wallace Sampson, Alistair Forbes and Sue Brandom – who play key roles within Harrogate council and are particularly invested in the growth of SME’s – it was a pleasure to see people take the time to gain a greater understanding of the business and the part that they play in the Techbuyer story.

Hearing from our distinguished guests

After the tour came the reading of the citation by Mr David Kerfoot provided by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, in which we were given permission to fly the Queen’s Award flag until 2025. This was followed by the presentation of the award by the Lord-Lieutenant, Mrs Jo Ropner.

Upon the presentation of the award, the Lord-Lieutenant said a few words in which she commended highly what she had seen that day, commenting that Techbuyer “ticks so many boxes that are so important in this day and age” and that we “really have been invaluable” particularly in the time of Covid-19.

She highlighted that she was delighted to see a range of ages and backgrounds within the office and the warehouse. Being a tech company, Mrs Ropner was expecting a younger workforce, however in her own words, it was brilliant to see some ‘grey-hairs’ leading our technical department and sharing their wealth of knowledge with the next generation. Mrs Ropner challenged us to put ourselves forwards for more Queen’s Awards in the future; a challenge we’re very keen to take on.

The Lord-Lieutenant also commented on the family-like culture she noticed whilst visiting our premises. Managing Director, Mick Payne, was particularly glad to hear this as this is something we strive towards.

We were also joined by Harrogate’s Mayor, Trevor Chapman, Mayoress, Deputy Mayor, and her consort. The event was a treat particularly for Deputy Mayor Christine Willoughby, who is a self-confessed tech-geek, has heavy involvement with the education of young people in the region and is helping to bridge the digital divide. She commented that it was exhilarating for her to gain a behind-the-scenes glimpse of life at Techbuyer and get real insight into how a significant operation like ours works.

The morning ended with socially distanced drinks, nibbles, and chatter with our guests, and was one of the more exciting Tuesday mornings we’ve had here in the Techbuyer office.

A thank you to the people who made this happen

Of course, we would not have won the award, nor would we have had such a successful event, without the dedication and hard work of our colleagues. We look forward to rewarding all of our global offices with a real party, once the restrictions of the pandemic are lifted.

Mick stated: “We are so proud and honoured for the recognition for our international team who have continuously worked hard to enter new markets, start new offices and warehouses, and develop global networks over the years. We could not have done it without all our outstanding workforce, constantly going above and beyond to meet the needs of our expanding customer base. We cannot wait for the chance to celebrate properly with our colleagues when Covid restrictions are no longer in place.”

Techbuyer is a global provider of sustainable IT solutions. The company has over £10 million worth of servers, storage and networking, laptops, desktops and components in stock, with a variety of new and refurbished solutions available. Techbuyer is circular at its core, and also extends the life cycle of IT equipment by buying, refurbishing, upgrading or repairing existing IT hardware.

With seven locations across Europe, the USA and Asia Pacific, the company provides fast turnarounds no matter where in the world their clients are based. Techbuyer won Circular Economy Business of the Year at the 2020 IEMA awards and took away Gold, Silver and Bronze GLOBEEs at this year’s IT World Awards.

Start your journey with Techbuyer today to maximise your IT budget and choose the sustainable option for your organisation.