Apr 13 – Easy Payment Gateway And Muscle Bakery Win Innovation Awards
Easy Payment Gateway was announced as the winner of the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses (GFSB) and Gibtelecom’s Innovation Awards, with The Muscle Bakery achieving a close yesterday afternoon.
The Innovation Awards were scored by a panel of representative members of the GFSB and Gibtelecom. The judges assess the uniqueness of the business propositions, how challenges were overcome and the value to the customer and the industry. The winners were selected from a shortlist of five applicants across a range of industries, with the first prize being £2,000 worth of IT and telecommunications equipment from Gibtelecom and a year’s worth of advertising in the GFSB’s InTouch magazine, and the runner up taking home £1,000 worth of IT and telecommunications equipment also sponsored by Gibtelecom.
The GFSB and Gibtelecom Business Innovation Awards set out to highlight entrepreneurship and wider-based innovation in the way local companies do business, beyond traditional product and processes. One of the GFSB’s goals is to provide start-up business advice and foster a culture of entrepreneurship locally. Julian Byrne, the GFSB representative on the judging panel, said how “the quality of applicants made it hard to select a winner and it’s great to see young entrepreneurs with such great talent achieve local business success in two very different industries”.
At the award presentation reception Gibtelecom’s Customer Operations Director, Peter Borge, expressed how “Gibtelecom are proud to sponsor these Awards which prove how hard work, determination and innovation can produce a winning formula, and we hope that the IT and telecommunications support we are providing the winners will help them continue to grow at the fast pace we have seen so far.”
Alex Capurro, (pictured above) who only started Easy Payment Gateway a year ago, has seen great success after creating an innovative payment tool that gives users access to over 200 worldwide payment solutions, banks and credit card processes at the lowest price in the industry in one easy step. It also allows users to draw on a screen how they want their transactions to be sold in real time, carrying out work that could take months manually in a matter of minutes. The company has already been selected as one on the top 100 companies in the financial payments industry and is expected to process over a billion dollars’ worth of transactions by the end of 2016. The judges were impressed by the success of the company in an industry dominated by much larger players; success that is due to an innovative approach to payments making it simple, user friendly and effective.
Runner up, Elke Hurtado, (pictured above) set up The Muscle Bakery after she decided to follow her passion for health and fitness and create a whole new range of products inspired by her lifestyle. Initially she experimented with healthy recipes and set up a personal blog to document her creations. When the blog proved to be increasingly popular Elke decided to rebrand it to The Muscle Bakery and begin selling some of her creations. After two years of being a part time baker, Elke quit her job in the gaming industry and set up a full time business with a wide selection of healthy treats based on popular snacks. She is currently producing 500 bars a week and plans to expand by securing larger premises and partnering with companies in the UK. She has also produced and designed her own Muscle Baking cookbook. The judges were impressed with the attractive brand image and strong reputation Elke had built up in a short time and the use of an active social media presence to promote a healthy lifestyle and its products.
For more details on the Innovation Award check out the GFSB’s InTouch Magazine or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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