Young entrepreneurs, Sky and Kia Ballantyne, who are the driving force behind Crikey Bikey, an innovative product which helps young children learn to ride a bicycle, were thrilled to receive an award at the Monmouthshire Business Awards.

They told the Ross Gazette:?“We were excited to be among the finalists for the Monmouthshire Business awards, and really pleased when they announced Crikey Bikey Limited as the winner in the ‘Best Start Up’ category!”

The best and brightest of Monmouthshire’s business community were celebrated on Friday, October 21st at a black tie event held at Newport’s Celtic Manor Resort. Over 350 guests attended the event which saw Crikey Bikey win the award for Most Promising Start-up.

The delighted sisters described the event as ‘awesome’. They said:?“We collected our award from the stage in front of hundreds of people, and our company name was massively magnified in lights behind us!

“It was an amazing night with great food, where we met some really interesting and friendly people who can give us some help and where we were able to tell other people how we have managed to get our business started, and hopefully helped them too.”

A total of 30 businesses made the shortlists reflecting the diversity and variety of firms within Monmouthshire’s business community. Awards organiser Janet Harris said; “My warmest congratulations go to our winners. Competition for these prestigious awards has been tougher than ever this year with over 119 companies entering. The judges’ job gets harder every year with more and more businesses getting involved. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to apply – judges have confirmed that this year’s high standard of entries has made their job even harder. In one instance only half a mark separated first and second places.”

Guests at the event included the Lord-Lieutenant of Gwent, Brigadier Robert Aitken, Deputy Welsh Minister Glyn Davies MP, and Monmouth MP David Davies.