London 2nd August 2011: Damian Milkins, President, ControlCircle has been shortlisted in the Entrepreneur of the Year Award category for the National Business Awards 2011 announced today. Milkins is co-founder of ControlCircle, a leading data centre and managed services provider which he started in 2001. The company provides managed and cloud services to enterprises and e-commerce sites.

Over 150 of Britain’s most innovative and sustainable public and private sector businesses have been announced today, as finalists of the National Business Awards in partnership with Orange. Organisations shortlisted this year range from the well-known Debenhams, JD Wetherspoon, moneysupermarket.com, BSkyB, Majestic Wine and Supergroup – through to the rising stars of Ovo Energy, Door-Stop, ShortList Media and HeartSine Technologies. The combined turnover of all finalists this year was £96bn.

The list of this year’s 10 finalists in the Entrepreneur of the Year category are as follows:

•Alastair Lukies, Monitise, London, EC2N 2AT

•Andrew Thorne, Kestrel Liner Agencies Ltd, Basildon, SS14 3JJ

•Chris Whitelaw, I Spy Marketing, London, WC2H9JA

•Christian McBride, Genuine Solutions Group, Chessington, KT9 2NY

•Damian Milkins, ControlCircle, London, E14 4AB

•Lawrence Jones, UKFast, Manchester, M1 4BT

•Mike Tobin, TelecityGroup, London, E14 9GE

•Nick Price, Bright Purple Resourcing Ltd, Edinburgh, EH2 2PR

•Paul Lindley, Ella's Kitchen, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 4QG

•Rob Lewis, Omnifone, London, W4 2NL

Finalist will now prepare to make their presentations in person before an independent, expert judging panel in September and October at the offices of Coutts & Co at 30 St Mary Axe. This category’s judging panel are:

•Mr Duncan Cheatle, Founder, The Supper Club

•Ms Julie Meyer, CEO, Ariadne Capital

•Mr Richard North, Managing Director, Wow! Stuff

•Sir Eric Peacock, Chairman, Baydonhill plc

“The economic climate continues to present UK businesses with an unprecedented challenge: it is therefore particularly encouraging that the entries in this year’s National Business Awards have shown no drop in quality or performance. Congratulations to all finalists for demonstrating tremendous strength in their ability to adapt and innovate which no doubt reflects the resilience and optimism that are the hallmarks of UK enterprise”, said Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, Chair of Judges, the National Business Awards.

Organised by UBM plc, winners will be honoured at the National Business Awards gala dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, Tuesday 8th November, where George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will deliver this year’s welcome address. Visit www.nationalbusinessawards.co.uk for a full list of all 2011 finalists.

Damian Milkins said: “Being selected as finalist is a great honour and I am looking forward to making my presentation to the judging panel.”