YTKO is celebrating another double award success after being recognised in the SME News Business Elite Awards 2026, which celebrate outstanding businesses from across the UK.
YTKO has received two awards:
Best SME Growth & Business Support Consultancy 2026
Entrepreneurship & Inclusive Business Support Impact Award 2026
Now in their ninth year, the Business Elite Awards recognise UK organisations that continue to innovate, grow and make a positive impact within their industries.
Award recipients are selected following research by the SME News team, with recognition focused on genuine achievements, commitment to quality and positive influence.
For YTKO, the two awards are particularly significant because they reflect two principles that have shaped our work for more than 40 years: helping ambitious SMEs achieve sustainable growth and ensuring that entrepreneurship and business support are accessible to people from all walks of life.
Helping SMEs realise their growth potential
Being named Best SME Growth & Business Support Consultancy 2026 is a fantastic recognition of the expertise and commitment of YTKO teams working with entrepreneurs and SMEs across the UK.
We know that growing a business is rarely straightforward.
Business leaders may need to develop a clearer strategy, find new customers, strengthen their leadership capabilities, access finance, improve productivity, develop their workforce or simply find the time and confidence to make difficult decisions about what comes next.
That is why our approach has never been about providing generic advice.
We work alongside business owners to understand their individual ambitions, challenges and opportunities and then provide the combination of expertise, challenge and practical support they need to move forward.
Over more than four decades, YTKO has supported 35,000 businesses, contributed to the creation of more than 18,000 jobs and helped businesses secure over £100 million in finance.
Behind every statistic, however, is an entrepreneur or business leader who has taken an idea, decision or opportunity and turned it into action.
Making entrepreneurship more inclusive
Our second award – the Entrepreneurship & Inclusive Business Support Impact Award 2026 – reflects another fundamental part of YTKO’s purpose.
We believe entrepreneurship and business growth should not be limited by someone’s background, circumstances, location or starting point.
For decades, YTKO has designed and delivered programmes that help remove barriers to enterprise and economic participation, working with entrepreneurs, communities and individuals who might otherwise struggle to access the networks, expertise, skills or confidence they need.
That commitment extends across our work.
It can mean helping someone take their first steps towards starting a business, supporting an established SME with significant growth ambitions, helping people develop skills that create new career opportunities or tackling digital exclusion so that more people can participate confidently in an increasingly digital economy.
The programmes may be different, but the underlying ambition remains the same: to create opportunities and enable people and businesses to realise their potential.
Recognition of impact, innovation and quality
The Business Elite Awards consider qualities including innovation and creativity, business growth and success, leadership and strategy, and client and customer excellence.
Those areas strongly reflect how we approach our own work.
Innovation for YTKO is not simply about introducing something new. It means continually looking for better ways to solve problems and deliver support that responds to what businesses and communities actually need.
Similarly, our focus on growth is about measurable outcomes rather than activity alone.
Lee Hughes, CEO of YTKO, said:
“We are absolutely delighted to receive two Business Elite Awards, particularly because together they recognise both the commercial impact of our work and our longstanding commitment to inclusive entrepreneurship.
“YTKO has always believed that talent and ambition exist everywhere, but opportunity does not. Great business support can help close that gap.
“Whether we are working with someone starting their first business or an established SME preparing for its next phase of growth, our role is to understand what they are trying to achieve and help them turn that ambition into action.
“These awards are fantastic recognition of our people and the expertise, passion and commitment they bring to that work every day.”
Thank you to our clients and partners
Most importantly, we would like to thank the thousands of entrepreneurs and businesses who have trusted YTKO to be part of their journey, and the commissioners and partners who work with us to make that support possible.
The achievements recognised by these awards ultimately belong to the businesses and individuals who take what they learn, put it into practice and create something as a result.
Being named Best SME Growth & Business Support Consultancy 2026 and receiving the Entrepreneurship & Inclusive Business Support Impact Award 2026 is something everyone at YTKO can be enormously proud of.
It also reinforces what continues to drive us: creating opportunities, supporting ambition and helping businesses and people achieve sustainable growth and lasting impact.
