Accountancy firm co-founder up for leadership award

The co-founder of Derby-based Vibrant Accountancy has been shortlisted for a regional leadership award.

Bev Wakefield is up for the Transformational Leader at the 2022 East Midlands Leadership Awards, which will take place on Thursday.

Fellow bondholder Kul Mahay, founder of Ignite Your Inner Potential, is also shortlisted for an award, the Diversity & Inclusion Leader category.

Bev, whose business beat off strong competition from some of the most respected names in accountancy nationally to win New Firm of the Year at the Accounting Excellence Awards last year, said: “I am so proud to be nominated and feel very humble about being shortlisted alongside some incredible people.

“It’s a very British thing to say and I was brought up not to brag about my successes but to celebrate others.

“I do, though, realise that this is a team effort; I’m co-founder alongside Ian Ball and the hard-working team at Vibrant and I’m only a small part in the puzzle.”

Bev has been shortlisted for ‘continually disrupting the market’ and inspiring others.

She said: “Ian and I are so proud of the team and just how far Vibrant Accountancy has come since forming, just over two years ago.

“We set up Vibrant to shake up the ‘traditional’ view of the industry as stuffy, impenetrable and dominated by well-established, big-name players.

“Our aim is to be more accessible and brighter, while aiming to become the first accountants of our size in the Midlands to supplement core bookkeeping, tax advice, VAT and year-end cloud-based accounting services with mentoring, coaching and general business support as part of a holistic approach to our clients.

“We have grown substantially – we’re currently recruiting for an eighth member of the team – but our core values remain the same; to dream big, empower, celebrate and have fun. That’s something which we take great pride in.”