We’re pleased to share that Tree Shepherd has won two awards in the SME News UK Enterprise Awards 2026: Most Inclusive Enterprise Support Organisation 2026, and the Regeneration Support Excellence Award 2026.
These feel like recognition of work that’s been years in the making: We don’t shout about this kind of thing often, but we will today.
Most Inclusive Enterprise Support Organisation 2026
Inclusion, for us, is practical. It’s a free Start Your Own Enterprise course that actually helps founders. It’s one-to-one mentoring for people who’ve never been handed a business plan template, let alone a contact who’ll pick up the phone. It’s our Access to Childcare pilot, because a parent shouldn’t have to choose between a workshop and the school run. And it’s our work on access to finance, opening up an honest conversation about the barriers Black-led, women-led and minoritised founders still face when they try to fund a good idea. We don’t think anyone should be priced out of starting something. This award says we’re getting that right.
Regeneration Support Excellence Award 2026
Regeneration changes places, and it changes the small businesses in them. As schemes have moved through Canada Water, Borough Triangle, Peckham and Camley Street, we’ve stood with the traders caught in the middle, the ones facing lost footfall, complex tender processes and the prospect of moving on. To us, growth shouldn’t mean the people who were here first get left behind.
To everyone who’s been part of this, the founders, the traders, the mentors, the funders and the team: thank you. If you’re starting out, or finding your feet again after a move, that’s exactly who we’re here for.
