Sarah Steel, Managing Director of the Old Station Nursery won the Inspirational Business Mum Award last night at the Prowess Awards Dinner in Brighton. 

The category recognises the commitment, energy, drive and determination of business mums, and the specific challenges they face in combining entrepreneurship with motherhood.

Organisers Prowess and Yell.com received over 125 entries from all over the UK and Sarah was delighted to win against four other finalists selected by judges including Sahar Hashemi and Dawn Gibbons.

Other Finalists were:

Susan Moore, Party Crew Working as a Company Director Susan missed her 3 children and felt guilty about not seeing them enough. She now has a refreshing balance in her life, employs 26 women and is a market leader set to grow further.

Abiola Ajayi-obe, Smartchartz Founder of Smartchartz, incentive charts that encourage young children to behave and learn better. The charts are sold online and in 10 stores nationwide including Selfridges.

Katie Mayne, TinyTalk baby signing classes Katie founded TinyTalk after teaching her son Harry to use sign language when he was just 7 months old. She has franchised the programme and there are now 91 qualified tutors, teaching over 2000 babies each week.

Nadine Lewis, Identikids Nadine has invented children’s identity wrist bands, a simple yet valuable product now being distributed by major retailers including Boots and Mothercare.

Read Sarah's thoughts on childcare....