A SPECIALIST recruitment consultant from Darlington has won a top business award at the Northern region final of this year's Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.

Angela Anderson, 28, won the special award for growth potential, and received £500 in prize money at a special ceremony in Newcastle.

Angela's Hebburn-based business, Zenith Recruitment Ltd, specialises in recruiting temporary and permanent staff for engineering, manufacturing and distribution companies throughout the North of England and Scotland.

Ranging from forklift truck drivers to design engineers, and quality auditors to factory managers, Angela has approximately 500 personnel on her books.

In the 15 months since she established the business, her client list has grown to 20, including ASDA, Coca Cola and Walkers.

Recent highlights have included managing the shop floor recruitment for a leading food packaging company which has just opened a new facility in Scotland, and recruiting temporary staff for the Wakefield branch of a major supermarket chain.

It was while working as a consultant for an industrial recruitment agency, that Angela decided to use her experience start her own recruitment business to fill a gap in the engineering, manufacturing and distribution sectors.

So far her decision has paid off, and she is on course to achieve a turnover of £1.5m next year.

Within three years, Angela plans to open two more offices in Scotland and Yorkshire creating more than one dozen jobs. Her long-term ambition is to turn Zenith Recruitment into a leader in its field.

Other winners in the awards, supported by Business Link, ONE NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward, included Lee Sylph, 24, from Whitley Bay who won the top prize of £1,000 and one of 11 places at the prestigious Shell LiveWIRE UK final in London in June.

Her business, "Amanda Lee" retails lingerie and swimwear, and provides a specialist service for women who have undergone breast surgery.

Aftab Ahmed 31, and his brother Afzaal, 30, from Newcastle won a £750 award for the Most Innovative Idea. Their business, "Fixits", produces innovative 3D children's puzzles.

Mike Harle, sales and marketing director, Shell Aviation, presented the winners with their awards.

He said: "For Shell, the principles of sustainable development are fundamental to our future, and through the LiveWIRE programme we aim to encourage and nurture more young entrepreneurs to go further, faster and more sustainably."