Swindon-born Countdown presenter Nick Hewer is to host this year’s South West Fair Trade Business Awards. Nick, pictured, who was also Sir Alan Sugar’s former right-hand man on The Apprentice, is a long-running supporter of ethical business and a patron of The Fairtrade Foundation. He will help present the awards – now in their seventh year – at a ceremony in Bristol on March 8.
Each year the awards – which are free to enter – champion organisations from national chains to small independent businesses that use or sell Fairtrade products, or engage staff and customers with Fairtrade campaigns. 
They also raise awareness of ethical trade issues among their staff, customers and peers.
In his role as a Fairtrade Foundation patron, Nick Hewer visited the Windward Islands to meet and interview Fairtrade banana workers.
Sharing his views at a Fairtrade conference in October 2018, he said: “For my part, I firmly believe that business and Fairtrade together have the power to make the world a fairer and therefore a better place. It has to be right that all of us work together to find a way to make business work for everyone – from the farmer in the field right through to the boardroom and ultimately the consumer.”
Also speaking at the awards ceremony will be The Fairtrade Foundation’s head of supply chain management LJ Loftus and Nicaraguan Fairtrade coffee producer Junieth Lieva, visiting the South West for Fairtrade Fortnight.
Bristol Fair Trade Network, which stages the awards, traditionally invites a Fairtrade producer to tour the region to speak to a wide range of organisations – from schools and church groups to businesses – about Fairtrade and how it benefits farming communities.
Businesses can find more information and enter for free until the end of January by visiting www.bristolfairtrade.org.uk/swftba. All successful entrants will receive a free ticket to the ceremony, which takes place at Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol.
Previous hosts of the awards have included BBC TV journalist George Alagiah OBE and ethical beauty and wellbeing expert Liz Earle MBE.
