Former Dragon Recognises Guildford-Based Company

Published on: 12 May, 2015
Updated on: 12 May, 2015

Theo Paphitis, former Dragons’ Den investor shone his entrepreneurial spotlight on Guildford-based company VoicesUK.

As part of his Small Business Sunday (#SBS) scheme, Theo, the chairman of Ryman Stationery, Boux Avenue lingerie and Robert Dyas, as well as joint owner of Red Letter Days, announced his six favourite companies to almost half a million Twitter followers on Monday evening.

First to be revealed was VoicesUK, an online platform providing British English voiceover talent to the world of television, radio and business. The company was founded in 2013 by Chilworth-born Joe Wakeford, a voice artist and music producer who started his voice career with training at Radio Lion at the Royal Surrey County Hospital and Frimley Park Hospital, later launching his own studio and hosting a local radio show.

Joe said: “We are thrilled to have been chosen by Theo for his recognition. We’ve received a ton of new Twitter followers and our website analytics have been on fire for the past 24 hours.

“We are excited to see how this boost will positively affect our talent base. We have had the most profitable year to date and little gems like this award are real sources of pride for our team.”

Joe Wakeford.

VoicesUK provides services globally with the majority of its business through production companies in USA, The Netherlands and the UK with 90% of its voice talent based in UK. Its voiceovers are used for television and radio commercials, documentary narrations, live shows, business presentations, pitches and explainer videos.

Joe added that he has provided talent for some of the largest and smalle companies in the world.

Theo Paphitis awards his seal of approval to small businesses that catch his eye. Benefits range from increased Twitter followers, to positive media publicity and crucially for many, increased sales.

Theo said: “I admire people who have passion and energy. If you cannot bore your friends to death about your own small business then something is seriously wrong. Small Business Sunday was born so that people can pitch their ‘sell’ directly to me.”