The man who turned a scruffy blue teddy bear into a greeting card icon has been named a winner at the Entrepreneur of The Year 2004 Awards.

Stephen Haines runs Chichester-based Carte Blanche Greetings, the multi-million pound business he started from the boot of his van in the late Eighties.

Now he has seen off 43 of the UK's most dynamic entrepreneurs to win the Consumer Products Entrepreneur of the Year prize.

The awards, sponsored by accountancy firm Ernst & Young, were held in London and hosted by broadcaster Jeremy Vine.

Carte Blanche designs and distributes greetings cards and related gifts around the world and is poised to take on the US market.

The company's projected annual turnover for 2004 is £60million. Its sales have grown by slightly more than 71 per cent a year from £7 million in 1999 to £35.2 million in 2002.

Last year the firm, most famous for its Me To You brand which features the famous Tatty Teddy, claimed to have sold ten million soft toys.

Stephen won the award because of his business's "extraordinary performance" in recent years and his drive and enthusiasm.

Andrew Jupp, regional head of the entrepreneurial growth markets team at Ernst & Young, said: "Stephen Haines's ability to deliver his own vision for his business, inspiring and encouraging those around him, makes him an admirable victor."