Shoe designer Linda Bennett, dubbed Queen of the Kitten Heel, has won this year's Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award.
The founder of LK Bennett, which has 45 stores in the UK, Ireland and France, was the 31st woman to win the prestigious award.
She was singled out from a short-list of five which included Penny Streeter, owner of Ambition24hours, which has an office in Bond Street, Brighton.
Ms Bennett, 39, said: "When I started 14 years ago with a small shop in Wimbledon I never imagined I would find myself running a company with 400 employees.
"Winning this award means recognition for all the hard work my team and I have put into the company."
She was presented with the award by John West, Veuve managing director, who said Linda had expanded her business "rapidly and solidly and brilliantly."
Ms Streeter, a mother-of-four, was shortlisted after her business became one of Britain's top 10 fastest-growing companies for a second successive year.
Ambition24hours recruits and manages temporary staff in the health, education and social care sectors and private care homes.
Other finalists were Janet Entwistle, from BT Fleet, inventor Mandy Haberman, and Cynthia Wilkinson, managing director of a furnisher retailer.
Tuesday May 04, 2004
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