Prestigious award for Inverness salon guru

An Inverness salon owner has won a prestigious national hairdressing award.

Caroline Sanderson, owner of the Ego Hair Design hair salon in Inverness, was named winner of the Business Thinker category at Most Wanted, the leading awards event for the UK and Irish professional hairdressing industries.

The Business Thinker category recognises a salon owner or director who has built an outstanding business.

Ms Sanderson said: “I’m so, so happy – Catherine, Amanda, the whole Creative HEAD team, thank you. I absolutely can’t believe it, I’m in shock. I won this for the first time in 2013 and I set out on a mission to show that

any salon owner can win this. I am proof of that, with my little salon in the Highlands of Scotland, so thank you.”

Established in 2001 and presented by leading trade title Creative HEAD, Most Wanted celebrates the most accomplished individuals, teams and businesses in British and Irish hairdressing – those who push boundaries creatively, setting new consumer trends, but who also breathe life into local high streets and the wider economy with their commercial innovation.

Having pulled Ego Hair Design back from the brink during the 2009 recession, Ms Sanderson's creative thinking and determination to succeed has enabled her to transform her small Inverness salon into a multi-channel business with a six-figure turnover and generating six-figure net profits. She now shares her business tips with hundreds of other salons around the world via her Digital Salon Business Academy, and has also donated almost £120,000 in support of charities and other small businesses.

Caroline was announced as winner at the delayed Most Wanted and The It List Grand Final, which this year, due to Covid-19, was transformed into a filmed broadcast show hosted by stand-up comedian Russell Kane and welcoming a cast of award nominees – with a wider audience tuning in online.

Ms Sanderson wins a prestigious Most Wanted trophy, a prize from category sponsor Treatwell, and will now enjoy publicity in Creative HEAD over the coming months, as well as the opportunity to appear at Creative HEAD events.

Catherine Handcock, publisher at Creative HEAD said: “Caroline’s determination and ambition are as breathtaking as her absolute focus on the numbers.

"She leaves no stone unturned in the pursuit of business success, which she readily and generously shares with others, and is a deserving winner of the Business Thinker trophy.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.