Theo Paphitis, former Dragon’s Den investor and Chairman of Ryman Stationery, Boux Avenue lingerie and Robert Dyas, as well as joint owner of Red Letter Days shone his entrepreneurial spotlight on Guildford-based company VOICESUK Ltd this week.

As part of his ‘Small Business Sunday’ (#SBS) scheme, Theo announced his six favourite companies to almost half a million Twitter followers on Monday evening. VoicesUK, was the first to be revealed – 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.

Wakeford (pictured below) told us, “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 24hrs. 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.”

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. Their voiceovers are used for television and radio commercials, documentary narrations, live shows, business presentations, pitches and explainer videos. Wakeford added that he is proud to have provided talent for some of the largest… and smallest… 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! Of course, none of this is guaranteed as it is largely down to perseverance and hard work. A smidgen of luck comes in handy. Theo says, “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.”

VoicesUK can be contacted if you’d like more information on finding voice talent for your project at voices.uk.com. Artists can be contacted directly, for free and with no obligation. When joining the platform all talent agree to a set base rate in an effort to keep the industry standard fair. Those interested in becoming a voice artist can also contact the site although those with previous experience and a home studio or access to a studio are preferred.

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Welcome to the VoicesUK blog. Here we explore all facets of the amazing world that is the voiceover industry. We feature guest authors on topics such as how to get started, what equipment is best for your recordings, how to find clients and how to best show off your skills on VoicesUK. To join our family of British voiceover artists please click here. To search for the perfect voice for your project click here. And click here to get in contact with our team, we’re ready to help!