NW Entrepreneur killed in holiday accident

ROB Williams, co-founder of fast-growing North West company Dolphin Music, has been killed in a snowboarding accident in Switzerland.

Mr Williams, 29,  and his friend and business partner Jason Tavaria, were with a group of young business people, including Michelle Dewberry, a former winner of The Apprentice.

It was reported that Mr Williams had fallen 60 feet from the mountain near the resort of Verbier.  The rescue operation to save him was played out on the social networking site Twitter.

The business partners met at Liverpool University and launched their music equipment and instrument firm from their student house and within  a year had built a £1m turnover business.

Dolphin is one of the leading providers of musical equipment on the internet and have also opened retail units branded as the Guitar Shop in Liverpool, Gateshead and Huddersfield.

The business employs more than 50 people and have achieved sales in excess of £9.2m in 2007, when it was ranked Britain’s 11th fastest-growing company.