Comment:NW Masters scatters dark clouds of recession
ALL the qualities needed to lead the region – and this country forward out of the economic gloom were on display in force at the 2012 North West Business Masters Awards, in association with Jaguar.
Just over 24 hours after the depressing news emerged that the economy had slipped back into recession, the inspiring stories of individual inspiration, enterprise, passion, bloody-minded determination and excellence were celebrated at TheBusinessDesk.com’s annual awards.
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From young entrepreneur Melissa Burton, whose gluten-free sweets business, Goody Good Stuff has just done a deal to supply ASDA – and is now targeting a listing in Tesco – to veteran entrepreneur Fred Done, who in his late 60s, declared himself “more ambitious than ever” – there was plenty to scatter the dark clouds of recession.
Other major success stories highlighted at the Masters awards – held at Manchester’s Midland Hotel -was a £40m order from the US Department for Defense for military bridge manufacturer WFEL – which fittingly won the North West Manufacturer award, sponsored by Deloitte.
Keith Rimmer, the Warrington-based managing director of Belfry Group, revealed the inspiration for his EcoPod device – for which his company has £180m worth of orders, and a worldwide licensing deal with construction giant Carillion.
He said his ‘Eureka’ moment had come when he had been working at a block of flats and an old lady had been heating water in her kettle to wash with, because she couldn’t afford to use her immersion heater.
“That got me thinking, and I went home that night, and started drawing and sketching out some ideas… now we’ve got £180m in orders and we’re hiring at a rate of four people a week.”
Mr Rimmer, who was named North West Innovator in the category sponsored by law firm Cobbetts, revealed he is now looking at selling EcoPod to the Gulf states, where it will be used for cooling rather than heating.
There was positivity aplenty from other finalists too, with Atherton-based MHA Lighting revealing it had doubled turnover this year, and expects to do the same this year.
In the Pride category, Damien Kelly from Liverpool’s Brink Dry Bar – an unique community arts and entertainment venue on Merseyside- said other locations were possibly in the pipeline.
The Brink – which was visited by the Duchess of Cambrige on St Valentine’s Day – is a social enterprise and has received national and international coverage, with features in both US and Canadian media, Mr Kelly said.
Chris Barry, North West editor of TheBusinessDesk.com said: “As an organisation we are an unashamed champion for business in the regions we serve. We have always sought to highlight postive news during difficult economic times, and the North West Business Masters awards was perfect proof of this.
“Those present at the event – or even reading our coverage – can’t help to have been inspired by the passion, commitment and achievement of the finalists.”
Click here to download our 2012 North West Business Masters Review.
