Mike Lord, the chief executive of stairlift manufacturer Minivator, has received Insider’s 42 Under 42 Overall Entrepreneur Award. Lord won the trophy at the gala dinner, attended by his fellow 42 Under 42ers – the Midlands most promising young business leaders as chosen by Insider – at Birmingham’s Hyatt Hotel.
The judges said the way Lord had built the Kingswinford business, achieving annual double-digit growth for seven years and making major investments in product development, marketing and training, was an example of how Midlands manufacturing ought to be.
Winner of the West Midlands Entrepreneur of the Year award was Tony Neill, European vice president of Navman Wireless, the country’s largest manufacturer of tracking, messaging and navigation equipment for commercial fleets. The judges were impressed by how Neill had led his company from a turnover of £500,000 to £26m in six years.
Andrew Springhall, finance director at Leicestershire’s Power On Connections, was named East Midlands Entrepreneur of the Year: the judges were impressed by the way he drove the independent electricity connection company’s turnover up by 130 per cent last year, putting it on course for an income of £19m.
Date: Tue 3rd June, 2008
Venue: Hyatt, Birmingham
