Date: Thu 20th May, 2010
Venue: Royal Armouries Museum, Armouries Drive, Leeds, LS10 1LT
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This year’s Insider 42 dinner at the Royal Armouries in Leeds marked its 10th anniversary and to mark the occasion, in addition to the regular awards for emerging entrepreneurship and business leadership from Yorkshire’s under-42s, there was also a special award this year for the 42er of the decade.
This award went to Tim Whitworth, founder of clothing retailer Republic, who opened a denim shop in Leeds in 1986 and now has more than 100 stores and 2,500 staff. Collecting his award, he said: “We have gone from strength to strength. We opened 15 stores last year. It is about the team and the whole business having a clear vision, having a clear strategy for growth and everyone playing their part.”
Whitworth also offered his advice to young entrepreneurs: “You will face some very tough decisions. I would say there is one person that you must keep front of mind, which is the customer. You are subservient to these people. If we keep them happy they will keep us happy.”
There was a special round of applause also for Mike Humphrey, group chief executive of chemicals firm Croda, who won the master entrepreneur title. Collecting the award, he found time to offer some unique advice to young entrepreneurs: “Look for mega-trends. We made our money out of two mega-trends, ageing and vanity. You do the ageing and I’ll do the vanity.”
In researching the 42 individuals who made up the shortlist for this year’s awards, a common theme that emerged was how they have dealt effectively with the downturn, and especially the looming public sector cuts.
Alex McWhirter, assistant director of business at Yorkshire Forward, talked of the “dramatic change” in the business climate.
He said: “Entrepreneurship is the spark that can set our economy alight. We need successful indigenous start-ups that can establish themselves and expand their businesses internationally. In Yorkshire and Humber the private sector needs to be nurtured, and I’d argue that this will require entrepreneur-led growth.”
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