Insider Media Limited

The managing director of Coventry-based Pailton Engineering has plans to open a manufacturing site in India and potentially a joint venture in Brazil, Insider can reveal. John Nollett, who recently won Insider's International Entrepreneur of the Year award, also said he had a long-term ambition to grow the company to £100m turnover.

Nollett was presented with the International Entrepreneur trophy after growing the business to export 62 per cent of its Coventry-manufactured products to countries across the world. He was awarded at Insider's recent 42 under 42 event.

Pailton Engineering already trades across the five continents, and Nollett said the company would now focus its ambitions on expanding its international reach.

"Specifically, we will be targeting Eastern Europe, including Russia, as an export zone. Further to this, we plan to open a manufacturing plant in India for their domestic market and possibly either an office or a joint venture in Brazil," said Nollett.

He also expressed ambitions to increase the company's turnover from £14.5m to £25m over the next 18 months.

"This won’t be through just organic growth -this will be through acquisition too," said Nollett.

His long-term goal for the company is to hit the £100m turnover mark within a 12-year period.

He said that trading internationally had "strengthened" the Pailton brand, as the company is now seen as a global supplier to the automotive sector.

"Opening up these new markets has also given us access to new foreign suppliers and made us aware of smaller foreign competitors who we were unaware of before," said Nollett. "The biggest benefit that we have seen is obviously growth. The UK market has been contracting for some time, which meant had we not have looked at foreign shores, we too as a business would have contracted with the market."

Pailton, which employs more than 150 people in Coventry, specialises in manufacturing steering systems' products, including Axial joints, ball joints and steering wheels.

Nollett said that in the years prior to him becoming managing director at the business when he was 35, the entrepreneurial spirit "had always lived inside" him

He added: "In my opinion, most entrepreneurs start their own business after the age of 30 because they have experienced business and seen better ways of doing things and most probably, by that age, have more confidence than they did when they were younger to take that brave step.

"However, I know several people who have started very successful businesses when they were far younger, some in their teens, so I do believe that even without learned skills and experience, some people, by their very nature have the ability to be entrepreneurial."

Photo: John Nollett, left, receives his International Entrepreneur of the Year award