Key Success Stories

Tyrrells Potato Chips Ltd – Winner of The Outstanding Business Achievement Award. ‘Winner of Winners’
Sponsored by RBS

Introduction
Tyrrells Potato Chips Ltd., a member of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce and winner of the Green Award at the national Chamber Awards 2007, have been named the ‘Winner of Winners’ for Outstanding Business Achievement. As part of their award prize, Tyrrells received a cheque for £50,000 courtesy of sponsors RBS group.

The Winning Entry:
Tyrrells are the only small UK potato chip maker to grow their own potatoes and process them into crisps on their farm. They control the whole process from seed to chip and it takes 12 months to make a Tyrrells potato chip! As a company, Tyrrells pride themselves on contributing to the conservation of the environment and have developed many green initiatives.

Steve Pateman, Chief Executive for RBS Group UK Business Banking, said: “RBS Group works with thousands of successful businesses across the UK and, as sponsors, are proud to celebrate the best in British enterprise. The quality of the entries this year was extremely high but Tyrrells stood out by demonstrating all the attributes of successful enterprise. It is a brand we are all familiar with, committed to innovation and technical excellence, whilst sustaining successful UK and international sales in a competitive market. Tyrrells is a top class business in every respect and a worthy winner of this award.”

Life after the Awards
Tyrrells Potato Chips will use some of the £50,000 cash prize to fund research into the growing of its own organic oil seed rape. The funding will also help with more in-depth sustainable projects at Tyrrells Court, such as the new Vodka distillery which is being built at one of the farms in an old hop kiln. They plan to have the distillery ready by April 2008 and start producing potato vodka out of the potatoes they use in the chips process.

“We have gained fantastic coverage in the press after winning the outstanding business award and for winning the green award. Everyone we have met since recognise us for winning the award. Our customers were not aware how sustainable we are until they had read the Chamber magazine” Les Sayers, MD Tyrrells.

Geoffrey Davies of Alamo Group Europe Ltd – Winner of The Entrepreneur of the Year
Sponsored by Xerox

Introduction
Geoffrey Davies of the Alamo Group Europe Ltd, a member for the Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, was the National winner of Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Chamber Awards 2007.

Alamo Group Europe Ltd (AGE) is a market leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of agricultural and vegetation control machinery. They are one of the few remaining British engineering SME’s with 15 years of sustained growth in sales and profitability. They design, manufacture and market their products worldwide through agricultural dealers and distributors, and also sell to public sector clients, airport authorities and rail networks in more than 30 countries.

The Winning Entry
Geoffrey won the Xerox sponsored award because the judges were impressed by his entrepreneurial record in building up a profitable, growing and forward looking group of companies in an unfashionable ‘metal-bashing’ sector: agricultural machinery.

Geoffrey feels passionately about the engineering sector; “I love to test the perceived wisdom that SME engineering in Britain is not viable and have succeeded in proving you can run a profitable engineering concern within the UK. I have a profound interest in rural areas where there are pools of very talented people. I have ensured that all AGE companies remain in rural locations where they provide vital jobs.”

Darren Cassidy, General Manager and Director, Office Group, Xerox UK said: “Almost everyone thinks they can spot a business opportunity and create a successful company, but true entrepreneurs are a very rare breed. Geoffrey has pushed the boundaries to prove that in the small to medium sized market there is a place for British engineering. He has set out to dominate niche markets worldwide and since 1992 he has developed a turnover of £68m with £4m in profits.”

Life after the Awards
As a consequence of winning the award, the Alamo group and Geoffrey have received an extraordinary amount of publicity. The Shropshire Star, a daily paper which reports county issues with a rural perspective, covered Geoffrey’s win extensively and has since invited Geoffrey to write regular articles on Business Management and rural concerns.

“Winning the Chamber Award has given me a platform to promote Shropshire businesses and captured the imagination of a wider audience. It has given me the authority to speak on behalf of the industry I work in. I would encourage everyone to enter the Awards as you have nothing to lose and so much to gain. Just the experience itself is an external comment on how good you really are – being judged by your peers makes the accolade of winning even more exceptional” said Geoffrey.