Inspiration aplenty at E&Y Entrepreneur Awards
TO the Hilton on Park Lane, where The Capitalist began the week being inspired and humbled (only the most eloquent of self-made millionaires can bring a sympathetic tear to the eye) at the Ernst & Young UK Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
This year’s finalists were certainly in fine company, with previous winners of the UK title including Tim Richards (Vue Entertainment), Michael Spencer (Icap) and Lord Harris (Carpetright), who loyal readers will remember was recently featured in these pages over a pesky pooch problem.
Nick Wheeler, founder of Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts, a man who must have taken many a pound from wallets around the Square Mile, won the consumer award. After thanking his CEO (“I didn’t tell the judges that the business used to be an absolute disaster until I gave it to my CEO to run”), charmer Nick also thanked his wife for “not entering this award herself – because she runs a business called The White Company which is much bigger and better than mine!”
Unsurprisingly a financial services firm won the overall award. Lance Uggla of Markit confessed: “I wish I made shirts or my wife made sheets. Because that would be a lot more exciting than what I do…”