Bear in mind that these men and women have presided over average sales growth of 41 per cent and pre-tax profits growth of 71 per cent over the past year.
You might expect exuberance and optimism in the face of difficult economic circumstances, and there was some of that.
But there was also a sense that the growth of their businesses was hard-won and that it was most definitely not taken for granted. These are not business leaders content to sit back and toast their success, but entrepreneurs who regard themselves as being in the middle of a journey.
Sally Bailey is CEO of clothing retailer White Stuff, which has sales of £58.4 million. She’s not short of ambition, hoping to quadruple that figure in five years, but she’s also pragmatic. ‘We have to continually surprise and innovate,’ she says. ‘If you don’t innovate, you die.’
That theme is taken up by the MD of Pukka Pies, Tim Storer. Steeped in traditional values, the company has always stuck to the line that you need to heat pies in the oven for the best results. It hasn’t changed that mantra, but it has just launched a pie that’s specially adapted for microwave heating. Again, it’s about moving with the times, having values but not being wedded to a particular way of doing things.
Other companies in our top 50 have seen double-digit growth in profits and turnover while navigating some pretty tricky obstacles. Balhousie Holdings, a Scottish residential care provider, was recently denied funding from its bank (it has now secured finance with another). Three-year-old weight loss company All About Weight has fought off countless legal challenges from market incumbents. And plant pot maker The Stewart Company was over-geared by a private equity firm and was making annual losses of £1.2 million before current MD Lee Mowle led a successful turnaround.
Recent surveys have suggested that entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly optimistic about the future. That may be true, but this isn’t mindless optimism which expects everything to run smoothly. It’s the optimism of those who have made up their minds to get on with the job no matter what life throws at them.
