New faces of boomtime Britain
As the established corporate names take a battering, the Queen hands gongs to...
ENTREPRENEURS who have made millions from posh bottled beer, men’s face cream, smoothies and an app that speeds up text messaging are among those who received birthday honours from the Queen.
The awards give official recognition to a number of vibrant startup businesses which are increasingly rattling the big High Street names. And it comes as anger grows at the behaviour of some of the established giants of the corporate world.
Sir Philip Green faces questions about his involvement in the sale of BHS to a three-times bankrupt, Mike Ashley was quizzed by MPs about the alleged Victorian working practices at a Sports Direct warehouse, and WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell faced a revolt over his £70m pay deal.
MBEs went to James Watt and Martin Dickie, who set up the beer company BrewDog in Fraserburgh in 2007 when they were both 24, and have turned it in to a business which employs 500 and exports to more than 50 countries. Last year the company’s sales grew more than 50pc to £45m.
Watt, who is 34 and married to adult colouring book creator Johanna Basford, said: ‘We’ve built an incredible team of passionate, beer-loving people both at home and internationally, with all of us on a mission to make other people as passionate as we are about great craft beer.’
However, BrewDog has courted controversy in its time.
In 2010 it brewed what was the world’s strongest beer at 55pc, it named a beer Speedball after the drug cocktail that killed Stand By Me actor River Phoenix aged 23 in 1993, and during the Royal Wedding in 2011 released a tipple that contained aphrodisiacs and was named Royal Virility Performance.
Other recipients of an MBE are 30-year-old Jon Reynolds and 26year-old Ben Medlock who founded the keyboard app SwiftKey.
It uses artificial intelligence and typing prediction technology to allow customers to write faster on mobile phones.
The company started by three Cambridge University friends was bought by Microsoft in February for £170m. However, the announcement will be another blow to the third member of SwiftKey’s founding trio, Chris Scott-Hill. The 29year-old from Buckinghamshire left SwiftKey in 2008 and gave up his stake in the company – for a bicycle. It is a decision Scott-Hill has described as ‘the biggest mistake I ever made’.
The co-founders of men’s skincare brand Bulldog have also received MBEs.
Friends Simon Duffy, 39, a former product designer at Saatchi & Saatchi, and former investment banker Rhodri Ferrier, 37, launched the brand in 2007.
Duffy was buying natural moisturiser for his wife Annabel and realised there were no equivalent cosmetics for men.
The product is sold in thousands of stores worldwide and this year sales will hit £11m.
Bonamy Grimes, co-founder of SkyScanner, receives an MBE for services to technology and travel.
The 44-year-old, who lives in Norfolk with his wife Juliet, cofounded the flight prices comparison website with Manchester University friends Barry Smith and Gareth Williams, who is the firm’s chief executive.
They came up with the idea in the pub in 2001, and last year revenues reached £120m.
The co-founder of Innocent smoothies, Richard Reed, was awarded a CBE for services to the food industry and to charity.
The 43-year-old founded Innocent with Cambridge University friends Adam Balon and Jon Wright when they decided they wanted to run an ethical, healthy business.
They spent a week selling homemade smoothies at a jazz festival in 1999 and sold 24 on their first day. Innocent now trades in 18 countries.
Reed and his two co-founders sold their stakes to Coca-Cola in a deal that valued the company at £330m. They now run Jam Jar Investments, a business that backs and mentors young entrepreneurs.
Aldermore bank chief executive Phillip Monks was given an OBE for services to banking.
The 56-year-old, who lives in Essex with his wife Patricia and their two children, founded the bank in 2009 and has worked in the industry for more than 30 years.
Aldermore, which focuses on tailored lending services for its customers, has grown from 30 employees seven years ago to 850 today.