Three leading Tayside businessmen are in the running to be named Scotland’s top entrepreneur.
Dundee-based PressureFab Group founder Hermann Twickler and Stephen Leckie, chief executive of Crieff Hydro leisure resort in Perthshire, are among the shortlisted nominees for the title at the inaugural Scottish Chambers of Commerce Business Honours awards.
Mr Twickler who walked off with the Business Leader of the Year prize at last year’s Courier Business Awards has maintained a high-profile in the local business scene after selling his house to fund the establishment of PressureFab in 2008.
The group, which has its headquarters in Dundee’s Wright Avenue, has since become a major employer in the region through a combination of both organic growth and strategic acquisitions which have included moves for RT Metal Services of Arbroath and Fife fabricator Houston’s of Cupar during the course of the last year.
Mr Leckie is also well-known for his role as chairman of the Scottish Tourism Alliance and was at the helm of Crieff Hydro when it was named as the family resort of the year at the Scottish Hotel Awards in 2012.
In February this year Crieff Hydro acquired Peebles Hydro and the Park Hotel from McMillan, and completed a further deal to manage four venues on the West Coast and in Yorkshire as part of a joint venture with Freedom Hotels.
Plans for tens of millions of pounds of investment at Crieff to expand operations in the town are also being progressed.
Iain Hutchison of Perth-based Merlin ERD an extended-reach drilling firm which has ambitions to sink the world’s longest oil well is also in the title mix.
The record-chasing tycoon who is backing the Bloodhound Project bid to build the world’s first 1,000mph car saw his firm receive the royal seal of approval in May when it was one of only 10 businesses in Scotland to receive the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
The trio face stiff competition for the entrepreneur title from Bruce Walker of Edinburgh-based Bruce Walker of not-for-profit social enterprise We Are the Future, as well as from fellow Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce member Ann-Maree Morrison of Labels4Kids.
A number of other Tayside, Fife and Forth Valley companies including Mackie’s at Taypack, Hillcrest Group, Graham Environmental Services and Fife Fabrications are also in the running for awards at the event at Prestonfield House on September 11.
“All across Scotland I have seen businesses galvanise behind the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship,” SCC chairman Nora Senior said.
“I know from my engagement with our business-to-business connections that an air of vibrancy and dynamism has been injected as we become more confident and ambitious to reach further.
“This ceremony, by business and for business, rewards and recognises the efforts of those who wake up each day and strive to create jobs, tap into new markets and contribute to Scotland’s future.
“Now is the time for us to come together and celebrate, to seize the opportunities that lie ahead and show the world that business is great for Scotland.”