Biographies

Derek Louden 

Derek joined Scot Frost of Glasgow Ltd some 30 years ago after his gap weekend at the age of 16.

The company was operating out of a small office in the east end of Glasgow and the staff consisted of his father, mother & aunt. 

They now have 5 depots employing 150 people in Glasgow, Lincoln, Newcastle and head office in Uddingston.

Along with his brother and sister who also joined the family business, it is now one of the UK’s leading fresh, frozen & ambient food distributors into the mainly specialist Chinese ethnic market, supplying restaurants and frozen specialist ethnic supermarkets and cash & carry’s. 

Sales have grown to £52m and they have embarked on their most ambitious project to date and have started work on a new Greenfield site in London which will be ready to open in March 2012.

They envisage sales of £10m within the first year and are targeting £25m within 5 years from London alone. 

They were also one of the first private companies to import Asiatic seafood into the UK some 25 years ago, which led to them being awarded the ‘friend of India’ award in 2008 for the largest seafood importer that year into Europe from the Indian sub-continent.

They now source directly into India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Ecuador, Senegal, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand as well as all of Europe. 

The company is very well aware of the challenges ahead through the very difficult economic climate, but with the right strategy they are looking forward to the challenge.

Away from work Derek is a dedicated taxi driver for his 3 children and tries to ski as much as possible!

Ann Rushforth MBE

Ann Rushforth MBE is a qualified Nurse and Midwife, who in 1987 started her own Nursing and Care Business Scotnursing. Early this year She sold the Home care half of the Business to Allied Healthcare> The group of companies had grown to a turnover of 16 million.

She retains ScotNursing and ScotDocs which supplies Medical and Nursing services in Occupational Health & Health Surveillance, Contract and Temp Nursing to Hospitals, Clinics, Care Homes, Prisons, Schools, Courts and Hospices. She continues to provide Private Nursing care at home for Palliative care, Case Management for Chronic Illness and Disabilities, Nannies and Qualified Babysitting. All services cross the country. 

In 2006 she received, the award of the MBE for support to Nursing and Business, she was also inducted into the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World.  

In addition Ann has been recognised for a number of other awards including Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year and Scottish Businesswoman of the Year.  Ann  assists with the accelerator panel for Princes Scotland Youth Business Trust, for their loan fund.  She has been a guider for the Girl Guide Association since 1989. 

She is married with three adult children Two with their own businesses one a group of children’s nurseries and the other Commercial Landscaping and Ground maintenance. Ann served as a board member for two three year terms of the Entrepreneurial Exchange. Her hobbies are Sailing ,Golf, reading, watching Rugby and football.  

Brian Williamson

Brian began his managerial life at Weir Pumps and is now in his 30th year of running companies at Board level. From the age of 26 and for the next 12 years he ran companies for others after which he embarked upon a life as an entrepreneur and in 1994 he launched his first company in the Automotive sector. Within three years it reached a £5m turnover and after selling his interest he started his own Oil and Gas Company. Eurotech was an award-winning business, acknowledged for its rapid growth and for its exceptional export achievements. Today, Brian is the Executive Chairman of the recruitment company Brightwork which specialises in both temporary and permanent placements. From sales of £6.5m in the 2006, it has a current turnover of £30m.

He is also the Managing Director of Jumpstart an Edinburgh-based technology business which recovers funds from HMRC through Research and Development Tax Credits. The company employs highly qualified staff usually to PhD level. Jumpstart has sales of £3m and is growing by 250% annually employing 60 people and by the end of 2012 expects to employ close to 100. The four year old company is helping small, medium and large businesses across the UK claim substantial cash through this invaluable tax incentive.