At home with the ultimate entrepreneur

22 May 2009

Business guru Sir Richard Branson opened the doors of his Oxfordshire home this week to welcome in the UK’s top 100 business entrepreneurs for the awards ceremony of the Virgin-sponsored 2009 Sunday Times FastTrack 100.

Among the guests celebrating the ability of at least some UK businesses to buck the economic trend were DriveTech’s two top executives, Chairman Chris Howell and Managing Director Jim Kirkwood. DriveTech was placed 89th in the rankings when the awards were originally published back in December 2008.

Some prominent business figures spoke at the event, most notably the HSBC’s Chief Economist Dennis Turner, Dragon’s Den panellist James Caan and Tim Smit CBE, the visionary who brought the Eden Project to fruition against all the odds.

“We felt privileged to be in such company” said Chris Howell after the event. “Dennis Turner warned us to not get too excited about seeing the end of the recession just yet but I detected plenty of optimism amongst the audience. It’s not all doom and gloom by any means.”

“From DriveTech’s point of view it looks like being another strong year” added Jim Kirkwood. “Our diverse interests in all aspects of driver education mean we don’t have all our eggs in one basket. We’re confident of consolidating our position as the leading UK supplier of driver education services.”

Further information about DriveTech’s wide-ranging work in driver education please refer to www.drivetech.co.uk

For further information, members of the media should contact
Steve Johnson on direct line +44 (0)1344 467896, mobile +44 (0)7894 621134 or on steve.johnson@drivetech.co.uk

Editor's Notes

DriveTech (UK) plc is one of the UK’s leading providers of road risk management, driver assessment and education. We work with organisations whose employees ‘drive for work’ (FleetSafe) and with members of the public, who are offered education as an alternative to prosecution by the police (DriverAware), as well as a totally fresh approach to learning to drive (Advantage).

DriveTech’s vision is ‘working together to eliminate road death and serious injuries’ by providing the most effective and innovative solutions, using education and technology, to minimise risk for all road users.

DriveTech has won the Institute of Transport Management’s ‘Fleet Award for Driver Training’ in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 and the ‘European Driver Safety Specialist’ award in 2005. In September 2007, it was named the ITM’s ‘UK Driver Training Solutions Specialist’ and in 2008 DriveTech was voted ‘Best Driver Training Company’ in the Green Fleet Awards.

DriveTech is a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, the Association of Car Fleet Operators, the Association of National Driver Improvement Scheme Providers, the DfT’s ‘Driving For Better Business’ campaign and is accredited by both the Driving Standards Agency and City & Guilds.