© 2016 EYGM Limited. All Rights Reserved. ED 05/17. 56085.indd (UK) 01/16. CSG Design. This image is only an artistic impression and is not a true historical representation. Like Bessie Coleman, are you determined to get something off the ground? Visit eoy.co.uk to enter or nominate an entrepreneurial business leader. #EOY2016UK
Cover photography Charlie Surbey <strong>Exceptional</strong> is an awardwinning magazine for and about entrepreneurs and fast-growth companies. <strong>Exceptional</strong> For EY Strategic Growth Markets Leader, UK & Ireland Graeme Crawford Marketing, SGM, UK&I Elizabeth Page Brand, Marketing & Communications Assistant Director, SGM, EMEIA Lindsey Grazier Marketing Leader, SGM, EMEIA Victoria Gravett For further information about <strong>Exceptional</strong>, please email epage@uk.ey.com or call +44 20 7951 8664. For Wardour Editor Tim Turner Art Director David Donaghy Account Director Emma Fisher Account Manager Matt Goodenday Production Jack Morgan Creative Director Ben Barrett Production Director John Faulkner Managing Director Claire Oldfield CEO Martin MacConnol <strong>Exceptional</strong> is published on behalf of EY by Wardour, 5th Floor, Drury House, 34–43 Russell Street, London WC2B 5HA, United Kingdom. Tel. +44 20 7010 0999 wardour.co.uk “All these stories illustrate how entrepreneurs are at the very heart of our economy.” Whatever your company’s growth aspirations, whether it’s to grow from local to global, from private to public, from challenger to leader, or from millions to billions, there is one question we hear all the time: how do I accelerate growth and make it sustainable? To help answer this question, we’ve used our experience dealing with the world’s fastest-growing companies to create the EY 7 Drivers of Growth, a framework that helps companies to align their capabilities with their growth strategy. In this edition of <strong>Exceptional</strong>, we tell the stories of seven successful companies, each of which has benefited by focusing on one of these Growth Drivers. They span a wide range of activities, from traditional manufacturing businesses to cutting-edge digital start-ups. Among the former are Büchel, the family-owned German component company whose owner, Erhard Büchel, took the bold step of relocating to the Far East and merging with a Chinese firm. This alliance saved the company and laid the basis for its eventual return, after the reunification of Germany, to its original headquarters. It’s a remarkable tale of successfully adapting to changing circumstances. Among the high-tech companies featured, Drop is an Irish start-up that is launching a range of smart digital products for cooks, starting with a connected kitchen scale and recipe app. Connectivity is at the heart of the company, which uses data analytics to understand its customers and the market. Another successful digital business is online luxury fashion marketplace Farfetch — so successful, in fact, that it has become a “unicorn,” one of the elite group of businesses founded since 2003 that are now worth over US$1b. We meet CEO José Neves and find out how his dedication to innovation and risk-taking has helped him to build a business that is not only growing online, but also helping the fashion boutiques it works with to prosper in brick-andmortar stores. Also in this issue: our cover star, Nathaniel Peat, explains how he combines cutting-edge innovation with social entrepreneurship in his renewable energy company, GeNNex, and we explore how education can help to foster the entrepreneurial culture that is vital to create employment for young people. All these stories illustrate, in their various ways, how entrepreneurs are at the very heart of our economy, and I hope they will inspire you to write the next chapter in your own growth story. Graeme Crawford Strategic Growth Markets Leader, UK & Ireland, EY <strong>Exceptional</strong> February–June 2016 1
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