Trio of Yorkshire entrepreneurs sign on with Connect Yorkshire

A trio of Yorkshire entrepreneurs have joined the ranks at Connect Yorkshire.

Chris Henry, Andy Wilby and Gordon Black have all agreed to become Entrepreneurs in Residence and to provide mentoring to the members of Connect Yorkshire.

Connect Yorkshire is a not-for-profit organisation which is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs running high growth businesses in the region.

The organisation’s aim is to provide mentoring, support and advice, offering an inside track to business growth.

Chris Henry and his brother Gerrard founded Intermarketing Communications Ltd in Headingley in 1990. At the Group’s inception, Chris ran the print management services and his brother ran the marketing communications business.

The business would eventually attract big name clients such as Next, Halifax Bank, Grattan and Adidas. By the time Chris disposed of his shares to a management team in 2015, the company employed over 80 staff and had a turnover approaching £20m.

Andy Wilby started Leeds Parcel Company (LPC) in May 1999, funded by four shareholders. The company started with three employees, Andy himself, his daughter Lindsey and one other.

Following 18 years of continued growth, LPC now has seven depots across the North East of England and Scotland. The shareholdings in the various depots and divisions are held by a holding company; the turnover of the group is over £40m and has 450 employees.

The final of the three new Entrepreneurs in Residence is Gordon Black. In 1965, Gordon joined Peter Black Limited, which was already a supplier of bags and shoes to Marks & Spencer and Boots and turned over approx £2m.

Gordon and his brother Thomas eventually expanded the range of products they supplied to M&S to include leisure wear, toiletries, cosmetics and homeware, and by the time the company floated on the stock exchange in 1972, sales had reached £4.7m.

The company was taken private on 2000 and sold in 2007 to a Chinese purchaser by which time turnover had reached £300m and had several thousand employees. Since the sale, Gordon has invested in variety of ventures including the High Street TV Limited and written a book From Bags to Blenders-The Journey of a Yorkshire Businessman.

Sophie Patton, operations director of Connect Yorkshire, said: “We are very proud to announce another 3 Entrepreneurs in residence who all give their time to Connect Yorkshire for free to help mentor and grow Yorkshire based businesses.

“We are always looking to improve our services and membership offering and these 3 add even more value to our growing membership.”