Two Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme clients have scooped prestigious Queen’s Awards.
The awards were first established in 1965 and celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.
This year 220 UK businesses have been recognised for their contribution to international trade, innovation, sustainable development and promoting opportunity through social mobility. Eight of these firms are based in Wales, and two are clients of the AGP programme – Corwen-based Ruth Lee and Swansea’s CPR Global Tech.
Corwen-based Ruth Lee manufacture training manikins designed to provide realistic simulated casualties for rescue and safety training. Founder Ruth Lee began producing the training manikins in the 1980s when a family friend who worked for Merseyside Fire Service asked if it could repair one of the brigade’s own manikins made from hessian sacking and old hose. Ruth spotted the opportunity to create something better, leading to the first Ruth Lee training manikin.
The business now employs 30 people and has gone on to become a world leader in the design and manufacture of training manikins for industries such as the emergency services, armed forces, lifeguards, maritime and health and social care. Exports represent 70% of the total business and this is growing over-proportionately year-on-year. Ruth Lee Ltd currently sells to more than 50 countries, through a network of more than 40 distributors and has sent manikins to every continent on the planet.
Ruth Lee managing director Paul McDonnell said: "We are absolutely thrilled and proud to share this news during difficult times.
"Our export success is built upon strong foundations of quality and customer service – our international customers know and trust us to deliver the best possible products for rescue, safety and manual handling training.
"We work with a fantastic network of distributors across the world to supply manikins to organisations dedicated to improving their safety and training standards. We must thank them for their continued dedication to training.
"Most importantly, though, I must thank our outstanding team here in Corwen. I am proud of the hard-work and dedication shown by everyone – it is this which makes Ruth Lee Ltd the success it is today.
"We are over the moon to be awarded one of the highest business accolades in the country and will continue to work hard to prove that Wales is key player when it comes to international trade."
CPR Global Tech Ltd has again been recognised for its excellence in International Trade after picking up the same prestigious award in 2018. CPR Global Tech was established in 2010 to tackle the growing problem of nuisance calls and produce a range of stand-alone call blocking devices that plug in to landline phones and allow the user to cut off and permanently block nuisance and scam calls.
As the issue of nuisance calls has grown into a global problem, CPR has followed suit and moved into foreign markets including the USA, Australia and throughout countries in Europe.
Andrew Sandbrook, CEO of CPR Global Tech, said: “Being recognised in 2018 for our international trade was amazing. To be acknowledged again this year is a huge honour. We are extremely proud and excited to receive such a prestigious endorsement – twice - and it is a testament to all of the hard work we have put in as a company over the last eight years to tackle the problem of nuisance and scam calls.
“The issue of nuisance calls is not one that is going away and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect those people who are receiving them regularly, especially those who are amongst the most vulnerable in society.”
Richard Morris, of AGP, said:
“The Queen’s Award is a recognition of the outstanding and pioneering work by Ruth Lee and CPR Global Tech. Working with AGP, these companies have been able to develop their exports and expansion overseas. Helping firms such as these, is putting Welsh business at the forefront of international markets. Both companies have an exciting future ahead of it and we hope to continue help them as they grow.”
Learn more about Ruth Lee.
Learn more about CPR Global Tech.
You can find further information on Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP)