Simon Howie was awarded the Thorntons Business Leader of the Year Award at the recent Perthshire Chamber Business Star Awards.

The annual Business Star Awards sponsored by Binn Group took place at the Crieff Hydro and showcased some of the best businesses and individual in the area.

Although unable to attend on the night, Thorntons and the Chamber visited Simon to share the news of his win and guests on the night were shown a video of Simon gratefully accepting the award and praising his family and team.

Chris Allen of category sponsor Thorntons then caught up again with Simon at his base in Dunning to present the beautiful glass award which was specially created by Caithness Glass and Dartington Crystal.

Simon was born and brought up on the family farm in Dunning. He left school at 17 to train as a butcher, and at 19 he founded the village butchery business which set him off on his entrepreneurial journey.  He greatly acknowledges the mentoring and support of his parents Angus and Dorothy.

Since then, his butchery business has grown massively, and his name has become nationally synonymous with premium quality. Products are listed throughout the UK in the top 6 supermarkets. However, alongside this, over the past 30 years he has developed businesses in a wide range of fields, building a group of companies with almost 400 employees and an annual turnover of more than £40m.

The companies he has developed encompass property development, laminate fabrication, the activities at Perth Harbour, recycling, and energy from waste, and of course the butchery brand, with his drive and expertise making a success of all of them. He has since gone on to sell two of those businesses for a combined price of almost £70m. Simon is quick to mention that his success is down to finding the best people, “no one has a team like I do” he says.

Simon is a worthy winner of this award as he has consistently demonstrated a high level of enterprise, innovation, and energy in establishing and developing his business portfolio, which started as one butcher’s shop and went on to encompass property development, recycling, energy from waste and laminate fabrication. He has also remained loyal to his Perthshire roots and is committed to giving back to our local communities.

Chris Allan, Partner at Thorntons, said: “Perthshire has a vibrant business community and it was great to see a range of businesses and individuals celebrated at the Perthshire Chamber Star Awards again this year. As an iconic Scottish brand with a proud Perthshire heritage, Simon Howie is a worthy winner of the 2022 business leader award.”