There aren鈥檛 many entrepreneurs who have won two Oscars, an Emmy and a Grammy 鈥� but Mark Crabtree OBE is not your typical entrepreneur.
He鈥檚 the managing director and founder of AMS Neve and has worked with an array of stars including Snoop Dogg, Bee Gees and the late, great Whitney Houston.
Crabtree has just been included in 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 inaugural听Northern Leaders听list, which shines a light on the leaders who have made 鈥� and continue to make 鈥� the biggest positive difference to the North.
He launched AMS in the mid-1970s while working as a graduate for Lucas Aerospace designing a digital engine control system for Tornado aircraft.
He sold his first piece of audio equipment to Sir Paul McCartney and his firm鈥檚 digital mixing desks have been used on countless blockbuster films since blazing a trail with Titanic.
AMS Neve鈥檚 music consoles continue to be used by some of the world鈥檚 biggest names in music.
Today the company employs 94 people and has grown turnover to 拢13m, with export accounting for 85 per cent of their business.
Explaining his philosophy he said: 鈥淚 want to do something that is interesting and that鈥檚 why I started the business as I have an interest in music and electronics. It was to be self-employed really.
鈥淚 also say 鈥榳ould I want to buy this product I鈥檓 making?鈥� You don鈥檛 just do it because you鈥檝e always done it. Is it interesting?
鈥淚 think I read a lot later that Richard Branson said: 鈥榃ould people like us buy this?鈥欌��
Crabtree said having the right culture was crucial to AMS Neve鈥檚 success.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a very integrated business,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verything is done here. We鈥檙e really integrated from the designers to making prototypes to doing the marketing and the service.
鈥淲e have a really close relationship with our customers, and we bounce ideas backwards and forwards with them all the time.
鈥淚鈥檓 running it (AMS Neve) now as I ran it in the first instance which is I tend lead it and not manage it. To me managing is getting somebody to do something that they wouldn鈥檛 normally do unless you were pushing them.
鈥淚 spend a great deal of time selecting everybody from the top to the bottom of the organisation.鈥�
Crabtree still interviews everybody who joins the business and knows the names of all his staff.
The entrepreneur is approaching half a century in the business and admitted he gets a 鈥榣etter a week鈥� from people wanting to buy him out – but he has no interest in selling.
鈥淭he question is 鈥榳hat would I do if I wasn鈥檛 doing this because it鈥檚 really interesting?鈥� My wife said 鈥業 married you for better or worse, not for lunch鈥�.鈥�
AMS Neve recently received the听King鈥檚 Award for Enterprise and Crabtree remains a passionate supporter of Burnley鈥檚 vibrant business community.
His one piece of his advice to would-be entrepreneurs is to pick an area that really interests you rather than 鈥榮tart a business because you can start a business鈥�.
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