THE extraordinary career of academic, engineer and entrepreneur Dr Herbert Loebl was celebrated when he was presented with a very well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.
But despite Dr Loebl, being retired and now in his 80s, he has not given up helping boost the North-East economy since he won the prize at the North East Business Executive of the Year Awards 2010.
In February he launched the Herbert Loebl Export Academy alongside Newcastle University Business School which works with companies to help them prepare to sell overseas.
His dedication, hard work and ambition made him an excellent role model as judges look for the winners of this year’s awards, organised by the Journal and Evening Gazette.
There has even been research which shows Dr Loebl’s legacy in terms of companies which owe their existence to him. The son of a Jewish manufacturer, he was born in Germany but fled to England with his family aged 16 when the Nazis came to power.
His father and uncle were granted visas to come to Britain in 1939 on condition they set up a small manufacturing business in a depressed area.
They chose Team Valley, Gateshead. Loebl carried out his apprenticeship as a toolmaker there, until he was directed to work in a war factory in London in 1943.
After returning to study in the North East at King’s College, Newcastle, he joined fellow graduate Robert Joyce and they set up Joyce Loebl.
Starting with little money in a workshop under a railway arch in Painters Heugh, Newcastle, the firm Joyce, Loebl & Company Ltd developed strongly, making scientific instruments and later electronic controls in a subsidiary company Sevcon Engineering Ltd. This became a hugely successful engineering group employing more than 500 people and led to the creation of 40 other businesses.
According to research by Paul Benneworth, of Newcastle University, who carried out a study into Loebl and Joyce’s legacy around eight years ago, the pair’s influence in terms of business creation is almost unparalleled.
And it was also long-lasting, with former employees moving into enterprise as late as the recessions of the 1980s and 90s.
His passion for helping others to succeed led him to found Britain’s first voluntary support agency – Enterprise North – which helped 200 business start-ups before being replaced by Government agencies. Dr Loebl retired from the company he co-founded in 1974. He gained a Master of Philosophy from the University of Durham and a PhD from the University of Newcastle.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is just one of the titles given at the prestigious annual awards. There are three sub-regional heats – Tyneside and Northumberland, Durham and Wearside and Teesside. The overall winner of the North East Business Executive of the Year title will be chosen from the top executives who progress through to the grand final.
In addition to the top award, there are trophies for the North East Young Business Person of the Year and the Non-Executive Director of the Year, which aims to recognise the vital role non-executives can play in the development of companies of all sizes.
This year’s awards will be held at the Gosforth Park Marriott Hotel, Newcastle, on Thursday November 17, 2011.
To book a table, log on to www.nebusiness.co.uk/businessexec or call 0191 201 6435 or email lesley.hampson@ncjmedia.co.uk