The impressive rags to riches success story of local businessman Rob Stone has wowed an impressive line-up of judges at the prestigious Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2021, where he has just won ‘Scale-up Entrepreneur of Year’ for the Midlands region.
His business, Instaloft, now the UK’s largest installer of loft storage solutions, was officially launched in October 2014 and within a 7-year period, Rob has successfully scaled the business from a ‘one-man band’ operating from a 3-bedroom semi-detached house in Telford, to a £14-million turnover empire, which now employs 127 skilled installers across 6 UK depots.
Now in its 9th year, the Great British Entrepreneur Awards (in partnership with Starling Bank) celebrate the inspiring stories of entrepreneurs across the UK, recognising the hard work, determination, creativity and resilience required to rise above the rest.
Rob won the award on 22nd November at a glittering face to face event at Grosvenor House, London, joined by 1,200 entrepreneurs, judges, mentors, investors and partners to celebrate the unrivalled creativity, ambition and resilience of entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom.
The regional winners are now in the running to be named Great British Entrepreneurs of the Year 2021 at the National Finals, with a date yet to be confirmed.
Rob explained: “I founded Instaloft during a very challenging time in my life, where I didn’t have enough income to feed my family. Back then, if I had imagined walking away from such an inspiring ceremony as the Scale-up Entrepreneur of the Year 2021, I wouldn’t have believed it. It is an absolute honour for me to win such an accolade and I hope my story will inspire others who are starting out.
This award isn’t just for me; it takes an amazing team to believe in me and to support me along the way so this award is for everyone at Instaloft who have helped to make this happen.”
Headquartered in Telford with regional offices in Essex, Reading, Peterborough, Newport and Wakefield, Instaloft is also a shareholder of LoftZone, after Rob acquired one third of the business to safeguard the future of the company.