Rich List 2012: No.14 - Sir David Samworth (£470m)
Sir David Samworth’s Leicester food supplier and maker of the famous Ginsters pasty won the 2011 Family Business of the Year prize at the inaugural Private Business Awards sponsored by PwC and HSBC. The accolade was awarded at a dinner and ceremony at the Savoy Hotel in London.
The award recognised record profits and turnover at Leicestershire’s biggest private sector employer. Sir David has also been recognised for his generosity and work for charity and education. In 2009 he received a knighthood.
Among the projects supported by Sir David is the Samworth Brothers Charity Challenge, in which 40 teams of staff, suppliers and customers take part in two days of mountaineering, kayaking and navigation, all in the name of good causes.
Sir David, aged 75, also supports three city academies; the Nottingham University Samworth Academy, the Samworth Church Academy in Mansfield and the Samworth Enterprise Academy in Leicester.
Back in 1868 a young George Samworth first entered the business world as a member of a consortium of Birmingham pig buyers. Twenty-eight years later he set up his own business as a pig dealer in Birmingham.
