Today, he's the boss of Rotherham's most profitable SME – a company that employs 170 people, has quadrupled its sales over the last six years, is heading towards a £22 million turnover and has a reputation for quality and innovation in the commercial lighting world.

He says: "Success is like climbing a ladder. I've been climbing and climbing and climbing and I'm not dizzy yet, so I'm still climbing.
"It's got easier because we've been able to employ people with ability. I've got people around me who are bringing in the added benefits of their knowledge and experience."

His company, ASD Lighting, supplies royal palaces, hospitals, apartment blocks and a range of industrial and commercial developments.

Its 35-strong sales team covers the UK from John O'Groats to Land's End and the company exports to Australia and the Middle East, as well as Southern Ireland and Continental Europe.

Not bad for a business that started out over a shop with four youngsters on a Youth Training Scheme, rapidly moved to Rotherham to escape Sheffield's rocketing rates and now occupies a healthy slice of the Barbot Hall Industrial Estate.

What do you think? Post your comments below.

The foundation for ASD's success was Tony Stewart's idea to combine the Passive InfraRed (PIR) detectors, used in security alarms, with outside lighting and a timer to create a light that switched on when someone moved and turned off after they went away.

He knew he was onto a good thing when he fitted a prototype close to his back door, giving the milkman such a shock that he broke two bottles. But, no one wanted to make it, so Tony decided to do it himself, scoring an instant success with the DIY sheds.

Tony says: "We fed a lot of products into the sheds. It was nothing to walk away with an order for £750,000." The Queen Mother had them fitted to her stables and NATO installed ASD's lights on the Berlin Wall, but, after eight years, the writing was on the wall as far as the sheds were concerned.

Tony says: "The DIY establishment wanted to rationalise manufacturing and products and to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze on price. We were accused of over-engineering our products."

Rather than sacrifice quality and durability, Tony decided to target the professional market – wholesalers, architects local authority specifiers and the like.

The decision was the making of ASD, which today designs, develops and manufactures a wide range of lighting products and systems and is at the forefront of technological development aimed at saving energy, preventing light pollution, making lighting easier to install and maintain and offering new features for users.

READ MORE
Your letters.
Today's features.
Latest sport.
Main news index.