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Perfect text for high flyer Bird

He has built two successful local technology companies in 15 years and today is technology chief of Esendex, turning over more than £8 million - 40 per cent of that from overseas - employing 50 people and achieving annual growth better than 20 per cent.

He has helped create a business specialising in services and technology enabling companies to send and receive SMS (text) and voice messages to and from mobile phones en masse.

In the company's latest full year, 14,000 clients across Europe and Australasia processed 180 million messages.
The ambitious Hampshire man came to Nottingham University before deciding to make the city his home.

After graduating, he had the choice of doing a PhD or developing software to help JD Wetherspoon manage its expansion. Choosing the latter, he went on to form a consultancy serving blue chip clients.

Ultimately, that firm went down in the 2000 "tech crash" - but he'd learned enough to put him on the road to long-term success.

Mr Bird also plays a leading role in helping to promote Nottingham as a centre for creative and technology businesses.

Earlier this year, he was selected as one of the Creative Class of 2011, a group of growing creative and technology companies brought together by the Invest in Nottingham Club to act as poster boys and girls for the sector in Nottingham.

Speaking at the launch of the Creative Class, he said: "It's great that an event like this is being held but this isn't about making me feel good. It's about showing people what's possible.

'We can all be examples to the wider field of business that Nottingham can be a great place to run and develop business and that more people should come and do the same.
"The challenge with this kind of thing is always whether you can get years two and three.

"I'm confident that there will be a next generation of the Creative Class."
Involved in technology networking organisations like Nott Tuesday, Mr Bird is an evangelist for the city's creative and technology sector. He believes Nottingham has a major opportunity to put momentum behind businesses like those selected for the Creative Class and develop something similar to a creative quarter.

"There is a big opportunity for a city like Nottingham to do some social engineering by connecting and almost creating a place for all these businesses to get together in that area around Antenna, Broadway and the Lace Market," he said.

"These businesses don't need high-end offices.

"All they look for is a high- speed internet connectivity and good building security. If we can show them that this is the right kind of environment for them, that they can get together with others and share ideas, that it's a city that suits them and their lifestyle, I think we've got a real opportunity here."

Promethean Particles general manager Sandy Reid, and Dynamic Materials Group Ltd CEO Brian Irvine also won through to the finals.

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