CHRIS Walker, director and chief executive of specialist engineering company Diamond Hard Surfaces, is pictured after receiving the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade from James Saunders Watson, HM Lord-Lieutenant for Northamptonshire.
The company, based near Towcester, was one of only two companies in the county to receive the award when the list was announced last year.
“We are delighted that our small, energetic, customer focused team has been recognised with the highest award in the UK,” said Mr Walker. “We would like to thank everyone who as supported our growth.”
The ceremony was attended by invited guests including customers, suppliers, and support partners.
Diamond Hard Surfaces produces high-performance, durable diamond-based engineering materials and coatings for advanced engineering markets such as aerospace, electronics and the oil and gas sector.
It supplies customers all over the world and has enjoyed consistent growth over the past three years. Mr Walker intends to use the Queen’s Award to expand the company’s overseas activity even further.
“We have gone after our international business sector by sector,” says Mr Walker. “We have built up a wealth of experience in international trade and have been trading with the USA, Australia and the Middle East since way before Brexit.”
Diamond Hard Surfaces has focused on its international trade since the business began in 2005 with the backing of Oxford Technology 4 VCT, a quoted venture fund specialising in the start-up and early stage technology sector.
“We have always been internationally focused,” says Mr Walker. “It is an important message to any start-up business, to look at developing international sales as well as those in the domestic market.
“I am passionate about international trade. It is in my psyche.”