News: National coverage for Rotherham entrepreneur

A Rotherham entrepreneur gained excellent national coverage this month after being featured in The Daily Telegraph's "Your Business" section. Matthew Ainsworth discusses how he started out his ice sculpture business and the support he received in Rotherham. He described that the turning point for the business was when he entered RiDO's Young Entrepreneur of the Year contest and won. "I got a £1,500 cash injection for the business which I immediately invested in an ice-making machine, saving £45 on each block of ice," he told the paper. "This was the break I needed and it opened the floodgates. I got commissions from Vodafone for its Christmas party, sculpted a full-sized Toyota for a nationwide marketing campaign and a life-size nativity group for Halifax council." Matthew's company Exquisite Ice, has seen order books grow since he won the award and has now moved out of the workshop at his parents' home in Brampton-en-le-Morthen into a newly-converted garage in Thurcroft with a 20ft by 20ft walk-in freezer. In November Matthew took on a 59-year-old steel worker who'd been made redundant to help the business continue to grow.

Telegraph article
Exquisite Ice website
Rotherham Investment & Development Office
Rotherham