A female-led, events and online publishing company that was launched from a garden shed is one of the smallest companies to win the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade 2019.
Specialist Insight Limited was launched in 2010. It is based in Reigate Surrey and employs 15 people. Louisa Whyte is co-founder and managing director.
The Awards are the most prestigious award a UK company can receive. Her Majesty The Queen personally approves the winners and they are designed to reward innovative companies of all sizes.
“We are delighted, if a little shocked, to have been chosen,” says Louisa Whyte, managing director of Specialist Insight. “We are a small company. When we launched in 2010, we never expected to be recognised like this.”
The company focuses on the business jet, helicopter, superyacht markets as well as the future of flight. It runs conferences and events in London, Dubai, Geneva, Singapore, Dorking, Miami and San Francisco.
The award was given to Specialist Insight for consistently growing exports by 550% over six years. Sales and profits have grown every year since launch. Overseas sales account for 85% of all its sales and it has paying customers in 48 countries.
Female business in male dominated industry
Louisa is managing director running the company. This is relatively unusual in aviation which is a male-dominated industry – just 4% of airline women are pilots according to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots[1].
“Business aviation is still very male-dominated – although this is changing,” says Louisa Whyte. “We are working hard to change this and try to make sure we have as many high-level women speakers as possible and organise networking events for women.”
The majority of the company is female – 73%. It also organises an annual Women in Aviation cocktail reception at its Corporate Jet Investor London conference.
Start-up story – family business
Specialist Insight is owned by Louisa Whyte (managing director) and her husband Alasdair Whyte (editor). The pair met at publishing company Euromoney Institutional Investor. Louisa ran a conference group focused on airlines and Alasdair edited and published several airline magazines. Louisa and Alasdair had always wanted to run their own business so, after the birth of their second child, they launched Corporate Jet Investor from a shed in the garden. This meant they could both look after their four-year old son (now 13) and two year-old daughter (now 10). (The business was non-competitive and Euromoney was supportive.)
“When we launched in the shed it was really exciting as one of us would often run across the lawn saying we had just got a new customer,” says Louisa Whyte. “The downside was when you were on a call to a CEO and you could see one of the kids racing towards you before they started banging on the door.”
Apart from adding a phone line and wifi, we did not invest a lot in the shed. That included the windows – which were broken. At the time people often spoke about the economic climate – we were far more worried about the real climate – it was a freezing winter that year.”
The business launched in 2010 when the business jet market was still in recession. “Starting in tough markets is good as it means you stay lean as a business, so we were not too worried. We were also pretty confident that the market would bounce back by 2012. In reality this only happened in 2018 but we were lucky enough to grow during this time,” says Louisa Whyte.
The children occasionally travel to conferences and trade shows – often accompanied by grandparents.
The business is also child friendly to other employees – offering flexible hours and home working. Both delegate sales managers from home most of the time.
Small business but global since launch
The company focuses on niche markets so has had to be international since
launch. Industries like business aviation and yachting are by their nature
global so fit well.
“Being international means long
days dealing with different time zones and a lot of travel,” but it also gives
us some diversity – when the US business aviation market was down in 2012,
China was growing fast for example,” says Louisa Whyte. “
On average the company visits 15 different countries a year – making at least
50 different trips a year.
The 15-person team also includes staff from five different countries (UK, South Africa, Romania, Poland and India) and speaks nine different languages.
The company has paying customers in almost 50 different countries. International sales accounted for 85% of the business in 2019.
The US is the biggest business jet market in the world – accounting for about 70% of the total fleet. It is also Specialist Insight’s biggest single export market followed by Switzerland, Canada, Malta and France.
Contact:
Phil Anderson
Executive Director
DD 0207 025 6494
About Specialist Insight
Specialist Insight is mainly a business-to-business company. Although it does have clients who buy assets like jets or helicopters, the majority of customers are people who build, sell and maintain aircraft or yachts and the companies – law firms, banks, consultants, appraisers and others – that support transactions.
Conferences are the biggest part of this business – both from sponsorship and paid delegate fees. But the websites and newsletters support these by establishing the brands as market experts and keeping the products in the market all year round.
Specialist Insight covers four different markets:
Corporate Jet Investor – events, email newsletters, website, magazine
and training courses focused on the business of business jets. Looks at things
like how to buy, sell and finance a business jet. Clients include Rolls-Royce,
Gama Aviation, GE, Bombardier, Airbus, Boeing, Credit Suisse, Citi, some
governments, as well as law firms, banks, consultants and aircraft brokers.
This is the biggest part of the business.
There are just over 20,000 business jets in the world and owners include corporates, high net worth individuals.
Revolution.Aero – technology conferences in London (March) and San Francisco (September). This part of the business is focused on the future of aviation so includes topics like flying cars, electric aircraft, supersonic aircraft and connecting passengers. Revolution.Aero also offers free start-up places.
Helicopter Investor / VTOL Investor – online publication and London conference. Focused on financing and leasing of helicopters. This business was launched just as this market took off, but it has been in a downturn since the oil price fell in August 2014. Despite this Helicopter Investor London 2019 saw record attendance.
Superyacht Investor – online publication and London conference. This was launched following demand from customers that were also involved in private jets.
About the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. The awards were first established in 1965 and since then over 7000 companies have achieved a Queen’s Award. There are 1.9 million companies trading in the UK.
The awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.
This year 201 UK businesses have been recognised for their contribution to international trade, innovation, sustainable development and promoting opportunity (through social mobility).
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2019 include:
- 129 awards for international trade
- 61 awards for innovation
- Six awards for sustainable development
- Five awards for promoting opportunity
About the business jet market
There are just over 20,000 business jets in the world. Companies that build them include Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, Honda and Textron Aviation.
Business jets are bought by a diverse range of companies including companies (both Walmart – the parent of Asda – and Ryanair own them), individuals and fleet buyers like NetJets and VistaJet.
Demand for business jets peaked in 2008 but fell sharply in 2009 when buyer’s
cancelled orders. Corporate Jet Investor launched in 2010. In 2006 Hawker
Beechcraft had a backlog of customers waiting for aircraft of $4 billion. By
2008 it had risen to more than $7 billion. By 2011 it fell to $1.33 billion and
the manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012.
Business jet deliveries
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| 1,138 | 1,313 | 870 | 763 | 696 | 672 | 678 | 722 | 718 | 666 | 677 | 703 |
Source: General Aircraft Manufacturers Association
Contact:
Phil Anderson
Executive Director
DD 0207 025 6494
Louisa
Whyte
Specialist Insight
M: +44 (0) 7734529287
Louisa@corporatejetinvestor.com
About Specialist Insight
Specialist Insight is mainly a business-to-business company. Although it does have clients who buy assets like jets or helicopters, the majority of customers are people who build, sell and maintain aircraft or yachts and the companies – law firms, banks, consultants, appraisers and others – that support transactions.
Conferences are the biggest part of this business – both from sponsorship and paid delegate fees. But the websites and newsletters support these by establishing the brands as market experts and keeping the products in the market all year round.
Specialist Insight covers four different
markets:
Corporate Jet Investor – events, email newsletters, website, magazine
and training courses focused on the business of business jets. Looks at things
like how to buy, sell and finance a business jet. Clients include Rolls-Royce,
Gama Aviation, GE, Bombardier, Airbus, Boeing, Credit Suisse, Citi, some
governments, as well as law firms, banks, consultants and aircraft brokers.
This is the biggest part of the business.
There are just over 20,000 business jets in the world and owners include corporates, high net worth individuals.
Revolution.Aero – technology conferences in London (March) and San Francisco (September). This part of the business is focused on the future of aviation so includes topics like flying cars, electric aircraft, supersonic aircraft and connecting passengers. Revolution.Aero also offers free start-up places.
Helicopter Investor / VTOL Investor – online publication and London conference. Focused on financing and leasing of helicopters. This business was launched just as this market took off, but it has been in a downturn since the oil price fell in August 2014. Despite this Helicopter Investor London 2019 saw record attendance.
Superyacht Investor – online publication and London conference. This was launched following demand from customers that were also involved in private jets.
About the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the UK. The awards were first established in 1965 and since then over 7000 companies have achieved a Queen’s Award. There are 1.9 million companies trading in the UK.
The awards celebrate the success of exciting and innovative businesses which are leading the way with pioneering products or services, delivering impressive social mobility programmes or showing their commitment to excellent sustainable development practices.
This year 201 UK businesses have been recognised for their contribution to international trade, innovation, sustainable development and promoting opportunity (through social mobility).
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise 2019 include:
- 129 awards for international trade
- 61 awards for innovation
- Six awards for sustainable development
- Five awards for promoting opportunity
About the business jet market
There are just over 20,000 business jets in the world. Companies that build them include Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, Honda and Textron Aviation.
Business jets are bought by a diverse range of companies including companies (both Walmart – the parent of Asda – and Ryanair own them), individuals and fleet buyers like NetJets and VistaJet.
Demand for business jets peaked in 2008 but fell sharply in 2009 when buyer’s
cancelled orders. Corporate Jet Investor launched in 2010. In 2006 Hawker
Beechcraft had a backlog of customers waiting for aircraft of $4 billion. By
2008 it had risen to more than $7 billion. By 2011 it fell to $1.33 billion and
the manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012.
Business jet deliveries
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| 1,138 | 1,313 | 870 | 763 | 696 | 672 | 678 | 722 | 718 | 666 | 677 | 703 |
Source: General Aircraft Manufacturers Association
[1] International Society of Women Airline Pilots https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/reports/women-airline-pilots-a-tiny-percentage-and-only-growing-slowly-432247
