Town chairman and Card Factory boss Dean Hoyle named Entrepreneur of the Year

Jun 25 2009 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

TOWN chairman Dean Hoyle has been hailed for his business skills with a regional award.

The greetings card tycoon, who took over the reins at the football club this month, was named Ernst & Young North & Midlands Overall Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 at a prestigious awards dinner in Manchester.

Dean, 41, owns Wakefield-based Sportswift, which trades as Card Factory. It was founded in 1997 by Dean and his wife Janet with just one store and has grown to boast almost 500 outlets across Britain with 4,000 staff selling cards, gifts and gift wrap.

Card Factory has a store at the Packhorse Centre in Huddersfield. At the end of last year, the company also acquired the 80-strong Card Warehouse chain.

Judges described Sportswift as “an incredible growth story” and hailed Dean’s achievement in building it into a business with 25% market share.