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A footballer who made his name playing for Premier League giants Everton is included among Insider's latest North West 42 Under 42 list which features the region's best young business leaders.

The list profiles the region's top business leaders and entrepreneurs under 42 years of age and features in the latest edition of North West Business Insider. 

This year, we are breaking the list down into sections online, starting with Manufacturing, Engineering & Logistics. 

Placed in this category is ChopValue UK's Tom Davies, 26, a midfielder currently playing for Sheffield United after breaking through from the junior ranks at Everton FC.

ChopValue UK upcycles used chopsticks into furniture and homeware, and has already completed projects for Wagamama, Goldman Sachs and Oracle and can assist clients with their carbon emissions impact by providing numbers that can then be used in their end-of-year ESG (environmental, social and governance) or CSR (corporate social responsibility) reporting.

Davies said: "We are excited to show our prospective clients that our sustainable products are durable and functional, can be beautifully crafted to meet varying design aesthetics, and can come in at competitive industry price points."

Jen Fenner, 41, from DefProc Engineering is also on the list.

Fenner is the managing director and co-founder of DefProc Engineering. The company started in Jen and husband Patrick’s spare room in 2013, and has since become an award-winning innovation team of multidisciplinary electrical design engineers specialising in product development, small-scale manufacturing and technical support.

With more than a decade of experience in planning, scheduling and delivering client work and projects, Fenner has now led DefProc to become one of only five UK businesses accepted onto the Digital Catapult Hydrogen Accelerator Programme earlier this year.

Another 42 under 42 from an engineering background is Mara Rastall, 33.

Rastall is the chief executive of Enspec Power, a 24-year-old electrical engineering firm she originally joined as director of marketing and global growth strategy prior to an MBO with her husband in spring 2023. She oversees all business support functions and is the force behind the company’s growth strategy. She has transformed Enspec into a global name.

Elsewhere, Andrew Wood, 41, is managing director of ESP Play, a manufacturer and provider of play apparatus which reported a record-breaking July this year with turnover increasing by 35 per cent and manufacturing capacity surging by 60 per cent.

Under Wood’s stewardship, the company installed more than 700 playgrounds when it was founded in 2023, achieving a turnover of £9.1m. This in part owes much to its strategy of taking its operations outside the school gates and providing play areas for housing developments. It also supplies to business and private individuals in the UAE, Bangkok and Singapore. Wood is also the managing director at QUEST Electrical.

Daniel Miller, 38, of CoolKit is also in this year's 42 Under 42a.

Formerly CoolKit’s finance director, Miller was made managing director of the conversion specialist in 2020 and has since led the company’s relocation to a new factory, necessitated by its expanding order book.

Also included is Simon Hood, 40, of  John Mason International.

The sole architect of the management buyout of John Mason International, Hood transformed the fortunes of the company, doubling its turnover from £6.6m in 2020 to £13.5m by 2023. His efforts earned a King’s Award for Enterprise, presented to him by King Charles at Windsor.

Hood’s achievements are considerable; even more so considering his history. He lost his father to cancer at a young age, before facing financial difficulties and a speech impediment. He is set to further expand John Mason’s influence, and recently purchased land to build a bespoke warehouse.

The final representative from Manufacturing, Engineering & Logistics is Greg Johnson, 35, from Warwick North West.

Johnson took over the window and door supplier after his father and former managing director Brian was diagnosed with cancer in 2021. Under his leadership Warwick reached revenues from around £5m a year prior to lockdown to £10m in 2021, before reaching just shy of £12m in 2022.

Further categories from the latest 42 Under 42 list will be revealed this week.