Responsible Leadership
How a family business is run.
Stewardship. People and skills. Place and community. Not a manifesto - three working convictions that have shaped every major decision since 1975.
1.Stewardship.
Building for the long term.
The Rigby Group is privately held and has never sought outside equity. Profits are reinvested. No business has been put into administration in five decades. The result is a model of patient capital that is increasingly rare in the British economy.
Case study
Fifty years without a forced sale
Through three recessions, the dot-com correction and the pandemic, the group has remained intact and family-owned. Decisions about acquisitions, exits and reinvestment have been taken inside the business, on the timescales that suit the business - not on the calendar of external shareholders.
2.People and skills.
Nine thousand people, worldwide.
The group employs around 9,000 people across the UK, Europe and beyond. Tenure is long; many directors began as graduates. In philanthropy, the same conviction expresses itself through investment in education, skills and opportunity.
Case study
The Sir Peter Rigby Centre for Enterprise
At the University of Liverpool, a long-running endowment has funded scholarships and an enterprise centre that gives undergraduates from the city the practical skills and confidence to start their own ventures. The centre is a working example of the principle: invest in people, and trust them to build.
3.Place and community.
Anchored in the West Midlands.
The Rigby Foundation, established in 1992, has supported hundreds of causes across more than three decades. Its 2025 programme, Inspiring Futures, focuses on social mobility for disadvantaged young people in the region.
Case study
Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity
A long-standing relationship with the Birmingham Children's Hospital Charity has supported new facilities, equipment and family services across multiple campaigns. The principle is simple: a business that has grown in the West Midlands should be visibly present in the institutions that hold the region together.