It used to be the case that Mike Loggie kept his head down and worked hard at building his subsea equipment company, Saltire Energy.
But an invitation to get involved with an awards programme has seen him move a little further into the entrepreneurial limelight.
Last night, he had his first ever gig talking about his business to help inspire others.
The dinner and “fire side chat” with Sandy Kennedy, the chief executive of Entrepreneurial Scotland (ES), promised a “warts and all” discussion about Mr Loggie’s rise from his days as a roughneck in the Middle East to the head of a highly successful drilling tools business.
The event, part of North East Business Week, was one of the first that the entrepreneurs club – whose aim is to make Scotland the “most entrepreneurial society in the world” – has held in the north-east.
And Mr Loggie will repeat the performance tomorrow at Gleneagles, where ES is holding its annual shindig and conference.
The group embraced the 71-year-old when it awarded him as their entrepreneur of the year 2015 at a celebration dinner in Glasgow in November. Nor was it the only accolade for Mr Loggie after he was also showered with awards as part of his involvement with EY’s entrepreneur of the year programme.
So what accounts for Mr Loggie’s move into the public eye?
“I met them because I was invited to be involved in their entrepreneur of the year award last year and I was lucky enough to win it,” he recalls.
“I love it when these things happen in Scotland. They are great people and they have the right attitude.”
He relishes the idea of being able to help up and coming business leaders, one of the key aims of ES since it merged with the Saltire Foundation, which focuses on bringing up the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“When people are starting off first, you are wandering around blind. You’re looking for things to do, you are looking for opportunity and direction. To have people like Sandy Kennedy and his team there for you is really important.
“Guys like me have been around for a while. We have fallen in all the holes – and we can tell people about the holes we have fallen into. So with a bit of luck they don’t fall into them as well – or at least they know what is at the bottom when they get there.
“I’ve fallen into every hole there is to fall in – I’ve been down there,” he adds.
So is Mr Loggie’s firm, which he founded in 1986, in a hole along with several North Sea firms that have been hit by the oil price crash?
According to his firm’s most recent accounts, Saltire Energy saw its turnover fall 12% to £32million in the year to end of June 2015. Profits also edged down too, but at £15.3million still represents a margin other privately-owned firms might give their eye teeth for. But Mr Loggie insists the current downturn gives the industry a chance to reverse a trend of fatally spiralling costs that gripped the industry before the crash.
“We made a few little changes, bits and pieces, we cut our costs,” says Mr Loggie. “It gives you an opportunity to do that. We are leaner. We are busy.
“We have been hit by huge discounts from service companies and operators. From a business point of view, the rentals we are doing are up on last year. Except our numbers are down because of the huge discounts.
“These will come out of the system. It is easy for all the people down the food chain to knock the next guy down. That will stop and we will get back onto a proper footing.
“With low prices demand for oil is increasing. We are going to get into balance. We are going to have our costs right. We are going to be ready. When this turns up again the North Sea is going to go great. We’ll be off and running.
“People were delighted in 2009 when oil went up to $60 a barrel. And they were whingeing when it dropped to $100. I think we lost the plot there somewhere.
“We need about 95million barrels of oil every day to make the world keep on going, to make the wheels go around, to make the lights go on. We can’t do without the stuff.”
Despite being a few years past the date he can collect a free bus pass, he insists he has no plans to slow down. He’s spending a lot of time in the Middle East and West Africa where the international firm still carries out a significant amount of business.
“I’m very hands on. I’m hands on everywhere. They can’t get rid of me. I’m into everything.
“I’m having fun. I love it. I really enjoy the people I meet, the people I work with. I would miss it if I wasn’t in it,” he says.
His son Jack Loggie recently joined Saltire as a director, but it is still definitely dad who runs the show. The 23-year-old started off as a fitter, then an inspector, then a co-ordinator and has recently been travelling with his dad on business. Is he being groomed to take over Saltire?
“I think he’ll do it but that is up to him. If he wants it he can go and get it. But it won’t be given to him,” says Mr Loggie.
Yet in addition to running a global business, there’s also the philanthropy. Mr Loggie, who attended Robert Gordon’s and later Aberdeen University, has donated millions. This includes cash to support the development of the aquatic centre at Aberdeen Sports Village as well has funding a programme that allows local children to access its facilities, Saltire in the Community. His firm is also well known as the shirt sponsor for Aberdeen Football Club, but perhaps what is less well known is Mr Loggie’s support for poor Burmese children in Thailand where he built a school, as well has his generous support for the Befriend a Child charity. Mr Loggie believes that supporting young people, before they grow up into adults, is where money can be best spent.
“If we give kids an opportunity it is good for the whole world,” he says.
But next on the plate is the public speaking.
“Speaking is not my thing,” he admits. “If they want to know about my story I am quite happy to talk about it. I don’t think it is anything world changing. I’ve just done what other people have done and maybe pushed a bit harder.
“I never started off thinking about being an entrepreneur – even though it is an old world it is now in vogue.
“I just wanted to be there and do it. Entrepreneurial is now something we talk about. But the buzz inside you, the burning desire to get on. It is about risk taking – either you are born as a risk taker or you are risk averse. I don’t think you can learn that.”
Q&A
Who helped you get where you are today?
All the people who have worked with me and for me over the years. The people who listened to all my crazy schemes and helped me with them. They are the people who have been with me all through it.
What do you still hope to achieve in business?
That’s massive. I’ve hardly scratched the surface.
I’d love Saltire to be known worldwide. We talk about Shell, Heinz. I’d like Saltire to be just like that. And when you think of Saltire you think this is a great oil field service company. Everything it does it does well, for the right reasons, we can trust these guys, go with them. I’d like to have that brand.
I started in the North Sea, then when I started internationally, I went south and turned left. I’ve been going left ever since. I have never got into the Americas yet. I have loads of places still to go.
If you were in government what would you change?
I would create incentives for people. Personal taxation is too high in this country. If you have lower personal taxation people have greater incentive to go out there and work harder. They will spend that money and the money will go around faster.
We give all these incentives to companies but I think we should give it to individuals so people can earn money and decide what to do with it. I don’t think government should interfere in these things. I think they will make more money that way by people spending the money.
What kind of car do you drive and what do you dream of driving?
I like my cars. I drive a Range Rover, but I have a few sports cars. I have an old 1935 MG, I’ve got a 1968 E-Type.
If you were a character in history of fiction, who would you be?
I’d just be me. I wouldn’t like to be anybody else but me. Just be yourself and get on with it.
What are you reading, have seen or are glued to on TV?
When I’m travelling I read. At the moment I’m reading the Scott Mariani books about ex-SAS Major and former theology student, Ben Hope. It’s light adventure and its good fun.
What would your family say about you?
I’d like to think they thought what I was doing was right and good.
