CONGRATULATIONS to Mike Welch, who was last night named Scotland's Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.

The founder of tyres firm Blackcircles.com might be in the fast-fit business, but he has displayed a huge amount of patience as he has pursued his dream of building a great company.

The down-to-earth Scouser might well be expected to resort to one of his characteristic wisecracks about still being in the "emerging" category in the Entrepreneurial Scotland awards, given that we are in 2014 and he started his business back in 2001.

More than a decade ago, he was the poster boy for young entrepreneurs.

In May 2003, at the age of 24, Mr Welch won the prestigious Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

His victory was recorded in an article in The Herald's business section, which bore the headline: "Livewire award goes to wheeling and dealing young entrepreneur."

Jim Wallace, then Deputy First Minister, declared that the calibre of Mr Welch and the other finalists showed "Scotland's entrepreneurial spirit is definitely alive and well".

Mr Welch will be as aware as anyone else that this May 2003 event was not yesterday, and his has been a long journey.

However, in many ways he is a more valuable role model for entrepreneurs than someone who builds a business in the space of a few years then sells out.

There are plenty of entrepreneurs in the Aberdeen oil and gas services sector who have struck it rich quick by identifying niches in the market, developing the necessary technology and selling out.

While not wishing to detract in any way from the achievements of these individuals, Mr Welch's story contains more valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

In particular, it demonstrates the importance of perseverance, reinventing the model as required, and ensuring that control of the business does not pass to outside parties with shorter time horizons.

It also highlights the importance of making the right moves at the correct moments, and biding your time when appropriate.

Mr Welch is now seeking significant growth capital to ramp up his Borders-based company's business, having painstakingly built up a network of partner independent garages to fit the tyres which are sold by Blackcircles.com.

He has also moved to open Pit Stop retail outlets, bearing the Blackcircles.com brand, at garages operated by supermarket giant Tesco.

Mr Welch now appears to be on track for very significant growth in profits and turnover.

What he has achieved to date has certainly been impressive enough and we should not forget, that while still categorised as an "emerging" entrepreneur, Mr Welch has already built a business with a very significant market value. And he is providing employment for about 50 people, as well as business for independent garages.

His tale contains another crucial lesson for budding entrepreneurs - the importance of getting the right people around you and being bold enough to make the approach when an opportunity presents itself.

It says much about the potential of Blackcircles.com that former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy not only agreed to meet with Mr Welch when the entrepreneur wrote to him, but also swiftly became a shareholder and director of Blackcircles.com.

The tyre company is chaired by Graeme Bissett, with whom Mr Welch worked when he was at tyre and exhaust chain Kwik-Fit.

And Mr Welch now finds himself in a position in which he is firmly in the driving seat as he seeks external capital, having been able to expand the business and achieve profitability without debt.

It is worth noting that he has achieved all of this through the worst economic downturn in living memory.

Congratulations also go to Peter Vardy, who has taken the coveted Entrepreneur of the Year title.

He has followed in the footsteps of his father Sir Peter by building a sizeable car retail business from scratch.

And we should not overlook the very considerable achievements of the others on the shortlists for the Entrepreneurial Scotland awards.

The successes enjoyed by Joe Frankel, of compostable cutlery pioneer Vegware, and Nigel Eccles, of fantasy sports company FanDuel, saw them shortlisted in the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year category.

And the impressive stories of Tony Moloney of Enterprise Foods and Kevin Stewart of oil and gas services company Meta saw them take their place on the shortlist for the Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

It is always reassuring to be reminded that the entrepreneurial spirit is burning as brightly as ever in Scotland, but it is particularly heartening in these tough economic times.

The Herald's Scottish Family Business Awards have also, once again, attracted a raft of impressive, and diverse, stories of enterprise and endeavour from this key sector of the economy.

The shortlists have been published and the winners will be announced at a dinner at the Grand Central Hotel next Wednesday.

With everything under wraps until next week, this would not be the time to highlight individual companies.

However, it was a pleasure to chair our judging panel for these awards. There are many fine family businesses on the shortlists, and many impressive entrants who did not make the final cut this time round.

The quality and variety of entries across the categories was not only extremely encouraging, but confirmed, if anyone had any doubts, that the family business sector, which is such an important driver of the Scottish economy, remains in fine fettle.