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A World of Opportunities

George Yule's life is pretty well summed up in his premises on the Kirkhill Industrial Estate.

As you head towards the office of the chief executive of Dominion Gas you pass the giant map of the world which the company is gradually conquering.

Once in his office his other three passions are clear.

The photographs of his family are self explanatory while the painting of the Gothenburg Greats highlights his love affair with football and the historic photographs of Aberdeen, with captions by his dad, illustrate his roots.

He was recently honoured with the title of Grampian Industrialist of the Year, at an event organised by Junior Chamber International, for his outstanding entrepreneurial contribution to business in the North-east of Scotland. He follows in the footsteps as such luminaries as Sir Ian Wood and Sir Moir Lockhead.

George Yule started life as a professional footballer for Bury. Although playing in the second division did not meet his aspirations, and he returned to his native Aberdeen, it provided him with some of the attributes which have taken him into the business premier league.

He says a whole series of events in his life have given him the ability to build Dominion Gas - some deeply distressing.

He was the offshore division manager of ASCO in 1986 when 14 of his staff were among the 45 who died in the Sumburgh Chinook disaster.
"I was a half a pace behind the police walking into these houses as far apart as Port Gordon in the north and Wakefield in the south, places I had never been to, families I had never met.

"I was the company guy trying to provide some kind of comfort to the bereaved families who had lost a son, a brother, a father and to do that 14 times and to do 14 funerals all in the space of three weeks was emotionally draining.

"In situations like that you rely on your basic human instincts for compassion for empathy rather than operate from a text book and I was left emotionally drained, but what it also did was give me a lifelong perspective on what is important in life."

Another was the collapse of Clean Ocean, the company he set up in 1998 by investing £100,000 of his own money and with £1 million backing from Aberdeen Asset Management.

Within months the oil price crashed to $9 a barrel and he was forced to lay off good friends who had left secure jobs to join him.

The company was £500,000 in debt and it is a mark of the man that he struggled for four years without salary until he finally admitted defeat. Although he was left heavily in debt, all the creditors were repaid.

"During those four years I got more real time business experience trying to get our head above water than in 25 years of good times.

"We will come through this current recession and we might get battered along the way but we will be stronger for it.

"At Dominion we have not shed people because in some cases it took us six months to find them. I am not burying my head in the sand but I am not viewing it as a crisis. I am trying to keep a perspective on the whole thing and saying ‘Let's go and develop new markets.'

"We don't have a crisis at 50 bucks a barrel. The people who lost relatives in the helicopter disaster have a crisis. We have a work in progress. We have got to get the North Sea cost base aligned more competitively with overseas areas so we can continue to attract investment by the majors.

"Let's look for opportunities during the troubled times and let's not waste a good recession.

"It is not all gloom and doom because a lot of the sporting success I have had goes into the mixer as well (he played into his 40s and was manager of Deveronvale from 1991-92). You win as a team and lose as a team. Some players you can put an arm round and speak quietly to and some need a good kicking.

"It is about getting the ball over the line and if you get an opportunity take it, there are no prizes for hitting the crossbar."

When he joined Dominion three years ago it had a £5 million turnover and 30 employees. He led the £30 million buy-out in 2007 and it now has seven bases including Norway, Baku, and Singapore. One will open in Ghana this month and there are also offices in Perth, Australia and Houston.

"We are turning our attention to the Middle East and looking at areas like Kuwait, Iran and Iraq and we do have other sites in mind in the Mediterranean and Latin America," he said.

"When I look at where things were nine years ago with everything going pear shaped and having to basically rebuild my life five years ago I am so proud of what I have been able to achieve.

"There have been some tough decisions, but it comes back to the football thing again. You may be a division one team and you have won promotion into the Premier League. You cannot sit on your laurels with the squad you have. You have to improve. You have to have competition for places and you have to raise the standard of your game and in business it is the same.

"You have to push every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month.

"Business doesn't happen automatically, you have to go out there and make it happen."

That's the message he puts over when he regularly lectures to students at the University of Aberdeen with which he has close links.

"You need to be able to push the ball across the line. That's the difference between people who make it and those who don't.

"We have turned our intentions into reality by getting out of our chairs and getting after it rather than waiting for it to happen."

"My voluntary work with Aberdeen University has given me an opportunity to interact with a bunch of real clever and nice people and I am trying to pass on some of my career experience to the student population through lectures.

"I wasn't at university and wasn't overly blessed with formal qualifications which spurs you to work that bit harder to get peer, subordinate and contemporary recognition.

"I enjoy the opportunity to pass on some of my experience and try to broker a bridge between academia and industry through my network of contacts.

"I represent the University on the board of the new sports village which, as a sports minded person, is as good as it gets."

Business pressures have reduced the amount of time he can spend enjoying football or on the golf course and his handicap is rising as a consequence but time with his family remains a precious commodity.

"Having split up with my first wife and subsequently remarried I found out the hard way the thing that means more to me than anything is immediate family.

"I try to invest as much time as I can in my family when I am not involved in business."

He loves the Highlands and escaping to his second home in Grantown on Spey which is a former manse set in five acres and is currently being refurbished.

"It is therapeutic and it is a great retreat," he said. "The thing I value most is peace and quiet - I love it when the quietness is deafening."