Malcolm Walker – Iceland

Mothers have a knack of hitting a nail squarely on its head. ‘You’re never satisfied, that’s your trouble.’ Malcolm Walker’s mother said such things to him on a regular basis.
Another maxim was: ‘Big, better, best – never let it rest till big’s better and better’s best.’ Grammatical logic says it should be ‘good, better, best’, but Walker thinks big.
The company Walker founded has grown and thrived, twice (either side of the hiatus when he was elsewhere). And even with many millions to his name, Walker wants more, and isn’t afraid to say so. ‘Bloody right I’m not. Many people, including staff and suppliers, have become millionaires through Iceland.’
A neat, well dressed figure, Walker radiates energy, and has an intense presence. He laughs easily and seems relaxed; he is assured but not arrogant, and no longer having anything to prove, seems not to feel the need to impress: which is, of course, quietly impressive.
Walker is the classic Northern entrepreneur, with an archetypal story behind him. Born in Yorkshire, his father was a colliery electrician who, after an accident at the pit, concentrated on his smallholding and set up a shop. ‘Mum made cakes, Dad grew veg; he died when I was 14, and Mum had to manage on a widow’s pension of ten shillings a week. It was hard,’ he says, with feeling..............