Dame Mary Perkins honoured with lifetime achievement accolade

Specsavers co-founder Dame Mary Perkins has received a national lifetime achievement award.

Perkins, who set up the company with her husband Doug Perkins in 1984, was honoured with the accolade at the recent EY Entrepreneur of the Year UK Awards in London.

The award was in recognition of her role in helping to build the UK’s biggest optical chain and her contribution to inspiring the next generation of female entrepreneurs through her patronage of Everywoman.

‘It was such an honour to receive the EY Lifetime Achievement Award. Doug and I started an optical business at a time when glasses were very expensive,’ said Perkins.