Below is the interview taken from Crain's report on the 40 most influential business people in the North West under 40 years of age.

Greatest acheivement : Taking the leap to start M&P - moving from a salaried post to one where he had to work for 2 months without pay in order to buy equipment.

Current business goal: To expand the business into other areas of civil engineering including telecom cable ducting and gas mains repair.

Cassinelli started his business, M&P Plumbing and Utilities, alongside business partner Peter Hemlin in 2002. The Ashton-under-Lyne-based company provides repair services to water pipes, repairs blockages and fixes boilers following major refitting of water mains by civil engineering contractors such as Morgan Est and Preston-based Enterprise Plc.

It also has a contract with the latter to fix up to 250 leeks a week on part of the Thame's Water's territory in north west London. Cassinelli said he plans to merge the M&P business, which employs 31 people and makes a £413,000 profit on sales of almost £1.6m into a new parent group, Caecillian.

This will incorporate it into a fledgling empire which includes IGS Nationwide and Cleaners R Us. He has already begun a contract with Enterprise to install telephone cable ducting at sites around the North West.

- Micheal Fahy