The world's largest manufacturer of returning boomerangs turns out not to be in Australia but tucked away near the railway line in Wimbledon Park.

Wicked Vision, based in Gresham Way, sells an amazing 4.5m boomerangs a year to people of all ages - exporting many Down Under.

And staff at the company have more than one reason to celebrate this month - as well as being the company’s 15th anniversary, it has won the Great Faces of British Business competition for best exporter.

David Strang

It is now in the running to win the national competition and the top prize of £30,000 worth of government support.

Wicked makes seven types of boomerang, suitable for both indoors and outdoors, day and night, and the boss likes to get personally involved.

Scottish-born managing director David Strang, who travels the world promoting the products, has thrown a boomerang in more than 80 cities and 30 different countries so far, including Sydney, pictured below.

He grew up in Australia and said when he left he wanted to bring a popular Australian product to the UK. He based the company, which has an annual turnover in the UK of under £10m, in Wimbledon having lived in the area for many years.

"I live in Putney and I wanted to avoid the long commute to work," he joked.

He said: "It is a long story but I was the first person to bring in Ugg boots to the country but at the time no-one wanted them - this was 22 years ago."

The team is always innovating new ideas and it is a fun place to work. The great British weather inspired one of the indoor boomerangs and Mr Strang said he produced the first circular boomerang in the world called a Boomaring.

"We wanted something that hovered slightly above your head and slightly descended.

"It took two years to develop," Mr Strang said.

The company, which has 17 members of staff, gets its products made in factories based in the UK - bucking the trend of 88 per cent of toy manufacturers who produce them in China.

The new products get sent to the company’s base in Gresham Way before being packaged and shipped to 35 countries world-wide.

Mr Strang, 42, was awarded Silver at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards last year.

The winners of the Great Faces of British Business competition will be decided by a combination of judging and public vote. Vote on the website www.greatbusiness.gov.uk/competition.

Wicked Boomas, RRP £3.99 to £300 are sold in Hamleys, Harrods, Toys R Us, Amazon and wickedmania.com.