As with so many of the best ideas, the one that floated into the mind of Richard Beghin back in 1994 was born from a feeling that there was a social need for his product; that he could help improve the lives of others.

The fact that the idea was also commercially viable was a secondary consideration.

“I felt I could make a difference,” he said.

And the idea? Wait for it. Producing plastic cricket pitches. Why should anyone want one of those?

Anyone living in Mr Beghin’s native South Africa would immediately know the answer.

Huge numbers of would-be cricketers there, living in townships like Soweto, can only play cricket on sandy fields. That was the situation that entrepreneur Mr Beghin, in post-apartheid South Africa, wanted to change .

He said: “I passionately believed, and still do, that sport can break down barriers and help people co-operate with each other.”

And then, after seeing a TV programme about developing cricketing skills, he decided he would turn his idea into reality, because he believed it could transform people’s lives across the globe. His business, Flicx, was born.

Now he is introducing Flicx pitches in some very unusual places indeed. In April, cricket will be played on one of his pitches at Base Camp on Mount Everest. Last month it was played in Trafalgar Square, London, and there have been several matches played on frozen lakes in Sweden.

Mr Beghin said: “I developed the pitches back in South Africa. Then, in 1999, I came here to exhibit the pitch at the NEC after a two-day conference held there by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“I was just packing up at the end of the exhibition when a chap came up to me and said the pitches seemed to be just what he had been looking for, and could we have a chat.”

That chap turned out to be former Essex county cricketer Keith Pont, then the director of cricket development at the England and Wales Cricket Board. And it resulted in an order for 800 pitches.

Mr Beghin’s business had taken off — in England.

He said: “I then needed headquarters, so I simply put a cross on a map and started looking in the area of the cross. As it turned out I found Hinton Airfield in north Oxfordshire, which some might say is close to nowhere and far from anywhere, but has turned out right for Flicx.

“We have installed pitches in the inner cities of London and Manchester, sponsored by NatWest and the National Lottery Fund, and Oxfordshire is between the two — very central.”

Now Flicx has a £1m annual turnover and employs five people, all of whom live and breathe sports.The team includes Keith Cartwright, captain of the cricket team at nearby Brackley in Northamptonshire, and Tilly Holder, who ranks in the top ten women amateur golfers in Britain.

Mr Beghin, who admits he had a privileged upbringing in South Africa, and never had to fight to get a place at school, or to get a job, said: “I believe in cricket as the game of life itself.

“It teaches kids the skills of life and gives them the will to win, in some cases instead of turning to drugs. It teaches the basics of discipline in the form of a game.”

The pitches themselves, still made in South Africa from recycled plastic, are now making their way into more and more export markets with the help of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in the South East.

Mr Beghin signed up to UKTI’s Passport to Export scheme, working with international trade adviser Peter Warren, and after a two-day export strategy workshop and some additional training, came up with an export action plan.

Now, in addition to appointing partners in cricket-loving South Africa and Australia to supply schools and clubs, Flicx is also looking nearer to home.

Mr Beghin said: “We are also working with the European Cricket Council and the sport is developing in Denmark, Holland, France, Spain and Portugal, thanks to ex-pats spreading the word.

“We have also exported to Sweden, and now even China and a number of cricket clubs in New York have placed orders.”

He added: “The market for cricket equipment is huge and we want to ensure that we can fulfil our current export orders before tackling new markets.

“India is another huge cricket-mad market that UKTI will help us tackle when the time is right.”

The portable plastic pitch is now not the only Flicx product. The company also exports a portable lightweight bowling machine that took four years to develop, as well as such equipment as cricket nets, ground equipment, scoreboards, balls and stumps.

Back in South Africa, a tournament for under-13s from disadvantaged backgrounds has developed, using the portable pitch.

Mr Beghin said that one of the young players who developed his skills through that tournament has now gone on to play for the South African under-19 squad.

He added: “It was confirmation that providing such opportunities for those who had previously not had the chances I’d had was the way forward, making me even more determined to build a company that would make a difference to people’s lives.”