Shigenobu Nagamori was born in Kyoto to a farming family. Deciding not to gfollow in his family’s tradition, he went to Polytechnic University, where he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering.
After leaving university he worked in several engineering jobs before in 1973, he founded Nidec. Since then, the firm has become the self-proclaimed largest producer of motors for optical drives and hard-disk drives in the world.

Shigenobu Nagamori, who owns a 12% stake in the company, both personally and also via SN Kosan, his personal asset business, remains as CEO, but in 2018 the then vice president Hiroyuki Yoshimoto took over as president.

The business announced in 2016 that in the next five years their aim was to almost double thei revenue (to $18 billion), something that would be at least partly achieved through acquisitions.

In 2016 Nagamori said he aimed to nearly double revenue to $18 billion by 2021, partly through acquisitions.
Outside Nidec, Nagamori is a non-executive director at Japanese mobile communications company SoftBank. He is also renowned for his philanthropy, and founded the Nagamori Foundation.