Our Company – The First Thirty Years!

As we approach thirty years in business, it seems a good time to reflect — on our business, our people, how things have changed and perhaps what we’ve learnt along the way.

When we started in 1997, international trade looked very different. Email was relatively new, the internet was in its infancy and doing business overseas involved rather more telephone calls, faxes, paperwork and patience than it does today.

We certainly couldn’t have imagined that over the following thirty years we would supply more than 3,000 customers in over 120 countries, exporting more than £150 million of goods in the process.

Today we typically have around 400 active customers, from small businesses to major organisations and government departments. Many have been working with us for years and, nearly three decades later, we are still supplying many of the customers who were with us when we first started.

Trade brings people together

One thing thirty years in international business has taught us is that world trade can be a remarkable force for good.

Politics, nationality and religion can sometimes emphasise the things that divide us. Trade tends to do the opposite. It gives people from different countries, cultures and backgrounds a reason to talk, understand one another and work together.

We’ve done business with people whose countries, cultures and ways of life can be very different from our own. Yet when people actually work together, those differences rarely seem particularly important.

Business relationships become personal relationships. Customers become friends. We learn about their countries and cultures, and they learn about ours.

We like to think that, in our own small way, we’ve helped make some of those connections.

What do we actually do?

Our business has changed enormously and today falls broadly into three areas.

Automotive supplies parts, vehicles and related equipment to customers around the world.

Motorsport supplies race teams, constructors and others in an industry where quality, accuracy and speed really matter.

Supplies concentrates particularly on public-sector customers in the Caribbean, including Police, Defence and Public Works, supplying everything from specialist vehicles and uniforms to equipment required following hurricanes and other natural disasters.

And then there are the requests that don’t fit neatly into any category.

Over the years we’ve exported muesli to Guatemala, ceremonial swords to Barbados, cats’ eyes to Mauritius and toilet seats to Thailand.

One of the pleasures of international trade is that you never quite know what the next enquiry will bring.

And, generally, we’ll find it.

Despite the enormous variety, the basic principle behind our business hasn’t really changed since 1997:

Somebody, somewhere in the world, needs something and trusts us to find it, supply it and get it to them.

It’s still about people

Technology has transformed how we do business, but it hasn’t changed the most important part.

It’s still about people and trust.

We’ve been fortunate to have some wonderful people work with us, many of whom have stayed for a very long time. We’re particularly proud of seeing people develop, acquire new skills, take on greater responsibility and build careers.

The same applies to our customers and suppliers. Relationships lasting decades don’t happen by accident, and we never take that loyalty for granted.

Winning the Queen’s Award for International Trade in 2011 was a very proud moment and wonderful recognition for everyone involved.

When things go wrong

Thirty years in business inevitably means that sometimes things go wrong. We’ve always believed that a company should be judged not by whether it ever has a problem, but by what it does when a problem occurs.

Our approach is simple: find a solution and put it right.

Occasionally that can be expensive. There have been times when the easiest commercial decision might have been to argue about whose fault something was or what the small print said. We’d rather concentrate on solving the customer’s problem — even if that means it costs us money.

In the short term that isn’t always the cheapest approach. Over thirty years, we think it has been one of the best investments we’ve made.

Customers need to know that when something goes wrong, we’ll be there and we’ll sort it out. That trust is probably one of the reasons so many of our customer relationships have lasted for decades.

Bringing something back home

Although our business takes us all over the world, much of its benefit ultimately comes back home.

Our £150 million-plus of exports represents business won overseas and money brought into the UK economy. It has paid salaries, created jobs and careers, supported suppliers and service providers and, wherever possible, been spent with other businesses locally.

That money doesn’t stop at our front door. It circulates through many other businesses and supports far more people than those we employ directly.

There’s also the contribution through Corporation Tax, PAYE, National Insurance, VAT, business rates and other taxes and duties. Accumulated over thirty years, that contribution is very substantial.

We also support a number of charities and try to share some of the experience we’ve gained through mentoring and careers advice.

We’re just one relatively small business. But multiply that by the thousands of small and medium-sized businesses operating from communities throughout Britain and you begin to appreciate the contribution they make.

Looking forward

We’ve never set out to be the biggest. We’ve simply tried to be very good at what we do, treat people properly and build a business that customers, suppliers and our own people enjoy working with.

The world will continue to change. Markets will change, technology will change and we’ll change with them.

But some things shouldn’t change: doing what we say we’ll do, looking after our people, solving problems rather than creating them, and believing that doing business together is one of the best ways for people from different parts of the world to understand one another.

Thirty years is an important milestone, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a finishing line.

We’re still curious, still ambitious and, most importantly, still enjoying it.

So perhaps The First Thirty Years is the right title after all.