Setting up the Business

What drove you to leave industry and start up your own business?

Having worked with multi-national companies for over 20 years living and travelling extensively abroad I had become bored with the continuing cycle of business restructuring that had pervaded most international companies in a consolidating market.  I’d also decided to stop relocating my family and felt that stepping out to start my own business would allow me to create an exciting growth venture whilst avoiding the need to relocate my family as my children were at a critical stage of their secondary education in the North East of England.  Having access to share options and successfully completing a number of transactions gave me the necessary financial resource to launch my new venture and was a key enabler.

Where did the idea for your business come from?

Over the last two decades I have become aware of the difficulty in meeting the rapidly changing needs of the pharmaceutical industry.  I believed there were a significant number of unmet or poorly met opportunities where traditional companies were finding it difficult to be sufficiently innovative, flexible, fast and effective in today’s constantly changing global economy.  I believed I could buy small struggling businesses and inject a new strategy, stronger resources and better leadership to satisfy the emerging needs of the pharmaceutical industry.

Where did you get the funding from to start the business?

My initial strategy was to leverage my own financial resources and borrow from banks on an old fashioned debt basis against the minimum value of assets I was purchasing.

What help did you have in starting up the business? 

I was fortunate to secure significant DTI funding to support our process development efforts necessary to exploit six Patent families of Intellectual Property. I also got minor Business Link and Regional Development Agency support to attend international conferences and to complete minor re-equipping of two businesses together with the relocation of one of the businesses.  

Were there any areas where you required help but were unable to find any? If so please give details.

I would have ideally appreciated a greater quantity of capital investment support beyond the restricted levels that currently exist. 

How much time and money did it cost to get the business up and running?

We will never be satisfied that the business is running to its full potential.  We are currently at a critical stage of developing strong profit and cash performance and finished last year at approximately break even.  We expect satisfactory levels of profit and cash by the end of this financial year which will mean a 3 year period to achieve a sustainable position.  Our ambition remains high targeting a doubling of revenue every two years which will require substantial ongoing investment in change management, training and technology development and asset expansion.

What jobs did you do before you started your own business?

I have been fortunate to do a large range of jobs from process development, project management, production management, sales and marketing, mergers and acquisitions and general management.  These have been done in a number of multi-national companies which include, ICI, Astra Zeneca, Alusuisse-Lonza, Rhodia and Chirex.

Did they help you?

Yes, of course I have been very lucky in gaining a tremendous range of operational experience on a truly international scale.

What have been the main problems that you’ve had to overcome?  

Millions, but I usually view them as opportunities!

Do you think working in industry gave you an advantage when starting up the business? 

Definitely – over the years I have developed a huge network of contacts, customers and highly experienced professionals who have consistently supported me in a wide range of endeavours.

How has the company grown?

From a zero start three years ago we completed a turnover of £12m at the end of our second financial year as a group and anticipate profitable sales in excess of £16m this financial year which ends on 31 May 2007.