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Family owned businesses in the sign & display industry
Marketing Week recently explored why being family-owned is a competitive advantage for businesses. They cited a survey conducted by Family Business (IFB) where 64% of respondents believed that promoting a company as a family brand would be beneficial to growth and reputation.
Family-owned companies now account for up to 60% of all firms in the UK. Many of these companies manufacture and trade sign and displays. One search engine query alone displays near to 200,000,000 results.
The IFB unfortunately reported that only 30% of family owned businesses survive into the second generation. Signwaves Ltd is lucky to be one of these businesses, established in 1989 and now housed at a 51,000sqft warehouse with a 100 strong team of staff.
Mark Ford, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Signwaves was happy to reminisce on colourful history of his family business; a now-or-never, sink-or-swim venture that he and founder/father Ashley Ford never imagined would become todays leading signage and display solution for brands and trade suppliers across the UK.
“Ashley and I were working for the same company in a similar line of business and one day found ourselves out of work due to redundancy. Ideas for our own business came from this experience.”
They saw a gap in the market for A-boards and pavement signs and used their combined graphic signage expertise to build the business. They even created a homemade screen printing press from a sand-filled bucket and domestic hoover.
“The first few years were about survival, we were working six, sometimes seven days a week putting in unbelievably long hours.”
Starting off was tough but the term ‘it’s who you know’ proved apparent as the pair attained work through a handful of contacts that they made in previous roles. The business developed immediately, and soon Mark and Ashley were creating contracts for some of the biggest brands in the UK – such as Unilever, Camelot and Ritz Video Film Hire.
Now, Signwaves continues to work with big brands as well as offering competitive, high quality products to the trade industry.
For further information:
Signwaves Ltd
Lefevre Way
Gapton Hall Industrial
Great Yarmouth
Norfolk
NR31 0NW
01493 419300
01493 419333
enquiries@signwaves.co.uk
https://www.signwaves.co.uk/.
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