Sweet scent of success H
andsworth-based entrepreneur Graham Flash’s dream was to make money while he was sleeping, something he is finally achieving
thanks to flair, hard work and the right finance from UK Trade & Export, backed by crowdlending specialist
ArchOver. He is now a director and majority shareholder of G
Flash Diamond and is selling car air fresheners through major retailers throughout the country and beyond. Graham, who has always had a passion to be
creative, has a varied background, including agriculture, welding, design and fabrications; the last two he learned at college as well as on the job. In 1998 he got fed up of working for other people
and set up his own gardening and cleaning business, building it up to 400 customers in less than six months.
‘I wanted to make money while I was sleeping’
“But it still wasn’t challenging me,” says Graham, “I wanted to make money while I was sleeping and the best way to do that is by designing a product. “The trigger for me deciding on an air freshener
came when I lost a big cleaning contract at the start of the recession. When driving home, I pulled into a service station to get a coffee to calm myself down. There was a car air freshener on display which kept drawing my eye. I thought ‘I could do better than this’.” While working on other products he came up with
the Diamond name and logo, so he decided to produce a 3D diamond shaped car air freshener, to stand out from a predominantly 2D market.
Fresh idea: Graham Flash Graham initially tried to find a UK manufacturer, but
was forced to turn to China to keep unit costs down in a price sensitive market. After approaching 100 Chinese companies, he finally made a 2D diamond shaped paper air freshener to test the market, selling 76,000 in less than a year. Graham said: “The banks weren’t really helping; they
continually move the goal posts. They just look at numbers, not the product or the person. Finding UK Trade and Export and ArchOver was vital to the business.” The Aston-based UK Trade and Export Finance does
not use direct loans, but purchases the products from the Chinese manufacturers and is repaid when G Flash Diamond is paid by its customers.
Sparkling success (L-R): Tom Milner, Gill Hutchinson and Joe Milner
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Engaging Solutions - developing conversational intelligence throughout your organisation MARCH 2016 CHAMBERLINK 21
PREMIER MEMBERS A successful
partnership Since appointing Birmingham marketing consultants Aardvark to help implement a new business strategy, a Warwickshire family firm of jewellers has seen a growth in customer spend. Joe Milner, who is a co-director
of Tustains, together with his brother Tom, said: “Our business has been here for a long time - which is an asset and also a challenge. Aardvark has helped us enormously by developing a trackable marketing strategy that really works!” During Aardvark’s partnership
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