entrepreneurs 13


Photographs by Angus Thomas


Where does that entrepreneurial spirit come from?


Business was always in our family. My father was a journalist who then went into advertising at EMAP, and my mother ran a couple of toy shops. From the age of about five, I knew all the product lines and all the prices, I think I must have been rather a precocious child but it certainly gave me a flavour for business. We were a hard-working family and I knew that was what paid for us to be privately educated.


I’ve always been opportunity driven. You can make plans for your business but in terms of your own private situation – and


certainly with regards to ownership of the business – you can’t necessarily plan it all out.


We had the opportunity to do this latest MBO and everything was right for it. Now I think we have a business which is more fleet of foot, we have a highly motivated management team which works hard to deliver success.


Who inspires you?


My family roots certainly gave me a work ethic and taught me how to succeed.


Circular Distributors’ Peter Morgan was a real inspiration to me at a fairly young age. He was great with people and taught me that part of the success in business is making sure you get everybody aligned and working towards a common goal and strategy.


deliver great quality of distribution and good service – at the same time as being the lowest cost operator.


Those are two things that don’t always go together.


Customers expect great service, because if their bills don’t go out on time, they don’t get paid and if a direct mail campaign isn’t delivered, then they don’t get the response they expect.


We have to deliver high levels of urgency and efficiency as cost effectively as possible and we are well positioned to do that. We have 56% of the downstream access market which means we have the size and scale to be able to do the job effectively.


If you can do that and you have a


motivated team, then you will deliver some good results.


Do you have any golden rules?


I have two guiding principles – does it make sense for your customer and does it make commercial sense for the business?


What’s happening in the postal market now?


There is some decline in the mail market, but we’re seeing good growth in direct mail and a lot of growth in packets and parcels, which we’re very well positioned to handle thanks to our own growth strategy.


What are your future goals?


To make sure we deliver sustainable, profitable growth within the Whistl UK business.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2016 It’s a high turnover, low margin business, but interestingly, you have to


Tell us something we don’t know about you


I’m also chairman of Lifecycle Marketing in Bourne End, which publishes the very popular mother and baby magazine and website Emma’s Diary, on behalf of the Royal College of General Practitioners.


I


launched it 23 years ago, when my wife was a midwife and health visitor and she used to say there wasn’t enough information to give out to pregnant mums.


What do you do on your time off?


In my spare time I like to travel and recently had a stunning trip to Namibia with my wife and three grown-up children. I enjoy cycling and last year raised funds for the Anthony Nolan charity, which is a very good cause, by doing the London to Paris cycle ride.


I’m also a keen skier, play golf


and enjoy wine and spending time with the family.


Details: www.whistl.co.uk www.businessmag.co.uk


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