LOOKING BACK
By Rob Kelly
In this new feature we delve into our archives to revisit some of the stories we have shared over the past two decades
YEARS 5
MARRIAGE LINES January/February 2021
Heath and Kelly Groves featured on the front cover of our first issue of 2021.
We shared the couple’s story and the development of their Hyndburn-based business Sundown Solutions as well as their work writing a book looking at how couples can make business partnerships work for them.
Kelly told us: “We do take different views and it works well for us. The main thing is although we have different opinions, we always come to the same answer, regardless of how we get there.”
Sundown began life in 2006, three years after Heath left the Army. He persuaded Kelly to give up her nursing career to join him as operations director. The couple had been school sweethearts in Rossendale.
Sundown began as a training academy for former military personnel and then an IT provider.
It shifted focus as the move towards cyber technology grew and soon became a front runner in the cyber security arena.
Heath told us: “We build very specific products to meet specific needs. We don’t build technology for technology’s sake.”
The Sundown story has continued to make our headlines. In April last year its sale created a new tech business. Called Telena it provides AI, data, software development and cloud engineering services.
Heath took on a co-chief executive role in Telana for the first three months before moving to run its defence and public sector arm as managing director. He is also a board member.
In October last year we also reported the Groves family’s literary debut as thriller writers with the launch of ‘The Series of Silence’ – a chilling story exploring three families across three centuries, bound by one house.
SPECIAL KAY January/February 2016
Ken Kay shared his incredible business journey, which began in 1972 when he and his wife Jean ploughed £6,000 of savings into what was to become a major petrol station operator.
The Kay Group had grown from that first rented station at Intack in Blackburn to 24 locations nationwide. Ken was approaching his 70th birthday at the time of the interview and revealed his future plans for the business.
Raised in Darwen, Ken said of those early days: “It was a typical petrol station of its time selling car accessories. I knew which bulbs went into the tailgate of which model and which was the right windscreen wiper.”
The group went on to employ more than 350 people and to include a vehicle rental company. Today Ken is still owner and chief executive officer of the Kay Group. With growth plans, the group is currently in the top 15 independent petrol retailers in the UK.
Ken and Jean were founder members of the Blackburn Youth Zone and continue to support its initiatives and projects.
10 YEARS
20 YEARS
LOOKING OVERSEAS January/February 2006
The global phenomenon of outsourcing was having an impact in Lancashire as businesses looked to set up production overseas and searched worldwide for cheaper goods and services.
Editor Andrew Calvert brought together key manufacturers and business leaders to examine that impact.
Kam Kothia, managing director of eBusinessUK, took part in the debate. Today he is chief executive of one of the UK’s longest established digital marketing agencies seoBusiness.
Kam spoke of the drive to outsource back-office functions to India and Vietnam because it was “significantly lower in cost”.
Aside from business, he has dedicated more than 25 years to education in a strategic leadership capacity and served as co-founder and chair of the board of trustees at Star Academies.
In recognition of his contribution to education, Kam was given an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022.
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