How does an iconic 164-year-old Scottish company scale up its business? That’s the question put to two of Scotland’s top entrepreneurs by Arjun Koyappalli, General Manager of Napiers.
Discussing the herbalist company’s mission on the Go Radio Business Show’s ‘The Board You Can’t Afford’ feature, Mr Koyappalli said: “We’re really focused on growing in the UK then internationally. My background is more marketing and e-commerce and so that’s where we see growth.
“What advice would you give a business in the scale up phase, looking to go from say £3 million now to £10 million?”
Show host Sir Tom Hunter responded: “I’ve a couple of ideas. One is to link with my contacts at The Hut Group, who have built the world’s biggest health and beauty platform and they do everything for brands like yourself.
“So, if you wanted to open in Australia, you don’t need to worry about the logistics or the currency or anything else: you just deliver the product to them and they take care of everything.
“We’re also invested with an organisation looking at early stage health, beauty and herbal businesses. They bring a whole team not just captial, they wrap round you.
“So I’m going to put you in touch with both.
“My advice is always to surround yourself with people who’ve been there and done it.”
Lord Willie Haughey told Mr Koyappalli: “I’ve opened in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and in Australia and we’re all over the US.
“If I could have found a route like the one you might find through The Hut Group, or if you can get involved with an organisation that can give you global expansion without having to go through all the pains I went through in going to a new territory, setting up an office, trying to recruit people, you might get to your £10 million a lot quicker than you would think.
“So, the best advice I could give you is make sure you get those two numbers!”
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