GEOFF Crow’s CV reads like a classic tale of an entrepreneur success story.
After starting a small horticultural enterprise during his school career, he gained an understanding of the supply chain and a hunger for business. He graduated as a structural engineer and worked for Buro Happold while running a fireworks firm on the side, before throwing himself full-time into his events company 21CC Group.
Mr Crow built up the firm to cover four different areas of his expertise: events management, fireworks, pyrotechnics and production. He soon acquired commercial premises in the grounds of Hopetoun House and expanded his staff from two to two dozen, all hand-picked to help him move into the next stage of the company’s growth.
Then Covid-19 came along.
With a business model that relies on bringing people together, Mr Crow found himself totally blindsided by lockdown and had more than £2million worth of work cancelled in just a few months.
Winter would usually see a packed schedule for 21CC Group, with Halloween events, fireworks displays for Guy Fawkes night, then Diwali, Christmas lights switch-on ceremonies, events for St Andrews Day and preparations for Hogmanay. This year, almost none of that is going ahead.
“We didn’t deliver a single Guy Fawkes fireworks display,” Mr Crow explains. “What would typically be 70 or 80 events went down to zero. It was absolutely devastating.
“We would usually be doing shows all across Scotland for Hogmanay but we are now down to just a handful. Which again is rather devastating, given how many years we have been building this business up. We had to restructure during the summer, which was a very difficult thing to do when you have spent time handpicking individuals to join your team.
“But when there is no income you need to be making these decisions.”
With an unexpected global pandemic to factor into his business model, it would have been easy for Mr Crow to become overwhelmed. Instead, he sat down with his team and began brainstorming ways to run Covid-compliant events, going back to the drawing board in a bid to find a way forward.
“As service suppliers to the events sector, we have put on several interactive lighting trails for various companies over the years,” he explains. “But this year, with Covid, and all our revenue dryng up, we decided we would plough on ahead and use our own management company to build and design our own lighting trail.”
Wondrous Woods was born, a spectacular illuminated 2km trail through the grounds of Edinburgh’s Hopetoun House, that ran for five weeks through October and November. It was one of the first major events to be run in Scotland since the pandemic began, with a lot of Covid-mitigation paperwork on Mr Crow’s part paying off after Wondrous Woods proved highly popular.
“We would far rather be masters of our own destiny than wait and have our hands out, hoping that someone will give us something to move forward. The times we have experienced the greatest success is when we have had to make the biggest decisions, as we have in the last few months.
“For February we’ve also organised a drive-in fireworks event, where people can park up and watch a pyro-musical display (a fireworks display set to music) while sitting in the comfort and warmth of their car.
“There’s a 6pm showing with a family movies medley, an 8pm show of music from the Greatest Showman and a 10pm show with Ibiza Classics.
“Outdoor events are much easier for social distancing and Covid safety. But I think that even when we return to some form of normality, some of the activities and events that we have formed during Covid times will remain- because they are exciting and fun and people love them.”
But after the year he’s had, is Mr Crow able to look ahead to 2021 with optimism?
“I’m always optimistic,” he laughs, “that’s why I’m an entrepreneur! You need to be able to find the angle in order to generate revenue. Optimism and ambition are two things that you have in bucketloads to persevere through the good times and the bad.
“We are continuing to invest in the company and we are anticipating some growth organically through 2021.
“Prior to Covid, we were looking at the potential acquisition of another organisation within our sector, which is hopefully something that we will be able to revisit. 21CC has grown almost fifteenfold in the past nine years, and the intention is to continue that growth.
“We have had a speedbump which has slowed us right down, and actually taken us back a few years, but the ambition and the drive is still there, if not stronger, because I am more determined than ever now to keep going.”
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