Glentham Life Sciences, a supplier of chemicals, raw materials and life science products has increased its annual turnover by 35 percent year-on-year by growing its export sales.
Sam White and Nick Zieleniewski, co-founders, began trading in September 2013 after receiving a £7000 loan from the government-backed Start Up Loans Company.
The business, headquartered in Corsham, sells chemicals, including amino acids, biochemicals, dyes, stains and phytochemicals, for research and production purposes, to worldwide distributors. They then sell the chemicals on to organisations in the diagnostics and educational science sectors. It trades across 50 markets including Australia, USA, Europe and most recently India, Pakistan and Vietnam.
Sam and Nick, both aged 29, studied sciences at university before starting careers in chemical sales and IT.
The pair were keen to start their own business trading fine chemicals, after noticing a gap in the market for accessible and cost-effective products, but lacked the finance for initial set up costs. They turned to the government-backed Start Up Loans Company for help, and each received £3,500 to fund the purchase of machinery and materials to trade to customers.
Almost five years on, the firm has grown its annual turnover to £2million, of which 90 percent are sales to overseas distributors.
With a forward-looking gaze, Sam and Nick hope to continue to grow their overseas presence and double worldwide dealers from 10 to 20 in the next three years.
Sam White, co-founder of Glentham Life Sciences, said: “Fine chemicals are essential for research and development purposes, and our range has allowed us to appeal to distributors selling to customers in a range of sectors. This has benefitted the organic growth of our business and we have experienced significant increased demand year on year since our inception. This is one of the reasons we won the Queen’s award for excellent short-term growth in short term trade last year, an achievement we are incredibly proud of.”
“Without the Start Up Loans Company, we wouldn’t have been able to buy the materials needed to start trading. As well as funding, our mentor has worked closely with us to provide guidance relevant to our business needs and navigate overseas markets.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what the next five years has in store, having enjoyed such a positive reception already.”
Joanna Hill, interim CEO at Start Up Loans Company, said: “Sam and Nick have poured their combined energy and intelligence into Glentham Life Sciences, and it’s great to see how their dream to build a global name for the business has been realised in just half a decade.
“The impressive expansion into worldwide markets reflects the businesses’ commitment to offer customers a variety of products and quality service.
“With sturdy plans to continue winning new accounts with customers all over the world, we’ve no doubt that Glentham Life Sciences will continue to jump from success to success.”