DIT supports growth from kitchen table to multi-million turnover
July 4, 2022
Case Study: Absolute Collagen, Wolverhampton
It has taken just over three years for Maxine Laceby to steer her Absolute Collagen business from kitchen table start-up to £9million turnover – and now she’s targeting even greater growth thanks to help from DIT.
The business – which started in Wolverhampton and now employs 13 people – is on target to increase turnover to £15m this year and Maxine has her sights set on doubling that through international sales over the next three years.
DIT help and that of adviser Pete Chapman has been crucial to the success – with Maxine attending a host of DIT events as she became established, taking advantage of the Digital Adviser support, receiving specialist advice from DIT colleagues at the EU Trade Hub to solve a distributor issue and getting vital research and background information on new markets.
Maxine has also attended a trade show in Slovenia thanks to DIT and was represented by DIT itself at an event in Slovakia, which led to a successful collaboration in that country. The company, which retails its collagen supplements exclusively online, has broken into the Irish, German and EU markets in the past year, but now wants to expand into the USA, Asia and Australia.
“Pete Chapman has been incredibly helpful and working with DIT has been a really positive experience.”
Maxine adds: “Export sales account for something like five per cent of our business at the moment, but we think that will rise to at least 50 per cent in three years’ time thanks in part to the help we are getting from DIT.”
