The story
In 2010, Managing Director, Jack Bannister and his father, took over Lancashire Computer Waste Services, a completely eco friendly, free and accredited hardware waste service. The pair went on to develop Rapid IT, a family owned company established in 2011, which provides high quality refurbished computer hardware across private and public sectors.
Having previously completed Growth Mentoring as part of the BOOST programme, Jack and Operations Director Chris Stephenson, wanted to continue the commitment to growing the business and looked for ways to continue professional development through mentoring. Lisa Edge of Lancashare introduced Jack and Chris to the Northern Mentoring Programme, resulting in a meeting with Jaydee Davies from Community & Business Partners to identify the support required.
Having identified several areas where mentoring would be beneficial, Rapid IT were allocated an experienced, sales and marketing specialist, Victor Giannandrea as their mentor.
The support
Drawing on his expertise, Victor initiated the mentoring with a focus on Sales, but almost immediately widened the scope to include a range of different areas which would support the overall goal of designing and implementing a strategy for sales. Victor recognised that the mentoring needed to take an alternative direction in order to achieve the outcomes that were initially identified.
Over the 6 month programme the focus areas were amended and adapted as the business continued to grow. Victor, with his friendly approach to mentoring, was able to integrate himself into the business easily enabling him to build rapport quickly with Jack, Chris and the rest of the Rapid IT team.
The result
Through the support, Jack and Chris identified that the accounts needed to be addressed, as a result they implemented a new accountancy software and through monthly meetings with their newly appointed accountant, Martin Horton from Rivington Accounts, they now have a better understanding of their finances.
A staffing re-structure saw internal promotions with the appointment of a new production manager and a new sales and marketing post is to be appointed in September 2019.
Through Victor’s experience and contacts, Jack and Chris have been introduced to The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), a network of world-leading research and innovation centres working with advanced manufacturing companies of any size around the globe, which will take them to the next stage of their business.
“I am a young entrepreneur keen to learn through gaining new skills in how to more effectively manage people and situations and Victor’s business experience has helped me to optimise the performance of the business.” Jack Bannister, Managing Director of Rapid IT.
