Latest News | 16 February 2021
Gift firm boss pays tribute to fellow Bondholders
The co-owner of Colleague Box – a company set up at the height of the Covid crisis – has paid tribute to a host of Marketing Derby Bondholders for their support since the business launched.
Since Natalie Bamford, together with husband, Adam, launched their personalised letterbox gift company last year, it has gone on to enjoy great success.
The company is now looking to build on that after launching seven new ranges for 2021.
Natalie, who juggles the business with home-schooling two daughters, has praised the owners of several Bondholder businesses for their encouragement and support over the last 12 months.
She said: “Everyone knows of the big businesses for which Derby is famous for – the likes of Rolls-Royce, Bombardier and Toyota – but there is also a wealth of small, local businesses who we have had the honour of working with.
“Most of the small businesses who we have been working with have women at the helm and are members of Marketing Derby.
“Over the past 12 months, we’ve worked with Laura Parry, of graphic design company Parry Creative, which helped us with a re-brand for 2021, Rachel Hayward, from Ask The Chameleon, has given us invaluable advice on awards we should be entering and grants available to us, and Bev Crighton, from the University of Derby, who was great in helping us to recruit students from their Student Employment Agency.
“Others who have been brilliant for us include Sarah Loates, at Loates HR, Kerry Ganly, at Penguin PR, Bev Wakefield, at Vibrant Accountancy, and Claire Twells, from Smith Partnership, who runs Derby’s Finest.”
Others on Natalie’s thank-you list include Danielle Dunn, owner of bath bomb business Divine Box, Tracy Harrison from Safe and Sound and Amanda Strong, from Mercia Image Print.
Natalie said: “Where we can, we will always strive to work with and support local businesses.
“This year has been a challenging one and, where we can, we want to support all these talented small businesses we have right here on our doorstep.
“We are looking forward to collaborating, supporting and working with more local businesses in the near future.”
For Mercia Image Print, the request from Colleague Box to print 20,000 advent calendars at the end of 2020 was the biggest order the Derby company had received in its 31-year history.
Amanda Strong said: “We have followed the story of Colleague Box and were absolutely delighted to work with Natalie and Adam.
“Creating the custom-made advent calendars was an exciting challenge for our experienced and talented team but we were thrilled with the final product.”
