Latest News | 17 August 2021
Gift company moves into larger premises and announces new hires
Gift company Colleague Box has moved to larger premises and announced a number of new hires after experiencing rapid growth.
The firm, which was founded by husband-and-wife Adam and Natalie Bamford, has relocated to a 4,000 sq ft warehouse – called The Smile Factory – at Northedge Business Park, in Derby.
The company, which specialises in personalised gift boxes, has also announced a trio of new appointments, with Chrissy Law joining as marketing manager, Katie Lowe as order fulfilment specialist and Gemma McHarg as commercial sales director.
The new appointments mean that the workforce has more than tripled over the last year and Natalie – who has taken on the role of managing director to help grow the business – has big plans for the festive period and beyond.
She said: “Christmas promises to be a busy time of year again for us, so we’re launching early bird offers in September as companies look for that perfect gift for their colleagues and partners. Last year, we completely sold out of our Christmas range.
“We’re also growing other areas of our business, collaborating with others – we see collaborations as key to our success.”
The new appointments join Adam and Natalie, order fulfilment manager Carly Dainty and accounts manager Hannah O’Brien.
Adam said: “We are delighted to welcome Chrissy, Gemma and Katie to Colleague Box.
“Chrissy has a wealth of marketing experience; Natalie and I have known her for several years, having worked with her at Selenity, our previous employers.
“Chrissy helped us in the early days to get Colleague Box up and running and will be instrumental in pushing the business on.
“Katie also has previous experience working on a temporary basis for Colleague Box and we’re delighted to be able to appoint her on a permanent basis, while Gemma’s portfolio is pretty impressive; she also set up a business – Active Toddler Clothing – during the pandemic and joins us at a really exciting time with a brand-new website launching soon and Christmas on the horizon.”
Chrissy said: “I have loved watching how Colleague Box has taken off over the past 18 months and am thoroughly enjoying working here; there is a great team spirit and it’s exciting to see where the future takes us.”
A recent initiative which is helping build collaborations with others is the Beers and Business Club.
The brainchild of Adam, the monthly online get-together is aimed at fellow entrepreneurs and business leaders to give them time to network and have a chat.
Each month, the club welcomes a guest speaker, with former Derby County captain and Danish international Jacob Laursen being the most recent guest.
Adam said: “I have longed to have a podcast but I didn’t think that was suitable for me; I don’t think that my monotone voice is really suitable, so I created a platform whereby I can enjoy a few beers responsibly, we can all relax and chat about anything we want to.”
