The Printed Bag Shop Bags Another Award.
Despite all the talk of recession, Craig Smith and his partner Lisa are celebrating – having won the North Tyneside Small Business Awards 2009 - Young Entrepreneur award for the second year running – as well as seeing their business grow spectacularly.
What is astonishing is that Craig and Lisa started the business with literally nothing more than an idea, and plenty of time on their hands – having both been made redundant. They convinced the Prince’s Trust of their determination to success and were rewarded with a £2000 loan, which they have now turned into a £250,000 a year business as one of the country’s leading suppliers of environmentally friendly bags, with clients including Coca-Cola and Virgin, as well as smaller retailers, conference organisers and other businesses across the country.
Craig and Lisa can add this award to their growing collection – Young Entrepreneur 2008 and 2009 and The Princes Trust Celebrate Success Awards 2008 - FSB Enterprise Award - Regional Winner. They were also ranked 6th in the NatWest Enriched List 2008, a list of 15 successful young entrepreneurs – Craig is 29 and Lisa is 22 – who manage businesses which are successful financially, plus suit the lifestyles of the owners; Craig and Lisa astonishingly manage to fit their business around looking after their daughter Ellie who is only 19 months old.
The story isn’t going to end here either. With the enormous growth of online auction sites such as Ebay, Craig and Lisa have spotted an opportunity and are just about to open a ‘packaging supermarket’, the first of it’s kind, where Ebay sellers, along with retailers, can buy all sorts of packaging in smaller quantities than they can elsewhere. Watch this space, The Printed Bag Shop looks like a business that will just grow and grow.
Other business people nominated for the entrepreneur award were Laura Spanswick - Bigfoot Arts Education Tyne & Wear and Carl Haagensen - Redbrick Inventories.
Date Written: Sun, Mar 1st 2009
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