Emma Lane is the Area Director for Allied Irish Bank (GB) for the Brighton and South East region. As one of the judges in last year’s Sussex Business Awards there is one business that caught her eye as a shining example of innovation, and who are leading the way in investing in their business and people.
Emma explains: “I was really impressed with Shoreham-based gift firm, Pala- done, who won the Large Business of the Year Award, due to their impressive growth and eco policy. Their investment in their people and commitment to ‘Breakdown Plastic’ is impressive and the firm has ambitious plans to leverage further on their success and double-digit growth rates.
“Paladone is riding high after a successful start to the first quarter of 2020 and are a great contributor to the local and UK economy because all their products are designed in Sussex. They strive to create the best gifts in the world whilst also minimising the impact on the environment. This includes using biodegradable plastics (BDP) in the majority of their plastic products and reducing packaging waste on all of their products.”
Yann Le Bouedec, Commercial Director at Paladone explains: “Our ‘eco committee’ formed in 2017, and in early 2018 we became the first company in the gift trade (and one of the first companies in the world, regardless of trade) to use biodegradable plastic (BDP) in our products.
We started small, using the BDP additive in just five products, gauging retailer and consumer reaction while running our own tests at the same time. Three years later we’re able to add our own test results to that of the company that developed BDP, proving that our BDP plastic products will biodegrade in landfill in just a few years, where our previous standard plastic would take thousands of years. We now use BDP at every opportunity and are addressing the products and factories that can’t work with BDP, to find other options – in a couple more years EVERY plastic product we manufacture will be made using BDP.
“Achieving recognition for the work the Paladone team does every day is amazing. The Sussex Business Awards judges’ enthusiasm for our eco efforts has reinforced that we are heading in the right direction. Our growth strategy centres around broadening our product offering including the launch of a new beauty category and continued focus on opening up new accounts in the US and Europe.
“We are expanding our team but continue to drive growth through our existing staff as they take on new challenges and progress their careers at Paladone. We’re very proud of our growth which has been recognised for the last three consecutive years by the Sunday Times International Track schemes and winning the coveted Gift of The Year award four times in the last six years.
“Probably the most prevalent example of success for Paladone is the growth and development of our staff. Since 2014 our team has grown from 36 to just over 150! We’ve loved being able to develop, promote and recruit from within the existing team, whilst attracting the best talent the industry has to offer.”
Emma Lane
Tel: 07799 888057
Email: Emma.L.Lane@aib.ie
