We have had a royal visit to the Jesmonite HQ!
We are thrilled to say His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire Anna Turner has been to our offices in Bishop’s Castle to officially hand us the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade.
It was so exciting to have the royal visit to hand over the glass trophy, which recognises the growth we have achieved to become the internationally recognised brand Jesmonite is today.
His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant had a tour of the Jesmonite offices, factory and warehouse and congratulated all the staff.
Exclusive award
She said Jesmonite had been “recognised as exceptional whilst demonstrating outstanding standards in International Trade which out of them all is the most exclusive award”.
HM Lord-Lieutenant praised the staff for “putting their backs” into their roles – many of whom are just starting out in their careers. She said the award marked their huge dedication to their roles and they should all be very proud.
The Lord-Lieutenant was welcomed at Jesmonite by managing director Piran Littleton, director Emma Pearson, operations director John Smallman, marketing consultant Katy Williams, business administrator Lisa Biddulph, factory lead Dylan Evans, factory assistant team leader Dale Griffiths and factory assistant Jordan Rackham.
The team handed the Lord-Lieutenant a clock made from Jesmonite as a memento of her visit, which she said would hang proudly in her new kitchen.
Brilliant people
Piran Littleton said Jesmonite was thrilled to receive this award and thanked the team of staff present telling them they “are the most important part of the business”.
“We’ve employed more, we’ve produced more, and we’ve exported more.
“If you want to be brilliant, surround yourself with brilliant people and that is you,” he said.
Since winning the Queen’s Award Jesmonite has doubled in size and increased worldwide sales by 25 per cent.
We now have 72 distributors in 40 plus countries, which recently expanded to include Africa and America, as well as new distribution hubs in Europe and Canada.
More growth
In 2020 Marketing Consultant, Katy Williams completed the Queen’s Award application for International Trade – Jesmonite’s overseas sales had grown by 108% and made up 45.7% of all sales and the company’s top five markets were South Korea, Bahrain, Netherlands, Spain, and Japan with around 54 distributors.
Jesmonite is being used in some truly remarkable projects across the world including film sets, theme parks and one of the finalists for the Turner Prize – we are incredibly proud that this hard work has been recognised.
The Queen’s Award flag was flying high during the royal visit, and we were also delighted to have present Deputy Lieutenants Mandy Thorn MBE, Gill Hamer and Fiona Rogers-Coltman, along with Shropshire Chamber of Commerce CEO Richard Sheehan and deputy CEO Ruth Ross and a number of Jesmonite suppliers.