IQ-Magazine-Issue-16

Simon Lindley
Commercial Director Real Estate for Cambridge and Counties Bank
iQ business profiles
In brief - The business history and story of growth
The Bank was formed in 2012 when the two private shareholders,Trinity Hall College,
Cambridge and Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Scheme, obtained the banking
licence and we opened the doors to lend. Built on a culture of offering to investors a
combination of high quality service with simple property based lending products (and
no cross selling), we have grown in just over 3 years from those early days of nine staff
to nearly 100 with five offices and a lending book of over £450m.
Harry Norman
Managing Director at OAL
In brief - The business’
history and story of growth
I established Olympus Automation Ltd (OAL)
in 1993. The company originally specialised in
automation and has now grown to include turnkey
engineering solutions for food manufacturing.
We have a strong customer base in the UK food industry,
including high profile names such as Allied Bakeries, Heinz
and Premier Foods, and are continuing to gain new customers
from all around the world. At OAL we design and automate food
manufacturing systems right from the initial raw material feeds,
through processing and on to final packaging, including offering 24hr
service and support for clients.
Can you share your strategy for
growth over the next three to five years?
After three years of significant growth and success, we have no plans to
stand still, but it is important that the bank doesn’t lose focus on how
this success has been achieved. We will continue to grow our lending
book by a steady amount each year, whilst opening new offices in
locations where we can best service our clients and where we
are able to recruit the right calibre of staff.
Can you define your target client?
How do you market your business?
Our target clients are experienced property
investors who understand that price isn’t
everything, and therefore we market ourselves
as a specialist property lender with a
service-based offering. We don’t see any
point in being another vanilla style
lender with inexperienced staff who
follow tick box processes.
Over the last five years, we have pursued a strong innovation agenda, bringing
new food processing technologies and winning many awards along the way. OAL
has led two Innovate UK projects, both with values c. £1million, researching their
Steam Infusion technology for advanced heating and mixing and cryogenic cooling.
What company and personal values are at the core of your company?
Success comes from bringing together unique sets of expertise in people to deliver fantastic
projects for our customers. The company has never failed to deliver for a customer, and this is
critically important in building trust and in the adoption of new technologies.
What does 2016 look like for the OAL group?
Very exciting! The launch of a fully automated flexible manufacturing cell with robotic chefs will happen
in April. The launch will kick off with an event where we will invite press, retailers, manufacturers, academics
and robotic experts to educate them on the possibilities of robotics in food manufacturing.
Article by Gemma Treby
issue 16 | page 13