Property

The First 12 Months Are The Hardest

Issue 64

The 12 months of 2020 have been among the toughest our generation has known. The coronavirus pandemic has tested the resilience of even the most established businesses, and sadly many have been forced to close. So, imagine the pressure put on a new start business, one which launched just prior to lockdown. Chris Trotter, commercial manager at Shildon-based Northern Metal Recycling, explains how his employer has managed to ride the wave of the virus and grow to a team of 10 less than 10 months since it was set up.

It is fair to say none of us knew what lay

ahead when the ‘C’ word first began to be

talked about at the start of 2020.

Little did we know that as we approach the

end of the year, we’d still be in the grip of

the global coronavirus pandemic, one which

has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives

worldwide and left thousands of people out

of work and many businesses in tatters.

For the team at Northern Metal Recycling,

COVID-19 presented us with a whole

different challenge.

As a business that had just been launched

by owner Jordan Bell, who had committed

over £1.5m to get the venture off the

ground, we were left wondering how we

were going to be able to overcome the

barriers we were presented with, including

a 12-week national lockdown.

Anyone in business knows the first 12

months are the hardest – when those 12

months are during some of the toughest

times the nation has faced, it’s not hard to

understand why we were thinking we were

going to have our work cut out.

Thankfully, Jordan had managed to attract a

team of experienced industry professionals,

who shared his vision of establishing a

business that offered a one-stop solution

for companies, offering both collection and

processing to clients, particularly those

within the engineering and manufacturing

sectors.

Quickly word spread about the launch

of Northern Metal Recycling, new clients

came on board and the growth projections

Jordan and I had set out in the planning

stages were back in play.

Today, there are 10 of us working for the

company and our reputation for excellence

is quickly being cemented.

Whilst we don’t know what 2021 has in

store as the coronavirus pandemic is still

very much part of our lives, we do know

that as a new business, we are confident

that our ambitious plans for growth will be

achieved.

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