GROWING a business of scale is the current buzzing trend in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. If you’re not scaling rapidly with ambitions to be the next Scottish unicorn then you’re simply not going to be on the support radar or be able to tap into funding and growth networks.
I do understand the laser-sharp focus on growth – the economy needs it, and fiercely competitive entrepreneurs want the wealth and kudos that unicorn status brings – but often this desire to be the biggest actually clouds the things that really matter.
Not so for Darina Garland and her husband Kristian Tapaninaho. Their portable outdoor pizza oven company is one of the fastest growing in the UK, but while they have great ambitions to scale Uuni, they also have equal ambitions to build the social impact element of their business.
Uuni is growing very quickly; staff numbers have tripled from seven last December to 21, with more arriving in the New Year, and year-on-year turnover has been exceptional – 235 per cent in 2015 and 340 per cent in 2016, with strong growth expected this year too.
Ultimately the Uuni team is working towards its “2020 Vision”, which would see Uuni being one of the top five global outdoor cooking brands by the end of 2020.
But while leading the trend in outdoor living, Garland and Tapaninaho are passionate about being a “company for good”, and always have been.
“We feel very privileged to be creating a company from the ground up so want to ensure it’s values-led,” says Garland. “With Uuni we believe it’s vital to have a strong focus on sustainability and we have an initiative where we plant a tree for every bag of wood pellets and every single oven we sell. So far we’ve planted tens of thousands of trees.
“We want to do more and heighten the impact we can have and so we have designed the Uuni Impact Fund, which will mean that we give 1 per cent of turnover to charitable causes and social and environmental change going forward.
“We have a global company and sustainability is the major global concern. It’s all of our responsibility to do all we can to protect our planet and empower our young people.”
To reach the 2020 vision and become a household name synonymous with outdoor living, Garland and the team – which is estimated to swell to 50 – need to grow turnover and expand the product line to include a large range of innovative cookware and accessories.
“We think we’ll have a large team here in Scotland but are also likely to have teams in new locations – the US is our biggest market – and we’d have an impact fund that is truly impacting,” Garland adds.
Uuni sees itself as “a learning company”, benefiting from the excellent experiences of the team, but, crucially, it means learning from outside too.
“We are very inspired by our community, individuals and
good companies around the world and often reach out to ask
if we can meet or chat to learn from others.”
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