My Ambition is to

Ashleigh Averell, Company Owner of I Brand Everything.

Igraduated from Ulster University in 2016 with a degree in Marketing and my career began in house at CocaCola and Adhaus Media. Although I loved marketing, I could not shake the feeling that it was not where I was meant to be and left the industry to create IBrand in 2016 at the age of 22.

I have been brought up with a family sign making business, Catchy Signs, and after much persuasion, my dad agreed to let me use part of his workshop bench to print t-shirts. I always loved the operational side of my dad’s business and watching this made me have a passion for production too. As the sales began to come in, my dad became my mentor as I developed the business on my own. The conditions of his agreements were that I had to financially back everything in the business myself and pay rent!

Fast forward to now, we operate under a 2,500sq. ft workshop, with further offices and stockrooms. I am a lover of machinery and technology as we currently have embroidery machines, a laser engraver and a UV printer just to name a few. In 2021, we worked with Pinnacle Growth Group to gain investment for our new ecommerce website. We have also been working with Invest NI as part of its Supply Chain Resilience and Development programme for over a year. The focus has been on improving our supply chain processes, both building resilience to the many challenges within the current global supply chain, and providing real cost saving benefits. This assistance has been instrumental in developing a more robust business model for us to prepare for growth in the coming years.

We have also begun the amalgamation of the family signage business to provide our customers with a full branded package. Although my true love is manufacturing, my marketing background is invaluable as I have been able to assist companies to get creative. I am a solution-based thinker which allows me to understand the pain points of our customers, from budget issues to meeting tight deadlines.

To date, we have worked with global players such as Johnson Controls, Google and Allen & Overy, as well as local household name brands such as Glens of Antrim Distillery, Boojum and Power NI on creating custom merchandise for teams and events. Throughout COVID, we found our customers had issues with the distribution and storage of merchandise. We quickly expanded our offering to respond to this showing how the manufacturing industry can pivot with industry demands.

At the moment, our focus is on corporate gifting for the festive period as we developed a unique selection of gifts to make sure your staff feel valued with high quality merchandise that is both functional and fun. Over the past six years, I have met so many characters in the industry, and I very firmly believe that people do business with people, so I always ensure to give high levels of customer service and enthusiasm, from one unit to thousands of units.

From 2021, we have expanded our range of sustainable and eco-friendly products in response to our international clients’ requirements to meet Net-Zero ambitions. I have found that in the past six months Northern Ireland has really switched on

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to sustainability, and we are proud to be able to meet these needs with our creative solutions.

My ambition for ibrand is to continue to develop our manufacturing capacity to meet the changing needs of our customers. Things have evolved so much in my few years in business. The pandemic instrumentally changed how corporates operate and so much of our business is focused on staff well-being and engagement which is still an emerging culture shift. Our business used to be more about what you wear to work and now it is more about how you feel at work.

Outside of the business, I am also a mother to my young son Patrick and got married last year to my lovely husband Michael. This has taught me more about a work/life balance, and it has also taught me about the barriers for women and their career due to the cost of childcare. In 2022, I was delighted to be a finalist for FSB’s ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ and I have been concentrating on my personal self-development as I am currently on Mairead Mackle’s MBE Evolve Programme to improve my skills as a leader. I hope that my journey as a young mother and young businesswoman is something that inspires others to follow their gut into a dream career.