Blueprint for success
ONE of Wales’ fastest-growing companies has launched a new office in Gwynedd as part of its ambitious expansion plans.
Wrexham-based Rawson Digital, which supplies and maintains photocopiers and printers across North Wales and the North West, was last year named at the number 14 slot in the Wales Fast Growth 50 list, the 50 fastest growing companies in Wales.
Its new sales site at Dinorwic Marina, Felinheli, was officially opened by Arfon AM Sian Gwenllian.
The Felinheli branch, which has created two new jobs, has already generated £100,000 worth of sales, boosting Rawson Digital’s first quarter performance by 30% and putting it on course to double its turnover this year to £2m.
The new office will look to serve customers across North West Wales, as far down as Dolgellau, into Anglesey and back towards Abergele.
Ms Gwenllian, who lives in Felinheli, said: “It’s great to see Rawson Digital establishing itself here in Arfon and I am pleased to see a growing business such as this investing in our area and providing two new jobs to local people.
“It shows confidence in Arfon and it is opening up some employment opportunities in what is clearly a thriving industry which wouldn’t be here otherwise.
“This kind of expansion westward into our more rural communities is always welcome. We understand that it is not always easy but the fact companies such as Rawson Digital have chosen to come here shows there is a growing business community which needs this service.”
For Managing Director Vaughn Rawson, who started the business from a back bedroom during the last recession, it marked a milestone for the company he has built from scratch.
He said: “The opening of the new office has been massive for us and the impact it has already had on sales has been very positive.
“I was always interested in making a move into the Bangor area because it is the perfect location to look after the existing clients we have in Gwynedd and Anglesey and a great opportunity to increase our business there too.
“There was a competitor of ours already in this area – a family-run copier company– which sold out to a big corporate based in Maidstone, Kent, and this brought my plan to expand here forward.
“We are a North Wales-based company founded on a desire to work closely with our customers to provide an unrivalled service based on honesty and integrity.
“I felt there was a terrific opportunity available to locate ourselves here and provide that type of local, reliable and conscientious service which many businesses are after.”
The new team at Rawson Digital in Felinheli are now on the look-out for a Welsh-speaking engineer who can work from the new office to help service the clients in the area.
Dyfed Jones, manager of the Felinheli office, who is also a Welsh speaker and has worked in the copier industry for 20 years, said: “We are keen to recruit someone who has a good understanding of the area because I think that is important to the personal service we strive to provide.
Dyfed, from Llangoed, near Beaumaris on Anglesey, said: “We are looking primarily for a Welsh speaker who has a background in electronic engineering. It doesn’t necessarily need to be in the copier industry because we would train them fully.”