18 | Aycliffe Today Business
Aycliffe Today Business editor Martin Walker finds out why leading shower manufacturer Roman is a firm supporter of the highly-acclaimed Future Business Magnates competition ...
TOMORROW ’ S
Participants at this year ’ s Future Business Magnates competition take a selfie during the grand final event at the Xcel Centre .
WORLD
It ’ s one of Aycliffe Business Park ’ s household names , one of Europe ’ s top 1,000 fastest-growing companies , and earlier this year was recognised with the Queens Award for Enterprise for International Trade .
And as the accolades keep on coming , shower manufacturer Roman still ranks youth engagement and development as one of its biggest priorities .
The firm ’ s managing director , David Osborne , took a hands-on involvement in this year ’ s Future Business Magnates event , an annual competition organised by Business Durham which encourages local firms to buddy-up with schools and come up with innovative ideas for the future .
Roman ’ s team won best presentation in 2015 , and this year the firm ’ s Barnard Castle team finished third overall .
It ’ s an achievement – among many others – which Osborne is quite rightly proud of .
“ Future Business Magnates is brilliant , and I wish I did it when I was at school !” he said . “ It ’ s great fun , the young people really enjoy it and seem to get a lot out of it .
“ We try to do a lot in the community and we take on new apprentices every year , so we ’ re big believers in training and developing local young people .”
The Barnard Castle team toured Roman ’ s factory on Aycliffe Business Park and held meetings with the firm ’ s management before coming up with a housing solution for third world countries .
“ They toured our facility and we gave them some pointers , and they very quickly twigged on to a modular building being a key part ,” said Osborne .
“ What they ’ ve done is brilliant . I ’ m really proud of them , they did a great job , and I ’ d be very surprised if it doesn ’ t end up on the market at some point soon !”
For Roman , Future Business Magnates clearly isn ’ t just a tick in the corporate social responsibility box . It ’ s something Osborne feels benefits his business , too .
“ The young people were involved in all areas of the business so it was also good for
Roman boss David Osborne with his Barnard Castle team , which finished third overall .
our staff to do something different and get involved ,” he said .
“ Manufacturing isn ’ t a dirty word , it ’ s the backbone of the country , so the earlier you get young people engaged , the better . Professions are very good at getting people engaged early on and manufacturing doesn ’ t seem to do it for them , but this is the only thing out there that does , which is fantastic .