Surround yourself with good people
Ken Aitken, Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Freight System was running a third part logistics warehouse in the late 1990s when he received a knock on his door from Neil Page. Page had developed the initial version of a transport management software system that assisted manufacturers, wholesalers and importers better manage their shipments.
Aitken was immediately impressed and got to work with his now business partner in further developing the “solution” that allows shippers to make a better choice when it comes to which or how many transport providers they wish to use.
The Rhodes-based SmartFreight Group now has seven SmartFreight products that are used by more than 10,000 users in ten countries and helps ship more than $500 million worth of freight each year.
The business, which employs 25 staff, has enjoyed double digit growth each year over the past decade.
Business Daily: What is the best advice you have received in business?
Ken Aitken: “Surround yourself with good people, especially your financial and legal team.”
BD: What was your toughest lesson in business?
KA: “Bad advice is easy to come by but good advice costs money.”
BD: What were your best and worst decisions in business?
KA: “My best decision was to appoint a strong, experienced managing director early in the company’s life to allow me to stand back and look at the business objectively. Worst one, retaining a factoring company to finance growth in a previous business to this one. Very easy to engage but very difficult and costly later to disengage.”
Posted on: 03/03/2015
Source: The Daily Telegraph