King of bling and useful things

Kondor is a company born of frustration. In the early 1990s, when users were ready to fork out substantial sums for cases to protect mobile phones, Kondor chairman Malcolm Bartlett bought a leather case for his mobile phone. When it fell apart shortly afterwards, he decided he could do better himself.

Kondor started in 1994 as a three-man band made up of chairman Malcolm Bartlett, secretary Elaine Elliott and logistics chief Geoff Austin-Head.

Bartlett developed partnerships with suppliers based in the Far East and, to begin with, sold only leather phone cases. Success came quickly, however, and by the year 2000 Bartlett wanted to bring extra cash into the company to fund its growth by selling a 25 per cent stake.

Enter Rob Haycock. Originally an investment banker hailing from West Kirby in Merseyside, Haycock helped in the sale to venture capitalists. But his role was to become far bigger when, four years later, the directors of Kondor decided they wanted to regain 100 per cent control of the company again.

I got to know Malcolm very well during the original sale, says Haycock. Then, in December 2004, he asked me to help take the company forward. This time, we refinanced the company and raised quite a few million pounds to buy out the venture capitalists.

The deal went through in April 2005. Now, Kondor is once again owned outright by its chairman and directors. More importantly, Haycock had found a new professional home as managing director of the now wholly private company.

Kondor is a mobile phone accessories specialist that sells everything apart from SIM cards and mobile phones. Network clients include Vodafone, T-Mobile, 3 and Virgin Mobile and it supplies high street retail chains such as The Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4U, Dixons, Woolworths and Sainsburys. It also supplies most independent dealers and web retailers.

Since joining the company, Haycock has invested heavily in the sales team. Kondors total headcount has jumped from 55 to 80 in that time, of which 15 new roles have been created in sales.

Within two or three months of my arrival, it became clear that we needed more investment in the sales team and the warehouse. To win the big accounts youve got to have a large team of account managers and account executives, he says.

Kondors warehouse will also soon increase in size. Work has just started on a new floor in its warehouse facility and this is expected to be up and running by March.

As well as distributing accessories, Kondor provides a category management service to 3 and Virgin Mobile áa