Turnover soars for family-run eco firm from Croydon

The Green Desk has seem profits rise despite the recession.

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

GreenDeskA husband and wife team from Croydon, Surrey, south of London, have seen turnover soar after cementing their position as one of the borough's greenest companies.

As “First Impressions”, which was founded in 2002, the company established its credentials as a supplier of environmentally friendly office equipment, picking up Best of Business and South London Business green awards.

But two years ago, Bruce Halai-Carter and his wife Yasmin decided to give their company a new name – “The Green Desk” – and a new ethos.

This saw the company move from solely a supplier of equipment to offering a complete business service to companies looking to establish and expand their own green credentials.

Now, on top of being able to supply everything from pens and stationery to desks made of sustainable materials, “The Green Desk” offers cleaning services, business support with marketing and design and health and safety advice.

And as a social enterprise, the company, which has around ten staff and bases in Gloucester Road, Croydon, and Spout Hill, Addington, is donating surpluses it makes to charity.

“The business is all about sustainability.” Bruce said. “When we look to supply goods for our customers we need to know who has made them, hopefully within the UK or Western Europe and that they are of good quality and are not going to harm the environment.”

The approach, he said, was proving to be an increasing success and over the past year the number of companies wanting to set out on the road to becoming greener is increasing.

The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW wishes “The Green Desk” continued success on their journey to make the world a better place.

© 2010