TT Compost Ltd - Case Study

How TT Compost found out about the Starting a High Growth programme

Oxford Innovation was introduced to TT Compost by the Unlocking Cornish Potential team (UCP), a partner in the delivery of business support within Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

The Start-up Challenge

TT Compost’s parent company, Tinten on farm composting Ltd, a farm-based green waste recycling company has been successfully engaged with receiving and composting waste collected from across Cornwall for a number of years.  TT compost, was formed as a spin-off company focused on selling the ethical, sustainable source of compost in outlets (directly to the public, agriculture and horticulture) across Cornwall.  The company was achieving a modest turnover but had the potential to grow. 

How has Oxford Innovation’s Grow Cornwall Team Helped?

Oxford Innovation has assisted TT compost by helping them to put together a viable business plan for a good idea and to start to deliver against it. 
“Since we started working with the Grow Cornwall team in March 2010, TT Compost has gone though some substantial changes. As a young company breaking into the Cornish retail market we could see huge growth potential for all of our products and in a number of market segments however, we  were unsure where to focus our efforts. The business coaching and tools provided by our coach, Andrew Farmer, allowed us to refocus our efforts and make rational and informed decisions, providing the platform to strategically develop our markets and more importantly helped the team identify a common goal.

“Andrew has provided a sounding board to make these key decisions, and his time with us over the last 6 months has been invaluable. As a business coach, we have not been given the answers but instead provided the tools and knowledge to allow us to develop and execute our strategies."
Ben Lake, marketing manager, TT Compost

What is happening now?

The company is looking to more than double its turnover this year from £56K to £112K. The business is timely with industry recognising the need for alternatives to peat sources.  The company wishes to retain a “green” image. In order to achieve this and to maintain a low carbon footprint, whilst accommodating the expense and logistics of moving compost, the company has decided that there is sufficient market for them to achieve a reasonable sized business by restricting their business activity to operating in Cornwall.  This market will be satisfied through the outlet deals that are actively being established across the county. In addition the company has recently launched its own comprehensive website to support its marketing activities.

Ben further comments: “We are looking forward to continuing our work together as we have got considerable plans for 2011 which will no doubt benefit from further guidance from the team at Grow Cornwall.”

CONTACT DETAILS:

Lead Coach/Mentor:  Andrew Farmer

Entrepreneur:  Ben Lake, Marketing and Business Development Manager

www.cornishcompost.co.uk