Member Article

Bdaily goes behind the scenes of SUMO Drinks Ltd with Managing Director Richard Baister

Richard Baister is the Managing Director of SUMO Drinks Ltd, who launched their new calorie burning soft drinks in Ireland earlier this year, following three years of development. You can find out more at www.sumodrinks.com.

What key challenges has your company recently faced?

The biggest challenge came before our first full production run and that was selling distributors on something they couldn’t touch or see as a finished item. Fortunately, this is no longer the case and we are able to showcase the product, which has so far had fantastic reactions. It is early, but we are very excited about SUMO’s potential.

What is your biggest achievement over the past 12 months?

As a new company seeing the results of three years of development has given us all a huge sense of achievement. To take something from an idea, through this lengthy development phase, hold the first cans and going on sale is a brilliant feeling.

What is your biggest focus for the coming year?

Having launched SUMO in Ireland, we are now busy working on securing distribution agreements for a variety of other territories. Our focus is undoubtedly on expanding the reach of our distribution as far as possible and selecting the right partners to maximise the potential of SUMO. We really want to maintain and increase the momentum and, as a company, build brand equity.

If you had to choose one top piece of advice for someone just starting out in business, or is currently operating within your industry sector, what would it be?

If you’re starting out in business one big thing is that you need to be resilient. You have to be very determined to push through the various obstacles and barriers that may stand between you and your goals. Sometimes people may want you to do things differently. There may occasionally be a good case for that, but in often it will only be to benefit the other party and you will need to stay true to your vision for the business. Don’t worry about that say ‘no’ to those who don’t ’‘get it’, stick to your vision for the business and good things will happen.

Can you share with us your view of the current landscape of business, in this region or generally and where your organisation sits within it?

They say a lot of the best businesses are built during bad economic times, because they have to execute well to survive at all. The stage is certainly set for that, no matter what your industry, with the UK having obvious problems. I think that if you have something of genuine value to offer, whether you’re in the B2B or B2C sector, there will always be a market for it somewhere, so if the UK isn’t giving you the business you need and want, look to the export markets – just make sure you’re working with the right partners.

The days of the UK being the centre of the trading world are long gone and recognising this can open your mind to the opportunities available elsewhere. At the same time, bringing in foreign money can obviously also help the UK economy as a whole. We are optimistic that SUMO’s export focus will provide us with a degree of insulation, as our fortunes are not directly affected by any one individual economy.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Baister .