Tennamast Scotland Ltd - Calum Mackie
From our manufacturing base in Scotland, our extensive award winning range of Masts, Antenna Masts, Boat Cradles and Trailers are distributed globally, and recognised throughout the world as being of the highest quality and the best value money can buy. www.tennamast.com
Calum Mackie bought Tennamast from the retiring owner, and as he put it:
“I wanted help and I had not a lot of experience in this area or in running a company so the Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce put me in touch with the mentoring program.”
Calum was matched with Bob Byers in January 2010 and describes it as a “Good match - he has an engineering background and is a keen sailor.” Bob is a retired businessman who saw that Calum was “Up to his neck in work and unable to focus on anything,” but agrees that they “Absolutely see eye to eye and he has taken a lot of what we have talked about on board. He is a young man who has got into/acquired this business and has been finding his feet.”
Calum was concerned about his cash flow and lack of control over it – Bob introduced a “very simple cash flow system” which they now have in place. Bob was concerned initially with Calum’s ability to analysis his products and market. He explained that: “He hadn’t been out to see customers or potential customers, he was very much passively sitting - waiting for enquiries to come in.”
So they set about analysing individual products. The product range is not difficult to manufacture, it is basically metal and steel fabrications and Tennamast have a couple of welders to do the work. But Bob stressed that Calum: “Needed to get to know his product better and his product outlets and the channels to get the products out. I encouraged him to go out and visit the Scottish Marinas and get peoples’ view of their products.”
Following a cost analysis they realised that that yacht cradles range has limited future volume, the market had been saturated by the previous owner. Further analysis on another of the products – radio aerials and structures – produced potentially better margins and Calum is looking to see if he can develop that.
Both agreed that despite early progress measureable differences will take time to show as it is still “early days” but Bob sees that the “potential is there as long as he does his market investigation and concentrates on the products that are going to give the best margins.” Calum is happy the way that the process is progressing and Bob enjoyed his work summing it up - “I get a lot of satisfaction out of it, and I feel like I am giving something back.”
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