Business Bulletin

My best business decision

Dec 09/Jan 10 issue

In 1984, the components of Grass Roots, the business I’d founded four years earlier, were spread from London to Leeds. I took the risk of borrowing a large sum of money on a personal indemnity and brought everything together at a country house in Hertford. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that staying out of London for a services business such as ours was akin to staying out of touch. How wrong that was. We have remained headquartered in Tring, and thanks to a lot of hard work and determination from our staff, we have grown from a turnover of £11 million when I took that decision to almost £300 million today.

David Evans, CEO, Grass Roots


Editor's View Business Bulletin Trailblazers Business Tools Finance Expansion Strategy Leadership Flotation Exits Columns Enterprise News Deal Listings Backchat	Business Bulletin My best business decision Dec 09/Jan 10 issue In 1984, the components of Grass Roots, the business I’d founded four years earlier, were spread from London to Leeds. I took the risk of borrowing a large sum of money on a personal indemnity and brought everything together at a country house in Hertford. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that staying out of London for a services business such as ours was akin to staying out of touch. How wrong that was. We have remained headquartered in Tring, and thanks to a lot of hard work and determination from our staff, we have grown from a turnover of £11 million when I took that decision to almost £300 million today. David Evans, CEO, Grass Roots