New scheme sees employees take on business
A Louth-based business is now owned by its employees after the co-founders sold their shares to their hard-working staff.
Leaf Design UK Limited has today (Wednesday) officially transitioned to employee ownership via an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), which means the company will be 100 percent owned via trust by current employees, and is the first artificial plant company in the UK to make this transition to become the Leaf Design Employee Ownership Trustees Limited.
Co-founders Nathan Steer and Rowena Summerlin said that they agreed to sell 100 percent of the company shares to the employees was a way to avoid Leaf being acquired by a much larger company, so decided to transition the company for the eight local employees.
The transition was also a way to “preserve the ethical approach to business and a recognition that the company was built on the hard work and commitment of its employees," they said.
Established in 2018, Leaf was built from scratch and is no one of the largest suppliers of artificial plants in the UK and now occupies a large custom-built warehouse on the Fairfield industrial estate in Louth.
A new Board of Trustees has been established to manage the EOT, who will have oversight of the company’s performance to ensure the Leaf Board is running the company in the best interests of employees.
Employee and new share-holder Nathan Carstairs said: "I never thought I would end up in this situation, and I feel I could grow with the business and have a future."
"I`m really happy that we are being trusted in the business and we all involved in its future," added fellow employee Jason Troop.