We don’t know about you but we at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce are certainly big fans of the chocolate that Gnaw creates, so were absolutely delighted to have Matt Legon, Managing Director, with us for the morning.
Matt gave a very relaxed and engaging presentation (used in the loosest sense of the word) to eighty delegates at our Norwich Business Breakfast last Thursday. He and his wife started the business in Norwich in 2011 after realising there was a very real gap in the market for lovingly crafted chocolate with a fun side! The room certainly enjoyed hearing all about the ups and downs, one of the ups being winning the British Chambers of Commerce Small Business of the Year in 2018. Matt attributes much of their success to having a great product and facing the fear that many small business shy away from… exporting.
An anticipated 80% of Gnaw’s turnover for this year will come from export markets, which really highlighted to the room that doing the scary and sometimes more difficult thing is absolutely worth it. Plus, it means that Matt gets to travel around, something he loves to do! It was genuinely lovely to hear how Matt speaks about his team and the fact that he appreciates the company would be a very different place without them.
We certainly left feeling as though we were ready to tackle the world and take those scary steps others are too afraid to take. We’re sure you’ll agree that Gnaw has struck the right balance of keeping its Gnaw-folk identity while not being afraid to take on big markets, something to really be proud of.
Our featured charity for the morning was Nansa, an absolutely fantastic local charity that focuses on providing “there for life” support to people with a range of disabilities across Norfolk. The charity has been going for over 60 years and their new Chief Executive, Tom Garrod, really welcomes all types of support so if you’d like to know more definitely get in touch at [email protected].
