BUSINESS OF THE YEAR 2022

Jl Drinks

Fast growingpremium spiritscompany JL Drinks is on course to increase employment to at least30by theend of 2022

JL Drinks,based on Pensnett TradingEstate, Kingswinford,was only started in 2019 andbythe start of this year wasemploying adozen

It createsand sellsvodka,whiskey andgin andhas alreadyextended its market from theUKtoAustralia, NewZealand andCanada.

JL Drinks wasfounded by husband-and-wifeBaz andSunny Kooner,who have ayoung family of four girls.

Sunny said:“We createdthe idea of Jatt LifeDrinks whilst on holiday in DubaiinDecember 2019 as we spottedagap in themarket foranew exciting spiritsbrand to come in and

Uspsteels

be innovativewithboth flavours and branding.Weworkedonour business plan andproduct development extremely hard forthree months untilwehad our firstproduct in our hand in March2020.

“Westarted tradingour premium alcoholone week before lockdown online viaour website.Despite all theoddsstacked againstuswith allthe covidrestrictions, andnavigatingbothbusiness andfamily lifethrough uncertaintimes we managedtogrowour business from husband-and-wife partnershipwith nothingbut just an idea.”

Thebusinessinitially started from asmall office unit buthas now movedtoa15,000sqftpurpose-built unit with adistillingand bottling plantand custom-builtbar

School Of Coding

School of Coding is theUK’s largestcodingand computer science educator teachingchildren andadultsacrossthe UK and Europe

Thebusiness, basedonPendefordBusinessPark, Wolverhampton, started in 2017 and hasgrown to employ 28

Pupils aretaughtall about computer science,codingand digitalskills.

School of Coding provides codinglessons online andatits six educationcentres

It specialises in tutoring students doingGCSEs andA-levelsand also delivers Government-fundedcourses to adults lookingtoimprove theirskillsin IT andcomputerscience

Thebusinessworks with five majoruniversities andmore than 150primary andsecondary schoolsinthe UK. It also delivers42afterschoolclubs andcodingworkshops

School of Coding teaches 2,550 students to code each month andalso provides resourcesfor

Smart Balustrades

GrowingBurntwood business SMARTBalustrades hasincreasedits workforce to 17 since itsformation in 2017

ThebusinessatUnitech House,ProspectRoad, is headed up by brothers Davidand Jonathan Hough.

It designs, manufactures and installs high qualitystainless steeland glass balustradesystems forbothresidential and commerical projects

Thecompany’s plan for2022is to breakthrough the£2million annual turnovermilestone and achieve£200,000 profit.

Allmanufacturing is now done in house andSMART has twofull-timeinstallationteams with brandedvans.

Thecompany hasalso assembled amarketingteamand at thebeginningof2021invested

£30,000 in aspecialistsemi-automatictubedrilling machine whichincreased thespeed at whichitcan producebalustrade postsby50per cent

Thebusinessnow importsall teachers to teach better.SoC delivered more than 800classes free of charge during thecoronaviruslockdowns

It is also openinganew division –SchoolofCyber Security

Steelstockholder USPSteels has grownrapidly sinceitwas formed in 2016 andbegan tradinginJanuary

2017

TheKingswinfordbusiness,which offers structural steel flat rolled products, nowemploys 38 at Gibbons Industrial Park

Thebusinesswas setupbycurrent ownerGlynCostiganand his team of sixstaff USPstarted with onelarge table basedina smalloffice it shared with USL andinthe firstyeardespatched 34,000tonnes.

Thebusinesshas invested heavily in young people andhas workedwith Nova training to bringapprentices to thebusinessand slowly grow the workforce.Currently sixmembers of itsteamhavesuccessfullycompleted apprenticeshipsatUSP Steels and earned permanentcontracts.

In 2019 it rebrandedfromUnited Sheet& PlateSteelstoUSP Steels

By theend of 2021 thebusiness wasdespatching 105,000 tonnes of steelfromthe 34,000 four yearsearlier

Thepandemicpresented anew challengeand its firstmajor hurdle

Thebusinesswas supplyingmany keyNHS contractsand it wascritical to offeranimproveddelivery servicesoitbegan despatching on weekends andexpandedoperational hoursto24/7tohelpachieve this

Thesignificant growth delivered improvedprofitability andMrCostiganhas reinvested theprofits back into thebusinessbybuyinganew four-acre site in Kingswinford of itsstainless steelcomponents directly from overseas rather than purchasing throughUK distributors.Mostofits current workloadismadeupofcommercialcontracts.