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For December we would like to Introduce Hilary Lee - The MD of WC Penfold Sydney. Hilary also owns and operates Advance Supplers at Minto & was a Board Member of the Office Choice group for 5 Years.
Watch this Video where Hilary talks about his career, how he entered into the Office Supplies Industry & the focus areas of his business. The transcript of the interview is available below the video clip on this page. Hilary thank you for your time. So how long have you owned and operated WC Penfold?
I have owned the Sydney WC Penfold stores since June 2005. We bought 5 retail stores in Sydney CBD when it was up for sale.
Could you briefly tell us about your career?
Most of my life I have spent working for a multinational, in a very technical field. Selling one computer for millions rather than one pencil for 20 cents!
I worked for IBM for over 16 years. I looked after part of their Outsourcing Division. I had about 800 people reporting to me. It's a new part of IBM. Not the hardware or software, but the outsourcing side.
I came to the Stationery Industry in 2001. I was running a B2B shop, out in Minto, which is about 60 km away from Sydney CBD.
Moving from IBM to the Stationery Industry was a big Change. What was the inspiration behind it?
I think with a big company, the good part of it is, you have all the resources you need. But, you need 10,000 signatures before you can do anything! That was a major reason I decided to come out.
I suppose now I am responsible for anything that goes wrong.
So you wanted to be your own boss, basically?
Yeah. Basically, I was getting very frustrated. It was taking so long to get things done.
Why did you choose the Stationery Industry?
We did look at other bits and pieces. Something like running a restaurant which would be more enjoyable.But, the Stationery Industry, at that point, was 5 days a week and we could have the weekends off.
How many Employees do you have at WC Penfold?
We have a lot of part-time people working for us. Altogether, we have between 40 and 50 employees in our Business.
What is the Vision for your Business for the next few years?
We are still growing the retail side. At the moment, we are very much concentrating on Sydney CBD. We are not into the suburbs and even in the CBD, there are still locations where we can have more stores.
So you are looking at more of an organic growth within the retail side of your business?
Yes and we are, in a way, very much focused on the retail side.
How long have you been with the Office Choice Group?
Since 2001. We bought a business Advance Supplers at Minto, which was an Office Choice member. So, we basically took over the membership from them.
Could you please share a bit about your family?
My wife Bonnie comes in to help with the business. She basically runs the HR side and does the hiring and so on. I suppose, she has a better way of reading people! My two daughters are all grown up now. They used to come in to help but, now they say they have "real" jobs and so now they are not coming in to help anymore!
Thank you Hilary
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