Jon Borkowy is the director of IFD, an importer and wholesaler of quality oak, sheesham, acacia and mango wood furniture from India and the Far East.
How did you enter the trade?
After leaving school I was working for a supermarket chain when a friend of mine who worked in his father’s furniture business asked me to join him in their warehouse. We then opened to the public doing weekend sales where we were taking more in a weekend than the stores were taking in a week.
Who was your inspiration?
There have been a few over the years, two of them are Dave Chrisotomou at Leather by Design for his work ethic – he didn’t have a day off for the first 10 years of building his business up – and Mark Hynes, IFD’s MD, for showing that you have to take risks in business and be brave.
What was your career high point?
As we grow year on year I don’t like to think I’ve reached the high point yet – I still want to push for bigger and better things. We bring new ranges to the market each year and when you see one of these develop into a good seller it always gives you a high.
... and low point?
In 2008 we had a large amount of furniture stolen from temporary warehousing we were using as an overspill. They came in over a weekend and cleared it out. As we were using it for a short time it wasn’t insured which was a hard blow, although we did recover some of the items.
... and the turning point?
Sourcing good quality and value-for-money products from India – this gave us a gap in the market and made us the market leader in the UK for Indian furniture. India’s a tough place to deal with and it takes a long time to get it right, but the determination has paid off.
Describe a typical working day
Traffic willing, I try to be in for 8am to go through emails before the rest of the team get in. Then I look at each department from the containers coming in to the deliveries going out, interspersed with forward-planning and product design. I finish around 7pm.
If you had to start over, you’d probably pursue which career?
I’ve been in the furniture trade for over 25 years so I’ve never really thought of any other career. I enjoy design but also get a buzz from selling and this trade gives me the opportunity to do both.
What date on the business calendar do you most look forward to?
It’s not a set date as it changes each year depending on when the samples for new ranges we’re going to release are ready to inspect. Seeing in the flesh what has been in development is a great feeling.
What is the most important issue affecting your business right now?
I think if you spoke to most volume wholesalers like us it would be margin. We’re all vying for retailers’ floor space and retailers want lower prices. We used to have a price structure based on 40 and 20ft containers direct to customers and wholesale from our warehouse. Now we deliver most orders from stock. This meant increasing our stockholding considerably and increasing delivery costs whilst keeping prices at container level, so this has had a big impact on our bottom line.
What company do you most look up to?
I wouldn’t say I look up to any other company – I don’t want this to sound arrogant but I don’t spend time thinking about other companies because I’m too busy thinking about IFD.
What would you most like to change about yourself?
To be less stubborn – when I’ve made my mind up it takes a lot to make me change it. Also I’d like to be a bit more tolerant.
What do you enjoy most about working in the trade?
It’s the variety that I enjoy the most. In the space of two days you can go from visiting a customer in Scunthorpe to travelling through the desert in India to view some samples.
Leave us with an industry anecdote please!
Taking on new staff is always a challenge! A few years back we employed a new transport manager who assured us he knew the UK like the back of his hand and could get anything anywhere. We loaded one of our lorries up with the displays for the January furniture show at the NEC, and he said he would take it and meet us there at 9am the next morning.
He hadn’t arrived by 10am and we couldn’t get hold of him, but as it’s always busy at show time we thought he was stuck in traffic. He finally showed up at 12pm after sitting outside the NIA (National Indoor Arena) 20 miles away wondering where everyone else was! He didn’t last long with us.
