Trinity International celebrates Queen’s Award in style
Since the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are generally acknowledged to be the UK’s most prestigious awards for business performance, it’s understandable that winners sometimes don’t want to rush their celebrations.
One winner which had more to savour than most was Aberdeen-based catering and hotel-keeping company Trinity International Services Ltd, which rounded off the celebrations for its 2005 award for International Trade with a royal visit by HRH The Princess Royal in September 2006.
As these pictures show, the royal visit was an appropriately up-beat affair in Trinity’s offices at Bon Accord Square, attended by 50 local dignitaries, staff and customers. “A thoroughly special day,” enthuses Trinity chairman and CEO Stuart MacBride. “HRH was a captivating guest and gave very generously of her time to chat at some length with many of our guests.”
With a first Award already under its belt from 2003, Trinity is probably Aberdeen’s only double Queen’s Award winner. With the October 31 deadline for entries for the 2007 Queen’s Awards now looming, we invited Stuart MacBride to draw on his unique perspective to describe what winning the ultimate business accolade can mean to a North East business…
“In the first place, it might surprise people to learn I believe that even completing the application procedure for the Queen’s Awards is a thoroughly worthwhile business process in its own right. The questions are carefully framed to force you to quantify the value of your overseas business, which is something you might not otherwise do with such a degree of objectivity.
So my first advice would be – even if you don’t submit the form, download it from the Queen's Award website at http://www.queensawards.org.uk/business/2007_winners.html. Completing the questions, digging up the data and summarising the value of international trade to your business – it’s all an absolutely superb and worthwhile process. Take it from me – there is absolutely no way you can bluff your way to a Queen’s Award!
There is, of course, absolutely no guarantee that you will win this award first time round – but with perseverance and the right track record you will! From my own experience, I know how selective the process is – it took us three attempts before we were ultimately successful. But this is genuinely an elite award – the ultimate accolade – so it is well worth going for it.
But North East Scotland is such an entrepreneurial region with so many outstanding international performers that I believe we should have an even higher representation of winners – and I know the Queen’s Award office is very keen to encourage more applications nationwide.
International credibility
But, apart from the splendid excuse for celebrations, what does winning a Queen’s Award really mean? In our case, it has certainly given us wonderful credibility in the world market in which we operate.
Trinity International is very unusual in being an Aberdeen-based, locally-owned catering and hotel-keeping company which works the oil and gas world on a truly global basis. Less than 15% of our turnover comes from the North Sea, and we are competing head-on in Africa, Europe, the Far East and the US with massive multinational corporations.
There are occasions – fortunately rare - when we have been told we are too small to tender for a contract, which, with a turnover of over £24 million, is more than a bit frustrating. But we can to an extent counter that with the credibility argument – and two Queen’s Awards on top of all our Quality and Environmental Assurance accreditation gives us a very strong hand to play. Customers really do take notice of these achievements, and that brings credibility.
The award also means a lot to our staff – and that’s another good thing about the Queen’s Award, it’s very much an award for the whole company. On each occasion, we took two long-standing staff members down to the receptions at Buckingham Palace, which was an unforgettable experience for them and for us.
I think our staff also enjoy Trinity having something that our competitors don’t have. We have made a habit of breaking the mould – we have always had a higher percentage of female employees than the norm, for example, at around 55% of our workforce we are at least 25% ahead of the industry norm. We offer equal opportunities at every level, and, as a privately-owned company, there are no multiple layers of management for our people or our clients to struggle through.
If they have a problem, they know they can speak to me and we will work something out.
So I think having two Queen’s Awards sits very well with the Trinity way of doing business.
Exciting times
One of our major strengths here at Trinity is the extensive offshore experience the team brings to the table. We’ve all been out there, we’ve all done it before, and in our line of business that experience is critical.
We never forget that we are a service company, and our role is to solve our customers’ problems. Not only that, but we have to meet these challenges with a veneer of calm and confidence – even if we are like a beautiful swan paddling away like fury beneath the surface! But we are always very transparent with our customers – we tell them precisely what we are able to do, and what we can’t.
Having said that, working worldwide is never easy. Every country we work in has its own rules and regulations, and even simple exercises like opening a bank account can be hugely time-consuming. That’s where the export support agencies such as Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway International do a really valuable job, helping you to cut through the red tape.
We are also active members of the globalscot network, which is a wonderful concept with huge potential. We must never forget that Scots business people are our number one export to the world – even ahead of whisky!
We are currently in exciting times at Trinity. Africa now accounts for almost 45% of our turnover, and we are making big inroads into the Gulf of Mexico and Norway, so I am bullish about our international future.
And, in a couple of years, we plan to have another go at a Queen’s Award. Doing the hat-trick would be a very, very special achievement.”
For more information on Trinity International, visit http://www.trinity-int.com/
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