Newtownabbey firm secures contracts in Europe and Middle East

ESF, which recently won the 2015 Ulster Bank Business Achievers Award for Business Start Up, designs, sources and exports an innovative selection of exterior street furniture products and integrated solar solution and technology based solutions.

The products are promoted through four distinct collections: Signature, Simplicity, Sustainable and Streetwise.

Street Charge is a part of the Signature collection and is an exciting solar powered, outdoor, public mobile phone charging station, originally designed in the USA and now available in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

The first contract secured by ESF is to supply McDonald’s fast food restaurants in Italy with its Street Charging units. The initial contract is worth over £20,000.

Following an Invest NI Trade Mission to the United Arab Emirates earlier this year, the company, based at Valley Business Centre, has also secured an order to supply the Street Charge System to a new customer in Abu Dhabi. The contract is also estimated to be worth £20,000.

Invest NI’s Director of Trade, Olive Hill announced the new export deals, saying: “Historically, we have supported Environmental Street Furniture’s growth plans including assistance with recruiting additional staff, implementing its marketing strategy, and working with it to provide graduates with excellent development opportunities through the Export Sales & Marketing Academy. We have also arranged export focussed market visits in France, Germany and the United Arab Emirates.

“Significantly, both of these new deals were secured after the company participated on Invest NI Trade Missions which shows the value that Northern Ireland businesses can take from trade missions and from working with us.

“I would also like to congratulate the company on winning the Innovative Sustainable Green Product of the Year Award for its Street Charge system in the Northern Ireland Electrical Awards 2015, and Best Start Up Business in the Ulster Bank 2015 Business Awards.”

Alan Lowry, CEO and Managing Director of ESF said: “The Street Charge product is a revolutionary product with a very simple concept. It uses the sun’s rays to charge internal batteries which in turn allows the public to charge all makes of mobile phones or tablets at the same speed as a wall socket.

“With the support of Invest NI we secured our first business in Azerbaijan earlier this year for the Baku European games, which gave us the skills and confidence to pursue further deals in new markets.

“We negotiated this new deal with McDonald’s in Italy to supply and install two Street Charge units into McDonald’s in Rho, Milan for the Expo Milano 2015. We also participated in an Invest NI trade mission earlier this year to the United Arab Emirates which gave us the opportunity to build a relationship with a new trading partner and make connections which have been instrumental in the recent growth of our business. This allowed us to secure an order to supply our Street Charge system to a company in Abu Dhabi.

“In order to develop and grow our business, we are currently developing a new more interactive product line using solar power for public outdoor technology hubs and illuminated litter bins. We are also reinvesting all our profits back into overseas promotions and are delighted that our products are now reaching a global audience. Hopefully the relationships we have built will help us to secure further orders in Europe and beyond.”