Elite Sheds is one of the five manufacturing based firms in Fermanagh which is benefiting from Invest NI support because of its commitment to growing their business.

Formed by school friends Simon Livingstone and Stephen Whiteman from Clabby in 2015 the business has grown year-on-year, with a turnover of approximately £800,000 last year.

With ambitious plans to double turnover, the directors, who are both in their thirties, will invest £198,500 in the next phase of business growth, with Invest NI to provide £23,995 in support.

The former Fivemiletown College pupils had worked for engineering companies and were building sheds in their spare time. 
When they got married and had children their family life was suffering so they decided to take the plunge and set up their own business.
“One evening we were sitting chatting and we decided that we were doing too many hours. We were working all the time. I don’t know how we stuck it as long as we did,” said Simon.
“We decided to take back control of our lives by setting up on our own.”
The pair’s first stop was Fermanagh Enterprise, where they received help in writing a business plan.
“I had studied Business Studies at school but never thought I would be using it in my day-to-day life,” Simon added.
Next stop was the bank, where they detailed their planned investment and showed their business plan and were successful in receiving a start-up loan.
“It wasn’t much but it was enough to get us over the line,” he explained.
Their sheds go to customers in the agricultural, industrial and domestic sectors across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Initially orders were for small sheds, but as the business has become more established, they are getting orders for larger, more expensive sheds.
“We’ve sent sheds as far as West Cork and we would like to expand into Great Britain in the long term,” commented Simon.
The biggest challenge facing the partners to date has been “keeping the cash flow right.”
Stephen explained: “If you have five or 10 jobs on at the same time, that’s quite a bit of money owed. Big sheds take time to build and final payment is not until it’s finished.”
Simon added: “And you can’t hound customers straight away for payment. However you can’t hang on too long. The main issue among any local businesses I am speaking to is getting money in.”
Commenting on their planned investment, Simon said: “We want to grow a bit more. We’ve already invested £15,000 into becoming CE marked (gaining the Certificate of Conformity of the Factory Production).
“We also want to expand our presence in the industrial market a bit more and to create more jobs locally – all our employees are local.”
The business currently has four employees, with plans for three more jobs in the immediate future.
“Invest NI has been very good,” said Simon. “We are classed as exporters because we export down south. They set us targets that we have to meet in order to receive their support and we are well on schedule to meet those targets.”
Simon is “not worried” about Brexit, stating: “If anything, we’ve gotten busier since the Brexit announcement. A weaker pound is nearly better for us when we are exporting down south.”
The pair recognise that they have many competitors, not least in the local area. “We let them do their own thing and we do ours,” Simon stated.
Looking at the economy in general, he reflected: “I find that things have gotten better. We started at a bad time, when people were afraid to do big jobs. Now there’s more confidence and the economy is picking up.” However, the price of steel has “almost doubled” and that trend has to be factored into their costings.
The move into self-employment “has paid off.”
The business is currently located on rented premises on the Lisnagole Road between Lisnaskea and Maguiresbridge, which they say is beneficial in terms of through-traffic between Northern Ireland and the Republic. In the long-term, they would like to have their own site and to expand into Great Britain, “but,” Simon says, “we have to walk before we can run.”