We are extremely excited to announce that we’ve been shortlisted in two categories of the Sussex Business Awards, the Young Achiever of the Year for Sam, and Start Up Of The Year for the business as a whole.
Yes, we’re competing with firms across East and West Sussex and can’t wait for the awards ceremony at the Grand Hotel in Brighton on December 1st.
Young Achiever award
For the Young Achiever award we thought we’d share a bit of Sam’s backstory and business journey, and in our entry we talked how Sam went from starting Summerley Recruitment in lockdown to passing £1million turnover in just one year.
Sam worked three jobs during summer 2020 to save enough capital to bring his business plan to life, starting Summerley Recruitment without any external funding. Despite the pandemic conditions meaning no bars, cafes or hotels were open, he decided to focus on the catering and hospitality niche. Hoping that large-scale events would restart in 2021, he spent winter 2020 recruiting students and temporary staff from across the south to work at festivals and sporting fixtures, securing a workforce of over 300 people.
During early 2021 Sam started cultivating relationships with potential clients, mainly organisers of large events, both locally and further afield. In March 2021 Summerley Recruitment was able to start placing staff and just 18 months later, in September 2022, exceeded £1million in turnover.
Team Summerley is growing quickly!
During 2022 Sam appointed a permanent team to assist with the growth of the business, which has been expanded further recently, taking on more support staff and opening a London office. This enables him to increase his portfolio of events and accommodate further client operations within the greater London area.
Sam has supplied staff for a huge range of events, including:
- The British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone
- Goodwood’s Festival of Speed, Revival and Glorious Goodwood events
- Queen’s Tennis tournament
- Royal Ascot
- Major football matches at Wembley Stadium
- England cricket matches at the Ageas Bowl
- Boomtown Festival
- Brighton Pride
- Henley Regatta
- Rewind, Victorious and Carfest festivals
- Weddings at venues including West Dean College, Langstone Hotel, Farbridge and Loseley Park.
At just 26, Sam has built a incredibly successful business in a fragile sector which has thrived since its launch. This is a testament to Sam’s dedication and determination for Summerley Recruitment to become the go-to place for staff within the catering and hospitality sector. Sam has built deep relationships with his clients who trust him to provide quality staff to work alongside their full-time teams to deliver outstanding events.
Supporting students
Sam is keen to support the students he works with and sponsored the University of Chichester sports teams in their varsity event against Winchester. Some of the Summerley Recruitment students took part in the rugby and football matches between the two universities. Sam also hosted a CV masterclass for his previous school, Felpham Community College, to give their students a helping hand at the start of their working careers.
Summerley Recruitment is not only a personal venture for Sam as he is keen that others should benefit from its success. After spotting the potential in some of the candidates who worked for him at events, Sam took them on to work for him permanently at Summerley HQ, to give them the opportunity to develop further in a thriving business.
Success comes with sacrifices
Building a successful business in such a short period of time has involved personal sacrifices for Sam.
- He has worked seven days a week for most of the past year.
- He slept in his car waiting for staff to finish their shift before taking them home.
- He burnt the midnight oil on many occasions in the office, either preparing for an event or to ensure the payroll was submitted on time.
- He camped in tents and vans at events so that he’s on hand for his staff to prepare them for a long shift.
- He has regular 4am starts to pick up staff and transport them to events.
- He sacrificed his personal life for the business, rarely seeing his family or girlfriend.
- He stopped playing football for the first time in over 20 years.
Sheer hard work pays off
Sam didn’t achieve top academic results at school, but this didn’t hinder his ambition to succeed. He has achieved success through sheer hard work, dedication and tenacity, getting to where he is without business loans or other external financial support.
Sam is a shining example of how a young person can build a business from scratch, using skills and inspiration from the various roles in his career to date. We all remember those first jobs, how nerve-wracking they are, and a new generation will remember Sam for inspiring them and helping with their first step into the working world.
Follow us to see how we get on
You can follow us on social media to see whether we walk away with a trophy. If we don’t then we will have a fun night out anyway, but it would be extra special to come home with some silverware!