ABSTRACT
Mike Carlisle and Shidu Razan left the electrical engineering company in North London for which they worked to set up their own business, Enlightened Enterprises, manufacturing table lamps in a rented industrial unit. Shidu had contacts in the Middle East and they soon began to export a proportion of their output in addition to selling to local hardware and lighting shops with whom they had prudently established contact before setting out on their own. Mike’s sister, Frances, sorted out the complex export documentation for them and looked after the UK sales. They manufactured to recognized British Standards and instituted a quality system of their own based on ISO 9000 procedures, though they did not go to a formal, externally assessed system. The business grew steadily in the first few months.
