NaughtOne’s ETA Graduate is Accelerating Export Business
4 February 2025
A modern, dynamic furniture designer and manufacturer based near Harrogate, with more than £30 million annual turnover, including UK production alone providing 40% export sales – that sounds like the kind of company you should know, right? The figures are eye-catching, and so are their designs, but it’s possible the name is one you haven’t heard of before: NaughtOne.
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That’s because NaughtOne is a contract furniture company – it creates to order, for customers that you certainly will have heard of: the global headquarters of LinkedIn, Etsy and Timberland, for instance; universities including Liverpool and Nottingham; breakout spaces in the offices of CapitalOne and Swiss biotech company Shire; co-working areas at the Financial Conduct Authority in London - the list goes on. In recent years it has because part of a larger international design group - the Herman Miller group of companies, MillerKnoll.
With components being sourced from multiple countries, manufactured in the UK and an ever-changing roster of export destinations, NaughtOne’s International Logistics Coordinator Rosie Taylor has a lot to keep on top of.
Why the Export Trade Accelerator?
Before joining NaughtOne three years ago, Rosie (pictured right) was much involved more on importing than exporting, but that has all changed since.
“I think I actually prefer exporting now”, she says, “but dealing with different country requirements is challenging. Some people think they can simply export anywhere, but then I tell them: for that specific country we’ll need this document, this certificate, and so on. I’m the only person here who’s 100% focused on these things”.
In order to take NaughtOne’s international trade capabilities to the next level, Rosie joined Chamber International’s Export Trade Accelerator (formerly known as the Excellence Academy) last year, graduating with Distinction in March 2024. Being part of a small professional peer group with logistics and trade specialists from other companies a was great experience for her. “There was a lady from Ireland; a lady who was shipping out metal components – it was so good to compare notes and learn from each other”, she says.
“The taught sessions were really helpful for me – I thought they might be a bit long and tedious, but the time really went past quickly, because there was so much interaction and the talk was far more insightful than had expected. The trainers we had each time were amazing. One area I didn’t really know about before was to do with exports that might be used by the military – dual-use goods. That was certainly eye-opening.”
The Export Trade Accelerator (ETA) has a strong commitment to mentoring, so that conversations continue and develop outside of the online classroom, on non-training days. “I would ring up Kate, the trainer, and ask questions about the course, coursework and how the guidelines affected our company. She would help me take things even further and ensure my knowledge was there”, says Rosie.
“I realised that we didn’t really have a succinct system for keeping records, because we weren’t clear about what HMRC expects, so now we have made changes and it’s working much better. The timing was just right. Because our exports business has grown so much, we have been given an HMRC case-worker to check over our routes to market. Our finance team were a bit worried about what would be required, but I was able to tell them: It’s OK, we collect the data now. The changes I have started to implement have saved Finance and myself a lot of headaches. I think they can all see the benefit of what I learned through the ETA, and are on board with it too”.
The next Export Trade Accelerator for people working in import and export roles begins on 10 September 2025. Find more information about this course, including how to enrol. Sign up today!
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