Profile - Andrew Manby: Family company determined to exhibit its full range of talents

As a teacher at a middle school in Leeds, he had no involvement with the company and was happy in his job.

But in 1978, four years after his father Joe set up Harrogate-based Joe Manby, he was asked by his father if he wanted to join the business as a trainee event manager.

His younger brother, Richard, who is joint director of the company, was already working for the company.

"It was an extremely difficult decision to make because it was a big change," Andrew said. "I didn't have any previous experience in the commercial world.

But it was a fantastic opportunity because it was a time of great growth in our industry."

At the same time, entering the business as the boss's son brought a certain amount of pressure.

"When you come into a business as the son of the boss you have to seriously consider how you are going to give 110 per cent because anything less will not be good enough," said Andrew.

"Everyone is watching you because they think you only got the job because you're the son."

Joe Manby sets up exhibitions, which includes traditional and modular shells, bespoke stand design and construction, graphics, floorplan layouts, electrical installations, floral displays, floor coverings and furniture hire, for clients including the British Bridal Exhibition, Harrogate Christmas and Gift Show and the Conservative Party's Annual Conference.

The firm was set up in 1974 when Andrew was away at college.

His father, who had worked his way up to managing director at a family building and joinery business, suggested setting up an exhibitions division within the firm but the family which owned the business disagreed so he left and set up his own company instead.

One of the leading shows in Harrogate in the early days was the Harrogate International Toy Fair, now Harrogate Christmas and Gift Show.

It began life in the post-war years shrouded in mystery. As it moved to the exhibition centre, the secrecy continued and workers at Joe Manby had to build private stock rooms for each exhibitor. "People were extremely secretive," said Andrew.

"They would lock themselves in these rooms, set their exhibits up and you would almost have to knock on the door and present your business card to gain access.

"The idea that competitors could see your products took quite a long time to work its way through.

"Nowadays, of course, everything is openly displayed and that is part of the attraction."

Andrew and Richard worked their way up the company and took over from their father in the 1990s after a gradual transition. When Joe Manby died suddenly from a heart attack in 1995 at the age of 71 they had already established themselves at the top of the company.

Over the years, the company has had to contend with a number of issues that are beyond their control, including a major fire at an exhibition hall in Harrogate when the team had to work through the night to relocate the stands so the event could still go ahead.

"The possibility of things going slightly wrong is huge but largely speaking we manage our way through these things," said Andrew.

The events industry has undergone a number of changes over the decades.

"Two of the biggest are the heightened security at political events and a huge increase in health and safety legislation.

"While much of the health

and safety side is quite right, it can get a bit absurd," Andrew said.

"We all want a safe working environment, but there have been a lot of changes since 1997.

"We seemed to work reasonably well and safely up to that point but since then, the amount of red tape we have to deal with has been a huge burden.

"We've had to go through many different processes to end up working in exactly the same way as we did before, resulting in a lot of effort and cost.

"I hope to see more sensible applications of this legislation with the Coalition Government."

The events industry has suffered in the economic storm, and Joe Manby, is no exception but it continues to secure long-term contracts and currently boasts an annual show portfolio comprising some 65 events across more than 25 UK venues.

"We have had to change the way we do things in terms of our products, service and price," said Andrew.

"We have had to change the way we operate. We are a smaller company now in terms of the number of people we employ and we rely much more on temporary staff."

He added: "Our event industry is seasonal and we have two peaks – spring and autumn. As life has become more competitive, it's been more difficult to carry a high volume of people through the year.

"We used to be a company of 90-plus people but we employ less than half that now."

The company's 4m turnover is about 15 per cent below what it was about five years ago but Andrew says there is a lot to be positive about, despite the uncertain future.

"We've not seen a large drop-off of shows recently," he said. "The difficulty right now is knowing what that business will be in the future.

"We tend to work on three-year annual contracts, so at the moment we are working with event organisers going into 2013, but we don't know what will happen after that.

"We have had to take a ery realistic view on how we

move forward in securing business and what the size of future contracts will be because some shows are struggling and downsizing."

Shows that have continued to thrive, he said, are the niche market events, particularly those in specialist medical fields, but the initial impact of the economic crisis on the industry was unprecedented.

"For the first time in my 31 years in the industry, and we have worked our way through a couple of recessions, we actually saw events cancelled. And they were cancelling not one a day but two or three.

"You were looking at the chart, scratching your head and saying 'Oh my God, where do we go from here?' The automotive shows took an absolute clattering."

He added: "There has been a gradual recovery in many of these events but now we're seeing those which have a public sector side are struggling."

The fallout from all of this means that cost-cutting clients have become more demanding for less money.

"The next year is going to be tough," said Andrew. "We have a decent portfolio of shows so if these events hold up reasonably well we will have a good year, but we won't be crowing from the roof tops."

Although Joe Manby is a family business, Andrew, who has two daughters, Julia, 28, and Rachel, 25, with his wife, Jill, remains adamant that the business does not impact on family life.

"It's important that we retain a focus on what makes Joe Manby a business, but family and other things are an important distraction," he said.

"In the early days when I wasn't involved in the business I would come back from college and my sister and I would agree that all the family did was talk about the business.

"When I joined the company, I decided I didn't want to be like that."

From teacher to director

Title: Director of Joe Manby

Date of birth: March 25, 1953

Education: Ashfield College in Harrogate and Bingley College of Education, which was part of Leeds University, where I did my teacher training

First job: Working as a labourer in a timber yard. My first proper job was a teacher

Favourite song: Like many people of my generation, I love the Beatles but I couldn't pick out one song

Car driven: Maserati

Favourite film: Gladiator. It's a great film

Favourite holiday destination: The Algarve in Portugal

Last book read: Life on Air, by David Attenborough

What I am most proud of: It has to be my family