1. What is your full name and job title?
Jonny Mocton, CEO at ITD Global.
2. How long have you had your current role?
20 years.
3. Tell us a bit about your company?
Established in 2004, ITD Global is an international logistics and ecommerce management and delivery specialist with a clear purpose – to use its expertise, infrastructure and relationships to ensure its customers, SMEs of all sizes, can successfully deliver their products anywhere in the world, cost effectively and simply. Support, impartial advice and honesty are at the heart of our operations.
Every year we are responsible for the safe carriage of over 25 million parcels utilising a full range of solutions including UK domestic and international courier services accessible through a single API, air and sea freight and fulfilment. We have a UK wide network of vehicles and depots in addition to a dedicated fulfilment centre. This is complemented by strong and unique partnerships with over 1000 carrier services worldwide meaning that customers benefit from our collective buying power to deliver the best price and can turn services on and off as required without any contractual penalties. We provide dedicated support to handle any issues, queries or challenges.
We are continuing to invest in our infrastructure to support our significant growth and in 2022 secured a £15M investment from the UK’s most active growth capital investor, BGF.
4. Name some key challenges and opportunities your business is facing?
Our biggest challenge at the moment is the constantly changing provider landscape. Of the handful of end mile UK logistics providers, one (Evri) has just been sold, and 2 are actively looking for buyers. This brings uncertainty to the market as this will inevitably bring force changes in areas such as cost and culture. Our teams have to quickly assess how these changes may impact the service to our clients. Luckily our business model enables clients to change carrier easily, if necessary, without any penalties.
The UK logistics market is very appealing to investors at the moment due to the low prices of domestic shipping compared to Mainland Europe alongside the fact that the UK’s ecommerce market is the 4 th largest in the world by value, behind China, USA and Japan. As a result, I think we will be facing this uncertainty for some time and there may well be significant change to the sector.
For opportunities, alongside the ongoing growth in the sector which shows no signs of slowing, we and our clients are finding that exporting to Europe post Brexit is actually not as difficult as it could be so we are seeing growth here. There are also huge opportunities for imports from places like China.
5. Tell us an anecdote that really sums up who you are as a leader.
I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty! In 2012 when we set up ITD Global we didn’t have much technology, so we used to have to put the labels on the parcels ourselves. We were operating out of a small shopfront in Prestwich, so we had to pack and label everything on the pavement outside. We weren’t popular with the locals, but it was just a matter of everyone mucking in to get it done.
6. What is your philosophy for life and/or business?
Fairness is the foundation of my philosophy for both. In business everyone has to be benefiting – us, our suppliers and our customers to make things work. If your supplier isn’t making any money, not only is this not fair, it will also likely affect the service they give you.
7. Who/what has been your greatest influence?
Steve Jobs was one of the few true visionaries that business has seen in recent years. His vision was to make technology accessible and user-friendly and he succeeded.
In particular, his view on leadership resonates with me. He is quoted as saying: “The greatest people are self-managing. They don't need to be managed. Once they know what to do, they'll go figure out how to do it… What they need is a common vision, and that's what leadership is.” I also share his hatred of unnecessary formal presentations and his preference for freewheeling face-to-face meetings. He apparently banned PowerPoint presentations saying: “I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking. I want them to engage, to hash things out at the table, rather than show a bunch of slides. People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.” I tend to agree.
8. What do you find hard to do? And why.
The hardest part of business for me is the people. I care passionately about the wellbeing of my team, and I’m genuinely interested in them and their lives. This is fantastic when things are going great, and they are delivering a great service (which is most of the time) – but not so easy if I need to address any performance issues for example. Sometimes separating my personal feelings from business is a challenge
9. Who do you most admire?
Archie Norman who was appointed Chairman at Marks & Spencer in 2017. He was instrumental in transforming a number of major British businesses including Kingfisher, Asda and Energis. He was also the first and only FTSE 100 Chairman to be elected a Member of Parliament, where he served for eight years. That’s all very impressive but I also admire his straightforward and sometimes blunt style of management and communication. But mostly I admire his love of a ‘stand up’ meeting which results in less waffle and more focus!
10. If you didn’t work in logistics– what would you choose to do?
I would be an architect. I am good visually and line drawings speak to my soul! To actually see your designs being built would be incredible. I did have a lot of input into the design of our new house which probably drove my architect mad.