PRIME business club

A father’s wish to help his daughter with her school work was the spark that led to the creation of a growing international business. Anthony Hemmings’ Swan Neck Pen is now sold in over 24 countries.

Being left handed, daughter Amy could not see what she was writing. She suffered from bad wrist pain and began to fall behind. Her confidence plummeted. Amy tried other left handed pens on the market, but none of them helped. So father Anthony Hemmings, 53, and friends Mike Deacon, 50, and Dillon Samson, 35 took some standard plastic pens, melted them down and experimented with reshaping them in different ways. It was not long before the first Swan Neck Pen was born, and Mike, Anthony and Dillon set up M.A.D Associates Ltd, (the M.A.D being an acronym of their names).

The Swan Neck Pen has an S-bend neck, which loops over the wording as it is written. The writing remains unsmudged, and better visibility helps prevent common learning mistakes such as reversed letters. Anthony says the design also combats wrist ache and repetitive strain injuries. Anthony’s main goal now is to get the pen into schools.

Amy took about ten minutes to adapt from her ‘fist’ technique, to the more comfortable position offered by the Swan neck. Left-handed friends and parents soon began to make requests for one of the same. ‘When it got to about 50 I thought, hang on there’s a market for this’. So in 2004 Anthony started to investigate manufacturing the pens on a larger scale.

Anthony and his wife Heather, 44, invested their savings to pay for production and legal costs. Banks had no money to lend them and the company directors were often considered ‘too old’ to get meet the criteria for a business grant. One year on from the market launch the profits are still being used to help finance the business. Anthony warns others to ‘really think about it first’.

A key breakthrough was hiring a good solicitor. ‘When we first went to the manufacturers, all we had was a confidentiality agreement’ explains Anthony. ‘We know now it’s not worth the paper it’s written on’. The solicitor knew about the small print, drafted all relevant documents, and helped get the trademark registered in the UK, Europe, and a number of other countries. The product also had to be patented and British Standard tested. But ‘it was money every time’.

Time was another issue. Anthony had to give up his job as an antique dealer to put in the necessary hours. Meanwhile, Mike and Heather seem to spend every spare moment on the business, with the phone, (or several phones), constantly ringing in their Gloucestershire office.

To develop the product, Anthony and Mike had to do their research. But talking to the general public was more problematic than expected. At a local shopping mall, the team discovered they were not officially allowed to approach people, and ended up having to run off every five minutes to avoid getting caught. More successful ventures were events like the Balloon Fiesta in Bristol, where large numbers of pens were sold.

Some people were less enthusiastic. An early manufacturer refused to produce the Swan Neck Pens. ‘He was impressed by the design and could see the benefits, but was just not convinced it would sell commercially’.

Anthony had similar problems with the education authorities. Contacting at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Anthony and Heather found it would not endorse the product. Despite possible benefits to health and education, the pen remains subject to schools’ individual discretion.

The company now has another plan to get pens into schools. A disposable Swan Neck is being created, making the pen much more affordable and appealing. A special school discount is currently being offered, to the same aim. Another development is to impregnate the pens with an anti-bacterial liquid, reducing germs passed on in the classroom.

As time goes on, Anthony and Mike are discovering different users the Swan Neck could help. Interest from the Middle East, Thailand and China illustrates that the pen could aid those who write right to left, as well as top to bottom. As the product does not need any adapting to fit this market, the company’s main job here is to decide which distribution channels to use. To do this, the team have devised a questionnaire to send to those wanting to be distributors, so they can assess each applicant before offering a contract.

You can find out more about Anthony and Mike’s business at www.swanneckpen.com