DAMON

Helping businesses in Eastern Europe, particularly start-ups, find a route to new markets in the West

Specialist Business English tuition both remotely to the international market, and face to face with local clients.
Teaching clients business English based on their requirements, from beginners through to advanced levels.

Funky Orange Vintage was a supplier of vintage and antique homewares and clothing to both the retail market and on a B2B basis.
I created Funky Orange on a hobby basis initially, due to my love for all things vintage and antique, and a core principle that repurposing should be a priority. I was responsible for sourcing, marketing, and selling, and, ultimately, the business became a family enterprise before we folded it to move abroad.

Fabdec Ltd is a manufacturer of stainless steel pressure vessels specialising in heat transfer principles and supplying the international agricultural, construction, renewable, and brewery industries.
I was responsible for the internal management of new and existing business, and all sales administration staff on an international basis. I played a key coaching role in the implementation of MRP, ERP, CRM, and management reporting systems, from primary consideration through to complete organisational roll out across all business units, and developed best practice principles to improve cross departmental collaboration between manufacturing, design, in/outbound logistics, materials planning, warehouse operations, sales force teams, and all business units.
During my tenure at Fabdec Ltd I negotiated and nurtured numerous new accounts and increased their water heating business unit market share by over 80% in targeted areas.
I was also responsible for managing all after sales client enquiries, and resolving all client disputes which, primarily, I achieved through implementing robust systems and processes to support both customer expectations and business operating forecasts. I also developed and implemented clear operating structures for the internal sales teams to guarantee improved communication routes within the business for client enquiries pre- and post sale.

Hoyer Group is an international liquid transport logistics specialist, whose clients include many global blue chip petroleum and chemical manufacturing companies.
I joined Hoyer as a container transport planner, learning various aspects of international container logistics, then in 1997 relocated with them to Germany to join a newly created central planning team where I subsequently took on the role of team leader. I then progressed to the position of European Operations Manager and, when the central team concept was changed to include site based satellite teams I relocated to Antwerp, Belgium, as a Business Process Engineer, operating out of Belgium but with an office in Rotterdam, Netherlands, too. These various roles were undertaken at a time of intense business change activities within the group. In my earlier logistics planning roles, alongside learning the art of logistics planning routines and requirements, I learnt customs control processes, international import and export regimes, and qualified with a Certificate of Professional Competence in Transport Management. In my European management role I was responsible for the collaboration of various international teams and the related outcomes, and, as a Business Process Engineer, I was responsible for the coordination of business processes and change management activities through intense operational restructuring events, and business process consulting with 3rd party contractors to improve their stability and service delivery to the company. Hoyer was my first learning ground for business operations management, people and team management, and defining operating road map options through various means such as work-flow designs and interview techniques.

Communications specialist in the fields of military radio communications, ticker tape transmission, telex communications, Morse code signalling, semaphore, and tactical military coding practices.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Modern Language Studies with English and German