Frances Fish
Frances Fish, managing owner of M&F Business Furniture, says setting up an empowerment company and donating to charities has helped improve her business’s reputation. “I think clients like the fact that we are so compliant,” says Fish who ran a small furniture retailer with her husband Victor for five years before deciding to team up with another business owner.
They also receive a lot of interest from others in the company’s employee share scheme. When one business partner decided to sell some of his shares, certain committed employees were offered the opportunity to buy shares in the company. The employees now hold a 40% stake in the company and most of the 20 people that work there have shares.
The business also regularly donates to various charities, including the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and Cotlands Baby Sanctuary. In 2008 Fish helped fund a dinner for the Starfish Foundation which she says was also the perfect opportunity to do some marketing, as banners of her business were displayed at the event. Although she never explicitly advertises to clients that she donates to charities, she says giving to charities has helped to create a culture of giving in the company which has filtered down to the way staff deal with customers.
