Interview with David Frame, Chief Executive of Nine
David Frame is the Chief Executive of Nine.
The company works with companies within the UK and overseas helping them interpret complex business requirements through bespoke software development.
Its customers include Proctor & Gamble, Grainger Plc, Grundfos and Hydratight to name a few.
The company is based at Merchant Court on Monkton Business Park and has 12 employees.
When did you start-up?
I'm involved in three companies which are DEF Software, Nine and Grid Smart.
I acquired the first of these, DEF Software in 2009 after selling a business I'd co-owned for a number of years. Having previously been trading under another name, I re branded the company and relocated it to the Quadrus Centre at Boldon. It specialises in providing software packages for the public sector and has approximately 25 local authority customers across England and Wales.
Nine has been trading for around 12 months, and specialises in providing bespoke software solutions for the private sector. I'm also a partner in Grid Smart, which is a little under 4 years old. In Grid, my partners and I have solidly invested in this business, and are about to release a new substation software product to the global market.
Where are you based?
All of these companies are based at Merchant Court, on Monkton Business Park.
How has your business grown since you first started it?
DEF Software has had its best year since it began in 1979. We have 3 main competitors, who are much larger than our business, but we have been extremely successful in winning new contracts. We have increased our turnover by 40% in comparison to last year, and have reported outstanding profits for the year.
Nine has also done extremely well, we've attracted a number of major blue chip clients, and entrepreneurs who are looking to develop software and our turnover will reach £1million this year.
How do you find doing business in South Tyneside?
I am from South Shields, so I was keen to locate the businesses here, and a large number of our staff are also from the area. Monkton Business Park gives us excellent transport links to the Airport and A19, something which is important to us as our market is not just in the UK.
We've recently joined the South Tyneside Manufacturing Forum as a lot of our customers are manufacturing based, and this has helped us to engage more with South Tyneside businesses. We have found the council to be very open and proactive and have had discussions with them, regarding a number of projects.
What changes, has your business seen over recent years, particularly in light of the recession?
The recession has actually had a positive impact on our business, particularly with regards to DEF Software, which specialises in public sector software.
We have found that price is much more of a critical factor for local authorities, and they are not necessarily preferring the more established, old school brands offered by our competitors.
As the company doesn't have any debt, we are able to scale pricing down, which allows us to compete better than ever with our main competitors. This has enabled us to secure 5 large contracts recently, which used to be delivered by our competitors.
What has been your biggest business challenge and what did you learn from it?
My background is sales and marketing so I have sometimes found the drafting up of complex financial documents for company buyouts and acquisitions difficult. I have worked hard to overcome this, as it is not something which comes naturally to me, and I am now much more confident in doing this.
Where do you hope to be in 2 years' time?
Still here! I want to continue to develop my team and get them more involved in management and ownership. I would also like to continue investing and spin some more companies out - there are a few more companies I'm interested in buying, so hopefully I'll continue to grow the group.
I would like to keep my businesses in the borough as I think South Tyneside is a good place to live and work.
