Stephen Turner rarely courts attention, but the business he built from a stable in Preston now manufactures for some of the biggest names in music, film and social media.
As Group55’s founder and chairman marks B Corp certification, he explains why the real prize was never fame.
The Chorley-headquartered manufacturer, based on an 8.5-acre site, produces millions of personal care, pet care and household products a month for some of the world’s most recognisable brands and faces.
Despite that, not everyone in the business community will immediately recognise the name Group55.
Turner launched the business from nothing in 1999, with £700 and no external investors.
More than 26 years on, Group55 employs more than 140 people, exports British-made products to over 100 countries, and has just been certified as a B Corp.
The expansion hasn’t stopped there. As the business continues to grow, Turner has opened a dedicated office in Manchester’s Ancoats, home to Group 55’s brand development arm Futures.
Futures, which works with partners and customers to launch products in the UK and beyond, has already made a number of experienced hires as it gives founder-led brands a base of their own alongside Group55’s manufacturing capability in Chorley.
It’s a phenomenal success story but Turner, by his own admission, would rather it stayed quiet.
“I’ve never really sought attention,” he says. “I’d much rather the business did the talking.”
The quiet man: Stephen Turner founded Group55 in 1999 with just £700
Turner is not like many of the entrepreneurs I’ve met. His achievements speak for themselves but there’s no showmanship, no carefully managed image and no PR people pushing to create headlines on his behalf.
Despite Group55’s success, he rarely gives interviews, keeps a deliberately low profile on social media, and seems entirely unmoved by the idea of personal recognition.
Turner’s own story began in Preston, where he was born and bred and still lives today.
He left school with four GCSEs, having struggled for years with undiagnosed dyslexia, and admits he ‘scraped’ a BTEC before moving into a career in sales.
His first Group55 premises, in 1999, was a stable in Ashton, Preston – without a toilet.
The company itself was, in reality, just Turner and his mother, who worked for free.
“We started on December 23, 1999. I worked Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and never really stopped,” he recalls.
He chose the name Group55 deliberately, to create a feeling of size that the fledgling operation didn’t yet have.
That instinct for spotting what was coming next, before others did, has defined Turner’s career ever since.
The idea for Group55 came from a newspaper article about the internet.
“It was obvious to me the internet was going to change brands and distribution forever,” Turner says. “Before the internet, brands were limited by shelf space. I realised they wouldn’t always need shelves – they’d just need a website.”
At the age of 27 – ‘but looking 17’ – he began sourcing products in China long before it was common practice for British businesses, accidentally building a sourcing agency in the process.
By 2008, turnover had reached £5m and the company had expanded into the US, where Turner spotted the early signs of ‘humanisation’ in pet products.
The insight led to the 2010 launch of Animology, Group55’s own pet grooming brand, now sold in more than 50 countries.
When the business identified that outsourced manufacturing was its weakest link, Turner moved early, taking production in-house.
Group55 made its first in-house product in August 2019, only for Covid-19 to arrive months later.
Rather than retreat, the team pivoted its newly acquired capability to produce hand sanitiser, supplying organisations including the Ministry of Justice, while – notably – refusing to raise margins during the crisis. “We traded at exactly the same margins,” Turner says simply.
That refusal to profiteer reflects Turner’s belief that good ethics are there from the outset and not a bolt-on.
“We’ve always tried to run this business the right way, for the right reasons,” he says. “Achieving B Corp status recognises that – balancing innovation, quality and growth with responsibility to our people, our partners and the environment, but it’s not new to us. We were doing this long before it was the norm.”
That openness extends beyond words. Turner and his team open the doors of the Chorley facility to tours most months, visitors ranging from celebrities and rival players in the market to school groups, and, on one recent visit, me (see photo below).
Tour: Chris Maguire was recently given a tour of Group55’s manufacturing facilities
That ethos sits alongside a leadership team that includes former KPMG partner Warren Middleton and former High Sheriff of Manchester Dame Robina Shah as advisers, and now extends to the growing Futures team in Manchester.
Group55’s client roster includes some big names in entertainment, though confidentiality agreements mean they would not disclose which.
What can be said, is that the market they’re part of is booming: Rihanna, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Harry Styles and David Beckham are among the many stars to have launched consumer brands in recent years.
This is nearly always done through specialist manufacturing partners like Group55, and demand from celebrities and influencers looking to do the same shows no sign of slowing.
For Turner, that’s a significant commercial opportunity rather than a source of personal excitement.
“I’m looking at it as a business opportunity, not a chance to meet someone famous,” he says.
“Whenever I meet people, famous or otherwise, I want to know what they bring to the project. Every account gets treated the same, whoever’s name is on it.”
Away from the boardroom, Turner is passionate about investing in his home region, particularly in helping young people find their own way forward.
Through Community55, the company supports grassroots sport, elite athletes and families facing hardship.
Turner is also a founding trustee of the Dame Robina Shah Foundation, which supports and educates children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and works closely with students at UA92, the Manchester-based higher education institution set up to widen access into industry.
He also mentors young professional footballers on entrepreneurship and coaches youth rugby, drawing on his own experience of building a career and a business despite an unconventional start.
People don’t see the sacrifices that founders make
Turner says he hopes his own story can inspire the next generation.
“It all started with £700,” Turner reflects. “And a newspaper story about the internet. If my story inspires just one young person it will have been worth peeking out from behind the curtain.”
The post The quiet force: How Stephen Turner built Group55 from £700 appeared first on BusinessCloud.
