More than 34 years have passed since Ryan Mullins remembers his father setting up a business in the spare bedroom of the family home when he was four years old. Fast forward three and a half decades and that tiny start-up is now the UK’s leading supplier of silicone rubber masking products for powder coating and metal finishing. And now Ryan is delighted to be returning to the family firm in a new Sales and Marketing role.
Even as a child, Ryan took a keen interest in the family business. He was there in 1986 when the first production samples of the Bakewell silicone plugs were created. And it was Ryan who developed the first AFAC catalogue using a typewriter, Letraset and inevitably Tippex when he was just 13 years old. After that, it seemed only natural for him to join the company when he left school in 1996, and he spent two years working in a technical sales role within the company.
A 16-year marketing odyssey
However, having grown up in the business, Ryan has always had an eye towards its longer term future. As the information technology age exploded around him, he took the decision to leave AFAC in 1998 so he could learn the skill set required to carry the business forward to a digital future.
Ryan’s 16-year odyssey has seen him working in competitive industrial fastener companies, for an IT reseller, in more than one marketing agency and even in a global software and business process outsourcing company. In each of these businesses he has honed his skills in sales and marketing, learning new lessons and diverse disciplines across a wide range of industries.
Back in the fold
Now Ryan Mullins is rejoining to AFAC with a toolbox of skills that will allow him to transform the company’s sales and marketing function in multiple areas. He returns to the family business with a third-party viewpoint that will allow him to transition the company safely to the next generation.
“I am both delighted and excited to be back at AFAC after so many years away,” said Ryan. “Naturally, I have always felt a part of the AFAC family and being able to take a more active role in the business has for a long time been my ambition. Business opportunities are expanding in both home-grown markets and globally and I will be using all my marketing expertise to ensure that the company can make the most of them.”
