How it all began

When I started the business back in 1994, John Major was Prime Minister, the Channel Tunnel had just been built and the Sony PlayStation was about to be released. It felt like as good a time as any to start a business.

Our first home was Birmingham’s Custard Factory in Digbeth where I shared a studio with a young woman who made dance leotards. When the phone rang, she’d stop her sewing machine to let me answer. 

I’d like to tell you that I was immediately strategic in my choice of clients. But in truth, I did all sorts of work for all sorts of clients, and I remember those early months being difficult and very lonely. But somehow, IE began to grow. 

Within six months, I could afford to pay myself and give up my part time teaching job. 

Within a year, I'd hired my first employee and it’s unbelievable to think that over 90 people have worked for IE over three decades. Amazing teams who’ve helped us to bag dozens of awards, serve hundreds of clients, and deliver thousands of brand and digital projects. Four couples met at IE, and they’ve made eight IE babies between them.

Making a difference

Early on, I realised that the clients we love to work for are values-driven, so we found ourselves specialising in the charity, health and education sectors. That’s because we love to make a difference in the world – so we wrote those words on the wall. And most of the time we manage to enjoy the ride – so we wrote that too.

Of course, there have been some tough times along the way. I vividly remember locking up the office at Christmas, at the height of the 2009 credit crunch, and heading home genuinely unsure whether we’d open up again in the new year. But we didn’t just survive – we thrived. 

Today, I’m absolutely convinced we’re doing some of our best work ever: 

• We’ve got teams training AI chatbots, capable of offering support to families in complex safeguarding contexts. 
• We’re reinvigorating a hospice brand, supporting children and adults with life limiting illnesses. 
• And helping a benevolent fund to find and support more people in crisis. 
• We’re advising a charitable foundation who prevent women and girls from entering the criminal justice system. 
• And helping an adoption agency to find loving homes for children in care. 

These are all live projects IE’s working on right now.

Where next? 

We keep doing what we do. Helping non-profits to grow their brands and harness technology. We’re not front-line workers like doctors, teachers, or aid workers. But in our own small way, we’re supporting the world’s changemakers. And that makes my 26-year-old-self very happy indeed. 

It’s been the privilege of a lifetime and the adventure continues.