Accrington-based Attock Network Products has promoted Henna Shah to managing director.
The company specialises in wall and floor IT cabinets for predominately IT sectors which it retails under the under the All-Rack brand.
The company employs 27 employees and occupies a 50,000 sq ft industrial unit at the Junction 7 Business Park. Serving sectors such as computer networking, data dentres, EPOS, smart homes and audio-visual, Attock has built up a substantial customer base in the UK and exports to Ireland, Scandinavia, Denmark and France, involving a network of over 30 resellers and thousands of installers.
Henna has been promoted from the role of sales director at Attock, the company her father Sharafat Shah founded nearly 30 years ago from his one bedroom flat.
Sharafat, who becomes the company’s first group chief executive officer, said: "It is a particularly proud moment to hand over the day-to-day running of the company to my daughter.
"Since Henna joined us four years ago from university, she has overseen an increase in turnover of over 40 per cent; started working with several new key industrial customers and introduced a major upgrade to our business model and processes, especially our accounting, forecasting and ordering systems.
"She has also been instrumental in growing our key supply partner network, particularly in China, where we have long term relationships going back over 20 years."
Henna added: "I am very fortunate to take over a very progressive and innovative company, with a strong and growing customer base.
"Under the guidance of my father, I have learnt a great deal about a company I love and which has always been in my life. Some of my earliest memories are watching my father work and then joining him on the shop floor, during my summer holidays.
"I was also very fortunate to spend six months with one of our Chinese suppliers, improving my Mandarin, which I started learning at university and where I could observe our products being built from the shop floor, all the way through to dispatching, containerisation and associated export documentation. This will be particularly useful as we deal with the changes in paperwork and possible distribution channels associated with Brexit and Covid-19.
"To now take over leadership of the family business is both challenging but exciting, however it is greatly helped that I know that my father will always be there to act as my mentor and adviser."
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