Whilst news of Phil and Jenny Reynolds’ decision to hand over the reins of Trade Events – the company behind Vendex – came as something of a shock; change has been in the air for ‘a few months’, according to the man who was installed as MD of the company on December 1st.
Meet Matt Derry, the new kid on the block. If you’re anything like me, the first thing you’ll want to know is where he came from…
‘I’ve spent most of most of my working life working for an engineering company called Amey in their New Technology department’, he says. ‘I was looking at how we could integrate new bits of tech into the business. We managed road and rail networks in the UK and our task was to discover how the company could do that better, by having less impact on the environment.
‘For instance, we introduced sensors on bins to make refuse collection more efficient. The sensors monitored fill levels, so that our operatives only had to attend to the bins that were full.’
That’ll ring bells with operators embracing software to eliminate unnecessary visits to vending machines…
‘I was in that role for 6 or 7 years and in 2020 it took me and my wife Issy to Australia, where I managed a project for the Government of New South Wales’, Matt says. ‘The task was to automate a fleet of buses and I ended up living out there for a few years. It was an absolute blast for both of us. This was before our son Jesse was born. We were there during Covid, which was a pretty unique time to be in the country because there were no tourists. We were able to travel around easily and work ‘on the road’. It was an amazing experience for us.
‘We decided to come back in 2022. We hadn’t seen our families for such a long time and on our return I chose then to do something a little bit different. I’d had an interest in finance and investing for around ten years and I’d managed to get myself into a reasonable place financially, just doing the basics really, with a little bit of investing and I thought, ‘why not help people to do the same kind of thing?’
Matt followed this particular dream, initially by training as a Financial Advisor. ‘I set up my own business, but within a year I realised that I wasn’t really able to help people in the way that I’d envisaged’, he says. ‘When you start out as a Financial Advisor, you’re really quite limited in terms of what you can recommend people to invest in. As soon as I figured that out, I decided it wasn’t really for me. I didn’t feel as though I was able to help people impartially.’
Then what? It must have been a time of serious hand-wringing for Matt and his family, but he refocussed on his core skill: his nose for a canny investment. ‘I’ve always been on the look-out for investment opportunities’, he says – and with no little serendipity, the opportunity arose at Trade Events.
‘When I researched vending it was immediately clear to me that it was a phenomenally good industry, embracing micro-markets and automated retailing. I saw that it was an industry that was growing fast and that Jenny and Phil had carved out a fantastic business within it that had been established for 20 years.
I went up to the Leeds show and helped out there for 3 days before I made any kind of decision – just to get a feel for it – and I couldn’t believe the value that everybody was getting from the event. Whoever I spoke to – be they exhibitors or visitors – they were so happy to be there simply because the event was so valuable to them. That was really what clinched it for me. I just wanted to be involved. It’s quite rare that you have a business that is ‘win win win’: in this case, a win for the exhibitors, a win for the delegates and a win for the business owners.
‘I’ve been to quite a few events in the technology space in my time with Amey and the technological innovations in the vending space came up quite frequently: but that’s really the extent of my knowledge and there’ll be a pretty steep learning curve for me if I’m to get up-to-speed with everything that’s going on in the industry.
Vendex is famous as the show where the industry comes to buy
‘Having said that, it’s not rocket science. Vendex is famous as the show where the industry comes to buy, in addition to it being an unparalleled networking opportunity. The task is to make it amazing for everybody who attends, in their various capacities. Jenny and Phil have created something really special over the past twenty years and the fact is, they’re not going anywhere, they’ll still be involved massively. They won’t be riding off into the sunset anytime soon; they enjoy it so much. The only thing I need to do as the new MD is to copy exactly what they’ve done.
‘I’m sure it comes across that I’m really excited for the future, for all the reasons I’ve just outlined. It’s a fantastic business operating in a fantastic industry.’
Matt’s first priority is to hit the road from his home in North Devon, intent on meeting the industry’s key players and influencers. It may take some time for him to become as recognisable as Jenny and Phil, but Matt Derry’s journey has begun.
It’s as though he was born for the top job: even his initials are MD…
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