Rebecca Jayne Philipson founded of UR-In The Paper Ltd in 2005, aged 21. UR-In The Paper is a site which allows you to customise a newspaper as a gift. The site is the UK's number one personalised gift newspaper service.
Setting up her own company and not having to work for anyone but herself, was her life's ambition and in 2005, she suspended her studies (an english & art history degree from University of Northumbria) to pursue her dream.
The idea came about after her granddad mentioned people who made newspapers on Blackpool Pier as presents and how you don't get them any more. So she decided she would bring them back, modern style!
Rebecca funded the business purely through her savings, family & the local Business link in County Durham. She worked with a local software and web design company, while playing around with different techniques to create the perfect personalised newspaper site she craved. She managed to come up with a system with allowed full automation in the personalisation process and therefore led to great lead times for customers.
After much development the company finalised it's bulk production methods and the fully automated system now allows UR-In The Paper to offer very fast turn around times to customers. Rebecca realised quickly that customer satisfaction was key and I believe by having a quick turnaround customers will have a better buying experience and are more likely to recommend the product.
The company currently have the capacity to produce over 10,000 bespoke papers per week!
Rebecca Jayne has seen UR-In The Paper gain big deals with Tesco's, WH Smiths & Manchester United whom saw value in the product. She has even expanded to the US trying to gather a foothold in the massive market across the pond.
The company is headquartered in County Durham near to where she grew up and has seen her staff numbers increase significantly to ensure the best customer satisfaction. Within her first two years of trading turnover for the company had reached £1 million. Quite an achievement I'm sure you would agree, considering the nature of the product.
The young entrepreneur has been recognised for all her achievements with multiple awards including Enterprising Young Brit of the Year 2006, North East Young Entrepreneur of the Year & Natwest Everywoman Artemis Award for entrepreneurs aged 18-25.
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