16 years, the story so far

As we reach the celebrated milestone of the 16th birthday of our business, we wanted to reflect on our story so far.

16 years feels like a gigantic achievement, especially for a small business. After all, 60% of small businesses in the UK fail in the first 5 years, with less than 15% expected to survive 16 years.

We’re proud to meet this milestone and of what we’ve achieved. So, as our big birthday approaches, we wanted to reflect on where it all began.

We had secure jobs in a global corporate giant, the sort of job you strive for after university and could settle into for life. But we had a thirst to create something of our own. The idea to build a Web Development business had been bubbling away in us for some time. We really wanted to create something different in the SME tech space, a way of doing business that reflected us and underpinned how we delivered our services. So, we took a leap of faith and left our secure corporate jobs and began to nurture our dream.

It was 2010, and Olamalu had just been born.

Our unusual name came from the name of a magical tree in stories that we used to tell our children when they were young. We wanted something personal to launch our business from, and Olamalu fitted the bill perfectly.

We brought the name to life in the early years of the business and related the names of the various website packages we were offering to our magical tree. ‘Sapling’ was our starter website, ‘Root and Branch’ was a more in-depth package and ‘Grow Your Own’ was our tailor-made consultancy service!

The values which were in our dream from the very start now sit at the heart of everything that we do. We refer to them as ‘The Olamalu way’, and they have helped us to carve a clear identity in our sector. Split into 3 strands, these values are a genuine reflection of who we are and how we want to show up as a business:

There are many technology experts in the industry, but what we’ve always prioritised is how we deliver our solutions and, most importantly, how we make a client feel when they choose to work with us.

A technology challenge can feel scary, and often a client doesn’t know what they need from a solutions point of view, so they come to us with the problem. From the outset, we wanted to make clients feel welcome and heard and not unsure of themselves. After all, they know their business better than anyone else.

We take the time to dig deep into who they are and how to help them tell their story. We work together to understand what they really need and go beyond the immediate problem to develop a holistic solution that forms the foundation for their future success.

We’ve developed a robust process which puts the client at the very heart of the project, feeling up to date with every stage, having time and space to review and approve and a genuine feeling of being looked after through the whole journey.

This approach has grown from strength to strength throughout the years and has led us to develop a dedicated, ongoing client support arm to our business, enabling clients to benefit from a rapid response to immediate issues and strategic advice for the long term.

This is really important to us. Over the years, we’ve supported the next generation of tech experts in many different ways. We’ve run school coding clubs, attended careers events to give advice and guidance and provided many work experience placements.

However, our biggest achievement has been the development of our very own award-winning apprenticeship programme. It’s unusual for a small business to have its own apprenticeship scheme, but we had a real desire to create an educational journey with a career at the end, which didn’t rely on someone having to travel into a big city for the privilege.

When we decided to build the Olamalu Apprenticeship Programme, one of the most important things we did from the outset was to map out what we wanted the programme to do. We have 3 beliefs:

• Apprenticeships are a core talent path. It’s not an add-on. They are apprentices, but they are also junior developers, and a vital part of our team.
• Our programme is a whole team commitment. There’s a Programme Leader, but everyone in the Olamalu team is involved in mentoring and coaching the apprentices. We firmly believe that the success of the programme is everyone’s success. The growth of the business and the growth of our team’s skills go hand in hand with team members taking on increasingly demanding leadership roles.
• We are laying the foundation for our apprentices to go on to be leaders. We want them to have not just the technical skills, but the skills that will help them grow into bigger roles that have a broader impact.

The apprenticeship programme is based on 4 key areas: Care, Learning, Excellence and Opportunity, and it has been a brilliant success. In 2024, we were crowned SME apprentice employer of the year in the South-East regional final and then came highly commended in the National Apprentice Awards final. Our programme continues to run, and we are proud of the team members who have graduated from it and are excited about the future intake.

We firmly believe in the proverb ‘it takes a village’ – a collection of people to help and support others. We wanted to use our business as leverage to do good. Early on, we established a focus of putting time, money, energy and commitment into making a difference for and supporting a number of causes outside of our business. This includes our immediate local community, across the region, but also globally.

We support various charities, including Homeless Oxfordshire, MyVision Oxfordshire, Witney Baby Bank, environmental and heritage charities, including Oxford Preservation Trust, Cogges Heritage Trust and the Wychwood Forest Trust. We’ve contributed to the Collective Business Fund managed by the Oxfordshire Community Foundation and supported arts projects at the Old Fire Station. Globally, we support the East Africa Wildlife Society.

These 3 strands drive Olamalu’s mission and fulfil the vision that we had from the very start.  Over the years, this purpose has been the north star to everything we’ve achieved and become involved in. It’s enriched us as individuals, as a team and as a small business and has given us endless inspiration.

16 years on, our Olamalu tree has deep roots cultivated by our motivation to produce brilliant technical solutions delivered through our mission of kindness and helping others.

There is still a lot to do.

Here’s to the next 16 years…happy birthday to us!