Nora Potter, Founder, Ecofy

How was 2021 for Ecofy What were the highlights? What were the challenges?

2021 was an interesting year to say the least. In years past we spent majority of our time travelling between states, New Zealand and international trade shows. 2021 saw us working from home or the office as travel was out of the question.

One of the main highlights of 2021 was formalising our already strong partnership with Greenspeed International by the way of a long-term contract as their exclusive distribution partner for Australia and New Zealand. We were very excited and honoured to be trusted to grow such a reputable brand in Australia and New Zealand.

Another highlight was seeing our customers and partners get through the pandemic as many industries struggled, as well as moving into our new Ecofy office.

The pandemic had us working out of home as we no longer had the luxury of working out of hotel lounges and we needed to separate our home/work life.

The forecasting of stock was challenging and making sure we had enough supply to keep our existing customers happy. Dealing with freight delays and exorbitant shipping costs was also challenging.

Shifting our face-to-face training to online live training. It’s not ideal building relationships over the internet but we made it work.

Is there an achievement that you’re particularly proud of from the past 12 months?

I’m proud of the fact that we were able to support our customers through the pandemic, not increasing prices, and reassuring them we had enough stock to keep them going.

I leant on my networks to source products that were hard to come by and assist people whose suppliers let them down.

Partnerships played a very important role for Ecofy as we pride ourselves on our service and being the go-to people in our industry.

What will be the immediate focus for Ecofy in 2022?

Raising the standard of cleaning has always been our focus – and doing it in the safest most environmentally friendly way.

Ecofy’ s focus for 2022 will be to bring awareness to the cleaning industry that quality products are essential and will save you money.

We will also introduce new products that will assist companies reach their carbon neutral goals.

What opportunities and challenges do you see for the wider market in 2022? 

There is a growing trend towards quality cleaning products and companies presenting new ideas and offering a point of difference based on safety, sustainability, and best practice in cleaning will do well in 2022.

The challenge for the wider market will be supply of products due to the lack of resources and material, shipping costs, and delays in transport.

What do you expect to be the big sustainability trends of 2022?

The big sustainability trend for 2022 in my opinion will be working toward carbon neutral goals, as well as recycled and recyclable microfibre. Hopefully we will start to see a lot less chemicals and a shift to chemical-free.

What is one issue you would like to see urgently addressed?

The overuse and misuse of cleaning chemicals. In particular during the pandemic the misuse of disinfectants has been a concern.

I would love to see cleaners get back to basics with their cleaning protocols and reduce the amount of chemicals in use.

Looking forward to 2022, what advice would you give to fellow industry leaders?

Don’t do what we have always done. Look to improve and work together to raise industry standards.

This article first appeared in the January/February issue of INCLEAN magazine. 

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