Frank Van Wezel
FRANK VAN WEZEL was born in VLISSINGEN, HOLLAND, where he spent his childhood and adolescence. He was the youngest student in his year at NYENRODE BUSINESS UNIVERSITY (www.nyenrode.nl) from where he graduated with honours before fulfilling his National Service obligations as a Lieutenant in the Dutch Air Force.
Upon leaving the Air Force, he worked and studied in LONDON and PARIS, after which he lived in East Africa for 10 years before being eventually transferred to ESSEX in ENGLAND. His love of Squash and Tennis led to his involvement in the sports shoe industry where he was instrumental in the introduction of the first specialist Squash shoe, which subsequently led to the creation of HI-TEC SPORTS PLC. Now more than 18 million pairs of the first shoe, still commercialised even today, have been sold.
From humble beginnings in 1974, the Company was floated on THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE in June 1988. Chairman VAN WEZEL decided to privatise the Company once again because he felt stifled by the demands of short-term profit goals of being a Public Company. This happened in 2000.
HI-TEC SPORTS now enjoys worldwide recognition as being one of the world leaders in sports footwear with distribution in approximately 80 countries and subsidiary Companies in UK, CANADA, USA, SOUTH AFRICA, SPAIN, FRANCE and CZECH REPUBLIC. The Company currently employs approximately 400 employees and generates global sales of more than US$ 250 million.
In 1998, MR VAN WEZEL was elected a Life Vice President of the SQUASH RACKETS ASSOCIATION in the UK, an honour bestowed for the first time by the Association in recognition of the services he has rendered to the game of Squash worldwide. MR VAN WEZEL is also a founding member of the Faculty Advisory Board of the UNIVERSITY OF BATH's SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT and a Director of the STICHTING NYENRODE FUND, which provides financial support for his old university.
FRANK VAN WEZEL and his family have lived in the SOUTHEND area for more than 30 years, and he is blessed with two daughters and one son. His two sons-in-law and his son work in the business, which is a true family affair. This sport loving Dutchman enjoys Soccer, Tennis, Squash, Skiing and Golf. He is a Director of his local professional soccer team, SOUTHEND UNITED, and is also a sponsor of the SOUTHEND RUGBY CLUB.
Our Chairman's statement - November 2011
I recently had good reasons to travel to New Zealand and Australia – to visit a number of potential and existing accounts in these two countries… and the Rugby World Cup.
It struck me again how friendly and open minded people ‘down under’ are. In spite of natural disaster – floods and earthquakes amongst them – there is still a strong ‘can do’ attitude which I so much admire. The global recession has hurt them but not to the extent of other continents. Our business in both brands – HI-TEC and MAGNUM – is growing strongly and we now also sell a large range of accessories including socks, tents and sleeping bags, as well as outdoor apparel, in both countries. I would like to thank all of our friends and business partners for making it such an enjoyable experience.
We have now moved into our new Global Head Office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We took ten families from the UK office over to Amsterdam who have all settled into the Dutch way of life, and the rest of the team were recruited from Spain, Italy and Holland.
Meanwhile, we have held two international conferences there, with about 150 delegates from all over the world and the new premises worked very well.
To all our readers in the approximately 85 countries that we sell to, I extend a warm welcome to the Amsterdam office. You make our success happen and we are grateful.
Our ranges have sold really well in the last six months. I am so happy to be in the footwear and apparel business because even when times are very tough, people all over the world still wear shoes and clothes. We just have to make sure we provide really compelling products at great prices with long lasting quality. That is our job and my whole team will work towards achieving exactly that.
Thomas Jefferson once said “I like the dream of the future better than the history of the past”. This is such a great saying because although we have now been in business for 38 years, I am so excited about our future. Our designers come up with great ideas, our customers are so loyal, our staff are hungry for more success and our suppliers are so helpful. The list goes on.
As you can see, there’s plenty to do but I am always open for your suggestions, ideas and comments, so please feel free to email me at fvw@hi-tecsports.com or fill out the form below.
Frank van Wezel
