Profile
Peter Brooks, proprietor of Ashgrove, is a widely experienced business professional and chartered engineer with management accounting skills and training. This has given him the ability and experience to quickly understand client’s needs.
He founded an electronics manufacturing company, Zero 88 Lighting Ltd., which exported worldwide and grew it to £6m turnover, giving him extensive and effective experience in a wide range of business activities. He later led the Zero 88 side of a merger to form iLight Group to bring Zero 88’s technology and manufacturing expertise to the commercial lighting control sector.
He highly values personal integrity and is excellent at advocacy, nurturing, coaching and mentoring, naturally taking responsibility for his actions. He is very inquisitive – some say just plain nosey!
Experience has made him passionate about marketing and market driven approaches to business. He is excellent at analysing operational aspects that can be automated by appropriate IT solutions.
He operates in five key market sectors: Manufacturing, Electronics, Investment Organisations, Distribution and Information Technology (IT).
Within these sectors, focus is on the following activities: High Growth Business Strategy Development, Finance and Funding, Operations, IT.
Some Major Achievements
Ashgrove
Provided support for over 120 companies on the New Start, Growth and Post Start Programmes sponsored by government.
Supported the Opportunity Wales Programme of providing analysis of opportunities and support to over 40 companies to improve their IT and get a presence on the Web.
Analyst, Mentor and Consultant for the Welsh Government’s ambitious High Growth Programme to provide a comprehensive support package to start-up companies that would commit to achieving a turnover of £1,000,000 in their third year of trading.
Ashgrove provided services to some thirty organisations on this programme, mentored six, three of which achieved the target turnover.
Ashgrove has also recently worked with Xenos, the Wales Business Angels Network, on a project to assess the suitability of academic projects for Angel investment within a number of Welsh Universities. This led to the linking up of Angel expertise with embryo companies.
Zero 88 Lighting / iLight Group
Founded a small electronics design and manufacturing company in an attic in West London and grew the company to £6m turnover, exporting half its output to most countries in the developed world.
Introduced a move from being product led to being market led and oversaw the introduction of advanced operational techniques such as Just in Time procurement and manufacturing, lean processes and methodologies, outsourcing and on time product development.
Led the Zero 88 side of a merger which formed the iLight Group, giving significant merger experience. iLight Group was later sold to a small plc, increasing due diligence and exit experience.
Professional Lighting and Sound Association
Founder chairman of the Association, grew the organisation over about 10 years from a small exhibition in West London to the occupation of Earls Court 1 with its own monthly trade magazine (Lighting and Sound International) for the on-going marketing of the Industry, the Association and the Exhibition.
Voluntary Work
Peter is currently Treasurer for the Wales region of the Institute of Consulting and a Trustee Director of Going Public, a Cardiff based charity for helping young people.
