New Healthspan CEO takes on role at extraordinary time

But he is calm and focused on the job in hand, having already been a senior executive at the vitamin and supplement firm.

‘The fortunate thing from my position is that I have been here now for a year. I joined as chief marketing officer. So in that sense it’s been a little bit easier because I’m very familiar with the people and the processes and what it is we’re trying to do from a consumer perspective. So, that’s all been really positive,’ says Martin.

‘It’s interesting because when you’re elevated to a position like this where you’re CEO, your imagination is that you have the opportunity to speak directly to your staff in the business. Of course from 18 March, we started to make sure people were working from home and on 25 March we had effective, from our business point of view, pretty much a lockdown. So we’ve been practising remote working now for quite an extended period of time. That presents challenges but I think we have been gifted in that we’re a digital business first and foremost.

‘The use of Microsoft Teams and agile management and all that kind of thing are all quite well established within the company,’ continues the Healthspan CEO, with the company’s priority being to keep staff and customers safe and following government guidance.

Business continuity and momentum has also been maintained, with supply and distribution of its products proving robust. The current situation has also impacted on particular product sales in the UK.

‘The key challenge for us is that products which we would not normally see such a high volume of interest in sales have suddenly become top sellers. So the things like vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc – products which are within the media at the moment being talked about as helping to strengthen your immunity and help build a level of wellbeing that helps support your whole health. Those products have been selling very, very strongly. So that’s our main challenge around specific lines. With those products specifically what we’re seeing is that we’re probably selling two months’-worth of product in two weeks. So in that sense it’s much, much stronger than we would have expected to see.’

Martin also talks about future plans to grow the Healthspan business, which potentially could see additional staff recruited once the pandemic has passed. It employs 104 people in Guernsey and 85 in the UK, including part-time staff.

The ambition is to grow market share in the UK, building on its existing market-leading position.

Enhancing the online customer experience and putting products in more places are key pillars of the strategy. It has seen the company work closely with platforms such as Amazon Marketplace and eBay, which has ‘proven to be a very successful approach’. Products are also listed in high street retailers, while distribution to customers in Ireland is planned.

We also talk about whether Guernsey can flourish again after the current pandemic is over.

It’s an upbeat assessment from Martin.

‘Yes, without question. Society as a whole has shown itself to be very robust historically and I think you have got a lot of the infrastructure in place that will enable business to flourish once we get through this crisis.

‘I have found that the staff that we have in Guernsey are all very capable as well and very loyal. And I imagine that similar capability is reflected across a large part of the island businesses.’

The entrepreneurial spirit is how Healthspan was created, concludes Martin, and that will make a positive difference going forward.