Suzie McCafferty, the influential business development director for Edinburgh-based Smart Cartridge, has been named as a finalist in the National Business Awards for Scotland 2006. 28-year old McCafferty’s achievements in establishing the ink cartridge refilling retail franchise both nationally and internationally have been recognised by the Awards’ panel of pre-eminent business experts.

If women in franchising are a rarity, then successful, young women are the franchising equivalent of hen’s teeth. Yet Smart Cartridge Business Development Director Suzie McCafferty is just such a person. Together with Managing Director Graham Little, Suzie has steered the ink cartridge refilling retailer from regional player to international brand. More recently, Suzie has overseen the company’s overseas expansion, opening licensed operations in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and the Dominican Republic.

Suzie’s mix of customer care, franchising knowledge and sharp business acumen has helped her achieve a unique position as a successful young woman in the male-dominated world of franchising. At the same time, it has helped grow the Edinburgh-established company from a single outlet to a fast-growing national and international organisation with a proven reputation for both its products and for its ethical application of the franchise business model. McCafferty’s tireless work for her company is also reflected in a staggering record of year-on-year turnover growth. Last year, the company turnover topped the £1.0 million mark. McCafferty and her team have now set their sights upon achieving a projected £3.0 million in 2006.

Ongoing Innovation

Key to the success of McCafferty and her chosen company has been a commitment to ongoing research, development and innovation to provide franchisees with more products and services to sell, and to provide customers with an ever-widening array of choice. In addition, she has overseen the formation of new training and warehousing facilities in her native Edinburgh and the introduction of a new line of Smart Cartridge-branded products for retail and online sale.

Not content with reducing the number of potentially-valuable ink cartridges sent to landfill each year and thereby protecting the environment, Suzie McCafferty and Smart Cartridge are also keen supporters of a number of local and national charities.

“The past four or five years have been a really exciting time for me and for the company as a whole and together with my friend and mentor Graham Little, we have built a company with a reputation that extends beyond Scotland and the UK,” Suzie McCafferty concludes. “I am extremely flattered to have been named as a finalist in the National Business Awards for Scotland and to have the achievements of myself, Graham and the rest of the Smart Cartridge team recognised in this way by such an authoritative and experienced judging panel.