38. The chemistry of growth: turning a mould problem into a thriving business | Byron Dixon, OBE - James Reed: all about business

Summary6 min read

Podcast Summary: James Reed: All About Business

Episode 38: The Chemistry of Growth: Turning a Mold Problem into a Thriving Business | Byron Dixon, OBE

Release Date: July 28, 2025
Host: James Reed, Chairman and CEO of Reed Group
Guest: Byron Dixon, OBE, Founder and CEO of Microfresh

Introduction

In Episode 38 of "James Reed: All About Business," host James Reed engages in an insightful conversation with Byron Dixon, OBE, the innovative founder and CEO of Microfresh. The episode delves into Byron's journey from his early career in chemistry to establishing a global brand that addresses the pervasive issue of mold in textiles and other materials. The discussion highlights the challenges Byron faced, the strategic decisions that led to Microfresh's success, and his vision for future growth.

Understanding Microfresh and Its Mission

[00:00] James Reed:
"Welcome to All About Business with me, James Reed... joining me today on All About Business is Byron Dixon, OBE..."

Byron Dixon:
"Microfresh stops the growth of microbes. Any microfreshed surface means microbes can't grow."

Microfresh is an innovative technology designed to prevent the growth of microbes, including fungi, bacteria, and viruses, on various surfaces such as clothes and furniture. Byron emphasizes that Microfresh doesn't kill microbes but prevents their proliferation, offering a non-hazardous solution compared to traditional chemical cleaners.

Byron Dixon’s Journey and Inspiration

[05:10] Byron Dixon:
"I thought, why don't I make a product that stops the shoes going moldy in transit..."

Byron's inspiration for Microfresh stemmed from his experience at Echo, a Danish shoe company, where he observed the challenges of moldy shoes during transit from Asia to the West. Returning to Leicester, life was financially challenging, which propelled him to create a solution that would prevent shoes from developing mold, leading to the inception of Microfresh.

Product Development and Sustainability Impact

[06:00] James Reed:
"And you can use it for longer and..."

[07:37] Byron Dixon:
"It's a proven, tangible sustainability bin benefit that's easily understood by the consumer."

Microfresh offers multiple forms—liquid, concentrated liquid, powder, and pellets—tailored for different manufacturing processes. For textiles, applying Microfresh allows for lower-temperature washes, reducing energy consumption and extending the lifespan of fabrics. This innovation not only aligns with sustainability goals by decreasing water and detergent usage but also minimizes textile waste and associated landfill contributions.

Overcoming Early Challenges and Achieving Breakthroughs

[24:04] Byron Dixon:
"I fell flat on my face for the first few years because nobody bought Microfresh..."

After founding Microfresh, Byron faced significant challenges, including five years of no turnover as retailers were initially reluctant to adopt a sustainability-focused product. Persistence paid off when Next approached him in 2011, leading to the successful integration of Microfresh technology into their back-to-school shoe lines. This partnership acted as a catalyst, prompting other major retailers like Tesco, Debenhams, and Sainsbury's to adopt Microfresh, thereby accelerating the company's growth.

Expanding Applications and Global Reach

[12:01] Byron Dixon:
"An application for Microfresh was on bed linen and towels where it just couldn't, couldn't reproduce."

Microfresh's versatility extends beyond shoes to bedding, towels, and even healthcare products aimed at reducing hospital-acquired infections. With approximately 200-250 global customers, the company's largest market currently lies in bedding, with significant strides made in collaborations with retailers like John Lewis. Additionally, increased demand is emerging in social housing to combat widespread mold issues, particularly in deteriorating and densely populated housing areas.

Strategic Expansion into the US Market

[32:35] Byron Dixon:
"Why isn't my plane seat be microfreshed?"

After securing the trademark in the US following a six-year effort overcoming naming conflicts, Microfresh is set to expand its presence with plans to establish offices in New York and focus on the Boston area and Portland, Oregon. Byron anticipates rapid adoption in the US market due to the competitive nature and fear of missing out (FOMO) driving retailers and consumers to follow Microfresh's lead in sustainability and product freshness.

Personal Insights on Strategy and Leadership

[36:10] Byron Dixon:
"I put everything on the table and they say, you can do that or you can do that..."

Byron discusses the importance of having an advisory board to guide strategic decisions, ensuring focus and preventing distractions from chasing too many ideas. He emphasizes the necessity of strategic planning to prioritize initiatives effectively, highlighting his experience with obtaining the US trademark as a lesson in the importance of strategic foresight.

Balancing Work and Personal Life: Lessons from Scandinavia

[47:35] Byron Dixon:
"Be yourself and feel that you can be yourself."

Influenced by his time in Denmark, Byron adopts Scandinavian principles of community, family, and humility within his business culture. He advocates for employees to be authentic and open, fostering a supportive and efficient work environment. Byron personally practices a disciplined approach to technology use, such as switching his phone to black and white to minimize distractions, enabling him to focus on his entrepreneurial endeavors without the constant pull of social media.

Commitment to Mentoring and Giving Back

[43:14] Byron Dixon:
"Anybody can do what I do... I'm from a background that means if you pull yourself up, you can do it."

As Chancellor of DMU and an active mentor, Byron dedicates time to inspiring young people, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds. He believes in the potential within everyone and uses his platform to encourage others to pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations, emphasizing that success is attainable regardless of one’s origins.

Future Plans and Vision

[31:19] Byron Dixon:
"Some quite chunky stuff that we're working on... Home Fresh... the US... automotive..."

Looking ahead, Byron outlines significant growth strategies, including launching Home Fresh—a retail product aimed at preventing mold in homes—expanding Microfresh's presence in the US market, and venturing into the automotive industry by integrating Microfresh technology into car interiors. These initiatives reflect his commitment to broadening Microfresh’s impact on sustainability and product longevity across various sectors.

[59:54] Byron Dixon:
"Still heading at Microfresh Home Fresh. I'm hoping we'll have a much larger US presence at the time."

Byron envisions Microfresh becoming a global ingredient brand, akin to household names like Hoover, with aspirations of reaching infinite growth and maintaining high energy levels driven by his passion for the business.

Conclusion

Episode 38 of "James Reed: All About Business" offers a comprehensive look into Byron Dixon's entrepreneurial journey, illustrating how persistence, strategic partnerships, and a commitment to sustainability can transform a simple idea into a globally recognized brand. Byron's insights on balancing work with personal life, fostering an inclusive and humble company culture, and giving back to the community provide valuable lessons for aspiring business leaders. As Microfresh continues to innovate and expand, Byron Dixon's story serves as an inspiring testament to the power of determination and visionary leadership in overcoming challenges and driving meaningful change.

Notable Quotes:

Byron Dixon [05:10]: "I thought, why don't I make a product that stops the shoes going moldy in transit..."
Byron Dixon [07:37]: "It's a proven, tangible sustainability bin benefit that's easily understood by the consumer."
Byron Dixon [24:04]: "I fell flat on my face for the first few years because nobody bought Microfresh..."
Byron Dixon [36:10]: "I put everything on the table and they say, you can do that or you can do that..."
Byron Dixon [43:14]: "Anybody can do what I do... I'm from a background that means if you pull yourself up, you can do it."
Byron Dixon [47:35]: "Be yourself and feel that you can be yourself."

Additional Resources:

Microfresh Website: [Link in Show Notes]
Home Fresh Product Launch: Available through Travis Perkins starting July 2025
Book Recommendation: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Note: For listeners interested in reducing their phone usage and increasing productivity, James Reed provided a quick guide at the end of the episode on switching your iPhone to black and white:

Go to Settings
Select Accessibility
Choose Display & Text Size
Switch Color Filters to On

Challenge yourself to navigate the black and white world and share your experience in the comments!

Loading summary

Transcript659 lines

[00:00]
James Reed
Welcome to All About Business with me, James Reed, the podcast that covers everything about business, management and leadership. More than 92 million tons of textile waste is produced globally every year, and mostly because bacteria is making our clothes stink. One British innovator found the fix, and the world's biggest brands are buying in. Joining me today on All About Business is Byron Dickson, the founder and CEO of Micro Fresh, an innovative technology that eliminates the invisible mold growing on your clothes and furniture. In this episode, we discuss the key to getting big brands to switch to your product, the steps he took to grow his customer base, and what the UK can learn from the Scandinavians. Well, today on All About Business, I couldn't be more delighted than to welcome Byron Dixon, ob, who traveled to talk to us today from Leicester. Byron is an amazing entrepreneur, innovator and scientist. He's the CEO and founder of a company called Microfresh.
[01:10]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[01:11]
James Reed
And you're going to tell us all about it, aren't you, Byron?
[01:13]
Byron Dixon
I am.
[01:13]
James Reed
Where I'd like to begin is what does Micro Fresh do? Or what is the problem that Microfresh solves? Sets out to solve.
[01:22]
Byron Dixon
And it's ironic that you almost slip the tongue, said Microsoft, because lots of people do that.
[01:26]
James Reed
I didn't say that. We have had Microsoft on the podcast.
[01:32]
Byron Dixon
Right. Okay. So what Microfresh does in, I think it's very simple is that it stops the growth of microbes. That's the boring bit. So any micro freshed surface means microbes can't grow.
[01:44]
James Reed
Micro. Microbes are.
[01:46]
Byron Dixon
Microbes are fungi. Fungi this size. Not literally this size. I'm relative. Bacteria this size or viruses, which are this size. And that's what Microfresh does.
[01:58]
James Reed
Do you know that joke? Why did the mushroom go to the party?
[02:00]
Byron Dixon
Yes.
[02:01]
James Reed
Yeah. You don't want to say the fun.
[02:04]
Byron Dixon
You're going to say it.
[02:04]
James Reed
Go on.
[02:05]
Byron Dixon
I used to say, because they will say, you know the joke. Because he's a fun guy.
[02:09]
James Reed
He's a fun guy. So. So you're out to get these fun guy in the sense we are. And so how did that be? What sort of immediate problem or what sort of issue did you first see and think, oh, I could do something about that?
[02:24]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And James, that's a question a lot of people ask. They say, why are you doing that?
[02:28]
James Reed
Yeah.
[02:28]
Byron Dixon
The short story is I drifted into. I could do chemistry at school. That's all I could do. And I went to what's called a comprehensive school and a sink school, but I could do chemistry. So I left school I approached Zeneca for a job, right. The nearest is before it was a pharmaceutical business. So Zenerker, it was a proper chemical business, I call it. The nearest one to me was in Loughborough and that was the leather and shoe division of Zeneca, supplying chemicals to the tanneries and shoe factories all over the world. So I worked there for 10 years doing customer service, looking at leather, looking at problems with leather and shoes. Then I got headhunted by Echo, the shoe company which is in Denmark. So I didn't realize the job was in Denmark. I accepted the job as something new.
[03:10]
James Reed
I said, this is why you can speak Danish.
[03:12]
Byron Dixon
That's why I speak.
[03:12]
James Reed
She was just talking to one of my colleagues. She was quite impressed.
[03:16]
Byron Dixon
That's right. So yeah, so you went to work in Denmark.
[03:19]
James Reed
So you didn't know the job was in Denmark? No.
[03:21]
Byron Dixon
So I got this job offer and I thought, that's great. And then the guy who offered me the job, the head of human resources I'm still friends with today, he said, oh, do you want to fly from East Midlands or Heathrow? And I said, where to? And he said, well, Denmark of course. But I thought the job was in London, so I thought, why not? When I went off to Denmark for four years, I worked for Echo. Fantastic company, Absolutely fantastic company. And the difference was Zeneca was top down management. I'm not saying either's right or wrong, they're just very different. And when I went to Ecco, it's bottom up. So you're almost like an entrepreneur in a business. And I was responsible for the finishes around the whole world. So every.
[03:58]
James Reed
For every shoe?
[03:59]
Byron Dixon
For every shoe. And then I work close with the Tanner.
[04:01]
James Reed
How many shoes do they make?
[04:02]
Byron Dixon
I mean, they did about 20 million pairs a year back then. That was 20 years ago.
[04:06]
James Reed
So that's 40 million shoes.
[04:07]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[04:08]
James Reed
So you're responsible for making sure they're all absolutely.
[04:12]
Byron Dixon
They all looked perfect, felt perfect, made the most of leather. Nothing happened. They didn't finish, didn't come off, change color. I was responsible for the whole lot and given complete freedom because of my background. And I loved it.
[04:24]
James Reed
Danish businesses are interesting, aren't they? Because, I mean, I've been researching Danish business for a book I'm writing on philanthropy companies. A lot of them have charities though. Absolutely substantial stakes and they have very enlightened management.
[04:36]
Byron Dixon
I felt like a chrysalis here and then I felt like a butterfly. When I went to Echo, it was that different. Denmark's a great country. I've still got great friends there. You pay a lot of tax.
[04:46]
James Reed
Right.
[04:47]
Byron Dixon
And it's very dark in the winter. So I came back after four years, started my own leather chemicals business. And then I remember that Echo shoes, when they were made in Asia, used to go moldy when they were shipped to the West. So I was struggling back then, I was pretty skint. Moved back to Leicester, living in a little terrace and I thought, why don't I make a product that stops the shoes going moldy in transit, that you can just put on in Asia, spray on and it protects them in transit.
[05:11]
James Reed
And that became microfresh for my benefit, really. Could, could you just explain what microfresh is as a, as a product, how it works, how people engage with it?
[05:21]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, sure. So when I made the first microfresh, that's a liquid that you spray. And then when we got to other applications, so the manufacturers buy it is a liquid, we ship it from the UK to our overseas offices. We've got 16 all around the world. Then the manufacturers buy it locally. So you've got the liquid, you've got a concentrate that goes into textiles because that's a wet process when they're manufacturing, so you don't need all that water, basically. We then also have a powder version from powder coated onto metals and the pellet which goes into plastics. So the four versions are a liquid, a concentrated liquid, a powder and a pellet.
[06:00]
James Reed
And this is all going into different manufacturing processes.
[06:03]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[06:04]
James Reed
To keep products fresh.
[06:05]
Byron Dixon
That's right. So if it's plastic products that are non porous, you would add the pellets at the point of manufacture. So when you extrude the plastic, it's.
[06:14]
James Reed
In the plastic and that stops sort.
[06:16]
Byron Dixon
Of bacteria growing on the surface. That's right.
[06:20]
James Reed
On the surface.
[06:21]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[06:21]
James Reed
So it has a wide number of applications and, and one of the important ones is obviously in fashion and clothes.
[06:27]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[06:28]
James Reed
And we think a lot about plastic waste. I mean, this come up on, on, on the podcast before the problem with plastics. But there's also a problem with fabrics, isn't there?
[06:39]
Byron Dixon
There is a problem, yeah. And the circular economy, if you go to any charity shop, there's a lot of clothing. So a lot of people take clothing or throw clothing away because it smells so. Or it wears out. And it's, it's widely known that laundering wears fabrics. It just does. I mean, I saw the ex CEO of Procter and Gamble on TV and he said, that's why we invented it. The two go hand in hand. So the less you launder the longer the fabric lasts. You launder to clean fabrics, of course, clothing, I'm talking about bedding, towels. So that's. That won't change. But you don't need to kill bacteria if it's microfreshed. So you don't need to go to the high temperatures. So you can actually cool wash at 20 or even 30. You don't need to go to 40 or 60.
[07:22]
James Reed
That's if it's been microfreshed at manufacture.
[07:24]
Byron Dixon
That's right. That's right.
[07:25]
James Reed
So you can, you can use it for longer and. That's right. It's going to last longer.
[07:29]
Byron Dixon
That's right. You wash at lower temperature, it lasts longer, which means less goes to landfill and also to thrown away, basically.
[07:35]
James Reed
So this is really good for sustainability.
[07:37]
Byron Dixon
It's a proven, tangible sustainability bin benefit that's easily understood by the consumer. You don't need to kill bacteria. The only reason you wash at the highest temperatures is to kill bacteria, because you can get things clean at 30. But in. Traditionally, people have washed at higher temperatures, even going back to boil wash. Sure. In the 70s, I think it was. But if you don't need to kill bacteria, all you need to do is remove the dirt. And that's done with gentle detergent and agitation.
[08:02]
James Reed
And it uses less power as well.
[08:03]
Byron Dixon
A lot less power, less detergent, less concentration and usually less water.
[08:08]
James Reed
Well, that's amazing. So it's sustained in all sorts of different directions.
[08:11]
Byron Dixon
It is in that way. It is. And I wanted to be a chemistry teacher because I thought chemistry is a bit of a, you know, pine sky thing for a lot of kids. But one thing I try and do with this business is to make it simple to understand. So micro. The Microfresh name has got simple to understand, tangible benefits. As I said, lower temperature, less water, less detergent, less energy.
[08:33]
James Reed
So fresh is easy to understand. Micro means I can't see it. Microscopic.
[08:39]
Byron Dixon
Microscopic, yeah.
[08:40]
James Reed
So Micro Fresh, we have a brand.
[08:43]
Byron Dixon
Director that's Exachi and Saatchi.
[08:45]
James Reed
Right.
[08:45]
Byron Dixon
He's on the board, as I was telling you about. And everybody thinks he thought of the name because it's such a cool name, but it was.
[08:50]
James Reed
I worked at Saatch and Sachi once. I'll claim it. You can claim it, but yeah, I.
[08:57]
Byron Dixon
Just thought it's clean and you can't see it. So Micro Fresh.
[09:01]
James Reed
Yeah, yeah, that's. I mean, that's a good start in branding generally, isn't it?
[09:05]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And I know nothing about branding and I mean nothing. I just made up the name because I thought it says what it does. And in time, what's come around is it's proven to be a great, easy to understand brand. And Next, when Next first launched in 2011, the reason they wanted the name on the shoes is because they said it just says what it is.
[09:22]
James Reed
So that was the tag.
[09:23]
Byron Dixon
That's the swing tag. Yeah. If it was, you know, Dixon Antimicrobials that have said, no, we don't want to tag because somebody's got to then look at what that means.
[09:31]
James Reed
Yeah.
[09:31]
Byron Dixon
Whereas microfresh just says what it is.
[09:33]
James Reed
So you invented this product.
[09:35]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[09:35]
James Reed
So you use your own scientific.
[09:37]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[09:38]
James Reed
Chemistry knowledge.
[09:39]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. In fact, I still have some of my old Open University equipment which I used to make the product.
[09:44]
James Reed
How does it work? What's it do? So how does it stop this from happening?
[09:47]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. So what I wanted, I was clear in my mind that I didn't want something that kills fungi, kills microbes, because that's quite easy. You can do that with bleach or vinegar, you know, quite nasty chemicals. If you look at anything that kills mold in store, there's quite often some quite hazardous symbols attached to them. But I wanted something that was non hazardous and something that just prevents the growth. So if in everyday language, microbes land on the surface and they can't reproduce, so they suffocate.
[10:14]
James Reed
Right.
[10:15]
Byron Dixon
So they don't proliferate and you don't get all the deficiencies that are associated with microbes, I. E. The growth of mold. But I didn't realize at the time it also stops bacteria, so things like E. Coli, salmonella, listeria. And also I played football for Leicester University and one of the lads in the team said if it stops mold, it should stop bacteria and bacteria causes odors.
[10:35]
James Reed
Oh.
[10:36]
Byron Dixon
So we test it inside the shoes and they didn't smell. Oh.
[10:41]
James Reed
So this replaced what were called odor eaters, is that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. Youth.
[10:48]
Byron Dixon
Yes. So nobody pays extra for non moldy shoes. That's just a given.
[10:52]
James Reed
Right.
[10:52]
Byron Dixon
But when retailers saw that by protecting the shoes in transit, they also had a sellable benefit to the consumer of the shoes won't smell. That turned our business around.
[11:01]
James Reed
How amazing. So then you had lots of other applications, I guess, from this technology.
[11:06]
Byron Dixon
That's right, yeah. That came from the bacteria side. Yeah. So when I realized it stops odors and then we realized it works in textiles because it was meant for leather.
[11:16]
James Reed
Right.
[11:17]
Byron Dixon
We test it in clothing and in textiles and we did a deal with John Lewis back in 2014 and they said to us, how many washes does it do? And I said, I actually don't know. And they tested it and came back and said, it does 50 washes. And I said, it's that good? And they said, absolutely. It's still over 80% efficacious after 50 washes. So we then realized that we had a product and a brand you could put onto textiles that means they will last longer.
[11:40]
James Reed
Right.
[11:41]
Byron Dixon
Because you can wash at lower temperature, you don't need to kill microbes and all the benefits that go with that, less detergent, less water, less energy.
[11:49]
James Reed
So that is good news if you don't want to have lots of textile waste. And.
[11:53]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[11:53]
James Reed
Associated landfill.
[11:55]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[11:56]
James Reed
The results of fast fashion.
[11:58]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely.
[11:59]
James Reed
And so you're very much focused on the other end of.
[12:01]
Byron Dixon
That's right. But this is. Bear in mind, this was 2009 and several retailers said, we don't want that, we want people to buy things. And built in obsolescence, as you call it. But then sustainability became a thing and they said, where's that guy that was here a few weeks ago, that cheeky guy from Leicester?
[12:18]
James Reed
Oh, I see. So you, you were not exactly pushing an open door to start with.
[12:22]
Byron Dixon
Not at all, not at all.
[12:23]
James Reed
In fact, beyond the shoe business, I.
[12:24]
Byron Dixon
Suppose, on the shoe business. That's right. It was a completely closed door and everybody said, why would we want to do that?
[12:30]
James Reed
Right. Which doesn't reflect that well on that sector. But now that you've persuaded them that this is a good.
[12:36]
Byron Dixon
That's right, that's right. And so we've now become a brand that means. It kind of means sustainability and it means they care about sustainability.
[12:42]
James Reed
So what, are there any other applicants? You mentioned E. Coli and I mean other food related applications.
[12:47]
Byron Dixon
Yes. The main one is healthcare.
[12:49]
James Reed
Right.
[12:50]
Byron Dixon
Because one of the reasons is hospital acquired infections. Hai. So people know that once you go into hospital, it's quite often you can come out sicker than when you went in because of what you pick up when you're in there. And you probably remember.
[13:01]
James Reed
That's definitely a fear, isn't it?
[13:03]
Byron Dixon
It's the fear. That's right. And you remember mrsa? Well, that was a classic example.
[13:08]
James Reed
That was a sort of super bug.
[13:09]
Byron Dixon
Super bug. That's right, that's right. And there's a bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus and this was what's called meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aus mrsa. And you could pick it up in hospital very, very easily. And it's very deadly. So an application for Microfresh was on bed linen and towels where it just couldn't, couldn't reproduce.
[13:29]
James Reed
So is that sprayed on the bed?
[13:31]
Byron Dixon
No, no, no. It's fixed in when they made. When it's made at manufacture. So when you dye the fabric, you add microfresh and it's fixed in.
[13:38]
James Reed
So it's all, it's all at the.
[13:39]
Byron Dixon
Beginning of all, the beginning of the production process.
[13:42]
James Reed
So how many customers have you got now?
[13:44]
Byron Dixon
Wow, that's a good question. I would say around the world, 200, 250.
[13:50]
James Reed
Big producers of fabrics, leather products. And where's your biggest market?
[13:55]
Byron Dixon
Currently it's bedding.
[13:57]
James Reed
Right.
[13:58]
Byron Dixon
We're a massive ingredient brand embedding. So you can go into John Lewis now and buy bedding with Microfresh technology and several other retailers. But what is growing is the call for mold reduction in social housing.
[14:09]
James Reed
So talk me through that. What does that mean?
[14:10]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. So I grew up in a council house and my mum was a single par children and mold was just a thing. Right. Then everybody had it, you just wiped it off with a bit of bleach. Now it's much worse.
[14:20]
James Reed
Well, the moles worse in a way.
[14:22]
Byron Dixon
It's a lot more. If you go into some social housing, you see mold, it can be whole walls, it can be whole rooms, which you never used to see when we were, when we were kids.
[14:30]
James Reed
And is that because the housing's deteriorated or the molds got more powerful?
[14:34]
Byron Dixon
Generally the housing deteriorated.
[14:35]
James Reed
Okay.
[14:35]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. I mean, when I lived in Denmark, as cold as it was in winter, you had to have the window open to sleep at night because the house is that well insulated. Whereas here we have a lot of old houses, a lot of old stock. So mold is huge problem. And 10 years ago we did some trials with Aston University and the HSE with Innovate UK funding.
[14:52]
James Reed
Right.
[14:52]
Byron Dixon
Because I thought, will it work on walls? Friends tried it and they said it's absolutely doesn't come back. The biggest problem with mold is it comes back, you can killing it. It's quite easy. So I thought, I don't want to go to market with a product where your friends say it's wonderful because that's like your mum's saying, you're a good boy. Well, my mum doesn't say that.
[15:09]
James Reed
She say that?
[15:10]
Byron Dixon
No, she doesn't.
[15:12]
James Reed
That would be consistent with quite a lot of our guests.
[15:14]
Byron Dixon
That's right. But yeah. So we went to Innovate Fund Innovate uk. They part funded a two year testing schedule Best part, of course, this is.
[15:25]
James Reed
The benefit of our listeners. What does Innovate UK do? Because it's quite interesting to use that. It's government's out there, isn't it, for them?
[15:31]
Byron Dixon
And it's government money. Government funding, and it funds innovative projects. There's a bit more to it than that because you have to apply. You have to apply.
[15:39]
James Reed
They like what you're proposing.
[15:41]
Byron Dixon
If they like what you're proposing, it can create jobs or save lives or will benefit the economy, they will help.
[15:46]
James Reed
To fund it, which is fantastic.
[15:48]
Byron Dixon
It's really, really good. And it's. Well, back then it was grant funding. Now they do a bit of debt or a bit of equity funding, but we would never have been able to do that without the funding. And we. It's match funding. So we matched over the two years, on average, 50%. So we put in 125K, they put 125K. But at the end, we had first year report from the HSE saying it absolutely works on walls, on plaster and even if you put paint over it. And the second year was Aston University ran a trial in shower room throughout the whole of the winter and it showed there was absolutely no mold growth.
[16:20]
James Reed
So this hopefully will be widely applied.
[16:22]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[16:22]
James Reed
So it's dangerous, this mold, isn't it, black mold?
[16:24]
Byron Dixon
It is dangerous, yeah.
[16:26]
James Reed
We breathe it in and stuff.
[16:27]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah. It's the cause of a lot of respiratory issues. I lived in Denmark, as you know, and Denmark, northern Europe, mold is almost classed as a pathogen, whereas over here it never has been until, tragically, I think it's four years ago now, a young lad died up in Rochdale and they realized it was because of the damp, because of the mold. So this young lad was called Alabishak. And a lot's happened since then.
[16:49]
James Reed
I remember that. It was shocking.
[16:50]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, it's shocking. So from this October, it's going to become law. There's a law that will say if you have damper mold, the landlord has to respond. I think it's within 48 hours that's coming.
[17:00]
James Reed
My daughter in Glasgow, who's a student there, was told that it was her problem, not the land. Yeah, that's good to know that.
[17:07]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. Yeah, that's. That's. That's quite often they say it's the way you live and, you know, you can't have the window open. Windows.
[17:13]
James Reed
She had to have the window open in the winter because of it, I think.
[17:15]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[17:16]
James Reed
Not because it was too warm.
[17:17]
Byron Dixon
You know, we grew up in a Council house. The last. If I got caught opening the window in the winter when the heat is on, my nose would be even flatter, as you know, my mom would say.
[17:27]
James Reed
Right, well, I'm glad you didn't. So that's an amazing range of applications.
[17:33]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[17:33]
James Reed
So, I mean, I'd like to ask you a bit. I mean, you said you were good at chemistry at school, you went to a comprehensive. You said it was a sync school.
[17:42]
Byron Dixon
It was.
[17:42]
James Reed
Doesn't sound like the ideal place to start a journey to become a scientist and an innovator. So how did you do that?
[17:50]
Byron Dixon
That's a good question, I think. I mean, people around me will say Byron's, you know, hyperactive. And I always have been. And when I was at school, I found school a bit dull and I could do things, but I just found it in general a bit dull. And then when I was about 10 and I saw chemistry and I thought, you can burn things and get a grade so you can blow things up.
[18:10]
James Reed
You like the excitement of that.
[18:12]
Byron Dixon
That's right. Blowing stuff up and burning things.
[18:15]
James Reed
And, you know, you were doing practical chemistry, so it's good they had a lab then.
[18:20]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I thought, this is absolutely. For me, but also, James, the thing is, I actually understood it and I don't to this day, I don't know how, but I understood it. I could see atomic models in my head. I could. I just got it and I just thought, why does everybody else find this so difficult?
[18:36]
James Reed
So it sort of mirrored your abilities in a way.
[18:39]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, ye. And I just. I just got it. I did my O level and I was doing the exam and I just thought, this is straightforward. This is like saying, put your right leg in front of your left and call it walking. And I did A level. It was the same. I just thought, this is. Why is this a thing? It's just obvious.
[18:56]
James Reed
World is sort of. That's true. I mean, that's what chemistry is, ultimately.
[19:00]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did. I just thought, why are people going on about this being so hard? Because I just got it and then. But I couldn't afford to go to university so I got a job.
[19:08]
James Reed
So you got a job, but you went to university later? Interestingly, I did. So what did you do?
[19:13]
Byron Dixon
I did. So I got to my mid-20s and I thought some of my friends from school had come back to Leicester with degrees and I thought, I'd like a degree. What can I get a degree in? I know chemistry. So I looked around and I found the Open University because I thought I had a job.
[19:30]
James Reed
So you were working at. Was this in Seneca?
[19:33]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, Stahl was the division. It was called Stahl S, T A H L, which was a Dutch division of Seneca. And I wrote off to the Open University and I did Open University.
[19:43]
James Reed
And is that something you'd recommend to other people?
[19:45]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely, yeah. Situation like that, halfway through it, I was shot off to Denmark.
[19:49]
James Reed
But you could carry on, I guess, carrying from abroad.
[19:51]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And because I was traveling a lot with my job, I had more time to do it. I was in airports or long haul flights out to Asia. So I'd do assignments on planes which people found quite interesting.
[20:02]
James Reed
That's hard work. I mean, you're doing a job, you're studying. I mean, that's intensive.
[20:07]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[20:08]
James Reed
How long did that take you to get the degree?
[20:09]
Byron Dixon
Nine years.
[20:10]
James Reed
Nine years.
[20:11]
Byron Dixon
Took me nine years.
[20:12]
James Reed
And do you feel that that was helpful as well in terms of developing your ideas for the business, or was it aside from that?
[20:18]
Byron Dixon
In that phase, I went through a huge amount of personal development because I grew up with, let's just say, on a council estate. So you can imagine the sort of people I had around me then I randomly got this.
[20:26]
James Reed
You said you were one of five siblings?
[20:29]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, that's right.
[20:29]
James Reed
What order, what number are you, out of interest?
[20:31]
Byron Dixon
I'm the second youngest.
[20:32]
James Reed
The second year?
[20:33]
Byron Dixon
Yes, I'm the second youngest.
[20:34]
James Reed
Do you think that has a bearing on how you are? I mean, I'm always interested in this.
[20:38]
Byron Dixon
Maybe the other.
[20:39]
James Reed
Because I'm the eldest, people say, oh, you behave like the Elvis. Don't know if there's any truth in that.
[20:45]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. My oldest brother Cliff's people say he behaves like the eldest, as in he's very sensible and, you know, smart and straightforward as I'm the random maverick and I'm the youngest boy.
[20:55]
James Reed
Right.
[20:56]
Byron Dixon
As kids we had those, those fairy tales, you know, they typically had the three sons and there was always the youngest one, was always the. The coolest one. So I used to play that.
[21:06]
James Reed
That's what you told people. I did. So, yeah. Going in that.
[21:12]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[21:13]
James Reed
But. But maybe there's something in that. You felt that you could go and try things a bit more or you'd be a bit. You're a bit more free, in a sense.
[21:19]
Byron Dixon
Yes. Yeah. And I've always been the free spirit. Always. I've try anything new, try anything different, go to different places, different countries. Yeah. The Denmark thing, as I say, the personal development, because by the time I'd been to Denmark, done my degree, done a whole Amount of traveling. Because in Echo, you travel all the time. You're in Slovakia. You think, I'm going back on Friday. You wake up Friday morning, there's an envelope under your hotel room saying, you now need to go to Brazil. Here's your ticket.
[21:43]
James Reed
And you were going there, what, to overseer?
[21:47]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. Shoes or leather?
[21:48]
James Reed
Yeah.
[21:49]
Byron Dixon
So I came back to England as a completely different person. I spoke and understood several languages, as you've seen today.
[21:57]
James Reed
So you. Well, I've seen Danish. What else can you speak?
[21:59]
Byron Dixon
So I can get by in. I can understand Swedish, the Nordic, Scandinavian languages. I can understand German because I live quite close to Germany. I live two kilometers from the border. I spent a lot of time in Portugal and Italy. So the Latin languages I can again pick up.
[22:12]
James Reed
I mean, I hate to say this, but this is kind of being closed off to young people now because of Brexit completely, which is such a shame. I give it a lot of that help, the help that's given you.
[22:21]
Byron Dixon
And I did it at the right time, because 20 years ago, if you went to Portugal, you had to learn Portuguese, whereas now everybody speaks English in the whole world, which I do think it's good. But I think it's a bit of a shame because I had to get by. And, I mean, I was in a restaurant last night and I said goodbye and thank you to four different people in the restaurant. Waiters, generally, and Brazilians. That was Portuguese. There was a Chilean girl, so Spanish. There was an Arabic guy, so that was Chakran. And there was an Italian. Yeah, it was Italian restaurant. They all thought that was hilarious.
[22:55]
James Reed
Well, so, yeah, that's. So. So does that help you today with your business? Because you said you deal in different countries around the world.
[23:02]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[23:02]
James Reed
So.
[23:02]
Byron Dixon
And we are truly global.
[23:04]
James Reed
So people speak English, but they do like it when you speak their own language?
[23:07]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely, yeah. Yeah.
[23:08]
James Reed
That's a good skill to develop, you.
[23:10]
Byron Dixon
Would say even that willing. Also, what I learned in my time at Echo, the owner of Echo was a massively inspirational guy, Carl Toosby. And we had the same birthday, which was ironic in the whole company. February 23rd.
[23:23]
James Reed
So you and Carl share the same birthday?
[23:26]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, that's right.
[23:27]
James Reed
So what did you do? Did he celebrate? Did he invite you for a coffee?
[23:30]
Byron Dixon
Kind of, yeah. Go to his house on my birthday? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just a bit random, but he.
[23:36]
James Reed
So he started that company.
[23:37]
Byron Dixon
He started Echo from scratch.
[23:38]
James Reed
And so you obviously knew him personally.
[23:41]
Byron Dixon
I met him when I went to Echo, yeah.
[23:43]
James Reed
Did you learn much from him? Loads Interesting.
[23:46]
Byron Dixon
Oh, yeah.
[23:47]
James Reed
So working for an entrepreneur, like, absolutely educational.
[23:51]
Byron Dixon
Massively. And when I was leaving, he said to me, don't get a job. He said, you shouldn't get a job. You're not the sort of person that gets a job. You should start your own business. And he said, now you've got an international network, which I didn't have before I went to Echo. So I came back, started my own.
[24:04]
James Reed
Business and I guess he became a customer.
[24:07]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, he did. But I fell flat on my face for the first few years because why? Nobody bought Microfresh because it was about sustainability. So I had five years with zero.
[24:16]
James Reed
Pushing at those doors that wouldn't open those doors. Five years of zero turnover.
[24:20]
Byron Dixon
Five years of zero turnover.
[24:21]
James Reed
So we're establishing quite a few things about you. Bar linguist. But pretty determined. I mean, that's telling me.
[24:29]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[24:30]
James Reed
You were not a quitter?
[24:31]
Byron Dixon
I'm not a quitter, no. I'm not afraid of failure as well.
[24:35]
James Reed
So why not? I mean, because that's a haunt. Some people.
[24:38]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. I think naturally I'm a creative person. When I say creative, don't mean like an artist, but I mean, I like to build things, so I'm not scared of starting again. So I've never been afraid of everything crashing. And that's why, as entrepreneurs, we take risks.
[24:51]
James Reed
Yeah.
[24:51]
Byron Dixon
And I'll take some big risks.
[24:53]
James Reed
Because if you don't try, you don't know.
[24:54]
Byron Dixon
That's right. And the risk is, the bigger the risk for me, the bigger the thrill.
[24:58]
James Reed
But the biggest risk or the biggest failure is actually not trying. I always say.
[25:01]
Byron Dixon
And I always say I treat things like a plunge pool. So just hold your nose and jump in. It's going to hurt. It's going to.
[25:07]
James Reed
Well, you're expecting it to be cold. That's because of your time in Denmark. It's not always cold.
[25:14]
Byron Dixon
That's right, yeah. It's. I'm not the sort to be standing around the edge, just dipping my toes in, going, oh, no, it's a bit cold. I'll just go straight in saying that when I'm on holiday, I don't go into the cold sea. So practice. I don't do it. But in theory it gets.
[25:27]
James Reed
But in your business life, you do. So you were five years. So what was the sort of breakthrough, then? When did it suddenly turn?
[25:34]
Byron Dixon
Breakthrough was I pitched all the retailers, nobody was interested. And then I got a call from Next, who were up in Leicester. In Leicester, yeah. And I'd been to all the people down here. Ms. Has Saved me the whole lot. And they said, can you come and see us? And I said, yeah. And they said, can you go through that costing again? And I thought, that's an odd question because I've been here like two years ago, went through everything. So I went through the costing, how, what it cost them to microfresh a pair of shoes. And they came back and said, right, we're going to run a trial. And that was 2011. So 2011, they ran girls back to school shoes with microfresh technology. And they said, said, we'll need your swing tags. And I said, yeah, sure. Thinking I've got any swing tucks. By the time this comes around, I will have. So if you're watching the next people, you know, and they launched girl Shoes in 2011, back to school girls, really successful. And they came back, said, we're going to launch boys and girls a year afterwards. So 2012, all their back to school shoes were microfreshed and they still are.
[26:26]
James Reed
Today and they're a hugely successful company, important customer. But so their calculation when they said when you run the costs was that they must have been losing product or there must have been some sort of.
[26:38]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[26:38]
James Reed
And trade off where they could see by using Microfresh.
[26:42]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[26:42]
James Reed
They would have better economics.
[26:44]
Byron Dixon
That's right. That's right. And I don't know, maybe something happened the year before and they lost market share and somebody internally said, we need something, a differentiator. And they thought, where's that guy? So that was 2011, 2012.
[26:56]
James Reed
So he remembered you from two years before.
[26:58]
Byron Dixon
Two years before, yeah.
[27:00]
James Reed
That's a real message there. I mean, I'm often telling people it's not a question of, you know, if you're going to make the sale, it's when. This is a very good example of that, if you've got a good product or you've got a good service.
[27:11]
Byron Dixon
When I pitched to them, there were two questions asked in the first one. One was, we don't sell smelly shoes.
[27:16]
James Reed
We don't. What? Yeah, they're not smelling usually when you buy them. No, that's thanks to you, probably.
[27:21]
Byron Dixon
And they just said, there's no demand. But then two years later they came back and said, so something happened in those two years, which I've never been party to, where they came back and said, let's try it. And then 2014, retailers do a thing called comp shopping. They go around other stores. So we got 2014 Tesco, Debenhams and Sainsbury's. Came to us and said, we want to launch Microfresh on our back to school shoes.
[27:43]
James Reed
When you say what, they're comparing what the others are doing.
[27:45]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[27:45]
James Reed
And they can see that next we're doing this.
[27:47]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[27:48]
James Reed
So once you've got one, the others, they.
[27:50]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, line up. Domino effect.
[27:51]
James Reed
They see that. Especially when it's a market leader like next. I suppose. So that's quite a good strategy for someone starting out.
[27:58]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely.
[28:00]
James Reed
If you could get one customer, who would it be to encourage the others, so to speak.
[28:04]
Byron Dixon
I've got a question for you.
[28:05]
James Reed
Oh, yeah, it's gone well.
[28:07]
Byron Dixon
It came back to me because I pitched to men's shoes, sports shoes. Why do you think Next pick back to school?
[28:14]
James Reed
Why did they pick back to school?
[28:16]
Byron Dixon
To me it was a random full of shoe range. Yeah.
[28:19]
James Reed
Because it's a particular time of year.
[28:20]
Byron Dixon
No, it's much simpler because I didn't think of this. But they did because they're worn every day.
[28:26]
James Reed
Okay.
[28:26]
Byron Dixon
So the only equivalent in adults is safety shoes. If you work. Yeah.
[28:30]
James Reed
Yes, yes. Makes sense.
[28:31]
Byron Dixon
Otherwise we wear different shoes every day.
[28:34]
James Reed
So you're micro fresh.
[28:35]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[28:35]
James Reed
You said another company that starts with micro and I'm trying now to not say it, you put that in your micro fresh service or. Or product is to stop the shoes smelling after a period of time.
[28:51]
Byron Dixon
That's right, yeah.
[28:52]
James Reed
So it's not about when they arrive in the shop, it's what they're like.
[28:55]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[28:56]
James Reed
Months later.
[28:57]
Byron Dixon
So in where they won't smell. So the dual benefit is they treat them in Asia anyway. That will protect them in transit. But also they won't smell him wear. So two reasons school shoes are the.
[29:08]
James Reed
Reason I said because it's September, back to school because I thought maybe they get hot in August and you know, bacteria like that. But it's not that, it's just. It's through wearing that.
[29:17]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[29:18]
James Reed
Hotter obviously by people wearing them every day.
[29:19]
Byron Dixon
That's right. So you wear them every day, they either grow out. The more they start to smell, they buy a new pair. So if they don't smell, especially teenagers.
[29:26]
James Reed
I don't know Teenagers.
[29:27]
Byron Dixon
That's right. When I remember being in school, it's a sustainability story.
[29:30]
James Reed
So it's good for parents as well.
[29:32]
Byron Dixon
It's absolutely good for parents for the purse. And next, I've got to say they're the innovative ones that said we're going to push this, push this envelope and say it's good for parents. Because before that the resistance that we had was Retailers saying that means we'll sell less product.
[29:45]
James Reed
Yeah, that's not a good. Beth, you want to do the right thing for your customers.
[29:50]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[29:51]
James Reed
Well, that's how you build a sustainable business. Business, I would argue. Yeah. Oh, that's an amazing story.
[29:56]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[29:57]
James Reed
So. And I like the way that you've widened the application into all these different. Different product lines as well.
[30:03]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And the link then was by 2014, we then started to have presence in a lot of stores. We'd been through legal and compliance with most of the high street retailers because they're carrying our name in store. So they need to check that we are who we say we are. Product does what it says it does when we're going to be around lots of, lots of things around that. And then, as I say, John Lewis approached us about bedding. They were the first. They launched bedding in 2014. It was really successful. They then launched baby and nursery bed in 2015. And then people started going into John Lewis, seeing our name on baby and nursery bedding and thinking, wow, it's an aspirational retailer. It's the thing that's the closest to you, you know, the baby. Your children.
[30:43]
James Reed
Sure.
[30:44]
Byron Dixon
And it's certified most precious thing. Most precious thing. And it's certified next to a baby. Baby skin. So, yeah, there's some real big ticks there.
[30:51]
James Reed
So you must feel really proud about that, you know, having started off with your chemistry idea.
[30:56]
Byron Dixon
I do, I do.
[30:57]
James Reed
It took you five years to get a sale. I mean, that's an amazing journey.
[31:01]
Byron Dixon
I do. And I suppose, like most business owners, entrepreneurs is you're just doing it. It's only when you pause and have moments like this that you think, actually that's quite a lot. Yeah.
[31:10]
James Reed
Because the entrepreneurs, you know, like you are always looking for the next thing.
[31:12]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[31:13]
James Reed
So I'm going to ask you that what do you. What do. Do you to want to do next or how are you going to take this from where we are?
[31:20]
Byron Dixon
Some quite chunky stuff that we're working on. One is Home Fresh, which is about molding homes.
[31:24]
James Reed
So this is a development of what you were just talking about?
[31:27]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, we've done that. So that's out now as a product called Home Fresh and that will be available in retail. Dri. Retail.
[31:33]
James Reed
So is it a spray or.
[31:34]
Byron Dixon
It's a little box of spray. Yeah. So we've got a cleaner and a protector spray. It'll also be available through Travis Perkins. But we're also talking to business, to consumer business, to Consumer.
[31:45]
James Reed
So that's different as well, isn't it?
[31:46]
Byron Dixon
It's different, yeah.
[31:47]
James Reed
So it's an actual product that's coming soon, is it? Can you buy it now?
[31:51]
Byron Dixon
It'll be July from next month.
[31:53]
James Reed
Oh, fantastic.
[31:53]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And Travis Perkins, It's Home Fresh.
[31:56]
James Reed
Everyone listening. If you want to get it, it's Home Fresh. Travis Perkins, nail that mold. It's a mess. None of us like mold.
[32:04]
Byron Dixon
That's right. And we're talking to house builders about incorporating it into the houses when they.
[32:08]
James Reed
Do the work, when they.
[32:09]
Byron Dixon
When they make.
[32:09]
James Reed
And that will keep it away.
[32:10]
Byron Dixon
That'll keep the mold away. And again, it's not. We say it's not a guarantee, but is it.
[32:14]
James Reed
Is it essentially the same chemistry as the microfresh Chemistry?
[32:18]
Byron Dixon
Is Microfresh at some point, Baby safe next to a baby skin. Going back to my original point of not wanting to have anything nasty and hazardous. That's number one. What's coming next? The other thing. What's coming next is the US So we finally got the Microfresh trademark in the US it took us six years.
[32:35]
James Reed
So why did that take so long?
[32:37]
Byron Dixon
Because other people had it for different things.
[32:39]
James Reed
Yeah, The US Is quite hard like that. I mean, I can't use the name Reed in the US because someone else has already put the. Must be you. Thousands of people could read in this. There are here. So it seems like a funny.
[32:51]
Byron Dixon
You feel my pain.
[32:51]
James Reed
Yeah. So that was your. That was your. So it's interesting. But you. You persevered. That's what I'm hearing. So you got that eventually, finally. So you had to go. You had to get lawyers to keep putting in requests.
[33:03]
Byron Dixon
We had to knock all the. And it wasn't in our industry. So maybe Microfresh Putty. Putty somewhere.
[33:09]
James Reed
Yeah.
[33:09]
Byron Dixon
In Wisconsin. Or there may be a Microfresh blinds company or a Microfresh car cleaner.
[33:15]
James Reed
Yeah.
[33:15]
Byron Dixon
So we had to one by one knock these off and it took six.
[33:18]
James Reed
So if you want to use your own brand, you have to get permission in all those different locations. That's a big job. And in the meantime, are you expanding there now? Is that you want to.
[33:26]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely. Three growth areas are home fresh. The U.S. so we've now got. You can guys buy socks in the US with MicroFresh? You can buy towels and you can buy shoes.
[33:38]
James Reed
I was thinking shoes.
[33:39]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, shoes. Yeah. But we know in the US their FOMO is much bigger than ours. So that comp shopping thing will happen, we think much quicker that they'll go around and say, what's this microfreshing. We need that. And the third thing is automotive.
[33:51]
James Reed
I'll go on. So how does that work?
[33:53]
Byron Dixon
There's a UK company that already has micro. I can't say who, they've not launched yet.
[33:58]
James Reed
UK auto company. And will they put it on the seats?
[34:01]
Byron Dixon
It's in the seats. So it's a micro freshed interior for the cleanest possible interior.
[34:05]
James Reed
So it will smell good, like new and nasty.
[34:09]
Byron Dixon
Microbes can't grow and it's just the cleanest possible.
[34:11]
James Reed
But you can't tell us yet who that is.
[34:13]
Byron Dixon
No, because it's not launched yet and everything.
[34:15]
James Reed
So how long, how long have you got to go for that?
[34:17]
Byron Dixon
That we're hoping it'll be either this winter or next spring.
[34:20]
James Reed
Oh, quite soon as well.
[34:22]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[34:22]
James Reed
So you've got a lot going on.
[34:24]
Byron Dixon
We've got a lot going on. And then we're hoping that that will then spin off into the US because in the US it's all about aviation. So we're hoping that they will see that and then say when they get on planes. Why isn't this microfreshed? Micro fresh. The Verve, which is also coming.
[34:39]
James Reed
So you want people to say micro fresh. Okay. Yeah. No, I like that. So, yeah. Why isn't my. Why isn't my plane seat be micro fresh?
[34:47]
Byron Dixon
That's right. Right. Well, say that's a nice shirt. Is it microfreshed?
[34:50]
James Reed
But that, that suggests that you could do something to it after it's being purchased rather than it part of the production process. So. So you're going to have it at both ends then.
[34:58]
Byron Dixon
We're not going to have the after treatment for clothing.
[35:00]
James Reed
Not for clothing.
[35:01]
Byron Dixon
It has to be built in.
[35:02]
James Reed
Okay.
[35:03]
Byron Dixon
To make it permanent. Almost.
[35:04]
James Reed
So the shirt wouldn't be microfresh if I bought it from the wrong supplier.
[35:07]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[35:08]
James Reed
But the car seat could be.
[35:11]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And then, yeah, with the shirt you'd have to go into the retail and say, you know, look for ones with microfresh on it.
[35:16]
James Reed
Can you do that now?
[35:17]
Byron Dixon
Now? Not in the uk. In the US you can, but coming.
[35:19]
James Reed
Soon in the uk.
[35:20]
Byron Dixon
Soon in the uk, yeah. You can tell now you're picking up on all my body language. Spring, summer 26, there will be shirts in the UK and everything we do, we're not allowed to talk about it until it's in the public domain, as you can probably imagine.
[35:31]
James Reed
Well, because you're doing this with partners, I imagine. That's right. You're a supplier to other businesses. That's Right, of course, I understand that. Yeah. But you've got a lot. So there's a lot of demand. What, what I'm hearing is there's a lot of demand. There's a lot of potential in this.
[35:43]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, there is a huge amount of potential.
[35:45]
James Reed
So. So you're, you're actively growing a UK based business out of Leicester.
[35:49]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[35:50]
James Reed
With markets in the us, different markets around the world, different product lines. So how do you approach that as, how does you as the CEO, you know, what do you prioritize to make sure all of that happens? Because I'm just thinking there's a lot going on. I mean, I'm a CEO as well. I mean, there's a lot going on here. How's Baring going to nail 1, 2 and 3? Because there are three different.
[36:10]
Byron Dixon
There are. And what I've done, James, is I. Because I'll chase everything. And I don't mean that in a bad way. What I mean is I am naturally like wired. So I want to do. Oh, that's a good idea. That's good.
[36:22]
James Reed
Are you always looking for good ideas?
[36:24]
Byron Dixon
And I think that's a good idea. And then I'll be distracted. And that was what you. On my school reports it said easily distracted. So we now have a board, an advisory board, which for me is heaven because I put everything on the table and they say, you can do that or you can do that, that.
[36:38]
James Reed
So they help you with strategy.
[36:39]
Byron Dixon
Basically, they help me with. I call it the boring word strategy, but it's a proper word. It's like the harness on a child. Whoa, just a minute. If you're going to do that, you need to have this, this and this.
[36:49]
James Reed
I think strategy is really difficult because it does involve not doing things which might look interesting and prioritizing things in an order and you're not sure if you got it in the right order. Yeah, I do. I think we spend quite a bit of time at this time here on strategy because our financial year ends at the end of June, same as this.
[37:06]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, we're the same.
[37:06]
James Reed
The same. And so. Yeah, but I always find it tough. I mean, I always feel after the really intense strategy meetings, I feel really tired, you know.
[37:14]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[37:16]
James Reed
There's a lot of brain power involved somehow.
[37:18]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[37:19]
James Reed
I mean, the difference between getting it right and wrong is huge. I suppose it's huge.
[37:22]
Byron Dixon
And the driver for me is if I had the board six years ago, I wouldn't have had the trauma of getting the MicroFresh US trademark and the cost which I won't even talk about today because when I think about the cost, it's huge.
[37:33]
James Reed
Oh, all the lawyers.
[37:35]
Byron Dixon
The lawyers, yeah.
[37:36]
James Reed
So why would that have been different if you'd had the board?
[37:38]
Byron Dixon
Because I'd have said to the board, thinking only to the us, and they'd have said, right, you need this, this, this, this, this. Whereas we went in and then we almost had to pull out.
[37:46]
James Reed
Oh, because you didn't have the trademark.
[37:47]
Byron Dixon
The trademark. So we had to have another name in the US that nobody liked, called Virofresh.
[37:52]
James Reed
All right.
[37:52]
Byron Dixon
So when we sold the concept, everybody said, love it, Great. We said, ah, it's called Viral Fresh. You just see the faces go. So all the clients.
[38:00]
James Reed
What's the difference? I mean, I'm interested in this. So brand got Microfresh, Viro Fresh. Why does one fly and one doesn't? Why is that?
[38:06]
Byron Dixon
I don't know.
[38:07]
James Reed
Is it because it viro. You think of virus and.
[38:09]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, micro means just turn people off. Because Microfresh says what it is. It's like what it does, what it says on the tin. It's clean, so it's fresh and it's. You can't see it. It's microscopic.
[38:18]
James Reed
Micro meaning small.
[38:19]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[38:20]
James Reed
Viro. What's that mean?
[38:21]
Byron Dixon
We just thought of some other alternatives.
[38:23]
James Reed
Yeah, yeah. So it doesn't mean. Yeah, it doesn't say.
[38:25]
Byron Dixon
And it just didn't fly at all. And now we own the name Microfresh Two thirds of the world, which is great and it's cost us money, but.
[38:32]
James Reed
Well, that's called being a uni brand. I mean, this is something I've learned along the way. Yeah. Having a uni brand is really helpful because you don't have to put money buying different names and different lines.
[38:41]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[38:42]
James Reed
I mean, our business, Reed, is a uni brand. I mean, we might operate in different areas, but it's always called Breed. But there have been times when we've had other brands and it's always complex.
[38:51]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, We've just. That's why we just have Microfresh and Home Fresh. So now the fact we got it in the US means our, you know, our potential.
[38:58]
James Reed
It's a huge market.
[38:59]
Byron Dixon
It's a huge.
[38:59]
James Reed
So you're going to move over there for a bit. We've had podcast guests lived in the US to get their businesses.
[39:05]
Byron Dixon
They need to be there. So you're thinking, probably not moving over there, but I need to be there at least four months of the year. At least between four and six months of the year. So that's in our strategy for the next financial year, starting next week like yours, is that I'll be in the US for at least.
[39:19]
James Reed
Which bit of the US would you go? And look, I'm interested in this. For people listening, expanding in the US is a. Is a great goal for British businesses because obviously it's a big market. If you've got something successful here.
[39:29]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[39:30]
James Reed
If you can take it there, the upsides are huge. How do you go about that? I mean, so where would you set yourself up?
[39:35]
Byron Dixon
Up?
[39:35]
James Reed
Well, obviously you've had this problem with the trademarks, but you've got that behind you.
[39:39]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. So we're going to get an office in New York, but my time will be in. Around the Boston area. Massachusetts.
[39:45]
James Reed
Why did you choose that area?
[39:47]
Byron Dixon
Shoemaking.
[39:48]
James Reed
Is that a famous.
[39:49]
Byron Dixon
The history of shoemaking.
[39:50]
James Reed
Shoes are made in that area from that area.
[39:52]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[39:53]
James Reed
I don't know.
[39:53]
Byron Dixon
So not anymore. But all the shoemaking people are in that area. But the other one is Portland, Oregon. So which I know is diametrically opposite.
[40:01]
James Reed
That's a long way away.
[40:01]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, it's a huge. But that's where. Where the sports industry is.
[40:07]
James Reed
Sports. Is that where Nike.
[40:09]
Byron Dixon
That's where Nike is. So all the spin offs. I love that book, Shoe Dog. Oh, it's.
[40:13]
James Reed
That's really good.
[40:14]
Byron Dixon
I read that on a plane and I couldn't sleep and I thought that reminds me of my business. Obviously it's a lot bigger. But that book, it is the entrepreneurs bible because that is the story of most entrepreneurs.
[40:26]
James Reed
Yeah. If anyone wants a good book to read this summer, we both recommend me here. Bar and Emmy. Shoe Dog.
[40:31]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely. Yeah.
[40:33]
James Reed
It's a great book. So. So that. So yeah, I remember from that, that that's. They're all on the west coast.
[40:37]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[40:38]
James Reed
Sports shoe people.
[40:39]
Byron Dixon
That story, you know, some of the mistakes, the ridiculous, expensive mistakes flying by the seat of your pants. I thought this could be the story of microfresh one day. Maybe that'll be the book.
[40:49]
James Reed
Yeah. Well, hopefully you'll do your story. No, it's a great story and I mean it's obviously still very much in evolution and development.
[40:56]
Byron Dixon
It is massively.
[40:57]
James Reed
I can sense your excitement about these new opportunities.
[41:00]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[41:00]
James Reed
I'm really pleased to hear about Home Fresh because we have a couple of retrofit academies where we help people learn skills to retrofit buildings. Oh, really? So, yeah. So, you know, because that's a big, as you were saying, a big problem in the uk, the poorly insulated buildings that are often poorly fabricated and need to be retrofitted.
[41:23]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[41:24]
James Reed
So this is a, this Home Fresh product would be a really important ingredient in that, I think.
[41:29]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely, yeah. And I was talking with someone the other day and they said in London, typically, obviously a lot of old buildings, but a lot of the newest stuff is down to rogue builders, which I'm not going to call, you know, live on this podcast. But they said, well, you know their.
[41:42]
James Reed
Name, you know what I say. Yeah, that's sad, isn't it? When the things that people put money into things and they're not. Well, we've had the, a lot of bad examples of that.
[41:53]
Byron Dixon
Instances of damp and mold in London, in, in the west, the rest of the country. It's, it's quite, it's not, it's. I think it's worse in London.
[42:01]
James Reed
Is it?
[42:01]
Byron Dixon
It's worse in London and in the rest of the country it's mainly, of course, Victorian houses, which we all know about, but social housing, whereas in London it's kind of almost generic across the board. So you can have people living in Fulham and Chelsea that have got mold and student homes, accommodation. It's almost like paraphrasing opposite, but it's like, like compact as many housing to smaller areas possible. It's going to give you damp and mold.
[42:23]
James Reed
Yeah, that's a densely populated.
[42:24]
Byron Dixon
Densely populated areas.
[42:26]
James Reed
So that would be where you will begin your marketing, I imagine.
[42:30]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And we, we want Home Fresh to be almost like an altruistic side of the business because it's about quality of life. So we, we can't set it up as a charity for legal reasons. And if you know that, you know about charities, it's quite difficult to have a charity on its own. But we're setting that up as. Yeah, it's an altruistic side of the business. So the money making bit that pays all the bills is Microfresh and Homebrush is about giving back because again, it is about quality of life for tenants.
[42:56]
James Reed
Oh, good for you. I'm talking about giving back. I'm aware that you, you're a chancellor of a university.
[43:02]
Byron Dixon
I am, yeah. So talk about that.
[43:03]
James Reed
And you also do quite a lot of mentoring.
[43:05]
Byron Dixon
I do, yeah.
[43:06]
James Reed
I'm interested in this. So talk to me about that. Why did you make that decision and how does it fit into your obviously very busy timetable?
[43:14]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, I was talking to somebody this morning who we're talking about social values and I said to some people it comes naturally. So if I'm asked to go and talk to a bunch of kids, you know, students or pupils, I want to do it. I want to give back. I want to talk to them and say, anybody can do what I do. You know, I'm from a background. That means if you pull yourself up, you can do it. So for me to give that back is absolutely important.
[43:39]
James Reed
So you go into schools and talk to kids?
[43:41]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, I go into schools and I.
[43:41]
James Reed
Do that a lot.
[43:42]
Byron Dixon
I like to eat more, actually, and institutions and in some cases, I've been asked to talk in prisons and young offender centers, institutions, because I believe. I mean, my other half will tell you. She said viruses are good in everybody. And I think there is good in everybody, but I also think there's opportunity in everybody. It may not be something that is relevant. Like, I did some work with some excluded kids and one of them said, I just love climbing. So I said, let's go climbing then. And we went climbing and I can't climb. But he became almost like the. The lead in his school when they went climbing. You know, it's a purpose. Another guy like drumming. And I said, the thing is, I know it's different, but I liked chemistry. That's all I liked. So everybody has something and I find something.
[44:26]
James Reed
You like.
[44:26]
Byron Dixon
You find things. You do that. That's right. That's right. It doesn't mean you're a failure if you can't do all this other sort of. Yeah, typical stuff. So I spend a lot of time, James, talking with especially young people and especially from backgrounds that I was from, because I think this is the first generation where it's gone backwards. It's actually hard.
[44:43]
James Reed
That is a concern, isn't it? Yeah.
[44:45]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. It's getting tough every generation. You know, when I speak to my mum and then. I mean, I didn't know my grandparents because they were in Jamaica, but when I speak to my mum, then she tells me about her parents and then going back, and as you probably know, with your parents and going back, every generation gets easier for various reasons. Technology advancements, leisure, labor saving devices, healthcare. Healthcare. And I think this generation is the first one where it's gone backwards. Yeah.
[45:06]
James Reed
So what's the most. What's the question? When you go to the schools or younger friends? Everything. What's the question you most commonly get asked?
[45:12]
Byron Dixon
What school did I go to?
[45:13]
James Reed
What school did you go to? What school did you go to?
[45:15]
Byron Dixon
I mean, I went to a school called Merida and Mandela in Leicester. Mandela's closed now, I think. Too many.
[45:21]
James Reed
Why do they ask you that?
[45:22]
Byron Dixon
Because.
[45:22]
James Reed
Is that because you're talking to people in Leicester or is It.
[45:25]
Byron Dixon
No, it's because. And again, this is something I've learned is people feel it's not for them, so they think, what school did. They're looking at me going, what school did you go to? Because how did you get to do that? Did you go to, you know, a posh school? Did you go to Harrow or did you go to. To. I said, no, I went to Mandela. And they look at me like, how?
[45:42]
James Reed
So they're looking for some sort of advantage that they don't have.
[45:46]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[45:47]
James Reed
That gives them a reason for not doing what you're doing.
[45:49]
Byron Dixon
Right.
[45:49]
James Reed
Is that what they're doing?
[45:50]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. When I stand up with my business and the brand and stuff I've done in the us, we're on the NASDAQ Tower and stuff like that, and their question is, can anybody do that? And I'll say, yeah, because, well, you.
[46:01]
James Reed
I guess I did, yeah.
[46:03]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah. But it's. It's almost a feeling like that's not for them.
[46:06]
James Reed
Why is that? Why do people come with us? Why do young people, or so many of them feel restricted in that way?
[46:13]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[46:13]
James Reed
I mean, they don't have that.
[46:15]
Byron Dixon
I have absolutely no scientific or data to back up what I'm going to say, but I think a lot of it is down to social media and mobile phones. When I go into schools these days, you go into School at 8 o', clock, it's quiet, kids are walking around, getting all the social media out. Do I have to go? No, it's always racket. We were.
[46:33]
James Reed
Yeah, there's a rumble going on somewhere. It was a lot of pushing people around and stuff.
[46:42]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[46:43]
James Reed
Grange Hill wouldn't have been the same. So that's interesting.
[46:48]
Byron Dixon
But I do.
[46:49]
James Reed
So what's that? But why does social media make people constrain themselves in terms of what their upside could be?
[46:55]
Byron Dixon
I. I believe there's. There's. What's the word? It's like keeping it with the Joneses. And I think it makes people feel that everybody's having a better time than they are.
[47:03]
James Reed
Are they sort of give up on it?
[47:05]
Byron Dixon
Almost. Yeah. It's almost like they're having a great time. That's not for me, because my life isn't so great, which we all know life isn't that great a lot, but.
[47:12]
James Reed
We all know our own problems, I suppose.
[47:13]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[47:14]
James Reed
And other people don't. And we don't know other people's problems. So you see someone doing something on social media or looking fantastic or having a holiday or something.
[47:20]
Byron Dixon
That's right. You scroll through social. Everybody's having a great time. They're on holiday.
[47:24]
James Reed
Yeah. This isn't going away, though, is it? Social media.
[47:27]
Byron Dixon
This isn't going away.
[47:29]
James Reed
Other people like you and me, if we want to encourage people to be entrepreneurial and have a go, we need.
[47:36]
Byron Dixon
To get amongst them and get amongst them. Yeah. My phone's in black and white. I don't know if you noticed that.
[47:41]
James Reed
You showed it to me.
[47:42]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's in black and white and it's. Everything's in black and white.
[47:45]
James Reed
Why is that?
[47:45]
Byron Dixon
Because I don't look at it.
[47:47]
James Reed
Because you don't look at it.
[47:48]
Byron Dixon
I don't look at it. A friend of mine said there's a particular red color, which I'll show you after this. That hits the dopamine in your brain so that you can't put it down.
[47:57]
James Reed
So how do you put it in black and white? I want to do that.
[48:01]
Byron Dixon
Yes. Into settings. There's some way of doing it.
[48:03]
James Reed
Is there?
[48:04]
Byron Dixon
The phone companies know this. So to change it to black and white is quite hard, but to change it back into color is quite easy.
[48:10]
James Reed
I'm gonna have a look at that. Look.
[48:11]
Byron Dixon
Mine's been black and white for coming up for nine years now. And that makes a difference, a massive difference. I go out and I never look at my phone.
[48:18]
James Reed
I saw that picture of you playing the space guitar on the front of your phone. Oh, that looked cool. I thought you put it on black and white. Delivery. No, the whole thing, the whole phone.
[48:24]
Byron Dixon
Is like the whole photos.
[48:26]
James Reed
Yeah. Right. So that's very interesting.
[48:28]
Byron Dixon
And when we're out with friends, I never look at my phone. Phone. Six o', clock, I switch off. I play football, I play music. We, you know, we do things as a family, we. I do normal things, read books.
[48:38]
James Reed
So you get rid of the phone at six o'?
[48:40]
Byron Dixon
Clock? Absolutely.
[48:41]
James Reed
We had that story, though, that Heathrow airport was closed and the guy was. Didn't answer his phone, you know, the CEO. But that could happen to you. I suppose that's right.
[48:49]
Byron Dixon
It would be, yeah.
[48:50]
James Reed
I suppose you're saying that's a price I'm prepared to pay.
[48:53]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And I learned that from learning Denmark, because that's a very Scandinavian thing. Thing to do what?
[48:59]
James Reed
Just switches.
[49:00]
Byron Dixon
Switch off. So when I. On my first day at Echo, we finished at three, I was in the office, I think about 20 past three, and somebody came around and said, what are you doing in Danish? Which, you know.
[49:09]
James Reed
And we have a Swedish member of our team. I was quite impressed by your Danish and Swedish.
[49:15]
Byron Dixon
The direct translation is what are you doing? But it's, it's not meant in an aggressive way. So when she said it translated into English, it sounded quite aggressive. And I said, I'm just finishing off. She said, why? Yeah, well, I'm just, just, you know, just. I'll be. Get leaving soon. She said, in Denmark, if you're here after hours, that means that you've not been working in the daytime. So it's seen as a sign of inefficiency.
[49:34]
James Reed
What time you have to start, though?
[49:36]
Byron Dixon
7.
[49:36]
James Reed
7.
[49:37]
Byron Dixon
I didn't read that either before I started.
[49:39]
James Reed
Did you get there at 7? You didn't tell her?
[49:41]
Byron Dixon
I was a bit late first day and I was like. And I really signed up for this. Seven is early 7am, seven till three because of the. It's something to do with the daylight and the farmers or something.
[49:51]
James Reed
But that's quite a nice working day because you get a good evening. Evening.
[49:54]
Byron Dixon
You do. It's very, very quiet. So you have a long, long evening.
[49:59]
James Reed
Right.
[50:00]
Byron Dixon
And I was there on my own. So I had this loneliness thing I'd never had in my life.
[50:03]
James Reed
All right. So people say that being bored is an important source of creativity. So they say that looking at phones is what people do now when they would otherwise be bored.
[50:14]
Byron Dixon
That's true.
[50:15]
James Reed
And you've just said you shouldn't look at your phone. And what you kind of. What I'm hearing from you is that you were prepared to put yourself into a place where. Where it was very quiet.
[50:22]
Byron Dixon
That's right.
[50:23]
James Reed
And you maybe were a bit bored.
[50:24]
Byron Dixon
And you went in February.
[50:26]
James Reed
Yeah. You read and did things differently and then you came back and started a wonderful business. I mean, this is sounding more than coincidental to me that, you know, your mind was sort of working in a different way than just liking things and. Yeah, no scrolling through stuff.
[50:41]
Byron Dixon
I think I was talking to him the other day and I said, you know, 20 years ago, if you were sat at a desk, your boss thought you weren't working. Now we all look at screens all day, day and it's the opposite. So I'm used to doing things. I can go into a shoe factory and spray 15 racks of shoes. Because I've done it in the past because I learned that way when I was at Zenic, I learned spray shoe, spray leather and I was doing stuff. And so when computers came in, James, anyone that knows you will tell you they'll say, byron can't sit in front of a computer for more than half an hour. I can't I have to get up and I just feel like I'm not efficient.
[51:12]
James Reed
Right.
[51:12]
Byron Dixon
So I can't sit on my phone doing that.
[51:14]
James Reed
That might be your secret power, your secret advant.
[51:21]
Byron Dixon
If I'm out with now, it's not.
[51:22]
James Reed
A secret because we can all profit from your inside.
[51:25]
Byron Dixon
I find myself making excuses when I'm out with people, say. Because I might think something. I say, just a minute, I've just got to do this and I'll do whatever I need to do and then I'll put it away.
[51:32]
James Reed
Yeah, that's if you have an idea, you want to find something out, that is, you sort of have it then.
[51:36]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[51:37]
James Reed
But because I've been thinking, you know, an analog life is good in many ways. You can cut off that, but you've actually. You've actually got a routine where you do that.
[51:46]
Byron Dixon
I absolutely do that. And sometimes we actually out. You can be out with people and somebody. Oh, just I've got to. And they sit there on the phones and then normally one of the others will say, byron's got a global business and he's not on his phone.
[51:57]
James Reed
Right.
[51:58]
Byron Dixon
Like it's all relative.
[52:00]
James Reed
That's quite satisfying though, isn't it? Very good bar. I like that. Well, I'm always. My wife and I. So you're on the phone again. She said, so are you, you know, so I think we. We can both learn from my other half.
[52:13]
Byron Dixon
She's like me, so she doesn't do phones either.
[52:16]
James Reed
So. So six o' clock gets put in a drawer, does it? Put in a drawer and you don't look at it until the next morning?
[52:21]
Byron Dixon
No. Occasionally I might have to do something, you know, messy.
[52:23]
James Reed
Yeah.
[52:24]
Byron Dixon
I don't sit there.
[52:25]
James Reed
No, no. Looking at it while you're watching TV or something.
[52:27]
Byron Dixon
No, no, don't watch tv.
[52:29]
James Reed
You don't look at X and get down rabbit holes and stuff like that. I'm learning. I'm learning from you. I'm gonna.
[52:35]
Byron Dixon
People say I'm seeing this thing on social media. I'm saying no.
[52:38]
James Reed
So you don't look at it for new news?
[52:40]
Byron Dixon
No.
[52:40]
James Reed
Do you watch the TV for news?
[52:43]
Byron Dixon
Not really, no.
[52:44]
James Reed
Because one of our other guests. Yeah. And he closed himself off from news. Totally.
[52:49]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[52:49]
James Reed
He said he didn't. He didn't help his mental health and so he doesn't. It deliberately doesn't look at the news.
[52:54]
Byron Dixon
I don't look at the news, I don't look at the weather. Hence I'm wearing this today.
[52:59]
James Reed
It's gone a bit hot, but I.
[53:00]
Byron Dixon
Find if you have a detox from news and you go back to it, it's constant bad news and you think, wow, why, why am I listening to all this stuff that I have no control over? And it's, it's all negative and I know that's what sells, but I don't want to hear it. And of course I keep it date with current affairs. I listen to, I mean I have talk sport on in the car or one extra and every now and again they have a little news bulletin.
[53:24]
James Reed
Yeah.
[53:25]
Byron Dixon
But I don't listen to, you know, half an hour news programs.
[53:28]
James Reed
So you've cleared your mind for things that you want to prioritize.
[53:31]
Byron Dixon
I have. And I sleep seven and a half hours every night.
[53:33]
James Reed
Release you. Well, that's very important too. I'm talking years old. But no, these are serious, these are serious points though that I think help people to be really successful.
[53:42]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. And I learned this from Scandinavia, you know. So my Danish friends now, they joke, they say you can't get that Scandinavian out of you because they do have.
[53:50]
James Reed
So you can take Byron out of Scandinavia, you can't take Scandinavia out of bar. I like that. So what are the top three things you think we should be more Scandinavian about out? You know, if we were thinking in the UK to raise our game in.
[54:04]
Byron Dixon
This respect, I think community. When I was there, there's a strong sense of community. I was welcomed with open arms. I was the only, I guess non white person in the town of 8, 000 people. And everybody made me feel so welcome.
[54:17]
James Reed
That's right.
[54:18]
Byron Dixon
I aim to have a natural sense of community. And it's little things like, you know the saying treat others as you want to be treated and it's kind of an inbuilt thing. That's number one. The other thing is Scandinavia is very strong on family. So this 6 o'cl thing is we want to spend time with our families and it makes you more efficient in work. So I have two sides of my brain which does amuse people. I have the work microfresh entrepreneur chancellor Byron Dixon.
[54:46]
James Reed
Yeah.
[54:46]
Byron Dixon
And I have the after six o' clock Byron Dixon. And the two are very different because I can go into a store, work out what the bill will be at the end by the time I get to the till. That's the this side of Byron Dixon, but I can't tie my shoelaces properly. And that's this side of Iron Dixon.
[55:01]
James Reed
Right.
[55:02]
Byron Dixon
And Amy will tell you, she'll say, say, you know, watching me trying to cut a banana I watched her cutting a banana once for breakfast, and I thought, how does she do that with one hand? Like this? And I tried it and she said, stop, because you're gonna cut your fingers off.
[55:15]
James Reed
All right. Okay. So you said you're very good at separating.
[55:19]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah. That's this and that's this. And I suppose the third Scandinavian trait is there's a thing in Scandinavia, in Denmark, anyway. I know in Denmark called Yandel, and what that means is, no one's better than anybody else.
[55:31]
James Reed
It's almost egalitarianism.
[55:33]
Byron Dixon
Yeah. It's almost humble thing.
[55:36]
James Reed
Right.
[55:36]
Byron Dixon
Talking about in football.
[55:37]
James Reed
They talk about that in football.
[55:39]
Byron Dixon
Last year, Arsenal and Man City were taking the mickey out of each other, saying, stay humble. And ironically, it came from Harland, who is Norwegian. I don't know if that's the reason, but there's a thing in Denmark where. Yeah. He's just stay humble. Don't go out saying, I'm wonderful. And I'm listening. That just. Yeah.
[55:54]
James Reed
So you really related to those.
[55:56]
Byron Dixon
Absolutely. And which is why when I went to Echo and I met Carl Toosby now in Seneca, you met your line manager. You didn't meet their manager or definitely not their manager. You're just there. When Carl Toosie came down, I thought, he's the owner. And he came in and spoke to me. And that's a typical Scandinavian trait.
[56:14]
James Reed
And do you. And you apply that now in your business, you go and talk to everyone on the shop floor and stuff?
[56:19]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, of course, we're not all equal, but it's an equalish feeling. So I encourage people to be themselves. I say be self, and I've got ability of a. There's a rapper called KRS1, and I took a snippet of. He did a. He did a thing called Edutainment where he did a seminar. And one of the. One of the modules was called Be yourself. And I send that to everybody in our business when they start. And it's quite deep stuff. It's five minutes long. It basically says, you know, being yourself means you might walk up to your boss and say, I want to leave, or I want to do another job. But the main thing is be yourself and feel that you can be yourself. It means they feel you can walk into my office and say, I'm not happy.
[56:57]
James Reed
Well, I guess that's ultimately the best way to give the best of yourself if you can be yourself.
[57:01]
Byron Dixon
I think so.
[57:02]
James Reed
Fulfill.
[57:03]
Byron Dixon
I think so. I don't want people working for me that are unhappy or feel oppressed. I'd rather say I'm not happy or I don't like it here or there's something majorly wrong. I don't want to just festering and then just walking off.
[57:14]
James Reed
Just, just lastly, you mentioned the university where. I mentioned it as well.
[57:18]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[57:18]
James Reed
So what does that involve your chancellorship?
[57:22]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, the month university. So it's a ceremonial role, I think is the saying. So I don't have to do any work.
[57:28]
James Reed
Right.
[57:28]
Byron Dixon
The irony is the Vice Chancellor, Casey Normanton, she. People think that I'm her boss because in everyday language, if you're Vice Chancellor, like vice president, then you got the president.
[57:39]
James Reed
Well, I thought that. Yeah, surely that's the case.
[57:42]
Byron Dixon
It's not.
[57:43]
James Reed
No.
[57:43]
Byron Dixon
No, it's not. So, yeah, it's. I'm Chancellor of DMU and DMU is the second university in Leicester. There's got this University of Leicester and they typically have a wide student base, like an old fashioned polytechnic. I think it's the saying. But I do, I do awards. I give out the degrees every six months to a year. I try and do the business degrees, obviously I have a, you know, business and if I can, I sit and inspire the students. I did give a talk.
[58:12]
James Reed
So you do go and talk to the students?
[58:13]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah.
[58:14]
James Reed
You're not. It's not just ceremonial.
[58:16]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I've done this talk with the students again just about the business and that anybody can do, do it.
[58:21]
James Reed
Well, that's a really great thing to do. So you'd encourage other entrepreneurs to consider getting involved. How did that come about? Did they approach you or you?
[58:28]
Byron Dixon
They approached me, yeah. They knew you and they said, yeah, they said, would you. We'd like you to be a pro chancellor. And I said, absolutely, that's a really.
[58:35]
James Reed
Great thing to do. But I mean, at the end of the each of my conversations I like to ask two questions and the first one's related to what you were just saying, really is, is what gets you up on a Monday morning. Morning. It comes from my Love Mondays theme. Yeah. As you can see, what gets me.
[58:54]
Byron Dixon
Up on a Monday morning is the energy to drive this business. And I mean that, I don't mean that in a, you know, in a sarcastic way, but I do love what I do. And people say, we cannot believe Your business is 18 years old because you look so energized. And I am actually really energized. So that gets me up on a Monday morning to go really. Right, we've got a senior leadership team meeting. How can we drive this business? How can we make sure that the team are growing. Obviously we've got to grow the business financially as well. But also we're growing a global ingredient brand and we want to be the next hoover. You know, is that room been hoovered? Is that top microfreshed? Is that room micro freshed? Is that room home fresh? That. Yeah, it really does.
[59:38]
James Reed
Global ambition in that respect.
[59:39]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. To infinity and being.
[59:42]
James Reed
Well, that's exciting. I can see why that would get you getting.
[59:44]
Byron Dixon
Yeah.
[59:45]
James Reed
On the month and then. And then the next question is from my interview book, why you 101 interview questions you'll never fear again. It's where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
[59:55]
Byron Dixon
Still heading at Microfresh Home Fresh. I'm hoping we'll have a much larger US presence at the time. I do love the uk. The weather's a bit of a pickle.
[60:03]
James Reed
It's been quite good recently, but seeing.
[60:05]
Byron Dixon
Myself as the head of a global ingredient brand.
[60:08]
James Reed
Head of a global ingredient brand. The global ingredient. That sounds better.
[60:12]
Byron Dixon
Global brand for freshness.
[60:14]
James Reed
A global brand for freshness. Well, I wish you every success on that journey and I hope we'll have the chance to talk again maybe in five years time and see how you're progressing.
[60:23]
Byron Dixon
Yeah, I hope so.
[60:24]
James Reed
All right, great talking to you.
[60:25]
Byron Dixon
Hey, thank you. And you too.
[60:26]
James Reed
Thank you. Thank you coming in to talk to me. Thank you, Byron, for joining me on All About Business. I'm your host, James Reed, chairman and CEO Reed, a family run recruitment and philanthropy company. If you'd like to find out more about Reed, Byron and Microfresh, all links are in the show notes. Also, if you'd like to know how to switch your iPhone to black and white, which I've just done, go to settings, accessibility, display and text size and then switch color filters to on set yourself a challenge. Let me know how long you last in the black and white world in the comments. See you next time.