Virtual Bristol Distinguished Address: Doug Perkins, Chair and Founder and Dame Mary Perkins, Co-founder, Specsavers
Talk
>by Industry Events
Building the World’s Largest High Street Optics and Audiology Brand
Doug and Dame Mary Perkins founded Specsavers with the aim of offering affordable eye care to everyone. They will talk about how they saw the opportunity to revolutionise the optical market, following a relaxation of UK regulations, which allowed opticians to advertise products and services for the first time.
Specsavers is not built on a stock exchange model but rather on a unique joint venture partnership, where directors part-own and manage their own stores. Theirs is a values-led approach to business, which has led to a world-wide organisation that turns over 3 billion a year, operating in 10 countries and employing 35,000 colleagues.
Doug and Dame Mary met in Cardiff while studying optometry at university. After graduating they bought Mary’s father’s optometry business in her home town of Bristol, which they built into a successful chain of more than 20 stores across the south west. This provided invaluable experience when they set up Specsavers.
With Mary being Bristol-born and educated and Doug living in Bristol for 15 years (and even playing for Bristol rugby club), they will describe how their business experience in Bristol acted as an extended pilot for the birth of Specsavers and inspired their vision for affordable eyecare and audiology at scale.
After selling their original chain of stores, it took a further three years of worldwide research of partnership and franchises, which were unheard of in the medical sector, to create their unique business model.
Discuss this event on Twitter using the hashtag #BristolLectures.
Programme:
18:25 – Join the talk online
18:30 – 19:30 – Lecture including Q&A
Free event
Register for the event More information
Creative industry events in and around Bristol
HUM4NS TALK
7pm
-9pm
The Square Club, 15 Berkeley Square, Bristol, BS8 1HB
Networking
HUM4NS provides a platform for ordinary people to share Honest, Uplifting, Motivational, Aspirational, Nourishment for the Soul, inspiring others to take action and build towards achieving their own dreams.
Charity Freelancers Bristol: Networking
2pm
-3.30pm
Watershed, 1 Canons Road, Harbourside, BS1 5TX
Networking
We are a newly-formed group that aims to bring together charity professionals from across Bristol and the surrounding area.
Wake Up Call: Building a strong agency culture through a listening strategy
8:30am
-9am
Online
BCI Webinar
Join Lucy Wilson and Kate Gorringe from Mr B & Friends as they dissect what a listening strategy looks like within their agency, and how it could be adapted for any agency looking to bring energy, fulfilment, collaboration and pride amongst its people to help drive performance.
You need to load content from reCAPTCHA to submit the form. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More InformationNotifications