Broking success: Surviving and thriving

▶ How did the company start?

Stuart: The two founding partners were Bob Cowen and Slav Kuchta who previously worked for Joseph Burley & Partners in Sheffield. They set up in Mansfield simply because they had restricted covenants on their contracts which said they were not allowed to open an office within 18 miles of a Burleys branch. The business was built on the back of haulage, steel erection, precision engineering. The sort of stuff you would expect from a traditional broker in the Midlands r