Humber Business

The company produces a range of high-quality, naturally-grown bedding plants from seed, hanging baskets and decorative arrangements in greenhouses and polytunnels in Fairfax Avenue, west Hull. Thanks to the trio's determination to succeed, KH Smilers has gone on to become an award-winning limited company that boasts a growing customer base and has plans to expand. On top of this, Mr Garbera has now written a book, Smilers, which tells the company's story. He said: "The book is simply the story of KH Smilers from the very beginning to the present day. "It is aimed at young people who are starting a Young Enterprise company or even a limited company. "It doesn't aim to be prescriptive or tellpeople how to run a business, but rather to inspire others through our story and give them some ideas about how to move forward with their own projects." The idea for the book developed as Mr Garbera was deleting redundant files on his laptop last year and came across a script KH Smilers had used in its final company presentation at the UK final of the Young Enterprise Awards in 2004, held in London. The find sparked a host of memories for Mr Garbera and a strong desire to tell his story. He wanted to emphasise how coming from Hull, or any city that has in the past attracted negative publicity, was not a handicap to success. He and his fellow enterpreneurs juggle running the company with full-time education at university. They manage to do this by being able to do a lot of the work online. The book is available to buy from Garbera Enterprise Ltd, a company set up specifically for the purpose. But the three founders will have little time to worry about book sales as they concentrate their efforts on expanding the company. Mr Garbera said: "We are hoping to purchase a further greenhouse this year toincrease the number of plants we can grow and we always try to expand the varieties of plants we sell. "We are also offering a new tub and planter refilling service at the customer's premises. "The current economic climate has not affected us too much yet. However, we had to increase the price of our trays of bedding plants and baskets by a small amount due to rising prices of our suppliers." Mr Garbera believesgradual expansion and commitment to the business have been key to KH Smilers' success. He said: "We have set ourselves achievable goals and expanded the company slowly, making sure we have never had more business than we can handle and this has paid dividends. "And our reputation for selling good-quality plants at competitive prices has ensured we have a continuously expanding and loyal customer base."