Meet our Place Board – Josie Morris MBE

Our Place Board brings together and engaged collaboration of the county’s leaders who set the direction for our work and champion Staffordshire at every turn.

This month, meet Josie Morris MBE, Managing Director of Woolcool.  The company was recently awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development and celebrated at their new premises in Stone.

• Can you tell us more about Woolcool and the company’s ethos?

Woolcool are pioneers in the sustainable packaging revolution and have recently diversified into the Horticutural sector too. Our ethos is that we are using natural materials to save the world. In other words, we are developing products, using natural materials, to solve some of the challenges caused when using non-sustainable materials. Our main focus is using Wool, manufacturing insulated packaging for shipment of temperature sensitive products in both the food and pharma sectors. We recently moved into our new premises, which has been a very exciting time!

Our new premises will allow us to grow into the future and provides a much more sustainable and enjoyable working environment for our team. Due to the modernity of the new Woolhouse (our name for it), it will also allow us to deliver our goals of significantly reducing our carbon emissions and wider business impacts.

• What do you think about Staffordshire both as a resident and an employer?

Having been born here, moved away for a few years and then come back for my job, I have really come to appreciate what Staffordshire has to offer as a resident. I am a passionate advocate for the area and its people. From the countryside on our doorstep, to the local food markets, quirky independent cafes through to the easy connections across the UK, both North and South.

From an employer perceptive, Staffordshire folk are the best in the country, they are hard working, committed with a great sense of fun and humour. As a business, the location of Staffordshire at the heart of the UK is also massively valuable, and that has so many benefits, for example, keeping the cost of moving products around the country down and reducing the time taken to visit customers and suppliers, it is so easily accessible!

• What do you feel We Are Staffordshire has achieved so far?

We Are Staffordshire has done a great job of promoting the county as an area – both internally and externally, beyond our borders. We have engaged with a number of different parties including businesses, charities, local communities and the press to ensure we are promoting Staffordshire and showing what a fantastic place it is.

I believe a key area of engagement moving forward is with Staffordshire’s young people and am a Chair of the We Are Staffordshire Young Person’s Delivery Group. We have some exciting plans for 2023 so watch this space.

• Why should businesses sign up to be Staffordshire Ambassadors?

If we want a better future for the area and those who live it in, the best way to do this is to promote all the many benefits of Staffordshire to the wider world. By getting involved with We Are Staffordshire, businesses can help shape the perception of the area to attract more talent, investment and therefore strengthen the business economy and ultimately provide a better place to live and work for every single Staffordshire resident. We are Staffordshire!