Game Changers: Raj & Peter from Galway Cartridge

Ink is big news this week. So what better time to profile an up and coming business in the ink cartridge game? Step forward Galway Cartridge.

 

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It’s not often that a business can say that they’ve been positively affected by the recession, but such is the case for Rajat Bathla and Peter Zapala from Galway Cartridge.

 

The reason? When it comes to ink and office supplies, everyone is looking to pinch pennies these days - everyone except Aengus O Snodaigh, at any rate - and when you’re offering a service that can help a business slice hundreds and thousands off the cost of their overheads, people are bound to sit up and take notice.

Galway Cartridge’s core business is the refill of empty inkjet, laser, fax and photocopier cartridges. When times were good, most businesses took the out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new approach when it came to servicing their equipment, not knowing or not wanting to know that there was a far more economical and environmentally friendly way of going about it.

“We’re absolutely benefitting from the recession because whereas money was spent left, right and centre before, now people are looking for a more economical approach which should have been the way since day one,” Raj told JOE recently.

Peter also says, “Because of the recession everyone wants to make savings and to cut costs. For example, to refill a set of cartridges as opposed to buying new ones, saves approximately €500. So for a business that might go through three sets in a year, that’s €1,500 saved.”

The company has been on the go for just over a year, having opened up in Liosban Business Park, Tuam Road in Galway in January 2011. Raj and his business partner Peter came up with the idea a few months beforehand and with Raj’s front of house skills combined with Peter’s technical expertise and IT background, they quickly formed a good team.

While their core business is cartridge refill, they also deal in computer sales and repair, printer sales and repair and also stock office stationery. The business took off at lightning pace and hasn’t looked back since.

“It’s been going very well," says Raj. "Whatever our targets were for the first year, we achieved them quite soon and we’re already hitting third year targets before the end of the first year."

Galway Cartridge prides themselves on their customer service. They cover the whole of the county and ensure that no client is made to wait more than 24 hours on an order. If there is a problem, they endeavour to be there within an hour and also provide free commercial repairs and IT support for all of their existing clients as Peter feels it is “an additional service we should provide in order to get their business."

Environmentally un-O Snodaigh-like

Another thing they pride themselves on is their commitment to recycling. Galway Cartridge collects used cartridges from businesses around the city free of charge, whether they are clients or not, and either use them again themselves or donate them to charities, who can use them to help raise funds.

“I’d prefer if people recycled a lot more and thought about the environment more,” says Raj. “I would like to approach schools and tell school children to collect empty cartridges from their homes and bring them to a collection centre at school where we’d collect them and either use them for ourselves or give to charity on the school’s behalf.

“It’s a green initiative and if taught well to the children at a young age, it should stay with them for life.”

Galway Cartridge has an online stationery catalogue with over 80,000 products, featuring everything from cabinets to printers to paper and even toilet rolls. Although Raj doesn’t want it to take away from the core priority of cartridge refill, he is hoping it will be a big success.

Galway Cartridge ... Raj, Peter and all the office stuff you could want

"The catalogue features over 80,000 products, but it’s optimised so you can search for specific items, a printer, for example, and it will take you to the page where all the printers are. It’s not an online buying process; it’s an online ordering process. People won’t be paying for them online; they can view the catalogue online and then order whatever they want through us.”

His business partner Peter adds, "There's not enough hours in the day to even think about expansion; we have no plans to move beyond the Galway region for the moment.”

There’s no doubt the business has been a success story so far, however, and lord knows we need as many of those as we can in this country at the moment. This, after all, is the country where public servants can spend up to €390 a day on ink. (Sinn Fein obviously didn't go to Galway Cartridge.)

For more information on Rajat Bathla and Peter Zapala's operation, check out the Galway Cartridge website.