Yasmin Halai: Ideal Solutions Systems

Yasmin Halai
Age: 31
Company: Ideal Solutions Systems

Halai spent seven years as a saleswomen before teaming up with brother Shabbir to launch Ideal Solutions Systems four years ago. The 42-person company supplies high quality, longer-lasting printer cartridges to businesses who require superior print finishes, such as insurance firms, solicitors, the travel industry and estate agents. Despite competing with Hewlett Packard it expects to generate £3m this year and £6m in 2004.

2016 update:

According to DueDil, Ideal Solutions Systems filed its last accounts in 2006 and has since been dissolved. In 2004, the entrepreneur married Bruce Carter, with both taking the name Halai-Carter. The couple founded First Impressions together in 2002 – a Croydon-based supplier of environmentally friendly office equipment. In 2008, they decided to rebrand the company as The Green Desk and expand its offering to a complete business service, helping other businesses improve their green credentials. This saw the company also start to donate its surpluses to charity, achieving £500,000 turnover in its first year of trading under its new name and raising £100,000 for charity – half to Women’s Aid and the other half to other environmental projects. In 2012, the couple launched a new ethical venture called Ethstat: a social enterprise and one-stop shop for everything from printed letterheads, fairtrade cleaning supplies and biodegradable filing to recycled desks. Again, Ethstat’s surplus income goes to charity.