Preston: I used to just work for the family business but now I have set up a brand with Sir Mo Farah!
This Lancashire brand owner can’t believe he’s in business with running royalty, Sir Mo Farah!
A Preston man has recently set up a unique sports performance and recovery brand and has been able to get Sir Mo Farah on board in the business.
Paul Little, who currently lives in Hoghton, was brought up in Preston and attended Walton-le-Dale High School and Runshaw College.
Three years ago, Paul started working for the family business called UK Nutrition who work mainly in Agriculture, importing raw materials from all over the world and making crop nutrients for farmers.
As part of this process, the business imports Magnesium, which is known for benefits in sleep in adults and children, skin healing and muscle recovery.
The discovery of recovery benefits led Paul onto creating a brand called MODE Sport back in September.
He said: “I got in touch with Ricky Simms (Pace Sports Management) who looks after Sir Mo Farah, Usain Bolt, Dina Asha-Smith and many of the US Athletes that will be at the Olympics in Paris this summer.
“I spoke to Ricky and within 24 hours of sending emails, he said we should have a meeting which then led to us sending some products down to Mo.
“Mo came back with some suggestions and we engineered a new range and a new brand called MODE Sports.”
MODE is a nod to the running legend’s name but was also chosen to easily market new ranges such as ‘Gym MODE’, ‘Running MODE’ etc.
Paul and his company started with Mo last September, signing the contracts to confirm him as a partner, not just the face of the business.
The brand has been present at a number of events including the Great North Run in Newcastle last year, with marketing efforts aimed at the message ‘Goodbye Mo, Hello MODE’.
Paul said: “When we started this business, I thought me and Mo will never meet and he’ll just be a distant partner but within two weeks of launching Mode, he rang me and gave me his personal number.
“Since then I’ve built a relationship with Mo, even going to watch his little lad play football where we chatted on the sideline for hours!”
MODE Sports currently offers a range of magnesium bath salts which help with sports recovery as well as putting magnesium into shower gels for those who don’t take baths.
The business also has a children’s brand called Mini MODE which offers products more appealing to the younger generation such as bath salts that change the colour of the water.