Braille Sign Supplies has won the Regional Business category of the 2019 Deakin University Geelong Business Excellence Awards.
The products of Torquay-based Braille Sign Supplies (BSS) have filled a niche to offer everyday help for the blind and vision impaired.
Fifteen years ago Travis Ashford was running his signage business and contracting regularly for local sign-writers, while wife Leza worked in a separate marketing role.
Travis began receiving occasional orders for braille signs, due to building code changes, but found sourcing them difficult.
“Most signs were from China and weren’t compliant with Australian standards,” the business says in its awards entry, “and those that were made locally were expensive with long lead times”.
“Recognising a gap in the market, Travis began researching options to make the signs himself.”
Travis began the labour-intensive process of making complaint braille signs 13 years ago, armed with an engraving machine and a pen to manually insert each dot into each sign.
Operating at first in the couple’s single-car home garage, Travis learnt from trial and error with each order.
“By this time Leza was a stay-at-home mum with a small baby, so she began helping by proofreading signs,” the awards entry says.
“Travis kept both his day jobs and made the signs at night and on weekends, with Leza beginning marketing work and packing the signs to take to the post office each afternoon with braille signs in one arm and a baby in the other.
“Today, BSS is one of the leading manufacturers in the industry, with a large factory and 11 employees, thanks to a focus on strategic risk-taking, innovation, and providing a unique product to an emerging niche market.”
