Elijah joined Brompton in 2016 to grow our operations in the Asia-Pacific region. At the time, his focus was on managing panel manufacturers, but it became evident that Brompton’s market there included an important base of end users too. Today, as our Director of APAC Operations, Elijah leads a team of 20 people across UK, Shenzhen and Taiwan – including technical support specialists, field application engineers, account and general managers, and operations support. But as fast as our China operations are growing, Elijah keeps a very steady focus on quality – a value that has been with him since the early days of his career, and what ultimately led him to Brompton.
Soon after finishing his studies at the University of Surrey, Elijah landed a unique role at Vertu as their first hardware design engineer, scoped with developing the highest-quality phone on the market, regardless of cost. Elijah adds, “That freedom to design for excellence was something I wanted to find in any other job I did after that. It’s not often that you can set out to aim for the best performance, and I think that’s true of Brompton as well. Once we’ve figured out how to make something as inexpensively as we can, it’s about how good we can make it.”
Elijah’s first trip to Asia was in 1999 on a quest to find the perfect switch, which ultimately meant sitting down with manufacturers in Taiwan. He made frequent trips to Asia over the following years in subsequent roles and fell in love with the culture, so much so that he finally made Taiwan home in 2007, “That’s where I can think clearly, where I feel back at base,” he says.
Joining Brompton in 2016, Elijah brought with him many years’ experience in the APAC region and helped set up our first Shenzhen office in 2019. Just over a year later, the Shenzhen operations moved to bigger premises, doubling in size. This coincided with the release of several Brompton resources in Chinese language, including our configuration app, data sheets, and a website. Elijah adds, “It meant customers could do everything in a language they are comfortable with, that I think helped us grow.”
Having travelled so extensively, where does he go to get away from it all? “It’s not a geographical thing for me, jogging basically is how I get away,” Elijah shares, adding, “Just finishing the jog in one piece is your main focus, and when you get back you can revisit issues with a fresh mind.” Elijah also chooses nature over cities, adding, “Getting away from technology and convenience I quite like. That’s where Taiwan is useful. A short drive away from the city you’ll find really quiet areas with no roads and no cars.”
As for the road ahead, Elijah is big on Japan. He’s travelled there fairly frequently over the last few years and discovered that several companies have had their eyes on Brompton for some time. He concludes, “I never realised just how many people knew us and wanted to talk to us. I think there’s lots to come from Japan.”
