Following on from the awards, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou invited me to his easyGroup HQ in London to initially discuss the potential for a brand license deal, covering Intellectual Property, the vision of Able Move and how we could foresee the easy® brand being used.
Part of our discussion over the two days was to determine the name with the favourite being easyTravelseat – which encompassed everything Able Move stood for and was a great fit alongside what the easy® brand represents. It was important we maintained the Able Move brand too and the seat did not become orange, to which Sir Stelios hinted at and laughed. Sir Stelios was obviously joking – it’s his nature too, he knew if we made the seat Orange it was against what Able Move was trying to achieve through making the seat look smart, professional and blend in with wheelchairs. We looked at how we could maintain the current website www.ablemove.co.uk too which is branded like easyTravelseat.com, whilst stating the words “Powered by”.
After two meetings spread over a week, with lawyers and IP attorneys and some brief negotiating. Sir Stelios and I had agreed terms to the brand license deal which would see Able Move adopt a 5-year license and become part of the easy® family of brands.
On the side of the brand license deal, Sir Stelios and I had discussions around finance following the awards and how I would look to expand the company with what I had. It was agreed Able Move needed further capital to help it grow at the pace needed. Sir Stelios proposed some funding and we agreed to an investment deal for an undisclosed fee for an equity stake within Able Move Ltd.
I am over-whelmed to have Sir Stelios onboard as an investor and the start of easyTravelseat.com is here, where the sky’s no limit. As we work towards making aircraft more accessible for people with physical reduced mobility.
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