World Entrepreneurs’ Day
21st Aug 2022 is World Entrepreneurs’ Day which is aimed at celebrating entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership around the globe.
Entrepreneurs play a hugely important role in bringing new ideas and innovation to the market which, in turn, creates new businesses and jobs.
Here at Tufcot, we’d like to celebrate our very own entrepreneurs, Michael and Elvin Majchrzak, who started Tufcot back in 1981.
Tufcot is a business that was started in a garage and, with true entrepreneurial spirit, has grown to have over 50 employees.
Read more about the Tufcot story here…
How Tufcot Began
Tufcot was established in 1981 by three equal shareholders; Michael, Elvin and Len.
One of these shareholders, Elvin Majchrzak, is still with the company today as the only shareholder and as the Company Chairman.
Tufcot®, the material, was initially developed at British Steel and Tufcot’s owners in 1981 saw a huge opportunity to manufacture and engineer the material to many different market sectors, especially in and around Sheffield UK, where the company is still flourishing today.
The initial phases of Tufcot’s production took place in Elvin’s garage and involved a sole manufacturing machine and a sole lathe machine!
Elvin, along with his father Michael, were proud that the company was a family-run company and wanted to instill this into the Tufcot brand for many generations to come.
Michael Majchrzak
Michael, Elvin’s father, was one of the founding members of Tufcot and was born and grew up in Poland.
Michael managed to escape the war in Poland to come over to the UK where he met Jean. Michael (known as Mike) fought for the UK in the second World War when he escaped Poland.
Michael and Elvin worked together and decided that there was a huge opportunity to set up their own company and create what we now know as Tufcot.
The premises, procedures, machines, employee numbers and branding have changed but the ethos of the company has never changed.
We have always been an international company with a family-run feel, with respect for our employees at the forefront of what we are trying to achieve.
Elvin Majchrzak
Michael and Elvin, alongside the 3rd Director, Len, set up in Elvin’s rat-infested garage and started the process of setting up Tufcot.
Elvin’s background was in engineering and he had previously worked with his Dad.
They initially started with 2 machines, whilst the material was continually developed and improved over time.
When Elvin started the company, his eldest son, Stefan, had just been born and his wife (of 42 years) worked as the financial controller, doing the accounts for Tufcot.
This often meant a lot of long, hard hours getting the material made and expanding the customer base to allow Tufcot to grow to where it is today.
We are proud to have about 5/6 customers that we have worked with for over 35 years.
