The Welsh company trailblazing the flyfishing industry

Meet the CEO: Airflo Fishing Finance & HR Director, Sherrie Woolf 

As part of our “Meet the CEO” series, where we bring you face-to-face with the trailblazers and visionaries at the helm of some of Wales’ most innovative companies. This instalment focuses on Sherrie Woolf, Finance & HR Director at Airflo Fishing, where we learn about her career journey, Airflo Fishing’s impact on the fishing industry, and the passion and innovation that drive the company’s success. 

Tell us a little about yourself. 

I’m the Finance & HR Director at Airflo Fishing but also wear a number of hats across the business. I began my career in accounting through a modern apprenticeship which I started in Wales. As my career progressed, this line of work provided significant opportunities to live and work across the globe, and I spent time in London, New York and Amsterdam. A lot of what I did involved working in the tech industry, particularly with startups, before returning to Wales to set up my own accounting practice.  

My journey with Airflo was quite an unusual one. I actually came on a three-month consultancy basis, to implement new accounting software. Nearly four years later, I’m still here! After setting up my own practice, I did not plan on being employed again, but I really bought into the company’s vision and loved working with the team here. It is a company that is very people-focused, constantly evolving and ensuring that the sport of flyfishing is always at the forefront of its focus, so everybody involved is passionate about the company, the products, and the sport.   

Tell us about your company. 

Airflo Fishing is an industry-leading manufacturer and distributor of flyfishing products with a factory based in Brecon. It was initially owned locally, but in 2019, it became part of the Mayfly Group. In addition to flyfishing lines, it also manufactures and distributes flyfishing reels from HQ in Colorado.  

Airflo Fishing has been a staple in the flyfishing industry for nearly 40 years, and what makes our products unique is we are the only company that manufactures without using PVC. This means that we don’t need to introduce additives that leach out of the products and damage our waterways. 

How would you characterise 2023 in your sector so far?  

In 2023, manufacturing as a whole is still feeling the effects of COVID. We had severe delays in the delivery of equipment and materials, and we’re still recovering from that. As far as our industry goes, we saw a spike during COVID which is now starting to decline, although demand is  still above pre-COVID levels.  

An important highlight of this year is that we have invested 2 million pounds in new equipment and expanded our expertise as a company. Implementing this new equipment is significant to us because it changes the way that we manufacture. We also needed to industrialise our manufacturing, and therefore looked to the automotive industry. In addition to the new equipment, we recruited an operations director and several engineers with expertise from the automotive industry to analyse our processes and apply their knowledge to streamline and evolve our manufacturing.   

What are the key opportunities you are gearing towards as a company? 

Since we’ve been acquired by an American company, the improvement in distribution into the North American market has been huge and has opened many doors for us as it’s the biggest flyfishing market in the world.  

We are finalising the development of new products, set to launch next year. The investment in equipment and manufacturing expertise has been the perfect preparation for the launch, bringing everything together ready to hit the North American market.  

What are your biggest challenges? 

Our main challenge is that we cannot make enough product to meet demand. We consistently have around a million pounds worth of open orders that we just can’t make fast enough. This was one of the reasons we invested in new equipment and addressed our manufacturing processes.  

Another challenge of ours is obtaining raw materials. During the pandemic, some of our suppliers were not able to supply us at all, resulting in a lot of research and development to not only find alternative materials, but also learn how they would work for our products. This was very challenging.  

What projects or developments are you most proud of? 

We’re really excited about finishing the commissioning of our new equipment and we’re very close to finalising our new product range, and I think the launch of that is what we’re all excited for because that is what will give us the growth that the company wants into North America. Once we have that growth in North America, that trickles out to the rest of the world.  

Additionally, a lot of our focus is on materials and material science. For example, how long it takes a fly line to cure. We’ve reduced this time from five days to two days based on some advances in material science.  

There have also been advancements in plant-based materials. We’re a certified B corporation, so it’s really important to us that we look after our planet, which is obviously important for our sport. Fishing is very dependent on having good waterways and good environments for fish to thrive in. Our aim is to try and support that by being as environmentally friendly as you possibly can. 

What would be your advice for budding entrepreneurs? 

An important exercise for anyone in business is to ask the question: why? Why are we making the product? Why do people want to buy it? It is an important starting point to make sure you can answer that.  

In our case, what do our customers want from us? Our customers want to catch more fish. So that’s our core aim. How do we do that? By developing the best product out there with continued innovation and using industry expertise. We’re very fortunate to have world-class anglers in our team, so we’ve got a lot of expertise to pull from.  

Once you know the ‘why’, know your competition, and how what they do differs from what you offer. You can then develop ideas that ensure that you are offering what your competition is not, and have a dedicated approach to differentiating your business from your competitors. 

Another piece of advice is to liaise with Welsh Government, who are very supportive of Welsh business. We partner with them on our innovation and with research and development. We are in constant conversation, and they assist in any way then can. They ultimately want Welsh business to succeed, so speak to the Welsh Government and utilise their expertise and support. 

Stay tuned for more Meet the CEO content, with interesting insights from CEO’s across Wales.