Born and raised on a dairy farm in Holland, Hans has spent most of his working life in farming.

He was a floor broker in commodities for four years in Amsterdam, ran a dairy as well as imported equipment for dairies in the USA for 11 years, and was an international sales manager for a feed additive company in Holland.

Hans had known of Schippers for a long time – the family-run firm, now second-generation, is one of the largest service suppliers for the intensive stock breeder in Holland – and when the company advertised its UK operation, he saw this as a "great opportunity". He joined Schippers in November 2007.

"I always liked visiting the UK – I have been coming here since I was 15," said Hans.

"We were put in touch with the East of England International agency, based in Cambridge, which was a great help in setting up the business.

"They put us in touch with Jonathan Hand, of the Peterborough office of commercial property agent Barker Storey Matthews, to help us look for suitable premises."

The new site had to be within one hour of Stansted Airport and have proximity to the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich. Stansted is convenient for Schippers UK director, Harrie Schippers, one of three brothers, based at the parent company in Eindhoven.

Schippers UK's clientele would be the farming community in East Anglia and Yorkshire, and predominantly pig farming, with some dairy farming interest in the west of the country. It also caters for the poultry industry.

"We finally decided on areas around the A1 corridor," said Hans.

"After considering Huntingdon, we chose Peterborough – our unit at Bakewell Business Park, Culley Court is excellent value.

"It is a new business unit with good access for articulated lorries, it's spacious and has easy access to the A1."

The company started trading in May.

Schippers – whose slogan is Passion For Farming – has a "vast product range" for the livestock farmer. It offers everything from a small knife, costing less than £10, to a cleaning robot, geared for pig farmers, at about £40,000, with thousands of items in between.

"A lot of our business is in consumables, for example foaming agents.

"When ordered, goods are shipped out of our distribution centre in Lommel, Belgium, and can be turned around in 48 hours to 72 hours."

Rotech, a firm based in Chichester, West Sussex, and a dealer for Schippers for some four years, remains a dealer for the company but now deals solely in artificial insemination-related products.

The first year plan at Schippers UK Ltd is for turnover of about £250,000.

That is with Hans, general manager and sales representative, at the helm. He is assisted by warehousing administrator Ben Perkins, and is currently looking to appoint a sales executive/area manager.

For more details, call Schippers UK Ltd on 01733 370970, or visit www.msschippers.co.uk.