Why all roads lead to Rochdale for logistics entrepreneur who built a business in the pandemic

Posted by on 29 Jul 2022

The opportunity for entrepreneurs when the pandemic hit in 2020 was to spot changes to the way we were all living - and how to build a business from it.

For Heinz Zhou, it meant looking at the explosion in online shopping - with Amazon, in particular, benefiting - and what services would be needed as a result.

He founded LIGE Consulting and established a logistics platform with the trademark GBA (Go Beyond the Age). LIGE was originally established in Bolton as a fulfilment centre, before moving to Rochdale in 2022 and the way the business has taken off is a true story of our times.

“The business is moving like a high speed train,” admitted Heinz, 35.

GBA Logistics is based in a 30,000 sq ft warehouse at Caldershaw Industrial Estate from where it provides a variety of services for Amazon, effectively acting as an overflow warehouse for the global giant.

Heinz says: “Due to Covid, people’s shopping habits switched immediately to online, an even a business the size of Amazon didn’t have the capacity to store everything.

“So we now take deliveries from overseas for Amazon, store them and then send them on to Amazon when they ask us to.

“We also receive returns from Amazon customers. Again, we store them and then return them to Amazon to an agreed timetable.

“Our work with Amazon accounts for 95% of the business and we are moving forward with a new model now to also send items directly to residential addresses on behalf of Amazon.

“So essentially, we are a fulfilment centre, but with the expertise to make us a consultancy as well. We provide consulting services to clients to talk about their supply chain set up.”

Heinz has established a diverse operations team at the Caldershaw Industrial Estate site in a mix of warehousing, administration, sales and marketing roles and is open about why he chose Rochdale as the location for his business.

“I live here, so I wanted somewhere that was close to home,” he admits.

“However, Rochdale also has some of the biggest logistics companies on the doorstep, which is very useful for us in our line of work. The transport links are excellent.

“Business rates are also very agreeable here. The council and agencies are all friendly and approachable. They’ve helped us save money by guiding me through the process for rate relief application and also helped with recruitment.

“Rochdale is the birthplace of cooperation and the local agencies know how to support business, especially right now in this financial crisis. They cherish and nurture businesses moving to the area.

“The town is really developing fast from a business point of view, you can see the levels of economic activity. Culturally, it is a diverse place and this reflects in the development of the businesses here.”

For now, LIGE Consulting (GBA Global) is comfortable in its size of property to cope with the growth in the business, as it also has arrangements with warehousing facilities in Bolton, Germany and the USA to coordinate the flow of goods for its customers globally.

Heinz points out: “There is lots of competition in this space, so there is a need to diversify and keep growing.

“Our reputation is built on having advanced systems, being timely and always reliable.

“The threat to a business like this isn’t from bigger companies, it’s from new arrivals, small operators who can offer to do the same job cheaper. So that’s why we will keep pushing forward to offer more value where we can.”