Monkey of the year

Gibbon has achieved major successes with its customer-oriented profile and today it is well-known even outside Scandinavia. Few in the sector have anything negative to say about this family company, which was started by Bengt Einerskog in 1972. Bengt has now opted for a slower pace of life and was superseded as CEO in 2000 by his son Roger Einerskog, but he still sits on the board.  The company remains in the family, now with Roger as sole proprietor.
The facility at Landvetter was built in 1990, and since then has been expanded three times, most recently in 2001.
History
At the beginning of the 1970s, Bengt worked as a chemist and bred aquarium fish in his free time, but wanted to invest more fully in the pet trade.  He started doing this in 1972 using the name “Akvariet Brokabboren”, which is the Swedish translation of cichlid. Three years later, using the company’s present name “Gibbon AB”, he established himself in an old grocery store at Kalendarvägen 56 in Kortedala.
Five years on, Gibbon had outgrown its first home and moved to larger and more appropriate premises in Mellbydalens industrial park in Bergsjön. There the company had a total of 540 m² at its disposal, but after two expansions in 1983 and 1986 there was simply not enough space. In 1990 it was decided therefore to build the premises that Gibbon still occupies today – Bettys Väg 1 in Björröds industrial park, about 20 kilometres east of Gothenburg (Landvetter).  Following a continuous process of enlargement, adding extra space in stages in 1993, 1997 and 2001, the total area including office accommodation and warehousing is now 6,600 m².
Roger Einerskog, CEO and owner of Gibbon AB.
Gibbon is in a very expansive phase, which includes a thorough analysis of the company. It is working with the programs “Growth 2000” and Objective 3.  This is the new designation for what was previously called “Growth”, an EU-based program for education and competence development. The project started in October 2003 and was finished in December 2004. In Gibbon’s case it is the ESF (European Social Fund) that backs and sponsors competence development for individuals connected to organisations or companies, according to a 50/50 model.  All employees must be involved from the analysis phase onward.
During the analysis phase, the company searches for competence that is already within the organisation. It looks at goals, the future and “hidden resources” in the individuals in the company.  As a result, Gibbon has set up…