Stephen Taylor is a flamboyant Jewish businessman, CEO, and founder of Sweet Concepts and Propaganda. Sweet Concepts and Propaganda is among the most popular promotional gift suppliers, Inventor, Innovator, and Philanthropist in the UK and is part of the Promo Concepts Group. Stephen is a London resident, active supporter, and member of local business communities and charities.
The CEO is a big believer in giving back to the community and encouraging people to live their best lives while supporting their communities. His compassion and personality as a big thinker fueled him to start his business and charity work.
The renowned entrepreneur learned business at the tender age of 6 years after spending much of his time beside his father, a property developer. During such times, he would listen to his father negotiate and seal real estate deals over long phones. This exposure sparked particular interest in the young man of deal-making and creativity of always looking at the greater picture in every situation. Stephen later won the British Gas young entrepreneur award in 1999 after honing his skills.
Being a big thinker and creative, Stephen often thought about and enjoyed a wide range of promotional products. Hence, after each interaction, he always saw an opportunity to bring something new into the promotional product market.
In one instance, the innovator noticed that restaurant consumers always dipped their hands into the provided promotional candy jar for unwrapped mint candies; without cleaning their hands. This occurrence brought Stephen a brilliant idea: to provide the mint candy in a more hygienic way!
Stephen mulled over the unwrapped candy idea and decided to develop a wrapping product.
Additionally, the wrapping would provide more than a hygienic covering; they could also contain messages such as ‘Thank you.’ This idea brought forth the famous Thank You mints.
Stephen Tayler was among the pioneers of the entrepreneurs that offered the Mint Cards and Click It tins in 2001. He later brought back the mint cards in 2002 and stormed the world. The young entrepreneur had an eye for fast-moving products, as the mint cards sold over 650,000 units in 2003. The flat slim, pocket-sized plastic outer shell of the mint cards was the product’s strongest selling point making it stand out in the promotional gifts sector.
At the moment of mint card production, Stephen worked with Promo Concepts Propaganda and Sweet Concepts. Stephen later decided to develop his range of mint cards after the success of the 2002 and 2003 batches. The entrepreneur later introduced the Mini Mint IT card, a new small stamp-sized mint card, into the promotional products market. The product performed well in the market due to the card’s small cute size, allowing it to slip into a back pocket or small bag without a trace.
Stephen remains a creative inventor who always seeks the best promotional gift to introduce to the market. His creativity and attention to detail have birthed new promotional products, such as the Panoflex cable, which was invented out of necessity. The imaginative creator discovered that companies could have different short promotional charging cables in one cable. The 60cm all-in-one cable is a fast charger with a sufficient printable promotional surface. The fast charger also doubles as a data cable for greater efficiency.
Stephen Taylor has strong values that ground him as a successful entrepreneur. He insists on embracing charity and giving back to society by offering advice, and donations, promoting awareness, fundraising, and volunteering time to all who need them. Stephen fulfils his charity mission by supporting various initiatives such as the Jewish Care, Boys Club House, the National Trust, UJIA, and several food banks across his neighbourhood. As a successful entrepreneur, Stephen Taylor believes that business success results from financial discipline, well-executed business strategy, tight management controls across all business aspects, and scaling of business objectives against the targets. Hard work, innovation, and a persistent spirit contribute to a business’s success.
Stephen does not take rejection negatively but uses the negative feedback from the pitch attempt as fuel to drive the business forward. His strongest belief is that good businesses are built to last all market conditions; you just have to adjust your strategy in different seasons.
Written by Stephen Taylor, Propaganda CEO
