Honouring Ray Colman

Ray Colman, chief executive officer of Woodie’s DIY in Ireland until 2013, is to be the recipient of the European DIY Lifetime Award 2014 presented by Edra and Fediyma, the European industry associations. The ceremony will be held at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the Spanish capital Madrid on 5 June 2014 within the framework of the 3rd European Home Improvement Forum. The laudatory speech will be given by Carl Otto Løvenskiold, CEO and proprietor of Løvenskiold – Vaekerø AS. “On hearing for the first time that I was chosen for the DIY-Lifetime Award, I was delighted, honoured and indeed humbled in the presence of such distinguished former recipients as Manfred Maus, Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy, Gilles Caille and Pat Farrah. I was also delighted for Woodie’s DIY and all my colleagues whose support over the years was my inspiration. My thanks to my colleagues in EDRA and fediyma for honouring me with this prestigious award,” was Colman’s response to the decision reached by Edra and Fediyma. Ray Colman joined the Grafton Group in 1968 and worked in the building materials division at first. He became CEO of Woodie’s in 1992, at which point the chain had four stores in operation. It expanded under Colman’s management to become the leading DIY retailer in Ireland with a total of 38 branches at the present time. Later Colman was also a member of the Grafton Group’s executive committee. He became one of the board members when Edra was founded in 2002, representing the smaller and medium-sized companies in the industry. He resigned from this position in December 2013. Mobile commerce “Mobile Commerce – Get intimate with the consumer” will be the motto of the 3rd European Home Improvement Forum due to take place in Madrid on 5 and 6 June 2014. This has been agreed by the organisers Fediyma and Edra – two associations representing manufacturers and retailers – after taking into consideration the feedback from their members. New members from Africa and Ireland Edra/GHIN, a DIY retail association that is active in the European and international fields, has two new members. Cashbuild has now joined the organisation as its first member from Africa. The South African company is regarded as the biggest retailer of building materials and related products in Africa. It operates 207 branches in South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland and Malawi. Topline from Ireland is yet another new member. It is the country’s biggest voluntary group for DIY, garden and building…