They say business is changing, and that can only be true if the people that keep it running are. When it comes to our SellerEngine offices in London, we’ve always been a motley crew with different backgrounds and distinct interests, but we like to think we haven’t changed much through the years, as a team. We’re like a miniature version of the British capital, if you will; a melting pot of cultures and ideas.

For a sneak peek at SellerEngine UK’s blossoming into what it is today, please don’t shy away from reading on.

SellerEngine and Diversity

Ah, London, the swinging city! SellerEngine first started operating on British soil in 2006, when it mounted its flag on a townhouse in London. From here, one of our first techies started putting together an inventory management system, tweaking and testing away at a piece of software that helped Amazon sellers create, log and manage their stock. This application, which we called ‘Fizzy’ for ‘physical inventory’ became the predecessor of the Sellery stock manager.

Since then, we’ve outgrown that family home, and settled into two offices in London’s bustling North-East area, where an eclectic team of men and women from all corners of the world pull together to make our software suite available to you round the clock.

Representatives from three nationalities other than British currently operate here, namely Belarusian, Romanian and Tibetan, in alphabetical order; a mix that only London, the spellbinding and magnetizing metropolis, could have possibly conjured up. We’ll take you briefly into the heart of this British hub to see what makes them tick, individually.

Belarus

Some call it ‘White Russia’. Others call it ‘Land of Legends’. Others, still, call it ‘Land of Ancestors’. Our very own Marina once called it home; a land of sweets, crafts and immense natural riches, by the look of it.

[az_toggle_section] [toggle title=”Read more” id=”tgl-1″]Like her, so did the straw plaiters that brought golden straw dolls to life and the zephyr sweet confectioners who’ve been making these apple purée delicacies for centuries.

Lastly, the largest European bison population on the planet also roams these lands. You may have heard of Belarus thanks to these personalities, some of whom are our contemporaries:

• Marc Chagall, Artist
• Victoria Azarenka, Professional Tennis Player
• Michael Marks, Marks & Spencer Co-Founder
• Irvin Berlin, Composer of ‘God Bless America’
• Meyer Lansky, Mob’s Accountant – Louis B. Mayer, Founder of Hollywood’s MGM

Also, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kirk Douglas, Scarlett Johansson and Isaac Asimov have Belarusian ancestry. [/toggle] [/az_toggle_section]

Romania

Romania doesn’t like to be in the spotlight much, and neither do our ladies, Maia and Axelle, who were born in this humble Eastern-European country.

[az_toggle_section] [toggle title=”Read more” id=”tgl-1″]There are a few things that Romania openly prides itself in, though. The Peleș Castle, for instance, was a royal castle built by King Charles I of Romania, ancestor to HM King Michael I, who is a cousin to HM Queen Elizabeth II. Another is the fact that ‘tzuika’ was invented here, a very strong spirit made of plums. Lastly, the largest population of brown bears in Europe can be found in the portion of the Carpathian Mountains that stretches across the country.

Some lesser known facts about Romania are that it hosts: the first public electric street light system in Europe, the only museum dedicated strictly to gold ore, the largest rock sculpture on the continent, the world’s largest and most expensive administrative building for civilian use, which is also the heaviest building in the world, and possibly the happiest, most whimsical cemetery on the planet. Yes, they do know what it is to die happy!

Some of the most renowned Romanian personalities are:

• Alina Cojocaru, Prima Ballerina, currently performing for the English National Ballet
• Nadia Comăneci, first female gymnast who was awarded a score of 10 in an Olympic event
• Gheorghe Zamfir, pan flute musician whose songs were featured on the soundtrack of ‘The Karate Kid’ and ‘Kill Bill: Volume 1’
• Simona Halep, professional tennis player currently ranked world number 2
• Gheorghe Hagi, one of Europe’s best attacking midfielders
• Vlad III the Impaler, muse to Bram Stoker’s story of Count Dracula, and ancestor to Charles, Prince of Wales

The list could also include the inventor of the fountain pen, the scientist who discovered insulin, and the designer of the first ejection seat, as well as many pioneers in aviation, aerodynamics, biospeleology, biology, computing, and just about any other science out there.[/toggle] [/az_toggle_section]

Tibet

The highest region on the planet, nicknamed ‘Roof of the World’, Tibet is the empire where our very own Pema, Dorjee, Tseyang, Tsedup, Tenzin and Lhaksam were born.

[az_toggle_section] [toggle title=”Read more” id=”tgl-1″]You’ve probably heard of Tibet in recent times due to the fact that the T.V. series ‘House of Cards’ featured a healing sand mandala. If you’re a ‘Star Wars’ fan, you may already know that Ewoks speak Tibetan, too, at least partially. Another tidbit any one of our crew here will readily tell you is that Mount Everest lies right on the border separating Tibet from Nepal.

The folks here at SellerEngine say what comes to mind when asked to name the top three dearest things to their culture are:

• the Tibetan flag or the ‘snow lion flag’, also a symbol of the Tibetan independence movement
• the Om symbol, a seed symbol and an icon used in temples and spiritual retreats, to which the Hindu deity Ganesha is sometimes linked, and the first word in the Tibetan mantra ‘Om Mani Padmi Hum’
• prayer flags, forms of blessing strung on strings of rectangular cloth across mountain ridges and peaks in the Himalayas, where five colours are used in succession (blue, white, red, green and yellow) to represent the five elements.

If Tibet rings a bell, it’s probably due to the work of three of its greatest personalities:

• The 14th Dalai Lama, spiritual leader and winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, The Templeton Prize in 2012, and U.S. Congressional Gold Medal in 2008
• Tsering Woeser, author of ‘Notes on Tibet’ and winner of the 2013 International Women of Courage Award
• Jetsun Pema, sister to the 14th Dalai Lama, first Tibetan Woman Minister and recipient of the 1999 UNESCO medal
• Lobsang Sangay, scholar and P.M. of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, awarded Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse[/toggle] [/az_toggle_section]

The United Kingdom

To round off a perfectly exotic list of nationalities, we’d like to bring the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland into the spotlight. As Richard and Luke will readily tell you, there are many things the British are proud of, among which the architecture, the wildlife and the tea.

[az_toggle_section] [toggle title=”Read more” id=”tgl-1″]Once a peninsula, ancient Britain was separated from mainland Europe around 6,100 B.C. by a tsunami, and has since become an enclave whence Shakespeare, The Beatles, Stonehenge and Oxford University came forth to change the face of the world.

Some of the world’s greatest personalities hail from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland:

• Charles Darwin, naturalist and writer
• Sir Isaac Newton, mathematician, physicist, and astronomer
• John Lennon, artist and philanthropist
• Alan Turing, pioneering computer scientist
• Stephen Hawking, physicist and cosmologist
• David Beckham, professional footballer
• Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone
• J.R.R.Tolkien, author of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of World Wide Web[/toggle] [/az_toggle_section]

We hope you’ve enjoyed this foray into the heritage of our vibrant UK branch. Soon to come is a behind-the-scenes incursion into our SellerEngine offices in Bucharest. That being said, we bid you farewell, ‘Da Pobachennya’, ‘Pe curând’, ‘Jay-Yong’ and ‘Farewell’!

Maria is in the Business Development team of SellerEngine Software. She enjoys the challenge that novelty brings when expanding online businesses, and untangling tangled strings when trying out new things.  The greater the effort, the sweeter the reward, isn’t it?