A company's 25th anniversary: what to gather first

A company's 25th anniversary usually arrives faster than anyone planned for. Someone in management says "we should do something", and then the questions begin. Who started this? What did the first office look like? Who was the first managing director? Where is the old logo? Nobody is sure, and the people who knew are retiring.

The good news is that you do not need a big project. You need a short list of things to gather first, a small team, and a safe place to keep what you find.

Why start early

An anniversary needs a story for the website, a speech, a booklet, a slideshow and a few photographs on the wall. All of them draw on the same material. If you gather it once, properly, every one of them gets easier. And the people who remember the early years are not getting younger, so the sooner you sit with them, the more you will keep.

Step 1: List the leaders, with years

Start with the backbone: everyone who has led the company. For each chair of the board and each managing director, write:

1. Their full name.
2. The year they started and the year they finished.
3. One photograph, if there is one.
4. One or two things the company remembers them for.

If a year is uncertain, write "about 2004" and ask someone to confirm it later. A rough list today is worth more than a perfect list that never gets made.

Step 2: Write down the founding story

Ask the founders, or the people who were there, to tell it in their own words. Why did it begin? Who put in the first money? Where was the first office, the first shop or the first factory? What was the first customer? Record the conversation on a phone, then write out the main points. People often tell the best part of a story only when someone is listening.

Step 3: Gather the photographs

Look in four places.

• The office itself. Reception walls, store rooms, the boardroom and old cabinets.
• Retired staff. They often kept their own pictures of staff days, opening days and long-service awards.
• Current staff. Ask in the staff group for old photographs they have on their phones.
• Customers and partners. A supplier may have a picture of the day you signed together.

Take a clear photograph of each print and keep the original. Our guide on how to scan old photographs with your phone shows how to do it without special equipment.

Step 4: Name the people and the occasions

A staff photograph with no names helps nobody. For each picture, write who is in it, what the day was, the place and the year. Sit with a few long-serving colleagues, show the pictures on a screen and let them call out names. Our guide on how to name the people in old photographs gives a simple method.

Step 5: Mark the milestones

A timeline is easy to build once you have the leaders and the photographs. Look for:

• The first office, shop, branch or factory.
• The first big contract, or the first export.
• New products, new buildings and new branches.
• Awards, certificates and recognitions.
• Staff days, annual general meetings and long-service celebrations.
• Hard moments, such as a closure or a loss, written with care.

One date, a few lines and one photograph for each is plenty.

Step 6: Secure the papers of record

Every company holds a few papers it can never replace: the certificate of incorporation, the memorandum and articles, key board minutes, policies and agreements. Make a clean scan of each and keep the signed originals in a locked place. Keep the scans where only the owners and the board can open them, never in a folder the whole office can reach.

Step 7: Decide what the public may see

An anniversary is a good time to share your story. Decide early what goes public: usually the story, the leadership over time and a few photographs. Keep staff lists and company papers private. Write the rule down so nobody has to guess.

Mistakes to avoid

• Leaving it to one person. Form a small team from different departments, so the work continues when someone is busy or moves on.
• Keeping everything on one computer. Keep a second copy somewhere else.
• Forgetting the quiet people. The driver, the receptionist and the accountant of twenty years know things management does not.
• Waiting for the month before. Start now, and the anniversary booklet will almost write itself.

How Album helps a company

A company can have its own album at business.album.ke. Its Leadership tab lists each role, such as Chair of the Board or Managing Director, with everyone who has held it, newest first, with their years. A Structure view shows who reports to whom today, and a People view lists everyone in the album, filling itself in each time you tag someone in a photograph. Events such as Launch, AGM or Team day are categories you make yourself. A Company documents tab keeps the certificate, the articles, board minutes and policies, as PDFs or photos up to 20 MB, encrypted, for the owners and the board. By default nobody outside the album can see anything; if the owner chooses, a public page can show the story, the leadership and photographs from chosen categories, while documents and members can never be public.

If your company wants one safe place for its history before the big day, you can start with Album.