Looking back on the impact of our employees and product offerings in 2023
With each calendar year that passes at IBVI, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of what’s to come—but it’s also important to not lose sight of the previous year’s accomplishments. It’s also a time to see the impact of our mission, knowing that we’re making a difference for our employees and customers. 2023 was a year filled with new hires, new partnerships and so much gratitude for our employees, customers and partners.
Profiling our prolific employees
With 2023 having come to a close, IBVI is incredibly proud of the positive impact we’ve made over the last year. First and foremost we want to recognize our passionate and dedicated employees who make up the identity of our company. Ideally, we’d be able to give an individual shoutout to each of our 237 employees, but that might take us into 2025. Instead, we’ll continue featuring the voices and stories of our employees through our Employee Spotlight blogs that we launched in 2023 through our IBVI blog.
With new projects, product offerings and expansions, we were fortunate enough to welcome 51 new employees to our team in 2023. Sticking to our mission, IBVI is continuously recruiting and hiring employees who are blind or visually impaired. Out of our 237 employees, 120 are blind or visually impaired while 117 are sighted, keeping consistent with our usual 50/50 split. And in 2024, we’re looking forward to growing our team and expanding into new territories.
New products and moving units
Throughout 2023, our employees have done a brilliant job across the board, keeping up with the demand from customers, government agencies and partners. Our talented customer relations and order fulfillment team in our offices do a great job keeping IBVI organized, while our team of skilled laborers on the assembly floor build and deliver our consistently high quality products and kits.
Thanks to the efforts from our entire team, we put up some big numbers. Here’s a breakdown of some of our highest selling products of 2023:
- Brushes and brooms – 250,000
- Writing instruments – 5,250,000
- Home care items – 250,000
- Military recruiting t-shirts – 175,000
Additionally, 2023 was by far one of the biggest years for selling promotional gear through IBVI custom, thanks to the US military’s increased recruiting efforts which led to an influx in federal kitting orders.
Moving forward into 2024
With many great successes throughout 2023, our IBVI team is already looking forward to the new year to keep expanding our product offerings and services, while building upon our partnerships, and enhancing our resources for our employees and their families.
In the past, donating to and working with Vision Forward has been instrumental in providing our employees with vision services. Going into 2024, we’re looking to double down on our partnership and see what other services we can help get our employees access to through Vision Forward.
Once again, we want to take a moment to say thank you to all of our wonderful employees and our dynamic partners. We’re truly grateful to have had so much to celebrate throughout 2023 and we’re looking forward to sharing some big news as we head into 2024. Cheers to a great year!
To hear about some other 2023 highlights, check out our previous Letter from the CEO blogs, where CJ summarizes some of IBVI’s biggest moments of the year.
