Jazz Jurassica founder Julie Sheppard.
Please credit: Julie Sheppard and Jazz Jurassica.
Mentoring through GetSet for Growth helped festival organiser Julie Sheppard to find clarity and see her business from a fresh perspective.
Julie, is the founder of Jazz Jurassica in Lyme Regis. This year’s event was the first music festival in front of a live audience to be put on in the UK following Covid. An incredible feat that Julie puts down to not having big financial investments to pay. Even as she had to cancel 2020’s festival, Julie was thinking about how to make 2021 socially distanced and Covid secure.
Julie worked with mentor Sarah Veakins from the GetSet for Growth East Dorset programme, which offers businesses looking to grow, 12 hours of free 1:1 mentoring and advice, as well as workshops and events. The programme is part of the Dorset Growth Partnership and is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Julie said: “I work on my own, and I work well on my own, but actually as the festival got bigger and with Covid to deal with I thought; ‘It is a lot of responsibility for one unpaid volunteer to take on – I could do with a bit of support.’ I think it’s important to have someone to bounce ideas off and provide perspective. Mentoring helped me see through the other end of the telescope – it gave me another perspective.”
This is just one example of over 22,500 businesses that have been assisted by YTKO’s services since 2006. According to an independent impact assessment commissioned in 2020, YTKO’s support has enabled the creation of 6,574 businesses, over 10,500 sustainable new jobs and an estimated £2.61bn in sales income. The businesses that have received support in that time, have also been proved to be fitter and better funded with over 76% of new firms surviving more than three years and having raised around £71.3m of growth finance.
Like most ideas that arise in a pub, over a glass of your favourite tipple with his friend Mike Stace, the idea of becoming a chocolatier came somewhat out of the blue for Mike Noble. Having had a successful career in business, followed by a period running a B&B, Mike took a two-day course at The Chocolate Academy, coming back with lots of ideas for a new business venture.
Six months of practice and experimentation later, Mike had used the time not only to refine his technique but also to explore if a business based around chocolate was viable and if there was a market for his products. “I knew that I had a love of chocolate and that lots of people shared this love,” commented Mike.
Mike identified that there was a potential market in the Sussex area that he lived for high quality artisan chocolate products, having put his previous experience in business planning and marketing in practice. “Looking at the competition within this crowded marketplace, I knew that the branding, packaging and price were key factors in our future success,” stated Mike.
“My differentiation as a company was that everything was made by hand, but this did mean that my production capacity was limited, so initially we didn’t sell online,” continued Mike, “however when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we had to rethink this approach.”
The trend for people to treat themselves and show support for others through gifting during the lockdowns meant that there was an increase in demand for chocolate. “An advantage that we had as a company was our reputation locally and our use of local ingredients which added to the story behind our products,” stated Mike. Whereas the demand from the hotel market disappeared due to them being closed, there was an increase in business from companies wanting to reward or treat staff. As a small company, Noble & Stace were able to personalise items and send to multiple addresses which was a distinct advantage over competitors. The company even introduced a Lockdown tablette which was very popular.
The situation meant that Mike needed to upgrade their website to enable customers to place orders easily and to reach the new markets opening up. Having received business grants previously, he sought to find investment and was referred to The Business Hothouse and in turn to GetSet for Growth Coast to Capital.
Initially I chatted through what we wanted to achieve with Nicola Wiley, the Programme Director and during our 1:1 sessions, she helped me to develop the business plans and financial documents required for the Invest4 grant. She was really helpful, even though I thought I knew how to complete a grant application, the support she gave was very worthwhile.
Mike Noble
Mike submitted an Invest4 grant application for website development to provide customers with a better shopping experience along with a new tempering machine to assist in the production of the products, which would be time saving for the business. The machine would also allow the company to introduce new products more easily and increase the volume of production to service the expected upsurge in customer demand.
Even with the plans to expand what they do, the company remains true to its original values of using high quality, locally sourced products which have included sparkling wines, artisan gin, cream and butter. “There are seasonal trends in chocolate, and we have seen an increase in customers looking for vegan products. We are looking to develop a subscription service to move away from wholesale to direct sales which will allow us to test products more easily to see what people like,” commented Mike.
Their chocolate products are sold in a number of local farm shops and specialist outlets and Mike is now teaching people to how to temper chocolate and make their own truffles in small groups. “This was never part of the original plan and teaching people is out of my comfort zone, but there is so much interest in what we do,” added Mike. The future looks extremely busy and with the recent news that the company had been awarded their Invest4 grant, Mike is likely to be even busier!
The Eschmann name has a long heritage reaching back to the 1830’s manufacturing medical and dental equipment in the UK. Initially established in London, the company has evolved through the years as a leading inventor and manufacturer of sterilising equipment including the autoclaves for which it is well known today.
Eschmann Technologies now manufactures and supplies healthcare products and services to clinical professionals worldwide, both direct and through a network of distributors. With a strong family ethos, the company is led by Chairman George Kennedy, CBE, with his elder son Philip as Managing Director, and Philip’s brother George as Commercial Director.
The business is now based at Lancing in West Sussex, the company having moved to the South Coast in the late 1940’s. It has a strong reputation as a market leader in its field and is now developing growth plans to expand their product range for the overseas market as well as harnessing technology to connect with its wide network of customers.
It was these plans for growth which prompted the company to seek potential investment and David Pratt, Chief Operating Officer and Louise Blunden, Financial Transactions Manager explained to me via Zoom how the Invest4 grant available through The Business Hothouse Programme is helping them.
“Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, we were busy setting up the systems and processes for the company following its transition to private ownership. We were also looking at which parts of the Lancing site we needed to make our operations more efficient moving forward,” stated David. “Many of our clients, specifically dentists, were closed for a short period which had an impact on our business, but luckily, most opened again although demand for our product and maintenance service was temporarily reduced.”
Louise was the person responsible for co-ordinating their application for an Invest4 grant and both she and David attended a number of workshops run by GetSet for Growth Coast to Capital to help them prepare the paperwork. “As an established company, who had previously been owned by a large corporation, we already had many of the required documents in place, but it was fascinating to hear the experience and views of other businesses also engaged in the process,” said Louise. “What was invaluable about the support from GetSet for Growth Coast to Capital was the knowledge and advice shared by Nicola Wiley, the Programme Director – she helped us to ensure that we had the right level of detail and how to present the information on our application.”
David explained that the availability of the Invest4 grant gave them the impetus to put their growth plans in place. “It forced us to bring the timetable for the project forward, which has been a good thing as it will enable us to bring to market the new product developments sooner than previously anticipated.” He also praised the support provided through the 1:1 sessions with Nicola which assisted them through the whole process, and in August 2021, they were awarded their grant. “It was a real team effort with a strict deadline helping to make us focus on what we really wanted to achieve in terms of growth as a company,” he added.
With the grant money, the company have plans to develop two projects – the first is to develop a new version of one of their leading autoclaves with a voltage suitable for the overseas market, which they are keen to enter. “We hope to make our products available to more markets as well as increase our market share in the UK,” explained David.
Little Sister SES 3020B Autoclave
The other project is based around developing the software to enable the readings from their machines to be stored in the Cloud, enabling easier access for customers and the company itself to provide a more efficient and accurate record of performance by the machines, as well as speed up recording and improve theability to diagnose faults. There will also be a web portal developed as part of this project where records can be stored and training resources made available. “This will give us more sophistication in the service we provide for both the UK and overseas markets and enable us to grow more effectively – thanks to the Invest4 grant,” commented David.
The company has recently launched a new website which has a clearer offering for its customers, focusing on key areas of the business and the benefits they bring. David stated, “We would have worked on the two projects anyway but the application process galvanised us to work faster towards our objectives and the support available will really help us to achieve our plans in a shorter time-frame.”
The projects are now underway and whilst David and Louise reflect that the process has been demanding, it has been worth the effort, in order to kick start the company’s plans. “We would probably have still been in the planning stage,” admits David, “but now we are at a really exciting stage of product development and feeling confident about our growth plans going forward.”
When the pandemic hit, pastel artist Nina Squire, from Blandford, knew she’d have to change her way of working and fast – suddenly the professional artist of 20 years couldn’t go to the shows she loved so much, meaning less commission work, so she pivoted her business to go online.
She said: “Suddenly everything changed, and I had to quickly learn lots of new technology fast. Luckily, I think we were all learning at that point, so everyone understood if there was a technical issue.”
Nina was accepted as an Associate Artist with Unison Colour, a UK-based handmade pastel producer, during Lockdown One. This led to her workshops being given a global platform. She will soon be travelling to London to represent Unison Colour as part of a series of videos on art techniques for a series of ‘in conversation with’ workshops with Jackson’s Art.
Stuck inside during Lockdown One, Nina started streaming live draw-alongs, where she would draw her favourite views, so that people could join her and draw with her. The idea was so popular that Nina has been able to pivot her business and now has a thriving community of budding artists from across the world.
She said: “It’s been wonderful to see this community develop and watch their amazing art works come to life. It has been brilliant to bring a bit of joy to people’s lives throughout the past year. Lots of people have said how much they enjoy my workshops each week. It’s given people a bit of escapism – it’s a lovely activity to get lost in for a few hours”
With all the new skills she had to learn and needing to suddenly restructure her work and have a shop on her website, Nina reached out to Get Set for Growth East Dorset for help and advice. Through one-to-one mentoring Nina was able to get help and advice about how best to change her website so that she could use it to sell her art courses through.
She said: “It was really helpful, having someone else to listen, bounce ideas off and get advice from has been brilliant. It gives you a different perspective and that’s what you need.”
Whereas before Nina would teach 15 people in a village hall in Wimborne, now she regularly teaches hundreds online from as far away as New Zealand, California and Australia. She also has regulars from Dorset joining in or watching back later. She said: “I think people love the convenience of being able to do art from the comfort of their home at a time that suits them. I love to see everyone’s work in the community group.”
