Experiences

When some Bexley residents were thinking of setting up a Franchise, they were put in touch with the Thames Innovation Centre for support. “Within a few days we had a face-to-face meeting which made starting-up somehow less daunting.” They attended a range of workshops on starting, planning, and marketing, and were allocated a Business Advisor/Mentor, who had local knowledge of the area where their business would be located, with whom they had one to one mentoring sessions. The directors were able to ensure that they had the knowledge and were ready to start trading in business.

Their franchise has been trading since December 2007 and in the first eight weeks received sales of over £65,000.

The store continues to trade successfully and the directors are looking forward to a successful first year. As existing clients of the Thames Innovation Centre the directors will receive periodic monitoring calls to ensure that they are still on track. If needed they can request follow up one to one advice sessions to review their business and plan for future developments.

Their recommendation to others in the same position is that “being open to advice from the outset is vital and once you start trading it doesn't stop there as the support has continued to this day. If you live in Bexley and are starting up a business, you must get in touch with the Thames Innovation Centre”.