Future 50 member HER Business Revolution has used the government’s Kickstart scheme to take on fresh admin staff – which has allowed founder Serena Fordham and her leadership team to expand the business with a revolutionary new franchise opportunity.
“We were initially dubious about the Kickstarter scheme,” Mrs Fordham admits. “We like the idea of apprenticeships, but our core team are working mothers with responsibilities outside work and we weren't sure whether we could dedicate the time needed to successfully train younger team members.”
As everyone works remotely, there’s no central office for the new starters to come into, where they can be supervised as they learn the ropes. “And there’s a lot of trust needed to fulfil the admin roles because they are so essential to the smooth operation of the company,” Mrs Fordham reveals.
Even so, the government support for staff on the Kickstart scheme was too good to ignore and HER Business Revolution has taken on 3 incredible new team members - Millie Watkins, Nadezhda Whitney and Shaida Cawsey.
“All our reservations proved to be wrong,” Mrs Fordham reveals. “Other organisations considering employing younger people should take the plunge.” She is still recruiting, looking for admin staff to cover the London and Midlands areas under the scheme.
With the Kickstarters covering the day-to-day admin, Mrs Fordham turned her attention to updating the product offering. “Being part of Future 50 really helped,” she says. “With advice from Birketts on trademarks, and from Barclays with franchise agreements.
“It was always our intention to rework our franchise opportunity. Our business is 50% based on events, which Covid-19 put a stop to – though we have managed to move many online.
“Our aim is always to make our new franchise accessible and available to even the smallest business, so women can run it alongside other work or the family, to make it flexible and financially attractive, which aligns to our core values as an organisation,” she concludes.
For more information see www.HERbusinessrevolution.biz/revolutionary-franchise-opportunity
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