The Kent Foundation appoints New Chairman

by digitalbeans

New Chairman for Kent’s Leading Business Charity

The Kent Foundation, a Kent business support charity that helps young people starting out in business has a new Chairman. Elected at the Kent Foundation Board Meeting in January 2016, Julian Kirkness from Canterbury was delighted with his new role:

“Since discovering the Foundation in 2013 I have been keen to help drive it forwards in any way I can. I am honoured to become Chairman! AlthoughKent Business Support Charity Appoints Julian Kirkness as New Chairman Allan’s Chairmanship will be a very tough act to follow, I am confident that together with the team we have in place – both Trustees and Full Time Staff – we are in great shape to improve our service and continue to support and encourage young Kentish entrepreneurs. ”

Julian Kirkness is a successful businessman in the Digital Sector, specialising in software development. He has been a supporter of the Foundation since 2013 when he voluntarily attended an induction course to become a volunteer business mentor, he became Vice Chairman in 2015 and now actively mentors two Kent businesses.

The Kent Foundation recently celebrated 30 years of success in supporting young business people. With a flag-ship service that includes over 100 trained Volunteer Business Mentors it’s clear that the Foundation is an established and essential component for Kent’s Businesses. Equally, it is always looking to be relevant and contemporary, recently launching its own Kent Foundation Business Award as an accolade to successful young entrepreneurs of the County.

Retiring Chairman of 20 years, Allan Mowatt has left the Charity in good hand, in his final remarks Allan stated:
“I am convinced that we have a Board of all the necessary background and talents to carry on and develop further our work. I am also convinced that we have a Chairman in Julian who can lead that work forward.”

Free Business advice and support for Kent's young people

Star Business of the Month

Towers Design – Star Business of the Month – September 2015

by digitalbeans

Towers DesignBen Towers and Towers Design: What’s the Story?

I recently had my 17th Birthday and life is good.  It’s good because I’ve recently finished secondary school and received my GCSE results which I was really pleased with.  It’s also Kent Excellence in Business Awards KEiBAgood because I now get to spend all my time working on my two businesses, Towers Design and Social Marley, rather than juggling them with school work as I have been doing for the past 5 years!  Don’t get me wrong, I loved school but now I can focus 100% on what I’m truly passionate about – business.

I always enjoyed using computers and when I was 11 a family friend asked if I could build her a simple website.  So I learnt the basics of web design, mainly by watching YouTube videos, and did the job for the princely sum of £50.  I realised that I could do this over and over again, so I joined a freelancing website called People Per Hour.  Within a year, I had already secured 25 customers and so decided it was time to set up a business – Towers Design.

Social Marley - Social Media ManagementTowers Design continues to grow and I now have a great team of 15 people working for the business and hundreds of business clients on the books.  We have expanded our range of services to a full serviced digital agency offering design, printing, website development and hosting.  For the past year I have spent a lot of time on my latest venture, Social Marley, a new platform for businesses to manage their social media accounts.  We are currently seeking investment and looking to launch in 2016.

I am breaking down the barriers facing young entrepreneurs…

Ben Towers - Towers Design Social MarleyAlthough I enjoyed creating the websites for my clients, I found my young age created problems for the business.  For example accepting payments online was difficult, because you have to be 18 to have a merchant account. To get around this, I had to make an online merchant account in my dad’s name, even though he had nothing to do with the company.

Also because of my age, I was unable to get a business bank account which meant we couldn’t accept cheques.  Then one day when my bank found out that I was using a child account for business they froze the account.  I had to ask the Federation of Small Businesses to get involved and fortunately it was resolved.

Another issue with being a young business owner is credibility.  Some people just don’t believe that you can do a great job and deliver the goods.  Fortunately I met plenty of people who did believe in me enough to give me that chance and prove myself.

Last year I was really honoured to be awarded the ‘NatWest Young Entrepreneur Of The Year – Special Merit’ at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2014 and to be a finalist in the prestigious Startup Awards 2014.  This year I was awarded ‘Young Entrepreneur Of The Year In Kent 2015’ at the Kent Invicta Awards and was a Finalist at the Kent Excellence in Business Awards.

I’m now an ambassador for several organisations, including The Federation of Small Businesses, Young Start-Up Talent, The National Enterprise Challenge and Young Entrepreneur Networking Association.  Together we will hopefully tackle the unnecessary barriers and obstacles young business owners face.  I also talk at various business and youth events all around the world.  I’m happy to share my experiences and if it helps to inspire other teenagers to start their own businesses then that’s good too!

Business Tip

“Start now, do not wait for your business to start itself or for you to leave school. You will learn loads from running your own company so make sure that you actually take the leap and give it a go.”

Kent Foundation News

Talent Match South East – Promoting self employment to unemployed young people in Kent

by digitalbeans

Talent Match South East – Medway, Swale, Thanet and DoverTalent Match South East - Self Employment in Kent

Talent Match South East is targeting young people who are furthest from the jobs market, including those who are completely outside of the benefits, work and training system. Some may face severe barriers to gaining the skills they need to get into work.

Kent Foundation will be working with young people aged 18 to 24, who are in the target group, and considering becoming self-employed in Kent. The Foundation will deliver a campaign in each of the targeted areas to raise awareness of self-employment using social media and roadshows to meet and engage with young people. This will be followed by exploratory business start-up workshops designed to enhance young people’s skills, knowledge, confidence and self-esteem in order to start their own business.

Ongoing 1-2-1 business support is available through trained Kent Foundation Business Mentors who will listen, engage and respond in order to guide business decision making.

If you are a young person interested in receiving support offered by this project call us for a chat on 03000 421163 or email us 🙂

Kent Foundation News

Woodfall Wealth Consultancy donates to support Kent’s young startups

by digitalbeans

Woodfall Wealth ConsultancyJames Woodfall, the owner of Woodfall Wealth Consultancy which is a Partner Practice of St James’s Place, has donated £1000 through the St James’s Place Foundation to Kent based charity The Kent Foundation.

St James's Place Wealth ManagementOn the 16th July James presented the cheque to Paul Barron and Liam Behn from The Kent Foundation, which provides free business support to Kent’s young people looking to start or grow their business.

James first found out about the charitable work of The Kent Foundation at an Institute of Directors event back in September 2014. Since then he has been a proactive supporter of the Foundation, including sponsoring a Golf Day in June 2015. He is also a sponsor for the upcoming Kent Foundation 30th Celebration in October and shares his business contacts to improve the charity’s profile.

Kent Foundation with Woodfall Wealth ConsultancyIn response to his donation, James owner of Woodfall Wealth Consultancy states:

‘Being a business owner myself, I recognise the importance of advice and mentoring in situations of troubles and isolation.  The Kent Foundation provides an invaluable support network to young people who are starting their own business.’

Paul Barron, Director of Kent Foundation shared his gratitude for the donation:Woodfall Wealth Consultancy with Kent Foundation

‘With such a generous donation from James we can continue to provide innovative Mentoring to the young entrepreneurs of Kent. The money will be used to train Volunteer Business Mentors who will offer 1-2-1 advice and guidance. Thanks to James our next induction training is scheduled for Autumn 2015.’

Star Business of the Month

Reflect Digital – Star Business of the Month – August 2015

by digitalbeans

Becky CampbellReflect Digital Logo creative digital marketing agency

For as long as I can remember I was destined to do something in business. From an early age I used to copy my Kent Excellence in Business Award Winnerdad (a businessman) by using one of his old briefcases to carry my things around. As I grew older he used to refer to me as his personal assistant since I was always taking telephone messages for him from his colleagues when they called the house.

Despite having very good GCSEs and A level results, I knew university was not for me, to the consternation of my teachers although funnily enough not my parents! I was hungry to get out to work and start my “business apprenticeship”. Not a formal one but a succession of jobs that gave me the grounding in customer relations and management. The last of these positions provided me the inspiration to start my own business.

So what was this inspirational job?

Becky Campbell Reflect DigitalIt was an account manager for a digital agency that built and managed websites and the on-going digital marketing for these sites. I’d had account manager jobs before, but working exclusively in the digital world was like switching all the lights on. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised about this, my dad had worked in IT for 40 years! The more I researched and learnt about digital marketing the more excited I became by this vibrant and still emerging sector.

So in February 2011 at age 24 I took the plunge head-first into the unknown, handing in my notice and quitting a very well paid job. With just a £3k initial loan from my parents and working from the spare bedroom of my flat, Reflect Digital Limited was born.

Reflect Digital is the realisation of my dream to run a digital agency that cares passionately for its clients. We have “set our stall out” to play the long game; we want our clients to remain our clients this month, next month, next year and forever! We really want to be viewed as our client’s own digital marketing department showing them real ROI throughout the life of their website/marketing campaign. Understanding a client’s business is fundamental to getting results from their digital presence.

The one thing I believe you must have above everything else when starting a new business is passion! Bags of it! You are going to be living your work morning, noon and night, without that passion you will soon start to tire of the fight to get established. Also that passion is what is going to make you stand out and to be listened to by your new prospective clients.

How did I get my first clients for Reflect Digital?

My very first client was a City of London Law firm specialising in the technology sector, as I researched and learnt about this particular area of business I was able to appeal successfully to other law firms. This has led to us becoming quite a prominent name in offering digital marketing expertise to the legal profession in general. Technology companies were our second target sector and as the company grew and I had sales staff I encouraged them to pursue business sectors they were passionate about. This led us to winning Tottenham Hotspur Football Club as a client!

At first all of our development work, building websites, was contracted out to a third party company, which was the only option if I wanted to offer this service, since I can only dabble with a bit of HTML, I’m no expert! Bringing development in-house, which we started to do in 2013, has been a real challenge. In fact finding the right staff in general is one of the most difficult tasks you will face as you build your business.

Look after your employees…

Reflect Digital TeamYour employees will make the real difference with regard to how successful your business will be, running a business is a team event and you will need to know you have a solid core within that team. I have tried to make working for Reflect Digital special, I care about my staff and provide the best benefits that the company can offer whilst providing them the opportunity to develop their skill set and always encouraging further learning. We organise company days where we share thoughts about the direction of the company and have some downtime fun. My best recruit so far has been persuading my fiancé to join me as a director of the business. Paul’s skill set compliments mine and together we are the driving force.

Funding for a new business is never easy we found the traditional high street banks to be very unhelpful, fortunately for me my parents were able to extend a business loan when we needed to expand, this has helped tremendously with cash flow, something you will need to keep a very close eye on as your business moves forward. You can be amazingly successful but due to slow payment from your clients you can find yourself in difficulty when salaries need to be paid!

Having been a managing director of a successful technology company my dad has been a great source of advice and a sounding board for problems and ideas. I would encourage any new business owner to try to find a mentor that you can talk to. Having someone who has had experience of growing a small company to talk to is a real benefit in many ways.

Business Achievements, so far…

Reflect Digital Drum Search Winner2015 to date has been an amazing year for Reflect Digital, in March this year I was named as runner up for the Kent Women in Business Awards, Business Woman of the Year – which was a fantastic personal achievement, which I could not have done without the incredible team around me. Then in June we won a Drum Search Award for Best B2B SEO Campaign for our client Egress – which was amazing, as we were up against some of the biggest agencies in the country. June also ended on a high by being awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Kent Excellence in Business Awards – which was hugely unexpected against some really talented entrepreneurs.

It’s been four years since I started Reflect Digital and I’ve been amazed at the success we have had, we have literally gone from zero turnover to over half a million and from one person to a staff of 23. Now the fun really begins, we plan to organically grow the business to a turnover of £5 million in the next five years. This is going to be a very interesting journey.

Business Tip:

“Take time to ensure your recruitment process is designed to know as much about your new prospective employee before you extend the offer to join the team. You are going to need people who want the opportunity to do something more than just come to work. These people will be the building blocks of your company and together you will achieve great things.”

Star Business of the Month

Star Business of the Month – Teaching Support – July 2015

by digitalbeans

Teaching Support recruiting specialist support staff for schoolsTeaching Support are specialists in the recruitment of experienced teaching assistants. We are the only agency who specifically recruit teaching assistants rather than teachers and general education professionals.  I set up the business as I recognised there was a gap in the market for an agency who could supply quality support staff to special needs schools and to mainstream schools who have SEN (special educational needs) pupils that require specialist support.

At Teaching Support we all genuinely care about the schools that we work with and getting the right candidate to work with each child every time.  We build very strong relationships with the schools we work with. Unlike other agencies we will work in the schools every term so we can be sure that we are recruiting the right people for them.  This is really important as we work with the schools PRUs (Pupil Referral Units) catering for children with significant emotional and  behavioural difficulties.  The children have often been permanently excluded from one or more of their previous schools.  They are often very challenging, have huge barriers to learning and may also be both physically and verbally abusive.  It is vital we find the right staff especially when working with specialist support schools for children with profound and multiple disabilities including those who are physically disabled as well as often being non-verbal.  The type of person and the skill set that you are looking for when recruiting for these schools is very different. That is why it’s so fundamental that we work in the schools and have regular meetings to ensure we understand the school’s needs.

Sophie Timms on running Teaching Support…

I set up Teaching Support nearly 4 years ago after working for another company who also recruit for schools.  I was 26 at the time and I wanted to offer a really personal and caring service to schools, something that was people focused rather than target focused.

Teaching Support - Recruiting Specialist Staff for SchoolsThe area of development that I have had to work on the most is my ability as a manager.  I have 3 permanent members of staff and I recognised management does not come easily to me!  I initially found it very difficult to explain to people what I wanted from them and raising queries with them if I felt they were doing something wrong.  It’s obviously essential to the growth of any business that everyone is working towards a common goal. I realised that by shying away from telling people what I wanted was actually detrimental to the business.  You can’t expect people to understand what you want if you haven’t told them.  I have had situations (specifically the use of mobile phones) which I have found very difficult to tackle.  I used to worry that it would cause friction in the office – I think I wanted to be everyone’s friend rather than their manager.  As I have mentioned before I have a fantastic team and I learnt people would much rather that you tell them how you are feeling.  If you lay down ground rules and explain your reasons behind them, then people will respect you. As long as you are reasonable I have found it creates a better environment for people to work in.

The business has grown year on year.  I started working at home on my own and now having an office with a team of 4.  I was a runner up in The Kent Business Woman of the Year awards which was really exciting, especially as I was 9 months pregnant at the time.  That was a huge honour for me and the team – not to mention a particularly good send off for my maternity leave!  As a business Teaching Support has grown over 300% this year alone which is something that we are all very proud of.  We have maintained integrity and worked really hard as a team to build the business, it just shows all the hard work has paid off.

Business Tip:

“I think that one of the key things to building up any business is to accept help from others and to ask for help from those around you.  People on the whole are really keen to support young men and women in business so accept their advice and take help from wherever you can!”