Case Studies
Croydon Enterprise has commissioned South London Business and Exemplas to provide practical advice and support to those interested in Franchising in Croydon. Franchise 4 Croydon is aimed at entrepreneurs wanting to start a business and businesses wanting to expand.
PlumbXpress
Daniel & Vida Lartey
For some time Daniel and his wife Vida had been exploring prospects for starting up their own business. They really wanted the opportunity to build a company which both of them would have involvement in. After visiting the Olympia Franchise Exhibition they realised that franchising was an excellent opportunity for them to do just that. As they both have keen interests in property development they were able to narrow down 4 possible franchise opportunities:
PlumbXpress, Plumblocal, Chipsaway and Autosheen
After receiving information from South London Business regarding Franchise 4 Croydon, they decided to attend one of the Franchise workshops. The workshop which was hosted by the Franchise Information Team in Croydon at the Hilton Hotel on 28th February 2008, proved to be very useful. Using the 6 steps process format, they were provided with at the seminar they were able to narrow down their choice further to just one: Plumbxpress!
One 2 One
Following attending the Franchise 4 Croydon seminar Daniel and Vida attended a one 2 one session whereby an action plan was put in place to help take them through their next steps. They have just purchased the franchise and it was identified that they now need support in marketing, business planning, area demographics and finance. South London Business has referred them over to the Croydon Enterprise team for support with this and on to their contacts at Natwest for advice and guidance in accessing finance.
PlumbXpress
PlumbXpress is a 24 hours emergency plumbing service. Daniel and Vida have bought the PlumbXpress Franchise for Croydon and Sutton. Whilst Daniel will be doing the hands-on, practical work Vida will be doing the administration, financial management and marketing on a part-time basis. They hope eventually to grow and expand the business to take on employees and further vans.
If you have a plumbing problem and need someone asap call Daniel on 0800 840 3053
Smart Cartridge:
Ms Elsa Yohanes - EHB (UK) Ltd/ Smart Cartridge
Smart Cartridge was founded in Edinburgh in 2000 and has grown steadily into an international brand with stores throughout the UK, Ireland and now overseas.
Smart Cartridge specialise in the refilling and remanufacturing of inkjet, laser, copier and fax cartridges. Cartridges can be refilled many times providing the same print quality and page yield as an original cartridge. It is Smart Cartridge’s aim to save customers money whilst at the same time help to save the environment. Smart Cartridge urge the home and business user to recycle their printer cartridges by having them refilled.
Elsa approached ELSBC in Spring 2007 following a referral from another client of the centre that had received support with the establishment of a Subway franchise.
Elsa firstly benefited from both the Franchise 4 Croydon and LDA franchise pilot programmes through workshops and one-to-one sessions. The LDA franchise pilot was in full swing and Elsa availed of the support available through Exemplas and the BFA (British Franchise Association) seminar.
Whilst Elsa knew she was interested in franchising, she explored a number of franchise opportunities before making the decision to become a Smart Cartridge franchisee. At the pre start stage, help was given with business planning and research, preparing to meet the franchisor, the preparation of a business plan, identification of the type, amount and source of finance required and the eventual application for funding. An introduction was made to a Business Development Manager at Lloyds/TSB who provided support with a SFLGS loan.
Elsa started trading in June 2007 and is making excellent progress. Her Smart Cartridge ink refilling and recycling business is going from strength to strength. The business provides choice for local people and businesses that receive good value for money, service with a smile and an opportunity to help the environment by refilling their old cartridges.
The Cleaning Company
JLP - Trading as The Cleaning Company
The Cleaning Company are based in Glasgow, offering a complete range of commercial cleaning services throughout Scotland, the core of which is daily office cleaning. The company was originally established in 1999 and has been trading as The Cleaning Company for over two years.
Joan Roye decided to explore franchising as a route to self-employment in 2007 and received support with her research and planning from the both the Franchise 4 Croydon and LDA franchise pilot through workshops and one-to-one sessions.
Joan attended a one day Franchise 4 Croydon seminar which was followed by a series of one to one counselling sessions with a counsellor at the East London Small Business Centre where she was able to further develop her understanding of franchising as a business concept.
Joan’s early interest was in a jewellery retail franchise but after conducting research she opted to become a franchisee with The Cleaning Company (TCC), a contract cleaning business that started trading 50 years ago and has been offering opportunities franchisees since 2000.
Before making her final decision to join TCC Joan met with three different cleaning franchisors and received help with preparation for the meetings from her business counsellor who also supported her with the development of her business plan and financial forecasts. Having started trading in October 2007 Joan is now busy with a growing number of cleaning contracts and recently stated that “As a TCC franchisee I receive centrally generated and negotiated contracts which enable me to get on with the delivery of the service, with the added bonus of being able to work at times that suit my routine��?.
Local Croydon Resident Starts up his own Franchise
The Community Times - Keith Joy
Keith Joy like most people always dreamt of working for himself and being his own boss. More than anything Keith wanted the convenience of working for himself as his partner was ill and so he wanted to be able to work around this, to be able to attend hospital appointments etc.
Keith already new that starting your own business would be too costly for him and so wanted to choose something that would be most cost effective to him and his budget. Franchising was something that Keith thought of immediately as this had been in the news recently and with some background knowledge of Franchising new that this was the route he wanted to take.
Keith previously worked in publishing but when choosing his Franchise this was not an easy matter. Keith did some thorough research for over a year on all the different Franchises available in order to eventually help him make a decision.
Keith first saw the Community Times advertised in his partner’s ‘Take a Break’ magazine and it immediately grabbed his attention. When he did some research into it, it also fitted with his budget and had an excellent business system and back-up available, which was key for Keith. In his quest for thorough research, Keith contacted a number of existing Franchisees of the Community Times down in Swansea and the Midlands and got some excellent feedback and so decided to go ahead with the New Addington Community Times.
Once Keith acquired the Franchise he received 3 manuals with everything he would need to know including start up information and information about accounting systems, but in addition to this he also gained a personal Business Account Manager at the Community Times and constant support and guidance from the Franchisor. As well as the Community Times New Addington magazine, Keith also gained the area’s on-line directory. Keith was initially going to maintain a part time job in addition to running the magazine but decided to give it 100% of his time instead and run the Magazine full-time as he was so motivated for success.
With the Croydon Enterprise ‘Franchise 4 Croydon’ programme running in the area, Keith is also now getting additional ‘One 2 One’ support to help grow his business. Looking to the future, Keith has realised that discipline is the name of the game and is thinking of the possibility of getting someone else on board to help with the marketing/sales in finding advertisers and would like to eventually acquire a master Franchise for the whole Croydon area – maybe Franchise 4 Croydon will make this dream a reality!
For more information contact 0845 60 20 101 or visit www.exemplas.com/exemplas/
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