Inspirational launch of new mentoring programme

Jane Houghton-Fenning, business development director at Community & Business Partners said: “We have been supporting businesses through the delivery of the successful Boost Business Lancashire programmes for over 5 years now, but we recognised that some businesses wanted to benefit further from additional mentoring support after their funded hours.

“The beauty of the Northern Mentoring programme is that all businesses have access to a pool of highly experienced mentors and can tap into their expertise when needed.”

Antony, founded EKM in 2002, aged 22, and the Fulwood business has grown to become the UK’s largest ecommerce software system powering 1 in every 5 online shops in the UK.

He said: “When asked who was my mentor when growing EKM, I didn’t think I had one, but when I really started to think to about it I actually had a number of mentors, my dad in particular.

“The secret to success is to never give up; I could have given up so many times, but I didn’t, I persevered.”

He said: “The best advice I’ve had to date is from a hairdresser who told me to set up two bank accounts; one for my own money and one for VAT. ‘That is not your money’, he said. I took his advice then and still follow it today.

Inspired by the two guest speakers, attendees were asked to consider factors within their own businesses; what they felt they were doing well and areas they felt they could improve, each table guided by mentors involved in the new Northern Mentoring Programme.

They both agreed that mentoring from Community & Business Partners, funded by Boost Business Lancashire, was fundamental to their 300% growth, opening up avenues to export and enabling their move to bigger premises.