At the end of the programme of workshops the strongest business ideas earn the chance to reach ‘The Boardroom’ final. It’s there that they pitch for an investment of up to £5,000 towards business start-up costs and a year’s worth of one-to-one mentoring.
In May, Felicity Daniel was one of 5 residents who pitched for funding and was awarded the maximum allowance of £5,000 for her start-up Jenson’s Little Feet. She’s been putting a plan in place to use that money, so we recently caught up with her to ask how it’s going.
What Felicity had to say
As we all prepared for lockdown in March last year, Felicity Daniel was facing even more uncertainty than the most of us. Following the birth of her son Jenson, she was made redundant from work and was also told that Jenson had been born with a clubfoot that would need treatment.
Having already pondered setting up a small business to support other parents trying to source treatment for children born with a clubfoot, she was particularly intrigued by “an email that fell into her inbox from A2Dominion”.
A new start
“The email said, ‘Time to be your own boss?’, so I opened it and had a read” Felicity explains. “Despite having the business idea for a while, I didn’t really know how to act on it.
“This email seemed to be a sign to me that this is something I should pursue, so I replied showing my interest. I received an email back inviting me to a launch call and was accepted on to the programme and it went from there.”
Felicity’s journey with us began in September 2020, where she completed a 6-month course including a series of online workshops to develop her business plan, improve her presenting skills, and gain a full understanding of what makes a business successful.
A one-stop shop
Felicity’s own business is set to provide “a one-stop online retail store that provides solutions to help make the clubfoot treatment journey more comfortable and less stressful; both for the child and parents going through it”.
Felicity continues: “We sell products aimed at preventing discomfort during treatment and that can make everyday difficulties slightly easier, and a unique clothing range specifically tailored to accommodate clubfoot braces. We also want to inform and educate parents about the condition.”
“Our aim is to help alleviate the issues that come alongside the clubfoot treatment and help increase compliance, which will hopefully lead to lower relapse rates in children and less stress and anxiety in parents.”
From idea to reality
Felicity feels thankful for our Enterprise Programme and explains, “If it wasn’t for the Enterprise Programme, my business idea would have stayed that way – just an idea.”
“The mentoring and advice I got from Denise Da Silva at A2Dominion, as well as George and Lennox from GGT Solutions, was invaluable. The workshops were informative and enjoyable. All the mentors showed that they really believed in, not just my idea, but in me as a person and that I could do this, and they took me to a level that I never thought I would reach. I couldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for them.”
With the benefit of that experience, and the guarantee of the £5,000 A2Dominion grant to come, Felicity is looking forward to putting the final pieces in place and launching her business.
“In the next 12 months I do plan to have everything up and running fully,” she says. “The grant I will be getting along with the additional mentorship we are going to receive is going to give this the push that I need to take everything from paper to product. In the next 12 months, I intend for Jenson’s Little Feet to be the talk of the clubfoot community.”
What about you?
If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved with our Enterprise programme, helping to make your business idea a reality, get in touch today or send us an email.