In 2008, Netty opened Shop Reddish as a wood- and metal-working shop with a social purpose at its heart. She would use it to educate people, bring them together to learn new skills and, on the odd occasion, sell (or give away because she is so nice) personalised items for gifts. When we sat down with Netty and Marlene with a good old Yorkshire cuppa, they told us about how they have grown their business through the support network of…
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Martin told us over a cup of coffee how the idea for the business came from what he’d seen while travelling in Thailand. As a café-cum-bike shop, it was certainly the first of its kind in York, and one of only a handful in the UK. But despite being an innovative new venture, the commonly-held narrative of small business failure proved to be a big obstacle getting it off the ground. Funding was hard to come by and support was…
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We met with Tony Snaith, founder and CEO of Communicate PLC, at the company’s new offices in a business park just outside Middlesbrough. Tony has a clearly-defined direction for his business, which is something he believes is vitally important for all small businesses, but he feels that a gradual loss of direction is holding many small businesses back once they start to grow: “Do you know what amazes me? Every single person writes a business plan either to take to…
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