Best of 2024: Top Enterprise Nation member stories
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Posted: Mon 16th Dec 2024
It’s been yet another super year for Enterprise Nation’s fantastic community of small business owners and advisers.
Fortunately, over the last 12 months, we’ve had the opportunity to speak directly with many of Enterprise Nation’s most popular and vibrant members and advisers providing them with a platform to share their experiences and journeys so far.
Have a look at five of the very best member stories of 2024.
1. Angela Simmonds
Angela became an expert in food compliance when applying for the coveted five-star food hygiene rating from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) for her own side hustle sauce business, Gella’s.
Having been through the minefield of food manufacturing, she knows first-hand what a “nightmare” it can be to approach labs. She explains:
“It was a nightmare when I first approached them [labs]. They share very little information because they also sell that as a package. It's very cloak and dagger, technical and jargon-heavy.
“So, I shut down my home-based business for a year to go away and learn that jargon and took a few courses to make me more confident when I did approach them again.”
While Angela aspires for her sauce business to reach top-shelf supermarkets like Waitrose and M&S, her passion lies in helping other catering and food manufacturing businesses navigate the minefield of the five-star hygiene rating.
2. Patrick Burgess, Cybxx Consulting
Patrick was never meant for the corporate world, although he did start there, working in the pharmaceutical industry. He explains:
"I was bored senseless and this was back when I was doing IT management.
"I got to the end of my life at the pharma company but got on really well with my boss. I told him that I wanted to continue to look after them, but he didn’t need me full-time. So, I was going to go off and start my own managed service providers (MSPs), IT support company that looked after small businesses and he became my first client."
3. Dhruvin Patel, Ocushield
Dhruvin always knew that if you wanted the "big, shiny things" in life, you had to go down the entrepreneurial route. As a qualified optometrist, this meant opening his own opticians (he had an offer to become a Specsavers franchisee) or starting a business from scratch.
Always the ideator, he went down the start-up route. What started with a dissertation, then a research project that won a university grant has led to Ocushield's offering today, winning over 152,342 customers so far.
Dhruvin has come a long way from his days of shipping products from his dorm room in 2015 to securing a deal with two Dragons in 2021.
He tells us why it's important to go with your gut, even if it means walking away from a deal:
If you have a gut feeling that something's not quite right about an investor, nine times out of 10, just say no because it's better to have no money than to have the wrong investor.
I know people who have had to scrap their whole business because they had the wrong investors or they don't enjoy it anymore. Sometimes you can get excited by the check that's going to come, but truthfully, you need to think and sleep on it.
Read our interview with Dhruvin here.
4. Emy Mendoza, ChokuReiki Healing
Emy started his business to find purpose. While he had a very successful corporate marketing career in Colombia and the UK, it wasn’t meaningful work. He explains:
“Working in marketing was great but I was working really hard to help big brands sell more, make more money and I didn't find it very meaningful. What I do now – my wellness business – gives me purpose.”
Emy details how his spiritual awakening led him to become a Reiki master, then a yoga teacher, candle maker, jewellery designer and recently, even a sound healing practitioner.
5. Becky Ackerman, I Do Handmade
Becky has over eight years of experience managing events and comms in the corporate world. After being made redundant in 2018, she grew her side hustle business full-time.
Since then, I Do Handmade has been popping up in corporate and commercial spaces, hosting markets and events. She explains:
Me and my business are on a mission to encourage the nation to shop small, creating opportunities for small businesses to pop up with us at our markets, events and creative workshops.
We work with corporate and commercial organisations to host pop-up markets and events for their staff or clients, using our directory of thousands of small businesses. We do this all in a bid to bring a little fun to the workplace and improve morale, while supporting small businesses and giving their products and services the attention they deserve.
Inspired by these member stories? You can become one yourself here!
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