Latest news

“The support helped me to improve my business plan and develop a new service,"

A North Warwickshire commercial cleaning business whose founder swapped laptops and desktops for hoovers and carpet cleaners has urged other small businesses to access the local business support.

Allan Ward decided to leave his full-time job in IT focusing on website designs, repairs and sales after he saw the potential for winning commercial cleaning contracts when his wife, Toni, started a small cleaning business.

He started exploring the idea during the pandemic and researched the support that was available for new start-up businesses.

That led to Allan establishing Mercia Cleaning Services Ltd last March from Austrey in Atherstone after the company was supported by the start-up team at the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce.

Allan attended a suite of digital marketing workshops that are available to start-up businesses which filled in the gaps in his knowledge to effectively market a business online and gave an overview of the different social media platforms.

The Start-up support, delivered by Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Warwickshire County Council, forms part of the CW Business: Start, Grow and Scale programme, and was part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Warwickshire County Council and all five District and Borough Councils.

Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economy & Place Cllr Martin Watson said: "The way Allan pivoted to spot an opportunity and then to pursue it is very impressive and typical of so many enterprising small businesses across Warwickshire.

"The County Council is fully committed to supporting small businesses at every stage of their development, but it is often in the formative stages that support is often most-needed so I am delighted that the Start-up support proved of such high value."

The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is delivering free-funded business support workshops on all aspects of business. To get started, please email businesssupport@cw-chamber.co.uk or visit https://www.cw-chamber.co.uk/business-support/business-start-up/?fbclid=IwAR0G8OqOtjO9UvUWbGKgOvFsMY6495l6rZQHojavVjRqbM5Q3eqjcm-QLwE