Community Investment
Having been awarded the maximum possible £5,000 for her start-up Jenson’s Little Feet, she’s been putting a plan in place to use that money to make her entrepreneurial dream a reality. We caught up with her to ask how it’s going.
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.
“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.”
This was how Felicity got involved with the A2Dominion Enterprise Programme, which is run annually and supports customers who have a business idea with a range of support – including advice from a dedicated team of business experts.
Felicity’s own journey began in September 2020, with a six-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.
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.”
“If it wasn’t for the Enterprise Programme, my business idea would have stayed that way – just an idea,” she says.
“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 that £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.”
If you are an A2Dominion customer and would like to learn more about how you can get involved with A2Dominion’s Enterprise programme, helping to make your business idea a reality, visit a2dominion.co.uk/enterprise or get in touch today at community.investment@a2dominion.co.uk.
A2Dominion helps entrepreneurial resident to take big steps with Little Feet
11 August 2021
In May, Felicity Daniel was one of five residents who pitched for small business funding as part of the A2Dominion Enterprise Programme boardroom final, an annual course that has been helping customers turn their dreams of running their own business into a reality for several years.
Jensons Little Feet
“If it wasn’t for the Enterprise programme, my business idea would have stayed that way – just an idea.”
As the country prepared for lockdown in March last year, A2Dominion customer Felicity Daniel was facing even more uncertainty than most. Following the birth of her son Jenson, she was made redundant from her work. She was also told that Jenson had been born with a clubfoot that would require 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.”
This was how Felicity got involved with the A2Dominion Enterprise Programme, which is run annually and supports customers who have a business idea with a range of support – including advice from a dedicated team of business experts.
Felicity’s own journey began in September 2020, with a six-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 credits the A2Dominion Enterprise Programme with getting this idea into the world in any real sense.“If it wasn’t for the Enterprise Programme, my business idea would have stayed that way – just an idea,” she says.
“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 that £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.”
If you are an A2Dominion customer and would like to learn more about how you can get involved with A2Dominion’s Enterprise programme, helping to make your business idea a reality, visit a2dominion.co.uk/enterprise or get in touch today at community.investment@a2dominion.co.uk.
