Inspirational women show how to be boss
WANT to take over the business? Emily Norman did, and now owns the diddi dance pre-school dance franchise where she once worked.
Emily, 25, from Bristol, recently won the Encouraging Women in Franchising (EWIF) Young Woman in Franchising 2017 award.
She hired her first teacher in 2016 as the number of classes she offered rose to 15. She has now added another six nursery and soft play sessions. Turnover increased by 39per cent in Emily’s first year.
Emily says: ‘I take every opportunity to grow my franchise and extend my territory.’
Rebecca Horrell, franchise director at diddi dance, says: ‘Often women who stop work to have a child find it difficult to re-enter the workforce, so we offer franchisees the support and flexibility to run their local franchise how and when they want.’
The diddi dance investment is £4,995.
Claire Slorach, 33, won the EWIF 2017 Woman Franchisee of the Year and Woman in Franchising awards. She has the Stockton Heath Toni&Guy franchise in Cheshire.
In seven years she has increased her staff from seven to 22 and has also taken over the Altrincham branch.
She says: ‘The welcoming atmosphere we’ve built up keeps clients coming back.’ Investment starts at £10,000.
Clive Sawyer, chief executive of EWIF, says: ‘We started EWIF to inspire women to consider a franchise, so to have Claire and Emily demonstrate the potential is an inspiration to others.’
diddidance.com; Toni&Guy, 0175361 2040; ewif.org.