Brilliant things are happening in the South West’s business circles, and more female business owners are thriving.
By gaining support from NatWest through a pioneering campaign centred around female-only Crowdfunding, these leading ladies have been able to launch their own new businesses.
In March, the bank launched the Rose Review, which examined the barriers women in business face and what can be done to overcome them.
From this, NatWest took the opportunity to work on the bank’s wider ambition to reduce the gender gap when it comes to entrepreneurship. The campaign – Back Her Business – aims to create an additional 65,000 new female led businesses by 2025, through inspiring and supporting 400,000 females to consider enterprise as a career option.
By collaborating with Crowdfunder, NatWest have been able to match fund up to 50 per cent towards the crowdfunding target, up to a maximum of £5,000. It’s the perfect way for females to secure the investment needed to kick start their businesses.
These three women are proof that you can take your passion, thoughts and ideas and craft them into a successful business with a little bit of help.
Faye Whitley, Beevive
Beevive began after Faye and her partner had an encounter with a tired bee on a pavement in Cornwall.
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They knew the drill, but didn’t have the sugar water solution the bee needed to hand. They scooped the insect up and took it to a nearby café which mixed up a sugar water solution on a spoon before allowing the bee to sip some – and then it flew away.
Beevive is a simple keyring 'revival kit' which contains the solution for when you come across a tired bee. It’s a slick, plastic free product that’s been flying off the shelves since they first released Beevive at the Exeter Vegan Market in March 2019.
But to make their idea a reality, Faye and partner Jacob needed a funding boost. After seeing a gap in the market and developing a business plan, they turned to Crowdfunder to see what help was available, which was when Faye was introduced to Back Her Business.
“With Crowdfunding we would know if Beevive was a tangible idea or not, there was no asking to donate, you pledge and get a reward – we wanted to do that for everyone who had helped and supported us on our journey,” said 26-year-old Faye.
“At first we saw people pledging, my mum then best friend then workmates, then it just changed – there were people outside of the 海角视频 [pledging], that’s when we knew ‘we’ve got something here’.
“We found the Crowdfunder process really easy, they were really helpful and really clear. NatWest pledged £2,250 which was huge, it was nearly half of our target.”
Beevive successfully raised £4,751 which was £106 per cent of their target.
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With the money, Beevive was able to spread its wings; the official keyrings launched on July 6, 2019, and now they have a Christmas line ready too.
Faye, who lives in Exeter, urged any female entrepreneur to give business a go.
“If something inspires you, know it is a good thing and just say yes – work the rest out as you go along.
“I’m the sort of person who wants to get things 100 per cent right in business, but it just doesn’t work like that. Reach out to your community – there will be so many people willing to help.”
Natasha Vigille, Cornucopia Emporium
Natasha, who is based in South Molton, needed some backing to expand production of her hand-poured candles.
A business loan was pretty much out of the question for the entrepreneur who had been living abroad in Mexico for around 10 years before settling in Devon, so she began researching how to fund her endeavour.
Natasha formed the business after teaching herself the long-forgotten craft of hand-pouring candles, an art form which dates back to Roman times in the year 500 B.C. With this newfound skill, Natasha sourced fragrance suppliers from around the world and began selling her wares online. The 43-year-old managed to secure the backing from NatWest’s Back Her Business. In order to qualify for NatWest’s finance, Natasha had to first raise £2,000 of her £4,000 target.
One aspect Natasha did admit to struggling with was accessing the initial money for her idea.
“The biggest hurdle was financial backing. I had been travelling for over a decade and my savings were depleted. I’m lucky to be with spectacular partner who told me to follow my passion and go for it.
“I was working part time as a crew PA, vocalist and I had some TV extra work but it still wasn’t cutting the mustard. I was really scared to take the leap of how I could make some money without having to give it back.
“I stumbled upon Crowdfunder – I saw an advert pop up and thought ‘this is a great way to do it if people are going to believe in me’ and it was a great way to get some money – I didn’t want to be in the red before I started.
“The NatWest backing was an added bonus, I thought it was too good to be true to be honest.
“I thought, ‘this kind of thing doesn’t happen to the little people’ so to speak. It was an amazing opportunity. I applied and getting accepted was the last thing I thought would happen as I have a sceptical mind.”
Natasha said the funding has opened huge doors for her – from selling her candles in the local Pannier Market, she now has her own website and is exhibiting at bigger expo shows across the 海角视频.
“Back Her Business has been a huge eye opener and it inspired me to reach out. I was embarrassed at first, it felt like the worst thing was asking for money and I did feel vulnerable, but I got that inspiration and that kicks tart and realised there was nothing to be embarrassed about – this was something I wanted to do on my own as woman.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity that came at the perfect time, it really helped me immensely.”
Debbie Warner, Wild Wine School
Debbie loves wine. So much so, her business centres around the delicious tipple.
The 34-year-old has been in the wine industry for over a decade, starting her wine journey by training as a sommelier at Fifteen Cornwall in her early 20s and then as a wine consultant advising hospitality businesses in Cornwall. She had been running the Wild Wine Club as a hobby, which offered wine based feasts, but she wanted to mould it into her own business – and so Wild Wine School was born.
Debbie was looking for money to fund the school to take wine education and training into the great outdoors and for the school to appeal to luxury brands and businesses.
The new mum, who lives in Newquay, said: “I had considered loans and I really didn’t want to have to give something [money] back.
“What attracted me to Crowdfunder was that I was able to build up an audience before I launched. Everyone who had supported the project was more invested – people pledged and got involved – now they are really supporting me in terms of my launch next year.”
Debbie’s target was £10,000 – NatWest pledged £5,000 towards this and she managed to raise just over £11,000.
From next spring, Wild Wine School will host a collection of workshops, courses and events in wild and unusual locations around Cornwall.
The business will also host accredited courses open to both those in the industry and enthusiastic wine lovers looking to have their wine knowledge certified. In addition Debbie will be hosting regular industry events and master classes and bringing some of her favourite wine makers to her business base at Nancarrow Farm.
Debbie said: “Back Her Business has been amazing for me, the support was really good and it was a good place to sound out and finalise my business ideas by talking to other women in same position.”
“Having the match funding from NatWest was an incredible injection for the new project.”
For more information on Back Her Business, visit: .