500th Potential Business Start Up in only 10 months

Submitted by on Thu, 29.05.08

The Be Enterprising programme in Easington has provided business start up help and advice to their 500th client in only 10 months.

The 500th client was Michelle Burnham of Easington Colliery; she has been working with Dave Collett, one of seven Be Enterprising Coaches in the District of Easington to discuss her business idea. Michelle will be setting up as a Mortgage consultant providing advice on new mortgages as well re-mortgages when customers fixed term agreements come to an end. 

Michelle trained to be a Mortgage Adviser last year, after two redundancies from well respected and established mortgage companies in the North East which ceased trading, she decided to take her career into her own hands and set up her own business, ‘Michelle Burnham, Mortgage Consultancy’. Michelle has started to trade and will soon take professional premises in Houghton.

A resident of Easington district Michelle has been able to access both funding and advice through the Be Enterprising Start Up programme to get her business idea off the ground, the programme is designed to help people overcome barriers to self employment both financially and through access to expert advice.

In meetings with Dave, Michelle’s Be Enterprising Coach, she felt she personally gained the most from the business planning exercise, Michelle said ‘I am sure I could have written my own business plan which would have been good enough to satisfy a bank, but Dave has helped me create a much more comprehensive document, one I can use to help my business grow and move forward.’ 

Michelle will be offering all customers who buy a mortgage a donation of £25 to a local school or church of their choice. 

The Be Enterprising Coaches programme started in August 2007, getting fully underway in September when all seven coaches were in post, over 500 potential start ups have approached the coaches since August with 157 of these clients beginning to trade. Many businesses are able to access funding to help with start up costs.

Be Enterprising coaches provide assistance in business planning, financial forecasting, VAT registration and can assist in applications for funding from the programme and other resources. If you are considering setting up your own business either call Be Enterprising Directly on 0800 030 4134 or East Durham Business Service who manage the coaches in Easington on 0191 586 3366.

To get help and advice mortgages and re-mortgages call Michelle on 07800 587 141 or e-mail michelle.burnham@newleaffs.com.