OU on the BBC: Just Do It - Meet The Start-Ups

Production team

Everyone's got to start somewhere, and Bobby meets up with five people aiming to be the Alan Sugars of tomorrow.

MT Belly
Davia Davies is 22 and she recently launched her catering company MT BELLY in South Croydon. Davia found difficulty in finding a job to fit in around her two young children. She thought her only option was to start a business and looked around at what she could do. Her initial idea was for a mobile trailer to offer Caribbean take away food and she did lots of research into it including talking to lots of people who ran similar businesses and as she says “to get inside information” on what to do and not to do as well on what to charge. She couldn’t find a bank that would lend to her and so she turned to the Prince’s Trust who helped her write a business plan, gave her a mentor and a loan. She did one party for a friend and it started from there; "Word of mouth has taken my business in different directions."

Davia only started trading recently in April and now has bookings for parties, birthdays, christenings and anniversaries. She does most of her work at the weekends and prepares a lot of the food during the week. She rents a school kitchen every Saturday and Sunday for £70 a day.

She still finds time for her voluntary work in giving support to other teenage mums.

She is so busy that she is thinking of taking someone on to help her. She has recently brought a trailer and also offers catering for the Home Office Building in Croydon - with a view to a few bigger contracts in the future. Her ambition is to open an upmarket Caribbean restaurant.

Carpet-Burns was started by 2002 by Kelly Burns, an applied arts student. She had her ‘light bulb moment’ while ironing on her carpeted bedroom floor accidentally left a hard plastic surface. She experimented with this new material at university, including putting carpet in a cheese toasty maker! She made handbags and small items from it and was advised to patent her discovery.

Kelly wanted to prove that a throwaway item which would usually go directly to landfill could instead be turned it into a new product which was fun, functional and had a long second life. She can produce it in sheet form that can be used for making kitchens and doors and furniture. She never ever saw herself starting a business and says it is her passion for the planet and the environment that is driving her and Carpet-burns is “a vehicle for promoting recycling and sustainability.” She is based in Derby and says she has developed a network of mentors for advice and help in different parts of her business. She currently has funding from Nesta and is getting the British “kite” mark so that more manufacturers will adopt her product.
Carpet Burns website

Leeds Creperie
Jon White and Neil Tipping, both aged 24, are opening a creperie – the first in Leeds. They got their idea while on holiday abroad and thought “why can’t we get crepes at home?” They started planning a year ago, have raised the money and found premises in the heart of the Leeds student community. They’ve been grafting away to make sure they open in time and we’ve been following their progress. They are doing everything by the book and say they are following the business model of the founder of Coffee Republic, Sahar Hashemi. If all goes to plan they hope to open their second shop within a year and then to have a chain of them.

Firefly
Jeet Das was a first year medical student at Nottingham University when his favourite club night closed down. So he and five others decided to set-up their own night and Firefly was born.

Firefly takes you back in time to how they imagine it was in the late eighties “when everyone was having loved up raves in warehouse off the M25!” It attracts a diverse crowd of students, Hippies, raving townies, Techno Heads, Breaks nutters and House fans. They say Firefly is your dream house party but in a very big garage. Although having had some success with some amazing parties, Jeet has had to endure massive losses. In his own words Jeet says “I was a bad businessman.” So often, they overspent on deco and there was poor control of money coming in and out. About two years ago he had the shock of his life when a friend did his accounts and showed Jeet the full extent of his debts. Jeet now says he has become better organised and even has “a diary and a daily to do list.” He says he is more productive and the real test was for him was the 5th Birthday celebrations of Firefly in June with a week of events that included Orbital, Jon Carter, Technasia and Erol Alkan. Jeet delivers a fantastic party for over a thousand people but can he make a profit?
Firefly website

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