Dakoda’s Dance Academy is a well-established dance school that has been providing dance classes to the central London community for the last 10 years. They had a vision of diversifying and expanding the business to serve adults online with new services including yoga.
Robert Myers, Manager of Dakoda’s, set out to create a new umbrella brand and website showcasing a range of dance and lifestyle services. He had built, refined and re-built Dakoda’s original website and brand himself, using trial and error over (in Robert’s words) ‘a long, painful 10 years.’
This time, he wanted to get it right from the start and future-proof the operation as much as possible. He knew he couldn’t personally stay up to date on the latest developments in business strategy, website design, and digital marketing. So he sought help.
Robert had been working with the London Business Hub, who suggested he try Digital Boost. Digital Boost is a free platform for small businesses offering highly personalised advice, business mentoring, and learning support.
Robert had tried to find business mentors in the past but found that no one person could help with the many challenges he faced. That’s where Digital Boost came in – you don’t just get one mentor, but instead have unlimited access to 1000s of mentors, all specialists in their fields.
Robert has held one-to-one sessions with different Digital Boost experts in Business Strategy, Website Development, E-Commerce, Google Ads, A/B Testing, and more. Mentors from BT, Barclays, Visa, Bloomberg, and many smaller organisations helped him explore the art of the possible, design the site architecture, evaluate branding options, and much more.
This variety of input is one of the things Robert values most about Digital Boost: ‘It’s great to ask the same question to multiple people. You get different perspectives and a real sense of whether you’re on the right track.’
Robert says: ‘Digital Boost has sped up the process to success and saved me a lot of heartache. Talking to people at each step of the process is invaluable. You get immediate advice for situations that could have taken months to solve. I wish I’d had this service when I started my business 10 years ago!’
Since 2020, Mentor Black Business has existed as a resource for Black-owned businesses to thrive. Having collaborated with the likes of Google and Somerset House, they’ve connected countless emerging founders with industry mentors, and delivered invaluable training and workshops. Here, they recommend their top-recommended mentoring schemes, masterclasses and resources, especially for Black creatives and business founders across the UK, including Digital Boost!
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Pure Punjabi is a mother-daughter business inspired by a third-generation teacher. As a child, Surinder’s mother patiently and persistently taught her the original, traditional family recipes from the heart of the Punjab, North India. During the pandemic, Surinder and her daughter, Safia, pivoted their real Indian food and cultural experience online, with the help of Digital Boost. So, they have virtually been into the kitchens of hundreds of people they now consider friends, co-creating great food using their recipe kits. With a new platform and infectious energy, they’ve recently moved into a bigger production and workshop premises in South Somerset!
Their story starts eleven years ago when Surinder decided to stock her own shop with speciality fine food featuring genuine artisan ingredients. But she couldn’t find a traditional North Indian spice supplier near to her home. She realised this is because traditional culinary methods are passed down through the generations in Indian families.
And then a penny dropped. She had the solution to her own problem, having been taught by her mother from the age of seven to make mouth-watering dishes including Garam Masala and Tandoori Masala. As is the way, she had passed these recipes and methods onto her daughter and sons, such as how to use their own hands as measuring tools.
Once Safia left university and picked up some business training, she took the products her mum had created to be lab-tested, winning a Gold Star in the Great Taste Awards. Pretty soon, they took their hot food to a local fair and eventually BBC Good Food and Countryfile - and the business grew rapidly. With entrepreneurial zest, they then set up the first pop-up Indian restaurant outside London in their local village hall and layered the taste experience with Indian dance performances. Starters were accompanied by a classical performance; mains with a Bollywood show, and after desserts, the dancers entertained with a lively Punjabi dance and interactive workshop.
News of their fun, authentic Indian food presentation spread, and they were booked for weddings, featuring in The Telegraph and Olive Magazines. Their cookery school enterprise was also going well and attracted corporate interest. They were asked to lead the dining experience for a Global Indian tech company on a roadshow across ten European cities, Safia on location with Surinder supporting from home. In each city, Safia would meet with the head chef and team in some of the best hotels, leading them in the delivery of tasty and authentic dishes, with hundreds of covers every day.
But then Covid-19 hit, and disaster struck. The main hospitality side of their business stopped overnight. That’s when Surinder discovered Digital Boost, who provide free 1:1 business mentoring and expert advice for small businesses. Through tailored conversations with mentors from Google, Secret Escapes, Digithy, Caret IT Solutions, and Ranosys, she worked out a plan over just three weeks. Surinder re-oriented the website to make it easy for customers to continue to enjoy their food in an even more inclusive way.
Sales of their meal kits increased by 1,200% thanks to the support of customers stuck at home, and the digital learning they took on board. This extended to ‘let’s cook together’ evenings on Zoom with fun meal kit cook-alongs, connecting the heart of their homes. Soon enough, valuable corporate contracts emerged as companies sought ways to engage teams working remotely.
Surinder says: “Digital Boost gave us access to a pool of mentors we otherwise would absolutely not have met. Not only did we figure out how to grow our business online, but we were also invited to be profiled by Google and joined a Government panel to encourage other businesses to embrace digital.”
So now, as the world is open again for great memory-making experiences where food is at the heart, Surinder and Safia have a stronger digital presence and foundation on which to grow.
Said Surinder: “There is no doubt that the digital world was the only window we had to connect with customers. I knew I needed that help and, goodness, did Digital Boost make all the difference.”
Small business owners get a helping hand when it comes to keeping up with the latest trends thanks to Mastercard’s Strive UK programme
The next generation of entrepreneurs differ from their predecessors in one key way: they’re digital-first. With little or no bricks-and-mortar presence, these nimble operators are using online platforms for everything from marketing and customer communications to sales and distribution. But the digital world moves fast, and even the savviest entrepreneurs can feel lost.
“I can feel a generational shift,” says Lou Brown, who launched Newcastle’s Goodstrangevibes in 2018, as a student. “Younger people are on to TikTok and Instagram Reels, so I’m asking how I do that.”
Goodstrangevibes creates illustrated products, including T-shirts, notebooks and greetings cards, to make a difference in such areas as body positivity, mental health, LGBTQ+ topics and sex education. “Three years into running my business, and I’m still learning,” they say. “My website provider recently added gift cards, a function I really wanted. So learning that is on my list too. There are new things, constantly, every week.”
This sense of relentless change will resonate with owners of small businesses across the UK. The Covid-19 pandemic prompted a huge acceleration to digital and while some of these businesses were well positioned to cope, many weren’t. Research carried out by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), on behalf of Mastercard, found that while 70 per cent of small businesses believe technology can help improve business performance, 39 per cent feel overwhelmed by the amount of choice of digital tools; and one in three small businesses don’t know how to access the digital and IT skills they need for growth.
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Lucy, a mum of 2 young boys, was a part-time maths teacher with a passion for baking when she decided to leave her safe and reliable teaching post to launch her brownie business full time just before Covid-19 hit. Her days were spent preparing for, and enjoying the buzz of, bustling food markets and festivals in Netheredge, Sharrowvale, Sheffield City Centre, Fox Valley, and further afield. The stall favourites were the chocolate brownie and lemon drizzle.
However, when stay-at-home orders were issued in March 2020, the business was effectively finished. Or so she feared. There was only one option - to set up an online digital presence, in the form of a website. But with a limited budget, and no technical knowledge, this was daunting.
Fortunately Lucy’s father-in-law Patrick volunteered to help build the site, something he’d never done before. They needed to not only get the aesthetics of the brand right online, but also figure out how to get the site in front of people - not to mention how to send brownies safely through the post!
Patrick and Lucy turned to Digital Boost for free, 1:1 business mentoring and personalised advice sessions with volunteers from a wide range of organisations. They met with volunteer experts in website development, search engine optimisation (SEO), social media, and much more.
“Finding the services of Digital Boost, and the incredibly knowledgeable, friendly and helpful experts, was the saving of the business. I have learnt, and am still learning so much from them."
Lucy’s now back at markets, enjoying being face to face with her customers again (and with an amazing new range of blondies and brownies). However the bulk of the business is now online, with the brand listed on the first page of Google for brownies in Sheffield.
Lucy said: “When Covid began, so did my journey into the digital world. I have learnt so much adapting to the changes and it has completely transformed my business in every way imaginable.”
Patrick said: “I cannot tell you how grateful we are to the many volunteer tutors and experts, who freely give their time and knowledge, understood our plight and went out of their way to offer clear and achievable goals, which eventually led to www.scrumptiousbylucy.com being born. Thank you!”
With a little expert advice, thousands of small firms could hit new heights. Just ask the entrepreneurs who have upgraded their digital skills through Mastercard’s Strive UK programme
As the UK entered its first Covid lockdown, Allana McGowan, a Newcastle-based designer, took the bold step of launching LannyXStudio, a business repurposing vintage fabrics as fashion items and homeware.
Working alone from home, she struggled with an issue familiar to many new small business owners: lack of exposure.
Things changed for McGowan when she began selling on Thrive Street: the pop-up high street that ran throughout last month at the Gateshead Metrocentre as part of Mastercard’s Strive UK, a new initiative to support micro and small businesses.
McGowan suddenly found herself face to face with new customers – some of the estimated 1.7 million people who were expected to visit the small business stands during November. She appeared on local BBC news and even featured on Mary Portas’s Instagram feed after she sold the TV fashion expert an upcycled shirt.
“I got to talk heart to heart with Mary about my business,” says McGowan. “Thrive Street was such a good opportunity. Her purchase of one of my shirts was the icing on the cake.”
But lack of exposure is far from the only issue currently facing the UK’s small businesses. There is also the broad and intimidating challenge of digitisation. While the pandemic has accelerated digital take-up by small enterprises, a recent report from Mastercard, Strive to Thrive, found that one in three small business leaders don’t know how to access the digital and IT skills they need for growth. And when it comes to integrating digital tools, 39 per cent of small businesses report feeling overwhelmed by the amount of choice out there.
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Health is Wealth is a favourite phrase of Ashleigh, founder of Cook It Up, to describe her healthy food-delivery business serving her local community in Hucknall, Nottingham. A sustainable business started in January 2021, she selects fresh ingredients for her unique dishes and encourages pre-orders to enable time for the flavours to soak in. Her Healthier Options Award and 5* rating from the Food Standards Agency are some of several credits she has gathered in a relatively short period of time.
Ashleigh’s imagination for feel-good, tasty food has been nurtured by her family and inspired by travels abroad. She gathered a following on Instagram for her cooking demos, tips, and advice before finally taking the plunge into her own business. The crafted dishes she serves up incorporate a wonderful burst of flavours, with favourites like Mexican Burrito & sweet plantain, Caribbean Coconut Prawns, and several vegetarian options reflecting the most popular dishes of places she has visited.
She learned her craft by joining home-cooks shopping at their market for spices and herbs and in their kitchen. On a five-month sprint from Mexico to Columbia, she gathered dishes by learning directly from the locals, often over an open fire. She came home to experiment, seek out ingredients and adapt recipes as necessary to share the authentic taste she loves with her customers.
A natural in business, Ashleigh’s venture has the feel of one much more established. One of her Digital Boost Mentors, Mahima Karol, said: “Ashleigh has her own unique style and has found a niche with her customer base. If you suggest something she takes that, actions it, and tracks outcomes. She’s a smart business-woman who will be very successful.”
What’s more, Ashleigh is grateful to benefit from the full support of Ashfield District Council who have put her in touch with key people to connect with for growth. With their help, she recently took over a market stall and offered her new vitamin-packed cookie line and samples of main dishes, which sold out and set off a huge uplift in orders to her website.
Getting a Boost
Ashleigh has created a local following with her food for busy lives, but running a business is a different matter. She applies the core-business skills taken from a career in media production, TV broadcasting, and e-learning, from where she has strong abilities in organisation and accountancy but knew that she needed additional business knowledge and specific help on creating an online and offline presence.
That’s when she discovered the free-of-charge workshops and 1:1 business mentoring sessions offered by Digital Boost. After several conversations with experts from Google, BT, and others, she has forty pages of notes and has already successfully implemented several ideas.
Mahima, a design consultant who has worked extensively with Walt Disney Company and BMW Designworks, has a special interest in Ashleigh’s journey, which she has followed since they first spoke in January. She learned about Digital Boost from the Judge Business School in Cambridge and signed up as a mentor to share her digital design expertise and knowledge.
Amongst other things, Mahima suggested creating a leaflet with a QR code to connect with the Cook It Up website, gave advice on ways to keep customers coming back through calendar events like Mother’s Day and has worked with Ashleigh on branding to visual design, photography and use of video, drawing on her extensive experience in these areas.
Ashleigh said: “I would recommend Digital Boost, whatever stage your business is at. It’s encouraging to hear you are doing things well, but what I wanted were simple, actionable things I could tweak. I have implemented those and had immediate results. It’s always good to get a fresh pair of eyes. With Digital Boost you can learn from people with a wealth of experience, shortcut the process, and avoid common pitfalls.”
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During the pandemic, owners of smaller enterprises have shown they’ll do whatever it takes to survive – and help their communities. In the new economy, they need the right digital tools to thrive
The UK’s six million small businesses make up the backbone of its economy. Combined, they’re the nation’s largest employer, giving work to more than two in five people. But the pandemic has shown they’re something else too: the lifeblood of our communities.
Just look at the spirit small business leaders showed in changing their offering when the pandemic struck. For example, in April 2020, Salford’s Didsbury Gin had just grown its turnover from £40k to £1.5 million in a year. When lockdown kicked in, the company found its significant revenue streams were suddenly switched off, so it quickly diversified its production capacity to produce vital hand sanitiser for the NHS, police and fire services.
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In March 2020, Harvard Business Review reported that, of the companies surveyed, ninety-per-cent claim to prioritise diversity, but only FOUR per cent consider disability in those initiatives.
John Willis, Founder at Power2Inspire, was so surprised when he read that he decided to find someone to help him mine more data to prove what he knows very well:
That bringing people together through sport promotes inclusion and breaks down barriers to understanding disability.
He found a data expert from Digital Boost, who offer one-hour business mentoring sessions from expert volunteers with a deep knowledge of a huge range of challenges that small businesses face.
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Power2Inspire is unique in its approach to inclusion, connecting university sports-people with special needs schools for PowerHouseGames in adapted sports including golf, tennis, rugby and Boccia (a form of bowls).
The emphasis is on games, not competition, so the rules are adapted to the abilities of the players. If a player has only a left arm, everyone has to use their left arm.
In focusing on true inclusion, all other sorts of barriers come down, including fear and confidence… there are many success stories.
One young man found his accuracy at New Age Kurling made him the top-pick team member for the first time, and another acutely disabled boy overcame his fear and swam in the deep end of the pool because he saw John could do it.
John says: “At the end of our events there’s laughter, camaraderie, a real sense of achievement. I typically find participants have 28% greater awareness of disability afterwards.”
A second call with Digital Boost connected John with Google who are helping him convert data he holds into interesting visual stories, another way he hopes to convince businesses to be open to disability. He has also used the service to validate his fundraising strategy, as a basis for future growth when games can re-commence.
John says: “I would advise people who use Digital Boost to be clear on the project, make it a small definable thing so you get the right input for the outcome you need. Working with them has taken us in new and unexpected directions towards our vision that no-one is left on the bench.”
Want to get digital experts’ help from Digital Boost?
Digital Boost is a free non-profit online platform that supports people who work at small businesses and charities to get the essential digital advice and guidance they need to grow their businesses.
It’s easy to get free, unlimited 1:1 online conversations with volunteer expert mentors to:
- Sense-check strategies
- Bounce ideas off the pros
- Get fast answers to pressing questions or issues
- Keep up to date on the latest trends and technologies
Digital Boost also offers hands-on workshops covering topics such as SEO, Facebook Ads, payment systems, and much more, as well as a resource library packed with tools and courses.
All Digital Boost services are FREE for people who work at small businesses and charities. This is thanks to the generosity of expert volunteers from leading organisations such as Google, BT, Vodafone, Visa, Bloomberg, and more. Digital Boost currently has more than 2,300 volunteers covering 55 different topics including Branding, Digital Marketing, Customer Service, E-Commerce, Data Analytics, Security and Data Protection, Payments and Money Mgmt.
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