At the end of November the Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd MP visited FranchisingWorks to discuss the business with the team, including the role of Big Society Capital’s investment and plans for expansion. The FranchisingWorks Licence Fund, which provides unemployed people with vital funding to set up their franchises, recently went live with £1 million investment from Big Society Capital, one of the institution’s first round of investments.
Nick Hurd also met some of the individuals who have set up franchises through the scheme. This included Mark Higson, who is currently receiving support from the FranchisingWorks programme and will access the fund to set up a Pet Food franchise, and Colin Hughes, who has set up as a franchisee of VIP Bin Cleaning. Colin said “I hope I helped Nick to understand that FranchisingWorks is enabling people like myself to create new businesses and employment opportunities that otherwise would not exist. I certainly would not have been able to set up my business without the help that FranchisingWorks offered me.”