The Business Clinic – our story
One stark statistic is at the heart of The Business Clinic’s mission to help businesses across Lancashire succeed and enjoy healthier profits. In an economic climate where the failure rate for start-up businesses is more than 80% in their first five years something isn’t working when it comes to business support.
It was with this stark reality firmly in mind that Helen Livesey and David Nelson founded The Business Clinic as an organisation to provide support, training and consultancy at ground level for businesses young and old.
The ideal organisational structure to ensure the success of the project was a Community Interest Company (CIC). This structure ensured that the interests of the participants always remain the focus and not profit or individual gain. After numerous challenges The Business Clinic CIC was registered in June 2013 and launched in November 2013.
Launching and developing a CIC for the benefit of its participants is a major challenge and to accomplish this without the support of any public funding demonstrates the dedication, drive and willingness to help Lancashire’s business community that the team here has. The Business Clinic continues to develop its services and training opportunities whilst providing employment and career opportunities for local staff, having created a sustainable model.
The ‘peerworking’ surgeries and clinics were created based on the philosophy of reciprocity. The franchise industry experiences new start success rates of over 80% in their first 5 years and this is largely due to the methods of the franchisor and the franchisee working together to ensure the sharing of best practice and common goals, skills and experience to develop business success.
The input of The Business Clinic’s Consulting Practitioners has also played its part in the continued growth and development of the organisation. These are recognised business experts with a specific skillset, working in collaboration with us to share that expertise and knowledge with businesses looking to develop and grow.
Then, as now, the founding principles remain simple: ‘Independent and thought-provoking, The Business Clinic delivers the strategy, skills and support you need.’
So here’s to the future of you, your business and The Business Clinic...for healthier profits
Here's an example of just how far we have come:
2013
2017
