Mikala Ayres an alumni of the Start Up Croydon The London E-Business Programme, shares her experience and its impact on her new consultancy.
“Back in the summer of 2023, I took the brave and rather large step away from being employed into the world of self-employment. An opportunity came along which I couldn’t turn down and enabled me to set it up as a sole trader to run my business. With my many years of HR and training experience it was a natural next phase in my life to go alone, offering human resource and training support to businesses and charities within my local area.
“With the help of Start up Croydon and the E-business unit, I found a community who were so supportive and embracing of my business idea and took me through a programme which enabled me to find the confidence and the skills to set up on my own and start trading. From that moment, my business has gone from strength to strength and in just six months I have been working full time. There is no going back! I can’t quite believe that it is possible to make dreams a reality and do that with the confidence courage and commitment to not look back but to always look ahead and keep going.
“I am now delivering a range of services including HR support for businesses and charities without a dedicated resource. This includes day to day HR advice, creation of Employment Contracts and Staff Handbooks. My Training services include coaching for performance and mentoring. Lastly, with my License to practice, I offer Insights Discovery to help with personal and professional development, improve communication and build better teams. My LinkedIn page includes endorsements and recommendations from clients who have used my services.
“Naveed and the team at Start-up offer a range of support, all of which is essential learning to ensure that your business gets the best start it can. Added benefit is of course the opportunity to mix with other business owners, to network, and to learn more of what the local community are offering. Regular meetings, opportunities to attend webinars, and the one to one sessions are without doubt the key to where I am now. I would not have known half of what I’ve learned if I had not had the support of the team. I fully recommend this important community based service, and will continue to be involved and attend workshops, and meetings to further my business knowledge and engage with other professionals and business owners.”