WOMEN FRANCHISORS
Kate Lester
Hannah Banfield has been head of marketing at ServiceMaster Ltd since 2008, and with her team provides marketing services to over 700 franchisees across their four franchise brands: ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, TruGreen and Furniture Medic. This year, Hannah was a finalist in the 2013 EWIF Awards in the Franchisor Employee of the Year category.
During her five years at ServiceMaster
Kate Lester is the managing director of courier franchise Diamond Logistics. Her ambition and her 20+ years of experience in logistics have been rocket fuel for her fast-growing and successful business. Serial entrepreneur Kate has worked on turn- around projects and start-up enterprises, and has experience in many sectors of the transport and logistics industry, from 24-hour haulage operations to same day courier. She founded Diamond in 1992
Ltd she has been instrumental in seeing the company make it through to the finals of the bfa’s Franchisor of the Year awards. “I love working in the franchise industry,” says Hannah.“It’s great to develop tools and initiatives for our franchise owners, making a difference to their local turnovers and ultimately, their lives. There’s nothing more encouraging or motivating to see people’s businesses grow as a result of our efforts.”
Dina Dwyer- Owens
Karen Sherr started Musical Minis 24 years ago when she couldn’t find a music class to take her young son to. With a degree in psychology and a career as a play specialist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Karen was aware of the potential for cognitive, physical and emotional development for children through music, instruments and stories. She first franchised Musical Minis in 1996, and now has 20 franchisees. Karen says: “As Musical Minis is one of
ONE TO WATCH
New kid on the block Wagging Tails has stormed ahead in the last 12 months. Set up by dog-lover Lisa Suswain in 2000
Lisa Suswain
to provide a home-from-home experience for pampered pooches, she turned to franchising in 2010 to cope with demand. She now has eight franchisees and is hoping to have 30 by 2015. Her husband Jim came on board last year, and they often field calls from abroad asking to buy a master franchise. For now, however, the pair are concentrating on their UK market.
Tech-savvy Lisa embraces digital marketing and takes full advantage of social media. She has currently lined up an intranet and CRM system for her franchisees.
Lisa has also been successful in the
awards arena. In the last year, Lisa was an EWIF New Franchisor of the Year finalist and a semi-finalist for Business Mother of the Year. Additionally, Wagging Tails was awarded Best Marketing Support at the 2013 Franchise Marketing Awards. n
Franchisor News | 27
Dina Dwyer-Owens is the chairwoman and chief executive officer of industry heavyweight The Dwyer Group, a holding company of seven service-based franchises, including Aire Serve and Glass Doctor, across 1,600 locations globally. With over 30 years’ industry experience, Dina has featured in the CBS television series ‘Undercover Boss’ – as well as a spin off-episode ‘Undercover Bosses: Epic Bosses’ – and was awarded 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the
the longest standing franchise operations in the UK, I put its success and longevity down to a structured programme and specific aims. It is timeless and the benefits of are obvious to the mums. I enjoy a network of dedicated franchisees many of whom, like me, are seeking a better work-life balance and want a job that fits around their family. I’ve been through the same journey and understand the challenges.”
at the age of 20, recently setting aside her other projects to focus on this. A franchise network suited her business plans to expand with a change of service and location, and as an advocate of fellow entrepreneurs. Now with eight sites in the UK, Diamond is set to expand further in 2014 with 20 other franchise locations. Kate says: “Diamond’s motto is ‘shared success’. We work together with clients, staff, and franchises to reap great results.”
Hannah Banfield
Year. Her accolades don’t stop there either: she served as chair of the International Franchise Association (IFA) in 2010; she spearheaded the reintroduction of the IFA VetFran programme, which offers franchising incentives to US veterans; and was awarded the Bonny Levine Award by the IFA in 2002 for her mentoring work and dedication to advancing the careers of women in franchising. She is married with two children.
Karen Sherr
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