One year on... A rewarding 12 months
Swati Bagwe and Shipra Mehta, joint owners and directors of Caremark in Richmond upon Thames, talk about their fi rst year as franchisees
Shipra Mehta and Swati Bagwe
Swati answers:
What did you do before buying your Caremark franchise? I have a degree in clinical engineering and worked as an underwriter for an insurance company for over 10 years – that role enabled me to hone some of the skills I now use running our business and liaising with staff and clients, such as sales and marketing and building good relationships with clients and key stakeholders.
How have you found the past year? Like nothing I have ever experienced before! We opened our Richmond offi ce in January 2017, and following our registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May that same year, we started trading. The following seven months saw us reach several important milestones, including getting recognition from Richmond Council as a provider of homecare, as well as the council awarding one of our careworkers with the Dignity in Care accolade. We also organised a Christmas tea party for our clients in our local social club, which was a great success and enjoyed by everyone! The pinnacle of our achievements, however, has to be the two amazing awards we received at Caremark’s annual conference in January: the Rising Star award and the regional award as top franchise in the
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South Central region! Overall, it’s been a great year and we are really looking forward to taking our business to the next level.
What are the benefi ts of running a Caremark franchise? A franchise off ers you a proven system to follow, which is very reassuring. As a franchisee, you have access to systems and support, which is invaluable, especially when you are trying to get your business off the ground. Plus, having the opportunity to speak with other franchisees and draw from their experiences really helped us in the initial period. There is always great support, advice and guidance available whenever you want, either from head offi ce or our regional manager. I can certainly say that now, a year on, choosing a Caremark franchise has defi nitely been the best decision I have taken yet.
Shipra answers:
What has been your most memorable moment of the past year? There are a lots, but when we got our CQC registration was one of them and then when we got our fi rst client. Initially, it was just four hours a week, but it was really exciting and meant that we were fi nally on our way. Since then, we haven’t looked back. And of course, it goes without saying, the biggest moment was when we
received our two special awards at Caremark’s annual conference in January this year.
What are your plans for next year? To keep doing what we are doing, to maintain the quality of service we provide, delivering excellent homecare and looking after our clients as much as we can – like a family. Our New Year strategy is to specialise in learning disabilities and dementia. We have an experienced care manager ready to build up her own team of specially trained careworkers in these areas. We are growing so it’s important we set targets for ourselves. We also have plans to extend our business in the future, so we have lots to plan and look forward to.
What would you change if you were to do it all again? Not very much, really. Perhaps we would have liked to have been more involved with local events and charities, but, initially, we had to focus on launching and growing our business before we spent too much energy in other directions. Now that we are a bit more settled, we would like to do more for our community and get busy with some local activities and initiatives.
franchise@caremarklimited.co.uk
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