PRIME business club

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The Nobel Peace Prize has just gone to Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Bank, who pioneered the whole concept of microlending. Yunus founded Grameen in 1976 during a famine in Bangladesh. Today it has 6.6 million borrowers of whom 97% are women.

This award is a big breakthrough for the whole microfinace sector, and may attract extra support to similar schemes throughout the world - including the UK.

But some in the microfinance sector are sounding a note of caution. Grameen is very unusual in that it has succeeded in becoming big enough to make a significant impact. Most microfinance schemes are very much smaller, and have often run into trouble when trying to scale up.

Alistair Owens, 58, from Doncaster, is the overall winer of Intel’s Profit@50 competition for people who have set up in business after the age of 50. He wins £8,000 from Intel for his business Keen2Learn, along with an up-to-the-minute laptop and mentoring from Yo! Sushi founder Simon Woodroffe.

The website (www.keen2learn.co.uk) makes it easier for parents to help their children achieve success by giving them access to the same kinds of educational teaching resources used in today’s schools.

The two runners up are Hugo Rose from Colchester in Essex and and Sally Walton from St. Leonard’s-on-Sea in Sussex.

The judges were impressed with 53-year-old Mr Rose’s web-based parcel-minding business. Established last year, MyParcel (www.myparcel.co.uk) has been designed to facilitate the rapidly-growing online shopping sector by building up a network of drop-off points to eliminate the problem of undeliverable parcels - in other words parcels delivered when the customer is out and unable to receive them. With this venture, Mr Rose is putting his 20 years of experience in the wine and mail-order businesses to excellent use.

The judges also liked 55-year-old Sally Walton’s ecological design business. Established in May this year, carry-A-bag (www.carry-a-bag.com) offers a stylish alternative to the re-usable shopping bag – made from a combination of organic Fairtrade calico, mattress ticking and recycled curtains. With this venture, Mrs Walton is putting her past training in graphic design to excellent use.

“Now that my four grown-up children have all left the nest, I have time to devote to my own business”, said Sally. “I would advise anyone with the inclination to just go for it.”

When overall winner Alistaire Owens came up with the idea for an online business selling educational products he decided to quit his job in marketing to make his dream a reality. Although he was confident enough in his idea to quit his job, he says it did take “a lot of resolve”.

He persuaded his son Stuart, 27, to also come on board and the two set up www.Keen2Learn.co.uk in 2005. Mr Owens, who has 20 years of experience in marketing, said the business has given him a whole new lease of life. “I love the total immersion it allows, not to mention the feeling that you’re your own boss”, he said.

Intel director Tristan Wilkinson said “At a time when age discrimination in the workplace is at the forefront of the employment agenda, Mr Owens is a shining example to other potential over 50s entrepreneurs that setting up your own business can be a very viable option.”

Simon Woodroffe, head of the Profit@50 judging panel, agrees. “Alistair Owens is a fantastic example to other potential 50-plus entrepreneurs out there. People like him should be encouraged to achieve all they can.” Simon went on to say that he had never met anyone - even those whose businesses had failed, regret taking the risk.

Mike Crisp set up HouseHubbies when he was aged 58 with one of the first loans from PRIME. Five years later the firm is thriving, and has extended its area of operation to two sites in the Manchester and Staffordshire areas. It now employs Mike, his partner Sharon Hocking and nine other people.

HouseHubbies (www.househubbies.com) provides a one-stop shop for both basic and more technical home repairs on a fixed price basis. Unlike calling a plumber, gardener or electrician from Yellow Pages, what’s unique about the service is that you can predict in advance exactly what a house hubby is going to cost.

Mike had spent most of his life installing and repairing things. His career started with 10 years in the RAF as a communications technician, followed by many years as a systems engineer in the computer and aircraft industries in both the UK and Saudi Arabia. After returning to the UK, Mike ran a pub and renovated houses.

In his early 50s Mike decided to improve his education. He emerged four year later with a BA in Law and a BSc in Psychology, but without much money or a job.

He started exploring the Australian Hire-a-Hubby idea and realised there was a market for something similar here. But he needed a loan to get the business going on a proper basis. The banks did not want to know because Mike had no collateral - and was by now in his late 50s.

With the help of MES (Mature Enterprise Support), a PRIME partner in Stoke-on-Trent, he developed the business plan and applied for a loan of £5,000.

PRIME’s scheme is a loan of last resort - in other words you can only apply for it if a normal bank has already turned you down. You also need to be aged over 50, not yet trading or in paid work, and have a viable business plan.

But Mike was one of PRIME’s first applicants and it was early days for schemes of this type. There were still legal problems to iron out with the whole concept of ‘community development finance’, and Mike’s file in the PRIME office contains ministerial letters to underline the point. But eventually all was resolved and Mike became one of the pioneers of the community development finance movement.

Mike’s business is itself highly innovative. What worries people about calling a plumber or other tradesman is the risk of not knowing what it’s going to cost. Especially for people without a lot of money to risk, the fear of sky-high call-out charges, and unpredictable labour and material costs may put them of having vital problems fixed.

HouseHubbies has no call out charge. Instead you pay for an amount of time - usually a day or half-day. For example, a Hubby will install new taps, fit a new door lock, tidy the loft - and then do the ironing. HouseHubbies will provide basic items like filler, glues and tap washers free, but more expensive items like taps, pumps and light fittings you can either buy yourself or get a Hubby to buy at cost plus a fixed 10% handling charge.

The idea is so simple and straightforward, people are no longer afraid of getting repairs done. Business has boomed for HouseHubbies, the community has got a valuable new business service - and Mike has been able to pay off his loan early.

Mike can be contacted by email at mike@househubbies.com