David Hathiramani, co-founder of individually hand tailored suit company 

How I crowdfunded Â&#163;1m [AUDIO]

Blog

, discusses the story behind his business with Enterprise Nation's Dan Martin.

The entrepreneur offers valuable insights into the ups and down of starting and growing a business during the past 10 years including how he crowdfunded more than Â£1m.

I’m a content and communications strategist with a passion for brand storytelling. I also happen to be Enterprise Nation’s content manager – so if there’s anything you’d like to see more of, or you have a story to tell, please do connect!

Content Manager

Rifhat Qureshi: ‘I’m using fashion as a vehicle to support women’

The fashion entrepreneur talks about her residency at the Hello, World shop.

&lt;p&gt;I'm Emily, Retail Supply Chain Consultant and owner of The Retailer Clinic. I help small retailers to optimise their supply chains, focusing on the areas of procurement, production, inventory management, forecasting, cash flow and strategy.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I have over 10 years experience in retail having worked in head offices in buying, sales and production roles and on the shop floor in sales advisor and account management positions.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Working for small retailers opened my eyes to the challenges small retailers face when it comes to supply chain. Forecasting and inventory management software is eye-wateringly expensive, production planning is more complex due to smaller order quantities, and deciding on a procurement strategy can be difficult without buying power.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I went in search of solutions to these problems and spent the next few years studying supply chain analytics, fundamentals, dynamics and design. Armed with 10 years of experience navigating retail supply chains and a stack of models and knowledge, I am ready to help you optimise your supply chain!&lt;/p&gt;

Retail Supply Chain Consultant

Small Retailers Network

This is a networking and support group for small retailers. The aim of this group is to create a space for small retailers to network, troubleshoot and collaborate. 

I am here to help all members with any retail operations and supply chain questions.

&lt;p&gt;Hey there!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I am a fashion business strategy consultant, coach and mentor. I help entrepreneurs looking to change career and enter the fashion industry to develop their idea into a solid product or service.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;I also assist and work with&amp;nbsp;fashion entrepreneurs who already have a business but feel like something is missing, that the brand/business&amp;nbsp;is not growing the way they thought it would, making the money and profits they should or wondering how to scale it bigger.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;After graduating with a Fashion degree many moons ago, I worked for some 15years within British&amp;nbsp;luxury brands small and large (you can see my resume on Linked In here:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dessytsolova/"&gt;https://www.linkedin.com/in/dessytsolova/&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;) across apparel and&amp;nbsp;accessories. There isn&amp;#39;t much as a product that I haven&amp;#39;t at some point worked on.&amp;nbsp; For most of this time, I managed the creative teams and oversaw the process from Idea to Finished product and more often than not I then took that knowledge to the PR, marketing and retail shop floor.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;After leaving the last company I was employed by, I set up an online fashion manufacturing portal with the mission to demystify and simplify the fashion manufacturing process. Whilst growing the platform and working on the development of software to automate a largely hands-on process I came to the realisation that while so many competitors were jumping on this &amp;quot;trend&amp;quot; to create what they saw as just a &amp;quot;directory&amp;quot; the industry was not getting any more transparent or functional. The problem I saw&amp;nbsp;was hiding in&amp;nbsp;the lack of proper practical and honest educational support to the new influx of entrepreneurs in the industry AND support for independent brand overlooked by the governmental trade bodies.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This determination to share my experience and knowledge with fashion entrepreneurs worldwide led me to exit the platform I spent over 6 years creating and launch Fashion Insiders &amp;amp; Co. An online education and support platform and community for fashion entrepreneurs looking to launch, grow or scale their businesses.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Through our platform, we offer many FREE resources as well as online courses, in-person (via the magic of online meetings) consulting and coaching packages and soon to launch community coaching and accountability incubator.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;


&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://fashioninsi&lt;p&gt;Online fashion educational and mentoring platform helping&amp;nbsp;fashion entrepreneurs build and grow profitable fashion brands.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We specialise in helping entrepreneurs:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- strategise how to launch new product or service based fashion business;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- idea development from initial development and sourcing&amp;nbsp;stages to bulk manufacturing;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- business strategy, pricing and target setting&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;- growth mindset&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Support is offered via 1:1 work, tailored to your project needs as well as offering online courses and masterclasses to consume at your own pace and time.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

Business support for fashion brands - 1-2-1 mentoring

Real transformation happens over a longer period of time...<br>
Over the course of&nbsp;a 6-month period I will give you personalised 1 to 1 fashion business mentoring (that just happens to come with lots of great training as well). Whilst the statistic that 90% of fashion startups will fail is very true... it doesn't have to be true for you and your business!

&lt;p&gt;Hi, I’m Chris Dowling. I’ve been there and done it! With over 35 years of business experience to draw upon, I am here to help you too. You will benefit from my advice, and I will support you through the challenging changes your business needs to make it more successful wether you are a Start-Up or established business.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My services include:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Business mentoring Business development &amp;amp; growth&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Assessment and analysis of current position&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Sales &amp;amp; marketing Cash flow and financial management&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Access to government support and grants&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Writing a Business plan&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Access to Start-Up loans.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;We will define your business goals and ensure you have the knowledge, skills and processes needed to achieve them. I will be your ‘sounding board’ and ‘critical friend’, helping your business grow and expand – taking it to the next level.&lt;/p&gt;

Business Consultant

Chris Dowling

&lt;p&gt;Hi, I’m Chris Dowling. I’ve been there and done it! With over 35 years of business experience to draw upon, I am here to help you too. You will benefit from my advice, and I will support you through the challenging changes your business needs to make it more successful wether you are a Start-Up or established business.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My services include:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Business mentoring Business development &amp;amp; growth&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Assessment and analysis of curre

How I crowdfunded Â£1m [AUDIO]

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