Sarah Birch, 25 from Norton had trained and worked as a hairdresser since leaving school.
In early 2010, it looked as if she might be losing her job when the owner of the salon where she worked told her that she was selling up and Sarah might need to look somewhere else, or take over the salon!
Sarah got in touch with Five Lamps and worked with Chris Butler, Five Lamps’ Senior Business Development Officer who signposted her onto Stockton’s Enterprise Gateway programme. Chris worked with Sarah over a number of weeks, researching her customers, her pricing and her start up costs in order to produce a business plan.
Five Lamps also helped Sarah access funding from Stockton Council’s Communities Fund and Five Lamps loan fund to enable her to purchase equipment and a specialist hair extensions training course. So in April 2010, she made the decision to go for it and took over the lease for the salon.
The salon is on the mezzanine floor at Fitness First in Preston Park, Stockton so she called it “Sarah@Mezzanine”. Since then she has never looked back, thoroughly enjoying it.
When Chris visited her in June 2011 she said
“I was terrified at the thought of it at first, but now would never dream of going back to working for someone else”
Five Lamps run Communities Fund on behalf of Stockton Council to support people who are unemployed. The Enterprise Gateway is delivered by Five Lamps on behalf of Stockton Borough Council.
This project is funded by the European Union European Regional Development Fund 2007-13 and the Stockton Communities Fund.