Tea Powered Projects
Ashfield Accelerator is a brand-new business support project designed to help established businesses based in the District of Ashfield find practical solutions to improve commercial operations leading to sustainable growth. This is being funded by Ashfield District Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and delivered by East Midlands Chamber.
About Tea Powered Projects:
Tea Powered Projects started as a side business in 2016 for web developer, Callum Robley. Five years later, Callum left his job to work full time on the business. It provides a full range of digital services including websites, search engine optimisation, marketing, IT solutions and cyber security. He employs two people and is based in Linby, Nottingham
Challenges faced:
One of the greatest barriers for Tea Powered Projects has been growing the business from one person to becoming an employer, and the associated costs. There was also a need to upgrade the technology to support a growing company. There was a desire to grow and offer more services, but resources were limited
The solutions and impact:
Tea Powered Projects has been supported by Ashfield Accelerator and Chamber Business Adviser, Richard Crowden. Callum has taken advantage of the one-to-one business advice and diagnostic from Accelerator including the creation of an action plan for growth.
Callum attended the ‘Ashfield Grants: How to make a successful application event’ run by Accelerator last June and after hearing about the Ashfield Enterprise Development Grant decided to apply. With guidance on the application from Richard, the business was successfully awarded £6,000 in grant funding.
The grant has enabled Tea Powered Projects to move from a home office to a fully functioning office location in Linby, complete with a fully secure networking setup, cyber security equipment, an upgraded server and equipment for staff.
It will enable Tea Powered Projects to take on more clients and introduce more services, including AI Search Engine Optimization and Managed IT projects. With the new faster server their cloud costs have fallen, and they have an increased capacity for work.
Callum comments: “Our build times are down from 20 to 30 minutes to 5 to 10 minutes. We build around 20 to 30 times a week now on different projects. Building projects in-house has also saved us £5,000 a year in cloud costs.”
Additionally, two new jobs have been created as a result of the support and funding.
A word from the business:
“The Chamber has been helpful throughout the whole project and Richard has been very supportive. The amount of knowledge and advice available in just one phone call is fantastic!”
Callum Robley, Managing Director