HOW ‘CREDIT ANGEL’ SHEILA CHADHA HELPS BUSINESSES

Sheila Chadha, Managing Director of The Credit Collections Company Ltd, talks to Sarah Dale about why now is the time to grow and how the business community has supported her during difficult times

Sheila Chadha’s resilience and ability to adapt to adversity gives her an extra tenacity to fight for her clients.

She is the Managing Director of The Credit Collections Company, which she founded six years ago in 2018. The company’s services include credit management, credit control and debt collection.

Sheila, AKA the ‘Credit Angel’, has 25 years’ experience in credit management and debt recovery gained at a range of companies including IBM, Virgin and Leyland, and she also ran her own wedding events business for several years.

When she began to struggle with her eyesight and was eventually diagnosed with keratoconus in 2001, she had to admit that she needed to give up her successful wedding events business. She had resigned herself to “being a housewife” and looking after her three sons full-time.

She was registered as legally blind in 2011. She has undergone two corneal transplants which have “given her a second chance of life”.

“I am a big believer in life is what you make it,” says Sheila, who is a member of Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s important to move forward. It’s happened, I can’t change it so how do I mould my future into something I can control?

“Once you have been an entrepreneur, you can’t help yourself. I wanted to do something again. I liked looking after my family but I felt the itchy bug again of running my own business.”

So began her return to credit control and debt recovery, a field she is passionate about. She loves nothing more than solving problems for her clients and sourcing their owed money. She has grown to a team of four with a fifth staff member due to start soon. It was her “amazing” team who stepped up to support Sheila and the business when her husband died last year.

“I even promoted one of my team and made her full-time because of how she stepped up when I needed support,” she says.

“When you take on staff who are gems, you have to hold onto them.”

It has been a very difficult year for Sheila, having lost her husband and trying to adjust to life without him. She has also had the added pressures of running her own business and running her late husband’s three hospitality businesses, which she has decided to close.

“I’m capable of doing it all but now it’s too much and you have to think about your own mental health,” says Sheila, who relies on both contact lenses and glasses.

“It’s time for me to get back into the driving seat and get the word out there about what we do.”

Sheila is proud that The Credit Collections Company won Innovative Business of the Year award at the Institute of Accounting and Bookkeepers (IAB) awards this year. The company has also been approved as a supplier of the IAB.

“Our business is not about making big profits,” she says.

“My aim is to get the message out there, especially to small or micro businesses the importance of credit control and preventing bad debts. Most of our clients either can't afford to have someone in-house, don't know what to do or they do, but don't have the time and resources to do it. That’s where we come in.

“Some businesses give away credit like candy and on the flipside, there are those who don’t give credit to anyone.

“Our job is to realise sales. That’s the power of good credit managers.”

Sheila, who is a certified member of The Chartered Institute of Credit Management, says the challenge for her business is ensuring that it is both affordable to clients and makes enough profit to grow.

She plans to scale up the business and take on more staff members – another credit controller and a debt recovery specialist –recruited from the Philippines.

“Part of my business model is servicing from abroad,” she says.

“Big companies are already doing it. Covid opened the barriers to people working from home.

“The Philippines is an English-speaking country and costs are a little lower than South Africa. We don’t outsource, they all work in the company, and I am very particular about security and who I take on. My team is very hardworking and loyal.

“We are growing purposefully slowly. I know what it’s like to fail; I’ve been there. I had a very successful wedding business which I started when my children were babies, but unfortunately losing my eyesight meant I had to close it down. So I understand that things happen that can affect people paying their debts on time, but it’s the people who refuse to pay who get a rude awakening from me and I will work hard on my clients’ behalf. Things have to be done responsibly. I closed my business down responsibly ensuring everyone was paid.”

She also plans to hold educational webinars next year helping small business owners understand the importance of credit control.

Sheila joined Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce about five months ago in a bid to increase her presence in the business community.

“It’s been a difficult year, I have had to readapt and rethink everything, but now I want to get myself back out there,” she says.

"When I lost vision in one of my eyes recently and could not drive, I was amazed at how my local business community rallied around to support me, so I could continue to network and help people. When we recently won the IAB award, everyone celebrated our win in my husband's absence, who many knew well.

“The Chamber champions businesses in the area and my heart is here in Hillingdon. A lot of people know me in Hillingdon and Harrow and it is important on a local level for businesses to support one another."

For more information about The Credit Collections Company, visit www.thecreditcollectionscompany.co.uk