BUSINESS SUPPORT

BUSINESS SUPPORT CASE STUDY

AD:VENTURE Case Study

Lekker Wines is an online wine supplier run by Karol-Ann Hewgill in North Yorkshire. Karol-Ann started off selling wines from her native South Africa, but now sells 450 different wines from around the world, including dozens of varieties from Italy and France. Karol-Ann had been working in London as a sales manager at a magazine, before she moved with her husband to Austwick about 20 years ago. She had several jobs which she juggled around being a mum of three, and then joined a local wine merchant, where she learned all about wine. In January 2020 she left that job and started looking for another. But when the vacancies and interviews dried up, she decided to fall back on her knowledge about the wine trade. “To find myself without a job pre-lockdown and think what am I going to do? And then thinking I have got some wine knowledge and got a garage. I know some suppliers and I know the licensing rules. It came from all of that,” says Karol-Ann. Karol Ann set up Lekker Wines in her garage. Lekker is an informal South African word, meaning ‘cool’. “I just want to choose nice wines, quality wines. The range isn’t vast, but it is wine I am happy to drink and recommend,” says Karol-Ann. Initially she sold to the public via her website, but then had several outlets asking for a trade sales website. It was at this point that she turned to AD:VENTURE for help and advice to set up the website for hotels, bars and shops. She was given a grant of £4,806 to pay for improvements to the website for trade customers to have their own accounts and allow for bulk orders, as well as to pay for IT equipment and marketing materials. She was also given a mentor, Kris Keighley, and invited to AD:VENTURE webinars and workshops. Karol-Ann attended workshops on topics including one on legal matters called ‘getting the basics right’, and others on social media basics, creating engaging online content and business planning. Karol-Ann says: “The online courses were really helpful. I was absolutely clueless about some things as I had only been an employee. I had never employed anyone for example, so didn’t know what I needed to know. “And the webinar about legal aspects was very interesting, because you don’t want to be making mistakes and then saying ‘oh I didn’t know’. I realised through that course there were legal things I wasn’t aware of, but I am now!” Lekker Wines now supplies about a dozen trade customers, with that number likely to increase. Karol-Ann has sold more than 50,000 bottles of wine and is due to take on a member of staff, with plans to take on more. She still trades from her garage, but eventually hopes to expand to a warehouse. “It’s baby steps for me. I can’t believe I have my own business. I always thought I would work for somebody else, but now that I do work for myself I know what I want to achieve,” says Karol-Ann. “It’s been an absolute learning curve and it’s very helpful to have some support and to know that you could just contact somebody for advice,” says Karol-Ann. “I can’t recommend AD:VENTURE enough. The quality of the courses was great, as is the oneon-one help. Kris is so helpful; nothing is too much trouble. “You feel very welcome and that they are on your side and helping you out. And I know that Kris is still there if I need him.”

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