Border Cottage Care (BCC) was registered as an approved domiciliary care provider on the 13th June 2008. The company office was the spare room at the owner Richards’s house! BCC started their first care package on 12th July 2008 with 3 staff working in the office at home and providing care. By August 2008 they realised they had out grown their office at home, as it was becoming increasingly difficult to run the office, train the staff, interview etc.

Richard made numerous enquiries for offices to let, but wasn’t happy with what was offered. There were always problems with, location, parking, size, cost or contract. After discussions with a friend, Richard contacted the Cedars Business centre at Hemsworth.

He made an appointment to visit Cedars and was shown around the facilities the day after. Richard commented, “I was very surprised how my previous issues with offices were solved. Parking, office size, cost and with the additional advantage of conference facilities, kitchen, reception etc. There was no lengthy contract to sign, a real bonus for a small new business. All together this was exceptional value for money. Furthermore the package of business support and advice included has been invaluable for a new start business and has seen us through our initial growth.”

BCC moved in to Cedars in September 2008. Since relocation they have found a very helpful and supportive environment in which to grow the business. They have successfully applied for an Incubation Grant from Wakefield First helped by Cedars staff through the application process. The grant speeded up their progress by being able to buy office and training equipment. BCC are still based at the Cedars and are very happy working from there. They now employ 18 staff from the local district.

This company is evidence of good business incubation in practice as employed by WMDC in helping local people to start survive and thrive in this current economic climate whilst providing good quality employment and jobs.

Cambridge Correlators Limited (CCL) is a technology start-up who has recently been contacted by NASA. CCL is developing a revolutionary technology that uses light to process vast amounts of image data at speeds far beyond the capabilities of electronic systems.

Its co-founder Dr Nicholas New originates from Wakefield and established a base at Cedars in Hemsworth following completion of his doctorate. He has benefited from financial and business planning support provided by the Cedars team and Wakefield Council – and also through the introduction to local supply chains, establishing RDT Precision Optics, based in the Council’s South Elmsall workspace, as its manufacturing partner.

This support has seen CCL develop its patented technology towards a variety of application areas, from biometric recognition, to motion tracking and is currently halfway through a project part funded by an £80,000 Yorkshire Forward grant to create the basis of an optical supercomputer – a project which has the interest of amongst others, IBM. Last year the company began exporting its first products to India, the Middle East and the USA and has recently been approached for technical advice by NASA. Such is the excitement generated that in December CCL was awarded military funding of £76,000 to evaluate a miniaturised version of its technology for use in the defence sector.

CCL is committed to the Wakefield area and is focussed towards increasing production, strengthening the local supply chain and creating local high quality jobs.

Cpr Mortgage Shop, a financial services company operates from the Councils Horbury workspace run by a husband and wife team who are Wakefield citizens.

The company almost went out of business in early 2009 because of the global recession. But with support from the E&I Team both in terms of business support and the reprofiling of accommodation costs the company was helped through the bleak period of early to mid 2009. It now has come through the worst period and has diversified its portfolio of services and has recruited one new employee and is looking towards further expansion. Karen Reynolds director at CPR said, “We can not underestimate the value of the support given to us by the Council at a very difficult time for us. We were on the brink of closing our business, which would have resulted in unemployment and other personal pressures. We were more than fortunate in being located in Council premises. It is not just the quality of accommodation but the additional value of business mentoring, guidance and advice to which you cannot put a price which ultimately saved us and has helped us through the worst period of our lives we have come to experience.

We would recommend to anyone the advantages of being located in WMDC business incubation support network”. The company has re-branded itself and is now called CPR Financial to incorporate additional services it is now able to provide to its customers.

Cream Catering has risen to the top after being awarded New Start Social Enterprise of the Year.

The Coucil-supported company was handed the award at the annual Social enterprise Yorkshire and Humberside Footsey 100 social enterprise trade fair in York this month.

In front of some key people within the regional and national social enterprise work.  Mel Beniston received the award from Tim Campbell - the first winner of the BBC's the Apprentice programme.

Established through Wakefield Coucil's Social Enterprise Project, Cream Catering only started trading 12 months ago and now has around 15 employees working out of two extra care schemes and Pugneys water sports centre.

Cllr Denise Jeffery, Wakefield coucil's deputy leader and cabinet member for regeneration, culture and sport, said "This is wonderful news for Cream and everyone involved.  There is nothing  better than seeing hard work rewarded and Cream is an example of how the Council can support up and coming business in the district and offer more opportunities to more people.

Cream Catering is based at Wakefield Coucil incubation centre;  The Cedars, where they have had the full support of our social enterprise and business support staff in establishing and growing the business.

Mel Beniston, managing director of Cream said "It has been a fantastic first year and we are thrilled by our success at Footsey and we would like to say a big  thanks to the Cedars team for their support.  We have big plans for expansion, including the December launch of a new site in Normanton. Of course the bigger and more profitable we become the more we can invest in our social aim, to provide employment opportunities to those with mental health problems who have been long term unemployed and that can only be a good thing".

Incubation Company matures and moves into the private sector

Onfire Creative a new start company came to Cedars in October 2006. The company was started by 3 friends two of whom are from the Wakefield District having attended Wakefield College. They all had about 10 years design agency experience before deciding to start their own creative and strategic agency.

Karl Lakin, Managing Director said “it made perfect sense for us to use the facilities of the Cedars Business Incubation Centre which were perfect for our IT based business. Furthermore it was the incubation support that attracted us as well as the value for money facilities”.

“The Cedars team have been with us through the initial start up phase and supported us through the pains which all new businesses experience. They have been our advisors and mentors through our growth period providing invaluable guidance and brokering in necessary external help”.

All this has seen Onfire grow into a company with a turnover which has quadrupled over the last three years and increasing the total number of staff to seven.

During their tenure at Cedars the range of services provided have expanded to include insight and research, brand building and development, marketing and media strategy, online and digital media graphic design and advertising. They specialise in making company brand communication and deliver every aspect involved.

Karl Lakin, said, “The world is submerged in brand communications and the need for stand out has never been greater. We can help companies and businesses achieve this by researching their audience, generating valuable insights, developing bold strategies and then producing brilliant and consistently differentiating creative that gets results”.

The growth of the company and the services it now offers has seen Onfire secure major contracts from leading UK companies including Mencap, UK online centres, Northern rail, Lend Lease, Peel Holdings, NHS, UK Coal and this year alone has seen the acquisition of a further 14 more new clients.

Vince a partner said, “We can highly recommend the incubation support provided by Wakefield Council through Cedars Incubation Centre for new start and growing companies such as ourselves. We feel this is an invaluable resource which more businesses should take advantage off, especially in this current economic climate where every bit of support could make the difference between survival and growth to going through some very tough times where some businesses have not survived”.

“We have immensely enjoyed our stay at Cedars which has seen our business take a firm footing in the market place and establishing itself with a good reputation for professionalism within the industry we operate”.” Being young entrepreneurs our self’s the Cedars team invited us to give a presentation at the Make Your Mark event hosted by Wakefield College encouraging young people to consider self employment as an option. We found this rewarding and helped us identify young people whose IT skills and expertise we could even use within our own company”.

Karl said, “With the success we have enjoyed with the support of the incubation service it was only a matter of time before we moved on into the private sector. You could say that we are a perfect example of the Cedars ethos, helping companies start, survive and thrive as we spread our wings, but knowing that Cedars, having a strong alumni ethos will always be there for us if required.