Family
BUSINESS
Family businesses have been the backbone of the UK economy for generations. Today Poundbury’ s growing hub of businesses is home to many of these. Miriam Phillips meets families working alongside each other to find out the secret to growing a family business
Starting your own business and running it each day through its highs and lows is certainly a challenge. That’ s why many choose to do it alongside their loved ones and build a thriving, sustainable future for their family. More than two-thirds of businesses in the UK are family owned according to the Institute for Family Businesses. Inside the shops, cafés and offices in Poundbury you’ ll find family after family working alongside each other. Perhaps this is because in such a small area there are 180 businesses employing 2,019 members of staff, with many of these living locally and juggling work around family lives. Inside one of the most creative shops in Poundbury, sisters Nicci Campbell and Emma Hamriding run the quirky Angel Cake Company in Lydgate Street. Inside you’ ll find the duo either creating beautiful cakes or speaking to customers who have embraced the do-it-yourself bake-off culture and have come in to choose from their collection of decorations. Before opening the shop in 2007 Nicci was already making cakes from home and decided to take
“ I can’ t see anything changing now. We’ ve become a good team and it certainly has brought us closer together”
the business to the next level with mum Pauline. Younger sister Emma came on board a year later and the sisters have been working together ever since. As with most sisters their relationship is close, with both of them reporting that sparks do occasionally fly, but ultimately it is a relationship of deep trust and that is the bedrock of any successful company.“ Some days it is just us all day long, so there are times when we don’ t agree,” describes Nicci affectionately.“ But whatever happens one is usually calm when the other is panicked and vice versa. It works.” There is not a day that goes past when you don’ t see this creative pair locked in their cake kitchen. They estimate they have handmade a staggering 4,500 cakes in the last nine years, which have been the showpiece for many weddings, birthdays and special occasions. Emma says the key to making family businesses work is to always play to your strengths. For instance, Emma is the cake designer and takes care of the book keeping, while Nicci is the‘ ideas person’ and covers the logistics.
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