insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 13 - March 2016 | Page 95

BUSINESS

JANINA COOPER
Open for only 16 months, but already having seen over 30,000 eager
skateboarders rush through its doors, The Base Skatepark CIC, Bognor
Regis, was the brainchild of Janina Cooper. Sick of seeing kids have
bad accidents on outdoor ramps and of ramps being unusable in bad
weather, Janina had a “lightbulb moment” over coffee with a friend and
decided to build an indoor skatepark.

2014, just 364 days after the business was first envisioned, and she now
employs eight staff. “Originally, myself and my operations manager, Kate,
put The Base forward for the ‘Most Promising New Business’ category at
the Sussex Business Awards, but while Kate was doing the application,
she decided to put me forward for the ‘Boss of the Year’ too,” Janina
said. “I was absolutely stunned to even b