Starting out

Holly Vaughan and Louise Dunn boast 35 years of recruitment experience work between them. They’d been colleagues at an international recruitment agency for many years and always had ambitions to some day go out on their own. When the pair were furloughed due to COVID in 2020, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. They used the time to develop branding, business plans and raise initial capital, and on 1 October 2021 The Recruitment Duo was launched with a simple social media post. 

Their base of Solihull has a large number of head offices, making it the perfect location for their recruitment agency, which specialises in business support recruitment such as Administration, PA, Customer Service, Sales/Marketing, HR and Finance dealing with both permanent and temporary contracts. They are current working with nearly 40 clients and has already helped over 170 people into jobs. 

The Recruitment Duo’s ambition is to become the number one recruitment partner of choice in Solihull and beyond. Having seen a representative turnover increase of 175% from their first to second year of trading, and won awards such as the Solihull Chamber of Commerce “Excellence in Customer Service” 2023, they are on the right path to achieve their business growth goals.

The Duo launched with a humble business loan of £15k, and used their reputation as the key to their launch, getting and filling their first job within the first week. Now that the business is steady, succeeding and ready for growth, the entrepreneurs are focusing more on fundraising. Their next meeting will be with a BGWM specialist Access to Finance Adviser, to get personalised guidance on the right next investment steps to take. 

The Duo are also working with specialist Account Manager Charlotte Bowden who has referred them to opportunities such as the Solihull Female Business Leaders programme. Here they’ve met peers at various stages of their business journeys. It’s a safe space for communicating business challenges in a supportive environment and they are already finding it valuable. Holly commented “it’s a really special programme – you pick up so much from listening to other business owners.” 

Grants

Louise and Holly's experience demonstrates the benefits of leveraging available business support services. By tapping into these resources, they have gained awareness of grants and other funding options they would not have otherwise known about. With the support of Sandra and Charlotte, they are actively working on an application for an SME grant to develop a CRM system. “We’ve been really blown away by opening a door and then finding out how many different people there are to talk to, and they’ve been so so helpful,” Louise explained. “For example we wouldn’t have known that our business is eligible for a grant if we hadn’t accessed business support.”