How many times has a conversation sparked some great creative thoughts?
As a member of Opendoorz I find I have some of my best ideas watching the showcases of my fellow networkers. Seeing how they manage and run their businesses, the different areas that they cover, the different types of clients that they work with, and how they approach challenges is inspiring, motivating, and energising.
In the Oxford Group, three members have taken this one step further.
Ben Gardener was doing a showcase (an opportunity to share information about his business) and he talked about The Environment Act was going to impact his industry.
This legislation was going to create change, challenge, and opportunities. Two other group members also saw the potential of this opportunity.
They turned an industry challenge into a new business venture.
Civity was formed bringing together expertise in Ecology, Land Management and Finance to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ solution for Developers who need to offset their biodiversity impacts and Landowners who want to use part of their land to benefit biodiversity.
David Haines and Sam Farmer both have a range of business and financial knowledge, awareness and understanding of how to build businesses. And together, combined with Ben’s deep knowledge of the ecology sector translate into a business that answers some challenges created by the new legislation.
The extra bonus? These three have set up this new business from scratch and Ben told me what made this new business such an easy decision was the strength of the relationships that he’d built with both Sam and David over his years within the group.
These foundations meant that Civity came to life so much more quickly and so much more easily than it could have done if this had been a brand new venture for three less familiar people.
Carolyn Ohara from the Henley Group is another example of how these strong relationships make setting up and creating new businesses.
Opendoorz is so much more than networking. It’s building a community of trusted, like-minded advisers and colleagues who have your back when things are good and are there to support you when things are harder. And sometimes even New Businesses are created!
