‘I’d recommend anybody to go for it because it helps you to see what you’ve achieved,’ says Ben Hellowell, a finalist at last year’s Isle of Man Newspapers’ Awards for Excellence.
The award for Young Achiever of the Year at last year’s Awards for Excellence was won by Alex Wilson for her fundraising achievements on behalf of Crossroads Care.
In just a few short years she had grown the charity’s annual revenue to £330,000, raising its profile and allowing it to increase its services to carers.
A worthy winner indeed but not the only success story.
As with all the categories at the Awards for Excellence, the standard was high and just being shortlisted was an achievement in itself. Ben Hellowell was a finalist and says he found the whole experience positive and worthwhile.
Like Alex, Ben is undoubtedly a ‘young achiever’.
He started his own company, Just Care, supplying products to assist the elderly and disabled, with a launch at the Royal Manx Show in August 2011.
His showroom on the Spring Valley Industrial Estate displays everything from mobility scooters and reclining chairs to the smaller items that can make easier, such as specialised can openers and tap turners for people with arthritic hands.
Because Ben sells specialist products which physically vulnerable people rely on, there was a lot of dealer training to understand the products and how they could help with people’s everyday lives.
He has learned how to measure a customer for a wheelchair so that they get the right width and depth of seat – important because it not only makes users more comfortable but also helps with circulation.
He has also become an expert at servicing electric scooters and wheelchairs.
And the business is doing well. In tough economic times Ben has been pleased with the increase in his turnover: ‘From Day One, with just me on my own, it has grown over the last two years so that now I employ two other part time people, one in the showroom and one doing deliveries.
‘Over the next five years hopefully I’ll continue to see a steady growth and be able to establish a steady growth in the marketplace,’ he says.
Ben describes the process of filling out the Awards for Excellence entry form as very useful: ‘I think it was certainly a good experience to go through the process: being a new business it almost cemented what we were doing - to see what we had built up, what we’d done,’ he says.
Are You a Young Achiever?
Entries are now being invited for this year’s Awards for Excellence. There are sixteen award categories which include the Isle of Man Bank sponsored Young Achiever Award. This year’s Awards night takes place on November 21. The event will be compered by Hugh Dennis, star of the hit TV comedy ‘Outnumbered’, and screened live online to a worldwide audience. For further details on how to enter the awards, go to www.iomtoday.co.im/afe
