It was my pleasure to visit the Business Hive premises on Dudley Street this week, to meet with Mark Webb and Bailey Greetham-Clark.
Mark is the Managing Director of E-Factor, the company that owns and runs the Business Hive Club, through which they give support to small businesses and help local people to achieve their personal business goals. To date, E-Factor has over 300 members, all local companies, all employing and supporting local people, and all contributing to our local economy.
We discussed how and why micro-enterprises are so important here in Great Grimsby, and why it is paramount that those running these businesses have the correct support to ensure security for not only themselves but also the people they employ. Mark says that many people he works with have been grateful for the Government’s furlough scheme and would have suffered greatly without it, and we reflected on other ways to give help to smaller Grimsby businesses.
One shining example of a business that has flourished under Mark’s guidance is Be Great Fitness, founded by Bailey Greetham-Clark when he was just 17 years old. Bailey is an extremely impressive young man who has created a company that strives to provide fitness activities at no cost to groups such as those with disabilities, mothers, and schoolchildren. His business idea came to him when he was in the process of “needing a change” after being, as Bailey puts it, a bit “stuck” in life.
He found fitness, and wanted to “make it more accessible, as not everyone who wants a personal trainer can afford it.” This is at the centre of Be Great Fitness, and you can tell that its main purpose is about inclusivity and promoting better health and well-being for all.
Bailey is now 19 and has achieved great things since his initial leap into the business world around two years ago. I look forward to seeing him and Be Great Fitness develop, and I am hopeful for the great things he will bring to our constituency in the near future – he has big plans!
It was an honour to meet with both Mark and Bailey and I thank them for giving me their valuable time to do so. I would urge residents to have a look at the Business Hive and E-factor websites to see just how successful some of our local companies are– yet another reason to be proud to live in Great Grimsby!
