smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

A network of innovative music classes for young people called Clive’s Easylearn Rock and Pop Schools, has taken the HSBC Enterprise Award in the British Franchise Association’s Franchisor of the Year Awards.

Founder and managing director Clive Brooks accepted the Enterprise category accolade from HSBC’s head of franchising, Cathryn Hayes, at a glittering Awards luncheon held at London’s Savoy Hotel.

The awards seek the top performing franchisors in the UK, rewarding individual excellence and highlighting the increasing influence of a market sector now worth £10 billion a year.

This year, entries were accepted across three separate categories – the Brand Builder of the Year, the award for Enterprise and, for overall achievement, Franchisor of the Year, where the theme was ‘customer focus’.

Brooks aims to give young people between the ages of seven and 16 the chance to get involved in the exciting world of rock music, delivering structured courses to a brand standard but without spending hours concentrating on ‘dots and squiggles’.

His first franchise sold in 2002 and, since then, he has built a network with more than 60 outlets throughout the UK and Ireland. With ten more forecast to start up this year, a steady expansion programme is under way and network turnover for 2007 should exceed £600,000.

‘This is one of the most original ideas we have seen in the awards this year,’ said Hayes, ‘and is an excellent example of the flexibility of franchising. Clive’s success shows how a small business with big ideas can grow and flourish by applying the rules of franchising effectively and imaginatively.’

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