John Mochan’s Property & Landscaping  

22/08/22

Restarting and regrowing a business after experiencing challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst also actively seeking employment can seem extremely daunting. With the support and guidance from the Focus Futures team, John Mochan’s Property and Landscaping business journey has resumed and bounced back better than ever.

How did Focus Futures support

John, from Tenby, Pembrokeshire, was referred to the Focus Futures team by his Job Coach, Jill at Jobcentre Plus, Haverfordwest. After assessing John’s application, Business Advisor Michelle Howlin and Administrator James Masri focused their support on working towards the ‘Barriers to Start Up’ grant, funded by the Welsh Government. This is a £1million fund to enable economically inactive, unemployed individuals and young people not in education, employment or training, to start their own business.  

The Barriers to Start Up grant application was successful, and John was awarded funds to invest in his Property and Landscaping business. The grant comes as part of a package of support that includes one-to-one advice and webinars to build confidence in business practices and develop plans for starting a business.

“The service provided was excellent and I can’t thank Michelle and James enough for their support throughout the process. I would also like to thank Enterprise Hub Co-ordinator, Gareth Thomas at Shared Spaces Haverfordwest for his involvement. I would recommend Focus Futures to all friends and family who have any thoughts about starting a business.”  

Next Steps

The Barriers to Start Up grant has provided a financial platform for John to continue his journey into the world of self-employment and will continue to receive business advice and support from the Focus Futures team, as he builds confidence to progress the business.  

Receiving advice and support from Focus Futures, the grant via the Business Wales service and valuable guidance from Shared Spaces, all delivered by Business in Focus, demonstrates how our teams have all collaborated and worked alongside each other cohesively to offer the best opportunity for John in his business journey. 

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund