Member Article

London holistic startup expands following support from Lloyds Bank

London-based personal development and wellbeing start-up has expanded following enterprise mentoring support from Lloyds Bank.

Located in Kentish Town, Orange Moon provides a number of holistic products and services including advice on health, leisure and general wellbeing.

The business’ aim is to educate, inspire and motivate busy adults through interactive games and activities, helping them achieve well-rounded and balanced lifestyles.

Having previously worked as an analyst for a large UK charity, founder of Orange Moon, Naomi Davidson, launched the business last January after she decided to turn her passion for holistics into a career.

Since then, she has run numerous workshops with businesses across London, helping staff manage stress levels in fast-paced environments.

Following a local business exhibition, Naomi was introduced to the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE), through which she was able to sign up for additional business support from a qualified enterprise mentor.

The IOEE partnered Naomi with Wayne Mills, a qualified enterprise mentor and director of Global Trade and Receivables at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

Through a series of regular meetings, Wayne helped Naomi develop her business strategy and refine new ideas for the business.

As a result of the support, Naomi is preparing to introduce new IT and marketing departments after taking her business idea from paper to reality, as well as investing in full-time staff for her wellbeing sessions, after previously having to use freelancers.

Naomi said: “Wayne has been immensely useful and if it hadn’t had been for his mentoring, I wouldn’t have been able to progress Orange Moon as much as I have. Being a mentee means that I always have someone to call if I have any questions, and with Wayne’s 20 years of professional experience, I know that there’s very little he hasn’t seen or dealt with before.

“Through the mentoring scheme, I have been able to network with other mentees and gain insights from them too. I also recently gave a talk at a British Bankers Association conference about my mentee experiences, which enabled me to take away new presentation skills and contacts.”

Wayne Mills said: “Lloyds Bank has played an important role in the development and launch of this Government-backed mentoring scheme, and I was keen to volunteer myself so I could share my insights with others.

“It has always been a passion of mine to help nurture and develop people’s strengths, so mentoring gave me a great opportunity to do more of this outside of my normal day job which involves supporting multi-national corporate clients.

“Naomi is very ambitious and has some fantastic ideas that can benefit the lives of many people. It’s encouraging to see that entrepreneurialism is very much alive in the UK and schemes like this are available to help small businesses prosper.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .