Case Studies from November 2025

Sector: Retail & Decor

Location: Chesterfield

Chesterfield-based Paper Starlights has been trading for nearly 30 years. It makes, sells and distributes traditional, handmade paper star lantern and light decorations.

Its primary business activities are retail, wholesale and decorative installations mainly in the UK. Five years ago, kickstarted by the pandemic, the business went online expanding from retail into wholesale across multiple platforms.

Its small team of designers and makers spans three continents, working together on design, materials, and sustainable product and production development.

There are three permanent members of the UK team, founders Andy Jupp and Jules Cooper together with Head of Digital & Operations, Becky Wood.

The business was recently recognised nationally after being shortlisted for Retail & Wholesale Champion at the prestigious Good Business Awards in Liverpool.

Challenges faced

Paper Starlights’ analytics indicated that a large percentage of its online traffic was coming from the USA presenting an exciting opening. Therefore, during the last year, the business has been pursuing three growth opportunities:

1. Working with an American partner to engage in physical and digital retail activities which included an American ‘.us’ website using the Paper Starlights name, branding and know-how.
2. Developing an artistic installation using the company’s paper star product for heritage buildings and visitor attractions on a site-specific basis in the UK. A pilot took place in Bath Abbey with the installation running from November 2024-January 2025.
3. Initiating a mentoring programme to support young, socially driven entrepreneurs by supporting them with their own business franchises.

Outcomes of this growth was the opportunity for further expansion in the USA by applying the partnership model to other localised US micro-businesses to ensure more widespread market penetration; future proofing the .us website and applying the installation model to US visitor attractions and seasonal events.

However, these opportunities came with a great deal of risk. Without a robust legal framework and methodology behind it, the company was unable to take any further steps without making itself vulnerable. It was accepted that the risks would outweigh the opportunities, which stopped any progress into these areas.

Solution – Support Given

Paper Starlights has been working with East Midlands Chamber’s Senior Business Adviser, Peter Lawrence and the Accelerator programme. Peter introduced the business to the support on offer from the Export Accelerator project which supports businesses to expand or explore overseas markets.

With Peter’s guidance and support, the business was able to apply for and secure funding of £4,760 (80% of the total project cost £5,950) from Export Accelerator to create a legal ‘toolkit’ of commercial contracts that would enable the team to explore, navigate and implement potential business relationships in the US with confidence and immediate effect.

To support skills development, the team also attended the Chamber’s AI & Digital Marketing Conference this year and Jules attended the UK-US Free Trade Agreement Accelerator webinar.

Impact - The Difference it’s Made

The business now has a full legal toolkit of documentation drafted specifically for a range of commercial transactions requiring the interpretation of US law. This has enabled it to continue exploring the US market with confidence.

Crucially it enables the company’s creative and intellectual property to be developed into income streams with full legal protections. It has identified a niche market for potential partnership working in the US, centring on the nascent European Christmas Market industry across America. It is now exporting to markets like Michigan, Ohio and California, providing future opportunities for developing ‘décor for sale’ and sustainable fair-trade models.

Due to increased wholesale and export orders, current turnover at this point in the company’s financial year, compared to the same period last year has increased by 28%. It is anticipated that within the next financial year, Becky will require the support of an assistant Operations Manager to manage her increased workload.

“What’s really exciting for us is that we can bring together several of our core activities, and cross pollinate and experiment.

In the UK we’re working with young socially driven entrepreneurs, helping them to set themselves up with sustainability focussed business models, and as we expand into the US and the emerging European style Christmas market industry there, to do the same there.

The support enables us to pursue our passion as a business, to spread light and joy in a mutually profitable, and ultimately sustainable way. Our franchise model in the UK Christmas market industry now becomes a very real template for our further expansion across the water.”

- Andy Jupp, Co-founder

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Sector: Manufacturing

Location: North East Derbyshire

Founded in 1999 and based in Dronfield, Derbyshire, West Special Fasteners specialises in manufacturing high-quality stainless steel fasteners for a range of sectors, including defence, construction, renewable energy, oil and gas and even heritage restoration.

The company designs and manufactures custom solutions and precision-engineered bolts for many challenging environments. It operates in over 35 countries, supplying precision-engineered fasteners and has a 60 strong workforce.

Challenges faced

Following a Management Buyout in 2024, the new leadership team at West Special Fasteners were keen to build a stronger understanding of the regional manufacturing landscape and the opportunities available closer to home.

Until then, they hadn’t been involved with local business groups and recognised that they could be missing out on valuable connections. By joining the East Midlands Manufacturing Network (EMMN), led by East Midlands Chamber, they aimed to establish relationships with other local manufacturers, share knowledge, and explore opportunities for collaboration complementing the support already provided through their national trade association membership.

The team were also keen to learn more about the business support available through the Chamber and its partners, from funding opportunities to skills development and export advice, all of which could play an important role in delivering their ambitious growth strategy both in the UK and internationally.

Solution – Support Given

Through the EMMN forum meetings James Hawkins (CEO) and Simon Grass-Smith (Business Development Manager) have built valuable relationships with fellow manufacturers and EMMN partners which has directly supported development and delivery of its business growth strategy.

Their Sales and Marketing Apprentice has benefitted from attending EMMN meetings, gaining early exposure to professional networking. This experience not only supports confidence and skill development but also contributes towards formal apprenticeship learning outcomes.

Through the EMMN meetings the business heard about the Accelerator business support programme and have taken advantage of 1-to-1 business advice and mentoring from Chamber Business Adviser, Richard Crowden.

With guidance on the application from Richard, West Special Fasteners has secured an Export Accelerator Grant of £8,000 (total project cost £10,504). Currently the business exports to English speaking countries including Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, USA, Finland and Australia. At the moment they see very few enquiries from France, Germany and Brazil but think they could be big markets. The funding will be used to make website improvements to cover these regions, not only in language but also using SEO for those regions. An increase in enquiries will mean higher productivity coming from new territories.

The business has also made the most of skills training attending Accelerator workshops including Practical Guide to Marketing, Negotiating with your Customer – Hints and Tips, Introduction to Marketing AI and ChatGPT as well as several sustainability webinars.

It was also successful in securing the Chamber’s £2,000 Bursary which will enable Sales Director, Tim Wilson to attend the Five-Day Director Development Training programme ensuring senior leadership capability grows alongside the business.

Looking ahead, the management team is working with the Chamber’s Innovation team to explore additional support through Innovate UK.

West Special Fasteners have begun engagement with Innovate UK Business Growth with the senior management team having completed a GrowthMapper diagnostic. Further support is planned for next year.

“Richard’s support and the Export Accelerator grant have made a real difference to our plans for expanding into new overseas markets.”

- James Hawkins, CEO

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Sector: Beauty

Location: Nottingham

From its historic location in the heart of Nottingham, Lace Market Aesthetics prides itself on delivering a unique approach to tailored aesthetic treatments and supplementary lifestyle advice.

The clinic offers both facial aesthetics and body treatments such as fat reduction and cellulite treatment.

Front of stage is Clinic Director Tatiana Hallam who personally carries out all treatments, marrying her skills as a fully qualified and accredited Aesthetic Practitioner with her former career as a ballet dancer to bring artistry, precision and care to her clients. Husband David leads on all the behind-the-scenes activities including marketing and bookkeeping.

Challenges faced

Working in an industry where discretion is valued, the business can be described as a ‘best kept secret’. It is typically unable to rely on ‘word of mouth’ recommendations so needs a stronger focus than most on how it reaches a wider audience in Nottingham and beyond.

The facial aesthetics industry is undergoing a constant evolution as new products and procedures are brought to market. The company needs to seize these opportunities to ensure it stays ahead of the curve in the most advanced, niche treatments.

Solution – Support Given

By talking through their plans at length with East Midlands Chamber Business Adviser Richard Crowden, it was clear that an Accelerator growth voucher for digital support would be highly beneficial. Local digital marketing agency Tea Powered Projects was commissioned to offer consultancy support; in particular, to aid the business in launching delivery of the Exobloom® service, which is designed to regenerate skin, stimulate collagen, reduce inflammation and promote overall skin health.

Impact – The Difference it’s Made

Accelerator support is enabling the husband-and-wife team to gain a better understanding of the digital elements that power their marketing. This includes consultancy support on general SEO such as how to maintain and improve rankings and introduce processes that can be documented and followed by staff members, on social media including reviews of Facebook and Instagram performance, and on local SEO such as creating, managing and maintaining local ranking using Google Business Profile.

“East Midlands Chamber Business Adviser Richard Crowden was extremely supportive in identifying which areas of the business we needed to work on and introduced us to Tea Powered Projects, a digital marketing agency also based in the city. The team there have been guiding us through every aspect of SEO and digital marketing so that we can approach the market in the most effective and impactful way.”

- Tatiana Hallam, Clinic Director

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Sector: Servicing Portable Toilets

Location: Chesterfield

Get Loos is a Chesterfield based business covering the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

Established in September 2021, it provides fully serviced portable toilets to the construction and events industries. There are currently six full-time employees and one part-time.

Challenges faced

As a young and fast-growing business, one of its biggest challenges has been scaling sustainably, while navigating an unstable economy, high inflation and the ripple effects of customers going out of business. To keep up with demand, Get Loos has had to continually invest in new assets, but accessing finance at the right time and at sustainable rates, has proved one of the hardest parts of the journey.

Beyond the financial hurdles, the business has also faced growing pains internally such as keeping up with enquiries, managing customers efficiently, and ensuring nothing slips through the cracks as it expands.

Adam Sinnott, co-founder, comments: “We knew we needed better systems and stronger leadership structures to match the pace of our growth, but finding the right guidance and tools wasn’t always easy.”

Solution – Support Given

Get Loos has been supported by East Midlands Chamber’s Senior Business Adviser, Peter Lawrence and the Accelerator project. Peter conducted a thorough business review to understand where the business was and its growth aspirations.

During the 1-to-1 meetings they established that Get Loos was eligible for the High Growth Accelerator project, which helps scaling businesses in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Peter provided guidance on the application process helping the business secure a high growth grant of £5,616. This has enabled Get Loos to implement a new CRM system and automation tools which have transformed the way they handle enquiries and customer relationships.

Peter also supported the business with its application for a £2,000 Growth Voucher. This funding has been used to develop a strategic management process - using an external consultant - giving the team space to step back from day-to-day operations and see the business from an aerial view. This will be a game-changer in helping Get Loos make better decisions and focus on what really drives growth.

Adam commented: “Through Peter’s support we finally found someone who genuinely took the time to understand our business, our challenges and our ambitions. Peter has been amazing, not only helping us find practical solutions but also encouraging us to think bigger and run the business with more clarity and confidence.”

Accelerator has also funded a place for Adam to attend the Chamber’s five-day Director Development programme. Adam believes this will strengthen his leadership skills and give the team valuable tools to run the business more effectively, not just for today but in the future.

Recently, Adam has also attended the Access to Finance workshop, part of the High Growth Academy series, which provided a road map to understanding and securing funding.

Impact – The Difference it’s Made

The support has had a huge impact on the business and team. Implementing the CRM system and automation tools has completely streamlined how Get Loos manage enquiries, quotes and customer follow up. This has saved the business around 15 hours a week in administration time, increased conversions and significantly reduced missed opportunities.

Business processes are now far more efficient, allowing Get Loos to handle higher volumes of work without needing to immediately expand the administration team. It has also improved communication between departments, giving it clearer visibility of the customer journey from enquiry to collection.

The investment has made Get Loos more competitive, safeguarded jobs and set it up for sustainable growth. It’s also freed up valuable time and headspace to explore its longer-term goals including acquiring other portable toilet businesses and seeking investment partners to accelerate expansion across the Midlands and beyond.

“The support from East Midlands Chamber has been transformational and Peter has been incredible. He genuinely cares and took time to understand who we are, and what we’re trying to achieve.

The High Growth Grant, Growth Voucher and training have not only improved how we run the business day-to-day, but also how we think as business owners.

We’re now more structured, more confident and more in control of our growth than ever before. I only wish we’d found this support years before.”

- Adam Sinnott, Co-founder

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Sector: Education

Location: Nottingham

Mariposa Education and Training is based in Nottingham and was set up in April 2021 by Vanessa McFarlane.

Vanessa is a sole trader who is supported by 2 or 3 freelancers in her business. The business delivers high quality Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) to young people in schools, communities, colleges and universities. It also provides expert training to equip staff from these organisations with the skills and confidence to delivery effective and inclusive RSHE.

Challenges faced

The main challenge for the business centred around generating new business to be able to get into new schools and organisations. Although the benefits of social media were recognised, there was a lack of time and experience to put an effective plan together to engage with the target audience and build a following.

On top of this, shrinking budgets and demand to spend it on other things has led many schools to deliver more in-house RSHE, which is reducing the need for external suppliers.

Solution – Support Given

Mariposa Education and Training has been supported by the Nottingham Accelerator project. East Midlands Chamber’s Business Adviser Richard Crowden has conducted a diagnostic with the business to find out where it is now and its growth plans. Richard has provided 1-to-1 advice to Vanessa and helped her apply for a £2,000 Growth Voucher. This has funded specialist social media consultancy and training through Klir Online, a business already familiar with Mariposa Education and Training.

Klir Online will support Vanessa to enhance her social media skills and improve the digital presence of the business, to make it more visible and generate leads.

Vanessa is introducing new processes to manage her social media presence on Instagram and Facebook, which is enabling a more strategic approach. She hopes to learn how to use social media as a more effective marketing tool to increase bookings for her services in education, training and life coaching.

Impact – The Difference it’s Made

It’s early days but Vanessa hopes with a planned and strategic approach to her digital marketing, this will provide increased business, in particular lead generation through social media platforms. In the long term her aim would be to hire someone to take on this role and incorporate the use of AI to grow the business.

“I’m excited about the support being given. The Growth Voucher will help improve my skills and give me a better understanding of AI. I hope this will help increase the business profile and knowledge and ultimately lead to new business.”

- Vanessa McFarlane, Founder

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Sector: Retail

Location: North East Derbyshire

Nibbles, Needles and Hooks is a wool and coffee shop based in Lower Pilsley, North East Derbyshire. It was established in February 2023 and is owned by former teacher Liz Grec and partner, Simon Edwards, who runs the coffee shop.

In essence the business is a welcoming space where people can sit, drink coffee, make and talk. It has helped grow and nurture friendships across various ages, backgrounds and geographies. Liz is proud to provide their small village with a focal point, open five days a week, that offers a place for them to visit and build connections.

Nibbles, Needles and Hooks also sells its goods online from a range of local, national and international makers, supporting other small businesses as much as possible.

Challenges faced

The small size of the building has meant the business cannot reach a large instore audience, so Liz has been looking at the online store as a way of increasing sales. However, the online store struggles to compete with the larger businesses who have very large online and print advertising budgets. The current website was found to have limited SEO features which was further limiting online reach.

Solution – Support Given

Working on a 1-to-1 basis with East Midlands Chamber’s Business Adviser, David Smith, Liz was quickly able to establish the direction of support needed to grow the business. The business is being supported through the Accelerator project.

Liz knew the website was holding her back from more online sales. After completing an online Digital Marketing course, she felt the current site’s SEO needed improvement. However, through conversations with a consultant, signposted by David, the limitations of the current site were highlighted including the website platform being used.

The business was able to apply for a £2,000 Growth Voucher, through Accelerator, which was used for specialist website consultancy support from Rob Gregory of Magnifica. Rob has helped Liz to build a new website which will address all the shortcomings for the old site, including increased SEO capabilities.

Liz comments: “The knowledge I have gained regarding building my own ecommerce website will enable me to continue to work at increasing SEO and making every individual product more visible.”

The task of transferring 800 individually listed products from the existing site is huge and this is something Liz will be working on in coming months.

Impact – The Difference it’s Made

A better website will mean higher rankings on Google searches bringing better visibility among the target audience and increased online sales. A longer-term goal is to link the website to the business’ POS system and streamline the inventory across the two. This will save man hours in the processing of stock items.

Liz commented that the hours saved through the consultancy support from Rob Gregory, is “immeasurable”. The old website was built over 2 ½ years ago by Simon via GoDaddy, and stock listed was half what it is now. Liz added that Rob’s advice on navigating the new platform (WordPress and WooCommerce) has saved hours and hours of trial and error. Rob was able to guide Liz on a number of things including how to create templates, the most efficient way to organise stock items, and what information was needed for each listing, to make it most visible to search engines, like Google.

“I am incredibly happy with the support I’ve received from the Chamber and for the Growth Voucher. It has enabled me to receive support and guidance that otherwise would have been far beyond my current means.

While the outcome is still in progress I have more than enough knowledge to make this happen myself now.”

- Liz Grec, Owner

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Sector: Manufacturing

Location: Erewash

With their headquarters based in Erewash, Derbyshire, Atlas Composite Technologies Ltd is a leading UK-based manufacturer of advanced composite tooling, components, and assemblies.

Originally established in 1998 it came under its current ownership in 2017. The business is led by Managing Director Ben Swain, supported by a senior management team. Today the company employs approximately 100 full time staff and is rapidly expanding.

Atlas Composite Technologies Ltd specialises in the design and manufacture of composite tooling, as well as the production of lightweight, high-performance composite parts and assemblies. Its solutions are used across a range of sectors, including aerospace, defence, motorsport, and niche automotive.

Challenges faced

There were several barriers the business was facing driven by a combination of different factors. The greatest being increases in energy costs which had an impact on parts of the business and led to uncertainty around the true cost of manufacture. This also meant that they struggled to identify how best to tackle these issues and make savings in energy and labour costs. In particular, the business recognised the need to embrace greater digitalisation across all functions and was still at the early stages of this process.

Solution – Support Given

Head of Strategy, Grace Atkinson engaged with the Accelerator project and, with guidance from Business Adviser Richard Smallwood, explored opportunities for business growth and in particular how they could address the various challenges that they were facing. Together, they identified digitalisation as a key driver for progress. On this advice, Grace was introduced to Tim Telford of Devtank, who are a Derby based business specialising in test, measurement, and smart solutions. With Tim and his team’s expertise Atlas developed a detailed plan and proposal to introduce sophisticated digital monitoring equipment across key parts of the business.

With this proposal, Atlas successfully applied for a Research and Development grant from Erewash Borough Council, securing the maximum amount of £20,000. This funding enabled the installation of energy monitoring equipment, giving the business accurate insight into the true cost of manufacture within key processes across their business.

The Atlas Team have also taken part in a range of workshops to support ongoing growth, including Carbon Literacy training and skills workshops on team management and harnessing AI.

Following the Harnessing AI workshop, Grace recognised how the business could benefit from adopting this technology. With adviser support, Atlas have applied for a £2,000 Growth Voucher under the Derbyshire Accelerator project. This funding will be used to access consultancy on integrating AI (Microsoft Copilot) in their business. The consultancy will be delivered by Martin Broadhurst from Broadhurst Digital.

The business has further benefited from Chamber networks such as the East Midlands Manufacturing Network and is now looking forward to exploring international opportunities through the Export Accelerator.

Impact – The Difference it’s Made

The investment in the new monitoring system should make a huge difference to the business. The business now has greater visibility of manufacturing costs, helping to improve efficiency, margins and competitiveness. This in turn will create opportunities for growth, job creation, and staff development, while safeguarding existing roles.

“The support that we’ve had from the Chamber has been excellent and we have been particularly impressed with the way business advice has been provided allowing us to go at our own speed, which is a real breath of fresh air. We would recommend the Chamber’s funded support programmes to other SMEs.”

- Ben Swain, Managing Director

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Sector: Renewable Energy

Location: Erewash

LJM Solutions was set up in March 2023, right in the middle of global uncertainty about energy prices. Its mission is to help homes and businesses take control of their energy future through safe, high-quality electrical and solar installations.

The family business, which started in a garden shed, has grown quickly and now has a team of 14 skilled electricians, solar engineers and office administrators, all sharing the same goal to make a real difference to people, businesses and the planet.
Its work spans residential, commercial and social housing from large scale solar energy installations and rewiring projects to community retrofit programmes and domestic homes across England. It is based in Long Eaton, Derbyshire and its vision is to power a cleaner, more resilient future for the communities it serves.

Challenges faced

LJM Solution’s biggest barrier to growth right now is skills. The business employs a talented team of qualified electricians and solar engineers encompassing a diverse workforce from the local area. It also has a strong apprenticeship programme to develop the next generation of renewable energy professionals.  But despite this, they feel a broader regional effort is needed to build skills capacity and while national policy and government targets focus heavily on decarbonisation, the region still lacks the skills and qualified people to deliver it.

LJM Solutions feel without substantial and sustained investment in local training its ability to grow at the same pace will be constrained.

Solution – Support Given

The business has been supported by East Midlands Chamber’s Business Adviser, Richard Smallwood through the Accelerator programme. Richard also previously worked with LJM Solutions while at Erewash Partnership.

Richard has undertaken a business diagnostic helping LJM Solutions access the right kind of support to move it forward. With guidance on the application, it secured a Growth Voucher with funding of £1,800 towards the cost of specialist consultancy which has been invested in SEO for its website.

Through Erewash Borough Council, LJM Solutions also secured a £20,000 grant from the Research and Development Fund which has allowed them to start developing a new product for the solar energy sector – a potential game changer for the industry. The hope is to work with local universities to develop a prototype and eventually bring it to market. It could also lead to the creation of a new local manufacturing site in Erewash, helping to anchor skilled green jobs in its community. Richard has introduced the business to the Chamber’s East Midlands Manufacturing Network (EMMN) to support this when the time is right.

Some of the team have also attended Accelerator training events including How to Safely Update your WordPress Website, The One-Hour Google Ads Course, Getting Started with HR and Introduction to Marketing AI & ChatGPT.

Impact – The Difference it’s Made

LJM Solution’s Managing Director, Lee Lindley feels the impact of the support has been nothing short of “transformative.”

In the past four months the business has employed four new team members and has vacancies for two more electricians, an operations manager and four solar roofers – real job creation for the East Midlands!

The results from the consultancy support have also been impressive. Lee adds: “It has completely changed the way we present ourselves as a business. It’s improved our online visibility, provided stronger lead generation and more meaningful engagement from clients who share our sustainability values. Vimana Digital, who delivered the consultancy support, has made the website more professional, secure and credible.”

The improvements have given new confidence to its principal contractors, strengthening partnerships and opening new doors. In fact, LJM Solutions have been approached to deliver three major social housing contracts under the Warm Homes government programme. It has also been successfully awarded places on several key regional energy efficiency frameworks including Nottinghamshire County Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Contracts from these frameworks are expected to begin imminently, leading to more job creation and training opportunities.

Lee concluded: “For us, Accelerator support has been more than marketing or funding – it’s helped build confidence, credibility and momentum. It’s proven that when small local companies are given the right support, we can deliver growth that benefits not just our company but our community.”

“What I’m most proud of is how support has helped us turn our growth into something bigger than ourselves. It’s not just powering LJM Solutions - it’s powering opportunities for others too. Every new job, every new installation, every new contract takes us one step closer to a cleaner, stronger and more sustainable East Midlands.”

- Lee Lindley, Managing Director

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