IQ-Magazine-Issue-15

With a background in the art
dealing industry, Charlotte Bowskill
found that she was acting as a form of concierge to her out
of town clients, so decided to branch out to form a luxury
lifestyle management and events company to incorporate
the needs of her customers.
“We look after high net-worth individuals, whilst offering
extremely competitive packages for all budgets. We also have
an in-house events management team,” explains Charlotte.
With aims to build an internationally recognised brand,
things are going in the right direction for Charlotte, who
already has clients in the Middle East. “Our biggest challenge
so far is being able to take on everyone who approaches us.
We don’t want to grow too
fast and make mistakes. Our
long term goal is to be the
next Quintessentially.”
Yagro
IQ business profiles
Whilst working for a multinational agricultural company
in Switzerland, Gareth Davies saw a gap in the market to
improve the lives and businesses of farmers. His idea, Yagro,
seeks to simplify how farmers buy agricultural inputs in an
online marketplace.
“I’d describe Yagro a bit like a
combination of Amazon and
Groupon, but for agriculture.
The current practice is quite
YAGRO
manual - lots of phoning
up different people, etc, which takes up a lot of time. Not
only can we save farmers’ time, but we also allow them to
get better deals by grouping their purchases, by requesting
quotes from multiple distributors, and by benchmarking
those quotes against others in
the market. For distributors, it’s a
way to find farmers they wouldn’t
normally deal with, and to offer
them attractive prices or services,”
explains Gareth.
www.bowskill-lifestyle.com
www.yagro.co.uk
APS Furniture
Starting the company in August after being made
redundant, Alan Sheldrick used his years of experience as
a sales manager in the industry to start up his own business
sourcing and producing furniture.
“It had been something that I had been deliberating for a
while, and felt the time and market was right for a supplier
in the area,” explains Alan. “We differ from other suppliers,
because the client specifies to us what they want and then
we use our resources and knowledge to source and produce
the product for them and deliver it to their door, saving them
time that can be utilised on other things.”
Specialising in the hospitality sector, Alan provides furniture
to bars, restaurants, offices, hotels and clubs, as well as
domestic furniture to suit all specifications and budgets.
www.apsfurniture.co.uk
Ivy-Joan
As a retail manager of 50 high street stores, Hayley Wallis
realised her work/life balance had become majorly onesided.
Re-evaluating what was important to her, she gave
up her high-powered role at Kurt Gieger and launched
online lifestyle boutique, Ivy-Joan.
“I’d been having a real battle with myself over the last
few years, as I had a high power role in London, but
actually back here in Suffolk, on the weekends, I’d
love nothing more than to do a bit of upholstery or
search through car boot sales for vintage items,” says
Hayley. And from her love of retro and one-of-a-kind
products, the business was born. “The idea is that Ivy-
Joan is a complete lifestyle website. Anything you’re
looking for, you can find it, be that home-ware, fashion
or gifting.”
www.ivyjoan.co.uk
issue 15 | page 33