Features / Heather Frankham
‘The whole atmosphere can change with young people working together’
A jill of many trades is probably an ideal way to describe Heather Frankham’s several roles across Bristol’s business landscape.
Formerly founder of Lifetime Training, one of the country’s largest apprenticeship providers, she sold the business in 2016 only to continue making many other successful strides in the industry.
She is now the founder of Origin Workspace, a non-executive member of an apprenticeship provider, owner of a software business, chair of Youth Moves and member of the WECA business board. It is no surprise that Frankham is one of those nominated for the inaugural Bristol Legends award in the business leaders category.
Despite wearing many hats now, for Frankham, it all started with teaching.
Origin Workspace is a co-working space designed to encourage a culture of collaboration
She said: “Very often you get people who come into a room who are a little bit sceptical. Some of them want to be there, some of them don’t want to be there.
“But when you get the whole class coming together and something clicks for that child that just makes them say ‘actually I do want to be here and there’s a reason for me to do this’ – they then start engaging.
“The whole atmosphere can then change when you get young people working together.”
Frankham said it was “something magical” when young people resonated with the goal of a task, attaching it to positive emotions, fun and achievements that to collectively be proud of.
“It’s like a shiver that goes down your spine when you see that change happening,” added Frankham.
Talking about the journey of Origin Workspace, a co-working space in Clifton designed to encourage a culture of collaboration between businesses.
She said: “It’s quite lonely as an entrepreneur. When you have this team of people, you’ve got lots of responsibilities. You know they’ve got bills to pay at the end of the month.
“So when you’re juggling that bit of ‘oh my god have we got enough cash in the bank to be able to pay their salaries’ and knowing the impact that if you can’t pay that salary what it has on them that’s quite a responsibility.
“You also have to give them confidence that the business is solid and going somewhere. You can’t share your fears with them.
“When we were scaling Origin in the fairly early stages I was in the office and other people in there were also founders or heads of their office. It was so lovely to be able to talk to them and have that peer support at the end of the day.”
Heather Frankham wears many hats, including being the founder of Origin Workspace, a software buisnesss,and a member on the WECA business board
As the country battles through a cost-of-living crisis, small businesses are finding it difficult to carry on, many often giving up due to the challenges involved.
Heather believes that one thing everyone needs is a strong belief, something to remind them “why” they started when things begin to get rocky.
“In my first business, I remortgaged my flat three times,” she said, when speaking to Bristol24/7. “That was the only way that I could financially sustain the business.”
“I was so lucky because house prices were going up, so it enabled me to do that. But when you are into that situation you’ve got to be able to tap back into that why. Always have that understanding of why you’re doing it, and keep tapping back into that as you’re building the business and facing the challenges.”
Frankham encouraged young entrepreneurs to find more people on the “same journey”, and talk to them.
She said: “Bristol is a lovely place to start a business. You have got some lovely communities that are entrepreneurial and Bristol’s really that area where people want other people to do well.
“I would encourage them just to reach out to the different networks, find others that are on the same journey.”
The inaugural Bristol Legends Awards on Friday will be followed by a special party, with perfomances from Invisible Circus, Emily Breeze, GotSome and many more. Buy your tickets for the party before they sell out from here: www.bristol247.com/events/bristol-legends-party
All photos: Origin Workspace
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