Running your own business is amazing. The freedom to see a dream, a vision unfold. Something that has been in your head for years. Something that's beyond the daily grind of the corporate world.
We both worked in the big corporate world of GE – a company that was incredible to work for and gave us irreplaceable global experience. However, ten years in, stints living abroad, achieving personal and professional targets… we felt there was another way for us. Owning and running our own business.
West Oxfordshire is our home, and technology is our thing. We started to craft together a plan to make a business that would focus on our expertise in technology – particularly Drupal. Building websites for local businesses, excelling in customer service, providing a friendly approach with a ‘can do’ attitude. Producing great looking websites held together securely at the back end with our expertise in Drupal.
Five years on and our business – Olamalu - has grown along with our energy, enthusiasm and business beliefs. We've had some fantastic experiences along the way. The greatest pleasure has been building a team of talented and committed young people who are eager to keep on learning.
We believe passionately in the future – the future of our industry, the future of our community and the future of our business. We invest our time in the things that excite us – apprentices, local charities and like-minded local businesses. That’s how we got involved in the West Oxfordshire Business Awards - The WOBAS.
For all the great things about running your own business, there are some fierce realities. First it’s very difficult to get public recognition for what you have achieved. It’s also hard making connections – finding the right people to work with or gain expertise from. Perhaps the biggest challenge is having the time and know-how to look at the bigger picture - focusing on the strategic future in amongst the every day detail and hard graft of running a business.
The WOBAS for us have been a haven – particularly in the early days. Connecting with like-minded people – entrepreneurs with vision, energy and a dream all from West Oxfordshire. Applauding and celebrating our own and their successes as they enter, get nominated or go on to win awards in different business categories. But for us and for them, it’s not about the winning – it’s about the celebrating.
We celebrate the amazing connections we’ve made through WOBA. People we’ve worked with, people we’ve recommended or people we’ve just had a natter with – sharing the joys and the hardships of business. Mike Jennings from the Oxford Business Mentors has definitely been one of our inspirations. He is a man with immense business experience and runs an organisation which offers free mentoring to small businesses. A free service with such experience and professionalism is an absolute golden ticket when you are starting out. There are some other great relationships that we've cemented through WOBA. Working with Jo Sensecall and Brendon Cross from Hexagon - a company which provides office space and admin support for local businesses – and with Will Barton, Business Development Officer at West Oxfordshire District Council, who champions local business and helps build local connections.
Our passion for WOBA is such that we have been on the organising committee since they were launched, giving our time to help support our fellow West Oxfordshire business people - saluting them for their hard work and celebrating all of our successes in making this a county with dynamic entrepreneurial spirit and economic success.
Feel the spirit of WOBA at www.woba.org
To talk to us about your website or to find out more about our business, please get in touch.