Blossom Home Care’s relentless expansion nationwide has provided the perfect opportunity for Ganesh and Sangita Thapa and their business partner Praj Bhattria.
Instead of scouring the country in search of a suitable franchise, it came to them.
Blossom’s co-founders, John and Fiona Leggott, were looking for someone to expand the network into Reading in Berkshire just as the trio were looking for the right business opportunity.
“We won’t have to travel far,” laughs Ganesh, who’s busy preparing for Blossom Reading’s January launch. “We all live here and know the area inside-out.”
His wife, Sangita, will be running the Reading office, doing the admin and dealing with enquiries, while Praj will take care of daily operations and Ganesh will take an overview and provide them with any support they need.
Ganesh, whose previous business provided up to 20 delivery drivers for household-name courier firms, is new to the care sector.
“My missus did a nursing course and wanted to be involved in health and social care,” he says. “She was really interested in it. This is a female-oriented business.”
That turned his attention to the home care sector and caught the eye of Praj, who spent years volunteering and building schools in Nepal before taking an MBA in the UK.
“We were thinking of going into the home care business on our own but soon realised we didn’t have much experience,” says Praj, “so we decided to go for a franchise.
“There were so many companies out there but they seemed mainly interested in selling their franchises and we didn’t feel we’d get much in the way of support once we’d signed up.
“We did have meetings with some of them but decided to go with Blossom because we wanted to stay in our home area and Blossom’s approach was so different.
“When we applied online and had a chat with them, we got a lot of information. John and Fiona have so much knowledge and made the process very straightforward.
“They’ve both been very supportive and given us such positive vibes. They made us feel confident that, as a young team, we could do it.
“They’re growing, rapidly, and that appealed to us. We admire the way John and Fiona have grown the business in such a short time, and that motivates us.
“They give us all the support we could possibly need, and even found our Registered Manager for us, who’s brilliant and has excellent contacts.”
While they’re waiting for their CQC registration to be approved, they’re using their time to do networking, training and marketing.
Ganesh, who’s receiving a lot of support from his family, says he’s beginning to recruit carers but the eventual size of the workforce will depend on demand.
They intend to open their first office in Reading in January then open others in Basingstoke and Newbury within a year.
“We’re really excited about being part of Blossom,” says Praj. “It’s a new thing for us and we’ll learn from each other.
“And the name Blossom just makes you happy.”