Sweet Smiles confectionery gains Levi Roots mentoring session

An emerging British-based confectionery business has met with food sector entrepreneur Levi Roots as part of a national scheme from BT and Google offering support for small companies, reports Neill Barston.

James Martin, 46, launched Sweet Smiles of Norfolk, in Norwich earlier this year with the ambition of building a family-orientated company that would be sustainable for future generations.

As the confectionery start-up firm explains, the session with former Dragons’ Den BBC star Levi, who has gone on to develop a major series of cooking sauces, was part of the national ‘Get mentored, Get growing’ campaign backing British small enterprises to find their feet in a competitive landscape.

The aspiring Norfolk businessman explains his confectionery business specialises in creating Pick n’ Mix selections not usually available on the high street. It started out as an ecommerce B2C business, however it now also supplies offline at events with a pop up sweet shop and has started supplying trade and retail businesses.

Following the initial months after launch, James was looking for inspiration on how to take a more strategic approach to growing the business over the next 6 months.

According to BT research almost half (49 per cent) of all UK small firms like Sweet Smiles of Norfolk are worried their business wouldn’t survive without external support, while 64 per cent said they’d be more likely to adopt new technologies if the IT and telecoms industry provided training.

James Martin, founder of Sweet Smiles of Norfolk said: “As a small business owner, you’re constantly learning and adapting whilst trying to do everything yourself. The mentor session with Levi reinforced for me that everyone has to start somewhere, not to be afraid to ask for help and that although it’s easy to lose sight of progress when your focus is on the end goal, you need to be measured and calculated when making decisions.

“It was particularly valuable being able to ask for Levi’s advice on how best to market a brand, as it’s something that is growing increasingly vital to us as a business. The conversation with Levi just flowed and there are so many other points I took away from the session with him. Having a mentor is definitely something I would recommend to other small business owners,” he noted, adding that gaining such support has been invaluable in sharing ideas and challenges in order to gain a sense of empowerment to take a business forward.

Commenting on the session, Levi Roots said: “I had a fantastic time meeting with James and sharing my thoughts on how he can help Sweet Smiles to grow. Running your own business can sometimes be overwhelming and lonely, so I know from my own Dragons’ Den experience how game-changing it was, both professionally and personally, to work with someone who could understand and appreciate my challenges and ambitions, and give me the support, advice and tools to help me build and grow my business.

“It’s been a pleasure to get the chance to pay it forward to founders like James as a Guest Mentor for BT and Google and help small businesses unlock the power of digital to accelerate their growth.”

In October, Levi Roots joined BT and Google’s team of dedicated digital skills experts that provide one-to-one mentoring sessions for small businesses as a Guest Mentor, together with beauty and wellness megabrand boss Liz Earle MBE. Sweet Smiles of Norfolk is one of eight UK SMEs that won the opportunity to meet with Liz and Levi after applying online to receive personalised advice on how to tackle the challenges and opportunities facing businesses in a digital-first world.

Sweet Smiles of Norfolk now joins the thousands of small businesses that have already benefited from the BT and Google initiative, which aims to address the digital skills gap and help boost the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

Besides mentoring, the partnership also offers on-demand training webinars which cover a range of topics including, digital marketing, e-commerce and business strategy.