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Support4Business helps Herne Bay company get project on track

Thanks to Support4Business, Canterbury4Business's (C4B's) mentoring scheme, Herne Bay company Autojoy Ltd has been able to get an important business development project off the ground.

Autojoy, which sells professional car cleaning products and supplies to car sales showrooms, car washes and valeting companies through its online webshop, first contacted Support4Business in February for advice on the best way to take the business forward.

"We already sell our quality detailing and valeting products to a wide range of private and commercial customers in the UK and abroad, and want to diversify into other markets," explained Autojoy's managing director, Martin Crowther.

Support4Business mentor Danny Cooper helped Autojoy identify a course of action, which included customer database analysis and development. Unfortunately, Autojoy had no-one available to take on the project, so Support4Business contacted the student placement team at Kent Works to see if they could help.

The team identified a student at St Anselm's School in Canterbury who was looking for IT work experience.

As a result, student Anna Benson, 15, secured a work placement with Autojoy, to help develop a new database for the company and review its webshop operation.

Anna Benson said: "I wanted to do an IT project for my work placement as it's my favourite subject at school. This is a great opportunity to put the IT skills I have learned to good use in a workplace situation. I'm currently building a new database for Autojoy and transferring information from the original one."

Anna is making a real contribution to the business, according to sales director, Roger Cowley: "Our database is crucial to the future success of Autojoy and Anna is helping us put down firm foundations for the future."

Danny Cooper said: "It's a win-win situation that benefits both business and education. Autojoy is getting the support it needs to move the business on and Anna is getting a great project to include on her CV. We're delighted that Support4Business has been able to help both parties achieve their goals."