In May 2020 Ruth Hancock (42) was nearly £12,000 in debt and in despair about whether she’d ever work again and how she’d pay the bills. She’d been a working Mum until a serious bout of anxiety meant she had to give up work.
Since then she’s launched a thriving business with the help of Wales-based CDFI Purple Shoots, has paid off all of her original and crippling debt, and soon she hopes to take on her first employee and take on additional premises.
Ruth (of Rumney, Cardiff) has experienced severe anxiety (she is registered disabled). Ultimately her anxiety meant she had to give up work and ended up struggling financially. As she recovered, she knew she wanted to start working again but in a way which would accommodate her illness – by working for herself.
Both artistic and passionate about the need for green products, Ruth started making soap. She realised she was good at this and approached Purple Shoots, a community development finance institution (CDFI) which specialises in helping “hidden entrepreneurs” launch businesses.
Purple Shoots is run by Karen Davies. “Karen was as excited as I was” says Ruth, “and when I showed her our business plan she helped us with seed funding though a £3,000 loan. But she also gave us business support and without Karen and Purple Shoots I just would not be where I am today. With the Purple Shoots money and mentoring I was able to finish building a home workshop, register the business and secure all the certifications I needed to sell soap to the public, and start trading. After my illness it was my last-ditch attempt and Karen believed in me. Now I’ve finished paying off a huge debt burden, have a blossoming business and am looking forward to employing people in the future.”
Ruth’s business, Scentsational Cottage, sells its beautiful, green, artisan soaps from an online shop. Online sales are booming, and Ruth will officially open a soap boutique in Barry, Wales in March. In a few months she hopes to take on further premises in Cardiff.
Her business is registered at companies house (Scentsational Cottage Ltd).
The CDFI Ruth worked with, Purple Shoots, has enabled hundreds of people across Wales to launch businesses despite being turned down for assistance by banks. Karen Davies launched Pontypridd-based Purple Shoots in 2013 and since then has supported hundreds of want-to-be entrepreneurs into self-employment (it makes micro-loans on a not-for-profit basis to people the banks can’t lend to).
