Building connections for a growing business

Ramsey Mullaney attended Meet A Mentor in London to find a mentor to support him as he grows his business. Launched 7 months ago, Ramsey's business, bedente, sells a range of bidet toilet attachments which can transfer any toilets into a bidet.

It's an unconventional choice of business, so we asked Ramsey how it came about, "I'm half Egyptian", he says, "when I travel to Egypt I've noticed how products like this are much more the norm out there, and they're more hygienic too. My goal is to market them in the right way in the UK, so that they can be adopted here".

One of the aspects that most interested Ramsey about the venture was the cultural challenge of figuring out how to market this product to people unfamiliar with the product. Since the business has launched he's had to adapt ideas and learn how to focus. He says "we made some classic mistakes to begin with, ending up with a stock pile, but it has taught us loads and now we have a much better idea of how to focus the business".

Ramsey explains why he signed up to Meet A Mentor, "I've read business books and websites to get guidance but I really wanted to find someone to bounce ideas off, someone who can guide me through the next steps", he says, "family and friends don't really understand what you're doing so I thought it would be good to find someone impartial that I can discuss my business with".

Ramsey met several potential mentors at Meet A Mentor and is planning to contact them in the coming weeks. He says that even just attending was incredibly useful, he says, " I gained some real nuggets of wisdom, some really specific ideas that I wouldn't have got had I not attended. For instance one mentor talked to me about starting up, he emphasised that I didn't need sell to individual people, but instead could find the gate keepers and key opinion leaders, to access their markets. It really helped me look again at our sales strategy".

The next step for the business is to become more established and gain footholds in institutions, particularly in the hospitality sector, and to increase awareness of target market. He hopes that one of the mentors he contacts from the event will lead to a mentoring relationship and he's and he's still keen to connect with others, both mentors and fellow entrepreneurs with an interest in getting in touch.

Ramsey is a member of the IOEE and has joined the 'Hospitality' and 'Meet A Mentor - London' Groups on the site.