Jennifer aims for cutting edge thanks to angels’ backing

Jennifer Ashton, 22, hopes to open Kolours in Sheffield after receiving help from Steve Naylor, previously the co-founder of a technology firm which went on to float on the stock market.

Miss Ashton’s idea for a business came after she moved to the Steel City and couldn’t find a suitable salon.

She said: “I started doing my own hair, and then started getting a lot of interest from people, either from the African Caribbean Society at the university, or customers at Tesco, where I work part-time as duty manager. It led to me offering mobile hair services.”

After completing a degree in Accountancy, Financial Management and Business Management, she developed a business plan.

She was encouraged to pitch to investors and professional services firms at an event in April organised by the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University and Yorkshire Association of Business Angels.

This led her to work with Mr Naylor, who was co-founder and finance director of Smartcard Technologies, which was set up in 2000 and floated on the Alternative Investment Market in 2005 before being sold to Trainline.com two years later.

Mr Naylor said: “Jennifer won because we were really impressed with her business plan.

“She had a good idea, had done her market research and had some great plans to scale up the business.

“During our mentoring time, I helped to distil Jennifer’s elevator pitch and to focus and define the core strengths of her business plan.”

Miss Ashton went on to beat nearly 200 entrants at the University of Sheffield’s Enterprise Awards 2011, winning £2,000 to go towards an NVQ level 3 in hair and beauty skills.

She will begin the course in September and will use the time to look for a base for the first Kolours salon.

“My plan is to have self-employed consultants in the salon. And I’d like to also have my own clients. I need to get a professional qualification to do this, and I also think the NVQ course will provide me with access to potential staff members.”

Jennifer intends to open a salon to rival the likes of Toni & Guy and aims to eventually develop a franchise model across the coun- try.

“There’s not a lot of competition in this area, because even the top salons have very few people who know how to treat Afro-Caribbean hair, “ she said.

“Women in particular with Afro Caribbean hair visit the salon more regularly than Caucasian people do, so it’s a huge mar- ket.”