Chris Davies

After a 15 year career as a panel beater ended when his employer dismissed him because of his deteriorating eyesight, Chris decided to retrain. Following his love of alternative fashion seemed the obvious choice. “When I started to lose my sight I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to realise my ambition to set up my own business. Ready to Start was brilliant because, as well as being supported to plan the development of my business, pilot ideas and seek funding, I had a Barclays Buddy to run my ideas past at every stage.”

His mentor, Danny Reardon, Barclays Head of Community Relations, London and Southern, has also gained much from the relationship. “Our meetings have been informal and genuinely fun, and the mentoring relationship with Chris has been a really interesting experience. I have increased my awareness of the challenges faced by new businesses and have learnt a lot.’’

Chris’s business is successfully moving forward and orders are building up as his reputation grows. He has also come to media attention as the voice of Callum the Chameleon in Leonard Cheshire Disabilities Creature Discomforts animations. The campaign aims to change the way people think about, and respond to disability, and Chris is firmly behind it. “There’s a hell of a lot of people out there who are disabled that do contribute to society, and, you know, it doesn’t need to be any other way”.