Farzana Baduel

Shared by Ed Make Your Mark team

Farzana Baduel was still a student when she set up a service to help people reclaim their tax. taxClaim has since gone from strength to strength.

Identifying a gap in the market, Farzana used her student loan and overdraft to start the business on a shoestring budget. Her business has grown over the last few years - she now has a staff of six, and plans to expand further in the future. She is also a member of many influential groups and networks.

“There are not enough role models of young women who have set up their own businesses, we need more!”

“When I first started my business, I was very alone as most of my friends were employed and I didn’t have anybody to talk to from my age group about running a business. Since the beginning of this year, I have been actively networking and have seen the benefits to my bottom line and my well-being.”

Farzana researched the market, investigated costs and went for it! “I didn’t undertake analysis paralysis - I dived in and learnt from my mistakes along the way. I set very low fees as I didn’t have the confidence to charge more even though we were giving a better service than our pricier competitors.”

Another barrier she had to initially overcome was fear of failure, but fellow students who were working on start-ups during the ‘dotcom boom’, fuelled her determination. “Failure can be a great teacher. I learnt more during a business downturn in 2005 then during my seven years of growth. Protect your personal assets by Limited Liability so the impact of failure would be reduced. Do not shy away from risk: understand it and manage it.”

Farzana’s ideas come from reading widely and through networking. She is on the Committee for the Federation of Small Businesses and Institute of Directors, which gives her the opportunity to meet fellow entrepreneurs and as the deputy chairman of Conservative Business Relations, she can to network further in the business community.

Her plans for the future include setting up an advisory board made up of people with experience of growing businesses in her sector; expanding into additional services; financing an IT investment; and setting up additional offices – both in the UK and abroad.