Franchisee of the Year 2017

Start-up name: Caremark (Sutton)
Founders: Hannah Drury
Started in: 2013
Based in: Sutton
Business description: A provider of domiciliary care services across the London borough of Sutton

According to Franchisee of the Year winner Hannah Drury, her branch of domiciliary care provider Caremark is dedicated to “delivering the standard of care we would expect for our own families”.

This measure for success is founded on Drury’s own experiences. In 2010, Drury’s sister Chloe was diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Throughout the three years that her sister battled her illness, Drury was continuously inspired by the care and compassion of her nurses – which Drury says “can only be described as beautiful”.

Looking to be part of a service that the family had been so grateful for, Drury’s stepfather joined Caremark in 2013 to run its Sutton operations, delivering high-quality home-based care across the borough. However, one year into trading, he was diagnosed with a rapidly-progressing motor neuron disease, and so asked Drury, aged just 23, to take over the franchise.

Having lost both her sister and her stepfather to illness, Drury was all the more determined to deliver the best care service possible. And this shows in the success of the franchise, whose profits have soared in the two years since she took over – something she has achieved while bringing up two children and simultaneously studying for a degree in Psychology.

Drury says her franchise’s growth is fuelled through taking innovative paths to growth, and coming up with the best ways to recruit in order to match the demand presented by an ageing population.

The Sutton branch has been recognised by Caremark as one of its best, taking home the Achievement Award at the Caremark Limited Annual Conference in 2016 and the London Regional Award at the same conference in 2017. Drury has also been celebrated by franchising as a whole, being named Franchisee of the Year at the British Franchise Association Awards earlier this year.

Drury was up against a range of inspiring franchisees for this award. Taking home the Highly Commended trophy was Richard Bradshaw of Driver Hire (Guildford), while Chris Spratling of Chalkhill Blue Limited (trading as ActionCOACH) was recognised as Commended.