Member Article

Yorkshire expansion as Get Ahead extends services into York and Harrogate

Award-winning virtual outsourcing agency Get Ahead is expanding into York and Harrogate, to capitalise on recent business success.

After 20 years of working for a major northern retailer, working across multiple departments and managing teams, Fiona Ibbetson joined the Get Ahead team as a regional director in 2018. Taking responsibility for Leeds and Wakefield, Fiona has enjoyed a successful few years developing a team of virtual assistants and delivering flexible business support services to over 80 clients in the area.

“The past few years have been a huge learning curve and a massively rewarding experience. The COVID19 pandemic created some major challenges, but Get Ahead founder Rebecca Newenham was so supportive. Like many people, I weathered the storm of working and home schooling. It’s been great to see local businesses re-emerge over the past few months and come together to support each other.

As part of the post-COVID19 recovery, I identified and successfully applied for the Investment Readiness programme. The coaching I received helped me realise that I didn’t have to wait to achieve my goal of having Get Ahead clients all over West Yorkshire and parts of North Yorkshire. I could start making some of that goal an achievable business growth plan already, starting with expanding into the neighbouring areas of York and Harrogate.

I am looking forward to networking with a wider audience, taking on new clients and recruiting new virtual assistants to join my team. Though many of my clients understand the value of outsourcing, they also value working with local people, even if it is virtually. Extending my team of VAs will enable me to offer a local service to local clients, but in a virtual way that still has all the benefits for clients of not requiring them to have suitable premises for employees to work from or all of the employer obligations that go with taking on in-house staff.“

Get Ahead are experiencing a substantial rise in demand for their flexible outsourcing business services as businesses recover from the impact of the pandemic. Rebecca Newenham, founder and director of Get Ahead said: “Outsourcing can help businesses navigate these uncertain times, yet still achieve their potential. I am delighted that Fiona is expanding Get Ahead into York and Harrogate. Fiona is such a nurturing, patient and authentic business leader, focused on building relationships for the greater good of the entire business community. She is so generous with investing her time in developing her team and supporting her clients.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Caroline Saunders .