Neurodivergent founders offered tailored support

A North East initiative is set to transform how neurodivergent business owners access support as demand grows for resources designed around their needs.

Business Unmasked, created by ADHD coach Suzy Jackson and Celebrate Difference founder Nicola Jayne Little, has launched following a successful pilot and is now available to freelancers and entrepreneurs across the region and beyond. 

The programme responds to a long-standing gap in mainstream support, with traditional business advice often built around neurotypical ways of working despite almost two thirds of neurodivergent founders saying self-employment is their only viable career option.

Focused on helping business owners with ADHD, autism and other neurodivergences build sustainable routines and strategies that work for them, the initiative will welcome its first cohort in January 2026, offering a mix of online and in-person workshops, troubleshooting sessions, structured accountability support and a peer community where participants can show up without masking.

Suzy said: “20 years in the business support sector means I saw a lot of very targeted interventions designed to create business prosperity, and we have a wealth of expertise and a great track record right here in the North East for doing that. 

“But this is a group whose unique needs haven’t yet been understood or addressed – and yet, a group where sustainable self-employment is a vital route to economic activity, important both for the individual and for the wider economic backdrop.”

Nicola added: “Having supported other small business owners since 2009, my own research has shown me that 40 per cent of those entrepreneurs, like me, were neurodivergent but didn’t realise it. 

“There’s been a big movement in recent years; people want to understand themselves better and get tailored support which takes into account how their unique brain works. 

“It’s right that they can – because it’s our two neurodivergent brains that have come together to create Business Unmasked!”

Business Unmasked grew organically during its pilot earlier this year, rising from eight to 13 participants in a matter of weeks and earning strong feedback for its practical, personalised approach. 

The programme is underpinned by extensive research carried out by Suzy and Nicola into how neurodivergence intersects with the realities of self-employment.

Suzy added: “This is what equality and equity can look like in the business support space – just giving people the right opportunity to overcome their obstacles and create lives and businesses that work for them, because that also works for the economy at large.”

Nicola Salmon, owner of Fat Positive Fertility and a participant in the programme’s pilot phase, added: “Business Unmasked has been instrumental in helping me find consistency and more joy in my business.

“As a solo business owner, it feels so special to be supported by a whole group of people with different expertise that they bring to the sessions. 

“Suzy, Nicola and the whole team are utterly magical and I doubt there is anything in the business world they don’t know or couldn’t find a way to support you through.

“I feel so held in the group whilst also being challenged to think about things in a way that better fits my brain rather than just doing what I’ve been told by neurotypicals.”

Entrepreneurs who sign up before November 30 will receive a free one-to-one strategy call when the full programme begins.

To find out more, see here.

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