Sharon Dziruni wants to take the stress out of relocations and hopes her new business, Venna Property Finders, will be the number one way to do it. However, first she has to endure some worries herself as she strives to establish her company in the market. 

Name: Sharon Dziruni
Age: 28
Business: Venna Property Finders
Type of business: Property Search and Relocation
Start date: October 2005

When did you first decide you wanted to start your own business?
I was born an entrepreneur and grew up in a family where my father ran successful retail businesses. I have had lots of other small businesses in the past. My first business was a placement agency when I was at university.

Tell us about your business.
Venna is a premier full service independent property finding and relocation service. We offer professional support to private and corporate clients and their employees who wish to purchase, rent or relocate to Maidstone, Kings Hill and surrounding areas in Kent. I decided to put my international property search and relocation expertise to good effect recognising an increasing demand of people wanting to move to the area

Was your decision to start a business inspired by any other companies or individuals?
I have always been thinking of what to do and property is my passion. I hope to build on this business to become a property developer.

What makes you think there’s a market for your business?
According to official statistics the population of Maidstone continues to grow by around 1% or just over 1,000 people a year. Some of these new residents are arriving from London, which saw a fall in its population of 116,000 last year alone, with the vast majority choosing to relocate to towns and villages in and around the Home Counties.

Once you’d decided to start a business, what did you do first?
I saw a business adviser from Maidstone Chamber of Commerce who suggested doing a simple business plan as my business was so straightforward. I have found online resources more useful as they can be more detailed.

What research did you do?
I did research and found that there were no relocation companies based in my area. I further researched on things like how many houses were being sold in the local area and on movement of people within UK. I also used information from the land registry, the national statistics office and Kent property market reports

What advice did you seek?
I have spoken to Business Link and Maidstone Chamber of Commerce but what I found most useful were the online resources, particularly business forums like startups.co.uk, where you meet other like-minded people who are very supportive.

Does the government need to provide more help to people trying to start a business?
I think the government have to help more start-ups especially with funding as a lot of lenders find start-ups to be more risky.

How useful has your business plan been and do you think you’ll stick to it as your business begins to grow?
I am finding I have to keep changing some of the things in my business plan, but it gives me direction of where I have to be going.

How much did it cost to start the business?
It cost me about £5000 to have all the things including my marketing budget and web design. I have reduced my costs by working from home

How did you fund this?
I funded most of my costs from my own savings and I have now approached the Enterprise Agency for more funding. I first approached my bank, but even though they were helpful they could not provide any funding because of the risks involved in financing start-ups.