OFFBEAT and off-road – a Rugby man’s wheely good business idea to drive kids to excitement is stepping up a gear thanks to a regional start-up programme.
Mini Rovers, the brainchild of Hillmorton man Simon Cort, gives children aged four to 10 the chance to drive miniature Land Rovers around obstacle courses at parties and events.
Simon, who lives with his wife and two sons, had spent 15 years working for Network Rail when he decided he wanted to start his own company in the midst of the pandemic.
At the same time, he was researching ideas of building something exciting to entertain his eldest son, who was three at the time, and was looking at mini offroad vehicles and obstacle courses – and Mini Rovers was born.
Simon invested in a fleet of four Series 2 replica Land Rovers which are designed for children, and created an offroad obstacle course that can be taken to events.
Despite having skills and experiences from his previous job, Simon had never run a company before so needed help with some of the business basics.
A business adviser at the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce hooked Simon up to its Start-up Programme.
The programme – a fully funded start-up business support scheme delivered by the Chamber on behalf of Warwickshire County Council and Warwickshire’s five District and Borough Councils – comprises workshops on social media, marketing, finance and business planning.
Mini Rovers has since taken centre stage in Covent Garden last Easter for a vehicle-based Peter Rabbit experience – and is now expanding, with plans to invest in more vehicles and take on new staff.
Simon said: “We started out doing some smaller events and parties but we’ve really grown and taken on bigger projects. We’re very popular with weddings and big family occasions but we’ve also been to Silverstone and lots of the big motoring events.
“It means there’s a possibility of adding more vehicles to the fleet and taking on staff to cover events. It is an exciting time.”
The Chamber of Commerce is offering free-funded business support on all aspects of business. Email [email protected] or visit http://tinyurl.com/3btr2n75 for more information.
