Award-winning Joe Averill has launched his own consultancy, Vault 23, to help businesses grow.听
The 29-year-old, who won a string of awards during his three-and-a-half years at Manchester-based property company OBI, is focusing on businesses in the finance, tech and property sectors.听
He鈥檚 already helped one client Recoup Capital treble its recurring revenue growth in less than four months and has ambitious growth plans of his own for Vault 23.听
Averill, who is also working with the technology platform听Gigable, admitted launching his business during the COVID-19 pandemic was a gamble but he had no regrets.听
鈥淟eaving OBI was the toughest decision I鈥檝e ever had to make in my career so far,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ill Lewis听gave听me a big opportunity when I had no real estate experience and, along with Andrew Cowell,听was instrumental听in my career progression and helping me win a number of awards.听
鈥淗owever听working with entrepreneurs makes you entrepreneurial yourself. My primary role at OBI was to support fast-growth occupiers to deliver their real estate strategy and I identified an opportunity to work with clients and founders to deliver both their route to market and revenue growth strategy.听
鈥淏y sitting inside the听business听I am responsible for both creating the growth strategy and executing it. For听example听Recoup Capital appointed me as their interim chief revenue officer and have already had a ROI in excess of 900 per cent.鈥�听
Averill said launching his business during the pandemic had presented both challenges and opportunities.听
鈥淚 was apprehensive at the beginning,鈥� he admitted. 鈥淏ut I took my proposition to a number of business owners and it鈥檚 getting good traction in the marketplace.听
鈥淏ecause of the rules on social distancing, COVID-19 has meant you鈥檝e just had to network differently and make greater use of virtual meeting platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.听
鈥淚f I’m being honest, I鈥檝e quite enjoyed the听rest听but I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t fully recharged now and ready to go again when everything reopens.鈥�听
Averill previously worked for Manchester tech firm听AppLearn, before joining OBI in 2016 and being appointed managing director of Studio OBI in 2019, where he won both the MYTA Young Property Professional of the Year and MIMA 老九品茶 Development Professional of the Year awards.听
Despite COVID-19, Averill said he had seen some optimistic signs of recovery.听
鈥淚n the last two weeks I have seen a significant rise in businesses that are looking at Manchester as a city to expand into,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are no immediate movements but there are some firms which are beginning to do their due diligence.听
鈥淚 think the tech sector is very resilient. I鈥檓 working with a tech client called听Gigable听that connects businesses and freelancers for short-term work through their technology platform.
“It鈥檚 particularly focused on Manchester’s quick service restaurant industry as they support firms to simply transition to food delivery at a crucial time and that鈥檚 getting a lot of interest.鈥�