Rebecca Maddix
On the 30th of January 2023 early years consultant, Rebecca Maddix won a business competition created by legend, Theo Paphitis. The Small Business Sunday Award (#SBS) recognised her South London-based business, Helping Hand Early Years Consultancy as one of six winners out of thousands of applicants. As one of the winners, Rebecca got the chance to meet the business tycoon best known for his TV appearances on the hit BBC show, Dragons’ Den, at an event in February. There she collected her business certificate and got a photo taken with him.
The Small Business Sunday network was set up by Theo Paphitis in 2010 and is now one of the leading business communities with over 3,570 members. Every week, Theo Paphitis accepts and introduces six small businesses who send a tweet, comment or post a picture to @TheoPaphitis with a description of their businesses to the #SBS network. The winners go on to receive advice, support and the opportunity to be a part of a growing community driven to see small businesses succeed. Rebecca Maddix was thrilled to be named as a winner of this highly impressive award, stating ‘it’s been a surreal experience and I’m so grateful to have received this award for my business’ and ‘meeting Theo Paphitis was an unforgettable experience. It feels surreal to be a member of the Small Business Sunday network – I’m so proud,’ she says.
Describing her experience as surreal is incredibly modest for the award-winning business owner who is no stranger to nominations, accolades and even TV appearances. This year alone, Rebecca has also been nominated for the 2023 Mayor of Lewisham Community Awards where she met Lewisham Mayor Damien Egan. Her nomination was due to her impressive contribution to her community including her recent partnership with Lewisham Homes and Travis Perkins where she delivered free potty training workshops for parents to attend with their children.
The workshops, which were designed to be more than simply teaching parents about potty training, had a huge positive impact on the local community. Rebecca designed the workshops to also combat the difficulties many families face such as having a lack of support or feeling isolated. Therefore, Rebecca’s partnership with Lewisham Homes and Travis Perkins focused on catering to the needs of parents with young children. Rebecca set up a range of activities for the children who attended the workshop so parents and carers could bring them along, there were also free resources for parents and carers to take home. Parents and carers commented on the positive impact it had on them, stating that the workshop helped them to feel supported and a part of their community. ‘It’s about being a listening ear to and providing support to others in need,’ Rebecca says.
Due to the high demand for parent support Lewisham Homes and Travis Perkins are working in partnership with Rebecca again which began from August 2023 until November 2023. These sessions provide families with free parent support sessions covering a wide range of activities such as dance sessions, Early Literacy support, potty training sessions etc. All these sessions are sponsored by Travis Perkins to enable all families to access this support for free, additionally at these sessions families all get free resources to take home such as books and a free healthy lunch is also provided to support families during this difficult time. Families walk into a bright engaging, friendly environment often commenting on how happy the experience made them feel.
Her aim is and always has been to have ‘a positive impact on the welfare of parents and children’ through her business. Rebecca’s contributions have gone above and beyond this her focus has always been to help others and she relishes the opportunity to give back to her local community of South London. Rebecca does this by offering free places within her services for single parents and parents who are on a low income.
Rebecca’s tenacity and business acumen has seen her reach great heights she launched her consultancy business in 2019. From her Small Business Sunday Award to her Mayor of Lewisham Community Award nominee, Rebecca’s business, Helping Hand Early Years Consultancy is fast becoming one to watch in the Early Years consultancy sector.
