Neighbourhood Stories
Re-work Leeds
Re-work Leeds CIC aims to prolong the life of office furniture by re-using, recycling and reselling high-quality surplus office furniture. Re-work have established a partnership with Green-works Ltd and are developing a franchise agreement to cover Leeds and eventually the rest of West Yorkshire. They take redundant office furniture from the commercial world and pass this on at a low cost to charities, community groups and start up businesses.
In 2007, as a newly incorporated company, Re-work needed support with their start-up costs. However, as Re-work were running quite a small operation, they struggled to secure the financing that was so greatly needed. In September 2007 Re-work Leeds submitted an application for support to the Key Fund. Just six weeks later, in October 2007, the Key Fund awarded Re-work Leeds CIC with a loan of £8,500. The money was to contribute towards the start-up costs of the enterprise, including rates, website development, tools and the necessary equipment.
At the time it was anticipated that trading would begin in October 2007, however, due to delayed warehouse completion and the time taken to build up sales Re-work did not actually begin until January 2008.
Once the enterprise was up and running it was clear that Re-work needed to concentrate on marketing themselves in order to increase sales. Re-work returned to the Key Fund in April 2008, looking for support to cover one month’s salaries, rent, council tax and the much needed marketing campaign. Key Fund Yorkshire supported Re-work a finance package of £2,500 grant and £2,500 loan.
The Key Fund’s consistent support is helping Re-work Leeds CIC towards achieving their aim to reduce landfill and create employment opportunities as a result of their trading activities.
