Puddle Ducks franchisee named a finalist in the newcomer category at EWIF Awards

Rebecca Lomax achieved huge growth and success in the first 19 months of running her business

Rebecca Lomax has been nominated for a national franchise award recognising the excellence she has achieved with her business, Puddle Ducks Norfolk and Suffolk, throughout the past year.

Rebecca is a finalist in the New Woman Franchisee of the Year at the NatWest Encouraging Women in Franchising (EWIF) Awards for 2022. The awards educate, inspire and empower women who are involved in or want to find a route into the franchising industry.

Rebecca has been recognised by Puddle Ducks HQ as “impressive, focused and tenacious”, achieving huge growth and success in the first 19 months of running her business. She was due to launch Puddle Ducks just as COVID-19 hit, and despite being unable to jump into the pool during the lockdown periods, Rebecca used this time to build brand awareness for her business.

She said: “I was just so ready to go that I channelled this energy into what I could do without being in the pool – I participated in events, recruited pools and team members, and pushed out loads of activity on social media to support our customers and our wider network.

“When it was time to finally start lessons, I had two pools and 50 customers. After another lockdown period, I restarted with five pools and 100 customers. I just wanted to be teaching and helping the children who had missed out on lessons during the pandemic – and when the time came, I was raring to go!”

Further to this, Rebecca has expanded her business by buying a neighbouring territory in Suffolk. No other franchisee had ever expanded their business so early in their journey, but the head office was more than supportive – believing in her dedication and success. Through this, she grew her team to 16 and acquired two more pools.

She now teaches 740 children to swim, has quadrupled the size of her team and operates from seven pools. In over two years, she has achieved so much and has taken her business to a new level, one she couldn’t have imagined when COVID-19 hit.

“I am so delighted to be named as a finalist for this award,” she said. “My business has grown from my passion, really wanting to help children learn to swim in a fun way which creates lifelong memories. To be recognised for my success and growth is so humbling – it has been an unusual few years and I have been so lucky to build my business during a time when so many suffered. Without the help of the team at Duck HQ and my fellow Puddle Ducks owners, I am sure I wouldn’t have thrived so much.”

The awards ceremony takes place on Thursday, 30 June 2022, at Bishopsgate, London.