A Leeds mum, who started a business started a construction business after she was made redundant during the pandemic, has unveiled a major expansion leading to around 100 new jobs over the next 12 months.
Rana Rihan, 29, previously worked for a recruitment agency specialising in the engineering sector. However, the young entrepreneur, who is a mum-of-one, found herself in troubled times when she lost her job during the coronavirus pandemic.
Rana didn't let the set back stop her and instead used the opportunity to make a new start. She set up her business, Workoola, from scratch in 2021 with seed funding and support from WeDo Business Services after spending "several long nights in the company of a couple of bottles of wine" coming up with the concept.
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Rana set up with company with just three employees. It started out as a provider of temporary, fixed-term and permanent staff for sectors including manufacturing, food production and processing, transport, warehousing, logistics and distribution. This was primarily around Yorkshire and other areas of northern England after Rana identified a gap in the market.
She said: "I was working in engineering recruitment but was made redundant in 2021 as the agency where I was employed did not survive the pandemic. I decided to go out on my own in business and see what happened.
“WeDo came on board straight away and helped me in numerous ways to get the business off the ground. We continue to work very closely with the WeDo team, who are a source of great support and advice.”
“Because of Covid and Brexit, companies had difficulty sourcing staff, and the recruitment side of the business quickly took off. We have placed hundreds of people in roles over the past 12 months. Now we are GLAA accredited, we are able to expand this side of the business further."
Since then, the recruitment division has expanded rapidly, boosted by the granting of a Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) licence, which regulates businesses supplying staff to the UK fresh produce sector. This in turn has in turn enabled Workoola to provide workers to the sector.
Roles include factory operatives, pickers and packers and fork-lift truck drivers, HGV and van drivers, as well as supervisory and management positions.
Workoola is now expanding even further. The company has developed close ties to the glass manufacturing industry around West Yorkshire and has branched out into providing quality control for jars and bottles used for food and drink items, including sauces, yoghurts and liquors.
This operation has 30 staff based at a dedicated 11,500 sq ft warehouse in Stourton, Leeds. Workoola also has an additional 15 staff in its recruitment arm, based in the city’s Beeston district.
Rana said: “Our glass manufacturing clients began asking us to train recruits to undertake quality control and, as demand grew, we developed our own facility providing an outsourced service staffed by fully-trained personnel with the specialist skills required.
“We have now outgrown our current premises and are looking to greatly expand our footprint at a larger site in the Leeds area, where our new glass decorating division will also be based, operating on a 24/7 basis with a team including machine operatives, labourers and supervisors.
“Demand for glass containers is increasing as manufacturers switch away from plastic due to its environmental impact. Glass tends to keep the flavours better, and is seen as being a more durable and presentable form of packaging, as well as being greener and more suitable for recycling.”
Rana is seeking a larger site in the Leeds area totalling around 30,000 sq ft, to bring Workoola under one roof, with plans to recruit around 100 people over the next 12 months for the new glass decoration division. Asked whether she ever expected Workoola to grow this quickly, Rana said: "I was always very hopeful and very confident, especially with the support of Mark Lindsay and Chris Robinson at WeDo."
Rana has huge plans for the future and aims to expand Workoola into "the key supplier of labour into the workplace." She said: "As well as this, the aim is to develop our growth in the glass bottle quality control sector and glass bottle decoration side of the business. This will eventually allow us to develop into glass recycling as well."
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