On Thursday 14th March, the great and good of the franchise world, brushed off their black tie and made a beeline for Central London to attend the Elite Franchisee Top 100 Celebratory & Awards evening 2024.

The HSBC Elite Franchise Top 100 Awards is Britain’s definitive list of businesses celebrating excellence in the franchise community. This year, we are delighted to announce that Turtle Tots ranked #74 in the list which is judged on a number of criteria based on size, growth, ambition, and contribution made to franchising, according to an independent panel of top judges from within the sector.

The awards evening is an opportunity for Elite Franchise to not only recognise and celebrate the achievements of the franchise businesses that have been ranked in the Top 100 list, but to offer additional accolades to companies and individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions.

With 100 huge franchise brands in the room, you can only imagine our surprise when we were awarded with, not one, but two additional awards. Firstly, Turtle Tots was presented with the Rising Star of the Year trophy, awarded to the Franchisor that has climbed the most places on the list from the previous year, before our amazing Turtle Tots Staffordshire franchisee, Sam Taker, was presented with the Franchisee of the Year award.

The Franchisee of the Year is selected from hundreds of nominees provided by the Franchisors listed in the TOP 100. When Turtle Tots were asked for their nomination, there was no doubt in our minds that Sam Taker deserved this recognition for her incredible attitude, hard work, and determination in the face of adversity to turn her life around through franchising with Turtle Tots.

Here is Sam’s inspiring franchising story…

 

Sam trained to become a swimming teacher eight years ago when her son was four years old. In 2019 her daughter was born, and, in the same year, Sam and her family moved to Cyprus where they lived on the British army base.

In 2022, Sam’s marriage broke down and Sam and her children moved back to the UK. Carrying all that they owned in just seven suitcases, and with no home to go to, Sam and her children moved in with Sam’s parents until a council house became available.

When Sam returned to the UK, she immediately resumed her job as a swimming teacher for another swim school to make ends meet. In 2023, when the financial settlement from her divorce came through, Sam made the huge decision not to use the money for a mortgage deposit. Instead, with an understanding of franchising in the swimming industry, she decided to invest in a Turtle Tots franchise instead.

Sam was determined from day one to make her new business venture a success. Having faced several years of emotional and financial turmoil, this was her chance to shine and to create a better life for her young family.

A typical Turtle Tots franchisee aims to launch their business with around 50-60 swimmers. When Sam said that she wanted to double that, we knew that if anyone was going to do it, it would be Sam. And of course, she did! Since then, Sam’s Turtle Tots business has gone from strength to strength. Demand for her lessons has seen her more than double her number of swimmers again in just six months and recruit two new swimming teachers to help her deliver the Turtle Tots award-winning swim programme in pools across Staffordshire.

Sam will be the first to admit that it’s been hard work. But owning a Turtle Tots business is not only her own responsibility, but it has given her the financial independence and security she badly wanted for herself and her children.

In the next three years, Sam plans to apply for a mortgage to buy her own home. After that, she intends to build or buy her own swimming pool. But for now, she measures her success on being able to take her family on holiday to celebrate her daughter’s fifth birthday at Disneyland Paris. To some, this may seem unremarkable but to Sam and her family these are huge achievements and the result of her hard work, determination, and can-do attitude.

We’d like to thank Elite Franchising, for recognising our contribution to the industry and congratulate Sam on winning Franchisee of the Year. You deserve it and the whole Turtle Tots family is incredibly proud of you.