North East based Geo Journey goes global with support from RTC North

Entrepreneurship runs in the family after sisters expanded their business Geo Journey to Dubai, after receiving help through two of RTC North’s programmes – Scaleup North East and Innovate 2 Succeed.

Fiona Waistell and Christina Armstrong tapped into a pool of expertise and knowledge, which helped them take time out of the day to day routine of working in the business to spend time working on their business.

Through support from RTC’s business advisors they were able to re-visit their core vision and really understand where their strengths were, what new products and services they could offer, and what development opportunities awaited.

Geo Journey gifts all children with the vision of the world and beyond. The opportunity to expand their horizons through an online subscription that provides each child with their very own suitcase and activity packs as they travel the World and the Solar System with GEO’s key Characters of Geo and Atlas.

As a young business, with healthy first year sales and the determination, drive and passion to scale, meeting the team at RTC North they embarked on the Scale Up Programme to start and then moved to the Innovate 2 Succeed programme.

On the back of support received from RTC’s specialists, Christina and Fiona were introduced to leading retailers across the UK and added a new business collaboration with a leading online marketplace in the Middle East, now trading with Mumzworld.com in the pipeline.

Christina said: “Working with RTC has really helped us take our business to the next level and we are particularly excited to start trading in the Middle East. The opportunities we have discovered through RTC have opened new doors for us and even new international markets which is fantastic!”

Sarah Pavlou, Innovate 2 Succeed programme manager commented: “It’s great to see Christina and Fiona taking Geo Journey off to Dubai as a result of the guidance and support they received from the Innovate 2 Succeed Advisors and the Scaleup partners.”

RTC North is delivering the programmes, which are part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and are aimed at helping North East businesses grow and prosper.

The Scaleup North East programme is aimed at supporting North East-based businesses that can demonstrate both the hunger and potential to achieve high levels of growth and is being delivered in partnership with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership.

Innovate2Succeed helps growing companies with plenty of ambition to manage the development of products and services, helping to get them to the right market in a timely fashion.

For more information on how RTC can help your business accelerate growth call 0191 516 4400 or visit www.rtcnorth.co.uk