21st March 2019
We love to hear what our students are planning to do with what they learn at South Devon College. We especially admire the commitment of students putting plans in place for their future whilst getting their qualifications here. This is where Jake Raine-Harries comes in. He is studying his Level 2 Diploma in Carpentry, with plans to progress onto Level 3, and has been a student here at the College since September 2015.
Jake was keen to speak to us about the plans he has for the future with setting up a large-scale business. He plans to build a company by the name of ‘Harries Co.’ that provides a multitude of services that combine a variety of skills and interests from his past as well as his current line of work in Carpentry.
His business aims to bring different services under one name and effectively bring the cost down for customers requiring those services with nothing needing to be outsourced to other companies. His vision is to employ people from various trades to be able to cover electrics, plumbing, decorating, but also branch out into cleaning services and catering too. The catering side of the business idea comes from his experience working in The Seahorse restaurant in Dartmouth. The thought behind including this was when there are commercial projects that have a launch event once finished, catering can be provided by the same business and make planning whole projects easier for consumers.
We asked Jake about his experience here. He said “the College and my tutors have provided me with skills that I need to go forward with this business, and is really encouraging in putting these skills into practice on a regular basis. Having a network of other talented students is really beneficial for me to build working relationships with and collaborate on projects I am working on at the moment.
“I see myself going on to be a manager of operations for this business once it grows to the level I want and coordinating each department to have multiple operations happening at once.”
Jake is currently working on his marketing plan and what image he wants the company to have, researching to ensure his company stands out against the competition.
James King, Lecturer in Construction, said “Jake is a model student with good attendance. He displays excellent commitment to his studies and is very capable when it comes to practical work and retaining knowledge and theories behind carpentry.
“We promote entrepreneurship amongst all our students and build it into our core studies, with one of our biggest events of the year being the annual Christmas market where students produce a range of products to sell and are always very successful as a result.
“We wish Jake the best with setting up his business and we hope to catch up with him in years to come to see how these plans take shape.”
South Devon College are very proud of Jake’s hard work and forward-focused perspective. We really look forward to seeing how he grows whilst still with us at the College and once he goes on to develop his business.
To find out more about the wide variety of courses the College offers from apprenticeships to full-time courses or university degrees, visit our next Open Evening on Thursday 4th April 2019, 4pm-7pm at the Vantage Point Campus, Long Road, Paignton, TQ4 7EJ. Alternatively, you can call our Helpzone team on 08000 380 123 or email [email protected]
For more information about this story please contact Tom Davey, Marketing & Communications Officer at [email protected] or on 01803 540563.