Birmingham-based Guthrie & Ghani embarks on a colourful new chapter after course gives owner Lauren Guthrie the confidence to diversify and expand. Lauren Guthrie, entrepreneur and former finalist on the first series of The Great British Sewing Bee, is stitching a bold new future for her Birmingham-based sewing business, Guthrie & Ghani, thanks to the strategic boost she received from the government-backed Help to Grow: Management Course.
Guthrie, a well-known figure in the UK’s sewing and craft community, launched Guthrie & Ghani in 2013 in Moseley, Birmingham with her husband. Since turning her lifelong passion for sewing into a thriving lifestyle business, Lauren has opened a retail shop, international e-commerce website and sewing school that has since grown into a hub for creative makers across the country and beyond.
But it was in 2023, after enrolling in the Help to Grow: Management Course delivered by Aston Business School - a Small Business Charter accredited business school, that Guthrie took her biggest step yet - diversifying the business with the acquisition of one of her key suppliers. This allowed the business operations to expand into B2B operations as well as grow the strong B2C customer base she already had.
Guthrie commented: “I didn’t have the right frame of mind before the course. Having gone through the Help to Grow: Management Course, I knew how to think about growth, what to evaluate, and how to structure the business to support it. It gave me the confidence to take the leap to propel Guthrie & Ghani forward.”
The acquisition, completed in November 2023, significantly expanded Guthrie & Ghani’s product range which Lauren was confident was ideal for the audience she had already built. Since then, the business has continued to evolve, growing its team to 15, including an operations manager, to help spread the workload and ensure sustainable future growth.
A mother of three young children, Lauren works three days a week - making strategic focus and strong management essential for success.
Guthrie added: “I absolutely love sewing and making my own clothes, and I want to help others experience that same sense of pride and creativity. The course helped me put the right structures in place to maintain my ethos and grow while balancing my family life. Now, I know that the limited time I have is spent on the things that really matter.”
Guthrie & Ghani now operates across three pillars: retail, education, and community. The business offers high-quality handpicked fabrics, haberdashery, sewing patterns, dressmaking kits, and a growing range of in-person and online courses for sewing enthusiasts.
Flora Hamilton, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter, said: “Lauren is a brilliant example of how small business leaders can turn passion into lasting impact. From Sewing Bee finalist to business owner, her journey shows what’s possible when creativity meets strategic support. The fact that she’s not only grown her business, but acquired a key supplier and created local jobs, all while balancing family life, is incredibly inspiring. Help to Grow: Management exists to empower leaders like Lauren to scale up, build resilience, and realise their full potential.
“Her success is also a great example of the economic and social value created when female-led businesses are equipped with the right tools and mentorship. We’re proud to support ambitious founders like Lauren across the UK.”
The Help to Grow: Management Course is a 90% government-funded leadership programme for SME businesses, delivered by a network of Small Business Charter accredited business schools. The course runs over 12 weeks and includes online and face-to-face sessions, 10 hours of 1-to-1 mentoring and peer networking. Its mission is to increase economic growth and productivity through improved management and leadership practice.
About Help to Grow: Management:
Help to Grow: Management is a 12-week course designed to support business leaders and their senior managers to increase resilience, innovation, and growth within their organisations.
Developed and delivered by the network of Small Business Charter accredited business schools, the course is available in more than 60 locations across the UK and is 90% government funded. It is designed to fit around existing work and personal commitments, providing business leaders with more than 50 hours of online and in person training including 10 hours of one-to-one mentoring. Individuals completing the course automatically join the Alumni Network, where they have access to exclusive events, content and partner offers, as well as the support of a UK-wide peer network.
The Small Business Charter (SBC) empowers small business success through its network of expert business schools. Developed 10 years ago by Lord Young, the previous Department for Business, and the Chartered Association of Business Schools, the SBC was established to signpost entrepreneurs, small businesses, and local economic stakeholders to business schools in their region with the expertise to help them thrive. There are 67 SBC accredited business school centres of excellence across the UK which are trusted partners of local stakeholders and the national government to deliver effective leadership and productivity programmes and small business support to drive economic growth.