Wilkins Chimney Sweep clears up at awards ceremony

Wilkins Chimney Sweep’s Louise Harris has been recognised for her hard work and commitment to growing her business.

Owner of Wilkins Chimney Sweep, Louise Harris, has been honoured for her commitment to her franchise in a glitzy central London ceremony.

The 10th annual awards were held by NatWest Encouraging Women Into Franchising (EWIF), an organisation that seeks to support and help women who are running their own franchises. Through EWIF, women who’ve already managed to establish a successful franchise offer free support to each other and potential new franchisees, and the organisation also helps gain publicity for women in franchising.

Harris was presented with a special recognition award to say thank you for her dedication to the organisation and her business over the years.

In 1998, Harris and her husband Peter bought the Wilkins Chimney Sweep company, which had been in business since 1895, and franchised the company soon after. Since then, they’ve expanded the specialist chimney cleaning company and it now boasts an impressive 14 franchises across the UK.

It’s been a good year for the business, as earlier in 2018 Wilkins Chimney Sweep was ranked 54th on a list of the top 100 UK franchises.

Harris said that she was delighted to be recognised at the prestigious awards.

“This was a truly unexpected surprise and, of course, a great honour. EWIF is a terrific source of help for women and, although I sometimes provide that help, they have been a consistent source of encouragement for me too.”

Wilkins Chimney Sweep is the only chimney sweep franchise accredited by the British Franchise Association (BFA), which was set up in 1977 as the mark of a company that has ethical business practises. Customers can look for the BFA logo to know that a business is trustworthy and credible.