Success Stories
Meet some of the people, businesses and communities that are moving forward with CWRT funding and support.
Meet some of the people, businesses and communities that are moving forward with CWRT funding and support.
Read a number of our success stories, understand their background, funding structure and journey to date.
“I’ve wanted to own a gym for over 10 years. I just never in my wildest dreams expected it to be one of the oldest gyms in Coventry. It has such a colourful history and is considered a loved fixture in the community.”
As a personal trainer, Tammie had spent years helping other people work towards their goals. Owning a gym was one of her own, but she never expected the opportunity to come through Capitol Gym, a longstanding part of Coventry’s fitness community.
Taking over the business meant more than fulfilling a personal ambition. Tammie wanted to protect what members loved about the gym while bringing fresh energy and her own vision to its next chapter. She saw an opportunity to help more people get active, offer young people a positive place to spend their time and build a welcoming community around fitness.
CWRT’s £150,000 loan helped Tammie complete the acquisition and move from personal trainer to business owner. She worked with Loans Officer Alexander throughout the application and continues to receive business support from Commercial Relationship Manager Rob.
Tammie’s takeover marks a new chapter for a gym with almost four decades of history. Since acquiring the business, she has:
For Tammie, her progress as a business owner and as an athlete reflects the same belief: people can achieve more when they have the right support and a place to pursue their goals.
Although Tammie had wanted to own a gym for more than 10 years, she was unsure whether she could secure the finance needed to buy an established business. As a personal trainer, she did not expect a lender to look beyond her current income and recognise what she could bring to Capitol Gym.
She needed funding within the required timeframe and clear repayment terms so she could plan confidently as the new owner. She also wanted a lender willing to listen to her experience, understand her ambitions and consider the potential of a gym that had served Coventry for decades.
CWRT provided a £150,000 loan to help Tammie acquire Capitol Gym and start putting her plans into action.
Throughout the application, CWRT Loans Officer Alexander worked closely with Tammie to understand her background in fitness, her plans for the gym and the opportunity presented by an established local business. The wider team considered the person and the business behind the application, giving Tammie the support she needed to complete the purchase.
That relationship has continued beyond the loan. Tammie now receives post loan business support from Rob, CWRT’s Commercial Relationship Manager, as she develops the gym.
“The support given when applying for the loan made CWRT different. I’m also receiving business aftercare support now from Rob, CWRT Commercial Relationship Manager.”
Tamara “Tammie” Tirzīte
With the acquisition complete, Tammie can focus on giving Capitol Gym a strong future. Her plans are helping to bring new energy to a longstanding business while respecting the character and history that members value.
She wants the gym to be a place where people can improve their fitness, get advice and feel part of a community. She also sees its potential to give young people a positive environment in which to train and develop.
The takeover has given Tammie the chance to pursue that purpose as the owner of the business. In her words:
“It’s given me the opportunity to do something good in the local community and to build on a dream.”
Since taking ownership, Tammie has also earned her IFBB Pro status. It is a major personal achievement and one she hopes will encourage the people she trains alongside.
“I don’t just see the gym as a money making scheme. I see it as an opportunity to help members and give exercise advice. I wouldn’t be a good advocate of that if I wasn’t walking the walk myself.”
Capitol Gym is approaching its 40th year in Coventry. Tammie’s ambition is to carry its history forward while helping more people enjoy the benefits of exercise and community.
Her story began with a dream she held onto for over a decade. Today, she owns the gym, is developing plans for its future and has achieved IFBB Pro status along the way.
For CWRT, supporting the acquisition meant understanding what Tammie wanted to build and helping her turn that ambition into an opportunity for herself and the people who walk through Capitol Gym’s doors.
At CWRT, we back businesses with real potential. We look beyond the spreadsheets to understand the sector, the achievements and the growth trajectory.
Initial term loan followed by refinancing
Our learning and partnership with CWRT has been instrumental in enabling us to build and launch Aspire and Thrive. More importantly, it has allowed us to invest deeply in our practice modality, strengthening the foundations of our therapeutic and educational approach. The support we have received has enabled us to invest in our people, infrastructure and systems. As a result, Aspire and Thrive is now a well resourced, fit for purpose organisation.
When Aspire and Thrive launched in October 2024, the mission was clear: create a truly therapeutic, trauma-informed alternative education provision that puts children and young people at its heart. The need was significant.
Traditional alternative education approaches often fall short for children and young people who’ve experienced trauma. Services that lack clinical oversight or psychological grounding can miss the deeper needs these young people have, leaving them to navigate systems that aren’t designed to help them heal and grow.
Aspire and Thrive saw a better way. By combining over two decades of professional experience in local authorities, statutory services and regulated environments with a clinically supervised, psychologically informed approach, they could provide something different, an alternative provision that doesn’t just manage behaviour, but creates the conditions for genuine transformation.
The approach worked. Within their first year, Aspire and Thrive has achieved impressive milestones:
But behind this rapid success was a fundamental challenge facing any new organisation working in social care and education.
As with any new organisation driven by belief and purpose, Aspire and Thrive’s founders needed to balance commitment with careful planning. Working in educational social care in the UK is complex a sector that traditionally faces significant public scrutiny where measuring impact and effectiveness can be nuanced and challenging.
To launch and grow sustainably, they needed funding. But more than that, they needed a funding partner who understood the relational, human centred nature of their work. Traditional funding wasn’t necessarily unavailable, but it became clear that their approach required a different kind of connection. As a therapeutic, relationship based service, it was essential that the themes of connection, trust and empathy ran throughout their organisation from their vision and values to their partnerships and everyday culture.
Key challenges included:
The business needed a funding partner who could see beyond the numbers to understand the sector, the purpose and the real-world impact of their work on vulnerable children and young people.
Aspire and Thrive hadn’t worked with us before, but from the first conversation in spring 2024, our Loans Officer Sahib took time to understand their organisation not just as a business, but the environment and ecosystem within which they operate.
We kept the process collaborative and supportive. Sahib asked insightful questions, provided guidance and helped the team navigate the funding process with confidence. Most importantly, our decision wasn’t made solely by a computer we believed in them as individuals and in the purpose of their organisation.
We structured an initial term loan facility to enable Aspire and Thrive to launch in 2024. This was followed by refinancing in summer 2025 in response to significant organisational growth and emerging commercial opportunities. The funding was designed to:
This approach gave Aspire and Thrive the financial stability and confidence to think strategically about their future.
The funding transformed Aspire and Thrive from a startup with a vision into a rapidly growing organisation with real infrastructure and impact. A significant milestone came in November when they officially opened their new, multipurpose offices, with Sahib there to cut the ribbon marking the tangible realisation of everything they’d worked toward.
With the investment in place, the team could focus on what they do best: providing therapeutic, trauma responsive education that helps children and young people not just survive, but thrive. The funding enabled them to:
What the funding enabled:
Most importantly, the funding created the conditions for what matters most: children and young people feeling safe and making genuine progress. The founders could focus on strategic growth, new partnerships and delivering high quality therapeutic practice without worrying about whether they had the infrastructure to sustain it.
Since receiving the funding, Aspire and Thrive has continued to secure significant wins, with another major local authority agreement on the verge of confirmation, bringing long-term opportunities for continued growth.
For founders like those at Aspire and Thrive, this story demonstrates how the right funding partner can unlock potential by understanding what truly matters. By providing not just capital but also genuine support and belief in their mission, we helped transform a vision into a sustainable, growing organisation that’s making a real difference in young people’s lives.
At CWRT, we back businesses with real potential. We look beyond the spreadsheets to understand the sector, the purpose and the people behind the vision.
Duplex Investment Fund
At CWRT, we are proud to support passionate businesses like Caffeine Project who are not only growing successfully but also enriching our local community. Their journey from coffee roasters to a thriving cafe and now expanding into an afternoon tea offering, perfectly reflects the kind of entrepreneurial spirit we champion.
When Caffeine Project first opened their doors just off the A46, they weren’t setting out to become the cafe of choice in the local area. With over 20 years of experience in coffee industry, their initial goal was simple: find a dedicated space to increase roasting capacity and meet with clients in a professional setting. But their passion for quality coffee and the aroma from their roasters soon drew attention from the local community.
As the UK's market leader for delivering drone inspection and asset visualisation software in the Built Environment (particularly housing associations) we were very impressed with the ease and appetite CWRT had to ensure the loan application was as painless as possible. They totally understood our SME pain points. CWRT have now enabled us to focus 100% on client growth in our exciting sector.
When Vantage UAV launched in 2017, the vision was clear: harness cutting edge drone technology to make people’s lives safer and better. The opportunity was significant. Traditional methods of inspecting wind turbines and high rise buildings often meant scaffolding or rope access engineers dangling precariously from heights a dangerous and costly approach.
Vantage UAV saw a better way. By deploying advanced drone technology, they could help housing associations identify potential issues on tenanted buildings quickly and safely, ensuring tenants were protected and repairs completed faster. They could inspect wind turbines without putting lives at risk.
The approach worked. Today, Vantage UAV has achieved impressive milestones:
The approach worked. Today, Vantage UAV has achieved impressive milestones:
As demand for their services grew, Vantage UAV faced a familiar founder dilemma: cashflow pressure. To keep operations running and meet client demands, they had resorted to short term, high interest loans, a stopgap solution that was becoming increasingly unsustainable.
When they approached traditional high street banks for support, their applications for funding and overdrafts were unsuccessful. Traditional lending criteria, focused primarily on financial metric spreadsheets, didn’t fully capture the real value and potential of their innovative drone technology business.
Key challenges included:
The business needed a funding partner who could understand their sector, assess them on more than just numbers and provide the breathing room to consolidate debt while investing in growth.
Vantage UAV hadn’t worked with us before, but from the first conversation, the difference was clear. Unlike traditional lenders, we took the time to understand the business, the sector and the real-world impact of their work.
We kept the application process straightforward and efficient. Most importantly, our decision wasn’t made by a team of underwriters focused solely on spreadsheet analysis. We assessed the business on feel, understanding the market leadership position Vantage UAV had achieved and the genuine demand for their services.
We structured a term loan facility through the Community ENABLE Fund, backed by the British Business Bank, designed to:
This approach gave Vantage UAV the financial stability they needed while positioning them for sustainable expansion.
The funding transformed Vantage UAV’s operations. By consolidating debt, the business moved from financial stress to financial stability, with predictable repayments that aligned with their revenue cycle.
With improved liquidity and reduced debt burden, the team could focus on what they do best: delivering exceptional drone services to their clients. The funding enabled them to:
What the funding enabled:
Most importantly, the funding gave the founders peace of mind. They could stop worrying about debt repayments and start focusing on strategic growth, new opportunities and cementing their position as market leaders in the Built Environment drone services sector.
Since receiving the funding, Vantage UAV has continued to secure significant wins and milestones, building on their reputation as the go-to provider for safe, efficient building and infrastructure inspections.
For founders like those at Vantage UAV, this story demonstrates how the right funding partner can unlock potential that traditional lenders overlook. By combining debt consolidation with growth capital and taking a holistic approach to business assessment, we helped transform a cashflow crisis into a platform for sustainable expansion.
At CWRT, we back businesses with real potential. We look beyond the spreadsheets to understand the sector, the achievements and the growth trajectory.
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