After forging a successful career in professional training in Guernsey, Sarah Colley, now Managing Partner, First Intuition, Channel Islands, decided it was the right time to bring the concept of First Intuition – the UK-wide professional services training network – to Jersey. Pictured l-r: Sarah Colley, Alice Turian and Camilla Starr
Give us an insight into what First Intuition does?
First Intuition is a network of owner-managed professional services training businesses, based across the UK and now in the Channel Islands too. Through face-to-face teaching and online learning, we deliver a broad range of accountancy and company secretarial qualifications and professional development courses.
The company began in the UK in 2007. Along with the other Channel Island Partners, Camilla Starr and Alice Turian, I established First Intuition in Guernsey in 2017. I had 16 years’ experience at another business study centre in Guernsey but felt there was a gap in the market for a more entrepreneurial, personalised professional services centre that could support the local finance sector and businesses more widely.
Then, in 2018, we secured a key pan-island client, so we started to look into establishing an office in Jersey. Being an owner-managed business is fantastic, in that it gives us real flexibility to deliver a highly bespoke service, while being part of a network gives us valuable support and access to some amazing minds. We all place a real emphasis on putting the student first.
What made you consider Jersey as a market to move into?
We had been so well received in Guernsey and, with the new client, it just made sense to make First Intuition a pan-island study centre. There’s a clear need for cutting-edge professional training in both islands and a lot of the businesses we work with, in finance and other sectors, are pan-island anyway, so it’s a sensible step for us to be able to offer a consistent and familiar service across both islands.
Jersey is a world-renowned international finance centre and it’s very sophisticated and internationally dynamic as a business centre. So it stands to reason that every firm here wants the best training for its staff, to ensure that they meet the demands of the industry and can compete effectively in a global marketplace. That demand has given us a really strong platform from which to grow our business.
But we also see that our approach – to put the student first and ensure that every individual gets the unique attention they deserve – is an approach that’s really well received in Jersey too.
What became clear to us when visiting Jersey over the past year was that it was an island with a strong ethos of being open for business, that embraces healthy competition and choice, and that was a really positive indicator for us.
All this gives us good reason to believe we can be really successful as part of Jersey’s business landscape.
Was the relocation process straightforward?
We had always had an intention to make our business pan-island, but the move has actually happened a lot quicker than we might have anticipated at first. Our success in securing our first significant client in Jersey was a real driver and focused our minds – we’ve all learned a lot of new skills in the process of establishing our office here.
But the support we’ve received from our contacts and partners in Jersey has been fantastic too. For instance, there are differences in regulation between Jersey and Guernsey when it comes to setting
up a business, so getting assistance on that has been invaluable.
Locate Jersey was incredibly helpful during the process of establishing us in the island, and the local estate agents were fantastic in helping us to secure our wonderful space in good time. We were very lucky to find the perfect location for our offices and classrooms at 1 Seale Street in the centre of St Helier. It couldn’t have been easier, really.
All the partners live in Guernsey, but we fly over to Jersey on a regular basis to support our Jersey team. It’s important to us that both of the islands get our equal attention, and the welcome we’ve had from existing and new contacts has been amazing.
Jersey and Guernsey are both beautiful islands for work and lifestyle, so I’m incredibly lucky to be able to enjoy both of them on a regular basis.
How do you see your business evolving?
Clearly, we want to be the provider of choice for professional services and company secretarial studies and we feel confident that our high success rate, as well as our entrepreneurial and personable approach, will help us achieve that.
Our vision is absolutely to grow the business across both islands. In Jersey, we feel there is real potential for evolution. Businesses here are clearly focused on upskilling and in bringing in new skill sets to their organisations.
There’s a genuine appreciation here that being able to demonstrate a commitment to training and cutting-edge skills can be a real differentiator in the marketplace – both in terms of capabilities and as an employer brand. All that is really good news and exciting for us.
However, it’s important to us that we grow at a pace that’s comfortable and that doesn’t risk us diluting our personal approach. Across our network, First Intuition focuses on quality
rather than speed of growth, so we will continue to offer our keystone courses, face-to-face and online.
We do see ourselves growing our team in Jersey in the future, and getting the right people to join us on our journey is vital. We’ve already started that process ahead of our official launch in 2019, as we look to put ourselves in a strong position to serve local businesses and play a role in helping them to grow over the coming years.
Visit www.locatejersey.com
• This advertising feature was first published in the May/June 2019 edition of Businesslife magazine