Name of Business Benessere http://www.benessere.uk
Who are you? My name is Carina, and at Benessere, we help organizations become more successful and more enjoyable places to work. Chronic work-related stress affects over half a million UK workers every year, and a third of British employees quit their jobs due to bad workplace culture. We want to change this.
What sets you apart from the competition? We have a unique approach anchored on organizational development programs, offered as a blend of online courses to all the team with workshops for leaders. With the Be.Serene program, we promote the conscious choice for calm in the workplace, helping teams overcome anxiety and stress so that businesses can have a more positive environment, a super engaged team and become more productive as a result.
How did the business come about? Having seen the positive changes that inspiring everyone in the workplace to keep a more serene mindset can do to achieve fantastic results, for both individuals and the organization as a whole, I have decided it was time to bring my experience together into the organizational development programs, packaging up all that I had successfully implemented through my career into off-the-shelf solutions to help as many organizations as possible.
What are your main target markets? At a B2C level, any organization that is looking to improve their employee retention and engagement, to achieve improved results, can benefit from our solutions. Hospitality is an important vertical for us, as this is an area where I have extensive experience on, so it’s very close to my heart, so I really want to help the industry recover from this tough year and we have special conditions for hotels and restaurants (https://www.benessere.uk/covid19). On a B2B level, we offer our courses as well for individuals who are looking to improve their own serenity mindset to have more personal wellbeing and grow in their careers.
How long has your business been in existence? The business was set up in 2016, but the Be.Serene programs are being launched now!
How many staff do you employ? 2
What job or achievement makes you most proud? In 20 years, I have worked in over a dozen companies of different sizes, in a variety of industries; I have led a handful of charity organizations and supported many SMEs on a wide range of activities. During this time, I like to think that I have successfully contributed with all these organizations, but, most importantly, I hope to have made a positive impact on the people I crossed paths with – my team, colleagues, leaders, and clients. We love to support businesses grow, become more efficient and productive, while also helping workplaces become more enjoyable environments. In everything we do, we are committed to setting out strategies and tools that help businesses stick to their goals and take small actions every day that add up to big improvements up over time.
Where do you see the business being in five years? We expect to have launched the Be.Steady program by them, alongside the Be.Serene, and have grown our team so our programs and courses can reach a wide community. We expect to expand internationally and have our services available in other languages too.
Why Warrington? When moving to the UK, my family could have decided to move anywhere, but we chose Warrington as it has so many characteristics that we love. After settling in, we became even more reassured of our decision, as it’s such a welcoming place, with great business opportunities, so when setting up our business it was only natural to want to start to help other organizations from here!
Tell us one interesting thing about the business that might surprise us? Benessere means wellbeing in Italian, a state characterized by health, happiness and prosperity. Even though I was born in Brazil, my family heritage is Italian and when deciding the business name it felt right to use a word that has such an important meaning, but also reminds me of home, family and joy.
Tell us one interesting thing about you that people might not know? (ie, hobbies, amusing fact, etc) I am proud to be part of a multicultural family: my Italian origins and my husband’s Japanese and Korean heritage, combined with our Brazilian upbringing but now living in the UK, mean that our cooking choices are extremely broad, for a start!
Fantasy dinner party – which six people alive or dead would you invite? My dad, Barack Obama, Greta Thunberg, Walt Disney, Stephen Hawking, JRR Tolkien.