Graphic design graduate’s equine business saddles up
Thu, 06 Oct 2016 11:11:00 BST
Horses for courses – Graduate Lydia Haram turns a profit with her business Windigo Equine
COMBINING a graphics design degree with her lifelong love of horses, University of Huddersfield graduate Lydia Haram (pictured right) is now riding high with her on-line equestrian business.
Officially launched on 1 July 2016, Windigo Equine is a family-run business based in Liverpool and sells a wide-range of horse-riding and canine products.
The business is still in its infancy, but Lydia, from Aughton in Ormskirk, says it is already making a profit. Being a graphics design graduate she was able to design the company branding herself, which meant there was no need to employ an external design company and Lydia said it has saved the business a small fortune.
Now 22 years old, she first had the idea for the business when it came to completing her final major project for college which would assist her application to university. In the beginning the business was called High Society.
“This was named after one of our two dressage horses and was going to be the name of the business,” said Lydia. “However, I found out during my Enterprise Placement Year at the University that High Society is the name of a snow-boarding business based in the USA. So we decided to call the business after the second dressage horse, Windigo.”
The Enterprise Placement Year (EPY) is an option taken instead of a sandwich placement year where students can spend a year setting up a business of their very own with the help of the University’s Enterprise Team in The Duke of York Young Entrepreneur Centre.
The team assists recent students and graduates with gaining access to funds, help with networking whilst also giving them an official base for the business.
For now, Lydia and her family are working their hardest in getting the business well and truly off the ground, by attending local trade shows and promoting the business anyway they can.
“The equestrian business is really competitive,” said Lydia. “We’ve just caught the last trade shows of the season and are getting people involved by doing competitions on social media and are already seeing customers returning,” she added.
Lydia loves being her own boss, but knows the next few months are going to be hard as she gets to grips with running her own business. The most difficult bit, she says, is learning when to stop as there is always something to do!
