Name: Emma Jones
Business: Seaside CEO
Location: Ramsgate
Founded: 2026
➡️ What does your business do, and who do you help?
Seaside CEO is my side project! By day I'm Small Business Commissioner for the UK government, working to ensure small firms get paid on time, but I'm also a Ramsgate resident and wanted to host events and deliver top tips to the amazing people who are starting and growing businesses in Ramsgate and the wider Thanet coast.
Seaside CEO events take place on the final Thursday of each month at the Royal Temple Yacht Club in Ramsgate. They feature great entrepreneurs including Richard Sutcliffe, founder of Passenger, and Ian Milner who built Iris into a £100m+ creative agency, as well as experts in topics from making sales to raising money.
The events have been designed to inform and inspire and also to build connections amongst local businesses; connecting founders to each other and also to trusted advisers.
The more successful businesses we have operating in the area, the more the economy will thrive, and so with it, our community.
➡️ What sparked the idea for your business?
When I moved to Ramsgate in September 2024, I was looking for business events and an advisory and support network. I joined Ramsgate Space as a Non Exec and we hosted a number of events for local businesses coming up with ideas to fill the empty shops in town. On the back of that, we won Visa's Top Town award for small business support.
In March 2026, we hosted a Seaside Summit event and published a report 'Seaside CEO' profiling 26 amazing local business owners. All this has led to a now monthly series of Seaside CEO events - to offer local businesses a regular event covering the topics that matter to them most.
➡️ How did you win your very first customers?
As this is a side project, I'm currently personally funding the events and activity but I'm a big believer in small businesses securing customers so I will be starting work soon on fund-raising so we can hopefully deliver even more activity!
➡️ What do you enjoy most about running your own business day to day?
I love seeing people start and grow successful small businesses!
➡️ What has been the toughest challenge you have faced as a business owner so far?
I have built and sold two businesses and faced a fair few challenges throughout! This is why I want to host the Seaside CEO events - to help others who may face similar challenges like hiring, making sales, managing costs and having the mindset to just keep going.
So much evidence points to the fact that business owners who seek support grow faster and better than businesses that don't. If that support network can be provided in Ramsgate; connecting founders to their peers and to advisers who can help, this will hopefully minimise shocks and challenges for the local business community.
➡️ What moment has made you feel most proud of your business?
If I can see businesses get results on the back of attending events and seeking support, this is what gives me my motivation. One recent example is Nathan Dyas who is a personal trainer operating in Ramsgate. Nathan attended a number of business support events we hosted at Ramsgate Space and he is growing his business to the extent he has now taken on his own PT space in town. Go, Nathan!
➡️ Have any mentors, role models, or other business owners influenced your journey?
Yes - many. Throughout my own business career, I have been very fortunate to have a number of mentors and trusted advisers who have helped; from investors in my business through to a mentor who helped me scale and then sell a business, and many more besides!
Part of my great belief in the power of business support and mentorship comes from my own personal experience of benefitting from it!
➡️ If you were starting your business again today, what would you do differently?
Leverage AI. It's amazing to see how new businesses are starting with such a 'light model' as AI can help you get started at pace and keep overheads low. This is why one of the Seaside CEO events is fully focused on this topic.
➡️ What are you most proud of building so far, and what is next for the business?
It would be great if we could increase the size of the small business sector in Ramsgate. Alongside the Seaside CEO events, I have written a 10 year small business plan for the town (inspired by Polly Billington MP who called on local residents at a recent Pride in Place event to think about how they wanted the town to look in a decade at the end of Pride in Place funding) so I've established some current metrics on the number of businesses in town and set some target metrics to deliver which include; number of start-ups and applications to government's StartUp Loans, number of businesses applying for The King's Awards for Enterprise, number of businesses accessing angel or equity finance, amount of workspace coming on stream etc.
I'm keeping track and hoping the Seaside CEO events will contribute to the delivery of some of these metrics. I will learn from what's working ie popular content and subjects, best ways to make connections to advisers, and then do more of what's proving to be effective.
➡️ What makes your way of doing things different?
I moved to Ramsgate with a passion for small business, from my years spent starting and growing my own companies, with my last business being Enterprise Nation, that was founded to support small businesses. Wherever I go, I want to encourage people to start a business, and support existing businesses to thrive. Hopefully this passion and past experience will contribute to Ramsgate's growing confidence and economy.
I'm attracting proven entrepreneurs from across the UK to visit the town to see its beauty and business potential - as well as to share their business advice! And also ensuring local businesses get to hear about, and participate in, national and regional initiatives from which they can benefit, for example, the soon to be launched South East Investment Fund that will be introduced to guests joining the September Seaside CEO event
➡️ Can you share an example of a customer, project or job that sums up what you do well?
The listing of monthly events hopefully show how we can put on events and deliver content that informs and inspires!
➡️ What do customers tend to appreciate most about working with you?
I would like to think that small businesses interacting with the work I do can see that I do it from a place of great respect for the work they are doing.
➡️ What advice would you give to someone in Kent who is thinking about starting their own business?
You know what I'm going to say to this ... my advice would be ... sign up to a Seaside CEO event and download the Seaside CEO publication that offers stories of people who have taken that step and offer their top tips on how to go about it! All at www.seasideceo.co.uk
➡️ What is your favourite place in Kent to grab a coffee, take a break, or find inspiration?
There are so many. Staple coffee shop, the terrace of the Yacht Club (open to everyone, not just members) and the Boating Pool to name just a few. This is the beauty of Ramsgate - it's a place that offers such incredible space and capacity so you can reflect and think big. This is vital when running a business which is why I feel the town is a great place to do business.
➡️ Is there anything we haven't asked that you'd love people to know about you or your business?
Thanks for the opportunity of this profile. Please contact me if anything in this profile appeals and if you would like to partner or get involved in Seaside CEO which is fully focused on creating a business support network for the Ramsgate and wider Thanet small business community.
You can contact Emma and the team at Emma Jones here:
Name: Emma Jones
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07899871698
Website: Seaside CEO
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-jones-8063536/
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