EXPANSION: Healthcare recruitment agency SNG Healthcare is the latest company to move into Ocean Village Innovation Centre, Southampton, which has 67 serviced offices. Pictured, Ebele Ossai is SNG Healthcare’s owner, who only started the business in January, and Stephen Deller is OVIC’s Centre Manager.
When Ebele Ossai started up a healthcare recruitment agency from her bedroom in January, she had no inkling she would need to relocate to a serviced office before the year was out.
Growth has been such that SNG Healthcare now employs four people and booked 722 shifts involving 8,000 hours in August – a record month for the company.
Following a raft of contract wins by healthcare clients, the firm has joined more than 30 other businesses in making Ocean Village Innovation Centre (OVIC) Southampton their operational epicentre.
Flexible workspace
Ebele, who has always worked in the UK’s £42.3 billion recruitment industry and lives in Southampton, said: “We grew so quickly we needed to call somewhere home for our staff and our clients.
“Having worked out of OVIC a few years back, I knew there was everything here for us – flexible workspace, reception and cleaning facilities, training and meeting rooms and in-house business support.”
SNG Healthcare, which Ebele owns, is one of 3,000 enterprises in the national recruitment market – and, based on recent figures by the Office for National Statistics, there are a record 1 million vacancies in the UK.
Labour shortages
According to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, nine in 10 recruiters in a September members’ survey reported that labour shortages, caused by the pandemic, Brexit and other factors, were their biggest concern.
Ebele said: “Against this extraordinary economic backdrop, we have been rushed off our feet as clients come to us to secure the services of quality support workers across Hampshire and beyond.
“The demand meant that I could employ two recruitment coordinators to source permanent and temporary placements, along with a payroll organiser.
Active recruitment
“We continue to actively recruit nurses, care assistants and support workers for residential and nursing homes, support living houses, young adult care and learning disabilities across Hampshire and further afield.
“When I approached Stephen Deller, OVIC’s Centre Manager, I requested a four-desk office. Given the growth of SNG Healthcare, we may well need to increase workspace on site.
“I set up the firm from my bedroom during the January 2021 lockdown and had no idea that we’d take off in the way that we have.”
Compassionate care
SNG Healthcare’s nurses and carers cover a variety of specialties, including specialist care, mental health, Down’s Syndrome, physical disability, acquired brain injury, spinal injury, palliative care, elderly care, learning disability and end-of-life care.
Stephen Deller, OVIC Centre Manager, said: “Ebele’s business supports essential healthcare for many people in need and, in a sign of the times, the firm is currently able to provide an unlimited number of shifts to carers so that they can take on as little or as much work as they wish.
“We are here to support Ebele and her colleagues, freeing them up to focus on what they do best, which includes sourcing nurses and carers for operators of healthcare facilities.”
International nurses
OVIC, which has 67 offices over 30,000 sq ft, is also a venue for the training of international nurses through the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, which has 12,000-plus staff.
Oxford Innovation, which manages 26 innovation centres across the UK and supports more than 1,000 small-to-medium sized enterprises, runs OVIC on behalf of the building’s owners.
To find out how OVIC can support your business aspirations, please ring Stephen Deller, Centre Manager, for a no-obligation chat on 023 8038 1920 or email Stephen at info@oceanvillage-ic.co.uk
