Business Doctors, the UK’s fastest growing support service for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has opened a new operation covering Bristol plus Bath and Somerset.

The business, which provides support and strategic advice to owners and directors of SMEs, will be run by local man Richard Tidswell, who in recent years has been working in senior strategic roles for the utilities sector. As he gets under way, he is delivering two free seminars in June aimed at business owners.

Business Doctors, which now has more than 30 operations across the country, provides smaller businesses with advice to drive business growth, from strategies for sales and boosting profits to advice for effective people management, accessing finance and acquiring other businesses.

Tidswell himself has a long and successful business career behind him, with experience ranging from work in large corporates to smaller, family-owned businesses. Over two decades in business he has been inolved in business strategy, business planning and business development – and with growing existing businesses as well as establishing new ventures in new markets.

“My last role was at Thames Water, establishing a new national business-to-business retail operation for the company in what is a highly regulated industry. That’s one example of the kind of insight I can bring to bear in my work with company directors, but equally I’ve also enjoyed building smaller businesses from the ground up.”

Before working in the utilities sector Tidswell helped to grow a family-run business that imported bathroom and leisure products from across Europe for business and consumer markets in the UK. Among his successes he found a new route to market for the company that challenged traditional distribution channels.

“You learn a lot in every business role. The contrasts and the common ground between the needs of a 50-employee business and one with thousands of staff and hundreds of thousands of customers are always interesting to explore,” Tidswell added.

He said of his new challenge: “I am delighted to have joined Business Doctors. It takes an adaptive approach to helping SMEs, tailoring its strategies to each business, and that really appeals. In particular I will be working closely with the other Business Doctors operating in this area, drawing on our respective skills to help our clients and to promote business growth across the South West.

“I’m really looking forward to meeting business leaders in the area who are looking for practical support to grow profitably.”

Rod Davies, founder of Business Doctors, added: “We are delighted to have grown our presence in the Bristol and Bath area, partly because it is such an important part of the South West’s economy. Having been there and done it at the highest level in business, Richard is typical of all our Business Doctors around the country.

They are not just consultants, but are proven business people who can advise and support based on real, on-the-ground experience.”

Tidswell’s Bristol, Bath and Somerset operation is the third Business Doctors to open in the South West. He will be working alongside established offices covering Gloucestershire and Devon and Cornwall.

Business Doctors has been described as the antidote to Dragons’ Den. With its extended coverage nationally, its experts have plugged the gap left by the closure of Business Link by helping business leaders take control of their future and achieve their vision.