Niche Business Awards Headline Sponsor announcement

WORDS BY KERRY SMITH

The Vice President of Leicestershire Law Society (LLS) has announced she’ll be supporting this year’s Niche Business Awards as headline sponsor. The solicitor will also be employing her business and legal expertise as a judge.

Also the owner of independent law firm BP Legal, Bhumika Parmar has consistently supported the Leicestershire business community over the years as the sponsor of the Businessman of the Year category.

From her home in Leicestershire, Bhumika told us: “I’ve connected with lots of female business owners over the years and thought that supporting the men’s category was a good opportunity to mix with the male professionals! I really focused on finding businesswomen when I founded BP Legal, so much so that I now know lots of them. I felt there weren’t as many businesswomen as there should be – but as I dug deeper, I realised there are many women-led companies out there. Just in my village, for instance, the beauticians, the florist, and the café are all owned by women.

“I wanted to bridge the gap between women and men working together by supporting the men’s category. And personally, I wanted men to know that women are also serious businesspeople. If I didn’t support businessmen, then I would never be able to get that message across.”

Collaboration is Bhumika’s key strategy in both her roles as LLS Vice President and Director of BP Legal, which she founded 15 years ago. It was during the coronavirus pandemic that collaboration really came into play and took her business in a new direction.

“I wasn’t going to let that time be wasted over the Covid period. I expanded our reach by building relationships with local agencies and brokers. When we came back to the office full-time, I had tripled my sales.”

With over 25 years of experience in both residential and commercial property, Bhumika connected with developers and quickly onboarded six new clients, each with large property portfolios across the East Midlands. BP Legal is the partner firm for these and companies in other sectors, and is now trusted with the conveyancing and legal matters of their properties and acquisitions.

Relationships on another scale were also created. From previous experience, businesses around Leicestershire knew they could count on Bhumika and the team when they were in need. When one company’s printing system went down, they went to BP Legal for help. These kinds of alliances have not been forgotten and are still prevailing today; they’re why Bhumika’s reputation precedes her and how she came to acquire a new business in August 2022.

BP Legal bought out nationwide web-based company Solicitors4Landlords Ltd after a client and friend recommended Bhumika as a potential buyer of the company when its founder was looking to retire. On the

purchase, Bhumika commented: “The company was the owner’s baby and her reputation was still on the line so she needed to choose its successor well. I was in two minds about how we were going to take on Solicitors4Landlords. I could merge it with BP Legal or keep it as a stand-alone business.”

Going with the latter option, Solicitors4Landlords and BP Legal remain separate entities. Bhumika explained her reasoning behind the choice: “If I merged the two companies, we would have lost the SEO and nationwide audience of Solicitors4Landlords. BP doesn’t have that nationwide audience. But, in time, as we continue to run Solicitors4Landlords, we can refer those clients to BP Legal for conveyancing work. The two companies will encapsulate each other so BP Legal will become nationwide itself over the years, naturally and organically.”

Since the acquisition last year, Bhumika says she has recouped her investment and has tripled BP Legal’s sales figures. She’s hoping to triple it again by 2024.

Meanwhile, there are two other property-based businesses that Bhumika owns and she also has her own

property portfolio. Working 13 hours a day to fit it all in, Bhumika is eager to use all her time wisely: “Whilst I can still do it, I want to utilise all the hours I can, but I don’t forget my family. It’s a rule that we don’t work at the weekends, and we make time for holidays each year. And I still have time to watch programmes and movies with the family.”

Remarkably, there are still hours in the day for Bhumika to dedicate to charity work. Being an ambassador for Zinthiya Trust, she supports victims of abuse and poverty as well as charity work in India. This year, she’ll be heading to Mumbai to create more alliances and donate to the homeless and the poor.

While she’s far from lonely in all her business and family activities, Bhumika knows what being at the top can feel like. “As a business owner, you can be isolated, so any opportunity to mix with other business owners and support the community should be snapped up. This is one of the reasons why being headline sponsor of the Niche Business Awards was a great option for me.” Organised by parent company Cross Productions, the Niche Business Awards will take place at Athena on September 8. Nominations are open until March 31.

“Headline sponsorship gives me a connection with businesses and allows them to learn about LLS and our charitable work. One of the things I like about Cross is that they are heavily motivated in connecting people. Just the other day, Jenny, Cross’s CEO introduced me to someone I would have never thought would be mutually beneficial and now I have a meeting booked with them next week. That connected mindset is an important factor as to why I chose to become headline sponsor.”