In extraordinary times, with many businesses rocked by the Covid-19 crisis, Christine Kelly demonstrated the resilience, adaptability and creativity that will help Little Kickers weather the current economic storm.
Christine’s story…
Christine, from Didcot, Oxfordshire founded the business whilst raising her then two-year old son Lukas. Inspired by her son, Christine had no experience of football or franchising, but an early investment of £300 has turned Little Kickers into a global football themed franchise, championing fun-based activities for pre-school children. Christine trained as an accountant and went onto a successful financial career in New York and London, joining Enron just months before it imploded.
Her first club in Wandsworth was oversubscribed by 400% and as the brand grew, she created a franchise to help women like her whilst ensuring she still had time to devote to her family. Little Kickers sees over 65,000 children in 34 countries enjoy football training every week.
Covid-19 put growth plans on hold and Christine’s priority has been to support her franchisees and retain her customer base. Capitalising on the PE with Joe phenomenon, Little Kickers shared free digital content, generating goodwill and ultimately only losing 7% of the customer base worldwide.
In 2020 Christine was awarded ‘one of the ten most powerful women in franchising’, as well as receiving the everywoman ‘Aphrodite Award’ sponsored by The Daily Mail.
