​WE're here to help you achieve your goals

Whether you're an entrepreneur starting a new tech, or digitally-driven business, or you're a person seeking to learn new digital skills to pursue your career or employment goals, we believe in following a winning combination - clarity on what to do and how to do it, taking action, and working smart.
​We'll help you make progress and get results!

Scroll down to find out more about our story, and how we got started.
WHAT DO WE BELIEVE IN?
Delivering high quality workshops and programmes that are practical and insightful which offer a fresh perspective, and are presented in a positive and engaging manner.

OUR MISSION
Whether you are starting a tech driven business, or building a digital career, that you do it the SMART way!
That means having a clear strategy and following a proven pathway to a successful outcome (including knowing what to do, and what not to do!)

For tech entrepreneurs it also means:
"Knowing how to start your business and create software and apps as easily, safely, strategically, and cost effectively as possible, avoiding pitfalls and risks, and making the experience as profitable and positive as possible."

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WHO DO WE SERVE?
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1. TECH & DIGITAL STARTUPS
We simplify and demystify the process of transforming your business idea into a commercial web or mobile product. ​We guide startups and small businesses from a basic idea right through to launch, and beyond, including product development, the software "build" process, hiring and managing staff, and marketing / business development.

We love working with startups and small businesses because we get to play a part in each business at a time when it really matters - we think that's pretty exciting.

2. FREELANCERS
We help freelancers and online service-based business owners to speed up their path to income with the right strategies and tools - the secret ingredients we wish we'd known about ourselves are shared with you to make getting started, and building your business easier, more profitable, and more enjoyable.

3. DIGITAL LEARNERS
We're here to help you get your career off the ground and to improve, or enhance your digital skills to create new opportunities for yourself, or even to pursue self-employment so you can forge your own path. We can help you reinvent yourself, and increase your employability in the tech or digital industries.
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​WHAT'S IN A NAME?

We are called Purposeful Group because of the multiple meanings of the word purposeful and the relevance of this for entrepreneurs and digital learners in being determined and focused in achieving their goals.
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For founders it is also about creating products that are useful, meaningful and make a difference.


our story

Our award-winning founder, Kay Kukoyi CSM FITOL, has been recognised by the Financial Times and Inclusive Boards as one of the most influential BAME leaders in the UK Technology sector (2019).
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She was the winner of the BTA Lifetime Achievement Award for individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the technology profession (2022).

Kay is a global startup and business mentor, tech startup specialist, speaker, lecturer and the author of 5 business books. She judges at national and local startup competitions and is an advisory board member to the education sector.

​In 2022, despite a record-breaking number of applications, Purposeful Group was chosen as a finalist in two categories in the national Small Awards competition run by Small Business Britain

Purposeful Group was a finalist for the At your Service Award for best small UK service business, recognising the best small service businesses in the UK, with a track record of serving their target customer set.

Kay was selected as a finalist for the Sole to Sole Award for best self-employed UK small business owner.
In 2022 Kay was also named as a finalist for Digital Women's most prestigious and competitive award: Digital Woman of the Year. She appeared in their e-book of finalists, entitled 50 Digital Women to Watch, 2022 .

Kay was also shortlisted for Digital Women's Role Model of the Year, 2022 and Digital Entrepreneur of the Year, 2022.

She has over a decade of experience both leading, and working in teams delivering on high-profile, multi-million-pound technology projects, and transforming concepts into digital products and services for household-name companies including Sky News, Barclays Bank, and The Money Advice Service, with thousands of customers around the world.

Kay has been a Certified ScrumMaster®, CSM® since 2008, and is a qualified coach and marketer.

How Kay got started.
Kay already had a strong interest in entrepreneurship and after working in an internal IT department, she took the next step in her career and found herself running not 1, but 2 side-hustles alongside a demanding career as a freelance IT Consultant.

She moved from a corporate tech background to set up Purposeful Group (formerly Purposeful Products) to support founders in the tech startup ecosystem after hearing horror stories about tech entrepreneurs experiencing a wide range of issues, stressors, and struggles, including losing large sums of money, when getting their software applications built.
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She decided to write the first of five books, the "software survival guide": Don't Hire a Software Developer Until You Read this Book, to help these founders. The book went on to become an Amazon international bestseller in multiple business, project management and technical categories in Amazon marketplaces in 7 countries.
Entrepreneurs from all over the world started to write to her saying how much they loved the book, and some asked her to work with them and be their mentor, and that's how Purposeful Group was born! 

Today she is highly active within the startup ecosystem, using her skills to continue to build her own enterprises, and helping newcomers to entrepreneurship to build theirs. Through Purposeful Group, she is proud to be transforming employees into entrepreneurs and leaders and continues to work to help entrepreneurs to start their businesses the SMART way.

Kay is a WeWork Labs mentor, a Seedcamp mentor, and a Zinc VC accelerator Fellow and Executive Coach. She runs several Meetup groups with a combined community of over 1,500 tech founders, aspiring tech entrepreneurs, investors and technologists. 

Kay has worked with entrepreneurs around the world aged between 18 and 50. She also has extensive experience working with young entrepreneurs and young people, including those from diverse groups.

Kay is also featured on CitizenMe's global expert network and can be found on Crunchbase.

She regularly speaks at conferences and events, hosts and sits on panels, and judges at local and national startup competitions and has taught technology and entrepreneurship at degree level at the National College of Digital Skills.
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She is the creator of the 10 Step App Map™ and App Map 2.0 models for tech entrepreneurs, and has authored 5 business books.

Contact us to book Kay for your event, or book mentoring with Kay here. To speak with Kay, you can book a call here.



​OUR OBJECTIVES

​We want to play a part in making sure that the frustrations and issues, including wasted time, money and energy that newcomers to the tech startup ecosystem often face, become far less commonplace.
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It's impossible for newcomers to technology to have the same skills and knowledge as professionals accustomed to creating and delivering software, and many entrepreneurs discover that there are many aspects of running a tech-driven business that they were completely unaware of.  

The comments below are why we are on a mission to reduce the issues and challenges faced by tech entrepreneurs creating software from scratch. Tech startup "horror stories" are still far too common.
“We’re making it up as we go along…”
First time cofounders, UK

“I am trying to launch a startup with global ambition, and I have been scratching my head about how to begin.”
Sent to us via LinkedIn, aspiring entrepreneur, Africa

“I didn’t get burned, I got barbecued. I tried on my own and I don’t want to do it by myself any more.”
Founder, starting second attempt to create his app, USA

“I engaged with a developer 3 months ago and basically have nothing to show for it apart from a few more grey hairs, so I'm starting the process again.”
​Aspiring tech entrepreneur and community member, UK
We bridge these knowledge gaps for our clients, and provide them with a guided experience using our: ​
Our clients are people who want to break out of the 9-5 and create greater financial freedom and options for themselves by starting their own businesses - either on a full time basis, or as a part-time “side-hustle.”

Most are "non-technical" entrepreneurs who have a great idea but not necessarily all the skills and expertise to get their software built, whether this is knowledge of hiring developers, managing and organising technical projects, product management, managing staff and resources, or knowledge of business fundamentals.

We commonly work with entrepreneurs at:
  • Idea stage
  • Planning stage
  • MVP / prototyping / proof of concept / design stage
  • Build stage (where entrepreneurs have hired a developer and the product is currently being built)
  • Product launch stage
  • Startups in their first 12-18 months post-launch

We also work with established entrepreneurs that are either looking to start a new business, or expand an existing business using software, and are seeking assistance with setting up, and running their development project.

We have worked across a vast range of industries, including: 
B2B, B2C, Media / Agency Services, Travel & Tourism, Aviation, Public sector, Social Media, 
Ecommerce, Logistics, Productivity, Consulting, Marketing, PropTech, Beauty and Well-being, Health tech / Medical Services, Customer Relationship Management, News & Media, Finance, banking / FinTech and Ed Tech.

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WHY DO ENTREPRENEURS, AND ACCELERATORS CHOOSE US?
Our customers are committed to success, and are serious about making an impact, and starting off as professionally as possible.
They understand that mistakes are costly, and want to conserve time and money through having more clarity, understanding, and ownership as they go through the process of getting their software developed.

They understand that there are gaps in their knowledge, and find it helpful to be just an email, voice or video call away from assistance.

Of course, you can't avoid every mistake as a business owner, but you can minimise them, and much of this is down to how you, as "the boss”, choose to approach the running of your business. 

​Some prefer to “wing it” and “see how it goes", but this can be a recipe for disaster.

Creating software is a structured process and one where chaos and guesswork will do nothing to help you make progress.

Purposeful Group makes it quicker, easier and safer to get started. 

You can see the reasons that our customers choose us below:
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Reasons Why Entrepreneurs use our Products & Services
These are just some of the ways that Purposeful Products makes life easier for our clients.

We take our work with our clients very seriously, but being professional doesn't mean being stuffy and formal!

We like to build great relationships with the startups we work with and make time for humour along the way. Take a look at the emails and feedback we've received from our clients, including a drawing one of our clients sent in via email!

WHERE WE'RE BASED

We are based in London, England, but have an international focus.
We reach a global audience with our books, and our software consulting and mentoring services are used by SMEs, startups, and entrepreneurs from around the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia.
Contact us for a FREE 30 minute consultation where we'll answer your questions and advise on how best we can help.

You can also contact us at: courses[at]purposefulgroup.com, or here.

Don't go it alone! Start your tech business the smart way, with help from us.