After 30 years in franchising, self made millionaire and Chemex Managing Director Melvin Lusty is keen to give his time freely to help others succeed in business.

Mr Lusty is a mentor for The Prince's Trust helping young entrepreneurs, he is a Board member of the British Franchise Association, helps Premier Sport deliver sports to schools and he provides a free consultation service for businesses looking to franchise.

"It's just my way of giving something back," said Lusty. "I strongly believe in franchising and I'm happy to help where time permits."

Mr Lusty took control of Chemex in 2006 and following a period of restructuring the business is expanding both in the UK and abroad. It recently signed a deal with a partner to take its products into North America and negotiations are on going to set up Chemex operations in Australia, Brazil and Romania.

Lusty added: "Chemex was a sleeping giant and our job has been to wake it up and move it forward which we are doing. The company is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and it remains a strong brand which is well respected in the franchising industry.

"I'm a great believer in training - I've always regarded the businesses I've run as training organisations. You can't teach someone to deliver a product or service and be a businessman in a couple of weeks it's a long term process.

"We recruit franchise owners who want to be business builders and who have ambition and drive. We give them excellent training and support and have developed a great range of products.

"We continue to invest in research and development and we are introducing a range of cleaning products that are biological rather than chemical based and use environmentally friendly enzymes."

Published: 6 May 2010

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