Profile: Dr Robert Gravelle, founder of Gravelle's Mobility and Lifestyle

Dr Robert Gravelle, 33, knows a lot about artificial legs: he has two of his own. And he also has a PhD in prosthetic limb development. "I started my PhD intending to do materials research," explains Gravelle, "but ended up veering towards patient satisfaction. There's often a gulf between what designers think will benefit patients and what patients actually want."

The ex-lecturer in industrial design decided that his know-how could be better deployed as a consultant sitting between the providers and the users. And so, in November 2006, he set up Gravelle's Mobility and Lifestyle Ltd to advise on a range of disability issues. His business now offers services and associated products to individuals, carers, businesses and healthcare professionals.

Gravelle says that his biggest challenge has been to get suppliers of products for the disabled to engage with his business. "It's astonishing that some suppliers have been reluctant to work with a disabled businessman," he says. "Starting a new business is hard enough without that kind of attitude." But Gravelle isn't a man to quit and he has been steadily building up his list of suppliers over the last six months. In the meantime it's been business-to-business consulting, such as advising on access issues for business premises, that has developed into his strongest revenue stream.

Smart business owners seek as much advice as they can. Gravelle sought help from a number of national schemes including that run by Opportunity Wales (www.opportunitywales.co.uk) who help businesses grow through the use of e-commerce and the internet. But trawling the internet for business advice threw up a lot of conflicting information. The Association of Disabled Professionals (www.adp.org.uk) pointed Gravelle towards a new initiative, the EU-funded Consortium for Enterprise Outreach (www. c-e-o.eu.com). That project provides weekly help to members over a one-year period. "The fact that their training material was university-accredited, ticked a huge box for me," explains Gravelle. "And their focus on disabled business people and carers was just what I was looking for."

Gravelle's business looks set to develop rapidly as he is now engaging with a number of high-profile business clients. But his main ambition remains to provide a cost-effective advisory service to disabled people and their carers. "I'm glad that the business is taking off," says Gravelle, "although I never intended to work in the disability field."

Gravelle's Mobility and Lifestyle Ltd (08452 574067; www.gravelles.co.uk).

Jargon buster

Start-up finance

All businesses need finance at the outset. The most common forms of start-up finance are the business loan and the overdraft. The business loan will inject cash into the business account and must be repaid over a period of time - perhaps three to five years. By contrast, the overdraft allows you to "dip into the red" up to a specified amount. Be aware, however, that overdrafts are "repayable on demand" and should only be used for short-term needs.

Asset-based finance

It can be a mistake to spend start-up finance on major purchases of "capital items" such as vehicles or machinery, since that ties up cash that could be used for other things. However, businesses can "unlock" some cash tied up in the business with asset-based finance in which a loan is secured against the assets that the business acquires. Small business owners should always consider leasing major capital items rather than making an outright purchase in the first place.

Questions please

Send your questions to Russell Smith at independent@businessboffins.com. Selected questions will be answered each month. Answers are for the general guidance of owner-managers only; always seek professional advice. Professor Smith is the founder of Oxford-based Business Boffins Ltd which, in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University Business School, delivers support programmes to small businesses nationwide. Independent and Independent on Sunday readers can enrol on the university-accredited programme at a discounted rate; see www.businessboffins.com/independent.