Heather Frankham MBE DL
Member since 2021
Heather’s professional background is in education. A teacher by training, she taught in primary and secondary schools in the Bristol area before focusing on Further Education where she founded and built the Lifetime Training Group into the largest provider of apprenticeships in the UK. Heather’s passion remains in supporting children and young people to achieve their potential. After selling Lifetime in 2016, she has remained committed to the delivery of high quality training supporting other educational businesses to develop and grow. Heather is a Non Exec Director of Knovia Group (Paragon Skills, Babington Business College, Temp Dent and Shaping Lives Training Providers) and the Founder of Bud Systems, a software platform to support training providers to deliver their training more effectively.
Heather's other business interests in Bristol include Origin Workspace, a flexible, professional office environment with collaboration at its core. All of Origin's profits go to The Origin Foundation that provides grants to local charities supporting children and young people. Heather has also invested in a number of local businesses through Bristol Private Equity Club, which focuses on early stage funding for innovative businesses with the potential for high growth. Her personal focus is on Impact Investing where businesses are able to demonstrate social or environmental impact in addition to their growth story.
Heather's charitable work includes Coach Core, an organisation that supports sports coaching in areas of deprivation, and OnSide, a charity that creates Youth Zones to support and amplify the delivery of aspirational youth provision in cities across the UK. Heather is currently supporting Youth Moves to bring the first Onside Youth Zone to Bristol, 224, which opened in 2026.
Heather has been involved in Education and Youth initiatives within SMV.
A former teacher turned entrepreneur, Heather built Lifetime Training Group into the UK’s largest apprenticeship provider before founding Origin Workspace, creating a collaborative environment designed to help businesses and entrepreneurs thrive. Today, that same instinct for building ecosystems and opening opportunities shapes her work across Bristol’s charitable and civic landscape.
As Chair of Trustees at 224 Youth Zone, Heather is helping lead one of the city’s most ambitious youth projects: a state-of-the-art centre designed to support thousands of young people across South Bristol through sport, music, mentoring, employability and youth work. For Heather, the project is about far more than a building, it’s about creating belonging, breaking down barriers between communities and helping young people believe in their own potential.
Heather brings to SMV entrepreneurial energy, strategic thinking and a natural ability to connect people around a shared purpose. Having scaled businesses from start-up to national organisations, she understands how to turn ideas into sustainable, long-term initiatives. Of equal importance, Heather recognises the value of listening, adapting and building trust - qualities that shape her contribution across SMV’s work with young people and emerging entrepreneurs.
Her experience across education, apprenticeships, business and philanthropy gives her a strong understanding of the barriers many young people face when moving into employment or higher education. In her work for SMV, Heather helps strengthen partnerships, support collaboration and connect organisations that can learn from one another.
Reflecting on what drives her work, Heather says the answer is simple: “You don’t have to be in charge, you just have to be there.” It’s an approach shaped by humility, collective effort and a genuine belief in the potential of others, qualities that are helping SMV build deeper and more meaningful partnerships across the region.