International duo hope to bring 'humanity back to business '

A Luxembourg life coach and an Edgbaston-based businessman have established a new international coaching firm, hoping to bring “humanity back into the business ”.

David Andrew (pictured) and Lana Maher met three years ago, while Lana was visiting the UK.

Lana is a certified and practising life coach and has led wellness retreats, online coaching series, and group coaching workshops with giant firms like Amazon, Ericsson ME, and Cisco.

Previously, she worked for a branding agency and a large telecommunications company, as well as co-founded two start-ups before finding her calling in coaching.

David has been coaching for seven years, providing coaching and mentoring services to many businesses and individuals.

He previously held a business development role at Birmingham City Council and has extensively travelled to China. He has coached and mentored several Chinese university students in Birmingham.

The pair has big ambitions to provide their mentoring and coaching services through their new business, Happy Work Environment, and has even secured contracts with major professional services firms.

David said: "We want to bring humanity back into business. Going to work should feel like going to see a loving family. We all prosper under a loving and supportive family.

"Our vision is to enable large corporations like the FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 to embrace wellness and mental health as a tool for high performance, success and building a reputation.

"Using coaching as our tool to connect with and listen to everybody in the organisation, encouraging them with tailored tools and practices to connect better with each other and their clients, build motivation and momentum within the team, create clarity in communication and decision making, empower every single person with coaching & leadership skills, and establish bonds as humans in a group.

"We act as a backbone to support the wellness of every being in the organisation personally and professionally through group coaching, personal coaching and wellness consultancy."

The business head office is in Birmingham; but the pair are keen to work across the world.

On why they decided to set up the business, David said that he and Lana want to help firms sustain and retain their employees.

He said: “We have the first-hand experience with coaching clients working in prominent industries, and coaching them through their challenges with work, which affects their mental, emotional, and physical health. The negative ripples are also affecting their family environment and putting a strain on their relationships. We often assist our clients in moving to a new and better work environment!

“A combination of both having worked for large corporations for several years and understanding corporate cultures and dynamics, mixed with our wellness experience, we thought to help companies sustain and retain their own employees, by helping companies build a mindset and culture that cares for the wellbeing of their employees on a holistic level. ”