Three directors with an eye for a good investment are putting their weight behind a flourishing property franchise business and backing the Peace One Day charity campaign

Nick Carlile I was a quantity surveyor and I was also investing in property. I bought my first house at the age of 19. I'd always wanted to work for myself. The opportunity to leave my job came from what started out as a bit of a hobby. I joined Steve's business in 2006.

Steve Bolton I've had businesses in construction, training, leisure. I decided I wanted to get involved with property to generate income, but also to own any underlying assets. So I set about building a substantial property portfolio. Nick bought into the company [Platinum Property Partners] because he wanted to be part of something bigger.

Richard Davis I've built businesses since I was 17. I sold my publishing business last year and wasn't necessarily looking for something to do at that time. I was going to have a rest. But these guys approached me. They wanted to work with me and I couldn't ask for better people to work for.

NC The three of us have different, complementary skills. Steve is the sales and marketing director-he's very entrepreneurial. He's built nine businesses and sold all but one of those. Richard is finance director. He's probably the smartest strategic thinker I've met. He is brilliant at looking where the business should be going. A lot of the opportunities we offer our clients come from Richard's ideas. I'm a detail person and that's why I'm operations director; I get stuff done on a day-to-day basis.

SB We'd all built our own successful property portfolios. I'd had businesses in training, consultancy, and education-that's where my passion is-so I started teaching friends and family at first, and then charged for mentoring services later. I'd like to say [the franchise model] was a masterstroke, but an accountant said one day, 'have you ever thought about franchising your business?' He said that if it's profitable, it's transferable, so we decided to franchise in 2007.

RD We've got a model for a way of creating good revenue streams-we've made very high yields out of property with a simple process. I'm pretty adaptable; I've run many different types of business. But the reason I like franchise is because I like growth markets. In a recession they do better-we've hit a real growth spurt. We like to take people who are non-business sorts, and actually show them the nuts and bolts of how to run a business.

NC To be accredited by the British Franchise Association, you have to prove that your business model works, and has worked for a number of years, and that it can be replicated. There's a real love in the UK with property, but it can be very risky. Lots of people are now struggling because they made the wrong investment. We've got 36 franchisees that are buying property using our systems and doing it very successfully.

SB Nick and I have probably got a passion for mentoring, but we've moved away from doing the individual mentoring. We've got a team of professionals who do that. So I'm more involved in mentoring the mentors, and running quarterly training sessions with our franchise partners.

RD That's what we do for our franchise partners, we make them money, and show them how to invest it. The turnover for PPP this year is about £2.5m. Our net margin was about 21 per cent. The property market has been hit and people need expert advice. There was a time in the last 10 years when anybody could have bought anything and made money. In this market, you can't do that-you'll lose money. So we impart our property experience, which between me, Steve and Nick is nearly 60 years.

NC Our mission statement is inspiring people to be more, do more, have more and give more. The give more is a strong part of that.

SB It's critical that all the people in the company, whether they're staff or franchise investment partners, are very giving in nature. Not just doing charitable stuff but helping team mates, family and friends. We're not doing it [being patrons of Peace One Day] for PR but because it's what we believe in.

NC It's an amazing cause. It touches so many people. On Peace Day this year [September 21] they will vaccinate two million kids in areas that are so war-torn in many cases that the Red Cross and others cannot get to them. So it's the one day where everybody puts down their guns and these guys go in.