CV Magazine April 2017

April 2017

This month: p. 19 - Charity Challenge p. 39 - De Simone & Partners p. 42 - Genius Methods p. 46 - Azotic Technologies Ltd

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Social Butterfly Patricia Baronowski, Finest in Finance – USA award winner, of Pristine Advisers talks in depth about the industry and what makes the firm stand out from its peers.

Algerian Attorneys at Law – Bouchaib Law Firm Changing an Industry – Payment Redesign Female CEO of the Year 2016 - USA – Method Sense Navigating Large Financial Commitments – Rentschler/Tursi LLP Something in the Air – Indiana Oxygen A Strong Will and Perseverance – AESKU.Diagnostics GmbH & Co. KG The Quintessential American Cleantech Entrepreneur – California Lithium Battery Inc Witnessing Expertise – Dr Davies M Mulenga

Also in this issue.. page 22 - Halewood International Ltd page 32 - Hanson UK page 38 - Stock Traders Daily

Editor’s Note

, Welcome to the April edition of Corporate Vision Magazine, which is packed with news and features including intellectual property, investment, information technology, recruitment and the latest deals to name a few.

We learn that 2017 marks the 14th anniversary of Small Business Advice Week (SBAW). Small and medium sized businesses make up 99% of all businesses in the UK, but with international conglomerates constantly grabbing the headlines, SBAW is shining the light on the unsung backbone of the UK economy.

In other research, 86% of financial services firms intend to increase the time and resources they spend on cybersecurity in the next year, according to new research from the organisation Duff & Phelps.

I hope you enjoy reading this edition.

Jonathan Miles, Editor Phone: +44 (0) 203 725 6842 Email: jonathan.miles@ai-globalmedia.com Website: www.corp-vis.com AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them.

The information available through the website and our partner publications is for your general information and use and is not intended to address any particular finance or investment requirements. In particular, the information does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by us or any of our partner publications and is not intended to be relied upon by users in making or refraining from making any investment or financial decisions.

Appropriate independent advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Any arrangement made between you and any third party named in the site is at your sole risk and responsibility.

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Contents

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Witnessing Expertise @Dr Davies M Mulenga

9. Social Butterfly - Pristine Advisors 11. Savage Marine Ltd - Ruling the Waves 12. Quality Without Compromise - Sintetica 15. Landlords: Have you Checked Your Tenants’ Right to Rent? & Employers: What Will Brexit Mean for You? - GSC Solicitors 18. Building Better Communities - The Euclid Society 20. Never Let a Friend Down - T.Harris Environmental Management 22. In the Right Spirit - Halewood International Ltd 24. Witnessing Expertise - Dr Davies M Mulenga 25. Something in the Air - Indiana Oxygen 26. Changing an Industry - Payment Redesign 28. Algerian Attorneys at Law - Bouchaib Law Firm 29. A Change Would Do You Good - QA Mentor 30. A Vision for Tangibly Better Leaders - The Forton Group 32. We Live in Interesting Times - Hanson UK 34. A Strong Will and Perseverance - AESKU.Diagnostics GmbH & Co. KG 36. A One Vision Service - YouCall-it 37. The Core Foundation of All Economies - Stock Traders Daily 38. The PATHFINDER Case - How to Deal with ReFiled Trademarks - De Simone & Partners 40. Navigating Large Financial Commitments - Rentschler/Tursi LLP 42. Top of the Board - Genius Methods 44. The Quintessential American Cleantech Entrepreneur - California Lithium Battery Inc 46. An Expert in the Field - Azotic Technologies Ltd 48. Experts in Technology Recruitment - GCS Recruitment

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50. Winners’ Listings

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Five Top Tips to Navigate Workload Pressures

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For Stress Awareness Month (April), Growth Consultant and author of Built to Grow, Royston Guest has put together five tips to navigate workload pressures.

The UK Government’s Health & Safety Executive (HSE) define work-related stress, depression or anxiety as a harmful reaction people have to undue pressures and demands placed on them at work.

And their statistics into work related stress, anxiety and depression should make every leader sit up and take note.

The latest estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) show: •

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The total number of cases of work related stress, depression or anxiety in 2015/16 was 488,000 cases, a prevalence rate of 1510 per 100,000 workers.

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The total number of working days lost due to this condition in 2015/16 was 11.7 million days. This equated to an average of 23.9 days lost per case.

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In 2015/16 stress accounted for 37% of all work related ill health cases and 45% of all working days lost due to ill health.

The main work factors cited by respondents as causing work related stress, depression or anxiety (LFS) were workload pressures, including tight deadlines, too much responsibility and a lack of managerial support.

Here are my top tips to help leaders navigate those workload pressures before they spiral out of control; #1 Speak Up Sounds obvious, I know. If you continue as you are, nothing with change. Your leaders or manager will think you are OK with the set-up. You’re not! The conversation will take you one of two ways. Your manager not realising you are under pressure and take steps and actions to resolve this or your manager in-overtly explaining this is the norm and get on with it. You have now realised maybe this job/company is not a cultural fit with you and it’s time to go. #2 Delegate or ask for help Are you doing too much because you’re not delegating or simply not asking for help? You may not have a challenge with overseeing the work but do you physically have to do it all? Is there someone in the team who could take their share of the workload?

Again, if you don’t ask you won’t get. #3 Prioritise, prioritise and prioritise again!

Another obvious one, I know. But how many times do we look at our to-do list and think ‘I’ve got so much to do, I just haven’t got the time to do it all’. Whilst that might be true, the question to ask is; ‘what have I got to do today, tomorrow, by the end of the week’ Chunk up your work into manageable daily tasks. Close out each day with a new task list for the next day based on what you achieved that day and what you hope to achieve tomorrow. You will see the progress and more importantly will feel in control.

#4 Say no or reprioritise This may be easier said than done, but sometimes you may have to kick back with a no. Or, if that feels impossible, another approach you could take is to share the impact of you accepting that additional piece of work.

For example; ‘To deliver XYX by Friday, will mean I will get ABC to you next week’. You are not saying no, but you are re-aligning new deliverable dates for existing pieces of work. #5 Switch OFF When you’re not working and when it’s your ‘downtime’ switch of phones, tablets, laptops. Seeing a flashing red light on your phone saying new email message is not going to help you switch off. Your natural curiosity will want to see who it is from and what it is about. And guess what, once you’ve had a look your mind is now switched into work world.

We all recognise there will be times when the extra hard yards are asked of us - new product launch, new system deployment, a relocation - and we all put the hours in to make it a success, no questions asked.

But start to recognise or look out for the warning signs; are you working later, longer hours all the time? Is this becoming the norm?

Has your workload significantly increased and it’s not due to a BIG event? Do you feel you’ve crossed the line between being positively challenged and productive to being overwhelmed and stressed? If any of these bells are ringing, take action now before it’s too late.

Royston Guest is CEO of Pti-Worldwide and author of business growth book, Built to Grow.

A proven time-tested formula full of practical strategies, tools and ideas into what it takes to build a truly high performing organisation, which delivers accelerated, sustained, and profitable growth.

The Optimism of Corporate UK Continues Unabated Neil Veitch, manager of the SVM UK Opportunities Fund recently commented that the optimism of corporate UK continues unabated, but warning that there’s a risk that the current cyclical upturn proves no more resilient than previous mini-cycles.

Neil Veitch, manager of the SVM UK Opportunities Fund said that Investors’ response to improving economic data is determined by the stage of the economic cycle.

“As long as the cycle is not too far advanced and central banks appear relaxed, equities will generally move higher in response to improvements.

At the moment, there are few signs of cyclical excess and reflationary pressures have yet to build.

“The global economy continues to improve and this has begun to feed into ‘hard’ data. Jobs data across the major economies is re-accelerating and business capital spending is showing signs of improvement.

Join Royston’s Built to Grow Facebook or LinkedIn Group and access exclusive content, articles and insights on how you can deliver accelerated, sustained and profitable business growth.

“The latest results season has been positive with the majority of companies either meeting or beating expectations. Many companies which had previously had a relatively cautious outlook are now much more optimistic. This optimism is particularly apparent in their order books, which began to fill-up in the second half of 2016, and year-on-year growth could improve sharply over the next couple of months.

www.roystonguest.com

“Nonetheless, there is a risk that this current cyclical upturn proves no more resilient than the previous mini-cycles we have seen during the lacklustre recovery from the financial crisis.

“The imminent triggering of Article 50 by the UK government will fire the starting gun on two years of negotiation between the UK and EU before an ultimate Brexit. The process could be enlivened by hiring Noel Edmonds to ask the competing parties at regular intervals whether it’s ‘Deal or No Deal’. Unfortunately, at present the strategy of both sides seems as assured as the logic used by guests on the Channel 4 game show. The UK market, and sterling, will likely continue to fluctuate depending on sentiment at any given point in the process.

“Against this potentially turbulent backdrop we remain focused on disciplined stock selection. Industrials Bodycote and Melrose were the standout performers for our portfolio over the results period. Both exceeded expectations and gave very positive outlook statements. Bodycote’s general industrial business, which had seen a slow but steady decline in revenue over the last few years, has now stabilised and may well be about to return to growth. Should this occur, Bodycote’s high operational gearing will deliver a significant improvement in profits.

“Melrose announced that the integration of Nortek, its latest acquisition, was proceeding ahead of expectations and that it’s now beginning to look for its next transaction. The management’s acquisition track record is exceptional and we look forward to supporting the next transaction.”

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Small Business Advice Week Guiding SMEs to a Brighter Future in Light of Brexit

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2017 marks the 14th anniversary of Small Business Advice Week (SBAW). Small and medium sized businesses make up 99% of all businesses in the UK, but with international conglomerates constantly grabbing the headlines, SBAW is shining the light on the unsung backbone of the UK economy.

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NEWS

, With Article 50 sending shockwaves through the industry, more than ever SMEs need advice on how to optimise their enterprises. 92% of the UK’s SMEs are trading within the EU single market, and over a fifth (21%) of Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) members employ EU citizens within the UK, making this a pivotal moment for many of these businesses.

ing platform which has lent more than £400m to British businesses.

The platform gives SMEs a decision in principle within 2 hours for loans up to £100k and within 24 hours for loans above £100k.

RateSetter’s Paul Marston said: “At Ratesetter we are immensely proud to provide guidance and support to SMEs daily, and we are looking forward to discussing the finance options available to the UK’s Small Business economy.”

The Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW) will be hosting the highly-anticipated SBAW seminar on Wednesday 30th August, with industry leaders providing insight and advice to the UK’s SME sector.

XLN’s Founder and CEO, Christian Nellemann, added: “As a business that’s worked with more than 250,000 small businesses, we have a good idea of what can help them to grow. We’ve partnered with Small Business Advice Week to share that knowledge. We’ll be looking at practical, useable tips – everything from cutting costs to marketing on a budget.”

Clive Lewis from ICAEW explains “This year we have partnered with Small Business Advice Week to provide support and assurance to SMEs across the UK. We will be providing insight and advice into all things accountancy, showing you don’t need a team of in-house accountants to maximise the financial efficiency of your business.”

With over 50% of SMEs using some form of cloud based software, and online growth becoming a priority, Barracuda Networks has partnered with SBAW to provide support to business owners who are journeying into the unknown when it comes to business tech.

Barracuda has commented, “With so much on the line, and malicious software around every corner, we are delighted to be part of the solution when it comes to keeping SMEs secure online.”

9 Spokes will also be partnering with Small Business Advice Week, they enable SMEs to connect their software to one dynamic interface to give them a clear overview of their business. CEO Mark Estall comments, “Helping small businesses to find and use tools to manage their businesses effectively is core to what we do and essential for growth. We’re looking forward to being part of SBAW and working with small businesses across the UK.” RateSetter is a peer-to-peer lend-

Small Business Advice Week runs from the 4th -10th of September.

Current partners available to provide advice and support to SMEs across the UK are: About 9 Spokes: The 9 Spokes smart dashboard enables SMEs to connect their software to one dynamic interface - giving them a clear overview of their business. It allows management and advisors to access data and new metrics across key areas, from any device at any time. With these insights, it’s easier to make the big decisions to either manage or grow a business.

Businesses can integrate their supported software into the dashboard as well as choose from a selection of recommended and accredited apps to suit their industry. The smart dashboard from 9 Spokes is available as a direct model to small businesses and as a white labelled platform that Channel Partners can offer to their SME customer base.

Research was conducted by FSB in the “WHAT SMALL FIRMS WANT FROM BREXIT” research report. www.fsb.org.uk/docs/default-source/fsb-org-uk/fsb-brexit-interim-survey-exec-summary-jan-25-2017.pdf

Quantexa Raises $3.3m in Series A Within Its First Year, Led by Albion Ventures and HSBC Quantexa Limited on 23rd March announced that it has closed a $3.3 million investment, led

by Albion Ventures and HSBC. Quantexa’s rapid growth has underpinned a Series A fundraising within its first year, with the new capital used to further accelerate product development and international expansion.

360-degree view of their clients and their network relationships. Our aim is to become the global leader in Entity Resolution and Network Analytics and are delighted to have successfully completed this round of investment with HSBC and Albion Ventures. We look forward to working closely with our new investors in making this aim a reality by supporting our clients and partners.”

The investment will enable Quantexa to further accelerate the development of its revolutionary Entity Resolution and Network Analytics software, which has a unique ability to resolve entities and build networks in real time and batch, and further derive meaningful intelligence through AI and Machine Learning. The investment will also be used to support Quantexa’s international expansion, with new offices in Brussels, Sydney and New York opening throughout 2017.

Imam Hoque, COO and global head of product, commented; “Along with our investors / new partners, we are looking forward to accelerating our international footprint and scope of products to provide customers essential entity resolution and network analytics capability. This is crucial in driving real value from the artificial intelligence being deployed in their rapidly expanding data lake environments. We see significant growth potential as organisations evolve to make intelligent data driven decisions central to all their operations.”

Quantexa’s growth comes at a time when businesses are under increased pressure to optimise their use of data to combat financial crime challenges and improve the customer experience from both advanced analytics and AI. Industry analysts Forrester predicts that investments in AI will grow 300% in 2017 and Gartner forecasts that 50% of all analytical interactions will be delivered via AI in the next three to five years.

The current market for advanced analytical service providers is estimated to be worth approximately $16bn.

In addition, WealthInsight estimates that spending on AML compliance alone will total $8bn in 2017, growing at 9% pa.

Vishal Marria, CEO, commented: “Driving intelligence from internal and external data is a constant challenge organisations face. At Quantexa we feel we have built the next generation of Entity Resolution and Network Analytics software to support our clients in dynamically building a truly

Ray O’Brien, HSBC’s global risk COO and head of global risk analytics, said: “HSBC is constantly striving to improve the way we detect and prevent financial crime, and we are keen to explore technologies which help us build on existing capabilities.

Quantexa has developed powerful applications of network analytics to this field, and we look forward to being more closely associated with their future development.”

Ed Lascelles, partner at Albion Ventures, commented: “Albion’s tech investments are focused on digital B2B companies, with data analytics a core focus for us. What sets Quantexa apart is the team’s unrivalled domain expertise coupled with their cutting edge technical capability. They have a huge opportunity to build an industry-leading business and we look forward to supporting them on their journey.” www.quantexa.com

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Social Butterfly Patricia Baronowski, Finest in Finance – USA award winner, of Pristine Advisers talks in depth about the industry and what makes the firm stand out from its peers. embellishes Patricia. “We have had clients follow us through three different firms, not because they had to, but because of our success for them, and that is what makes us who we are — top of our game, ahead of our peers, and placing clients in front of the audiences that matter most to them.”

“I know it sounds like we provide a lot of services,” she laughs, “but that is what makes us unique and different from our peers. We work with ExchangeListed firms, as well as authors, sports businesses, mom-andpop businesses, and the like. In essence we can market anyone that is seeking assistance. No person or business is too big or too small for us.

What is the internal culture in your firm? How do you ensure that all of your staff are equipped to provide the best possible service to your clients? Patricia makes sure that her staff are more than equipped to provide the best possible service to clients by ensuring they are constantly learning.

“I believe since we do not have a specific niche that makes us stand out. Marketing is marketing — what changes is the product and the audience.

With us focusing on so many backgrounds, our connections have grown to more than 600k investors, analysts, brokers, media and customers and the focus for each is overwhelming.

We can take anyone and narrow our connections down to who to put them in front of, be it investors, customers or the media. Not everyone can say that. We don’t purchase our list — we build it through relationships.”

The firm’s mission is client satisfaction and ensuring that clients are picked up by positive media and thus introduced to shareholders or customers.

“Ensuring we meet the clients’ goals is our key to success,”

“We attend meetings, conferences, webinar and social networking events all with the goal of learning and asking ‘what else can we be doing to help our clients?’ We do not learn something and then close our eyes for new and improved methods. Especially in the age of technology – the world is changing fast and we must stay on top of it to compete successfully. We all are constantly searching for ways we can enhance our methods for our clients and attend every venue out there to teach us how to be the best at what we do.”

In order to stay ahead of the curve and on top of emerging trends Patricia explains that she has embraced social media as a viable channel and cannot stress the importance of this enough.

“Ironically, social media has changed the way the world functions,” she explains.

“However, sadly too many

lawyers and compliance want people and businesses to steer clear away from using any social media. Everyone has a computer or a cell phone and the majority of people can access the internet everywhere they go with various devices. Even at Board Meetings, the Board accesses material and information via iPads. Restaurants all have menus, ordering and receipts via computers on the tables. Even at stores you can quickly scan discounts on your phones and show it to the cashier — everything is digital.

At the movies you scan your code on your cell phone to enter — no more printing out tickets. The world is changing and this is helping companies and businesses to reach an even wider audience than ever before.” With regards to the future Patricia foresees growth and further publicity for the firm.

“Pristine Advisers has been working in the industry for 30 years but we are not widely known outside of the financial arena. We’d like to ensure everyone knows who we are and what we do. Our client list is huge and we’ve worked with companies of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds, and are happy to share our client list

with whomever wishes to see it.

Expending the word on who we are is key for us but, at the end of the day, our clients’ goals are what matter most to us.

“Time changes – the times change – and we must change, too. This year presents opportunities, not additional obstacles, because there is a worldwide conversation, a minute-by-minute posting of tens of thousands of tweets, comments and news flashes, about Wall Street. Our firm has the skill and resources to deliver clarity in a digital environment of seemingly indecipherable chaos.”

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Pristine Advisors is a marketing firm specialising in investor relations, public relations and media relations. Patricia Baronowski heads up the firm and tells us a little more about what differentiates it from competitors.

Company: Pristine Advisers Name: Patricia Baronowski Email: pbaronowski@pristineadvisers.com Web Address: www.pristineadvisers.com Address: 8 Walnut Ave East Farmingdale, New York 1173 USA Telephone: +1 631 756 2486

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Savage Marine Ltd: Ruling the Waves Savage Marine Ltd, are based in Warwickshire and specialise in designing and manufacturing high quality lighting products for the Superyacht industry. We invited Sales Director Julie Clark to talk us through the firm and the range of solutions it provides to this vast and demanding market. lighting products and offer a wide range of services from the design and manufacturing process through to installation including full project support and bespoke lighting services. Whether the client is looking for a complete range of lighting for a new project or simply wants to upgrade or refresh existing lights, we will work with them to achieve the solution that meets their needs and exceeds their expectations.”

With in-house precision engineering, machining facilities and dedicated electrical engineers, Savage Marine are at the forefront of LED product innovation and lighting design solutions. It is the firm’s innovative designs that are truly set it apart from the competition, as Julie explains.

Having worked with the company for over 16 years, Julie has witnessed Savage Marine grow into the success it is today.

Moving forward, the firm is keen to build upon this, and Julie believes that its staff will be crucial in driving the firm towards even greater achievements over the coming months and years.

“Here at Savage Marine, creativity is central to our success, especially when it comes to illumination on some of the most exclusive super yacht in the world. Creating lighting effects, colour changing and simplicity control, you need to be very creative in the industry to wow the clients and continually looking for something different to stand out from the rest.

“Ultimately, it is vital that we all work as a team in order to continue driving Savage Marine towards innovation and excellence. Staff must work together and it vital I have a good team behind me, to produce and deliver products on time and within budget, as all staff have a key role in the success of the business. We are fortunate to work with some truly great staff and I have no doubt that the future will be bright and prosperous as we continue to offer clients the very highest standards of quality across both our product range and our provision of client service.”

“All of our products are researched, designed, machined and manufactured in-house ensuring material and product quality assurance and technical excellence. We have a full range of LED, halogen and fibre optic

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Savage Marine have been designing, manufacturing and providing high end lighting solutions to the Superyacht and high end residences for nearly 20 years.

Throughout this time the firm has grown substantially thanks to the excellent quality products, service and complete project solutions the firm provides for its clients.

Company: Savage Marine Ltd Contact: Julie Clark – Barnard Sales Director Address: Alexander House, Station Road, Market Bosworth, CV13 OPE Phone: +44 (0) 1455 614545 Fax: +44 (0) 1455 251590 Website: www.Savagelighting.co.uk

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Quality Without Compromise Augusto Mitidieri is the CEO of Sintetica. Based in Europe, the company employs 230 people from the continent, coming from 25 different countries in the world. In this interview from December 2016, Augusto speaks to us about what the firm provide to patients all around the globe, following his success in achieving the European CEO of the Year 2016 award.

Established 1921 in Switzerland, Sintetica is a pharmaceutical company delivering injectable anaesthetics and analgesics to patients worldwide, through innovative science and excellence in development, production and marketing.

Their sites are located in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and United Kingdom, with the headquarters in Mendrisio, Switzerland, where among others, the innovation department employees 15% of the total work force.

Sintetica’s focus is primarily on local anaesthesia and pain relief, two areas in which we have been market leader for many years in Switzerland. Moreover, we are also seeking to develop a position in the growing field of neuromodulation.

Augusto talks to us in depth about what the firm does and what they have achieved over the last five years. “We established our global division in 2011, which was our first international corporate structure.

This Global division was tasked with pursuing international growth under two distinct models, being a B2B licensing strategy and somewhat later a B2C strategy in select markets.

“Under the B2B model, we sought to license out our top brands to partners with whom we shared values. Foremost among

these values is that people and relationships, including business relationships, come first, and thus Sintetica seeks to build business by finding partners with whom we can share our values – thus, all of our partners must meet strict ethical criteria and share our innovation driven ‘quality without compromise’ value proposition. This was the most critical and difficult challenge we have faced since beginning our internationalization efforts, however I am proud to say that we have been very successful.

“Today, we have submitted hundreds of product registrations in over 100 different countries via this network of partners we have built over the last five years.

This first phase of expansion covers North, Central and South America, South East Asia, and North Africa – a second phase which will be started within the next five years will target some of the more difficult markets like China and India. Many of these registrations have yet to come through, but so far, we have seen strong growth in the US, and some nice returns in South Asia and the pacific. Although we have yet to see significant revenues from abroad as the registration processes are still ongoing, we are very confident that given our unyielding commitment to quality we will see strong returns on the coming years.

“We had a German distributor

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called Meduna, also active in Austria, whom we acquired in 2013. As we had worked with them for some time, we already knew the company very well and they similarly knew our company quite well, which helped the integration progress very smoothly and quickly.

One of the keys to successfully integrating a company is ensuring that everyone understands the overarching vision of the company and is committed and aligned in purpose towards making it happen – this is often very difficult and we were very lucky to have a situation where this happened very easily. As such, we now have a solid presence in the German and Austrian markets, and just last year we established a sales organization to cover the UK and Ireland with our own sales force.”

Sintetica has executive projects to improve the industrial sites manufacturing capacity and pharmaceutical and clinical pipeline development are major pillars to sustain their midterm strong growth. Augusto explains more about their ongoing strategy.

“Novel therapies and treatments require more and more the redevelopment of existing drugs.

We enhance drug formulation assuring the fitting of our premix medicines to the current standard of care. Invasiveness in surgical procedures or duration reduction

and increased cost pressure on health system are leading to a shift toward day surgery.

“Modern short/medium acting local anaesthetics are part of our ‘One Day Surgery’ proposal to adapt the length and the conditions of anaesthesia to the novel surgical needs, allowing patient same day safe demission.”

“The technological development speed is impressive and in the pharmaceutical industry, we struggle to follow this, due to the stringent regulations we have abided by, which delays innovation adoption.

The increasing complexity of the processes requires a massive implementation of the technology; not only in the manufacturing where we make important efforts of automation, but also in the management of the organization, the operations and sales force. Corporate ERP system is running and is continuously adapted to follow the pattern and the model of the growth, while a corporate CRM system is used by the national sales forces. A modern IT infrastructure is under development to support, among the others, different ways of work like the smart working.”

Augusto plans to stay with Sintetica for the near future.

He explains what the firm has planned in the pipeline for the future.

g Quality Without Compromise

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“Hopefully a lot of good news and strong returns to my team’s great efforts! We have built up our international network and have done most of the legwork to register our products in over 100 different countries, and over the next five years we should see these efforts bear fruit and our products launched in many of these countries.

“Moreover, our board has already approved our 2021 strategy, which calls for growth driven by “commercial diffusion of innovation”. Thus, with network of partner who share our ‘quality first’ value we should be able to maintain and expand our current innovation driven value proposition significantly over the coming five years.”

Company: Sintetica SA Name: Augusto Mitidieri Email: amitidieri@sintetica.com Web Address: www.sintetica.com Address: Mendrisio - Switzerland Telephone: +41 91 640 42 50

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Landlords: Have you Checked Your Tenants’ Right to Rent?

A cautionary tale for landlords by Michael Shapiro, GSC Solicitors LLP

Following introduction of the 2014 Act, as at 1 February 2016 any property owner wishing to rent out its property is required to ensure that not only the tenant, but all adult occupiers of the property, had an immigration status that allowed them to be in England. If a landlord failed to make those checks, and it turned out that the tenant or any adult occupier of the property did not have the appropriate immigration status, and therefore had no right to rent premises in England, that landlord could face a fine of up to £3,000, and following the implementation of the 2016 Act, would commit a criminal offence

opening up a liability for a prison term of up to 5 years and/or a fine.

If a prospective tenant had a time limited right to rent, e.g. their immigration status has an expiration date, the failure to carry out a further check at the time of the expiration date, would again leave the landlord open to a fine, penalty and criminal conviction.

Where a landlord uses a letting agent to deal with the letting of its property, the landlord can enter into an agreement with the letting agent that the letting agent will take responsibility for carrying out the immigration status checks of tenants, and therefore it will be the letting agent who would be liable for any potential fine, penalty and committal of a criminal offence.

The 2016 Act introduced an ability for landlords to evict those without the appropriate immigration status from premises, without having to go through the costly and time consuming process of issuing possession proceedings in the county courts. If a landlord receives a notice from the Secretary of State confirming that all of the occupiers of a property lack the sufficient immigration status, a landlord can give the occupants 28 days’ written notice to quit the property. Upon expiry of that notice, it becomes enforceable as if it were a High Court order and a landlord can instruct a High Court Enforcement Officer (HCEO) to enforce the notice.

A landlord could even avoid having to instruct the HCEO because if the Secretary of State has served a notice confirming all occupiers do not have the appropriate immigration status any tenancy would be considered an “excluded tenancy” and

therefore not protected by the Protection from Eviction Act 1977. The landlord could then, in theory, change the locks to the property, assuming that no one is in occupation, and therefore prevent the occupants from regaining access to the property.

Steps will however need to be taken in dealing with the occupier’s personal belongings.

However, occupiers who receive a notice to quit can apply for judicial review to challenge the Secretary of State’s notice and until that judicial review application has been dealt with, the landlord can be prevented from enforcing the notice.

The 2016 Act also made an amendment to the Housing Act 1988 by introducing a further ground for possession. If ‘any’ occupier of the rented property does not have the appropriate immigration status, a landlord can serve a Notice seeking possession relying upon the new Ground 7(B) giving a notice period of two weeks. Ground 7(B) is a mandatory ground for possession, and therefore a court must make a possession order when the possession proceedings that the landlord must then issue, come on for hearing at court. A possession order will then need to be enforced by the court bailiff, or if

transferred to the High Court for enforcement, by a HCEO. If a landlord is given notice or becomes aware that the tenant or any adult occupier does not or no longer has the appropriate immigration status, the landlord must take immediate steps to evict the individual by following either of the two eviction processes. Failure to do so will result in the landlords being guilty of a criminal offence, and again liable to a criminal conviction and/or a fine.

A recent government survey revealed that as at 31 October 2016 75 civil penalties have been issued to landlords of tenants with no right to rent and as at 30 September 2016, 31 people have been removed from the UK as a result of the right to rent regime.

However, those 31 people were only a small proportion of the 654 individuals (5%) whom had been identified as not having the right to rent. This begs the question, is it really working? Only time will tell!

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As part of the UK government’s attempt to control illegal immigration in England, statutory provisions were introduced into the world of Landlord and Tenant by the Immigration Acts 2014 & 2016 (the 2014 and 2016 Act respectively). This required landlords to check the immigration status of prospective tenants before letting properties to them, or face having to pay fines, penalties and committing a criminal offence.

For further advice, please contact Michael Shapiro on mshapiro@gscsolicitors.com or 0207 822 2222 or visit GSC Solicitors’ website: www.gscsolicitors.com

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Employers: What Will Brexit Mean for You? I own a business and we employ staff who are EU nationals, what will Brexit mean for me as an employer and what can my staff do to secure their long-term future?

Following the outcome of the referendum we were not only contacted by concerned EU nationals but UK business owners who were worried about what Brexit would mean for their existing EU members of staff who provide a valuable contribution to their business.

The common question that I was being asked was not how can I protect my business? But how can help my staff and make sure that they understand their position and status in the UK because they are very confused and worried.

The first point to make clear is that the referendum on 23 June 2016 has no immediate legal effect and does not change anybody’s legal status.

For the UK to leave the European Union, the British Government will need to invoke or trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This is the

legal means by which a Member State may voluntarily leave the European Union. It states that unless the departing country and the rest of the EU can agree something different, the departing country will cease to be a member 2 years after Article 50 is invoked. The British Government has not yet invoked Article 50. We do not know when that will occur. Once Article 50 is triggered, free movement laws will cease to have effect 2 years after that date. In the meantime, all laws of the European Union will continue to operate as before.

After the end of the two year period, though, free movement laws will cease to have effect and any EU citizens and their families in the UK will become unlawfully resident unless some specific provision is made for them.

We do not know what sort of settlement between the UK and EU will emerge. Something will be negotiated but we do not know what or to whom.

Despite the hesitance of the Government to make any commitment on the future of EU nationals, it still seems highly likely that transitional arrangements will be made and those most likely to benefit from any such arrangement are: 1. EU nationals and family members who have already acquired permanent residence and 2. EU nationals who have an EU right of residence but have not yet acquired permanent residence, and their family members.

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Registration Certificate or Document confirming Permanent Residence?

Anyone employee who thinks they qualify for permanent residence would be well advised to make an application for a permanent residence. This is partly to get ready for any transitional arrangements but is also to give people who do not qualify now a chance to make sure they do qualify. To put it another way, it will be at least two years before EU free movement law ceases to apply and that may be enough time for some people to ensure they do qualify for permanent residence, or at least are on the road to doing so.

In short, any EU national in the UK will need to evidence five continuous years of a qualifying activity. The five year period could be any five year period, not just the last five years.

You can also “mix and match” your qualifying activities, so you can combine say 2 years of employment with 3 years of being a student.

For those in continuous employment over the five year qualifying period the application process and supporting documents should be fairly straightforward.

In some instance EU staff may not only have acquired permanent rights of residence but they potentially may be eligible to naturalise as British Citizens.

If an employee falls into the category of those who do not at present qualify for permanent residence at this stage then then it would be advisable for that EU nationals and his family members apply for Registration Certificates or cards as formal evidence of their current status in the UK with one eye on the future.

At this stage as an employer it is important for you to understand the position as it stand today and provide the support, assistance and information that your employees need particularly, those who are still uncertain about what they should do to best protect their position.

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On 24 June 2016 the right to live in the United Kingdom for over 3 million people of its people was suddenly cast into doubt.

There are estimated to be over 3 million citizens of other EEA countries living in the UK. The total number may be higher if their family members (spouses, parents, others) from outside the EU is taken into account. Many, probably the vast majority, do not have residence documents because under EU law they do not need them.

For further advice, please contact Hateem Ali on hali@gscsolicitors.com or 0207 822 2222 or visit GSC Solicitors’ website: www.gscsolicitors.com

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FICA Ltd Most Innovative CEO - Uganda

linkedin.com/in/fica-uganda-a7765440

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Building Better Communities The Euclid Society is a South Africa based organisation that aims to transform society and support those who are dedicated to this aim. We invited David Oliphant to share the secrets behind the firm’s success, which has seen it win the ‘Award for Excellence in Social Development Initiatives’ in the African Corporate Excellence Awards.

“Here at the Euclid Society we support a wide range of charities and organisations, including non-profit organisations such as the Haven Night Shelter, a progressing night shelter assisting with the reintegration of homeless people into society, with capacity building programmes in terms of assisting their clients with financial planning and goal setting techniques.

“The programme assisting the Haven Night Shelter’s clients is called StreetWise, and is designed to reintroduce homeless people to job opportunities. The learning is also underpinned by a strong social work component as well platforms to assist budgeting and learning the basic skills necessary to keep a basic skills job such as interview etiquette and anger management. We have also been lucky enough to work with some entrepreneurs in the Western Cape through

our programme called Financial Literacy. The entrepreneurs include RAW Construction (a plastering subcontractor), NK Security (a security contractor) and District Six Recycling. All these entrepreneurs have a few things in common: they come from low-income backgrounds and use their business to feed their families and provide employment to other low-income individuals.

“Other partners include Sustainable Brothers and Sisters as well as the Kusasalethu Group. For Christmas of 2016 we had formed a great team with these two non-profit organisations to help collect and distribute second clothing. These clothes were donated to the homeless people who live at the Haven Night Shelter.”

Recently there have been a number of opportunities and challenges for organisations such as the Euclid society, as the government is now taking a much firmer stance on bigger companies training smaller enterprises. Through the Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment Policy many organisations are being mandated to ensure that smaller firms are being developed in the market. This is not necessarily a bad thing as it has the potential to develop the industry but it also puts strain on bigger organisations to circumvent their monitoring and reporting ability to training. This assists the society

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as its business model is skills development and it therefore becomes a gap in the market that it can fill as a service provider.

Challenges include the lack of quality infrastructure in the region, which is affecting the positive growth of the entire country. It hampers adequate transport and movability of the population. It also is rooted in problems of skills, as it requires a vast array of skills within the population to have an effective infrastructure system.

Despite this challenges the society is committed to being the change and differentiating itself from other community development societies through its dedication to excellence, as David outlines.

“What sets the Euclid Society apart is that we have a fresh, professional approach to the social development sector. We have vowed to give the people we help the best value for money service but also include very structured and professional methods of project management in terms of initiation, monitoring

and reporting. Many social development organisations in South Africa struggle with these demands in the modern business environment. It causes many businesses to close simply because their reporting is not what it should be.”

Looking to the future, the society has a number of exciting opportunities on the horizon which will allow it to build upon its current success, as David highlights in his concluding comments.

“Overall, our future seems quite bright as we have started having conversations with a few investors who starting to believe in us and what we are trying to achieve in communities.

With their funding, we are able to increase our resource base and the number of people we help. Our partnerships with the Department of Social Development also will enable us to reach around 30 non-profit organisations per year and one by one we are able to improve the skills base on the social development sector.”

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Established in 2014, the Euclid Society provides capacity building platforms for vulnerable groups with a focus on business support services to social enterprises, improving the access of employment opportunities to low-income earning people and basic sports training for young people. David discusses the society’s recent projects and the differences these have made in the local community.

Company: The Euclid Society Name: David Oliphant Email: david@tes.org.za Web Address: www.tes.org.za Address: 13 Norden Street, Parow, South Africa Telephone: +2771 304 3720

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Never Let a Friend Down John C. Fisher, B.A.(Specialized Honours), M.B.A. Candidate – President and CEO at T. Harris Environmental Managment Inc. is delighted to have won the Canadian CEO of the Month award and is deeply humbled and grateful for even being considered for this prestigious award. We spoke to him to find out more about this and the work of his impressive corporation.

On winning the Canadian CEO of the Month award, it is even more satisfying to know that this recognition was a reflection of being nominated not by my own advocacy or the solicitation of my team, but from external sources.

However, I accept this award on behalf of my team as without them I would not have enjoyed the success that I have. This award is truly a reflection of the great people I am surrounded by, and of their hard work and dedication to the success of our team.

I am very passionate, motivated, engaged and committed to be the best team leader that I can be. In addition, I am a very empathetic leader who has been found to be in the top 5% of Canadians when it comes to this trait. Furthermore, I am always looking to not only improve my abilities, but that of my team by building a collaborative environment in which all can reach their potential.

T. Harris Environmental Management Inc. (THEM) is a corporation consisting of a diverse group of industrial hygiene (CIH and ROH), scientific (P. Geo.), engineering (P. Eng.) and technical (CET, AMRT) professionals providing consulting services since 1979.

Our staff is highly educated including multiple M.B.A. and

Ph.D. team members.

As consultants, THEM primarily assists clients to maintain compliance with a myriad of environmental, occupational health and safety, and hazardous materials legislation including numerous Canadian Acts, Regulations and By-Laws.

As a corporation, we are currently members of the Toronto chapter of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), Toronto Construction Association (TCA), Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario (EACO), and our staff are members of their respective professional associations. Our clients include members of the organisations above, but we provide consulting services to a wide variety of educational, industrial, real estate, banking, commercial and government clients.

The firm’s strategy and key principles The consulting business has evolved significantly since the 1970s and we strive to stay at the forefront. The fundamentals of our strategy are simple. THEM is committed to providing our clientele quality services at cost effective prices and in a timeefficient manner. Our motivated staff, supported by state-ofthe-art technology, have the expertise to identify a problem and to implement an efficient

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solution based on our client’s needs.

Our key principle as initially articulated by our founder was and is ‘we always treat our clients as friends, because you never let a friend down’.

Professional services Our management team is hands-on and dedicated solely to providing professional services in a time efficient, cost effective and regulatory compliant manner to all of our clients. Each project manager has the capability and authority to handle any project specifics that may arise and would be considered to be the main contact for their particular geographic area. As such, they have the authority to resolve any local issues without contacting head office, but at the same time, keeping the primary project manager informed of all developments. Ultimately, each Regional Manager or Head Office Project Manager is accountable to me, the Principal, President and CEO of the firm, and I have the final word on resolving any potential conflict that cannot be resolved locally or to the satisfaction of our client.

Maintaining motivation and positivity to remain successful It is the belief that on a person for person basis that I have the best team possible to execute and fulfil our mission for what we

want to achieve both individually and collectively. I am very fortunate in that I truly love what I do and the people I work with.

Furthermore, being a ‘glass half full’ individual fosters a general positivity and the feeling that with any challenge there is a solution that will lead to further engagement and motivation of not only me, but the team to reach for greater success by utilising what former CEO and Chairman of General Electric (GE) and Business Guru - Jack Welch refers to as having ‘every brain in the game’.

Challenges successful CEO’s encounter For me, this is difficult because I have some physical disabilities that are visually noticeable.

As we are a service based company, our strength is our people and I emphasise to my team that first impressions are critical in establishing credibility when dealing with new project teams. Like all individuals - my appearance and voice have a big influence on the first impression I give when meeting new clients - and has led some to question my abilities or how I attained my position as CEO. As such, personnel issues have been at the forefront of most of the challenges that I have faced.

Finding, and working with team members that are accepting of others, able to recognise the strengths in their teammates

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The state of your industry currently Our industry has matured and come a long way since T. Harris Environmental Management Inc. opened its doors as the first consultancy in Canada to be formed specifically to deal with asbestos in 1979.

As such, the industry has become commoditised due to the number of companies that profess to be Environmental/ OH & S consultants. This has led to a ‘race to the bottom’ for some, with respect to fees, and has made it challenging for us to solely advocate for the value proposition that we strive to maintain and advocate for, which is harder to articulate to our clients who are most concerned with merely the price.

In addition, the state of the economy is always a factor and the mantra of major clients is to only accept the lowest cost provider, which has led to a further precipice in the quality of the various companies in terms of personnel and their training and that are considered part of our industry.

The role of technology in the industry One of our goals is to be endlessly innovative and promote a culture that fosters not only the development of ideas, but also their implementation. As we are a scientifically entrenched firm, technology plays an integral role in allowing us to become more efficient in the delivery of our services. The sophistication of the sampling equipment and software models that we employ also allows us to differentiate ourselves from our competition. At the same time, we are committed to formulating practical and cost-effective solutions for our clients.

Before we purchase any equipment or software, it is vigorously reviewed from the perspective of what efficiencies it will bring in providing services to our clients and how it will aid in fulfilling our mandate as

outlined in our mission, vison and value statements. In conjunction with this, it is established within our firm that all investments must achieve our target Return on Investment (ROI) to be considered feasible.

In addition, we are committed and engaged in facilitating the latest/state of the art training and development courses for all of our employees.

What industry trends CEO’s follow to ensure success Through our associations, we receive annual reports which outline the trends in the market sector in which we compete. We can then use this information to benchmark ourselves against others in our industry to verify if the changes or methods we are implementing in the delivery of our service offerings is providing the results we want to ensure our success. In addition, by being active members in various industry associations and advocacy groups we can view the trends that are developing through those groups.

Over the next five years, it is my belief that there will be some consolidation in our industry and as governments become more concerned about the environment and occupational health and safety, regulatory requirements will become more onerous and provide an impetus to allow growth as compliance will become mandatory and enforced.

Future aspirations, plans and projects I look to motivate my team to fulfil our mission, vision and value statements, but specifically with respect to our mission statement, ‘to become the preeminent niche environmental and occupational health and safety consulting firm in Ontario and Quebec’.

To be a little coy, I am looking to expand our mission statement to areas outside of Ontario and Quebec. But more importantly, to further diversify our service offerings to allow us to achieve our status as providing

exceptional services in a niche environment.

Closing thoughts I want to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients, my team members and vendors for their great support over the past 37 years for our firm in general, and 28 years for me, specifically. I have been truly fortunate to have been associated and worked with so many wonderful people.

I look forward to maintaining old friendships and creating new ones.

It is our dedicated personnel

that have enabled us and me to maintain our commitment to our clients and suppliers. Obviously, my team is our most valued asset and I am proud of the commitment that they make to me and to our clients.

I believe that we are still at the forefront of most environmental and occupational health and safety issues in Canada. We celebrate our successes, which I believe is attributable to the strong set of principles and values that I have and this company has embodied for all these years.

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and cognizant of their roles has allowed me to become resilient and build a stronger team as well.

Company: T. Harris Environmental Managment Inc. Name: John C. Fisher, B.A. (Specialized Honours), M.B.A. Candidate President and CEO Email: JFisher@tharris.ca Web Address: www.tharris.ca Address: 93 Skyway Avenue, Suite 101, Toronto, ON M9W 6N6 Telephone: +1 416 679 8914 LinkedIn: t-harris-environmental-management-gestion-environnementale-t-harris-them-geth-incFacebook: THarrisEnv Twitter: @THarrisEnviro

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In the Right Spirit Halewood Wines & Spirits is the UK’s largest independent alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks manufacturer and distributor, and recently won the Deal Maker of the Year Award 2017. We invited them to tell us their thoughts about this and to provide a flavour of the firm’s success.

The company’s goal is to create a unique portfolio of craft products with strong local provenance in the beer, wine and spirit categories whilst providing the trade and consumer a point of difference from mainstream brands.

Halewood is expanding and now employs over 1,000 people worldwide, more than 50% based in the North West including 325 employees at its Liverpool Gin distillery headquarters, a thirty-acre facility based in Huyton, Liverpool capable of producing 20m cases.

Halewood’s executive team also benefits from the company’s London office in Mayfair.

The business remains family owned since its creation by local entrepreneur, John Halewood in 1978 and has retained an active role in the community-related activity, sponsoring local and national sporting events and raising stars in boxing and motor racing.

craft brands at different price points including Liverpool Gin and Vodka, Whitley Neill Gin, Willow Mineral Water, Hyperion wine, Hawkshead Windermere Pale, Crabbies Alcoholic Ginger Beer, Lambrini and Red Square Vodka. Liverpool Gin Distillery works in conjunction with H&A Prestige (a Halewood subsidiary based in Chorley) that is a specialist bottling operation providing the industry a range of innovative bottling and packaging designs for both its alcoholic and non-alcoholic brands.

The UK domestic business accounts for 45% of profitability with a growing presence in the supermarkets, small shops and Horeca (Hotels, Restaurants and Catering). The company is focused on growing core brand exports whilst driving sales for its Agency brands: Tequila Rose, Carlsberg, Lheraud and Tsingtao through its international operations.

Halewood is a medium sized company and modest compared to its large International competitors but it continues to ‘fly the flag’ for the UK drinks industry internationally with operations in Romania, South Africa and China.

The company exports in over 90 markets worldwide including significant volumes in North America and Australia.

Halewood demonstrates a genuine commitment to communities in its brand activities. 2016 was the third year of Crabbies’ sponsorship of the Grand National, and signifies Halewood’s continued association with Aintree, dating back to the 1990s. As well as providing an unrivalled platform to promote and sample Crabbie’s Alcoholic Ginger Beer, the sponsorship has allowed Halewood to support the prime event of the Liverpool sporting calendar.

Halewood provides full manufacturing capability from distilling, bottling and distribution of

Crabbies is supporting rugby at all levels of the game throughout the UK – from sponsorship of

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Scottish and Welsh rugby union, St Helen’s Rugby League through to supporting local players and clubs at grassroots level. The company also supports local community activities including Liverpool Football Club Foundation, Glacial Art – a company taking part in the World Ice Art Championships in Alaska – and sponsorship of Declan Jones, a racing driver from Merseyside.

Deal Maker of the Year 2017 - United Kingdom Winning the Deal Maker of the Year award is well-deserved recognition for our global team.

It’s been a challenging and busy year of re-focusing and making acquisitions and it’s paid off.

Halewood reported strong financial results for 2016. The business returned to growth with a profit after tax of £1.7m compared to a loss of £9.5m in 2015.

The positive results follow a restructuring of the business, focus on core brands and rationalisation of non-performing brands in conjunction with a rapid inorganic growth strategy to improve the product portfolio. The introduction of a new highly experienced spirits focused senior team by Group Chief Executive Stewart Hainsworth, helped develop the strategy to put premium craft products at the helm, alongside substantial investment in distilling, manufacturing, brand marketing and distribution.

The results of the new strategy are working. This year, the business

launched a significant number of new brands, including Marylebone Gin and the J.J. Whitley range of gins and vodkas, which are inspired by the British countryside.

Development of new products also includes the expansion of the premium Whitley Neill range, with a Blood Orange Vodka ‘a quintessential Sicilian flavour’, Quince Gin, ‘the first in the UK’ and Rhubarb and Ginger gin to build on gin’s huge popularity with consumers.

The success of these products has resulted in further investment in the Huyton facility, where the whole range of Whitley Neill will be produced and bottled in the near future. Demonstrating continual improvement, existing brands including Red Square, Belgravia, Admiral Benbow and Jules Clairon have been revised too.

A number of Halewood brands won industry awards, including at The Grocer Drinks Awards, where Crabbie’s won the ginger beer of the year category alongside the Hot Brands award achieved in the USA. West Cork Distillery was voted best craft distillery in New York with its West Cork brand and Rum Sixty-Six won a Gold award at the Spirits Business awards.

Successful deals Halewood Wines & Spirits has made several major acquisitions during the last 12 months, including the purchase of a major stake in West Cork Distillers, to jointly develop and distribute its innovative Irish whiskey portfolio throughout domestic and

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In the Right Spirit

international markets.

Halewood has purchased joint ownership of The Pogues Irish Whiskey, a joint venture with the iconic Celtic punk band and the business has also acquired Rum Sixty-Six, a premium Bajan rum.

Most recently, Halewood made a significant investment in Hawkshead Brewery in the Lake District, as the business moves into the craft beer category for the first time and further strengthens its presence in the North West.

Halewood’s latest strategic investment is in The City of London Distillery, the only gin distillery in London’s Square Mile. The deal will enable the micro-distillery to further capitalise on the gin renaissance by gaining new routes to market, as well as reinforcing Halewood’s firm focus on premium craft spirits.

Another significant acquisition for Halewood this year is the super-premium organic craft spirit, Liverpool Gin. Liverpool Gin has been transformational for the business culture and direction in the business strategy. It has encouraged the whole workforce to engage with the brand and be proud of what they create.

Liverpool Gin has stayed true to its roots as an organic gin that is distilled and bottled in Liverpool driving significant investment in the Merseyside site, with new stills and specialised spirit bottling lines.

To capitalise on increasing consumer interest in ‘drinking less but higher quality products’, Halewood has expanded the Liverpool Gin brand by launching the Liverpool Collection – a craft spirits range which includes Liverpool Gin Valencian Orange, Liverpool Rose Gin and Liverpool Vodka, as well as special editions of Liverpool Gin Distillers Cut, a 16-year-old Trinidadian rum and a 12-year-old whisky.

The launch of the Liverpool Collection has allowed Halewood to form a partnership with one of Liverpool’s most iconic names – Liverpool FC. The partnership with Liverpool FC creates a

platform for Halewood to expand its presence and brand awareness within international markets, in association with one of the largest brands in world football.

The acquisitions have strengthened Halewood’s product portfolio in priority categories of craft beer, Irish whiskey, gin and vodka.

Outlook for 2017 and beyond Halewood Wines & Spirits will remain focused on driving sales of core brands on a global basis whilst further investing in craft products in new and existing facilities. The company wants to move closer to the consumer and develop new channels and routes to market. Engaging with the customer is important in the evolution of the company to identify new trends.

The company will continue to invest in liquid development, particularly through its Liverpool Gin Distillery, Hawkshead Brewery, Aber Falls Distillery and pending plans for a new John Crabbie’s Distillery in Scotland.

Halewood’s export drive will be championed by notable brands including Whitley Neill Gin, The Pogues Irish Whiskey and Liverpool Vodka, with consumer marketing support through key international markets.

The Liverpool Collection is a key aspect of this activity, both in terms of increasing listings of the Liverpool Collection brands within the UK On Trade, but also seeking out opportunities to promote the city’s brand wherever possible.

Halewood will be weaving the brand story of Liverpool into its marketing campaigns – the launch of Liverpool Rum within the collection provides Halewood with a platform to tell the story of Liverpool, the docks and the city’s history with rum.

The partnership with Liverpool FC has only just commenced, so Halewood is looking forward to deepening this relationship.

Halewood’s sponsorship of the Liverpool FC Foundation will undoubtedly generate further opportunities for community engagement.

Halewood will continue to support local businesses and initiatives – as the headline sponsor of the British Style Collective, which takes place in Liverpool, and supporting the Liverpool Summer of Love event in its 50th anniversary this year.

Halewood will also be putting greater emphasis on the strong provenance of its North West based brands, such as Willow Water and Hawkshead Brewery, in order to strengthen their appeal and drive further growth.

The Aber Falls Distillery will come to fruition, and Halewood has plans to launch a visitor centre, tours and distilling classes to engage consumers.

Halewood expects to see consumer interest and growth in premium spirits to continue throughout 2017, so Halewood is confident its spirit brands will remain relevant and popular.

Consumers have developed a keen interest in craft distilling, and Halewood will be exploring opportunities to allow smaller businesses to access the market through Halewood’s portfolio offering.

Halewood expects rum and Irish whiskey to grow in popularity this year, and the business is well placed to take advantage of these trends, through the expansion of the Rum Sixty-Six range and further Irish whiskey distribution in collaboration with West Cork Distillers.

Company: Halewood Wines & Spirits Name: Stewart Hainsworth Email: stewart.hainsworth@ halewood-int.com Web Address: www.halewood-int.com Address: The Sovereign Distillery, Wilson Road, Huyton Business Park, Liverpool, L36 6AD, UK Telephone: +44 (0)151 480 8800

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Witnessing Expertise Dr Davies M. Mulenga tells us what makes the perfect expert witness, and what it felt like to be awarded the prestigious title of Expert Witness of the Year 2017 - Chartered Civil Structural Engineer.

DM Mulenga Enterprise and Engineering Ltd provides expert witness support in forensic engineering for construction litigation cases worldwide. The company also specialises in civil structural engineering design, inspections and assessment including review of technical approvals along with entrepreneurship and structures asset management.

Dr Davies M. Mulenga tells us more about the firm’s client base and its mission.

“We work for legal firms and various clients which manage, maintain, and plan for residential, commercial, and industrial type buildings including highway bridges and structures,” he begins.

“Our vision is to make an impact in improving people’s lives and grow to be one of the world’s most respected expert witness, engineering and structures asset management consultancies.”

The role of an Expert Witness has proven to be key as they provide a technical analysis on a case. “It involves consideration of all evidence to be presented at trial and then advise the court on the areas where liability lies,” Davies embellishes. “He is able to explain complicated issues in a clear manner which not only delivers a distinction between facts and opinions but furthermore, achieve a reasonable settlement quickly and effectively.

“Our expert support can help clients resolve and win cases,

removing the need for hefty litigation costs and the time clients and their business need to invest in dispute resolution.”

A successful expert witness should be able to provide independent, objective and unbiased evidence and would require solid legal and courtroom skills in addition to outstanding skills on the subject matter.

Davies quotes Dr Chris Pamplin’s UK register of Expert Witnesses to give us more of an idea of the skills an expert witness should possess: •

•

•

•

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A sound knowledge of the subject matter in dispute, and, usually, practical experience of it The powers of analytical reasoning required to fulfil his assignment The ability to communicate findings and opinions clearly, concisely and in terms adapted to the tribunal before which evidence is being given The flexibility of mind to modify opinions in the light of fresh evidence or counter-arguments The ability to ‘think on one’s feet’, so necessary in coping with cross-examination, and a demeanour that is likely to inspire confidence, particularly in court appearances.

Can you tell me about your story as an expert witness and the journey you have taken in this role?

Davies’ journey as an expert witness started soon after he attained his PhD in Structural

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Engineering & Concrete Technology. He tells us more about the role and how he found himself on this fascinating career path.

“To become an expert, you need to take the journey of learning more. Despite some challenges, I managed to have a very successful journey marked with great achievements in various high profile litigation disputes where my expert advice contributed to significant savings worth millions of pounds.”

Davies is a dedicated, dynamic and highly motivated Chartered Civil Structural Engineer (CEng, MICE) combining more than 23 years’ international construction industry experience with a proven track record of delivering complex, multimillion pound projects on time, on budget and to exceptionally high standards.

“I have expertise in structural materials, concrete technology, asset management and the research, design, construction, assessment, inspection and maintenance of buildings, floors, bridges, stadia, highways and rail infrastructure. I am also an expert in durability of concrete structures and Thaumasite Form of Sulphate Attack.

“My extensive expert witness experience includes advising on the construction dispute of the £783m national football stadium at Wembley, London. I also supplied technical advice and a presentation at a Mediation to build Europe’s second largest stadium.

“I have undertaken expert witness work worldwide, and I

am fluent in English, German and Bemba with basic French language skills.”

Recently, Davies and his firm were awarded the prestigious accolade of Expert Witness of the Year 2017, something which he describes as a stunning experience.

“It took a while to believe I had won, but then I enjoyed my shining moment,” jokes Davies.

“It certainly raises our company profile and credibility locally in the United Kingdom and internationally.

“The recognition validates that I am capable of making impact in the engineering and expert witness world.

“I am humbled to win the ‘Expert Witness 2017 - Chartered Civil Structural Engineer award’ and to be celebrated as one of the most successful, innovative and influential expert witness professionals within the UK and across the world.”

With regards to the future, Davies aims to continue to provide the best expert witness services to meet client’s needs and to become the company of choice globally.

“My dream is to work collaboratively and partner with industry leaders in engineering and law, to achieve our vision.”

Company: DM Mulenga Enterprise & Engineering Ltd Name: Dr Davies M. Mulenga, Director Email: dr.dmulenga@btinternet.com Web Address: www.shop-for-shop.co.uk Address: 3 St Denis Road, B29 4LW, Birmingham, UK Telephone: +44 (0)754 063 1016

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Something in the Air Wally Brant is CEO of Indiana Oxygen, which sells and distributes industrial gases and welding supplies throughout Central Indiana, Western Ohio, and Northern Kentucky. He recently won the CEO of the Year 2017 – Indiana award, so we celebrate his success in this fascinating profile of his work as a CEO and indeed the firm that he heads up.

Wally Brant became CEO of Indiana Oxygen Company, headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, USA, in 1979 at the age of 32.

He mortgaged everything to buy out other family memberowners. Prior to joining the family business, he was a graduate of Purdue University and served seven years in the U.S. Air Force as a B-52 Navigator during the War in Vietnam.

In April, 2017, Indiana Oxygen is celebrating its 102nd anniversary. Despite being the oldest Gas and Welding Supply company in North America, its growth in the first 70 years was severely limited by remaining a single-location, family-owned entity. However, third-generation owner, Wally Brant, embarked on an expansion plan in 1982 to include eleven retail (11) stores, a regional acetylene gas manufacturing facility, and pioneered the company into eCommerce (electric internet sales) that now makes up 1/3 of its gross revenue. Indiana Oxygen sells into all 50 US states and over a dozen countries.

Indiana Oxygen’s products serve a variety of industries, including: sheet metal manufacturing, heavy construction, medical research laboratories, food and beverage, farming, automotive, environmental protection, and auto sports. Indiana Oxygen is the longest standing continuous accessory sponsor to the legendary Indianapolis ‘500’ mile race. Starting in 1915, Indiana Oxygen provided compressed air (later Nitrogen) for racing tires.

In 1965 it also began providing

certified welding services on-site.

Since 1915 the company has never missed a single year in providing service and cuttingedge welding technology to the race teams (including the US Grand Prix teams). Indiana Oxygen’s Welding Garage is located in Gasoline Alley inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Indiana Oxygen has grown by a multiple of thirty since Wally became CEO. The strategy was to become large enough to be self-sustaining and to resist hostile takeover attempts during frequent “acquisition flurries” by the larger national and inter-national competitors.

Since their gas products are exactly the same molecules as every competitor in the industry, “product purity” and “excessive service and response” are key elements to thriving among large and small competitors.

In late 2014, Wally promoted Gary Halter to become President of Indiana Oxygen, and Wally remained the Chief Executive Officer. His task is primarily to chart the future direction of the company and to create business and community relationships at the top executive levels in the market. In 2017, at the age of sixty-seven (67), Wally was admitted for enrollment in the exclusive University of Notre Dame Graduate Program to obtain his Executive Master of Business Degree. What would motivate a 67 year old executive go back to University? It was to learn from other successful executives and his professors to keep Indiana Oxygen on the cutting edge of theory and

technology, thus keeping him critically relevant to his fellow employees. (Wally is scheduled to graduate in May, 2018.)

Wally lists his most critical challenge in his recent career as having to work with the Teamsters Union which represented his truck drivers, dockmen and production personnel. After being a “Union Shop” for 68 years, Wally amicably convinced the employees that their future well-being would be better without Union representation.

Since then, several of his union members have ascended to the ranks of management… an impossible achievement under the former Union rules. The men have been paid higher wages, operate under a generous production bonus program, and have promotion possibilities previously prohibitive under the Union representation.

Like all industries, the Gas and Welding industry is constantly changing. Fifteen years ago, almost Zero sales were conducted via the internet; now over 1/3 of Indiana Oxygen’s total revenue comes from the internet. One particular advantage of the gas industry is the fact that no one will invent a substitute for Oxygen and the natural gas elements. Plus, new innovated uses are constantly being created.

Like most production and manufacturing industries, the gas and welding industry follows trends in Real GDP growth, inflation, and housing startups as key indicators for future business climates. For 2017, the signs

look cautiously positive.

The future of Indiana Oxygen is bright. Wally’s two children, Anne (38) and Jay (34) joined the family company seven years ago and are committed to keeping the business independent and family-owned. There is always a need for flexible and mobile middle-sized companies in this industry! Wally is enjoying his new academic and business challenges. He has no plans for retirement, but has already put into place a well-thought-out succession plan for the next 12 years.

For more information, please so feel free to contact INDIANA OXYGEN on any of the contact details below.

Company: INDIANA OXYGEN Name: Wally Brant, C.E.O. Email: wally@indianaoxygen.com Web Address: www.indianaoxygen.com Address: PO BOX 78588 6099 W. Corporate Way Indianapolis, IN 46278 Telephone: +1 317 808 4011

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 25

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Changing an Industry Managing Partner Eric de Putter is the brains behind Payment Redesign. He tells us more about the firm and its areas of specialism.

The payment business evolves quickly, fuelled by new ways to pay such as via mobile technology.

Regulatory change is allowing new market entrants and technological changes, irrespective whether this card, mobile, real-time or even cash payments.

Payment Redesign is a management consultancy specialising in cards and payments with 20 plus clients in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Middle East, Canada and the US. Incepted in 2013 by entrepreneur Eric de Putter, Payment Redesign has experience growth both in terms of visibility and turn-over.

During 2016, Payment Redesign’s managing partner, Eric, presented at conferences in Berlin, New Orleans, Warsaw, London and Moscow. Eric has also become a regular contributor to three different magazines, highlighting his status as industry insider.

During the last few years Payment Redesign has published various reports on the benefits of European thinking for banks and payment institutions, utilising contactless payment technology for cash machines. A recent report published highlighted how the industry can benefit from the Internet-of-Things technology to modernize the aging architectures in the cash machine industry.

This thought leadership through conferences assists to attract new clients and advise them on payment innovation, new markets and regulatory change.

Eric’s day-to-day role as managing partner focuses on business development and new projects.

“A substantial component is public relationships, providing worthwhile articles and preparing for conferences,” he begins. “I must admit that I have always underestimated the power of social media. I received the ATMIA International Consultant of the Year award in Orlando and ran a three-hour workshop at the same conference. My update on LinkedIn attracted a substantial number of viewers and I am now aiming to publish on a regular basis through LinkedIn. “The client projects heavily vary, for one client I provide subject matter expertise, for another I have looked at nationalising their cash machine network. I am also keeping a close eye on the Brexit situation. The impact to the financial industry is not well-recognised. The European Single Market has regulations allowing new entrants to compete with banks subject to regulations.

A hard Brexit will result in various UK-based companies being cut-off from Europe, resulting in consultancy firms like Payment Redesign to advise them on how best to proceed.”

Initially, Eric relied on his associates who he would call in as and when work was required. Now he has taken on a contractor for six months, with a view to creating a permanent role, due to the intended launch of an information service. He is now attracting sufficient business to attract permanent staff.

26 CORPORATE VISION / April 2017

Eric tells us that, with regards to recent successes, 2015 was a particularly fruitful year for Payment Redesign.

“I am reaping the benefits as we speak,” he enthuses. “My first appearance at Europe’s largest card processing conference, Merchant Payment Ecosystem, was where I was appointed as advisor and this was very successful. I received my first ATMIA award as well. From there I have lost track a little as things went quickly, but they include a report about applying cloud based thinking in the cash machine industry which attracted very much interest and convinced me to launch a follow-up study. I have also been involved in conference appearances in Moscow, London and Warsaw, as well as attracting clients outside Europe, with very exciting projects.

“Then there is the second International Consultant of the Year award.”

The future looks very bright indeed for Eric and Payment Redesign and he explains how he aims to focus on publicity and, ultimately, growth.

“I will shortly announce the findings for my second cloud ATM study highlighting that the ATM industry can imminently benefit from new thinking,” Eric states.

“I am currently lobbying to find partners for a first proof-of-concept, demonstrating the benefits for the industry. I expect that this will be a ground-breaking project for the industry and demonstrates Payment Redesign’s leadership.

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Company: Payment Redesign Limited Name: Eric de Putter Managing Partner Email:eric.deputter@ paymentredesign.com Web Address: www.paymentredesign.com Address: 106 Pembury Road Tonbridge TN9 2JG United Kingdom Telephone: +44 7950 449188

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 27

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Algerian Attorneys at Law BOUCHAIB LAW FIRM, Best Law Firm 2016 – Algeria, is a law firm composed by young, aggressive and high-skilled professionals offering its clients personalised attention, whose responsibility and professionalism makes the difference.

Since its foundation in 1999, BOUCHAIB LAW FIRM has been offering its clients worldwide, the most effective legal services, with top quality legal counselling, as well as a select group of attorneys highly qualified in providing fast and effective solutions to civil commercial, arbitration, labour and penal concerns, as well as in all other branches of local and international law.

Our policy Different from other law firms in our country, where the client is limited to dealing with only one attorney within the firm only one to know about the client’s files and information, at BOUCHAIB LAW FIRM, the work policy is based on « TEAMWORK ».

BOUCHAIB LAW FIRM is convinced that the clients have the right to receive a rapid response to any of their inquiries, at all times. That is why our attorneys handle the files jointly, turning in daily reports to the partners of the firm, in order to determine, at any given time, the best way to handle each of the cases.

Practice BOUCHAIB LAW FIRM offers its clients, both local and international, a wide range of legal services as follows: • • •

Oil and gas law; Construction law; Intellectual Property

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

•

(registration of patents and trademark, among others); Health law; Commercial law; Fiscal law; Mining law; Corporate law; Maritime law; Vessel registration; Banking law; Insurance; Labour law; Civil law; Criminal law; Environmental law; International law; Immigration; Trusts and private foundations; Privatisation, government contracts and publics bids.

Financial law; Communications law; Litigation of commercial, civil and criminal matters and; Real estate

Company: BOUCHAIB LAW FIRM Name: Adnane Bouchaib Email: adbouchaib@yahoo.fr Address: 20, rue Claude Debussy, Alger centre, 16000 Algiers, Algeria Telephone: +213 23 49 01 75 +213 70 588 555

28 CORPORATE VISION / April 2017

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A Change Would Do You Good QA Mentor, Inc. focus on services that help clients produce quality software by performing software quality assurance and testing for them, helping their own QA team, training QA teams, or even creating QA departments for clients. We got in touch with firm’s CEO Ruslan Desyatnikov to find out more.

What does your client base look like?

Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups across nine different industries.

What are your firm’s unique selling points?

Name: Ruslan Desyatnikov Email: support@qamentor.com or rdesyatnikov@qamentor.com Web Address: www.qamentor.com Address: 1441 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10018 Telephone: +1 800 622 2602 or +1 212 960 3812

We have eight locations across the world staffed with professionals with at least three years QA experience, and we offer several unique testing services such as Testing in your Time Zone, where we pair clients with QA professionals that operate on their schedules.

We have several on-demand services that make it easy for clients to pick and choose exactly what they need, when they need it. For clients who need it, we also offer our tool, QA Coverage, for free.

What are the main challenges facing your company now and in the future?

Right now, our biggest challenge is keeping up with the ever-changing landscape of computers, mobile, and the internet in general. Things change so quickly that we have to keep adapting to the changes while still looking forward to what’s coming in order to keep our services relevant for our clients.

What business or business person do you most admire and why?

Steve Jobs is my role model.

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 29

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A Vision for Tangibly Better Leaders The Leadership and Coaching CEO of the Month - United Kingdom award was recently bestowed upon The Forton Group Ltd, who deliver leadership development and coaching services around the world. We enjoyed a conversation with the firm’s CEO, Helen Caton-Hughes, to ascertain more about her approach to leadership and the challenges she faces in her current job role.

Caton-Hughes believes that leaders should feel confident and empowered, whatever challenges they face. However, as the world is complicated enough, they believe in making leadership simple and straightforward, so that people can apply it in outside of the classroom and back in the real world of work.

Turning to the work of Forton, they are a firm who provide leadership development and coaching services all over the world. Their vision is for tangibly better leaders, to support more successful organisations with more fulfilled, effective, people. They certainly deliver development programmes for emerging talent, managers and senior leaders, and accredited leadership coaching programmes. Caton-Hughes tells us more about the remarkable work of the firm.

Forton was established in 2002 and has been delivering leadership and coaching services for fifteen years. They celebrate their birthday in June, and are based in Rugby, Warwickshire.

“We work with professionals in HR, L&D and OD, supporting change, engagement and talent programmes for organisations around the world. We work for everyone from the UN to luxury goods firms, to health organisations. Our work is

accredited by the Chartered Management Institute and the International Coach Federation.

Forton holds the first leadership coaching programme to be accredited by the ICF and celebrates its fifteenth year in 2017.”

Forton have their own, unique, leadership coaching model and as a client recently said about them, “I have explored many coaching models and it is without doubt the best I have experienced.”

Caton-Hughes adds that the firm works with over a hundred coaches, consultants and facilitators around the world and have worked on every continent, except Antarctica!

They have business partners on four continents, who are also experts in the fields of leadership and coaching. As well as delivering in-person leadership development, they use webbased platforms for distance learning – both live and selfpaced. “Our leadership approach is based on collaboration, where leadership is abundant and everyone can step up, take responsibility and deliver optimum performance.”

A student recently said in a testimonial about the firm, “thank you for your excellent training programmes. I have learned more in the ACTP programme with the Forton Group than in every other course I have ever

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done, put together” CatonHughes goes on to say.

On being recognised for being the Leadership and Coaching CEO of the Month - United Kingdom accolade, CatonHughes says, “it is an honour for me and for the whole team for me to be recognised as the CEO of the month.” She then tells us about her day to day role as a CEO and the challenges this presents.

“My role encompasses marketing, new product development, and sales support; particularly supporting our partners to be successful in their territories. We continually update our offering, to ensure that our services are cutting edge in the leadership development world.

The biggest challenge has been making the complex more simple and easy to understand – ‘as simple as possible, but not simpler’ as Einstein said!”

“We are also on a journey towards putting more leadership programmes online, so that busy people can prepare themselves for leadership through a systematic online programme and feel empowered to lead.”

Caton-Hughes then offers her thoughts on the wider leadership and coaching industry today.

“It’s becoming clearer than ever that the ‘hero leader’ is a myth.

The world of work today requires

a more collaborative approach to leadership than the traditional commanding style. The industry is dominated by people and organisations who teach their own ‘unique’ models of leadership, based on little or no evidence. It’s a very ‘charismadriven’ industry at present, which is also male-dominated.

“We look forward to a more inclusive, collaborative world of work and see a lot of potential for a broader range of leadership styles that flex and adapt to a more agile way of working.

It’s still a huge, and growing, marketplace.

“Leadership Coaching services continue to grow in demand, and we see an increase in demand for in-house leadership coaching teams for developing talented individuals, and high-value 1-1 coaching for senior leaders. Our niche is high-quality, accredited leadership coaching in both these areas.”

Regarding the essential qualities for leaders and managers, Caton-Hughes says that in her own job role, she sees herself as an enabler, bringing out the best in the team around her, before elaborating on this point. “And yes, on bad days, I’m the block to their productivity, so it’s essential for me to make sure I delegate and trust them to deliver.

Certainly, I work with my fellow directors to set the strategy and direction, and I’m here to coach

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others to deliver to their optimum performance.”

In terms of the vital role her staff play, Caton-Hughes underlines that Forton have a variety of skills in the team: a great group of carefully-selected coaches, consultants and trainers who all bring a wealth of experience and know-how with them. Then they have a small core of digital experts, website designers and developers, social media and marketing people. Design is a particularly important way for the firm to get their message out there. Caton-Hughes then concludes by giving her outlook for the future of your firm in 2017 and beyond.

“With more digital and online learning, we’re looking to develop a Forton App, where managers and leaders can tap into online learning wherever they are. We see ourselves as raising our profile, at the same time as growing our business internationally.

“Everyone has a view on better leadership: ours is to make the world of work a more fulfilling place for everyone; evidencebased leadership that really engages with people and makes the challenges easier to overcome and success more achievable.”

Company: The Forton Group Ltd Name: Helen Caton-Hughes Email: helen.caton@thefortongroup.com Web Address: www.thefortongroup.com Address: College Farm, Main Street Willoughby, Warwickshire CV23 8BD, UK Telephone: +1 (0)345 077 2980 option 1

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We Live in Interesting Times The CEO of the Year 2016 – UK award was recently given to Daniel Cooper, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hanson UK, who in this insightful article, shares his thoughts on the firm’s important role in the construction industry and the challenges he enjoys in his current role.

The construction industry is always challenging, indeed for a bricks and mortar style business there are still enormous changes underfoot in a year best described as interesting times. At Hanson, we have been navigating our way through a complete business reengineering and digitisation overhaul, while ensuring that we kept a large workforce engaged throughout the process. It was therefore pleasing to receive recognition of this change and our business success through Corporate Vision’s CEO of the Year 2016 – UK award.

Hanson are one of the UK’s largest heavy building material suppliers, being the number one cementitious and ready mix concrete producer, third largest aggregates and third largest Asphalt supplier. We supply materials and solutions to a broad range of customers from government infrastructure, major building contractors right through to the home handyman.

In the UK, we employ over 3500 staff directly across 300 sites. Last year we significantly outperformed our 2015 total profit result despite the uncertainty of Brexit while delivering a major change and digitisation program.

The business environment is changing faster than the UK political sphere and staying ahead of the curve is where we are setting our sights at Hanson. We are in the process of building a customer focussed

organisation with a live digital platform capable of meeting the current and future needs of our customers, staff and suppliers alike. Our strategy is not to sit and wait for disruption but to actively drive our own business ahead of the pack.

Growing up in a family private business environment was for me a great lesson in the importance of the value of customers and the critical nature of cashflow. For my staff, I ask that they employ a simple test when decision making, what would you do if this was your business? It ensures that we think like owners, value every customer and every penny we spend.

Every business large or small requires a purpose and vision for what they wish to achieve. In my mind, a good strategy underpins the vision and it is clear for everyone in the organisation what we are aiming to do and that they can see actions and initiatives aligned to the vision occurring. Strategy is after all a doing word not a document to gather dust on the shelf.

In a family business, the culture is determined by the owner and they touch each employee regularly to inspire and impart their thinking. It is more challenging as the business grows or when you are in a large business. You have to work hard to build a consistent culture throughout your organisation.

At Hanson - I have worked with the executive team to define the

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culture and our brand - we then use many different mediums to share this with all our people.

Tools like podcasts, videos, team magazines, splash screens are required to continually reinforce the message we want to convey.

Most importantly, I find visible felt leadership has the greatest impact. Visiting sites, talking safety together with regular customer meetings ensures you keep connected to the business and ‘listen to the river’. To drive safety, we complete safety conversations with all of our staff, but of course the discussion invariably moves to how we could improve the business.

Many ideas for improvement are generated from walking the floor.

After leaving the family business, I worked in an organisation based in Australia that grew to be a large successful international company, Pioneer Concrete. One of the strengths I observed at Pioneer was the focus on people development, we ran a large graduate scheme with a twoyear training program. Almost all managerial appointments were internal and gaps were continually filled from the graduate pool where young bright people were given quite senior, responsible roles early in their career. It led to a young dynamic team with a consistent company culture. I still enjoy the answer to the question, ‘what if we train our staff and they leave?’, the answer being, ‘what if we don’t train them and they stay’!

The key for us to gain, is to buy into the vision and to act fast and implement effectively.

We have employed a single ERP system across what was a somewhat disparate group of businesses. A single customer service centre was created last year - with the latest digital and telephony technology. We made the decision in March and by August when we had identified a suitable site, completed the fit out, installed the technology, hired over 80 new staff and switched over the whole UK business to take all orders and allocate all vehicles outside of London concrete. This provides us with the ability to service customers by providing live data on all deliveries, invoices and information via web portals.

Clearly dealing with our customers online is a base level requirement for any business.

A single service centre also enables the optimisation of a 1500 truck strong logistic fleet using optimisers, employing complex algorithms to deal with the minute by minute changes in delivery requirements of products like asphalt and concrete.

I am pleased that our employees have embraced the change and I believe we carefully planned and implemented the change management and communication strategy to ensure we didn’t embark on this journey alone.

We have a very proud workforce who can explain the benefits of why we are changing. We have engaged 23 graduates and

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LEAD apprentices last year and have attracted a young talented group to our modern service centre. One benefit of moving your business into the digital age is that you both need and attract bright young people who will be the next generation to advance your business.

Once you get through the change ‘valley of despair’ - and start to see the performance improvement - it is time for the CEO to challenge the executive team again. Our attention now turns to creating an excellent sales force by employing a scientific approach to the sales process, forecasting, reporting and the use of available data.

Our aim is to know our market better than anyone else which will set us for these interesting times.

Company: Hanson UK Name: Daniel Cooper Chief Executive Officer Email: Daniel.Cooper@hanson.biz Web Address: www.hanson.co.uk/en Address: Hanson UK Hanson House, 14 Castle Hill Maidenhead, SL6 4JJ United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0) 1628 77 4100

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 33

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A Strong Will and Perseverance Dr Torsten Matthias tells us more about his firm, his areas of specialism and what it felt like to be awarded European CEO of the Month – Healthcare.

AESKU. GROUP, based in Wendelsheim, Germany, offers the most comprehensive product portfolio in the field of autoimmune diagnostic worldwide with in-house produced kits as well as automatic systems.

Currently, AESKU.GROUP employs more than 200 people and offers over 150 different products in more than 90 countries all over the world.

AESKU.GROUP is composed of AESKU.DIAGNOSTICS, AESKU.SYSTEMS, AESKU. THERAPY, AESKU.KIPP INSTITUTE and now also DST GmbH. This enables AESKU. GROUP in a unique manner to unify scientific competence in the basic research with expertise in the development of reliable, fast and easy-to-use products. It is the basis for the high-quality and the innovative lead of the products of AESKU. As a worldwide operating company, AESKU possesses a very good developed distributor network and subsidiaries in USA, Singapore and Columbia.

The company was founded in 2000 by Dr Torsten Matthias and had one mission: to facilitate lab routine by offering accurate, robust and reliable assays. In only a few years AESKU.GROUP has become a recognized name in the field of autoimmunity due to their ELISA’s, immunofluorescence and blot tests product lines AESKULISA®, AESKUSLIDES® and AESKUBLOTS®. In the

same way, the automatic systems of AESKU.GROUP are recognized in the diagnostic community.

and award-winning CEO. He embellishes further on what skills he believes have helped him to become the leader he is today.

Accordingly, the semi-automated HELMED® and automated processor and reader HELIOS® are well-established in the market with more than 650 installations worldwide. Torsten acquired DST in 2017. DST has a distinctive know-how in production and application of allergens on different platforms like ELISA, Blot and Point-of-care (POC) tests.

“Sometimes it’s necessary to be unconventional to stand out from the crowd. But therefore, you need the willingness to take a risk and responsibility for the consequences. Moreover, you have to pay attention to detail on your products, processes and the market. I am convinced of what we are doing. Moreover, I am convinced of our products: we have reliable kits, we have good concepts, and we have unique automated systems. Most importantly, I am still rich of ideas and full of creativity.

Recently, Torsten was awarded the prestigious accolade of European CEO of the Month Healthcare. He tells us how it feels to receive such a title and what it means for the firm.

“To get this award is a great honour and it makes me proud of what we have achieved in the last few years,” he begins.

“Looking back, we were starting from the scratch with only 5 employees and now we compete with big companies. It pays tribute to all our efforts. A number of factors have helped me getting to this result, especially my employees. For these people this award represents confidence in the company and the strong view that we are on the right track for the future. Subsequently, this is highly motivating for everybody of the AESKU.GROUP.” Torsten believes that strong will and perseverance are key attributes to possess when it comes to being a successful

34 CORPORATE VISION / April 2017

“Social competence is also very important. I need people that like to go to work, that they have fun in what they are doing. Teamwork is essential, communication the ultimate component for a good working atmosphere. To help parents managing work and family we have implemented a kindergarten to offer parents the opportunity to bring their kids.

Moreover, we have different work time models and timekeeping to allow flexible timetables.”

As a healthcare CEO, it is important that Torsten keeps upto-date with the latest technology and emerging trends within the industry. However he also foresees change within the next five years within this sector.

“We have a huge team of scientists, making our company really science-oriented. We

consistently invest in research, looking for better markers associated with diseases in which AESKU is specialized. Due to that, we aim to offer tests for a better and faster diagnosis of the patients.

“We grow continuously in order to expand our knowledge. In a couple of years the number of our employees at AESKU will increase significantly. We are proud to be a company with multinational valuable employees, customers and collaborators. 20 nationalities are represented in some of our meetings!

“The current economic situation compromises future double-digit market growth in the Eurozone, but we achieved good results in LATAM, ASIA, and EMEA that we want to continue. The FDA clearance of some AESKU IFA products in US is the starting point of a very exiting adventure for our company.

“We have major ongoing projects, creating innovative new technologies, and some of them are closed to be launched, this will boost our development.

Within the serological sector, we started to expand our area of expertise; this is part our strategy in the coming five years.”

With regards to future aspirations for the firm, Torsten wants AESKU.GROUP to be a fullrange supplier in diagnostics and reveals that he is constantly looking beyond his nose to new diagnostic and methodical fields.

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“We are always searching for new markers and panels to complete our portfolio. Point-ofcare tests will play an important role in the future, especially in developing countries.Conversely, the increasing number of products and customers are posing challenges to us: we need more employees, we need stateof-the-arts production plants to accelerate the production process and for all we need a new building. To reach our customers we need further subsidiaries and we are going to have more and more trainings and workshops in different countries.�

Company: AESKU.Group GmbH & Co. KG Name: Dr. Torsten Matthias Email: info@aesku.com Web Address: www.aesku.com Address: Mikroforum Ring 2 55234 Wendelsheim Germany Telephone: +49 6734 9622 0

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A One Vision Service Youcall-it.com provide Managed Services to a wide range of commercial and industrial IT vendors on a global level. This is achieved through the introduction of a new and unique Managed Services software platform populated with carefully selected service providers from around the world. Their offering is considered to be a fresh concept to the Technology industry and one that promises to streamline the entire process of post-sale support.

We spoke to Wayne Conyers, director of Youcall-it.com to find out more.

Last year, winning 5 awards for global service delivery, YCI are now even more ambitious in their aims for 2017. 2016 was all about building brand recognition and asserting Youcall-it.com as a market leader in the Technology Managed Services arena.

One of the areas the business has grown considerably is through connecting main tier organisations directly to geographically attractive Managed Services supplier.

“We see this as the building blocks required to change the industry we work in”, says Wayne Conyers, director of Youcall-it. com, who goes on to outline more about the company and their achievements.

“The core issues as we see them are generally based around many organisations working through a Margin on Margin model, eventually arriving at an end service provider willing to provide a service in a low margin, highly competitive environment.

Our approach only holds interest in working with companies who provide direct service. This in turn lifts quality, enthusiasm and drive. When vendors or large OEM / Organisations are matched with service providers through the YCI platform, we can say with confidence the service is being delivered at the ground level with the highest integrity.”

“We connect the provider to our systems, either directly or by our developed API which means we create a seamless service

management portal. The moment a vendor logs or sends a task it goes straight to the service desk in the country or region where it is required.”

When YCI started in 2010, some people thought they were slightly mad in trying to bring a unified global service solution to the table. Fast forward to today, and it seems the world is catching up with them. There is even more interest in The Internet of things (IoT) and YCI believe that they are counted in this mini revolution, which for them only confirms that they were right to start this journey. The Youcall-it. com platform is ever evolving to meet the industry changes as Wayne elaborates on.

“You have to keep enhancing or bringing new features to your platform. The world and service evolves, so by having complete control over our own development, we can react to a change in a process or an extra client requirement instantly. For example, we regularly obtain feedback from our clients and suppliers and then bring in system wide enhancements to benefit all user.”

“Our ‘One Vision Service’ delivery is a slogan we pushed hard last year. This year, it’s everything we exist for. We understand that some of our clients and channel partners have their own in house management systems. By linking these directly or through API to the youcall-it.com platform, coverage in over 60 countries is instantly added as well as a host of tools to deliver services

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using the vendor management system. 2017 will see YCI bring enhanced deployment services to the market place. This is the natural evolution of our service platform and we want to make it accessible to everyone.”

YCI do not believe in scaled down systems. Many service management tools will give the best to the client who paid for them - and then provide their suppliers with a slimmed down web version. Every user at every level with Youcall-it.com uses the same framework; indeed YCI can only adjust access by user type (i.e. enquires go to sales departments, service requests to helpdesk staff etc).

In the past, the large and tired Managed Services ‘broker’ or the middle man has been seen by many as an obstacle to business, in that they are another layer of margin filled with performance excuses to fight through. By adding value in providing an automated yet structured system, YCI’s role as “the middleman” has fully evolved to the point where the transparency and integrity of the system really does make a difference to users. The companies clients come from many parts of the world - and so does YCI’s management structure – a point Wayne goes on to explain in further detail.

“We recently partnered with Hardware Support Partners (HSP), our Australian and New Zealand partner for service who are currently integrating into the platform. This means that like the other connected countries,

management is delivered from the desk where the work is placed. We see YCI as a collective. Every desk of every service partner who joins us effectively becomes part of the management team, responsible for the tasks or works assigned to them.”

“In order to qualify as a service provider in the YCI network, each entity is closely scrutinised on several levels including history, quality, capacity, capability and more. A stringent due diligence process is undertaken before acceptance and enablement to the enquiry side of the Youcall-it. com system. This will create an improved global marketplace, especially at a time when Brexit and the effects of leaving the Economic Union will be felt more than at any stage.”

“For YCI, the mission is still a global one. When more is known about the deal on the table for Brexit, we will review our position and act or amend accordingly. We would very much like to continue the growth of the business in the UK, for now though our complete concentration is on delivering our ‘One Vision Service’”

Company: Youcall-it.com® Limited Name: Wayne Conyers Email: Wayne.Conyers@youcall-it.com Web Address: www.youcall-it.com Address: 65 Tontine St, Folkestone CT20 1JR, UK Telephone: + (0)845 582 2423

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The Core Foundation of All Economies Stock Traders Daily, Inc provides content to major media outlets like Reuters, Zachs, and Marketwatch. The firm’s Thomas Kee shares his thoughts on the Investment Rate in this special quarterly review question and answer session.

Please give an overview of your company and the market it operates

in.

I own and operate the longest standing proactive online Do It Yourself investment newsletter on the Internet today (Stock Traders Daily), and I own a money manager where I manage money for affluent investors (Equity Logic). I have also created one of the most accurate leading longer term stock market and economic indicators ever developed. It is called ‘The Investment Rate’ and it measures the rate of change in the amount of new money available to be invested into the United States economy dating back to 1900 and extending beyond 2040.

What is the Investment Rate and can anyone see it?

The Investment Rate is a macro economic analysis that measures liquidity, but natural liquidity and not fabricated liquidity like stimulus programs. It does this using built in societal norms to identify lifetime investment cycles, and it is a derivative demographic analysis predicated on the core foundation of all economies, which is people.

The way we spend money is important, but largely that only acts as a chaos like boundary around the economic cycles defined by the way we as a population invest our money over time. The Investment Rate identified the great depression, stagflation, the credit crisis, and the up periods in between. Anyone who is a subscriber to Stock Traders Daily can read the Investment Rate.

What does The Investment Rate say about today?

The economy we’re witnessed to today is being driven by stimulus programs, and stimulus programs are fabricated liquidity, unnatural in nature, and the impact is unsustainable unless stimulus lasts forever, which it doesn’t. Stimulus policies started with the FOMC but the ECB has committed to additional stimulus through the end of 2017 at least.

The Investment Rate tells us that there is a dramatic difference between demand levels than we compare demand for assets that exist in our economy today to where demand levels actually are on a naturalised basis, which is what the Investment Rate ultimately tells us.

It measures natural demand, and there is a large gap to fill between that natural demand curve and where demand levels for assets currently exist.

Okay, so what does that actually mean to an investor?

In basic terms, the fabricated demand that exists today has caused the demand for assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate, to be much higher than it otherwise would be, and with those fabricated dollars chasing assets we have seen asset price appreciation and quite arguably a bubble. The stock market, for example, was at 26 times earnings in the first part of 2017. Investors should, absolutely, understand the fabricated nature of the demand we have been witness to and recognise that a reversion to the mean, or the natural demand

cycle as that is defined by the Investment Rate, is very likely once stimulus officially comes to an end.

That’s great information, but is there any way to make money from it?

Absolutely! But not in a traditional sense. Traditional buy and hold investors will be hit hard once demand levels revert back to more natural conditions because risk appetites will themselves decline when liquidity levels decline, and the stimulus programs that we have been witness to have pumped money, liquidity, into most asset classes, so almost everything is vulnerable. The alternative is to incorporate strategies that do not rely on the market to increase, and that is exactly what we provide at Stock Traders Daily, proactive strategies.

Do you actually create these strategies?

Yes, I develop the strategies, and refine them over time. All of the strategies we offer at Stock Traders Daily have the same underlying capabilities too. Some of them work different than others do, some are more active and some are less active, but all of them have integrated risk controls and that’s the key. When we control risk, we empower ourselves to take advantage of markets when they move, instead of being at the mercy of them.

Active and less active sounds ominous. Can this work for people with jobs, 401Ks, and IRAs too?

Everyone seems to think managing risk requires more work than they are capable of, but one of our flagship strategies, the Sentiment Table Strategy, returned 70 1/2% in 2015, but it did it on only 21 trades while being in cash 68% of the time. The recommendations associated with that strategy are provided overnight too, which means that virtually anyone, even people with a job who cannot watch the market during the day, could manage this strategy. Not all of our strategies are like this, some are much more active, but about half of our strategies are something people with normal jobs should be capable of managing themselves.

Do you have any strategies for conservative investors?

Yes! In fact, most of the money that I manage is in our conservative strategy. It is called the CORE portfolio strategy, and it is designed to make money slowly but surely with very little volatility. It remains neutralised to market risk almost always, and only exposes itself to the market when the probabilities of an increase are high. When downside risks exist, the strategy is neutralised, which means it has virtually no exposure to the market.

Company: Stock Traders Daily, Inc Name: Thomas Kee Email: tomkee@stocktradersdaily.com Web Address: www.stocktradersdaily.com https://members.stocktradersdaily. com/public.php/freetrial/10day/code/ai Address: P.O. BOX 922 LA JOLLA, CA 92083 Telephone: +1 415 999 9033

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 37

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The PATHFINDER Case - How to Deal with Re-Filed Trademarks Lawyer and professional representative before the Italian, community and European authorities, Domenico de Simone devoted himself to intellectual property exclusively since 1972. The firm recently received the Regional Dispute Resolution Award – Italy award for their outstanding work in the field.

On the subject of intellectual property, after excluding on an ideological basis, the assumptions in which (supposing that such cases may actually exist) the trademarks first filed and then refiled are evidently and objectively (based on documents) foreign to the capabilities of use by the applicant.

To such respect, then, also consider the inconsistency occurring between trademarks as filed and the owner’s activity profiles as registered with the Chamber of Commerce and/ or are blatantly likely to cause situations of unlawful approach with trademarks which are actually used.

According to this decision, it will be necessary to enter the merit of the reasons explicative for non-use, with litigations on market analysis and on the applicants’ investment capacity, up to the right of waiving a project in order to pursue other ones and so on.

Moreover, let’s not make, for the time being, any reflections as to the registration of the re-filings in the name of entities who are

not the same (as the former applicant), although functionally ‘related’ (to the latter).

And then, is this also true in connection with the trademarks filed as labels in accordance with other consanguineous design laws and regulations (see class 32 of community designs). Conceptually speaking, reflections are invited on other kinds of non-used intellectual production such as the design / copyright / projects filed (with the SIAE, in Italy) even if connected with sensitive applications like healthcare, medical software, road safety, tracking of children, military and non-military aviation.

“appropriate to call it Pathfinder”).

This exercise has never been necessary (as a standard, I mean) because of the refiling solution, but will become the standard by force-majeure.

Can you imagine a court cross-examining the managers of a corporation disclosing intimate secrets and decisions to reveal why a trademark has not been used within the due administrative date which incidentally is not the same for all markets, but still is of interest to be used within other years, months or days?

Unbelievable

I would say that we have to cope with an ‘all-inclusive’ issue as we rarely did in the past, and I would consider it as such, i.e. as a ‘omni sensitive’ issue, to which all experts, under the form of associations, committees, etc. may address their reflections.

For the time being, one point is certain: if we argue the re-filing rights from an administrative standpoint and accept the German or Pathfinder approach, then we must be prepared to argue at courts the justifications of non-use (I find more

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And if I have registered in 100 countries and then miss timely use in 30 of them, according to which criteria shall we be allowed to say that for a wordmark this is insufficient to justify? Or shall each country count for itself alone? detached from the entrepreneurs’ sights and market technicalities?

Unbelievable And who will be capable to pay for such actions? We should consider that as technical advisor

to the Courts it will be necessary to hire managers from no less than primary corporations, subject to cross-check about their conflict of interests, and capable to match the managers acting for the nonuser party.

One additional thought, just to come to common sense, is the acknowledgement that if any jurisdiction had ever been willing to avoid refiling, then it would have had absolutely no problem obviously and plainly to add in the local law that refiling is not valid.

But, in view of the fact that a lack of compliance with any laws may be caused by circumstances external to the will of the interested party then even in said jurisdiction(s) the laws should have accorded the chance to enforce justifications to save the registration(s).

Company: DE SIMONE & PARTNERS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ATTORNEYS Name: De Simone Domenico Email: nds@desimonepartners.com Web Address: www.desimonepartners.com Address: Via Vincenzo Bellini 20 00198 Roma - Italy Telephone: + 39 (0)6 853361

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2017 Cannabis CEO of the Year

Website: quantum9.net Tel: +1-888-716-0404

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Navigating Large Financial Commitments Judi Rentschler was recently named as 2016 Female Lawyer of the Year – California, and in this special article, she reveals more about her own role in Rentschler/Tursi, LLP (R/T). This is a boutique law firm specialising in commercial real estate, including brokerage, leasing, sales, and litigation.

Our typical client is either (a) the small business owner ready to sign a lease or buy a building for his or her business; or (b) the small to mid-level investor who owns, leases or is selling incomeproducing property, or (c) the commercial real estate broker or agent seeking advice real estate licensing law, a difficult transaction, or a dispute.

Our Niche In our decades of experience, we have seen the many ways in which a deal can turn sour, so we have a unique perspective to recognise and prevent potential problems. Few real estate lawyers in the Bay area know real estate brokerage law, and what happens when a contract is poorly drawn, and how to try the case if things do go wrong.

I think our clients feel better protected knowing that we can spot potential issues quickly and come up with solutions before they get in trouble.

My role, key responsibilities and background As the head of a small firm, I handle the management, personnel, library, administrative and accounting work. As to the legal work, while all of us work on leasing, sales, and disputes, I handle all of our clients’ business

- formation legal work, financing documentation and complex transactions.

I opened the firm in 1996, after 10 years as a personal injury trial lawyer and 10 working in-house for CBRE as a commercial trial lawyer. Yes, it is what I aspired to do: I chose law to help people – to understand the laws that impact their real estate investments, and to navigate what for many is the largest financial commitment they’ve ever made.

Staff management Our team is like family, and I treat them with the trust and respect they have earned. My key principles in this respect are to make the time to make sure that the directions are clear and certain, articulate expectations and to hold employees accountable. The most important principle is to have a life and to enjoy your family! Work hard when you are at work, but don’t let it consume you.

Challenges I believe that the biggest challenge has been gender bias in the courtroom. For ten years, I was the only woman lawyer in a prestigious trial firm.

On Mondays, when the courts called all cases set for trial, of all the milling lawyers, there were about 49 men to 1 woman. Men,

40 CORPORATE VISION / April 2017

even my mentor, told me that a woman could not be an effective advocate: if we are strong, we are seen as bitchy, something that would be sure to turn off a jury.

The worst were the judges, though; especially in chambers, although some didn’t hesitate to show their disrespect in front of the jury. Once, I was handling a wrongful death case, representing the widow.

The family lived in a rundown tenement - the elevator was the old style with a collapsing door - and it only worked some of the time. While his wife and child watched in horror, the husband opened the elevator door to peer up the shaft to see where the car was. It was a horrible death and I was suing the slumlord. Two weeks before trial, my opponent and I, and our clients met with a judge to try to settle the case.

This judge first ridiculed my case and the decedent, in front of his widow, then called me back to chambers and asked who was ‘really’ handling the case.

He proceeded to call my office, starting at the top of the roster and asking for each of my male colleagues by first name to find a replacement. When no one came down to take over, he postponed the settlement conference to the next week and ordered me to have one of the male attorneys appear.

To disprove the bias and stereotype, I did my job and tried cases – big ones, long ones, complex ones –and found that juries did not hate me for being an advocate - and I won (and lost) just as often as did the men.

Technology and innovation I think it is important to keep up with the technology that will help make us better and more productive lawyers: access to data and legal resources on line, time management and billing, etc.

We stay up to date on the law by reviewing each day’s advance sheets (daily opinions) and industry resources - and whenever a new case, law or regulation impacts our business or that of our clients - we make sure that all of our forms and resources are current and reflect the latest trends in the field. I meet and talk often with real estate brokers about trends and needs.

Industry trends Industry trends impact our business a great deal. For example, during the Great Recession, we saw contraction in retail outlets (shopping centres, malls), with tenants in default on their rent; hence we often advised our landlord clients to cut the tenant some slack so he’d still in business when the worst is over. Now, in the Bay Area, it’s

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a landlord’s market again, and our advice has to change with the times.

Future aspirations Ideally, I would like to grow the firm so that when I do get ready to retire, the lawyers we train can keep up the good work we are doing now.

Company: Rentschler/Tursi LLP Name: Judi Rentschler Email: jjrentschler@landlaws.com Web Address: www.landlaws.com Address: 411 Borel Avenue, California 94402 USA Telephone: +1 650 524 1980

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 41

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Top of the Board Sharon Constancon is CEO of Genius Methods. She tells us more about what led to her success and what makes a great CEO following her success in winning the Board Evaluation CEO of the Month - United Kingdom award.

Genius Methods is a Board evaluation company and has carried out Board development, mentoring, Board reviews and evaluations for businesses ranging from FTSE 100 to SME’s. The firm’s experience includes many industries with particular skills working with regulated organisations, particularly financial services firms regulated by the PRA and FCA. Sharon Constancon is CEO of Genius Methods and provides an insight into her job role, including her experience, expertise and credentials “CEO roles are very varied depending on industry and size of the organisation,” she begins. “I specialise in service delivery companies in niche areas of expertise. Therefore, the company and governance structures I preside over are simple, but as I am passionate for quality service delivery, my role is always to work out how we can do something better, quicker or more suitable for the needs of the customer, whilst focusing on the revenue generation growth to support a sustainable business.

“My experience spans governance and treasury services in two countries, my first achieving a listing on the stock exchange. My experience and expertise span finance, accounting, forex, risk management, governance, people behaviour, leadership, technology and operations.

“My tertiary education includes being a Chartered Director, a Chartered Secretary and having an MBA.”

Sharon has been the CEO of her own businesses, three in total, for 28 years now, with focuses on governance and foreign currency advisory services. Before starting her first business, Sharon was Chief Forex Dealer for Societe Generale, Treasury Manager for Blue Circle and Company Secretary for a number of companies in the JCI Group.

“As an entrepreneur, it is less about what I enjoy as CEO, and more about what I enjoy in the business,” she embellishes, speaking about what aspects of the role she particularly values.

“I gain huge personal value providing quality, valuable and enlightening board evaluations that truly make a difference to the Board and the Directors from which the company gains immediately too.

“As CEO, I define the longer term strategies, run the company, focus on marketing and partner relationships, but the true reason for being and enjoyment comes more from the delivery of quality evaluations that make a real difference.”

Sharon’s most recent achievements as CEO involve the delivery of service to customers. She elaborates: “A very recent project has involved a Governance Transformation effort post a Board Evaluation that identified people, structures and behaviour barriers to effectiveness. Another project involved training 15 NonExecutive Directors to bring more value to their Boards, increase their contributions and train them to contribute effectively to competent decision making. I am also running towards the end

42 CORPORATE VISION / April 2017

of a six month project mentoring a CFO to step up and contend for a senior CEO role.”

Despite these obvious successes, the role of CEO has also been a challenging one for Sharon, with time, cash flow and competent resources all bringing their own issues. However, Sharon goes into depth about the qualities she possesses which she believes have helped make her the successful leader she is today.

“It is essential to lead competently – and there are many ways of doing this. Delegation, training and empowering of your team is essential to provide yourself with airtime to get the CEO work completed.

“A CEO should listen more than speak, respect and protect staff, hold them to account but take the overall responsibility when times are tough.

“A CEO should also know the business, work with the Board and have strategic capabilities to lead the company through growth.”

It is these qualities which have helped Sharon receive the prestigious title of Board Evaluation CEO of the Month,

an accolade of which she is very proud.

“It is always an honour to be recognised either in your personal capacity or as your company brand,” she enthuses.

“In my case, as the two do overlap, it is a double benefit to receive this recognition.”

With regards to the future, Sharon’s focus is firmly on growth of the firm and its services.

“The business has created, over time, a very successful brand which is well known in the governance arena in the UK. I am looking to expand the delivery to gain more customers in each of the many verticals we have gained success. We will be doing more of the same to generate good cash reserves.

A degree of marketing will be used to complement the referrals being our main source of new business.”

Company: Genius Methods Ltd Name: Sharon Constancon Email: sconstancon@geniusmethods.com Web Address: www.geniusmethods.com Address: Cournswood House, Clappins Lane, North Dean Buckinghamshire, HP14 4NW United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (00)1494 565 947

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The Quintessential American Cleantech Entrepreneur California Lithium Battery’s motto is ‘Transforming the Way Battery Power is Stored’©. The company was founded in 2012 to commercialise a breakthrough high-specific capacity silicongraphene composite Li-ion Battery anode material, originally developed at US DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory under an ARPA-E grant. We profile CEO of the Year – California award winner Phil Roberts to find out more about his current position and the company’s cost-effective high-energy density lithium batteries.

Phil Roberts is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer for California Lithium Battery, Inc. After graduating from Georgetown University, Phil started his professional career as an executive and quickly became the leading retail marketing representative for the Atlantic Richfield Company/ ARCO Petroleum Products company. After leaving ARCO - and over the past 25 years - Roberts has become known as the quintessential American cleantech entrepreneur, cofounding various companies focused on cost effective breakthrough products targeted to change society by improving air quality.

Phil attributes his business foundation to growing up in Omaha, Nebraska in the 1960’s and ‘70’s, where he attended Holy Name Elementary School and Creighton Preparatory High School. Besides being the home of Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway, Phil believes that with his hard-working family oriented upbringing in Omaha, this gave him his sense of confidence that anyone with the passion and determination for what they are doing, along with some

brains, could achieve absolutely anything no matter how far off the map their idea may appear.

Jumping from the 1970’s, 1980’s and ‘90’s, Roberts shifted from selling fossil fuels for ARCO to developing clean and green transformational technologies.

Phil began working on advanced biofuels and diesel emission control systems, where he developed a series of affordable fuels and emission control products that were taken on by various international distribution companies.

Along the way, Phil spent much of his time validating different new advanced environmental technologies and products at multiple EPA/California Air Resources Board (‘CARB’) authorised testing laboratories.

In 2001, Phil established Olsen Ecologic Engine Testing Laboratories in Fullerton, CA to empirically validate new clean technologies, including engines and fuels for himself and as a business.

“Building an official EPA/CARB recognised laboratory from the ground up that was required to meet not only EPA and CARB, but also ISO requirements,

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was no easy task” according to Roberts. It took Roberts nearly three years to put the business plan together, find the capital resources (several millions of dollars) and to obtain the permits approved and most importantly, to find the right people to do the day to day work of managing and growing a business. It took a few years - but eventually the lab became profitable - and over the years Roberts grew OE labs into one of the top engine and fuels testing laboratories in California and the US.

cargo moving vehicles. In 2006, Phil was selected as Inc. magazine’s Top 50 Cleantech Entrepreneurs and the National Business Council’s California Businessman of the Year.

As the co-founder of an EPA/ CARB/ISO testing lab, Phil saw many new devices and products that came through the lab for CARB proof of performance verification. He soon felt compelled to establish Extengine Transport Systems as a diesel retrofit emission control systems development company, focused on cleaning up emissions from older diesel trucks, buses, and construction equipment.

In 2010, the Los Angeles Times featured Phil and his company Extengine on the front page of the LA Times business section, telling the story of Phil’s vison to clean up smog in the Ports of Long Beach and LA. The Extengine emission control products were licensed to an EU company in 2010.

In 2005, Extengine received CARB verification for the first California SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) diesel retrofit system designed to reduce NOx (Oxides of Nitrogen) in older diesel powered port

In 2008, Phil sold OE Labs and focused on growing the Extengine line of diesel emission control products. Over the following years, Extengine sold millions of dollars in retrofit systems and have reduced tons of NOx emissions (the main precursor of smog) all the world.

Roberts read the writing on the wall and in 2011 saw a need and opportunity in affordable energy storage technologies. So, in 2011, he founded California Lithium Battery (‘CLB’) to produce a game-changing breakthrough high capacity silicon composite lithium ion anode battery material originally

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The Quintessential American Cleantech Entrepreneur

conceived at the US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory (‘ANL’).

“I was approached by a representative from ANL at an energy storage conference asking how would I like to lower the cost of the lithium battery in my new grid storage system I was developing by 70%” said Roberts.

Phil knew the key to successfully commercialising a viable grid energy storage system was reducing the cost of the battery.

So, Roberts and his partners decided to contract ANL to test the Li-ion battery technology and after seeing impressive results (3X capacity improvement) decided to license the technology in 2012. In 2013, Dr. Junbing Yang, Ph.D., the original ANL technology inventor came on board as CLB’s CTO/President.

Most recently, in June 2016, after years of systems development and engineering under Roberts and Yang’s management, CLB filed its own patents and was able to move from lab scale production to commercial production. Today CLB has established working relationships with virtually every major Li-ion battery and EV OEM. The company is now establishing international strategic manufacturing operations worldwide.

Roberts believes the significant improvement demonstrated by the significantly improved capacity (1,250mAh/g vs 350mAh/g for graphite used in today’s Li-ion battery anodes), shows that that the novel CLB silicon anode battery technology will in the not so distant future improve the landscape for the future of electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and consumer electronic devices.

For anyone interested in learning more about Phil Roberts and the breakthrough CLB silicon composite Li-ion battery anode material, you are very welcome to visit the CLB website at: www. clbattery.com.

Company: California Lithium Battery Name: Phil Roberts Email: phil@clbattery.com Web Address: www.clbattery.com Address: 420 Apollo Street, Suite A, Brea, CA 92821 USA Telephone: +1 (714) 591 0540

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An Expert in the Field Azotic Technologies’ natural nitrogen fixing technology (N-Fix®) is a disruptive innovation which has the potential to totally transform agriculture. N-Fix® provides a sustainable solution to fertiliser overuse and nitrogen pollution as well as improving plant efficiency and increasing yields. CEO of the Month – UK Peter Blezard guides us through this technology and his thoughts on winning this much-deserved award.

Azotic Technologies Ltd was established in January 2012 to develop and commercialise a natural nitrogen fixing technology which enables sustainable farming without nitrogen pollution. This technology is unique to Azotic.

It is patent protected, providing proof of concept and enabling commercial development.

Azotic has a highly-experienced management team with a very strong track record in international agriculture.

Cocking FRS.”

Azotic technology that in essence can convert nitrogen in the air (the air is almost 80% nitrogen), using a natural friendly non-GMO food grade bacteria seed coating.

Once coated on the seed, Azotic Technologies Ltd can then allow any crop on the planet to fix Nitrogen, rather than using the highly damaging synthetic nitrogen fertiliser. Peter goes on to elaborate on this fascinating point.

On winning the CEO of the Month – UK award, Peter tells us that the fact he accepted this award on behalf of the Azotic team, reflects that fact that he is the CEO of a company developing and commercialising a breakthrough technology in plant nutrition. This global development, which Peter has witnessed in many meetings in different continents, “could not be done without the support of the scientists and commercial members of Azotic, and I must thank the team for their tireless work towards the development of our first products, there is no ‘I’ in team” Peter impresses upon us.

Peter then goes on to explain the firm’s ongoing strategy and the key principles they adhere to. “The key principle is to add value to any client interaction at Azotic he reveals, as well as value added services based on total honesty and openness” he tells us.

“The Earth has a boundary for Nitrogen fertiliser, that is 35 million tonnes annually we are well beyond this boundary of our planet using well over 100 million tonnes, this is causing much pollution in the water and the air, plus depleting our soils.

Azotic was formed to stop this and exploit this new technology, we formed the company in 2012 building on over fifty years of scientific research at Nottingham University by Professor Ted

“Our current strategy is to engage with partners who may be willing to enter into a licence agreement, for a specific territory, or product, or both, currently. I have also negotiated a market development contract with a partner in North America that will see State Registrations within USA ahead of sales coming through in 2018. This will then place Azotic firmly on the map in the world’s largest market for agriculture, this in itself is

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a major breakthrough. I am expecting more and will lead a process whereby Azotic will engage with the largest players in the agricultural market and seed development companies internationally.”

On what to do when undertaking a new client or project, the process in evaluating the market is how Azotic assesses the market value. Azotic is still evaluating several delivery processes to have a speed to market deliverable product, technology, but this is being firmed up throughout 2017 for sales into 2018. “This technology is attracting a lot of interest by global companies, it is our job at Azotic to position this elegantly with the right global players to assist and collaborate with Azotic to deliver this to the fields and growers via our selected partners” Peter goes on to explain.

In terms of how Peter keeps himself motivated in his current senior position, and the challenges he has faced to maintain his success as a CEO, he shares his thoughts on these issues with us in some detail.

“To keep myself motivated, I believe that the qualities of passion and integrity are crucial.

Our technology will affect everyone on the planet, indeed we are all connected by having synthetic Nitrogen in our bodies.

Azotic can make a change in

that, we are the only company in the world with a unique offering of enabling a technology that can revolutionise how we deliver Nitrogen to all crops globally, now that is worth getting out of bed for, but why? We only have one planet you know, which we are killing for our kids if we do not stop the pollution. The Azotic team also inspires me by their unwavering commitment to our mission, which is to feed the world sustainably.

“The accelerating pace of technological advances across all aspects of industry, but, especially the life sciences and bioscience, are the challenges to be overcome in order to be a successful CEO. Azotic are now world experts in what we do, but the challenge is to secure regular investment to maintain that position, as all start up CEOs know, the work is highly demanding and rewarding as it comes to the market. I have been this way before, floating my previous venture on the AIM market in London.”

“One key attribute that makes me an award-winning CEO is persistence - this is everything.

Another is not taking a ‘no’ to heart. All meetings have an outcome – and I have learnt that from all outcomes - that becomes experience.”

In terms of the wider industry that Peter and Azotic Technologies Ltd are a part of,

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this is something that is currently undergoing change, with many mergers and acquisitions. “No one company now no matter however big, has the capacity to keep abreast of all the changes. The cost of developing, marketing and increasingly even defending products means fewer products come forwards, that is why companies like Azotic are very important affecting change” Peter tells us. He then shares his thoughts on the future of technology, his firm and his own vital role as a CEO. “The future of our industry is in good hands with many multinationals who look to develop smaller companies like Azotic at a certain stage of their product cycle. The whole industry and life sciences in particular will move through vast change over the next decade as we move to science for the way we treat ourselves and the crops we eat.

“The agricultural industry is moving to the life science sector with biologicals at the forefront, that is a natural way, a sustainable way to grow our food, this will be driven by the consumer and food groups alongside the agricultural industry I believe.

“The future is not revealed to us, but here at Azotic we aim to be successful by predicting the future in Nitrogen delivery, we aim to be at the forefront of this work on a global platform innovation is key for the UK to be at the forefront of much change UK plc can do this as we have much innovation, funding that innovation is another matter, but we can never give up change is constant.”

Company: Azotic Technologies Ltd Name: Peter Blezard, CEO/Founder Email: peter@azotictechnologies.com Web Address: www.azotictechnologies.com Address: Euxton Lane, Chorley PR7 6TE, UK Telephone: 44 (0) 1257 226 592

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Experts in Technology Recruitment As the exclusive winner of One to Watch in 2017: Recruitment USA award, GCS tells us more about their specialist recruitment company which has 4 offices across the UK, Ireland and USA. Their work focuses on the technology, engineering and financial services markets.

Our New York team focus solely on the growing technology market throughout America’s North East. Our New York office opened in Brooklyn in 2015 with one person, and has since grown to a team of 10 in the Financial District of Manhattan, with plans to grow to a team of 20 by the end of the calendar year. Our specialist consultants each focus on a technology niche that includes iOS and Android development, JavaScript, C#, Python, Sitecore, Java, Scala, Ruby, IT audit and IT support & infrastructure.

In terms of my own role as the business manager of our New York office, I am responsible for managing and mentoring the sales team and all day-to-day business operations. I also oversee our key accounts and make sure we deliver a high-quality service to all of our customers – which essentially means placing the right people into the right jobs.

different qualities and responds to different management styles.

I therefore find the best way to manage a team is to speak to each individual and ascertain what will work best for them personally. I then assign deliverables based on my analysis early on, so that from day one they have clear targets to work towards.

Overcoming challenges The challenge that stands out from my time in recruitment is the saturation of the market.

Recruitment isn’t new, but coming from the UK to the US has been extremely positive because of the value placed on the service industries in the US. We’ve strived to become experts in the markets we work in, proving to our clients that we have the knowledge and experience to identify the best people for their business. By focussing on these specifics and niches it’s changed my view on how to run a business – and how to identify exactly what you’re good at, and to do it well.

I joined GCS in 2011 and established myself in our Reading, UK office before moving to New York. I jumped at the chance to setup the New York business for GCS and I can honestly say that this is my dream job. Living and working in New York is something I’ve always aspired to do, and to do it at a company I love working for is fantastic.

Trends in technology To be a specialist technology recruitment consultant, it is essential to keep up with the latest trends and developments in technology. We work with some of the most innovative companies (and individuals) in the world - so we need to immerse ourselves in their world.

In terms of managing people, I believe that every person has

I would like to underline that simply speaking to clients and candidates

48 CORPORATE VISION / April 2017

about technology is invaluable. In addition, attending tech meetups and carrying out monthly technology reports, where our team are encouraged to research any emerging trends in the tech sector and present them to the rest of the team is a very valuable experience indeed.

To ensure our services are innovative, we take the time to identify the very best product, which in our case is people. This means that supplying our clients with exactly what they are looking for, no matter how niche, is at the heart of everything we do – it’s all about service delivery.

Industry trends In terms of industry trends, as a firm we try to cover all avenues.

We are part of forums and attend meet-ups for recruitment and technology, and everything discussed at these is taken on board. We also carry out our own market research (market insights reports, industry salary guides), and use this to create informative materials for our clients and candidates.

I wouldn’t say the constant stream of new technologies necessarily makes things more difficult – I see it as being presented with more opportunity. If we have a candidate with proven experience with the very latest tech skills, we know that we have the best product on the market, so in some ways it makes it easier to identify the people at

the forefront of the technology industry!

Aspirations for the future Our ambition for the future is to achieve a high level of growth. We are already looking to open more offices in the US, so hopefully in 4 years’ time we will have multiple locations covering all regions of the US, not just the North East.

We’re also aiming for 100+ staff by then – ambitious, but based off the success we’ve had in just 18 months, definitely achievable!

We want to grow rapidly, while maintaining our specialist focus, allowing us to deliver a tailored service to our clients. But it’s also important to maintain the same culture and environment that has made us so successful.

Finally, getting the right people to join the team is essential. Hardworking, motivated people who want to surpass targets. However, I also think it’s incredibly important to build a working environment where people want to come to work, somewhere people enjoy spending their time. My view of success is threefold. Profitability, customer satisfaction and staff satisfaction. With that in mind I am excited about seeing what the future holds for GCS in the USA. Name: Thomas Lovell-Butt Email: Thomas.lovell-butt@gcsrecruitment.com Web Address: www.gcsrecruitment.com Address: 90 Broad St, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10004 Telephone: +1 (646) 751 7892

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Winners’ Directory

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Small Cap Top 50 Company: LSG Holdings Name: Patrick Leoni Sceti Email: info@lsgholdings.com Web Address: www.lsgholdings.com Address: Egyptian House, 170 Piccadilly, London W1J 9EJ Telephone: +44 (0)207 491 7103 Leadership and Coaching CEO of the Month - United Kingdom Company: JFD Brokers Ltd Name: Victor Tomov Email: v.tomov@jfdbrokers.com Web Address: www.jfdbrokers.com Address: Kakos Premier Tower, Kyrillou Loukareos 70, 4156 Limassol, Cyprus Telephone: +357 25 878530 2017 Legal Elite Australian Lawyer of the Year - Sydney, New South Wales Company: Wyndham Lawyers Name: Sundip GHEDIA Email: sundip@wyndhamlawyers.com.au Web Address: www.wyndhamlawyers.com.au Address: 21 Pitt Road North, Curl, Curl NSW 2099 Australia Telephone: (0)2 9938 2113

CORPORATE VISION / April 2017 49

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