Patron News

MJ 200 Enterprise

Co-creating, collaborating, and building solutions to global solutio

Mike Smith, of MJ 200 Enterprises and a Chamber Patron, has always supported and encouraged resilience skills for the next generation of business entrepreneurs. His son, Michael Smith, talks about how he is making these skills work. Michael Smith is an undergraduate of St Peter’s College, studying Modern Languages. He conducted his placement at Boresha Technologies who provide software for agribusinesses in Africa to help them manage their operations with smallholder farmers.

One of Michael’s primary objectives in the next 12 months is to gain professional experience in both France and Spain during his year abroad and he hopes to obtain the position of business development intern within the company APlanet, which strives to make sustainability at the forefront of business objectives.

His most rewarding work has been as vicechairman of the charity ‘Escape’, which supports the Wood World Missions School in Ghana. Here, he managed to secure a donation from Barclays who offered their old computers to allow the children to develop crucial digital skills. He shares three key lessons from the Fellowship.

Resilience is a muscle

“The past two years have been particularly volatile, and we’ve all had to adapt rapidly to change. Therefore, the workshop from Madeline McQueen on building resilience was particularly pertinent. My key takeaway was that resilience needs to be constantly worked on so that when moments of stress and high pressure arise, you can reflect on past experiences and know that you have the tools to navigate through periods of uncertainty.”

‘We live in a world of abundance and not scarcity’

“This was a quote that stuck with me from a mentor meeting. Always adopting a growth mindset and realising that there will only be more opportunities for innovation is an exciting prospect. I’ll endeavour to constantly seek new opportunities to develop and learn because that’s what makes life so rich.”

Being authentically yourself is your greatest asset

“Everyone comes from a unique background and leveraging this is what makes you stand out. I haven’t always had the self-confidence to embrace all my unique qualities, but seeing others be unashamedly themselves inspires me to do the same.”

The Oxford Foundry was established in 2017 by the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Their mission is to build a new generation of ventures that better society, and to nurture more ethical leaders who put people and the planet first. www.oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk

Financial planning with

Holland Hahn & Wills

Education & Mentoring

Continuing our desire to make financial planning a more accessible topic, Katie Lovatt was recently invited to speak to students at both Godolphin & Latymer and Wimbledon High School about financial planning, investing, careers in finance and work experience. The idea was to empower, demystify and educate the girls about money and there was a particular focus on women in finance. Katie was joined on the panel by Debbie Wosskow OBE and Anna Lane, both entrepreneurs helping women build successful careers, and for the afternoon session, Heather McGregor (aka Mrs Moneypenny) zoomed in to talk about the importance of financial literacy. It was an exciting, and energetic debate and the feedback from both sessions has been fantastic. We hope to continue to support schools via this medium and Young Enterprise. Katie is now embarking on the new mentoring program for Kingston Business School, another rewarding local initiative.

CISI Board Appointment

The CISI membership, the industry body for financial planning, has elected Amyr Rocha Lima CFPTM Chartered FCSI to its Board of Directors. The CISI Board of Directors, comprising nonexecutive directors who are typically employed in senior positions in financial services sector firms, meets five times a year. It is a great honour for Amyr, and well-deserved recognition of his valuable contribution to the financial planning industry.

Kingston Borough Business Awards

We were excited to judge the 2021 Kingston Borough Business Awards! As previous awards winners on a number of occasions, it was a delight and very interesting to see so many excellent entries in the “Excellence in Customer Service” category which we are proud to sponsor this year.

Referrals

As we continue to grow, we are very gratefully for referrals we receive from our clients and the local community. If you have a question or concern about your finances, please do get in touch for a second opinion. We would be happy to help. There is no charge for an initial meeting, and it might put your mind at ease or focus your mind on retirement!

Give us a call on 020 8943 9229 or drop us an email enquiry@hhw-uk.com to find out how we could help you.

Months of Construction

Captured in Minutes at Kingston College

The remodelling construction of Kingston College’s state of the art facility is continuing to progress smoothly. The installation of a dedicated project time lapse camera will allow the College to have a fascinating record of 15 months of construction works in minutes once the project is complete.

The much-anticipated project is due for completion in the summer of 2022 and will be wonderful for staff and students to enjoy state of the art contemporary facilities which will further enhance the learning that takes place at the College. The College is also looking forward to welcoming the local community through its doors.

As the year draws to an end, we have a lot to

reflect on:

IQ in IT are proud to be the sponsor of the Innovation in Technology category at the Kingston Borough Business Awards. We are looking forward to the awards night in March 2022 and to celebrate our business community coming together.

Taking part in rewilding activities with Citizen Zoo and the Chamber, we have worked on revitalising the New Malden Triangle as well as raising 2 lots of Large Marsh Grasshoppers which we released in Norfolk in the summer.

We continue working on ways of reducing our carbon footprint and planning our carbon neutrality. Working through the web of our suppliers and partners all the way to code we run to lower the impact it has on consuming resources.

Continuing to engage with our community locally and all over the world, we keep working on improving not only our client’s security, but the security of everyone. With the latest Log4J vulnerability disclosure we are truly terrified, as over 10 billion devices worldwide are vulnerable.

Putting culture at the heart of your business

Wolters Kluwer

Whether it’s a pandemic or any other disruptive event, companies need to make culture pivotal in their organisations. It’s essential to put the right programmes in place to help people acquire tangible skills - hold open conversations, give constructive evidence-based feedback, share appreciation, focus on their goals and take responsibility for their actions and behaviours.

When we all started working from home 100% of the time in 2020, we quickly identified that, whatever our approaches and ideas, they needed to stand up to scrutiny for the long term. They had to reflect the diversity of our people, their situations and their needs and wants. We needed to ensure our people could collaborate – for business purposes but more importantly, to meet our basic human need to connect. We treated our people as people - it’s that simple.

We ensured that they had all the practical tools they needed - multiple screens, new laptops for all and sit/ stand desks to name just a few aspects. Having swiftly canvassed colleagues to establish their concerns and wishes, we also launched a range of culture activities/deliverables in response to ensure our people could stay connected, engaged and well. We wanted to continuously check in with our people, seeking feedback on an ongoing basis and tailoring the approach accordingly. Our leadership and Culture Ambassador teams devised strategies and campaigns in line with what our people were telling us. It was important to us that culture and its associated initiatives should never be viewed as mandatory but rather, available for those who choose to engage.

Our culture continues to go from strength to strength and we’re proud of our employee engagement score of 84% for our UK business.

If you would like to know more, please get in contact with Elise Sallis, Elise.Sallis@wolterskluwer.com

Light at the end

of the tunnel for landlords reports Pearson Hards

At the start of the Covid pandemic, the Government introduced emergency legislation as part of its initial response to protect lives, protect jobs and to try to stem any fall out from businesses closing. One of the steps they took was to prevent residential possession proceedings from taking place. There was a complete moratorium on any claims being brought or pursued for several months from March 2020. This was to avoid people who were in rented accommodation and struggling financially due to loss of jobs or employment from losing their homes as well. However, the effect was many landlords being left with no rental income and sometimes a mortgage to pay. Even if they were able to get mortgage holidays, the debt was only deferred and not written off.

When the moratorium ended, claims were made harder to bring a notice period for landlords to give to tenants were made longer. They were also required to jump through greater hurdles to get a Possession Order and had to show to the Court what effect the pandemic had had on the tenant, no mention of the effect on them. During certain restrictions, for example when the tier system was in place, landlords found that even if they had a Possession Order, they were unable to enforce it by bringing in the bailiffs. The consequences for residential landlords were immense and many have been left with debts from tenants which will never be paid.

However, there is some light at the end of the tunnel now for landlords. As of 1 October 2021, notice periods to give to tenants have gone back to prepandemic levels. Therefore, if a tenant is in rental arrears for 2 months, they can give them 2 weeks’ notice to pay and then begin possession proceedings if they do not. Notice periods for so called ‘no fault’ evictions will go back to 2 months’ notice. This will be a welcome relief to those landlords who have had their income severely impacted for nearly 2 years and had their rights to do anything about it restricted. For further enquiries, please call 020 8949 9500.

Kingston University ranked

in the top 10 in the UK for social mobility in landmark report

Kingston University has been ranked in the top 10 universities in the United Kingdom for social mobility in a new research report that provides a clear picture on the role of highEr education in social mobility.

The Which university degrees are best for intergenerational mobility? report has been produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in partnership with the Sutton Trust and the Department for Education. University rankings are based on the number of students from low-income backgrounds and whether those students moved up to the top of the income ladder.

Getting creative

The team at Riverside Walk have been collaborating again with Claire Selby from Studio KT1 at Kingston School of Art.

As well as working closely with Claire and her wonderful students Lorena Popovici and Josephine Miller, on Mat Collishaw’s Echolocation, we also provided some funding to their ‘Not My Beautiful House’ creative meanwhile project on Fife Road. The skill and attention to detail that Lorena and Josephine brought to Echolocation’s Bat is a real testament to the cutting edge technology and detailed study of movement that the students were able to deliver to the project is something I have no doubt Eadweard Muybridge would have admired.

Forming part of the funding for NMBH we agreed to commission three animations with Studio KT1 which would enable their students to produce submissions for projection on the Echolocation screen. As well as providing a wonderful space for public art at Riverside Walk this would also be an opportunity for Kingston School of Art (KSA) students to see their work in the flesh in Kingston. The winners would then also be able to have this project in their portfolios. This opportunity will also help to improve the links between the town centre and the Riverside.

We are very excited to see some amazing public artwork on site soon, showcasing the KSA/Studio KT1’s talented students, starting with a Christmas-themed animation by Catarina Moura and Yoana Pavlova coming in early December 2021. This animation will be on view in place of Echolocation, in the undercroft, between Cote brasserie and The Bishop pub in the run up to Christmas. Long may this partnership between Riverside Walk and Studio KT1 continue and here’s to yet more public Art in Kingston.

As we emerge from the trauma of the last two years, I’m heartened to see Kingston respond with a real and tangible energy in celebrating the arts and culture, something we all turned to and missed during the long and miserable months of lockdown. Now is the time to celebrate those things that make Kingston such a unique and wonderful place in which to work, live and play. Kingston University – which was shortlisted in the University of the Year category at the 2019 Social Mobility Awards and named University of the Year by NEON (National Education Opportunities Network) in both 2016 and 2017 – was ranked number 10 in the UK, reflecting its ongoing work across the student lifecycle to advance equality of opportunity and outcomes in higher education.

Through its comprehensive outreach programme, the University collaborates with schools, colleges, charities and other education providers. Other social mobility programmes include the Beyond Barriers scheme providing student mentoring from industry professionals, a Head Start programme which prepares students from underrepresented groups for higher education, and an award-winning KU Cares scheme.

The University’s Head of Access, Participation and Inclusion, Jenni Woods, said: “This ranking not only reflects the value we place on diversity within higher education, but our commitment to ensuring that students from all backgrounds who study with us are supported to achieve their academic goals and career aspirations.”