Business 08 October 2014 by BGSD-cs

FAST FOOD

MAN ON A MISSION

OPENING UP

Cafe chain serves up expansion plan with £1.25m investment – p2

Meet the marketing guru who might save your business – p6&7

Reports from OpenCo, Bristol’s tech festival – pages 3, 10 & 11

08 OCT

2014

MARKETING

MAKING AN IMPACT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA Find out how you can make the most of social media to promote your business – Pages 8&9 EPB-E01-S3

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Competition

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Food

Advisers

George to tell his story at Pitch final ● A GROUP of entrepreneurs descending on Bristol to pitch for investment will hear from a local success story – the city’s mayor. George Ferguson, elected as Bristol’s independent mayor in 2012, will be talking about his entrepreneurial background rather than his politics at The Pitch 2014 Final. Also on the bill is Mark Pearson, a 34-year-old entrepreneur and investor who recently sold his internet firm MyVoucherCodes. co.uk for £55 million and gave £112,000 to charity on Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire in 2010. Andrew Mulvenna, pictured, co-founder of booming Bristol business Brightpearl will share how his firm has grown to employ 87 people here and in San Francisco. The event, at the Paintworks on October 23, is the conclusion to small business contest The Pitch. Founded in Bristol in 2008, the UK-wide competition has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs on the road to success. From the 100 entrants shortlisted from applications, 30 have been chosen to pitch at the final event. The champion will receive a package of business support prizes worth thousands of pounds including a year’s mentoring from CrowdMission founder Karen Darby, internet security services from AVG, a Nokia tablet, free access to business lounges around the world, PR consultancy, free taxi travel and web design advice. Attendees will also be able to attend workshops on subjects including business planning and digital marketing. The event is run by BusinessZone.co.uk and UK Business Forums in association with AVG.

New partner takes helm of city team

● Friska founders Griff Holland and Ed Brown have raised £1.25 million for a major expansion

Frisky Friska Lunch chain puts expansion on menu Gavin Thompson Assistant Editor (Business) gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

URGEONING coffee shop and fresh fast food chain Friska is embarking on a major expansion after securing £1.25 million invest-

ment. Ed Brown and Griff Holland opened the first Friska in Victoria Street 2009 and have followed with three more outlets, building a loyal following among young professionals. Now, having raised money from two angel investors and Santander bank, they plan to open a fifth Bristol outlet before moving into Birmingham in

2015 and then Manchester. The chain increased its sales by 50 per cent over the past year and is forecasting turnover of £2.5 million next year, numbers that helped convince investors. Ed said: “This is absolutely fantastic news for Friska. We have always had big plans and have been focused on growing a successful and crucially, well loved business by our customers and colleagues alike. “To see the plan coming together is just fantastic.” Griff added: “This year really has been the most exciting one yet. Our focus on redefining expectations within our sector is becoming a reality and we can’t wait to open in Birmingham and Manchester. “Lunchtimes will never be the

same again!” The angel investors are keeping their identity secret – even Friska staff don’t know their full names. The investment was overseen by Isca Ventures, which has previously helped the fast-growing Bristol-based Loungers cafe-bar chain expand. Peter Doe, from Isca Ventures, said: “Friska’s on-the-money customer proposition of feel good food coupled with their efficient operations have enabled the founders to raise significant capital and start their exciting national roll out.” Bristol-based law firm TLT was also involved, advising the mystery investors. Which is nice and handy, as it’s office is just a few yards away from the original Friska outlet.

● ACCOUNTANCY and business advisory firm BDO LLP has announced a new partner in charge of the South West. Andrea Bishop, pictured, has been at the firm for 10 years and takes charge of the 160-strong Bristol team. She said: “I am delighted to take over the leadership of our full-service office in Bristol. “Within the last 18 months our partner numbers have trebled, our global outsourcing team has doubled in size and there have been a raft of new appointments in our audit, tax and corporate finance divisions. “We are looking to increase staff numbers by 20 per cent and are in the process of taking an additional 6,000 sq ft of space at Bridgewater House to accommodate our growth ambitions.” She succeeds Graham Randall, who led the firm through the move to new offices and a merger. PEOPLE: PAGE 12

CBI

UWE vice chancellor becomes chairman ● UWE vice chancellor Steve West has become chairman of the CBI South West. He replaces Graham Cole of AugustaWestland who has held the role for the last two years. Steve said: “I am immensely proud and excited to be taking on this role. It will also, however, be extremely challenging. “British industry is facing a number of very complex issues. Industry cannot afford to face these as a disparate group of companies. We must work together. Our communal strength is far more than the sum of our individual parts.”

Fundraising

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Marketing strategy vital for charities CHARITIES and social enterprises need to understand marketing just as well as any profit-led business, and an event in Bristol this month aims to help them. Marketing is still a relatively new discipline within charity organisations. It’s only in the last 20 years that charities started creating standalone communication and marketing departments, devolved from fundraising activities. The most successful charities already understand marketing is anything but peripheral to the organisation. Rachel Baker, head of marketing and communications at St Monica Trust and CIM’s regional charity ambassador, said: “Charities, are appreciating that their communications will increasingly be recognised as a core way to increase engagement tangibly and measurably with support-

ers. Add to that the increasing array of media channels, technologies and the differing ways in which consumers are accessing these channels and it becomes evident that charities need to be prepared to engage with their audiences around the clock via different media. “These are some of the challenges the conference aims to address.” The day event is being chaired by Steve Hughes, chief executive at Lilian Faithful Homes, and includes an array of ten marketing and fundraising speakers and panellists. Bristol-based chartered marketer Dagmar Smeed, who has worked in the charity sector for 16 years, is speaking on the topic of “Understanding your customers and stakeholders”. Dagmar said: “As the recent uproar over Apple’s decision to install ‘dad rockers U2’s new album on 500 mil-

lion iTune users’ libraries demonstrates, it is vitally important to understand your customers and your stakeholders. “Get it wrong in the charity sector and you will lose goodwill, financial support and risk damaging your charity’s reputation.” Panellists seeking to answer delegates’ specific challenges includes Juliette Randall, chief executive of Arnos Vale Cemetery Trust. Juliette said: “We have a major endowment fundraising campaign under way – with every pound we raise by June 2016 being doubled by the Heritage Lottery Fund. “We still have to raise £350,000 to secure £1 million for our endowment fund to help secure the future of Arnos Vale Cemetery. “Endowment appeals are difficult as there is little tangibility for people to connect with. We work hard to

● From left, Nancy Chambers, from Bristol and Bath Development Director Group, Dagmar Smeed from Chartered Marketer and Rachel Baker, from St Pic: Dan Regan BRDR20141001C-002 Monica Trust, at St Monica Trust engage with all our audiences through a range of communications to keep them involved and up-to-date with our story including our developments and our achievements.” The conference is on Thursday, Oc-

tober 16 at St Monica Trust, Westbury-on-Trym. Find out more at http://www.cim.co.uk/events/64379. MORE EVENTS: BUSINESS DIARY, PAGE 10

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Technology

Team’s pioneering communications work RESEARCHERS in Bristol are working on new ways for mobile devices to send data more efficiently that could become building blocks for the communication networks of the future. A team from the Toshiba Research Laboratory nestled away between the lawyers and accountants in Queen Square is quietly working to transform the way we communicate. Much of the company’s work is top secret to protect its intellectual property but the firm invited the public in as part of OpenCo, a technology festival staged across the city. The lab’s managing director Professor Ian Craddock said most the work done at the site was not product development but “research that we’ll be making use of five to 10 years in the future”. “We are the bridge between universities and

industry, taking theoretical papers and moving them toward prototypes,” he said. The lab – one of only two such Toshiba facilities in Europe – was founded in 1998 and focuses on wireless network technology. Ian said: “Wireless is an enabling technology, 10 years ago we used it mostly for talking on the telephone, now we use the telephone mostly for data but increasingly people will be interesting in communication between things.” Research engineer Dr Will Thompson added: “5G will focus on machine-to-machine as well as human-to-human and human-to-machine.” But Dr David Halls, also a research engineer, said the challenge was this all needed more bandwidth. “The spectrum is jam packed so technology has got to be very efficient,” he said

● Nick Sturge addresses an audience at technology festival OpenCo

Speeding ahead City’s world-leading high-speed network Gavin Thompson Assistant Editor (Business) gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

When you look at how “applications could be used in

sectors such as healthcare, transport, national security and so on, the global market could worth £16 trillion.”

Joe Dignan

But the project is travelling apace since securing money from the University of Bristol in addition to money Bristol City Council had already committed. And some of the grants on phase one, the fibre and wireless network around the city centre – have to be spent by March 2015. The network is part of the wider Bristol Is Open project being heading up by former LEP boss Paul Wilson, and also includes making reams of public data open to all. It would be open to small businesses and the public to experiment with and develop ground-breaking new ideas at little or no cost. Nick Sturge, director of the Engine Shed which would be part of the fibre network, said the project was “world leading”. MORE FROM OPENCO, PAGES 10&11

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RISTOL will have a world-leading fibre and wireless high-speed internet network by March next year. The three part project includes a fibre network linking the University of Bristol, the Engine Shed business centre, At-Bristol and the Watershed – home of Pervasive Media Studios. There will also be a new wi-fi network along the Brunel Mile from the ss Great Britain to Temple Meads. And finally clusters of networks using clusters or lampposts to spread the tech benefits out into the suburbs. There are also plans to extend the cable network out into the wider region, taking in the designated enterprise areas in Bath, Weston-super-Mare and South Gloucestershire. Details of the Open Programmable City Region project were revealed at an OpenCo event – a showcase of Bristol’s technology companies. The plans could put Bristol at the forefront of one of the biggest potential industries of the coming years, smart cities. Consultant Joe Dignan, who has been working with the city council on the project, told the audience at the Engine Shed: “I came to Bristol to do three months and am still here seven months later... it’s the sort of thing that happens in Bristol. What you are doing here is punching so far above your weight it is unbelievable.” He said a smaller city such as Bristol was a perfect test bed for technology in making cities smarter because what works here could be applied elsewhere. “Whatever you design here is more replicable than something designed for London or New York, which are unlike anywhere else,” he said. And he believes this project alongside the European Green Capital status put Bristol in pole position to capitalise, with

money available from European, UK and other public sources for research into smarter cities, let alone the private sector potential. “In a short space of time this has become a £45 million project,” said Joe, a former managing director of Microsoft’s local and regional government division. “When you look at how applications could be used in sectors such as healthcare, transport, national security and so on, the global market could worth £16 trillion.” Under a previous names of Gigabit Bristol, then Terabit West, the project has been discussed before and received £15 million funding through the Growth Deal of Government grants secured by West of England Local Enterprise Partnership earlier this year.

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Housing

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Enterprise

Rates

Grand designs firm opens city office

Help could be on the way, declares Cable

● A HOUSING developer fronted by Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud will open a Bristol office this month. HAB Housing, which aims to be one of the UK’s most progressive alternative housing developers, will move into Temple Studios, close to Temple Meads station. That puts it in the heart of the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone, the area chosen to drive Bristol’s economic growth and lure companies to the city with business rate discounts. The company announced its desire to base itself in Bristol last year and raised a record-breaking £2 million for its growth plans through crowd funding. Kevin, pictured, founder and chairman, said: “We couldn’t have found a better home for our business than Bristol. “Temple Studios is built for progressive, innovative businesses like HAB and is ideally attuned to our company’s values. To be part of a creative hub with lots of energetic, exciting companies alongside us can only help us develop.” The business was set up in 2007 to offer alternatives to bland suburban housing. It wants to help people build homes tailored to them and is keen to find development sites around the city. Kevin said: “We hope that this will be the springboard towards more schemes in the wider area as we’re really keen to develop in Bristol and are hoping to have at least one project in the city that we can get up and running to tie in to European Green Capital 2015.” The arrival has been welcomed by Bristol mayor George Ferguson, himself an architect. He said: “As a leader in the development of sustainable new homes, HAB is particularly welcome as we move towards our year as European Green Capital in 2015.” The firm’s first project was in Swindon where it built 42 homes and more recently it has sold all 78 homes on its Applewood scheme in Stroud.

● BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable has hinted there could be more help on the way for businesses struggling with business rates. He told a fringe event at the Lib Dem conference that small firms could be handed a rate relief to help ease the burden. He said: “I had hoped at conference we would be able to announce something that would really help small businesses on business rates, because this is a

● Emily Rickard, front row second from left, with, from left, Stuart Montgomery, Sally Mabbutt, David Lemon, William Pic: Dan Regan BRDR20140916E-001 Robertson, Ewen Macgregor, Mark Mason, Darius Panahy and Helen Turton

Guiding hand ‘We aim to inspire next generation’ Gavin Thompson Assistant Editor (Business) gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

GROUP of high-profile business people in the city are helping young people to follow in their footsteps and start their own enterprises. Mark Mason, boss of app developer Mubaloo, is chairman of the Prince’s Trust leadership group. The group supports the trust’s Enterprise programme by providing resources, knowledge and, hopefully, inspiration. Mark said: “We all had the same aim in mind, to inspire and provide opportunities for the next generation of entrepreneurs. “In my time as a member I have met some amazing young people who have completely turned their lives around with the help of the trust. “It’s a great way to support the very important work of the charity and I would thoroughly encourage more businesses to get involved.”

The Prince’s Trust South West Leadership Group Chairman Mark Mason, CEO and founder of Mubaloo Group Deputy chairman Darius Panahy, director of Information Engineering Technology Mike Beesley, CEO at

Resource Solutions Group Plc, Bristol David Lemon, partner, Bristol, Saffery Champness Sarah Fenwick, managing director, Energist UK Stuart Cullen, owner of Solent Stevedores William Robertson, partner at Bond Dickinson

This programme gives young people the opportunity to see what it’s like to work for themselves. Trust staff and volunteer business mentors work with them to develop their business plan, test their ideas and then help them get started. The group aims to help people such as Emily Rickard, founder of Nailsea wool shop Ewe-Knit 20. She said: “I was at a loss of what to do next after finishing university at the end of 2012. “I managed to get a job, working part-time in retail and was also involved in running some knitting lessons. I’d entered a competition to win a shop space but realised, if I won, I

Michael Clarke, Consultant, commercial litigation, Clarke Willmott John Prior, chairman of the Bristol Drugs Project and member of the board for the South West Housing Association Stuart Montgomery Starbucks Coffee (franchisee) owner

didn’t know how to run a business. “I went on a course, offered by the Prince’s Trust, and learned a lot. I ended up winning the competition and got more involved with the Prince’s Trust. I learned how to write business plans and worked out what I wanted to do. “The trust gave me funding that meant I could start my business and they provided me with a mentor who gave me a huge amount of guidance. She was brilliant!” Last year the trust helped 211 people like Emily in the region and wants to grow the leadership group. To find out more email sally.mabbutt@princes-trust.org.uk.

Motors

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Back of the net! Thrill for sponsor and fan

IT WAS an unexpected honour for Ashley Lyne as he presented the coach of his local football club with an award for Manager of the Month. Ashley, who is the Bristol representative for independent van and pickup supplier Vanarama, was asked to present the award to Darrell Clarke, manager of Bristol Rovers. Vanarama is sponsoring the Football Conference League and Darrell was named for the award after Rovers’ run of five wins and one draw in six matches during September. As Vanarama’s local representative Ashley, who has been running the

fir m’s Bristol franchise for 15 months, was called on to do the presentation on the pitch. Ashley, who was born in Filton, is 43 and lives with his wife Mandy and their twin daughters in Bradley Stoke, heading up a Vanarama office based in Henbury Road, Westbury-on-Trym. “It was a great honour,” he said, “and something I was delighted to be asked to do. I have been a Rovers fan since I was a very young boy and used to go and watch matches as a schoolboy at Eastville. “It was a real pleasure to meet

● Ashley Lyne of Vanarama, Darrell Clarke of Bristol Rovers and club chairman Nick Higgs Darrell and Nick Higgs the club chairman. My guests and I were made to feel very welcome and it really was a tremendous day.” Ashley, who has 27 years’ exper-

ience in the motor industry, said: “Business seems very buoyant at the moment, people are starting to recognise our brand, and are coming to us because of our great offering.”

real problem area. “We haven’t quite got to the conclusions of these discussions but I think there will be something positive in the pipeline at the Autumn Statement.” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander confirmed a review of business rates was under way, although he would not be drawn on the details. He said: “We are having a more fundamental look at business rates. It is a complicated area but it’s something we are looking at very seriously because there are a lot of issues about a tax structured in a way that may have been suitable quite a few decades ago, but where other issues have arisen since.” The Post is campaigning for a fundamental reform of business rates to include more local control of how they are spent; a simpler system and to break the deterrent for firms to expand that comes from the current property-based tax. Sign up at www.bristolpost. co.uk/businessrates.

Building

Firm backing plans to build on brownfield ● A BRISTOL firm is backing the Prime Minister’s call for 100,000 new homes to be built on brownfield sites. Regeneration specialists Helm Construction, based in Pilning, is active on half a dozen brownfield sites across Bristol, helping to bring derelict or abandoned plots back into the public realm. The company has just completed a project at Morley Road in Southville, is on site at a former factory in Bedminster and is also pressing ahead with an equally challenging development behind the BRI on Horfield Road. Helm Construction chief executive Gary Sheppard said: “The Prime Minister’s call to activate brownfield sites will help to tackle our increasingly chronic housing shortage. This is especially true in Bristol which has a plentiful supply of brownfield sites.” His comments followed David Cameron’s pledge to turn former industrial sites across the UK into affordable housing for sale to first time buyers.

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Retail

New shop Redundancy led me to create my own furniture business

● Partner and co-director Heather Sands and photographer Mark Leonard; top right, Tom Walker working on the shop sign; right, some of the furniture

Gavin Thompson Assistant Editor (Business) gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk

FTER Tom Walker was made redundant from a social housing service, he had to make do and improvise. When his family moved into a house with little furniture, he tried his hand at making some. His first effort was a wooden dining table. A few years later, Tom, now 31, partner Heather Sands, 33, and her sister Hollie, 23, are about to open a furniture shop. “I had no experience making furniture,” said Tom. “We needed some for our house which we were refurbishing. Friends and family complimented it so we looked at what that sort of timber furniture sold for and thought ‘this could be a business for us’.” Their success has not been overnight. After Tom’s first homemade efforts won praise from friends, he made more and in 2009 the couple set up an eBay shop. “Back then it didn’t seem the right time to open a bricks and mortar shop,” said Tom.

But the business has grown steadily. “We reached the point where we feel the economy is recovering, Bristol is doing very well... we saw a derelict shop in Coldharbour Road and here were are.” The family team have refurbished the store themselves and are set to open Arbre Living on Saturday, October 11, selling Tom’s tables, chairs and cabinets plus some other items including a homeware range. They have found a local steel fabricator to produce vintage-style industrial pieces too. At a time when many are talking about doom and gloom on the high street caused by the rise of internet shopping, Tom and his family are moving in the opposite direction. He said: “The feeling was that the high street is dead for shops and will be all cafes and restaurants but we still think there is a demand for shops. “You can buy from a photo but I think people still like to be able to touch and feel the quality of goods. Places such as Gloucester Road and Coldharbour Road have shown that there is demand. “There aren’t many local independent furniture shops around but we think we can be a part of that.”

Finance

EY profits from investment in city staff sion has seen staff numbers grow 13 per cent to nearly 300, including a rise in the graduate intake from 21 to 26 and 118 internal promotions across the team, based at The Paragon in Victoria Street. Richard Jones, pictured, senior partner in Bristol, said: “Our strong performance in the South West, which was aligned with EY’s UK-wide performance during FY14, was underpinned by continued investment in our people and expansion across our service lines – including new client wins and an increase in the number and scale of deals we advised on in the region.”

Services

Hotel invests after bumper summer ● A CITY centre hotel has reported a bumper summer prompting bosses to increase staffing levels and invest further. With occupancy levels reaching over 90 per cent during July and August, the management team at the four-star DoubleTree by Hilton, Bristol City Centre are speeding up a six-figure investment plan. The money will go towards front-of-house improvements with new equipment going into all conference rooms and some bedrooms, with the business customer the hotel’s key market. Improved summer occupancy figures mirrors trends from Visit Britain which placed Bristol as the eighth most popular city to visit in the UK with 428,000 overnight visitors in 2013, up eight per cent from the previous year. The increased level of business will also see the Redcliffe Way-based hotel hold an open evening to recruit additional members of staff to help initially over the busy Christmas period. It is also looking to take on two more apprentices. General manager John Dowling, above, said: “These figures are hugely encouraging.”

auction

281

commercial investments to include (unless previously sold or withdrawn)

Lot 22

Lot 227

Motor trade

282-284 Wells road, Bristol BS4 2PY

Kwik Fit, Badminton road, Chipping Sodbury, Bristol, BS37 6LL

Lot 17: Let to Lloyds Bank at £35,000 p.a. Lease expires 2023.

55 oxford Street, Weston-Super-Mare BS23 1tr

Lot 22: Let to Kwik Fit Properties Ltd with guarantor at £46,739.01 p.a. Lease expires 2029.

Lot 198: Let to vacant shop.

LeiSure 7 - 9 St Nicholas Street, Bristol BS1 1ue

retaiL 88/89 Bath road, Longwell Green, Bristol BS30 9dF

Lot 92: Bar, flat and vacant offices producing £27,000 p.a.

oFFiCe regent House Consort House & imperial arcade, east Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 4HH

Lot 23: Tesco, Estate Agents and take away let at £89,792 p.a. RPI increases. Reversion 2028.

44 Corn Street, Bristol BS1 1HQ

Lot 227: Two city centre offices, 9 shops & supermarket ground rent. Current rents £73,212 p.a. plus vacant offices comprising 7,573.8 s qm (81,524 sq ft).

Lot 184: City centre restaurant (t/a San Carlo) let at £64,625 p.a. Lease expires 2037 (no breaks).

Tuesday 21st October 2014

Claridge’s, 49 Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4HR

Wednesday 22nd October 2014

The Berkeley, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RL

020 7205 2891

Online auction catalogue at

www.allsop.co.uk

July sale - £110m raised 85% sold

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THE Bristol office of accountancy and business advice firm EY has swelled its numbers in the city to close to 300. EY reported turnover growth of 8.6 per cent to £1.9 billion for the year ending June 27, up from £1.7 billion the previous year. UK chairman Steve Varley said the performance was down to local connections in its regional offices. He said: “Critical to EY’s market leading growth in the UK is our global strength together with deep local connections in each of our 21 offices in the UK.” In Bristol investment through the reces-

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

The Big Interview

I’M ON A MISSION TO SAVE STRUGGLING BUSINESSES Plain-speaking Aussie Brad Sugars is a self-made millionaire and business guru. This month he’s bringing his latest roadshow to Bristol to put business owners right about where they are going wrong. He talks to Gavin Thompson about marketing, motivation and mistakes

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RAD Sugars is a business guru who combines Australian honesty with American enthusiasm. His style might not be to all our repressed British tastes, but if you doubt his credentials in the marketing field, look at his own work. Later this month the 43-year-old will be talking about the concept of “Buying Customers” (or marketing) at the UWE Exhibition and Conference Centre. His talks attract hundreds, sometimes more than 1,000 people. And they’re free. But you can bet he sells a fair few books as a result. That’s an effective marketing strategy. Brad runs the ActionCOACH franchise network, which has more than 1,000 offices in more than 40 countries. His own website bio describes Brad as coming from “humble beginnings” although he’s less than forthcoming when asked about his first job. “I’ve been in business for myself all my life,” says Brad. “Perhaps because I was not a very good employee!” He got into the world of business coaching through seeing the trauma of failing businesses around him. “I noticed a lot of businesses who were customers of mine were struggling so I thought ‘let’s try to teach them how to do this’,” he says. “It is devastating when a business goes bankrupt not just to the business owner but to their family and their employees. It has kind of become a mission. I have spent most of my life travelling the world doing free seminars teaching people how to grow their business. “If you see the devastation of someone losing their business, you want to help. Business people are very hard working, once you teach them how to do it they run with it and when you see the results it is phenomenal. “Every day I get letters and emails, Facebook messages and tweets from people saying ‘this is what happened since, thanks for this’. That keeps me motivated.” But Brad doesn’t hold back about his frustrations from seeing business owners get it wrong. “Business owners make the same mistakes everywhere in the world,” he says. “If you travel to the Caribbean to give a seminar, they’ll be making the same mistakes there. Cultures change but the strategies are very similar.

Vital statistics Name: Brad Sugars Age: 43 Born: Brisbane, Australia but now lives in Las Vegas, United States Job: International business speaker, author and entrepreneur, as well as President of ActionCOACH USA First job: Paper round. But he soon sub-contracted to some of his friends! Inspiration: American entrepreneur and motivational speaker John Rohn. As a teenager Brad saved his allowance in order to afford tickets to a Jim Rohn seminar, the result of his attendance was life changing. During the seminar, Brad recalls when Jim Rohn told the audience to “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” Hobbies: An avid reader of business books, averaging one a week. Other than that Brad has four children, including eight-month-old twins who keep him busy.

“It drives me nuts that business owners don’t know how to do some of this stuff that’s very easy but they haven’t taken the time to plan how to run a business. I want them to be a great business owner not just a technician in their own business.” Brad is looking forward to his talk in Bristol, which is being supported by Post publisher Local World, though his hopes that “the weather holds out” suggest autumn may not have been the best time for his UK visit. But then, he has a busy schedule. Last month was Australia and New Zealand, next month is the Caribbean. His hopes for good weather may fare better there. This tour is based around his latest book, Buying Customers. It focuses on marketing and, as Brad puts it “how do you make marketing pay rather

than just pay for marketing”. “It’s really designed for anyone in sales, marketing and in particular business owners who are looking to understand how to make a profit from marketing,” he says. Brads says that if a business knows it will get £20 back on every £10 it spends, it will keep investing but many businesses don’t know how to market to get a tangible return. “If you ask a number of businesses ‘show me your marketing plan’ they don’t have one,” he says. “They haven’t even thought about it. They think of it as an expense rather than an investment.” For many businesses, even the term marketing is misunderstood. Brad says: “Marketing is very broad. It’s everything from running an advertisement to how your social media plays out, publicity, the reputation of your business and winning new customers. It is also about what you are doing for your existing customers.” He lists the five fundamental aspects of marketing as: Lead generation, conversion rate, number of transactions, average sale (pounds per transaction) and margins. He says: “A lot of people look at getting new customers but sometimes the best thing a business can do is to get more from their existing customers. It’s not always just about new customers. “When it does come to getting new customers, are you measuring it? How many new customers did you get last month? Most business owners can’t tell me. How many leads did you get last month to produce that number of new customers? Most of them can’t tell me. “Second, determine who is your target audience. I worked with an accountant and went through his existing customers using the 80/20 rule (focus 80 per cent of your effort on your top 20 per cent of customers). Looking at the top 20 per cent of his customers, many were farmers. I asked ‘what are you doing to get more far mers?’ ‘Nothing.’ Your best customers are farmers but you are marketing somewhere else so let’s change your marketing to hit the right target audience. “Third, test different marketing

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Catering

“ If you see the devastation of someone losing their business, you want to help. Business people are very hard working, once you teach them how to do it they run with it and when you see the results it is phenomenal. Brad Sugars

● Gary and Rachel Wilson by their Cafe2U van

TV advert stirred couple to follow their coffee passion JUST over five years ago Gary Wilson was made redundant from his job in the printing industry. It left him and wife Rachel, who worked for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, facing an uncertain financial future. But a chance advert for coffee franchise Cafe2U changed all that and now the couple are celebrating five years working together running their own business. The couple, who have been married since 1999 and lived in Bradley Stoke for the past 15 years, serve barista-style, espresso-based coffee, to office workers in out-of-the-city work locations such as business and industrial parks across the region including Aztec West Business Park, Woodlands Business Park, Park Way North, Hambrook and Patchway. Cafe2U is the world’s largest mobile coffee franchise system. It has more than 200 franchisees including 60 in the UK. The couple say they had never thought of working together or even of being self-employed until Rachel saw Cafe2U on television and decided it was an opportunity to regain some control in their lives and to reap the rewards of their own hard work. Now they really enjoy working together,

going out on the van every day and put their success down to working well as a team, each able to fulfil all roles within the company, from making the coffee to paying the invoices and organising marketing and advertising campaigns. They say it also helps that they passionately love coffee themselves and know how important it is that each cup is the very best they can make. Rachel said: “Making the perfect cup of coffee is the most important thing to me and when I hand that cup over with a beautiful heart or leaf on the top, the customer knows I’ve really cared about making their drink and I’d like to think that makes a real difference.” At weekends many fellow franchise owners target sporting events and festivals to get more sales, but Gary and Rachel instead go for community and charity events. Last year they donated £712 to charity from such activity. They will be at the Stand Up To Cancer mass march on Saturday. Gary said: “Our local community is very important to us, after all we’re out and about in it every day; by doing local charitable events at the weekend we know we are putting a little bit back, which is really important to us both.”

Telecoms

Forget team bonding, try rare reptiles... THE owner of a fast-growing telecoms company has come up with an usual idea to make his workers happy. Rob Vivian has built an aquarium which is home to some of the world’s rarest reptiles at his Tickenham-based business Pure Comms. “It certainly gets people talking when they visit our offices,” said Rob, 40. “Often they are a bit shocked but then they end up having a look around and become amazed. “The staff love it too, although some don’t like the snakes; and many have commented that it’s created a better working environment for them. Instead of looking at a blank wall they can look at these rare and amazing reptiles. “I think this might be a world first for a telecoms business.” At the offices there are pythons, skinks, iguanas, poison arrow frogs and geckoes; and Rob has also invested in a £5,000 fish tank that was imported from Israel and is wired up to a webcam. The business provides telecoms solutions for firms across the South West and has grown year-on-year since it was founded in 2009.

“We haven’t set out to be just another telecoms company but we’re not being different just for the sake of being different,” said Rob. “We want to create a better customer and employee experience so we also regularly host events and there is a model train set that runs across the board room.” The company counts auctioneers Bonhams, Bristol Airport, Britannia Windows, The Hive, BWOC and recruitment firm Opus amongst its customers.

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ideas. Don’t go let’s throw £20,000 at a marketing campaign and hope it works. It’s more of a science than that. Run small test advertisements first. Too often business people are throwing money at running advertisements and wonder why it doesn’t work.” Brad believes often the problem stems from business owners. “People might be great at their job but not running a business – a hairdresser might be a great hairdresser but that doesn’t qualify them to be great at marketing their business. “A lot of business owners are very good with the job of the business but not so great at the management and leadership or development. That’s what I’m trying to help them do better.” But if this seems overly critical, it comes from a desire to see people achieve and make the most of their skills. While some people say entrepreneurs are born, not made, Brad thinks there’s more to it than that. “I think it is something inside you but it is also something you develop,” he says. “There are a lot of skills you need to be able to be an entrepreneur and you can develop that skill set. “Almost everyone wants to try their own business at some stage but they don’t all do it. The first thing you need to do if you want to run your own business is go read a book or attend a seminar – the know-how isn’t going to fall out of the sky.” But after spending his career to date building his own business and supporting others, Brad is full of admiration for anyone who takes that path. “The reality is it’s very hard not to be inspired by the businesspeople,” he says. “They are taking risks, putting their life’s savings on the line to give other people jobs. How do you not get inspired by other people doing that? “We need more business owners, not fewer. We need more employers, not more employees. “One of the greatest things the British government has done is invest back into helping business owners plan and grow, which in turn helps to create jobs.” In terms of his own ventures, he’s very happy doing what he does now, running ActionCOACH and living in Las Vegas. “I’m a father of four, I’ve got my hands pretty full with eight month old twins so I’m not contemplating anything new yet,” he says. Brad will be at speaking at the UWE Exhibition and Conference Centre on from 6pm on Thursday, October 23. How does he feel ahead of big talk after all this time? “I’ve been doing this for 20 years,” he says, “It’s a long time since I’ve been nervous... but do I still get a buzz? Absolutely. You have got to get excited by what you do or you should stop doing it.” Sign up for Brad’s free seminar at www.bristolpost.co.uk/bradsugars.

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Focus on start-ups | Sponsored by THEME SPONSOR’S NAME HERE.

Focus: Social media

TWEET SUCCESS: HOW TO MAKE AN Only one in four small businesses believe social media is important to their business strategy. Sammy Payne finds out more

OCIAL media has transformed how brands communicate. For many big businesses such as Tesco, platforms including Twitter and Facebook are fast becoming the most popular way to engage customers. So, when a recent survey found three quarters of small business owners thought social media was “not important”, we had to ask: Are small businesses missing out? Tiffany Maddox, an award-winning digital creative based at Rubber Republic in King Street, Bristol, said social media is an incredibly useful tool for businesses who want to create genuine relationships. The digital creative has produced a string of viral marketing videos and appreciates the power of sharing online. She said: “Twitter is great, not just because of the potential to respond rapidly, but it’s a great tool for

SOCIAL MEDIA APPS Five to help you get to grips with your online marketing:

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✔ Tweetdeck ✔ Hootesuite ✔ Buffer App ✔ Social Bro ✔ Followerwonk

measuring trends and sentiment.” However, Tiffany warned that brands which are trying to compete on social networks where their audience simply doesn’t exist are wasting time and money. “I’m also a big fan of Tumblr too, but very few brands seem to know the audience enough to use it correctly. For a good example of Tumblr done well, check out Dennys. It’s utterly surreal, but tone of voice is bang on for the audience.” Tumblr is a visual blogging platform and one of the fastest growing social networks. Tiffany urged businesses to think about what their customer wants before sharing online, especially when it came to Pinterest. Pinterest is the fastest growing social network and one of the leading referral sources for organic traffic. It’s a visual sharing tool that drives internet users to websites of connected businesses, – it works amazingly well for our case study, Wriggle (see above right). Tiffany is wary of brands who try too hard to push sales online and according to her, businesses should be aware that social media is there to offer audiences something useful. She said: “I’m not just talking about discounts and offers but insight and information. Topshop nails fashion and trends because that’s the business they’re in, if they start trying to elbow their way into the trending

‘We wouldn’t be

here without social media’ Case study

● WRIGGLE is a fast growing business that is no stranger to these pages. The popular phone app offers immediate dining discounts for users and is a prolific tweeter. Rob Hall founded the business in May and quickly built a following of over 4,000 people on Twitter. Rob, who just won over £100,000 investment through Seedrs for Wriggle, said his business success was down to the social media site. The entrepreneur said: “Twitter is the second biggest driver of traffic to our site and Pinterest is third, social media seems to be the main channel to our website.” Rob added that Twitter was responsible for half or more of the four thousand downloads of his app in Bristol. He said: “I would have thought a few thousands downloads of our app came from Twitter.” “Wriggle wouldn’t be here now without social media. We would have had to pay for some huge marketing campaign with money we don’t have to even get near the number of people who have downloaded our app.” It is of huge importance to Rob and his team of six that the business is seen as a taste leader online, so they see Twitter as a way to give themselves that identity in the city. Rob said: “We don’t want to just tout offers because that’s something that other big office sites have done over the years, we want to prove that we’ve got a voice in the city and show people that we care about the places that we’re promoting. “So, we don’t always just promote places that’s on Wriggle. It’s about showing people what’s on and being taste leaders in the city.” Rob has such a love for Twitter that there only appears to be room for one social media site in his life. He said: “We’ve actually given

topics I’m suddenly less keen on what they have to say.” Businesses tend to jump on trending topics in order to create engagement. The more retweets you gain from Twitter, the more exposure your tweet and brand receives. According to Tiffany the only way to gain your business a legion of online followers is by being genuine. “We’ll be more likely to follow if

● Team Wriggle outside their offices on King Street, with Rob Hall, centre up on Facebook as a tool to communicate. We just find it doesn’t work so well. You don’t interact with people so much. We can speak to people directly through Twitter. “Facebook seems to be a more personal thing so people don’t want to interact with a business to the same extent. We just use it for the rare, or top posts, once a day. We just didn’t get the same engagement, but we are continuing to use Facebook for paid advertising because it’s better for targeting locations. “Twitter is brilliant for hitting the people in Bristol who appreciate the places we work with.” Wriggle spends around £10 to £15 a day on Facebook advertising but did away with Twitter ads after trying it out. Rob said: “The thing with Facebook is that you need to optimise the ads until you find what works best for you. Twitter didn’t feel as focused and not particularly controlled.” According to Rob, social media

you’re offering something useful, because being entertaining isn’t really enough.” For Tiffany, the rules of engagement for businesses using social media are simple and mercilessly clear cut. She said: “Join conversations when it’s appropriate to do so and keep your mouth shut when it’s not. Make content that you know will be enjoyed by your audience, not stuff that looks

“ We don’t want to just tout offers because that’s something that other big office sites have done over the years, we want to prove that we’ve got a voice in the city.” Rob Hall is crucial to Wriggle’s long-term business strategy. He said: “If we move into new cities we’ll definitely use Twitter as the basis to get people to initially download it, from there word of mouth can work. “I would have thought we set aside £1,000 a month on marketing on top of a part-time salary. Social media is the key channel for talking to people.” For Rob seeing an initial return on investment isn’t a high priority.

cold, branded and opportunistic. Avoid looking #desperate at all costs. Most importantly, social media offers businesses a chance to listen to, and respond to the consumer directly. You can entertain, inform and engage, but it’s important to remember that listening is far more important than speaking.” For Tom Bowden-Green, left, a senior lecturer in marketing at UWE, Tiffany could not have summed-up the benefits of social media for brands any better. Tom said: “Businesses should be

He said: “At this stage we’re not getting pound for pound value out of it, but it’s all about setting the bases. We’re so young that we have to be going for a while to get it really up and running. We’re laying the groundwork for a successful future.” Daniel Waller works part-time on Wriggle’s social media channels and loves the way social media allows businesses to create and become part of a community. He said: “Pinterest is a great way for Wriggle to engage with a visual audience. We’re able to interact directly with audiences who have a love of food and drink as well as Bristol by creating folders and repinning images from different boards. “It acts as a great way to play a key role in the food and drink scene on social media. It’s also another great way to promote businesses we work with and who we want to promote.” For Rob and the Wriggle team social media has been a “99 per cent positive experience”.

using social media as a two-way channel. Many people think of social media as an advertising platform where they can continuously push out sales. It’s not a platform for you to just talk at people. It’s supposed to be social. “Twitter is great for listening. You have all these people online and active who may be talking about you and your product. Businesses can get a lot of feedback from their market if they use it well, especially if they use something like (monitoring tool) Radian6. You can see what people are

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

IMPACT ONLINE It’s really important for us, says boss of city art business Case study ● FOR underground art store Bristol Co-Lab, social media is a way of getting the business “out there”. The business, which was launched in 2012 and recently opened a store in Broadmead, was founded by Simone Kidner with the aim of opening up Bristol’s underground art scene. Simone, who the runs art, clothes and music shop, said: “It’s really, really valuable, especially as we’re in a new space. It’s good to get all those people who might be interested into one spot so we can tell them everything we’re doing. “We primarily use it to attract custom, to show people where we are, and show off what we’re doing. “The nice thing about Facebook is that people are invested in it. Say my friend likes a page, if I see that, I feel like I already have some connection with that page. It’s just nice.” The store has tried a number of social media platforms including Instagram, Tumblr, and Vimeo – a video sharing website similar to YouTube and Vine – but chose to stick to Facebook and Twitter. “We thought it would be better to be strong on several and then add more layers, otherwise we’d be stretching ourselves too thinly,” said Simone. Simone relies on intern Joe Aldous to run her social media content because, although she believes in its value, she doesn’t feel the business can spend money on it yet. She said: “It’s not something that we can afford, so the fact that we have someone doing it is amazing. It’d be great to have someone working on it full-time because it takes away the stress of trying to be up-to-date when you’re trying to manage the

day-to-day runnings. I just don’t have that time.” But she has seen the direct benefits. She said: “We have some studio spaces available now and we posted about that yesterday on Facebook. I definitely think without social media we wouldn’t have the interest we’ve received about the space.” Joe said the benefits of social media for business were difficult to measure. “The shop is becoming more popular but whether that’s a result of social media or just through events where we’ve had people coming in and seeing the space, it’s hard to tell,” he said. Joe’s strategy for social media marketing is to remain as “organic” as possible. He doesn’t schedule posts and thinks paid advertisements and promoted tweets are a “joke”. “I used to schedule content, but there’s something unnerving about methodically posting content,” he said. “Organic content seems to sell the best because it’s not forced.”

“ Social media communications allow you to be fun. Romany Simon, Pieminister

you to be fun while still ensuring that the quality of the brand isn’t compromised. “Also, a major advantage with social media is that you get instant feedback from people, so you know exactly what they make of your product or shop or whatever as soon as you share it, which is so useful and a great way to try out new ideas.” Some businesses believe having lots of followers on Twitter may lead to an increase in sales and an increase in their brand’s popularity. Romany doesn’t see the point in using Twitter ads in order to grow Pieminister’s following. For Pieminister, having genuine, engaged, and “organic” followers is more important. Furthermore, it’s difficult to directly measure how much of an impact social media has on sales. It’s seems glaringly obvious that businesses are benefiting from social media use, whether that’s for brand awareness, gathering customer insight, gaining new custom, or creating customer loyalty. The only remaining question is, is this enough to get your business tweeting?

IT services

Flooding should be warning to all firms around Bristol A BRISTOL IT services provider is urging companies to be prepared. Phoenix, based in Almondsbury, highlighted the recent flooding caused by a burst water pipe in Kingwood as an example of the kind of unexpected disaster that can hit a business. It also pointed to the Highwaterline Bristol project, which marked a 32-mile line around the city showing where water could reach in the event of a major flood. Mike Osborne, below, managing director of business continuity at the firm, said such events should be a wake-up call to any business owner or manager. He said: “Many companies in and around Bristol haven’t even implemented a disaster recovery solution, and even among the ones who have, only around 40 per cent nationally test their systems and processes at least annually – which means large swathes of UK business are unprotected in the event of catastrophic IT failure or natural disaster.” He added it’s not just big disasters such as a flood, but more mundane events such as office moves and hardware failures that should be planned for. Mike said businesses had cut time and spending on tackling such ‘what-if ’ scenarios

● Phoenix’s offices in Almondsbury during the recession but that could end up being a costly decision. “During the recession many businesses scaled back on all but the most business critical expenditure – including IT disaster recovery,” he said. “However in doing so many leave themselves exposed to business critical risks that result directly from failing to protect the data and IT systems that form the bedrock of most modern companies.” The company is running a seminar called Disaster Recovery as a Service at its offices on Wednesday, October 15.

Join us for the

Buying Customers ’ Seminar

‘

Presented by Brad Sugars, Founder of Action Coach

Thursday 23rd October 2014 18:30 to 21:30

What if you were guaranteed that every new customer buying from you would spend the next 5 years buying more products at ever higher price points? Or you were certain that every Pound spent on your marketing or advertising would return extra Pounds to you down the road? Now, you can … with this innovative new seminar from Brad Sugars, The World’s Leading Business Coach. Discover the proven strategies of massively boosting your number of new clients almost immediately with Brad Sugars and his “Buying Customers” seminar.

UWE Bristol Exhibition and Conference Centre, Filton Rd, Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS34 8QZ

EE at

radsugars

www.bristolpost.co.uk/b

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saying and sharing about you.” Tom added that Twitter helped give potential customers a feel for your brand that may encourage more people to buy from you. Tom suggested that a useful way to create an identity is to share content that is attractive to your market. Tom said: “A huge part of it is sharing great content.” It would seem difficult for businesses not to see the opportunity social media presents, especially when Twitter has more than 12 million users in the UK. One Bristol business that wanted to take advantage of social media’s outreach was Pieminister. The pie-loving company has more than 22,000 followers on Twitter, which is quite a feat as anyone who is competing for followers will know. For PR manager Romany Simon, social media gives the Pieminister chain a chance to have a united voice across the country. Romany, left, said: “It’s a fantastic way for us to communicate instantaneously with people who love our pies. We like to think we’re a light-hearted sort of a brand and social media communications allow

● Simone Kidner and Joe Aldous

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

In pictures OpenCo event at Engine Shed

Business diary

Let’s show how green we can be, urges George

Bristol Distinguished Address: UWE’s series giving the chance to meet the leaders of industry returns starting with Leo Quinn, chief executive of aerospace ad defence business QineticQ. Bristol City Hall, 6pm, tomorrow. Register via UWE. Ready for business workshop: For anyone exploring self-employment or starting a business, at Leigh Court, Abbots Leigh, BS8 3RA, 10am-4pm, Tuesday, October 14. Contact readyforbusiness@ businesswest.co.uk.

● Henry Mitchell, Digital Medium, Lukas Roper, Opposable Games, Matthew Kessler, Voondaba Games, and Joe Blakeston, Opposable Games BRML20141002C-007

Tweet Up Bristol: Meet the people you tweet at informal, fun business networking event. No speeches or presentations, just folk in a bar talking business and Twitter. Tuesday, October 14, 6-11pm, Revolution, St Nicholas Street. Follow @TweetUpBristol. Grant Thornton FD Club: London Stock Exchange regional rep Lucy Tarleton addresses the monthly club. Practice leader Tim Lincoln also provides an insight into the FRS102 Financial Reporting Standards. From 8am at Grant Thornton’s offices in Hartwell House. Contact Laura Ketland at laura.ketland@uk.gt.com.

● Dan Page, SWVR, Ben Trewhella, Opposable Games, Andy Braithwaite, BRML20141002C-010 Thrings, and Zoe Colosimo, Neighbourly

Introduction to export procedures: The Business West training course covers terminology, procedures and documentation. £350+VAT, Leigh Court, Abbots Leigh, 9.15am-4.30pm, October 15.

RISTOL is making its mark on the world stage thanks to its green credentials, mayor George Ferguson told a showcase of technology companies in the region. And he called for the growing technology sector to play its part, revealing plans for a green tech prize tied to the city’s status as European Green Capital 2015. Mr Ferguson, pictured, said: “In Bristol we work closely with Bath and that’s a great pairing. But I do get annoyed when I go abroad and people have heard of Bath but haven’t heard of Bristol. “But that’s changing. I was in New York at the UN Climate Change summit and Bristol was put alongside Rio, Copenhagen and Paris. We are now up there. Everybody is talking about what is happening in Bristol.” He said the Green Capital status was a “huge opportunity” and called on technology businesses to show what they can do.

UTAX’s Product Demonstration Day: The office equipment partner-only network’s day for dealers looking to offer their wares. Aztec Hotel & Spa, Aztec West, October 16. FInd out more at www.utax.co.uk. Crossrail opportunities: Working with Business West, Crossrail invites specialists to learn more about opportunities on this huge infrastructure project. 1.30pm-3.30pm, October 16 at Bond Dickinson, 3 Temple Quay, Temple Back East. Google Digital Masterclass: Experts from Google give local businesses a masterclass in using the internet to turbocharge their growth. The Google team will set up a pop-up Juice Bar co-hosted by Bristol West MP Stephen Williams. October 17, noon to 2pm. Sign up at https://events.withgoogle.com/ google-juice-bar-bristol.

● Takashi Kaneta, University of Bristol, and Brian Prescott, Marketing Centre BRML20141002C-004

PAs treated to personal touch and festive fun

The Pitch Final: 30 UK businesses pitch for investment and to be crowned champions. Plus speeches by Bristol Mayor George Ferguson and Brightpearl founder Andrew Mulvenna. Paintworks, from 9am to 8pm on Thursday, October 23. Tickets via Eventbrite.

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● Paul Winser, Andy Lunness, and Ken Cameron, all of Blu Wireless BRML201410 02C-008

In pictures Pampering evening for PAs

Women Outside the Box Festival: Women Outside The Box holds its annual festival of female entrepreneurship - Reach Out For Success - at Colston Hall. Monday, October 20.

Email your business events to gavin.thompson@b-nm.co.uk. Events are sometimes cancelled without us being notified so please check with organisers before travelling.

“We want to create a Bristol prize for great green technology,” he said. He also used the speech, at the closing event of OpenCo which was hosted at companies across Bristol and Bath, to call on businesses to do their bit to make the city fairer. He said: “As we become more successful, the bigger the challenge in keeping the city together as one. The more successful the city is, the poorer you are if you live in deprivation as houses become more expensive. “I like to feel we can become a more prosperous city but also a fairer city. We can’t do that alone as a city council, it’s something business has to play a part in as well.” Fourteen technology companies across Bristol and Bath invited the public in to showcase their work. Businesses taking part were: Zynstra; Genius Digital; CFMS Services Ltd; Wildseed Studios; XMOS; Coull; Bristol Games Hub; Pervasive Media Studio; Sift; Money Hub; Mubaloo; Yogscast; Toshiba; Engine Shed.

● Nina Adams, Dial A Geek, and Emma Philpott, BRML20141002B-001 Fitness 4 Less

● Clio Beeson, Festival of Ideas, with Noel Halligan, BRML20141002B-003 Sean Hanna Hair

● Gemma Christian, Clifton Asset Management, and BRML20141002B-002 Emilia Roberts, Beautology

PERSONAL assistants from businesses across Bristol got the chance to be the centre of attention themselves for a change. Bristol Hotel hosted a Christmas evening with just over 100 personal assistants attending, many of them members of the Bristol PA Network. For members it was a chance to network and enjoy sessions from make-up and nails to cake decorating and party hair to chocolate truffle making. Companies taking part includedHarvey Nichols, Cakesmiths, seanhanna, Zaras Chocolates, Beautology, and Benefit. Guests were served with a Bristol Blizzard cocktail on arrival and the food was presented by the hotel chef with samples of Christmas afternoon tea and canapes, mini versions of the party food the hotel will be serving at festive parties. Sales director Jane Guy said: “We have already had a tremendous amount of feedback from some of the attendees – all saying what a great evening they had, how much they enjoyed the food and how wonderfully pampered they felt.”

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Bristol Connected

Book your place quickly for this informal, lively evening THE Bristol Post’s popular networking event Bristol Connected comes to the Double Tree by Hilton in the city centre at the end of the month. The event is a chance for business people and entrepreneurs to meet, chat and make connections. It features local speakers – still to be announced – but the main focus is on networking in an informal and relaxed setting. Bristol Post assistant editor (business) Gavin Thompson said: “We released the tickets on Friday and they are going fast, so book quickly to make sure you get a place. “It’s always a lively evening – last time our guest speaker John Hirst revealed plans for a giant zip wire down the Avon Gorge!

● John Kellas, This Equals, and Jamie Middleton, Tech Spark.co

● John Hirst speaks at The August Bristol Connected “I’m sure our hosts at the Double Tree by Hilton Bristol City Centre will make us very welcome.” The event runs from 6 to 8pm on Tuesday, October 28, with drinks and refreshments provided. Search for Bristol Connected on Eventbrite to register. Parking is available on site.

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● Charlie Tupman, Round Table, Jason Power, Widcombe Consulting, and Sam Smith, Pics: Michael Lloyd BRML20141002C-006 UWE

● Penny Scotcher and Amber Rouse, BRML20141002B-010 of First Group

● Charlie Bradley and Lidia Drzewiecka, both of Women Outside BRML20141002B-012 the Box

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● Lou Golding, Greg Latchams, and Kayleigh Groves, Greg Latchams Pics: Michael Lloyd BRML20141002B-009

www.bristolpost.co.uk/business

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

The back page

Your digest of the week in business

People ● SOME of Bristol’s leading business people donned their pyjamas and took to the streets to spend Friday night sleeping out in aid of Byte Night, Action for Children’s national sleep-out charity event. Among them was Business West managing director Phil Smith, James Durie, executive director of Bristol Chamber of Commerce & Initiative and Nina Skubala, vice chair of Bristol’s Green Capital. Phil said: “Each year, thousands of individuals and teams from the technology and business sectors give up their beds for one night to help change young people’s lives and I am proud of the large team we have joining them.” ● Communications agency McCann Bristol has hired former-RKCR board account director Rob Wescott, left, to the role of client services director. Rob, who has worked on award-winning campaigns for brands including Sony Europe, Virgin Atlantic, News International and the BBC, has held senior management roles at RKCR and Saatchi & Saatchi. He more recently

tremendous value to the members in different ways, be it events, networking, director development or sharing of best practice.”

● From left, Amanda Clamp, Angela Field, Phil Smith and Gillian Brittain ran a successful content publishing platform he established in 2007. He is one of eight new starters to join the Bristol office in 2014, with the agency also making senior hires in its digital, creative and PR teams on the back of recent client wins. ● The Institute of Directors has expanded its South West team with the appointment of Hannah Goodenough, right, as head of business development. Hannah will be based at the regional headquarters at the Science Park in

Emerson’s Green, Bristol, but will be responsible for retaining and attracting membership across the South West which has branches representing members in Bristol, Somerset, Bath and Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Dorset and Devon and Cornwall. She said: “Because this is a new role, I have in effect a blank sheet of paper which is challenging and exciting at the same time. “I am very impressed with the enthusiasm of the branches which, although very different, offer

● Estate agency Andrews has appointed a new head of IT. Will Newell, right, previously led all IT services at Gloucester City Council and will be based at Andrews’ group headquarters in Keynsham. Andrews sees IT as crucial to the development of its business, along with the bricks and mortar high street presence. Will said: “It is important that our customers can engage with us in any way they wish, at a time that is convenient to them. As a result we’ve adopted an omni-channel approach which is more often seen in the retail sector. “This has meant some very inventive use of technology.”

Places ● Inner city regeneration specialist The PG Group aims to breath new life into historic Brunswick Square. It has acquired the five-story Georgian Pembroke House in St Paul’s which has been used as offices in recent years. Development director Stuart Gaiger said the company was asking city planners for permission to convert the property into five

apartments and five terraced homes. PG recently converted a former Quaker home for weavers in nearby Broadmead into 17 two and three bedroom homes and the development called Champion Court which sold out in just a week “This just shows the latent demand there is in Bristol for homes that are within the reach of first time buyers,” said Stuart. ● Property consultancy Alder King has been appointed by South Gloucestershire Council to market Stokefield House, below, the council’s former headquarters building on Castle Street in Thornbury. The three-storey office building, built in 1986, provides 45,000 sq ft of mainly open-plan accommodation with 90 parking spaces. The council moved to new headquarters at Yate in 2012. Simon Price, head of agency at Alder King, said: “There has been a resurgence of demand for offices in North Bristol over the past 12 months, resulting in a steady reduction in stock. The entry of Stokefield House onto the market now offers local occupiers a genuine option to consider.”

Opinion

Vital we build more homes Louise Swain Executive director of Customer Services, Curo Group & Chair of Homes for Bristol

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OUSING is an important ingredient in the economic growth of Bristol and the region. Building new homes not only creates jobs in construction, it also plays a vital role in attracting and retaining a talented local workforce. Having lived and worked in Bristol for some time, I am acutely aware that the lack of affordable homes for local families remains a real problem. Average house prices here are 10 times average earnings, meaning that buyers need be earning £48,000 a year to buy an average home (source: Home Truths South West, National Housing Federation). The Local Enterprise Partnership has warned that house prices could seriously limit economic growth across the region if workers cannot afford to live in the area. Over the next five years, house prices in the South West are predicted to rise by as much as 60 per cent (source: BNP Paribas). To ease this price pressure, a greater supply of homes at all levels of the market continues to be critical. Within my own housing and support organisation, Curo, we currently provide around 12,000 affordable homes to people across the West of England through a range of housing solutions. We have developed 1,300 new affordable homes in the past five years alone and have a key objective to keep providing as much as we can. However, as demand for housing increases and grants from central government are diminishing, organisations like Curo have to look at different ways to continue to provide new homes.

We have responded positively to these challenges by forming a new commercial housing-building division, Curo Homes. This is enabling us to build more homes for sale and to reinvest those profits into our social purpose of delivering more affordable homes. This differs from a traditional house building model where profits are paid out to shareholders. I also chair Homes for Bristol (H4B), which is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the city’s housing strategy – aptly named ‘My Home is My Springboard for Life’, to reflect the importance of the home in creating firm foundations from which people can succeed in life. People like Louise Partridge. Louise and

“ Family businesses are the backbone of the nation’s economy – they are our her three children moved from Brislington to a new home in Knowle this summer, provided by Curo. Louise told us: “I’ve got the keys and really love the house. I’ve been trying to move for a long time, but it’s so hard to find anything affordable and decent. I’m about to start a new job as a post-woman with the Royal Mail, so this house has come along at just the right time.” But many more homes are needed to support local people like Louise to live and work in the city they love. It is really pleasing that the Homes Commission, led by the mayor, has recommended a number of practical measures to increase the supply of new homes in Bristol. We might not solve the housing crisis but the will is there to think boldly and differently to achieve more and I am very glad to be a part of it.

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