Business Vision Autumn 2019

.W O R L D Financing the Future Interconnected World

Where does your waste go?

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Autumn 2019

Climate emergency: people on the streets GBP 9.95 | EUR 14.95 | USD 15.95

Venture capital for AI

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Tackling workplace stress

Safeguarding business ideas

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Smart goals for growth

In the lead role: John Travolta, movie legend and aviation aficionado. Guest star: the legendary North American X-15 that has smashed all speed and altitude records and opened the gateway to space. Production: Breitling, the privileged partner of aviation thanks to its reliable, accurate and innovative instruments – such as the famous Chronomat, the ultimate chronograph. Welcome to a world of legends, feats and performance.

B R E I T L I N G .C O M

WELCOME TO MY WORLD

CHRONOMAT 44

Letter from the editor IF THERE'S one thing that the whole Brexit mess has shown us, it's that giving democracy its head usually ends up in a more-or-less 50-50 split.

Another way of looking at that is: every second person is an idiot. It's true regardless of where you stand. It also means that, courtesy of the democracylite that we World citizens are fobbed off with, thugs, racists, psychopaths and environmental vandals not only get into power, they can stay there. If they're rich enough to properly manipulate our vast data streams, they don't even need to hoodwink us with empty promises.

Rants, tweets and (on a good day) half-truths are enough to win over voters eager to blame someone else for their lousy situation, and actual atrocities provoke little more than an eye-roll or a bleat about impeachment.

One very prominent person who blames other people for her plight is Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The difference is that in this instance, she's right. Other people — older people, as she points out — are to blame for the desecration of the planet she and her contemporaries have inherited. Those elders are — still — in a position to do something about it, and Thunberg is taking that fight to them.

But when someone points to the Moon, do you look at the finger or the Moon? Greta Thunberg has done her job, identifying the biggest, smelliest elephant the room has ever held. Her activism has attracted students, workers, activists and, well, everyone who does have a care in the World.

Millions have walked out of schools and workplaces, uniting across time-zones. Demonstrations have been held in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australasia and Africa.

Voices are loud enough to be heard, and action is coming in the form of open letters to governments (11,000 New Zealanders signed one) and increasing media coverage.

Focus is being brought to bear on companies and corporations that are responsible for much of the environmental misery. The Guardian has highlighted some of the planet's worst polluters

in a name-and-shame campaign, and it's getting harder for any corporate entity or individual to hide behind bluster and bluff.

Which means it's time for all industries, all sectors, all businesses to take into account the environmental costs of any and every enterprise.

The World is watching, and new technology has given it 20-20, 24/7, 360-degree eyes.

Let's use our consumer rights and entrepreneurial spark as responsibly as we can, reward the organisations fighting the good fight, limiting our interactions with the bad guys. And someone, please: take Greta off her pedestal.

She deserves better, for her efforts. Time for others pick up the baton, and for us to pay attention to the message rather than the messenger.

Happy reading.

Hal Williams, editor hw@bv.world

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Correspondence Green energy I was encouraged to read your article, “Green energy overtakes fossil fuels in the UK” and the way it drew attention to the real effect of wood pellets on the environment.

Here in east Texas we know only too well the negative impact that biomass can have. When German Pellets opened its plant in 2013, the people of Woodville were cheered by the jobs it would bring to an area where a quarter of the residents live below the poverty line.

It didn´t take long for residents to start complaining of respiratory problems, including asthma and other illnesses. The industry claims to only use branches and waste wood but, with 4.6m tons of pellets exported from the US in 2015, and evidence of deforestation in many states, it seems unlikely.

While we don´t have concrete proof that the plant caused these ailments, it is surely no coincidence that my and many of these respiratory difficulties have virtually disappeared since the plant ceased production in 2016.

Ricardo Sanchez Tyler County Texas

Fish and Chips Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the British House of Commons, has described the October 17 EU-UK Brexit agreement as “a really good deal …the tournedos Rossini of a deal”.

Let's hope he's right but, if so, we should celebrate with a nourishing meal of cod and chips. The Scottish Fisherman's Federation is four-square behind the deal which they describe as a “gateway for the UK to become an independent coastal state”.

Quite right: we must correct the scandalous situation whereby only 40 percent of fish from UK waters is caught by members of the UK fleet. The EU's common fisheries policy has been vandalising our communities for far too long.

Salt and vinegar, Boris?

Gordon Scott Anstruther Scotland

Brave New World I read with interest your story on computers in the workplace and the loss (or perhaps creation) of jobs (pp 36, 37, Summer 2019).

But, as with every report on this subject, the Brave New World feature seems to list pros and cons without ever coming to a conclusion. On one hand, new tech will result in fewer people in the factory / office. On the other, new jobs will come as a result of their introduction (people are still needed to operate the computers, after all).

What I'm waiting for — patiently, but without great expectation — is some kind of spin-off benefit from all this technology. Why am I still working a five-day week, and earning not much more than I was five years ago?

It seems to me that all the benefits go to the bosses, who pay less in salaries and have lower overheads.

Positions regarded as menial or unskilled disappear, and so does our place in society — however humble.

Roy Coetzee Port Elizabeth South Africa

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Dyson I noted with interest your coverage of the Dyson electric vehicle project in last Autumn's issue of BV. Your tech expert Richard Thomas mentioned it again in his EV News Round-up in the Summer issue, with news of a patent being granted.

I feel he might be jumping the gun with all this positive coverage; things may not be going to plan, after all. I don't have any inside knowledge, but it seems to me that the timetable laid down by Dyson is a little tight.

Anne Jones London UK Richard Thomas replies: Thank you for your letter Anne. Are you sure you don't have any inside knowledge‌?

Since the last issue of BV was published, and indeed since you wrote, the Dyson electric car project has been shelved.

Kudos for your perception and presentiment!

Take a look at EV News Round-up on page 110 of this issue for the latest on the subject.

RT

Editor Hal Williams Assistant Editor Janet Newbury Executive Editor Susan Shaw Pictures Editor and Layout Richard Thomas

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Contributors Heather Leah Smith Jason Agnew Aleksandra Krauzowicz Emma Yearwood Jamie Mackenzie Simon Phelan Brendan Filipovski Brendan Holt-Dunn Emily Reynolds Mark Pemberthy Ercan Demiralay Ross Andrews

Business Vision

Distribution Manager Thomas Terrell Subscriptions Max Pragnell Commercial Director Graham Church Publisher David Eyres Business Vision The Lansdowne Building 2 Lansdowne Rd Croydon CR9 2ER, UK Tel: +44 (0)203 745 7671 Fax: +44 (0)203 745 7674 Email: info@bv.world Web: www.bv.world Printed in the UK. All rights reserved.

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In this issue 19

16 | A brand new column...

34 | Barclays Botswana

17 | IMF timebomb warning

36 | Climate street protests

18 | Argentine forex controls

38 | What is your spirit animal?

19 | Falling at the first fence

40 | Arms fair draws flak

22 | View from a snipers' tower

42 | Slum summit shocker

24 | Abu Dhabi fintech event

43 | Gems and bloodshed

26 | Circular economy in focus

44 | Recycle that phone!

46 | Facebook tackles interference

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48 | Facing burnout...?

49 | World Mental Health Day 50 | Pots of money for CEOs 54 | Beer and AR

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56 | Export and trade finance 58 | Enhancing innovation 61 | Thomas Cook collapse 62 | Get on the EV bus 65 | Lawsuit from the crypt

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66 | Flexible office space 68 | Nano-needles' mega triumph

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Contents

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72 | Phoebe finds fame 75 | SME skills gap 76 | Embracing diversity 78 | Hands off my idea!

80 | Cash: not dead yet 82 | VC funding boost 84 | Strategies for growth

Business Vision Summer 2018 Issue • www.bv.world

86 | Dads get left behind 88 | Pulling a sickie?

90 | Award highlights 98 | The rule of (lazy) thirds

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99 | Low-impact housing 100 | Qantas in for long-haul 102 | Brexit and immigration 103 | Here's how to grow 104 | Greggs talking pork 105 - 110 | BV Motoring

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HEART OF THE MATTER ‘As the CEO of a fifth-generation family office,’ writes Brendan Holt-Dunn of the Holdun Family Office, ‘my inspiration is from my father, who has taught me well, sharing his experiences and providing insight on family, responsibility and prosperity. I asked my father what our operation was like in the ’60s, and to compare it with today.’

Here are Stuart’s recollections.

Evolution of a family office over generations

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THE CHALLENGES and opportunities for us, and other family offices, change with the years. In the 1960s, the main focus was on managing the wealth of Sir Herbert Holt, my great-grandfather, who migrated to Canada from Ireland in 1875 at the age of 20. By the time of his death, in 1941, Sir Herbert had amassed a sizeable fortune.

He became one of Canada's foremost industrialists and, at the peak of his career, had more than 300 companies on four continents under his control. From 1908 to 1941, he was the longestserving president and chairman of the Royal Bank of Canada. He was also the president of 27 major business corporations — and it didn't end there.

Sir Herbert also established the Montreal Light, Heat and Power company, the largest privately-owned utility in the world, before it was expropriated by the Quebec government in 1944 and became Hydro Quebec.

In the ‘60s, we concentrated on wealth management, which involved setting the appropriate asset mix for the family portfolio and the selection of external managers, as well as making decisions on philanthropic contributions.

Today, these challenges have multiplied — as has the number of family members covering three generations. As wealth management is still central to our family office, a myriad of new opportunities have emerged, along with new challenges.

New asset classes such as private equity, venture capital and real estate — to name a few — were in their infancy in the 1960s or non-existent, but today they have become mainstream.

The allocation to private equity and real estate has been on the rise, and families want greater diversification, reduced portfolio volatility, and higher returns. There is also a growing preference to invest directly, and to take operational control rather than investing through funds. Do family offices have the necessary skill set to manage these new asset classes; do they have to bring in the requisite expertise? With more asset classes under management, tools and improved analyses and

reporting models are required.

Moving forward, family offices must accept that the digital world has affected all industries and is essential to embracing the available solutions if they wish to remain competitive. Advanced technologies such as AI and robotics are changing the way the financial industry operates, and unsurprisingly, the new generation is exploring these innovations.

Clients are the focus of any Family Office (as they are in all industries). In a digital world, the challenge is to meet client needs without compromising trust and personal information.

This brings up the issue of cybersecurity, and family offices are falling victim to targeted data breaches. The volume and complexity of cyberattacks is rising and family offices are vulnerable — often due to the lack the expertise required to fully assess risks and resources. As a result, offices must address the state of their IT systems and establish the necessary protection required.

For many families, including our own, the greatest challenge is, and always will be, generational change.

The next generation needs to be prepared to take over the responsibility to lead family offices.

Not all of them are, but this is an opportunity for growth. How does a family member protect their assets? By attending board meetings, spending time with portfolio managers, by learning and understanding corporate governance and Family Office strategy structures.

Ultimately, they must develop their financial and management skills. When the moment arrives, the family will be prepared to handle what lies ahead.

For the family office, time and attention must be devoted to each client. This in turn will improve the experience for offices and clients.

Helping each client to understand their role, and passing on skills and knowledge to the next generation, is key to all family offices. How to deal with these challenges is a determining factor in continued success.

IMF warns of debt timebomb thanks to central banks' ‘cheap money' policies the path of the early 2000s. Share prices in the US and Japan are overvalued, and the credit spreads in bond markets are too low for the current state of economic affairs.

IMF officials Tobias Adrian and Fabio Natalucci said corporations in the eight countries listed were taking on too much debt — and their ability to service it was faltering.

CORPORATE DEBT Corporate debt at-risk could rise to £15tn, the pair said — almost 40 percent of total corporate debt in those economies.

Bank regulations have been tightened since the financial crisis of 2008, but the IMF says risk has been shifted to the corporate sector. It warns against “cheap money” policies and tax breaks on debt interest payments. Investors

were being urged to take more and greater risks to achieve higher yields, with the possibility of instability and lower mediumterm growth.

Some 70 percent of economies were adopting an “accommodative” stance, with a decline in longer-term yields — and interest rates were negative, the IMF said.

Those negative yields from government and corporate bonds were worth trillions of pounds, according to the report.

Over the past six months, vulnerability among financial institutions not classed as banks — pension funds and insurance companies — had increased.

Systemically important financial sectors indicate a similar level to those at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

THE International Monetary Fund warns that low interest rates are encouraging companies to take on a level of debt that could become a “timebomb”.

The IMF says the resulting debt — as much as £15tn — would be disastrous in the event of a global recession.

In a half-yearly financial market update, the IMF said that almost 40 percent of corporate debt in eight countries – the US, China, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain – could become impossible to service.

The stimulus from central banks encouraged firms to borrow beyond their capacity to pay it back, the report says. The Washington-based IMF believes the global financial system is “highly vulnerable”, and warns member states not to go down

Kristi Blokhin/Shutterstock.com IMF headquarters in Washington DC: ‘Financial system is highly vulnerable’

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Argentina slaps controls on forex in bid to salvage peso

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ARGENTINA recently imposed capital controls to halt a slump in foreign currency reserves and save the peso.

The central bank set a five-day limit for exporters to repatriate foreign currency, and institutions need the bank's authorisation to buy dollars in the forex market, except in the case of foreign trade.

Argentine citizens are limited to $10,000 per month in dollar purchases. The country's bonds and currency have been driven down by credit rating agencies and the central bank bid to avoid cash shortages and safeguard liquidity.

The policy could limit the availability of pesos to financial institutions in Latin America's third-largest economy, and some economists are calling this a return to capital controls. The central bank has used more than $3bn in reserves to pay short-term debt and prop up the peso.

The central bank said in a

statement: “Financial entities must get prior authorisation from the central bank to distribute their earnings.”

TheBubble financial website reported in August 2018 that speculation about currency restrictions was “false news” and “a rumour”. At the time, it was condemned and refuted by politicians, economists and analysts.

In late 2019, it is apparent that the country risks exhausting its net reserves, which are under $15bn.

The peso fell more than 25 percent after primary election results showed a likely exit for President Mauricio Macri's administration.

Central bank reserves slumped from $66.4bn to $54.1bn the day before the primaries. Interest rates have soared and recently the central bank decided to delay payments on $7bn of bills.

Opposition politicians say the

government is “in virtual default”.

Bloomberg says the reimposition of currency controls will be an embarrassment for Macri, who came to office three years ago pledging to free-up the economy.

Money initially flooded in, but the expanding fiscal and current account deficits shook investors, taking the peso to the top of the list of emerging market currency declines.

Macri has given up trying to restore investor confidence and has resorted to policies he had previously criticised.

Argentina will ask holders of $50bn of longer-term debt to accept a “voluntary reprofiling” and plans to renegotiate payments on $44bn borrowed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF said in a statement that it would continue “to stand with Argentina during these challenging times”.

Seven in 10 businesses fall at the first fence in bid to secure external finance …but there are some tricks to improve your chances Scale-up firms — defined as those undergoing rapid growth — tend to enjoy more success, according to the new data. Nearly half of these gung-ho firms gained funding on their first attempt, compared with 16 percent of nonscale-ups. The nature of these businesses makes them more attractive to investors and lenders, but scale-ups are also more likely to have had a concise business plan in place (52 percent vs 29 percent). They are also more likely to know exactly how much money they need to raise from the outset (39 percent vs 24 percent) as well as the route they want to pursue (39 percent vs 23 percent).

For scale-ups that have failed to raise capital — 55 percent — the barriers mirror those faced by others. A full 43 percent of scaleup founders gave the reason for their failure to secure external finance as a lack of strength in the management team; 29 percent said their businesses failed to meet the criteria for investment.

“Securing investment into

a business shouldn't be a blind leap of faith,” said John Morris, partner at Smith & Williamson.

“Preparation is key. To be investor-ready, businesses must ask themselves difficult questions, and demonstrate they have a strong management team in place — something that is crucial for investors. Equally important is the level of ambition displayed, and a degree of certainty on future plans and objectives.”

Even with these measures in place, securing investment is seldom easy. Getting high-quality and relevant advice from the outset can significantly improve the chances, Morris believes. “This mind-set will see the number of firms successfully raise external finance increase and, importantly, reduce the number of those experiencing funding regret.” * The full report and further information can be found at www.smithandwilliamson. com/dreambigger

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

MOST businesses that have attempted to raise capital have failed at least once, according to the new Dream Bigger: Funding Ambition report from financial and professional services firm Smith & Williamson. Securing funding is often crucial to helping businesses scale quickly, and maximise their potential. But more often than not, it isn't plain sailing. Seven in 10 firms have failed to raise capital at least once; two in five have suffered the same fate more than three times — and almost one in 10 has made five or more unsuccessful attempts.

There are various reasons for this. The most common explanation given by founders is that their management team wasn't strong enough (45 percent). A number of firms (27 percent) said their business model wasn't good enough. Nearly 30 percent of founders said their business didn't meet the criteria for investment, and 22 percent admitted to not having a good enough handle on their finances.

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Esther Duflo

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PEOPLE Noble effort to inspire women by youngest Nobel laureate to date

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NOBEL prize-winner for economics Esther Duflo hopes her win will inspire other women.

Duflo was one member of a three-person team — including her husband Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer — to take the prestigious prize.

Their work had dramatically improved the ability to fight poverty, according to awards body the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The 46-year-old is the youngest recipient of the prize to date.

“Showing that it is possible for a woman to succeed and be recognised for success I hope is going to inspire many, many other women,” she said, “to … give them the respect that they deserve.”

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the winners had introduced a new approach to getting answers about global poverty by breaking the issue into more manageable parts.

The academy said some five million Indian children had benefited from remedial tutoring programmes.

The Nobel economics prize is called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize — the only award not created by Alfred Nobel. Duflo is the second woman to win the Nobel prize for economics since the category was introduced in 1969.

William Nordhaus and Paul Romer won last year's prize for their work on sustainable growth.

Esther Duflo is a French-American based at MIT.

Jacques Chirac © European Communities, 1997 / EC, Photo : Christian Lambiotte

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JACQUES Chirac, who died on September 26 at the age of 86, was probably the last of the great patrician French presidents.

Chirac´s inconsistency in economic and foreign policies earned him several nicknames: president Georges Pompidou (1969-74) gave him the soubriquet, “Bulldozer” for his ability to get things done whereas the populace preferred, “Chameleon Bonaparte” and “La Girouette” (The Weathervane).

Chirac was initially anti-Europe. In his (in)famous Call of Cochin in December 1978, published while recovering from a car crash in the Hôpital Cochin in Paris, he asserted,”(W)e say no to the politics of supranationalism, no to economic enslavement, no to the international erasure of France.”

In 1992, he went against his party by backing a “yes” vote in the referendum on the Maastricht Treaty and by 1999 he was proposing an EU Constitution in order to “ensure the French more stability in an uncertain world”.

When the right-wing coalition won the 1986 election, President Mitterrand appointed him prime minister (an arrangement known as cohabitation). Chirac also symbolically abolished the Solidarity Tax on Wealth (ISF), levied on those with assets in excess of 3,000,000 francs ( about £300,000). The arrangement lasted two years.

When he finally became president in 1995, Chirac did so on a platform of tax cuts and job creation. Prime Minister Alain Juppé's austerity measures proved unacceptable to the French people, and led to a series of general strikes. The government had to back down that December.

Chirac concluded: “France is an ungovernable country. She no longer wants us, or our reforms.”

From then on, Chirac submitted to the “tyranny of the status quo”, reacting to situations as they happened. During his second term he had some of the lowest approval ratings on record.

But his charm, opposition to the Iraq war, acceptance of French responsibility for the deportation of Jews in the Second World War and personal acts of kindness meant that a poll conducted in Le Journal du Dimanche placed Chirac as the “best French president of the modern era” — second only to Charles De Gaulle — and millions mourned his passing.

Jason Agnew

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

PEOPLE

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From bank to snipers' nest, a grim wartime transformation Polish travel blogger and photographer ALEKSANDRA KRAUZOWICZ reports for BV from the once war-torn city of Mostar, where the ‘Glass Bank’ became part of the conflict AS I WALK around the old town of Mostar I can't help but feel like I'm on a film set of Game Of Thrones.

This Bosnian city is a Balkan

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gem opening itself up to culturally curious visitors, and tourist numbers are swelling.

“I try to stay away from the centre in the high season,” my

Staklena Banka was one of the most beautiful buildings in Mostar

guide Marko tells me. “It's too crowded.”

Marko is a Croat born during the Bosnian War, a time when three-quarters of the residents fled the city; those who stayed remain divided to this day. There is a Croat side on the east and a Muslim side on the west. The more I learn about the city, the more puzzled I become. Everything is doubled here. There are two bus stations, and two universities. I am stunned to find out that many residents have never been to the “other” side of the city. The war has left permanent changes and scars.

Marko is one of the few people who does not seem overly affected by the division, flitting freely from one side to the other, but the war had an impact on his family. Their house was destroyed during the Siege of Mostar, along with much of the city's infrastructure. It was left in a desolate state, and even today many of Mostar's buildings are abandoned and pocked with bullet holes.

One such edifice catches my eye: an abandoned eight-storey concrete tower near the Spanish square. Before the outbreak of the conflict, during the country's days in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, it served as a bank.

And not just any bank: Staklena Banka was one of the most beautiful buildings in Mostar, clad in glass. The locals simply called it “Glass Bank”.

But 27 years ago, at the height of war, it was repurposed as a sniper tower. It was perfect for the purpose, thanks to its position and elevation. And just like that, the tower went from a source of

‘I am stunned to find out that many residents have never been to the “other” side of the city’ Surprisingly, Marko doesn't need too much persuading. With flashlights and beating hearts, we start to climb.

As expected, the view from Mostar's most infamous building is amazing — and chilling, given the historical context. I take some photos and shortly after, we descend. But memories of the

tower, itself a grim reminder of the Siege of Mostar, stay with me for a long time.

* Aleksandra Krauzowicz's travel blog (in Polish) can be found at https:// opowiesci-z-podrozy. blogspot.com/

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

prosperity to a bringer of death and misery.

Late one night, I can't get the story of the derelict bank tower out of my head. In find Marko in a bar across the street, and ask him: “Have you ever been to the top?”

“Yes, but a long time ago,” he replies. An irrepressible idea is born: I have to go up there.

As expected, the view from Mostar’s most infamous building is amazing

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Abu Dhabi's global hunt for fresh fintech talent Exciting start-ups found during tour stops in Africa, Asia and Europe THE MENA region's FinTech Abu Dhabi Festival (FinTechAD) had a global tour of cities around the world as it headed to the main event in late October.

The tour, co-organised by the ADGM and Unbound, visited global financial hubs to identify the most exciting fintech startups and talent on the way to Abu Dhabi.

Tour dates on the global itinerary included Amman, Cairo, Riyadh and Casablanca.

The winners of each leg of the international tour form part of the FinTech 50, and pitched solutions to an international audience at the flagship event (October 2123).

FinTech 50 firms could also enter the Innovation Challenge to solve real industry issues and problem statements affecting Abu Dhabi and the region.

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Selected winners of the FinTechAD Innovation Challenge benefit from the opportunity to relocate their businesses to Abu Dhabi.

Those that do, qualify for various entrepreneur support programmes, funding schemes, and collaborative projects with corporate champions.

The winners of the completed tour stages, which secured their places at the festival in Abu Dhabi, included the UK's StepLadder, a collaborative digital savings tool that allows member users to save as a group towards their property deposit.

In the Middle East and Africa, two Rwandan companies featured: online ticketing platform Akokanya, and Exuus, a start-up that leverages the power of collective saving and credit-scoring models to achieve

financial inclusion.

Other winners round the world include Uzbekistan outfit Mayasoft, providing Microsoft's international certificate training under a corporate and an individual title.

Start-ups attending FinTech Abu Dhabi can apply to become part of the FinTech 50, a global network that provides leaders with a lasting community to connect with investors and partners.

FinTech Abu Dhabi is billed as “the place to meet with pioneers building the future of financial technologies�, providing government, corporate partners and investors with a marketplace to collaborate and unlock growth.

Further information can be found at www.fintechabudhabi.com

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the location for the main event in late October

BV goes to Bilbao...

Editor HAL WILLIAMS and photographer HEATHER LEAH SMITH head to northern Spain to meet some of the movers and shakers striving to change our throw-away culture

Following the spiral of the circular economy

BILBAO'S old-meets-odd-meets-occasionally-stunning architectural mix finds its high point in the silvery coils and spurs of the Guggenheim Museum, and not far upriver — in the almost-as-impressive Euskalduna Conference Centre and Concert Hall — the 2019 ISWA conference was held in early October.

The International Solid Waste Association is a global, independent, non-profit association working to promote and develop sustainable and professional waste management. With environmental issues always in the BV frame — and increasingly in the public gaze — it came to pass that the editorial team had the chance to visit the northern Spanish city.

The watchword / motto / buzzword for the conference was “Circular Economy”, encouraging a system to eliminate waste and to use, reuse and recycle diminishing resources. With visitors, delegates and experts coming from around the World, this one was going to be

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Charles Moore being interviewed by Hal Williams for BV

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special — from Day One. After traditional introductions from the people you would expect, the assembled guests were treated to a fine performance in the concert hall to set the tone: a soprano singer, a pianist… and a saw player. The eerie notes from the saw complemented the soprano's soaring voice, and the alternative vibe of the conference.

It also (perhaps coincidentally) underlined its “multi-use” theme.

The slightly tricky-to-navigate conference centre, with its many levels and venues, was made slightly less user-friendly by inscrutable one-way systems policed by black-clad staff. Getting from one side of a glass door to the other sometimes necessitated a circuit of the building, going down one escalator or up another, then shimmying through a crowded café to finally pop up a few yards from where you had been 10 minutes before.

But generally, the organisation was slick and friendly, and the enforced to-ing and fro-ing meant that everyone managed to cross meandering paths with just about everyone else over the course of the multi-day event.

Of all the interesting people present, none was more inspiring than “Captain” Charles Moore, the oceanographer, activist and boat captain whose yacht found itself mired in the Pacific

rubbish gyre in 1997. Moore was returning to southern California after finishing the Los Angeles-toHawaii Transpac sailing race when he found the gyre in a remote part of the ocean. It stretched (and still stretches) thousands of miles, covering a surface area of 1.6 million square kilometres, an area three times the size of France.

Moore's experience gives a horrifying perspective to the throwaway culture that has somehow overtaken the World, and his charming and calm delivery belies his fury and disbelief at the extent of our wasteful ways. The skipper of oceanographic research vessel Al Guita commissioned and constructed in Hobart, Tasmania,

had recently returned from another trip to what he calls “Garbage Patch”.

“It wasn't an ‘aha' moment (when I found the gyre), it wasn't that I found this island of trash. It was just a feeling of unease that I couldn't come on deck without seeing a piece of trash for about a week while I crossed this subtropical gyre.

“I went back with scientific testing equipment and found that the plastic outweighed the zooplankton in our trolls by a factor of six. Six kilos of plastic for every kilo of zooplankton in the surface waters, and that's what got the scientific community and the media to wake up.”

Moore says there is “absolutely no chance” of reversing that situation during our lifetimes.

“I am very pessimistic,” he says.

“We're crisis-driven, the only thing we respond to is crisis. The only time we get people working on relief is when a horrible disaster has happened. Prevention is much better than cure — but you can't sell prevention to politicians.

“What does the World need?

It needs a revolution, it needs a political revolution… Nature is protesting. Whether you believe in Gaia, whether you believe Nature has a soul or not, the way natural forces are acting is as if they were a pissed-off person. My client is Nature herself.”

Sobering words, but ISWA was a good place to find dynamic souls out to make a difference.

Nicola Cerantola (pictured left) is one of them, visiting professor of Circular Economy, UN consultant and the founder and director of the Ecologing project. He agrees with Moore's sentiments that revolution is the solution.

“My message is to be politically incorrect,” he says. “I think so far we have been progressing a secure economy. We need to scratch a bit more and find the reasons for the linearity — and how we can find a way to get to the sickness.

“I believe that sharing solutions, sharing experiences, is going to be key to that.”

The Euskalduna Concert Hall involved in this fight.

Data-collection and technology such as smart bins are part of the international effort for councils to streamline the process of waste elimination, recycling and collection. Eduardo Peterlini, research director of Milan-based Softline, explains. “We provide services for the environment, dealing with data-collection and analysis on behalf of municipalities and waste transport companies.

“We use data to elaborate the tariff for the citizen, and the costs for the company. The key

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

And here again, the conference was the place to find some of those solutions. Many are technological — “smart bins” that use data to keep track of refuse patterns and volumes, and charge consumers for their waste.

There is sometimes a feeling that governments are putting a lot of weight, and sometimes blame, on consumers' shoulders.

Logging our waste-disposal habits, encouraging us to take up vegan diets, relying on concerned citizens to clean up public spaces.

But everyone does need to get

objective is the PAYT — pay as you throw — concept. We provide a system where people pay for the quantity and quality of waste that they are producing: no more.

“Tariffs are charged to citizens based on that. We have another stream, which is enforcing the payments: collecting money on behalf of municipalities. For the bad guys, we enforce that collection on an IT basis. It's the Big Brother of the waste service.”

Cerantola again: “We need to rethink how we are going about things. We tend to focus on results, on solutions — but we have to reduce drastically waste generation. We need to change our behaviour. We have the technology to be sustainable tomorrow, if we wanted to.

“The problem is that the socio-economic paradigm is not designed for that. It was designed to individual profit or individual interest. We have to start shifting to a collective interest.”

Back in the conference centre, Spanish artist Antoni Gabarre was creating, brush-stroke by brush-stroke, a mural of a whale in delicate shades of blue, an exhibition as well as a celebration of the wildlife under threat from pollution. A sound system was

Spanish artist Antoni Gabarre was creating, brush-stroke by brush-stroke, a mural of a whale

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Lars Thøgersen

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being set-up for another musical interlude. The air is one of cerebral and convivial bonheur — and dealing with waste, or rather our wasteful ways, can be easy on the eye.

Copenhagen's Lars Thøgersen is involved with circular construction; his nonprofit company, Realdania, has constructed thousands of buildings using recycled materials in Denmark. Realdania sponsored the recent Circular Construction Challenge 2017, put out via ISWA and international proposals.

Coincidentally, the three winners of the challenge were all Danish.

“We make sheds out of donated materials from demolitions,” says Lars. “Using materials from primary buildings as secondary buildings allows us to avoid some regulations. We're seeking international collaboration on this. The aim is to make this recycling process joyful — and beautiful.”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and there won't be much of that in the blue peepers of Oddur Ingolfsson, the research director of Iceland's IMIR Technologies. He and his team have been separating (block your nose) stored abattoir waste in a hunt for renewable fuel and — figuratively, at least — it's coming up roses.

Ingolfsson — also a lecturer

at the University of Iceland — has delved into the stinky morass of stockpiled waste from meat processing and devised a method of rendering fat from it to make biodiesel and methanol.

This sounds like the ultimate “something from nothing” discovery, and Ingolfsson is quietly confident of the benefits of his process. “This is real,” he stresses, “not a ‘benchtop' exercise.” And he has gone one further: applying his background in physical chemistry, he heads another progressive company which is converting emitted carbon into methanol in a process that can also be run on an industrial scale.

(More on this in a future issue of BV, god willing.)

Keith Richardson, director of Organics Group, is another pioneer tackling “yucky” waste: sewage sludge. “We're based in the UK but 99 percent of our work is overseas, mostly in South East Asia. We focus on developing technology we have developed in Hong Kong and getting that technology out into different markets: the US, Australia and Europe.

“The technology — thermal ammonia stripping — hasn't been considered seriously in EU markets. We use hightemperature air, steam, to break down the bond which is locked

into leachate or sewage sludge, taking high concentrations of ammonia and using heat only; we don't use chemistry, we're not playing around with alkali. We don't add anything to it.

“We're about treating the (chemical) bond; it's a loose bond, and breaks down with heat.

The equipment has a very narrow footprint, the units are tall, about 20m, which is attractive to places that don't have a lot of land, like Hong Kong. It competes very well with anaerobic or bacterial methods of sludge disposal. We're here to raise the profile of the process and the company, gauging interest. It's an international event, but with a European focus.

It's a good forum for us.”

Marianne Kemmer, the executive director of Clean Hospitals, is someone else tackling unsavoury waste — and making a difference. Genevabased Clean Hospitals works closely with the World Health Organisation and has signed a memorandum of understanding with ISWA to tackle the problem of environmental hygiene when dealing with medical waste.

“People don't take good care of medical waste,” she says.

“In Africa, Asia, China, there are guidelines that need to be implemented.

Contamination is a real problem with medical

Keith Richardson’s Organics Group is tackling “yucky” waste

waste. Incineration is a partial solution, but we need to start with the whole process, dealing with what comes from hospital wards, and what leaves the hospital.

There is a procedure that should be followed, and that procedure needs to be implemented.

“France, Switzerland, Singapore are all doing very well, so there are some good examples.

Those are rich countries, but this isn't a poverty issue. I think it has to do with an awareness of what needs to be done, and education and training is really the issue. Communication can be a problem, too; it's not an easy situation to overcome.”

As Cerantola says, we have to stop thinking about goods and services and consider the situation more holistically. “The major problem is the inertia of the current system, and policymaking is still very linear, very slow.

Technology is moving fast, and policymakers are not able to keep up.

“I believe that technology is generating some social and economic tsunamis that they have to will have to deal with — and businesses and consumers must help them.

“We have to be prepared and change our lifestyles and be more resilient, as families, as consumers. We need to be more self-sufficient. It should be

a shared responsibility between individuals and state.

Climate expert Mario Picazo attended the conference in that capacity alone. “I'm not a waste-management person,” he admitted. “I'm very concerned about one thing. I think we underestimate the seriousness of things. We are seeing things happening faster than expected.

“But I am very optimistic about the way the World is responding — not so much governments, who could do so much more — but about how people are reacting to the problem.”

With the prominence of climate icon Greta Thunberg, he says, “it's becoming a youth movement” — which is not enough.

“But it's contagious,” he says, “and it will spread to other age groups. It's about us, because how

many trillions of people are on this planet? At the end, it's very politically inclined, but it's about individual efforts.”

Fittingly and hearteningly, BV finds the perfect application of reuse and recycling away from the conference centre, in a tiny shop in the narrow streets of Bilbao's Casco Viejo (old quarter).

Nere Mirew Atxiaga-Aldamiz runs a shop started by her parents; it's a chaotic jumble of second-hand trinkets, clothes and ornaments. She recycles everything — from umbrellas to fishing nets — to create outfits, hats, decorations and clothes. She could easily have given a presentation at the ISWA conference, but — like too many true heroes of the circular economy — Nere just gets on with it, living her life away from the spotlight.

Nere Mirew Atxiaga-Aldamiz, circular economy personified

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Bilbao’s famous Guggenheim Museum is an architectural gem

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Ghela Boskovich

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PEOPLE

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GHELA Boskovich is a fintech fanatic and founder of FemTechGlobal, a network dedicated to challenging the status quo and improving the inclusiveness and diversity in financial services.

Frequent keynote speaker Boskovich focuses on how to fast-track internal innovation, specifically on the practical application and commercialisation of fintech/bank collaboration.

She has a distinct preoccupation with modernising legacy banking systems, disruptive business models and facilitating banks' emerging technology consumption. Her primary focus and expertise is in constructing Proof of Concept/Proof of Value scenarios and experiment design, including tech-sprint mapping and process solutioning for commercial pilot programmes.

Her background in regulatory economics underpins her work with several regtech firms in the space, and advocates for identity and privacy solutions. Ghela Boskovich also has a fine track record in strategic business development, sales strategy and enablement, go-to-market strategy, and translating value propositions into business drivers for executive change agents in financial services.

An advocate of nurturing Customer Lifetime Value for banks and those they serve, she is a confirmed evangelist for adopting technology to transform the financial services industry for the greater good.

She has been named in Fintech 2016 Top 100 Influencers by Onalytica, by Brummell magazine's 2016 30 Inspirational Women Innovators, included in Innovate Finance's Women in Fintech Powerlist in 2016 and 2017.

Boskovich was also one of Silicon Republic's 2016 20 Influencers You Need to Know, named as one of the Women Leading the Way in Fintech, 2017, picked as a Top 50 RegTech Influencers (by Planet Compliance) in 2017 and 2018 and the Fintech Power 50 top 50 Influencer, 2018-19.

If that isn't enough, she was selected as a Top 100 Influencer by Onalytica in 2019.

Banksy

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THEY seek him here, they seek him there… elusive Banksy. The street artist may be impossible to pin down in the flesh, but he has set up a shop in south London.

Artworks including a Tony the Tiger rug, paintings and installations are on show at a Croydon shop, dubbed Gross Domestic Product, which “popped up” on Church Street.

The artist noted on Instagram that although the shop was “open”, its doors were not. Actual sales will be conducted online, but visitors can see the artwork on display at the venue.

The anonymous artist – no one knows his true identity – said he was launching the shop to deny a greeting card company from legally trading under his name, or rather, his nom de brush.

He believes that selling his merchandise through a shop will help him to protect his trademark. “A greetings cards company is contesting the trademark I hold to my art,” Banksy said in a statement, “and attempting to take custody of my name so they can sell their fake Banksy merchandise legally. I think they're banking on the idea I won't show up in court to defend myself.”

Items on sale include welcome mats made from life vests salvaged from the Mediterranean, hand-stitched by migrant women in detention camps and disco balls made from police riot helmets. Banksy's work is famous for its social commentary as well as its mystery.

The process is not aimed at making a profit. Proceeds will be used for a migrant rescue boat — a replacement for one confiscated by Italian authorities.

“I still encourage anyone to copy, borrow, steal and amend my art for amusement, academic research or activism,” the artist said. “I just don't want (the card company) to get sole custody of my name.” * Shortly after the pop-up shop opened, a painting by Banksy showing the House of Commons overrun with chimpanzees has sold at auction … for just under £9.9m.

The 4m-wide artwork Devolved Parliament was painted in 2009.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

PEOPLE

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Barclays' African odyssey over the years: always with people as primary focus and strength IN 1950, the British bank Barclays (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas – DC0) was the dominant financial institution on the African continent.

Its presence was entrenched in southern Africa, with a branch network that extended across South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

In August of that year, a decision was taken to establish an agency in Lobatse, a small town in the south-east of British colony Bechuanaland (now Botswana).

It operated from a branch at Mafeking, just south of the border in South Africa.

Lobatse was the principal town at the time, and easily accessible by the regional Mafekeng-Bulawayo railway.

There had been growing concern about the lack of banking facilities in the country, and it was a relief for traders and farmers, who could now do their banking in Lobatse instead of having to trek across the border to Mafeking.

Barclays Bank of Botswana is a subsidiary of Absa Group Ltd. The bank has 32 branches in Botswana with some 1200 employees.

Absa Group is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and is one of Africa's largest diversified financial services groups. The group has a presence in 12 African countries — and 42,000 employees.

The Barclays philosophy is simple: to be the leading financial services provider in its market.

It has maintained its customercentric approach and capitalised on its competitive strengths to reinforce its position as Botswana' leading financial services provider.

Managing Director Keabetswe Pheko-Moshagane In 2018, it re-launched the FG Mogae Scholarship programme, with an increased investment of 3 Million Pula (£220,000) allowing 38 Batswana (citizens of Botswana) to pursue their masters' degrees with the University of Botswana, the Botswana

‘We want to ensure that our colleagues and stakeholders are actively engaged’: PhekoMoshagane

University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Botswana International University of Science and Technology and Botswana Accountancy College.

“We are confident that this investment will continue to make the positive impact we envisaged,” a Barclays spokesperson Spencer Moreri said.

The bank is focusing on delivering all its change projects and initiatives in lieu of separation from Barclays PLC. “Our journey is a unique and exciting one,” said Managing Director Keabetswe Pheko-Moshagane.

“We want to ensure that our colleagues and stakeholders are actively engaged throughout this process. We are also focusing on ensuring that our customer experience is seamless and that we exceed all expectations while landing our new brand.

“We believe that through our passionate and dedicated employees, we will bring our customers' possibilities to life while delivering a digitally-led bank that is fit for the future.”

There has been a fundamental shift in how banks conduct business, and staying relevant means becoming an active part of a customer's digital life.

“Research is telling us that most of the competition that we will face as a banking institution will not be from other banks, but from the non-banking sector,” said Pheko-Moshagane. “We are focusing our energies on driving greater convenience through technology, and partnering with other businesses for the ease of our customers.”

“Our people are our strength” is a Barclays motto. “We realise

Barclays Botswana is headquarted in the growing CBD of Gaborone, Botswana’s capital city travellers to pay for goods and services at merchant outlets in Botswana with Visa or MasterCard — in their chosen currency.

In April 2018, Barclays Bank of Botswana upgraded and refreshed the look and feel of

its Mobile Banking App. It also enhanced user security on the app with the addition of fingerprint identification on both Android and iOS devices, and provides face recognition on some smartphones.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

that our colleagues are the most important aspect of the realisation of the bank's strategy,” said PhekoMoshagane.

“We strive to ensure that our end-to-end talent management value proposition is all inclusive, and geared towards engaging, motivating and retaining staff at the bank.”

It recently launched a leadership academy aimed at building future leaders who embrace the bank's values and culture.

“Our core leadership philosophy is in recognising that every colleague in the bank can become a leader, notwithstanding age, tenure or job title,” she says.

“We have, since 2017, promoted four new executive members to the country management team. We also drive pan-African deployments.”

Barclays has invested in a cloud-based people management system that is intuitive and real time to allow instant access to colleagues and customers.

It has increased digital banking channels based on clients' need for convenience, and launched Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) system.

This is a first-to-market solution which enables foreign

In April 2018, Barclays Bank of Botswana upgraded and refreshed the look and feel of its Mobile Banking App

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Climate emergency brings people out into the streets MILLIONS of people around the World have been taking part in a wave of climate strikes to demand urgent action from governments.

It all began with Greta Thunberg's unilateral, oneperson school strikes on Fridays, when she would skip classes and protest alone outside the Swedish parliament.

Her actions triggered followon Earth Strike events which have attracted students, workers, activists and, well, everyone, really. Millions have walked out of schools and workplaces, uniting across time-zones.

Demonstrations have been

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held in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Australasia and Africa. Voices are loud enough to be heard, and action is coming in the form of open letters to governments (11,000 New Zealanders signed one) and increasing media coverage.

BV's resident photojournalist HEATHER LEAH SMITH was at one recent event in Malaga, Spain, where she (and others) recorded the day with the photographs on these pages.

What was conceived as a single day of protest continues to ripple across the world, with marches, strikes and protests in more than 4,000 locations.

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Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

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Interview coming up? Get your eye in by answering some of these ‘curly ones' CB Insights asked some leading hiring managers for their top interview questions…

THE CB Insights tech market intelligence platform analyses millions of data points on venture capital, start-ups, patents, partnerships and news mentions.

It also comes up with gems like this.

If you're hiring and plan to use some of these, note that bestpractice dictates that the bulk of a job interview and / or assessments should be focused on skills and knowledge areas related to the job.

Too many out-of-the-box questions can inject bias into a process… but they can be fun, and a good way to get to know a candidate better.

CAREER ASPIRATIONS 1. How does this job fit into your vision of your life?

2. Where and how would you ideally spend your retirement?

3. If you could open and run any type of store, what would you sell?

4. Who would be your ideal mentor? And why? What would you ask them to help you with?

PERSONALITY AND/OR SELF-AWARENESS 1. What are your pet-peeves?

2. What do you procrastinate on? What do you do instead of the thing you're supposed to be doing?

3. Tell me about a habit you're proud of. Tell me about a bad habit you successfully broke.

4. What is your spirit animal and why?

5. What is your favourite ninja turtle and why?

6. What are your stress behaviours? How will I know when you're stressed?

7. Your mum is bragging about you to me. What is she most proud of?

8. In what areas should you be trusted? In what areas should you not be trusted?

9. What's your karaoke go-to?

10. If you could identify with a specific cheese (non-dairy and vegan cheese options are OK), which one would it be and why?

11. If you could be granted one wish, what would it be?

12. Give me four words: one for how your manager would describe you, one for how your colleagues would describe you, one for how your friends would describe you, and one for describing yourself.

13. Tell me about the last time you did something that scared you.

14. What makes you awesome?

15. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

16. If your life was a movie, what would it be called?

17. If we were to become friends, what would I know about you in 6 months that I don't know right now?

18. What is on your music playlist?

19. Tell me about a time that you failed and what you learned from it.

20. If I researched you on social media, what do you think I would find?

21. Tell me something that would surprise me about you.

CLARITY OF THOUGHT 1. Do you believe in UFOs? Why or why not?

2. If you were in charge of evolution, what would your human look like and why?

3. What is your big idea to change the world? Why is it feasible?

4. Teach me something. You have 10 minutes.

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VALUES

FIT & APTITUDE

1. A visitor from another planet comes to Earth.

You're tasked with giving them a tour. What do you show off? What do you hide?

2. What is something important that the next generation is at risk of losing?

3. Tell me about a time you were humble.

4. You're writing a note to a younger version of yourself. What do you say?

5. Dress codes are crumbling. Why? 6. Is kindness a value that has been credibly upheld at your past employers? How important do you think it is in the workplace?

7. What period of your life did you most enjoy and why?

8. What period of your life did you most dislike and why?

9. Define a “white lie.”

10. What are you passionate about?

11. What bores you?

12. Using the analogy of a fork in the road, what were the two critical life decisions you made that got you here today?

13. You've got the attention of everyone in the world for 3 minutes. What do you say or do?

14. How do you define balance in life and what has been your most effective way at achieving it?

15. What do you think really holds you back?

16. Who are you? What do you stand for?

17. Would you organize and approach your professional life (or a business) the same way you organize and approach your life?

18. How would you reconcile “what is” with “what should be”?

19. What are you interested in that other people think is boring?

1. Which of your previous jobs was the most fun and why?

2. What do you think makes you a good [insert profession]?

3. What's your favourite piece of CB Insights research and why?

4. How have you prepared for this interview?

5. What does a good day at work look like?

6. If I reject you, how would you convince me I was wrong?

7. Pitch me one idea to make CB Insights better.

8. How can we really get the best out of you?

9. What skill or attribute would you be most afraid to lose and why?

LEADERSHIP

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

1. How do you like to be managed?

2. How do you like to manage your team?

3. Someone on your team is coasting. How do you think about handling that? What steps do you take?

What do you say?

4. “Do what I say, not what I do.”

Discuss that in the context of managing a team.

5. How do you think about managing managers? How is it different from managing individual contributors?

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Up in arms about arms — DSEI event earns ‘ethical enemies' of deadly trade September’s expo of weaponry and military might sparks protest from peace-loving residents of London PEACE didn't have much of a chance at London's docklands when Europe's biggest arms fair opened its doors recently.

The Docklands' Excel centre welcomed 35,000 delegates and exhibitors for the biennial DSEI (Defence and Security Equipment International) trade show — but many others were there to espouse their moral opposition to the event.

Amnesty International was refused admission. A group called Stop The Arms Fair lobbied online and on the streets, and several other protest groups did their best to disrupt the weapons exhibition and marketplace.

Amnesty International has accused the arms industry of

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“outsourcing responsibility” for human rights violations, ensuring good and early that it would get short shrift at the entrance.

Protesters demonstrated outside the exhibition centre and blocked a nearby road. More than 100 people were arrested — for offences including aggravated trespass and highway obstruction — in the run-up to the September fair. But the event had grown since its last incarnation, with sturdy support from British cabinet ministers — and a lot of money was in the offing.

Invitations to delegations representing 68 countries were sent out, and 1,700 arms suppliers and service providers attended. No fewer than 32 Israeli companies

were among the exhibitors, with other delegations representing Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The Guardian recently reported that over the past year, British arms sales have risen to a record £14bn – with 80 percent of exports going to Gulf nations.

The HMS Argyll, a Royal Navy frigate, docked at the Excel centre, where a demonstration of military drones was held, and the Royal Air Force had a prototype of the Tempest stealth aircraft on display. The sale and promotion of personal arms was not allowed.

Amnesty International canvassed 22 international arms exporters about what human rights due diligence they applied;

Flying off the drawing board: the RAF Tempest

Alisdare Hickson via Flickr

Protest groups such as this were a feature of the DSEI event

HMS Argyll made an impressive sight at the Excel centre

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

only eight replied. The group's arms control researcher, Patrick Wilcken, said defence giants were “washing their hands of their responsibilities by arguing that, once their goods are shipped, they no longer have any control over how they are used”. That argument, he said, “doesn't stand up, legally or ethically”.

The previous time the arms fair came to London, hundreds took action to disrupt proceedings.

Many “locked-on”, putting their bodies in difficult-to-remove places to hinder organisers of the high-profile display of armoured vehicles, missiles, small arms, crowd-dispersal equipment and ammunition.

This year, opponents offered light-hearted defiance with dancing, aerobics, an academic conference, a music show from a flatbed truck, abseiling protestors hanging from a bridge, theatre, military veterans undertaking “unofficial vehicle checks”, clowns, religious gatherings, hiphop artists, radical picnics, cyclists, Daleks and political choirs.

PhilMacDPhoto / Shutterstock.com

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‘Slum summit' brings home reality of poverty to leaders of wealthy nations THEY'RE calling it “Davos with the Poor”, a global conference on poverty that will be held in January in Nairobi's Kibera district — Africa's largest slum.

The inaugural World Poverty Forum (WPF) was announced in New York at the Decade of Action event as part of the UN general assembly week. The Africa forum is the brainchild of former Kibera resident and entrepreneur Kennedy Odede, aiming to change the dynamic between the public, world leaders and policymakers.

Odede is the co-founder of Shofco, an organisation working in urban slums. The Shofco school he helped to found will be the main venue for the event, and Kibera was specifically chosen to give a wake-up call — or perhaps a shock — to politicians removed from the day-to-day reality of living in poverty.

That said, Kibera has already become something of a centre for “poverty tourism”, attracting well-meaning travellers whose presence is beginning to attract

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criticism from residents.

The January WPF event is designed disrupt the power dynamics of traditional development conferences. It will be an example, Odede hopes, of a conference choosing its location to give a real voice to the poorest people looking for solutions to their problems.

He was quoted in The Guardian as saying: “Meetings like Davos are all very well to bring together world leaders, but there is no space for them to interact with the poor and with people

‘At Davos there is no space to interact with the poor’ doing work in the communities.

This forum will fill the gap.”

Delegations from Africa,

Living conditions in Kibera will be a shock to some delegates

Kennedy Odede Indian, Brazil will be attending, and Odede was quick to point out that no one would “be helicoptering in”. There will be meaningful and authentic engagement with the residents of Kibera, who he promises will be represented.

WPF aims to promote the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and it will be one of 2020's first economic events.

It is timed to coincide with its diametric opposite, the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland dryly targeted in the slum-do's “Davos with the Poor” moniker.

It is estimated that globally, more than 700 million people live in extreme poverty; Kibera is home to some 170,000 of them.

The two-day programme will focus on health, education, conflict and climate change, and the way those goals are limited by poverty.

At the forum, local people's talents and craft skills will be on display to demonstrate the creative potential of poor regions, something so often unseen and uncelebrated. There will be a tour of innovative projects taking place in Kibera, as well as seminars and workshops.

UK JEWELLER Ingle & Rhode has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs to cater to growing interest in ethically sourced gems.

The funding round on Seedrs has a minimum target of £150,000 — representing 4.6 percent of the business. The investment will be used to expand Ingle & Rhode's fast-growing digital marketing presence – an area which is already reaping dividends for the brand, with enquiries in September up by 85 percent year-on-year.

Ingle & Rhode, founded in 2007, was one of the first UK jewellery businesses to offer ethical rings. Since then, it has grown thanks to the rise of the conscious consumer, with demand increasing as sustainability and ethical purchasing hit the mainstream.

The business sector is currently valued at £3.1m, with the firm specialising in wedding

and engagement rings whose gems are conflict-free, sustainably mined and cut and polished by adults working with fair pay and conditions.

These ethical jewels are set in Fairtrade gold, recycled platinum and Fairmined silver. According to a recent YouGov survey, 50 percent of millennials recognise this as an important issue — but just nine percent follow through by making it the number one factor in choosing a ring.

The UK fine jewellery market is worth £3bn annually, supported by the 240,000 weddings held each year.

In its last funding round, the company found more than half the funds raised came from its own customers who were keen to invest in something lucrative and ethically sound.

This has enabled Ingle & Rhode to grow their team, finesse their image and run campaigns across

Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.

Co-founder Tim Ingle says the crowdfunding campaign would take the brand to a new level.

“The response to our ethical engagement and wedding rings has been fantastic since day one,” he said.

There had been “an explosion in demand”, he added.

His fellow co-founder, David Rhode, said he was grateful for the vision of the firm's customers.

“We've always been fortunate to have incredible customers who truly believe in our vision for ethical rings,” he said. “Many of our customers have gone to become investors in our business, and we hope that this campaign … inspires others in the industry to raise their game.”

Details of the crowdfunding campaign can be seen here: https://www.seedrs.com/inglerhode

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Taking the blood out of those diamonds: ethical gems are the next big thing

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Environment fight close to home as as smartphones come under scrutiny The battle against trash intensifies as e-waste steps into the frame — but solutions are appearing to tackle the problem EXTENDING the life of smartphones by a year could save as much carbon dioxide as taking more than 50,000 cars off the road, a tech start-up claims.

Klyk, a telecoms and technology provider for businesses, says research by the European Environmental Bureau has found that a whopping 2.1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions could be saved by that one-year boost in service.

In the UK alone, that would cut greenhouse gas by 255,924 tonnes — the equivalent of the emissions that would be saved by taking 55,635 cars off the road.

Klyk undertook its own data

Smartphone upgrades are small steps rather than giant leaps analysis to verify the figures. It says that in London, if every iPhone owner waited a year before upgrading to a newer model, it would save another 29,430 tonnes of carbon waste (that's another

6,397 cars off the road).

Klyk co-founder, Asad Hamir, said resisting the urge to buy the latest mobile on the market was “a simple and painless way” to make a positive contribution to the environment.

“Smartphone upgrades are now small steps rather than giant leaps and for most office workers, their current phone will work just fine for everything they need to do in the working day,” he said.

The study by the EEB highlights the growing problem of e-waste, with manufacturing, distribution and disposal accounting for about 72 percent of a smartphone's total climate impact. mama_mia / Shutterstock.com

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Five years of iPhone innovation: plus ça change...?

The e-waste issue: it’s not just computers, and it’s growing by the day And the carbon impact of technology is worsening, experts say. The new iPhone has seen a 14 percent increase in its carbon profile.

In the lifecycle of an iPhone 11 Pro, some 80kg of carbon

will be emitted. That compares witharound 70kg from an iPhone XS. “Given the residual value of an iPhone, it makes sense for businesses to circulate their technology for longer within their

workforce,” says Hamir.

“If businesses take advantage of flexible technology packages that include the ability to reuse and recycle old kit, the environmental impact of their business tech could be dramatically reduced.”

MOBILES are just that, mobile — and their last trip is usually to the landfill, where the toxic components join the rest of the filth and muck.

So how about a phone that lasts five years, is repairable, and made with the environment in mind? Meet the Fairphone 3 from the Amsterdam company of the same name.

The phone's roots are cool as can be; it was created after an awareness campaign about “conflict materials”. The campaign organisers decided to create their own device after the event, ethically sourcing as many components as possible.

The translucent black plastic is tough and sleek and there is a sole speaker on the left-handside, plus a headphone socket. A message on the back side reads: “Change is in your hands.” Fair enough. It has a fingerprint scanner too, which is pretty high-tech.

The £420 Fairphone 3 also leads in manufacturing process and longevity, featuring a modular, repairable design and demountable sections. It's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 632 chip, a mid-range processor with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage; it also has a microSD card slot.

A Guardian review said performance is slightly disappointing (“elements of lag and stutter all over the system”) but battery life is fair at more than 24 hours between charges. Total screen time is quoted at four hours.

Reviewers have also criticised the Fairphone 3's chunky design and overly large body size, but a smartphone's a smartphone, right? And this one makes you feel better about yourself and your relationship to the planet as you toss and turn in bed, unable to sleep after staring at its six-inch screen for too long.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

HERE COMES A COOL ‘ETHICAL' PHONE

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Facebook takes down foreign posts targeting US elections FACEBOOK has admitted taking down four foreign interference operations originating from Iran and Russia, apparently linked to the US 2020 presidential elections.

The Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) is suspected of masterminding the operation, which “had the hallmarks of a wellresourced operation that took consistent operational security steps to conceal (its) identity and location”, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy, said in a blogpost.

The Guardian and CNN reported that the campaign used 50 Instagram accounts and one Facebook account with 246,000 followers to publish nearly 75,000 posts, according to Graphika, a social network analysis company.

The accounts adopted identities including pro-Donald Trump, anti-police violence, pro-

‘Steps taken to conceal identity and location’ Bernie Sanders, LGBTQ, feminist, pro-police and pro-Confederate.

Most were not explicitly related to electoral politics, and focused on general political commentary.

Using false personas apparently advocating for both sides of a political debate – including accounts designed to appear as if they were run by black activists protesting against police violence – recalls the tactics used by the IRA in a 2016 election interference campaign.

That campaign may have been

reusing US content to conceal its roots, Graphika says, but linguistic tics suggest a foreign origin. Use of the 1980s television show Dukes of Hazzard was another clue to IRA origins.

While focusing on polarising political issues, the fake accounts “supported” Sanders and “opposed” Senator Kamala Harris.

There were also attacks on former vice-president Joe Biden from both sides of the spectrum.

Three foreign influence operations disclosed by Facebook were from Iran. One targeted the US and North Africa with content related to Israel, Palestine and Yemen. A second focused on Latin American countries.

A third network of accounts from Iran targeted the US with content from a page called BLMNews, mimicking a news outlet connected to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Cg-realms, Ali Zifan [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 46

920007699 SME@tawuniya.com.sa

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UK's workers most likely to be affected by stress — but charitable help is at hand THE UK'S workforce is increasingly held back by mental health problems such as stress, depression and anxiety, research shows.

Some 13 percent of British employees — 4.3 million people — are unhappy at work, according to research by Robert Half UK. That's the highest rate of workplace unhappiness in the countries surveyed: Canada, Australia, Germany and the US —

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and Britain's rate is four percent higher than that of the US. One in three UK respondents admitted to finding their work stressful, while one in 10 said they were dissatisfied with their work– life balance.

The latest data from the Health And Safety Executive's Labour Force Survey shows that the combined effect resulted in the loss of more than 15,000,000 working days over a 12-month

Matt Weston, managing director of Robert Half UK

period. Absences were due to mental health problems caused or worsened by stress, depression or anxiety.

This accounts for 57 percent of total missed days due to selfreported illness. Burnout caused by stress and anxiety is responsible for 44 percent of all reported illnesses in the workplace.

In response to the findings, and the challenges presented by mental health issues in the workplace, Robert Half UK has announced a new partnership with Mind, the leading mental health charity in the UK. Robert Half offices around the UK will be supporting Mind through local and national fundraising initiatives and by raising awareness of mental wellbeing among its staff and clients.

Robert Half UK managing director, Matt Weston, said the mission was to “build a culture where everyone can be happy at work”.

Companies should find ways to make their employees feel more involved in their everyday work, he said, while providing a support network that allows employees to voice their concerns regarding the nature and progress of their role.

“Building a positive work environment, and recognising the connection between employee happiness and mental health … are vital,” he said.

The head of corporate partnerships at Mind, Rebecca Hastings, said that money raised during the partnership would help to fund Mind's Infoline, advice services and campaigning work.

RESEARCH conducted by a British social enterprise reveals how some workplace triggers for mental health, and some signs of mental ill health, are frequently missed or misunderstood.

This World Mental Health Day (October 10), Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA) partnered with Public Health England for the launch of a new self-care tool, Every Mind Matters. The platform enables people to create a personalised action plan with a set of actions to deal with stress, boost mood, and improve sleep.

The organisation offers guidance and training to support mental health in the workplace and beyond.

A OnePoll survey of 2,000 employed adults saw that on average, 56 percent of respondents were unlikely to speak to their line managers about a mental health issue.

And, perhaps less surprisingly, a significant number of workers are unable to spot tell-tale signs of

mental health issues in colleagues.

Only 45 percent of men (compared with 61 percent of women) recognise symptoms such as sudden weight loss /gain, loss of humour, aggression and irritability.

Men trail women again in recognising possible triggers of mental ill health such as family problems, long working hours, and redundancy.

EVEN A PROMOTION...

Only 48 percent of men (compared with 63 percent of women) scored in this area. Some 72 percent of all respondents had no idea that even a promotion could trigger a mental health issue.

Similarly, most people don't know that a change in line manager or getting a new job could be an issue. A full 69 percent were ignorant of this, and more than a half (53 percent) did not recognise having children as a possible cause of a mental health issue.

This research underlines the importance of self-care and the ability to spot symptoms and triggers. Self-help tools need to be more readily available, MHFA England says, and there should be clear pathways to support in the workplace.

Simon Blake OBE, CEO of MHFA England, said the international awareness day provided an opportunity for everyone to improve their knowledge of mental health — and to commit to tackle the stigma of mental health issues.

“This World Mental Health Day we urge organisations take a ‘whole systems' approach to mental health,” he said. “When wellbeing and mental health is central to workplace culture, considered in all workplace policies, a training priority and backed by senior support, all employees reap the benefits.”

For access to Every Mind Matters and more information visit: https://mhfaengland.org/

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

World Mental Health Day puts focus on workplace — ­ triggers and warning signs

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How to do the right thing for

BY MARK PEMBERTHY IT IS INTERESTING that the uproar over some companies making more generous contributions to their CEO's pension plan than they do for the wider workforce is coming from institutional investors rather than employees.

Any hint of workplace inequality is damaging to the reputation of the business — and to the financials of the company, if it results in employee dissatisfaction. So are pensions perceived as a way to provide unequal, under-the-radar rewards?

Firstly, it is important to recognise that senior executives will inevitably receive benefits or incentives not universally offered

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to all employees, reflecting their greater responsibility and accountability. But when it comes to pensions, employees should be treated equally.

Workplace pensions are now mandatory in the UK, but aside from the regulatory obligations, pension schemes should have a corporate purpose. Ideally, they should ensure that staff can stop work when it is suitable for both the employee and employer, and allow them a lifestyle free from financial worry.

For some organisations, the purpose may just be to benchmark remuneration against peers. But there is no reason why pensions should be different for executives and the rest of the workforce.

The reality is that the

average combined DC pension contributions in the UK are less than 10 percent, below the level needed to provide a retirement income for most employees.

There is a cruel irony that higher pension contributions are being paid to those where this may not be too much of a concern, while the wider workforce is at risk of not building up adequate savings.

In the current tax environment, pension contributions for most executives will be restricted by the Tapered Annual Allowance or the Lifetime Allowance, meaning that higher pension contributions are often paid as a cash supplement anyway. As such, aside from being unfair, it is not practical for senior executives to receive these higher

CEO pension contributions amounts as a pension contribution — raising the question why reward was structured in this way.

The average employee may not notice how their contributions compare with senior executives.

It has only been through forensic accounting by institutional investors that these differences have come to light — which some may argue is not entirely a coincidence.

So it's not too much of a surprise if people feel a sense of inequality, particularly if the cause is perceived to be disguised.

Hearing that the business is making higher pension contributions for senior executives risks creating mistrust between management and the workforce.

The knock-on effects can

be damaging, as staff may become disengaged if they see a fundamental inequality. This could have a negative impact on productivity and affect attraction and retention rates.

But there are clear guidelines for best-practice. The UK Corporate Governance code recommends that employer pension contribution rates should be aligned across the workforce, while the Investment Association goes further and suggests it should represent the rate offered to the majority of a company's employees.

Businesses that take these tenets to heart are likely to remove any bias in employer pension contributions, achieve a fairer pension offering and make

sure that the workplace pension is not a source of mistrust. Making these codes of conduct visible to staff will reinforce the principles of fairness.

Transparency, however, is worthless if pensions are still too complex to be understood by employees; there needs to be financial education at the heart.

Employees should understand pension schemes, and be empowered to make savings decisions for retirement.

Variable rewards exist in business, but pensions should not be one of them — all employees should be on an equal footing.

Organisations that embrace the code and do the right thing can look forward to a better future for themselves and their employees.

EXPERTS often say it makes sense to combine all pensions in one place, a single pot that is easier to manage.

But former pensions commentator Steve Webb says consumers must think carefully. He believes there are five good reasons to think twice before consolidating small pension pots — and warns that some people could end up worse off.

Combining your various arrangements in one place is tidier, with only one company or provider to deal with. Many people accumulate several pots over their working life — an average of 11.

Throw in the fact that some of those providers will probably change their name, move to a new address or be taken over, and it is easy to see why keeping track of all those different schemes and plans might be a challenge.

Webb, director of policy at life and pensions company Royal London, says older pension policies may have attractive features which could be lost if transferred, while small pots benefit from certain tax privileges. “As ever, the best approach is to seek impartial advice or guidance.”

Some pensions, especially those taken out before April 2006 — when a great deal of pension tax simplification took effect — allowed members to draw more than 25 percent tax free, or to access the pension before the age of 55. If these are

transferred out individually, privileges can be lost.

When some pensions were sold, they carried a promise that the pot could be turned into a guaranteed income in retirement. Remember Equitable Life? Webb says that given the collapse in annuity rates in recent years, these guarantees are valuable, but can be lost if transferred.

While modern pension policies can generally be merged without penalty, savers can sometimes be hit with hefty exit charges, so tread carefully here.

The lifetime allowance is a limit on the value of pay-outs from pension schemes that can be made without triggering an extra tax charge.

It's currently £1,055,000 – so most people aren't affected. But if you are, Webb says that savers are allowed to take up to three pots of under £10,000 without counting against the allowance.

If you start taking money from a defined contribution scheme, the amount you can pay in and still get tax relief on typically falls from up to £40,000 a year to a fraction of that: £4,000 for the 2019-20 tax year. That is known as the money purchase annual allowance, or MPAA. This won't normally be triggered if you cash in small pots less than £10,000. “Those who consolidate all their small pots miss out on this,” says Webb.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

PUTTING ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET — SOMETIMES IT CAN BE A GOOD IDEA

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Shachar Bialick

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PEOPLE All your money in one place, one card, one app: is this a good place to start?

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SHACHAR Bialick founded fintech company Curve in 2015 with the aim of simplifying and unifying the way people spend and save their money.

The principle is one card, one app, everything in one place. It seems like a good place to start: launched in early 2018, Curve already has a team of 160 employees, a customer base of 500,000 and a valuation of around $250m.

Bialick's workforce is committed to liberating people in their relationship with money. European expansion has made him one of the key players in moving banking to the Cloud.

“It seems to us you don't need another bank,” reads the Curve website. “You just need a better way to control your money. So, we've created one very simple card that puts all your finances in one very smart place.”

With all your finances “at your fingertips”, Curve says, “you can get on with the business of enjoying life”.

The 38-year-old, a former Israeli special forces soldier, says that his time in the military gave him the determination to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Curve's early investors are showing confidence.

Bialick was born in Tel Aviv, and brought up in the settlement city of Ariel, in the occupied West Bank. He discovered an affinity for IT at school, and was pulled from his class at age 16 and sent to study computer science at a university in Tel Aviv. Two years later came the compulsory military service.

Once back in “civvy street”, Shachar founded — and then sold — several companies, including a recruitment firm. He says that his wife, his parents (and hers) have been supportive of his entrepreneurism.

He's found an interesting field; let's see what he can do…

Andy Puddicombe

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PEOPLE TRAGEDY led Andy Puddicombe to meditation; a drunk driver crashed into a group of his friends in London, killing two of them.

His stepsister and ex-girlfriend died in equally tragic circumstances.

A grief-stricken Puddicombe decided to get away from it all, headed for the Himalaya… and became a monk. His dedication to the austere lifestyle didn't wane, and he lived the monastic life for 10 long years, travelling around Asia and meditating up to 16 hours a day.

“It gave me a shift in perspective,” he told the BBC in a recent interview with the broadcaster. “It taught me to focus less on oneself, and instead bring greater happiness to others.”

Now 46, Puddicombe found so many benefits to meditative practice that he has let it shape his personal and professional life. In 2005, he tried spreading the word in his native England, but he was ahead of his time — in western terms at least.

But now, with the help of burgeoning new technology and co-founder Richard Pierson, he is making headway with the meditation app Headspace.

The pair met through meditation. Pierson suffered from social anxiety, and a session with Puddicombe changed everything. Pretty soon, they were in business together. Pierson provided the business nous, Puddicombe the access to a calm mindset.

The skill swap has proved a successful one. Headspace has been downloaded more than 54 million times — and has annual revenues of some £80m.

BV joined the masses and charted a course to tranquillity by downloading the app. It offers sleep assistance, a daily group meditation reminder, basic courses and more. We went for the free version of the app, rather than the optional paid version.

Watch this space for a review – when we find time to relax…

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Partnership helps friends make headway with Headspace app

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Put those beer goggles on and try this AR concept that brings the dead to AR life

Zooming in to the image shows how elaborate the work is

A simulation of how the advert works on the street

Catching the attention of passers-by

How it looks on-screen Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

By RICHARD THOMAS IN THE Spring issue of BV, we focused on Augmented Reality (AR) and its applications in gaming, education, retail and warfare. But a US company is pioneering its use in advertising.

The subject this time? Beer.

The Constellation Brand advert itself is a work of art, but the magic happens thanks to software that runs on the Groove Jones tech company website. Visit that site (www.modelomural.com) then point your mobile at the image on the bottom-right of this page (with the red border). The two-dimensional image morphs into three — and comes to life.

Tapping into the Mexican Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival, the advert features a ghostly figure and a bottle of beer — try it yourself to see what happens.

Rather than having to download an app, the whole process is handled by the phone's web browser, using the Zap Works platform from Zappar.

As well as billboard advertising, the campaign is also featured on point-of-sale materials (below).

Try it now: go to http://www.modelomural.com on your phone, enter your date of birth, then point your camera at the image above

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UK businesses must consider benefits of export trade and accept financial help on offer CHALLENGES faced by UK SME exporters are coming to light, including difficulty managing procedures and paperwork, payment delays by foreign buyers — and the risk of not being paid at all.

And right now, export is vital as Britain readies itself to leave the EU. The UK's export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF), aims to help companies of all sizes overcome export issues. Last year, it supported more than 250 businesses which had run into problems. By helping businesses win contracts and providing insurance to safeguard against financial risks, the group has taken on calls for assistance from

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Awareness of trade finance still an issue all sectors. The goal is to maximise the opportunities available in an international market.

The Secretary of State for International Trade, Liz Truss, said finance was a barrier for SMEs hoping to achieve their full export potential. “If small businesses were to export more, Britain would see even more stronger economic growth,” she said.

UKEF is in its centenary year, she added, and “continues to

enable companies from across the UK to expand their global reach by helping them succeed abroad”.

Louis Taylor, CEO of UKEF, said there was “a wide range of specialist support on offer” from private sector providers and his organisation, working with private sector providers. “We're here to help UK companies access that support and realise their global ambitions.”

Despite appetite for finance options, awareness remains an issue. Some 58 percent of UK SMEs are not aware that trade finance exists, he said. Instead, the majority rely on credit cards, hire purchase and government grants to fulfil their potential.

Research by Capital Economics

UKEF's financial services can be available. A recent study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) states that 13 percent of SMEs have turned to exporting due to saturation in their own markets.

When looking where to export, the majority of SMEs favour Europe: some eight in 10 export to EU countries.

There is growing interest in markets outside Europe, with survey data collected since 2010 showing Canada, South Africa, the US and China as increasingly popular. SMEs that focus on markets outside the EU report growth of 13 percent per annum, compared to growth of 12 percent for those that focus on customers within the EU. Since 2000, the number of UK small businesses has grown by 25 percent.The number of large businesses (more than 250 employees) has grown by just four percent.

The overall ambition for the UK government is to raise exports as a percentage of GDP from 30 percent to 35.

GAMECHANGER FINANCIAL SUPPORT PACKAGE IS AT HAND In summer 2019, several new initiatives were announced by the UK Government to unlock finance for SMEs exporting to emerging markets.

They included: The Small Deal Initiative – to back the army of exporters undertaking the smaller contracts that underpin British trade.

Extending financial support to firms in exporters' supply chains as well as exporters themselves.

The General Export Facility – covers general costs for exporters, rather than just costs related to a specific export deal.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

for UKEF shows that companies with only domestic customers grow less than those that export: 8.4 percent compared to 15.2.

UK companies should be capitalising on the opportunity, experts say. This is particularly the case with SMEs. Of the 1,000 firms surveyed (by YouGov for Capital Economics), businesses that exported reported profits up to 20 percent.

Many SMEs — around 20 percent — believe they could export but do not. Sixty percent of those surveyed cited access to finance as a key factor. Late payments were the most critical issue, affecting 63 percent of firms.

At any one time, SMEs are owed an average of £64,000 — with 11 percent owed £100,000 to £250,000. The ripple effects have a greater impact on SMEs than on larger businesses.

Most potential exporters said a reasonably priced service that insures against non-payment and lends capital would be useful. For SMEs that are refused support due to their lack of export experience,

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When creating a culture of innovation, it's important to look without — and within DYLAN WALSH reports on how established companies can create cultures of innovation using insights by Kellogg School adjunct lecturer Stephanie Farsht THE rise of Silicon Valley has dramatically intensified the pressure on companies to innovate.

“When I first got into retail, in 2000, our competition was traditional retailers and up-andcoming specialty retailers,” says Stephanie Farsht, who helped run a variety of innovation and strategy teams at Target for more than 15 years. In that time, she watched the emergence of novel, often existential, threats from companies like Amazon and Google.

“We didn't know how to

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‘The balance on the team became skewed’ compete against these new entrants. We were in quicksand.”

Farsht and her team did not sink. They instead helped Target understand that it could no longer survive by taking small,

incremental steps. In the process, she helped to build a culture of innovation inside the company.

Before any innovation takes place, a company first needs the infrastructure to support it. For Target, that infrastructure started with getting the right people.

The team sought an equal mix of internal recruits who understood the dynamics of the company and the industry, and external hires with experience in innovation, entrepreneurship, and design.

She found that when the balance on the team became

Silicon Valley has seen the emergence of many dynamic companies in the 21st Century

Kellogg

skewed, the work suffered: too many Target people, and ideas grew more conservative; too many outsiders, and ideas were not pragmatic or credible.

The team then added flexibility by creating a rotating cast of temporary members to help complete specific tasks.

If the team was considering an innovation in the supply chain, or a new form of tender, subject experts were brought onboard to consult with the team.

“It was really worthwhile to connect with individuals who had specific experience,” she says.

“New innovations were occurring in many different parts of our business, from supply chain to tender to inventory management.

The team had to lean on internal and external subjectmatter experts to get up to speed quickly on these emerging innovations.”

BRIDGING THE GAP Farsht enlisted executives that could bridge the gap and act as liaisons. “You have to get out of the building. If you don't ... innovation is not going to occur, because you can't innovate in a vacuum.

“Our team evolved a tremendous amount over these years and was a critical influencer in how Target operates and thinks about innovation. But once we made that shift, the company understood that our team's mindset was needed.”

Autonomy is essential for taking the kinds of risks that promise important breakthroughs.

Kellogg School found widespread pressure to innovate

Who looks outside, dreams Who looks inside, awakes “If you're buried under the more traditional portions of the business, so much of the motivation is to keep the business going and to hit numbers,” Farsht says.

“That does not align well with disruption; you need to be disconnected from the day-today and short-term goals and motivations.”

One way to accomplish this autonomy is by establishing a separate, exploratory corporate entity, such as X, Google's moonshot factory.

If setting up a new and separate company is not feasible, Farsht believes the next-best option is to operate under the radar. This requires a few counter-intuitive steps: keep the team small and the financial stakes low.

When too many people get onboard, decision-making can get slowed down by attempts to achieve

consensus. Additional financial resources can lead to increased expectations, resulting in a shift away from innovation. Scarce resources, says Farsht, inspire focused, creative, and valuably constrained brainstorming.

“What we would do in our team is basically just not tell anybody what we were doing. We wouldn't ask for dollars, we wouldn't ask for resources, we wouldn't even ask for approval.

“We would just operate like we were a real start-up and then ask for forgiveness.”

It is also important for the innovation team to establish credible communication channels back to the executive leadership team. At Target, the leadership culture meant that, while executives had strong connections with the company's traditional board of directors, they lacked extensive interaction with early stage innovators and founders.

EXPERIMENTS The executive team paid little attention to Farsht's team, and had little idea how much the team had to upend the status quo in its experiments.

Farsht addressed this disconnect by leading the process of recruiting a separate and new advisory board that included a venture capitalist and several entrepreneurs.

“These advisers were really there to help us break down the cultural barriers between traditional and innovative,” she says. “It proved a very successful

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Stephanie Farsht

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The team was wary of entering the market way to get credibility and start shifting the mentality of our executive team and our board of directors.”

When the team first conceived of a beauty subscription box (similar to Birchbox), they were wary of entering the market.

Rather than recruiting designers to build elaborate mock-ups, her team assembled prototypes in their cubicles.

They positioned the samples on available endcap space in a few Target stores and watched how consumers responded.

“It was a quick, below-theradar test that got us some critical traction in understanding subscriptions,” Farsht says.

“We got such great insight and

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feedback and knowledge about how consumers valued that type of service, what was wrong with it, what was right with it, what pains it was solving—and all in a matter of a few weeks.”

The team was also able to track subsequent purchases, which provided the team with granular, subscriber-specific information for recommendations.

Farsht and her team used prototypes and small pilot tests to “fail fast, fail early”.

The team fine-tuned ideas through iteration, using consumer insights gathered in the field as their guide.

This helped Farsht gather insights for refining a product or service, and helped her to bolster her case for innovative ideas within Target.

Internal resistance was unavoidable, but getting hard evidence to support her work was the best way to “fight the antibodies”.

“Getting data before presenting to anyone other than your core team is really important in making sure your story is buttoned-up, ready to go, and friction-proof.”

* Stephanie Farsht is an adjunct lecturer of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School; this article first appeared in Kellogg Insight.

Innovation: it’s not just a push-button exercise

Thomas Cook's ‘regretful' collapse leads to UK's biggest peacetime repatriation effort EasyJet and Virgin supplied aircraft for the effort flights and reclaim costs.

Most holidaymakers came back on 45 flights chartered by the British government. EasyJet and Virgin supplied aircraft for Operation Matterhorn, the biggest repatriation effort in peacetime.

The cost of accommodation was covered by the government through the Air Travel Trust

Fund and Air Travel Organiser's Licence scheme.

Thomas Cook secured a £900m rescue package from its largest shareholder, Chinese firm Fosun, in August. A demand from banks to raise a further £200m in contingency funding is understood to have scuppered the deal.

The collapse has been blamed on political unrest in destinations such as Turkey, the Summer heatwave and customer uncertainty over Brexit.

The company has been closing shops to cut costs, but still has 500 outlets with attendant costs; most of its competitors operate online.

About 22,000 jobs around the world are understood to be under threat.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

AFTER almost 180 years in business holiday firm Thomas Cook recently collapsed — leaving 150,000 Britons stranded abroad.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that the tour operator had ceased trading.

Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom said there would be an investigation into the circumstances of the liquidation.

Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser expressed his regret at the situation — which sparked a mammoth effort to bring stranded travellers home.

UK customers were repatriated as close as possible to their scheduled return dates, booked onto free flights or other scheduled airlines. Some travellers had to book their own

CWhatPhotos from England UK via Wikimedia Commons Happier times: Thomas Cook was once synonymous with family holiday fun

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Plug-in public transport? It's a changing world out there‌ Freelance writer BRENDAN FILIPOVSKI looks to the future of public transport IN 1907, the London Electrobus Company began operating electric double-decker buses in the British capital.

The push reached a peak of 20 vehicles in 1908 and now, more than a century later, the city's famous red buses are going electric once again.

China dominates the world in BEB (battery electric bus) manufacturing with around 95 percent of all buses running on volts rather than fossil fuels.

But Europe is joining the green renaissance.

In 2014, Europe had just 240 electric buses in use; today, it has around 3,500. Orders are also growing (245 in 2015, 408 in 2016, and 1,050 in 2017). Around nine percent of all new buses in Europe are now electric — with electric cars trailing at around two percent.

The growth of electric buses in Europe is being driven by

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Electric vehicles emit 20 times less nitrous oxide policy, falling initial costs, and performance improvements.

Air pollution is the largest single environmental health risk in Europe, leading to around 400,000 premature deaths each year. Traffic is one of the main sources of air pollution in European cities, with road transport the top source of nitrous oxide pollution. It also contributes to global warming; around a quarter of Europe's greenhouse gases pollution comes from transport.

Tightening emission standards for diesel vehicles and the use of catalytic converters has helped, and the move to electric vehicles is a boon.

Electric vehicles emit 20 times less nitrous oxide and four times less particulate matter than internal combustion engines.

The European parliament has passed a law requiring up to 45 percent of all new buses to have zero emissions by 2025, rising to a maximum of 66 percent by 2030 (depending on the size of the country and its GDP).

Some European countries and cities are setting even higher goals. The Netherlands is aiming for 100 percent of new buses to be zero-emission by 2025, Norway and Belgium are going for no less than 100 percent (zero emission or biogas), Paris has settled for 66 percent, and London wants the full 100 percent by 2037.

The EU has also been running

BYD has partnered with Alexander Dennis to supply London with this new Enviro200EV electric bus

large pilot programmes for BEBs to encourage their uptake. The Zero Emission Urban Bus System (ZeEUS) program trialled over 800 buses across 90 European cities between 2013 and 2018; 67 percent of the buses used were BEB. BEBs outcompete sales of electric trolley buses (eight percent of all electric bus orders in 2017), fuel cell electric buses (FCEBs — one percent), and ultracapacitator buses (“capabuses”, still in early trials). BEBs need less infrastructure than electric trolley buses and feature a more mature technology. Hybrid electric buses are not zero emission.

Falling initial costs have also contributed to the growth. BEBs have lower maintenance and operating costs than regular buses but their higher initial cost was prohibitive.

BEBs have a high initial cost because of set-up, battery and charging infrastructure. This is trending down as the technology matures and manufacturers gain scale. The estimated total cost of ownership (TCO) for BEBs is now often less than diesel, hybrid, and gas buses. This will improve over time as battery costs continue to fall (by an estimated 20 percent in 2025).

Improved battery performance is also a plus. BEBs were initially small and used for short journeys

with airports and major sporting events being the prime users. Now the power and range of electric batteries has improved so much that electric articulated buses are being made.

BEBs still have limitations, including poor performance in extreme weather conditions. The US city of Albuquerque recently returned its BEBs and cancelled orders because the range of the vehicles decreased in its warm

LFP batteries generally cost less to produce climate (there were also buildquality issues). Cold weather can also decrease range.

The conversion of existing buses faces several obstacles. The market for new buses is larger than that for conversions. New BEBs take advantage of specifically designed electric drivetrains and batteries, with tailored suspension and lower overall weight thanks to aluminium and carbon fibre. Nor are BEBs suited to all diesel bus routes.

Leading manufacturers, with the Chinese firm BYD, have the largest market share (an estimated 20 percent). It has manufacturing plants in Hungary and France and partnered with Alexander Dennis Limited (the biggest UK bus manufacturer) to supply London.

Dutch firm VDL has supplied around 500 BEBs. Polish-Spanish manufacturer Solaris has supplied 330, with orders for 470: Berlin (90), Madrid (250), and Warsaw (130). Paris has placed an order for 800 BEBs to be delivered by 2025; these buses will be supplied

by Heuliez Bus and French multinationals Bollore, and Alstom. Chinese manufacturer Yutong has sales in Bulgaria, Finland, and Copenhagen.

Sweden's Volvo is focusing on the plug-in hybrid segment.

The most common battery variant used is LFP (lithium-ion phosphate oxide), predominantly made by Chinese manufacturers (CATL, BYD and Guoxuan), which can source most of the raw materials locally. Battery manufacturers outside of China mostly produce NMC (lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, made by LG Chem and Samsung SDI) or NMA (lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide — Panasonic). NMC and NMA are considered less safe than LFP, with a higher risk of explosion, but are more energy-dense, giving

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Helsinki is one of several European cities introducing electric buses

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a longer-range. LFP batteries generally cost less to produce.

The safety of NMC and NMA is expected to improve and with their better energy density, their worldwide share is expected to rise.

The leading manufacturer of lithium batteries for BEBs in Europe is BYD, with around a 75 percent share boosted by sales of its own BEBs. BYD and CATL are looking to establish factories in Europe.

LG Chem and Samsung SDI already have European factories but appear to be more focused on electric cars. BMW, Siemens, and Swedish firm Northvolt recently embarked on a joint venture to build electric batteries for cars, though this could be extended to buses.

The World sales leader in electric batteries for cars, Panasonic, has not yet transferred

its dominance to the BEB sector.

Some BEBs and FCEBs make use of ultracapacitors (also called supercapacitors) to supplement battery power.

Ultracapacitors store energy electrostatically rather than through chemicals. They are up to 60 times more power-dense than batteries, can be charged within minutes and discharge energy quickly.

They are also very stable, have a long lifespan, and do not use harmful chemicals.

Some buses have been developed to use ultracapacitors, but their range is small (around five km). So far, ultracapacitors provide bursts of energy for acceleration, and capture energy from braking.

New developments with the use of carbon and graphene promise to extend the range of ultracapacitors.

If this potential is realised, ultracapacitor buses could displace BEBs as the zero-emission bus of choice.

The leading producers of ultracapacitors are American (Cellergy, Ioxus, and Maxwell) but Europe has two manufacturers: Skeleton Technologies (Estonia) and ZapGo (UK). New solutions come from Skeleton Technologies which has been developing ultracapacitors with graphene while ZapGo has developed a carbon battery.

For further news and photographs from the emerging world of electric vehicles and alternative transport and battery technology, turn to page 110 for EV News Round-up with BV's RICHARD THOMAS

Public transport plug-and-play option for city dwellers

Questions, cryptocurrency, and a lawsuit from the crypt — Wright has to pay $5bn

THE enduring question — Who is Satoshi Nakamoto, inventor of Bitcoin? — may not have been answered, at least in legal terms.

But regardless of Nakamoto's true identity, a US district court has ordered Australian IT security consultant Craig Wright to cough up half of his holdings — 410,000 Bitcoin, worth $5bn — to the estate of programmer David Kleiman.

Kleiman died in 2013, and his estate alleges he and Wright were partners in founding the crypto kingdom in 2009. It has sued Wright, 49, for compensation.

Kleiman's estate says his family is entitled to a share of the Bitcoin that was mined by the pair between 2009 and 2013. Wright denies there was a partnership, but a Florida court has found

in favour of the estate. It ruled that half of the cryptocurrency mined, and half of the intellectual property held by Wright from that time, rightfully belongs to Kleiman.

But it isn't clear how much Bitcoin Wright holds. He has told the court he can't access it anyway, as he doesn't have a list of the relevant public addresses.

He claims to have put the coin he mined in 2009 and 2010 into an encrypted file and a “blind” trust.

The encrypted key was divided into “slices” and distributed —

by Kleiman — to undisclosed recipients via the trust.

Wright says he won't be able to decrypt the file until he gets access to the key from a bonded courier — something that won't happen until January next year. Florida

judge Bruce Reinhart disputed his claims, and said Wright's statements were “inconsistent”, and his tale “inconceivable”.

The judge also described Wright as “belligerent and evasive”. Wright has been investigated by the Australian Taxation Office and the country's federal police.

Judge Reinhart said the court was “not required to decide” whether Wright and Nakamoto are the same person.

He once claimed the pseudonym was his, but later retracted the statement.

If Wright complies with the court order and hands over the 410,000 Bitcoin to Kleiman's estate, the scale of the transfer could have an effect on the cryptocurrency's value.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

The law has come to haunt the world of cryptocurrency

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Flex and the City: London's office space transformation THE FLEXIBLE office market has grown over the past five years, with more than four million square-feet of space leased to flexible office providers in Central London.

A new report from digital office broker Hubble, in partnership with commercial real estate services firm JLL, found that the London market remains fragmented, with some 150 providers offering some form of flex space in 650 locations.

Flexible offices are projected to grow to an 11 percent share of overall office stock in London by 2023. At the end of 2018, flexible offices had a 6.3 percent share of the Central London market (14.7 million sq ft) — and this number is predicted to keep growing.

While Central London is

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generally synonymous with higher rents, and with most private offices costing around £500-800 per-desk each month, there are areas with rents as low as £279. The report looked at areas which have seen the highest demand, increases in price, and where tenants can secure cheaper space.

Temple has seen the greatest increase in cost-per-desk (69 percent) between 2017 and 2018.

The regeneration of Victoria has also been reflected in desk price, with an increase of 30 percent; these two were closely followed

by Hoxton (25 percent) and Marylebone (25 percent).

Also studied were areas where the average London desk price — £495 — can be halved. Prices have decreased in Peckham Rye by nine percent, to a modest average

of £175. Hoxton also provides good value for money with desks costing £298 — although this represents an increase of 25 percent since 2017.

Charing Cross has seen a 23 percent decrease in desk costs, but monthly rates remain more or less in-line with the London average at £534.

Particularly popular are areas such as Waterloo and Southbank.

Prices around London Bridge have risen (up seven percent) despite an increase in supply; neighbouring Borough (up 19 percent) has also started to gain in popularity. Though prices have gone up, businesses appear happy to pay higher rents in return for premium offices in an enviable location.

At Canary Wharf, beacon of

At Canary Wharf, the average monthly desk price fell by six percent in 2018

William Warby via Flickr finding and negotiating the best deal, without compromising on location, is key.”

Elaine Rossall of JLL, said the flexible office market in Central London was by far the most developed in the UK. “The sector has seen its footprint expand rapidly over the five years from

2013,” she said, “increasing by 26 percent per annum, compared to just nine percent per annum in the previous five years.

“We anticipate that the sector will expand further, in response to growth in demand from larger companies and changes to the way we work.”

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

London's financial centre, the average monthly desk price fell by six percent in 2018. While Brexit has caused a number of businesses to relocate, it's possible that businesses are finding Canary Wharf less attractive with the amenities, connections and wider talent pool that central locations can offer. Nevertheless, pricing in the area remains relatively high, and businesses can expect to pay over £600 per month.

The most expensive place to park a desk in the capital is still Bond Street (£850), closely followed by Marble Arch (£800) and Green Park (£781).

Hubble CEO Tushar Agarwal said finding and moving into a new office space was now as simple as booking a hotel room. “It can be done in a matter of weeks,” he said. “Demand for flexible-term contracts has increased. There has also been a big shift in mentality away from focusing simply on ‘getting a good deal' and towards an understanding of the wider impact an office has on a business.

“Fierce competition among flex operators has led to attractive discounts for occupiers, providing an opportunity to move into areas which would previously have been too expensive. In fact, on average, transaction prices were 15 percent below listed prices in 2018 — so

Hubble CEO Tushar Agarwal

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This time it is brain surgery, and steel nano-needles help EMILY REYNOLDS reports on MIT advances in medical applications of this wonder-metal MIT RESEARCHERS have developed a stainless steel nanoneedle device that can administer drugs to specific brain regions measuring less than one cubic millimetre Surgery that precisely targets tiny areas of the body is not new — look at the success and ubiquity of keyhole surgery — but now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have taken this even further.

The team developed a miniaturised system capable of delivering minute quantities of medicine to specific areas of the brain.

The nano needle technique

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Neural device capable of exploring diseases could help treat a range of neurological disorders. “In this research we aimed to bridge the gap between cutting-edge neuroscience research and novel engineered devices,” said professor Canan Dagdeviren, lead author of the research and

lecturer at the university. “(It was achieved) by developing a multifunctional neural device capable of exploring, and eventually treating, Parkinson's disease.”

The device Dagdeviren's team are developing is comprised of several tubes, encased inside a steel needle the width of a human hair. Drugs are then administered through these tubes, allowing precision drug delivery.

Stainless steel is ideal for this technique as it is chemically inert, flexible, non-absorbent and can be sharpened.

Its flexibility means the tubes can bend to reach small areas of the brain, and surgeons can chart

Small, but perfectly formed for a purpose; nano-needles proving a godsend

The needles go into specific areas of the brain to deliver medication

THE END OF SINGLE-USE PLASTICS?

BY LAUREN RAZAVI AS THE backlash against plastic continues, the drinking straw is in drastic need of a redesign. Does a collapsible version made from stainless steel hold the answer?

Billions of plastic drinking straws are discarded daily across the world. In the US alone, upwards of 170 million are used each day.

But a public backlash against single-use plastic has started to gain momentum.

FinalStraw is a start-up based in Santa Barbara, California, and its founders believe they have the solution to this problem. The plastic straw is dead; long live the steel straw The company's alternative device makes use of steel's physical and sustainable properties to create the world's first collapsible metal straw. It's built to last, withstanding up to two folds per day for 15 years.

Because it's collapsible, it's carried easily in a pocket, handbag or as an attachment to car keys. It's available in two colours, stainless or rainbow, and comes with a specially-designed cleaning sponge.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

complex routes through the soft tissue of the brain to adjust for errors in needle trajectory.

There have been trials on rats, with researchers distributing the drug Muscimol to the substantia nigra, an area of the brain that helps control movement.

SIMULATION The trials aimed to simulate the effects of Parkinson's. Despite the substantia nigra's location deep in the brain, the team was able to simulate Parkinson's effects — and to halt them with a saline wash.

Researchers hope that the technology will be developed and used to research other brain disorders, though their current focus is to “explore the underlying mechanisms” of Parkinson's.

“Any brain disorders that can be treated with drug therapy could be explored with this device,” Dagdeviren said. “It could pave the way towards an adaptive, multimodal treatment for neurologic diseases — and eventually revolutionise therapy for patients”.

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Jack Ma

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PEOPLE World Economic Forum / Ben Hider

Jack Ma leaves Alibaba

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ALIBABA chairman Jack Ma is stepping down: is this the end of an era?

Ma co-founded Alibaba — one of the world's biggest internet companies — in the last year of the previous century. The panache he showed in 1999 made him an instant business icon.

The pressure to carry on the vibrancy is on Daniel Zhang, Alibaba's CEO, who replaces Ma as executive chairman.

The company is now valued at £390bn, give or take a penny, and — presumably as a direct result — Ma is China's richest man. That takes some doing, but a net worth of $38.6bn (according to Forbes) makes the cut.

Ma began his career as a teacher, and bought his first computer at the not-sotender age of 33. He had no IT training, and co-founded Alibaba with a group of friends.

Alibaba has grown to be an e-commerce giant, although it was created as a business trading platform. It expanded into e-commerce and then launched the Alipay digital payment platform.

Industry observers credit Ma's charm as part of his success — and charisma can go a long way in business. Alibaba's public stock offering set a new record for the New York exchange.

The businessman is famous / notorious for wearing a Michael Jackson-themed outfit to an Alibaba event in 2017.

Ma, 55, is expected to focus on the areas of philanthropy and education post-Alibaba.

Adam Neumann

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ADAM Neumann served in the Israeli Navy before moving to the US with the aim of making money.

He enrolled at the City University of New York in 2002, but his entrepreneurial spirit won out over his inner student, and he dropped out before graduation to go into business.

After a foray into the baby clothing sector, he teamed up with business partner and architect Miguel McKelvey to create office rental firm WeWork. Neumann recently stepped down as company CEO but remains WeWork's non-executive chairman.

The move comes after WeWork's abortive plans for a stock market listing, with investors raising concerns about losses and governance.

“While our business has never been stronger, in recent weeks, the scrutiny directed toward me has become a significant distraction, and I have decided that it is in the best interest of the company to step down as chief executive,” Neumann said in a statement.

Neumann's wife, Rebekah — a WeWork co-founder — has also accepted a reduced role in the firm.

The board of directors named Artie Minson, former co-president and CFO, and Sebastian Gunningham, former vice-chair, as co-chief executives.

Neumann built WeWork into a vibrant, multi-billion dollar company known for its co-working spaces, slightly boozy culture and an optimistic mission to elevate the world's consciousness.

Neumann's strong personality and hard-partying ways, initially a drawcard, were seen as a liability when WeWork decided to sell its shares on the public market. Reports put the firm's expected valuation at $10bn to $12bn.

Potential investors were disturbed that Neumann had secured personal loans using company stock as collateral, the BBC reported.

The company lost nearly $2bn last year, and WeWork's IPO is expected to be delayed indefinitely.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

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All the rage: Amazon deal for Fleabag creator finding fame

BAKOUNINE / Shutterstock.com

BY HEATHER LEAH SMITH WRITER, producer, and winner of six Emmys, Phoebe WallerBridge is the potty-mouthed Brit taking the entertainment world by storm.

And rave reviews for her production, Fleabag, have prompted Amazon to offer her a deal worth $20m a year to create and produce content. The Londoner achieved transatlantic stardom with her a one-woman play that was produced as a twoseason series backed by BBC Three and Amazon Studios.

The series was nominated for 20 Emmys in the drama and comedy categories. “I'm insanely excited to be continuing my relationship with Amazon,” Waller-Bridge said. “Working with the team on Fleabag was the creative partnership dreams are made of. It really feels like home.

I can't wait to get going!”

The feeling appears to be mutual, with the head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, expressing interest in a third season — although Waller-Bridge insists that's not going to happen. “I'm basically her stalker,” Salke said.

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At Cannes in May

“Nothing would make us happier to bring another season of her show. I'm forever the optimist.”

Waller-Bridge has garnered praise for her edgy content and sharp dialogue, and the rage she often expresses is resonating with audiences. As the #MeToo and #Time'sUp movements continue to swell, she hopes such blatant misogyny will incite not anger, but rage.

“I think rage can be something that motivates and galvanises and changes things, and I think that's what's happening now,” she said.

“It has a forward motion to it.

When I was in my 20s, I used to have these flash rages all the time for, like, five seconds, and then it would pass. And it was always a weirdly positive feeling.

...has offered $20m a year

“I think rage can be harnessed.

I find it exciting in women. That's something that goes through my work, for sure.”

Waller-Bridge has a fascination with complex characters. It wasn't until she found her creative cohort, Vicky Jones, that her career began to take off. The women were mentor and muse to one other, cheerleader and champion. Waller-Bridge rarely speaks of her romances with men, past or present — but she gushes about good girlfriends.

She credits her friendship with Jones as the catalyst: “Everything

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At the Emmys in September began to make sense in my life.”

Killing Eve is another bingeworthy addition to the writer's credit, tempting audiences to explore the dark crevices of flawed-yet-fascinating characters.

It follows an MI5 agent as she hunts — and become gradually obsessed with — a Russian femme fatale.

Waller-Bridge was the producer for the show's first season, but she passed the baton to Emerald Fennell for the second.

“I think hopefully we're going to continue this tradition of handing it on to a different woman every single time,” she said. “That would be really cool, to give other voices in the same story a go. That's what we're going to try and do.”

She expresses optimism as the effects of that rage-in-action begin to show. “Women in entertainment are creating the roles that they want to portray if they can't find them,” she says.

“They're rejecting the passive princess stereotypes of yesterday to become the active agents of their own destiny.

“What's cool is that everyone's really behind each other. There's a real sense of, ‘Come on, we've got to do it together, we've got to change it.”

Rosalind Franklin

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WITH the global consumer genetic testing market worth £53m in 2015 — and expected to rise to £261m by 2022 — businesses specialising in DNA are booming.

It's expanded beyond the ancestry sector and into beauty, health and fitness, and even dating. Some firms in America provide DNA testing for pets so dog owners can pinpoint the exact breed makeup of their four-legged friend.

So let's have a look at where it all began — and specifically at a key but overlooked player, chemist Rosalind Franklin. Her premature death in 1958, at the age of 37, may have deprived her of a Nobel Prize in chemistry, but her contribution to the discovery of the DNA double helix was as great as that of James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins.

Born in Notting Hill, Franklin read Natural Sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge, graduating in 1941. She then joined the University of Cambridge physical chemistry laboratory but, finding the atmosphere lacklustre, she started work on the structure of coal and graphite, earning her PhD in 1945.

At the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'Etat she became an accomplished X-ray crystallographer, publishing several papers on the changes in the arrangement of atoms when coal is converted to graphite.

This led to her being granted a fellowship at King´s College London. She was assigned to work on DNA fibres, and adjusted and refined Wilkins´work. Her directness and impatience are said to have offended the reserved Wilkins.

Franklin then discovered that there were two forms of DNA and named them “B” and “A” . She worked on the “A” form and Wilkins on the “B”. Her team duly created what has been called “arguably the most important photo ever taken,” the celebrated Photo 51, which revealed the helical structure of DNA. When Watson and Crick published their model in April 1953 , she only received a cursory mention.

It has been argued that Franklin is a victim of the “Matilda Effect”: the practice of ascribing women's accomplishments to men. Whether or not she would have shared Nobel glory will never be known — but she deserves her place in science´s hall of fame

Skills gap will hit SMEs as ‘war for talent' intensifies business, followed by Brexit (47 percent). However, a quarter of SMEs (26 percent) said Brexit would have no impact on their skills gap at all, while nearly half (47 percent) said the same about a General Election before 2020.

Business leaders are taking action, and nearly two thirds (63 percent) intend to train and upskill staff. Other measures include hiring permanent staff (42 percent) and hiring temporary staff (27 percent). According to the Salary Guide, 94 percent of CFOs believe they need to develop the resilience of their teams in the current geo-political climate.

CONSTANT CHANGE The combination of constant change and the skills shortage has also led SMEs to explore benefits of a flexible recruitment model.

Seven in ten (70 percent) business leaders believe that change can be successfully managed using a blend of permanent, interim and temporary employees, while three quarters (74 percent) intend to use experienced temporary workers to upskill existing teams.

Matt Weston, Managing Director of Robert Half UK, commented: “The nation is

gripped by the current skills shortage – an issue compounded by increased digitalisation, tightening visa controls and Brexit, and one that threatens the ability of our nation's SMEs to compete on the global stage. The desired skills remain specialist which means those who possess them are in demand. The resulting war for talent could cause even more headaches for SMEs. “Our analysis shows the skills gap can impact the bottom line.

For SMEs, the priority for the next year should be identifying and filling gaps within their organisation, which is why we have put together our Salary Guide to support businesses in closing the gap in 2020. Training and development initiatives, with a focus on upskilling existing staff are the obvious starting point.

At a time when change is the only constant, adaptability and resilience will be the key skills.

“For those looking to hire, SMEs will need to act quickly to secure top talent and adopt a flexible hiring strategy. The solution to the war for talent is a blend of permanent, temporary and interim employees.”

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

UK SMEs face a skills gap that could hit average company revenues by £145,000 in the next year, rising to £318,000 in the next five years.

The difference in skills required and skills possessed by a workforce is a pressing issue for UK businesses. The gap has widened as a result of challenges including a shrinking talent pool due to Brexit, digitalisation and economic influences.

It is affecting the UK's productivity — the lowest in the G7 economies — by stifling innovation and stopping SMEs entering new markets. The skills needed to help close the gap include data analysis and digital skills, as well as softer skills such as resilience, adaptability to change and critical thinking.

This is according to a study commissioned to launch recruitment firm Robert Half's 2020 Salary Guide. It revealed that SMEs are concerned about the potential impact of macroeconomic events on the skills gap in their organisations.

Three in five (59 percent) said that a recession would negatively impact the skills gap in their

The skills gap is stifling innovation and stopping SMEs entering new markets

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Embrace diversity: it's a surefire way to win hearts and flourish in the business world

BY JAMIE MACKENZIE JUST A few years after the Oscars landed in hot water for its allwhite list of nominees, Hollywood has received the message loud and clear.

The biggest films of 2018 featured more diverse leads than ever before, with more than a third of actors coming from under-represented groups. But while the film industry is making strides to diversity and inclusion, the same can't always be said for UK businesses.

Just one in eight of the working-age population is from a black or ethnic minority (BME) background, and only six percent of BME individuals hold senior management roles.

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Diversity matters. Embracing it in the workplace is not just the correct thing to do, it's good for business. Companies that are melting pots of culture, background and ethnicity are seen as more creative, innovative and productive.

Companies in the top quartile for ethnic diversity outperform their competitors by a whopping 35 percent. And when workers feel like their company supports diversity, they are 80 percent more likely to believe they work in a high-performing organisation.

The moral of the story? Make diversity a priority.

Business leaders should look first at hiring policy. Is the job spec aimed at a certain type of

person? Does the description sideline some jobseekers? Almost all of us can be guilty of unconscious bias, and this can have an effect on who we employ.

According to a study by Jaluch, gay and lesbian job seekers are five percent less likely to get an interview than their straight counterparts, an 80 percent of employers admit to making decisions based on regional accents. A study by the University of Oxford found applicants from ethnic minority backgrounds had to send 60 percent more approaches than white applicants to get a positive response.

One way to avoid making snap judgments is “name-blind�

CV-evaluation on the first triage.

work calendar, is a step towards inclusion. Beliefs and culture affect employees, so ensuring they're acknowledged and respected in the workplace creates a positive culture.

Employers should consider hosting workplace events where employees can bring in different foods and showcase cultural and ethnic dress and decorations.

Depending on the needs of the business, it helps to be flexible when it comes to attendance of religious events. Not everyone will want to celebrate Christmas, and those from backgrounds other than Christian might appreciate time off for their own culture's “big day”.

For inclusivity to really take root, the whole business needs to get on board. This is where company-wide diversity training can help. Consultants can be brought in to give employees a better understanding and show

them how to manage their day-today interactions with colleagues.

It can be tough to attract topnotch talent, and even harder to retain them without a culture that is tolerant, flexible and respectful.

Having genuine, open conversations is key — and communication works both ways.

Team leaders need to listen to concerns or questions. If there are culture clashes, don't brush them under the carpet; deal with them.

Diversity and inclusivity is no box-ticking exercise. It's an ongoing process, and it takes some effort. But companies that encourage divergent voices and a culture of respect and acceptance will ultimately produce a happier — and more productive — workforce.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Some recruiters even go as far as removing other personal details, such as school or university, to avoid bias. Using a diverse set of interviewers from different backgrounds and cultures can make a big difference.

But “hiring diverse” is one thing; creating an inclusive workforce is another. This isn't a numbers game, it's about building organisations where all employees feel valued, respected and safe.

If they feel uncomfortable or separate from the team, they'll lose interest.

And when engagement nosedives, so do motivation and productivity.

Employees want to feel they belong, and that means having their voices heard.

Many UK workers don't celebrate Christmas and Easter.

Swotting-up on the different beliefs of staff, and marking important celebrations on the

* Jamie Mackenzie is director of marketing at Sodexo Engage 77

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Protecting a business idea: how to keep brainwaves to yourself in a greedy World ERCAN DEMIRALAY on the problem of intellectual property thieves — and what can be done about it IF YOU have had an idea stolen, you are not alone.

Marconi allegedly nicked the idea of the radio from Tesla; Alexander Graham Bell is said to have bribed a patent officer to be credited for the telephone instead of Elisha Gray; Gordon Gould may have had his laser concept taken

by Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes.

Gould believed he needed a working sample in order to get a patent — and this sort of misapprehension is a common factor of “lost” eureka moments.

New technology and social media have made us more open and carefree than ever. We tell

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anyone who will listen (or has no choice but to listen) about our lives, breakthroughs and brainchildren. So we should perhaps not be surprised that entrepreneurs regularly have their business ideas stolen. It may even be unintentional — but the ramifications can be vast.

Preventing theft is more agreeable than reacting once it has happened. Playing catch-up after the event is more difficult than planning proactively.

When it comes to theft prevention, some established safety measures can be put in place. Think trademarks, patents, and copyright. A business that

uses any of these solutions is in a potentially strong position. But implementing these measures can be time-consuming. Here are some other options: Non-compete agreement – It is important that you ask all employees to sign a non-compete contract. This prevents them from starting any business that might rival or impede yours.

Non-disclosure agreement – Similar to the non-compete, asking all third parties who have worked/are working on your idea to sign an NDA is an absolute must. This includes everyone from packaging companies, industrial designers and marketing

not, legal action may be necessary.

This will be a costly distraction that soaks up money, time and energy. If it can be settled without involving third parties, so much the better.

Once the dispute has been settled — in or out of court — there are three things that you must take on board: learn from this experience, keep your idea, and move on.

SHARING WITH TRUST You must put plans in place to stop it happening again. Though it is tempting to share your concept with anyone willing to listen, it is preferable to share it only with those you trust.

Although the process and concept may seem useless to you now, this isn't necessarily the case. The only thing that has been taken is the idea itself, so retain your strategy for bringing the concept to market.

And having your idea stolen does not mean you can't launch it. It is still your creation, and there are plenty of second-tomarket success stories. As Alex Chesterman, the founder at

Zoopla and Cazoo (a UK version of US used car website Carvana) said: “If you are innovating, you'll spend more and make more mistakes. Your chances of success go up when you are copying something.”

If the process has left you feeling less passionate about your vision, you can just walk away.

Starting again isn't for everyone, but don't feel embarrassed if this is the avenue you take. You can start a new project, or find a different market.

The entrepreneurial spirit is not in everyone, so pick yourself up and come back stronger second time around.

On a positive note, idea theft means that someone thought your idea was worth stealing.

Protect your concepts and proactively plan against them being taken.

Appropriate procedures and protocols minimise the risk.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

companies, through to web designers, graphic designers and PR agencies. By doing this, they are bound by confidentiality, and are not able to talk about the idea.

Be wary of an expiry date; not having one might be preferable.

Work-for-hire agreement – If you have people helping you improve your idea or product, make sure that you have it in writing that all advancements come under your ownership.

There are certain situations that complicate matters. You might not have been aware protection was necessary, or forgot to do look into it in the excitement. If no protection measures have been put in place and your idea is taken, there are some things to consider.

First: do not confront the person/s involved in anger. Make sure you are thinking rationally and calmly. Then contact them, and ask to discuss the issue in person.

This could be the point where you find out that it has all been a misunderstanding — in which case it can be resolved cordially. If

* Ercan Demiralay is a partner at Wellers accountancy firm 79

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Cash isn't dead yet — but recent report warns that its days as king are numbered Remember jingling coins in your pocket, and folding crisp banknotes into your wallet or purse? According to studies, pretty soon all you’ll be able to do is remember…

THE UK's cash infrastructure is heading for virtual extinction — and millions of Brits will be left struggling to cope in the emerging cashless society.

Britons are increasingly turning to digital payments, hot on the heels of the Swedes — who make 59 percent of consumer transactions via noncash methods. As a result, bank branches and ATMs are closing, and not everyone is prepared to make the leap.

The Access To Cash Review was funded by cash machine network Link, but is independent.

It was chaired by the former head of the Financial Ombudsman Service Natalie Ceeney, and other contributors include the former executive director of the consumer group Which?, Richard Lloyd.

Organisations providing “essential” services should ensure

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that consumers can continue to pay by cash, the review urges.

Government and financial services regulators must ensure that cash remains viable for “as long as people need it”.

Ceeney estimates that more than eight million adults — 17 percent of the population, especially elderly and rural residents — will battle to master a cashless society. But the tide has already turned, the report notes.

Debit cards have for the first time officially overtaken cash as the most popular form of payment in Britain — and that trend is likely to continue. Only a third of payments in 2017 were made with “folding”. The Access To Cash Review predicts that just 10 percent of all payments will be made in cash within the next 15 years.

A spokesman for the review said running the UK's cash system

was costing about £5bn a year for ATMs and cash-sorting centres.

This has pushed some retailers to go down the cashless route; with declining income factoredin, the situation has become “unsustainable”.

The risk is of a “disorderly collapse” with no effective infrastructure to step into the breach. “ATMs won't get filled, cash deposits won't get counted, and we won't trust the value of money,” the report says.

The amount of cash withdrawn from the remaining ATMs is falling, and Which? estimates that 300 of the machines are closed each month. Millions of people still choose cash for daily transactions, and fears for the security of a fully digital system prevent many from making the switch.

The element of choice is swiftly retreating, the report warns.

Millions of Brits will be left struggling to cope in the emerging cashless society

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Seven-fold increase in VC funding is lighting the blue touchpaper for AI sector IN 2014, the UK's AI sector attracted $200m in venture capital funding. This year? So far, $1.3bn.

That's a seven-fold increase in five years.

AI has swiftly infiltrated businesses and industries with promises of a productivity boost, and an opportunity to generate products and services. Optimistic estimates predict 133 million new roles, globally, and more than 10.5 million jobs in the UK. Job vacancies have increased from 445 in 2015 to more than 4,000 estimated this year — an 897 percent hike.

For 2019, vacancies are on track to grow by 37 percent.

The findings come from a new report commissioned by recruitment agency Robert Walters and market analysis experts Vacancy Soft.

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Robert Walters principal Ollie Sexton said businesses were exploring the technology's potential — and wondering how they could tap into it. “We're seeing the emergence of a new niche sector within the technology industry of specialist companies dedicated just to AI.” Tom Chambers, of Robert Walters, said what was once an obscure niche now had “hundreds of technology businesses actively recruiting for specialists in developing AI algorithms”.

Demand was currently outstripping supply, he added.

The report highlights substantial growth in specialist positions, including machine learning, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), geospatial analysis, AI research, and applied data science vacancies.

The effect on job vacancies has been remarkble. Positions have jumped by more than 3,500 in the space of just a few years, from less than 500 in 2015 to more than 4,000 in 2019. A hike of almost 900 percent is not to be sniffed at — and those vacancies are expected to keep on growing.

Tom Chambers said AI was having a huge impact on investment as businesses cater for real-time decision making, from facial recognition on smartphones and driverless vehicles responding to road conditions in real-time to instantaneous medical imaging.

“On the one hand, Brexit threatens the freedom of movement necessary for businesses to attract people from across the continent,” he said.

“On the other, (Boris Johnson) has stated that the

No need to fear that robots will steal your job — at least not yet

Top AI investors: Agriculture Business Support Customer Experience Energy Healthcare Intellectual Property IT Service Management Manufacturing Technical Support Retail 1. Graphcore

£244m

2. Darktrace

£173m

3. Benevolentai

£136m

4. Behavox

£74m

5. Roborace

£66m

6. Babylon

£64m

7. Featurespace

£54m

8. Tessian

£44m

9. Complyadvantage

£38m

10. Patsnap

£38m

Ones to Watch: Total Funding for the UK’s Top AI Start-ups

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DRIVING NEXT GENERATION OF JOBS IN UK INDUSTRY's uptake of artificial intelligence will drastically change the employment market, but not in the way many fear: 133 million new jobs are expected to be created.

In the UK, up to a third of jobs will become automated or likely to change as a result of the emergence of AI, affecting more than 10 million workers. The findings come from a new report — Harnessing The Power Of AI: The Demand For Future Skills — from recruitment agency Robert Walters and market analysis firm Vacancy Soft.

Ollie Sexton, Principal at Robert Walters said there was increasing pressure on data capture and integration processes. “As a result, we have seen an unprecedented number of roles being created with data skill-set at their core,” he said. “Since 2015, the volume of data created worldwide has more than doubled – increasing by an average of 28 percent year-on-year.

“Now is the perfect time to start honing UK talent for the next generation of AI-influenced jobs… What we are at risk of is a shortage of talent and skills.”

GLOBAL ENTITIES Data management appears to be the fastest growing area in large or global entities, with volumes increasing tenfold in three years — a 160 percent increase in vacancies since 2015. Data roles have increased across the board — by 80 percent since 2015 — with key growth areas for data scientists and engineers.

Data scientist is becoming a mainstream profession, with job vacancies increasing by a staggering 110 percent year-on-year. Data engineers have seen job growth increase by an average of 86 percent year-on-year.

The rise of cybercrime has resulted in professional services, particularly within banking and financial services, hiring aggressively since 2016. Vacancies in all areas have increased year-on-year.

The top Industries investing in AI are Agriculture, Business Support, Customer Experience, Energy, Healthcare, Intellectual Property, IT Service Management, Manufacturing, Technical Support, Retail and Software Development.

Tom Chambers, manager of Advanced Analytics and Engineering at Robert Walters, said the uptake of AI is bringing about rapid change. We are seeing retail, professional services and technology industries' strive to develop digital products and services that are digitally engaging, secure and instantaneous for the customer.”

This has led to “waves of recruitment” of professionals skilled in implementing, monitoring and gaining the desired output from facial recognition, check-out-free retail and computer vision.

“AI is making huge breakthroughs in the healthcare industry,” he added, “with the power to replace the need for human, expert diagnoses. Businesses that are prepared to invest heavily in AI and data analytics … are already outperforming their competitors.”

What's your experience of AI? Is your workspace being invaded by bots?

Drop us a line and tell us about your workplace experience.

Address all correspondence to the editor: hw@bv.world

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

policy of the government will be to make it as easy as possible for business to attract the scientists and engineers needed to keep the UK at the forefront of research and development.”

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A star business is born ‌ now stay grounded and hold tight for the rest of the process ROSS ANDREWS shares insights on strategies owner-managers should adopt to grow and scale their businesses ONCE a business has gained traction and is making a profit, the credibility of its original idea has been proven.

It is at this point that owners need to shift to a growth mindset.

Scaling-up can take many different forms: taking on more employees, moving to bigger premises, making investments, or building towards a future sale. There are some things that must, at this stage, be taken into consideration.

Firstly, revisit the business plan. Time and effort have gone into creating a commercially viable entity. It's all about reactive product/service fit based on the needs and wants of customers. But that isn't the overarching strategy, and it's time to change tack.

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Set smart goals or growth can’t be tracked With plenty of customers on board, the emphasis now has to be on retaining them by delivering an excellent service and, experience.

Repeat customers who purchase more over time is a key sign of success in any business.

To achieve this and turn your start-up into a growing business, you'll need a clear business strategy with a vision, mission

and sales objectives, working to a longer time frame of, say, five plus years. A plan for implementation is also critical; businesses without one may find themselves without, for example, the people, distribution partners or resources to deliver the vision.

It is also important that you set smart goals; growth can't be tracked if there are no measurables for the success.

Having perhaps raised capital in the start-up phase to get the business off the ground, making investments might feel familiar.

All options should be carefully researched.

Whether its self-funding, a business grant or crowdfunding, the final decision about finance needs to be considered alongside

Strategy is important in any game, including business

VIAVAL / Shutterstock.com

the business structure and needs.

How the business is protected is also crucial. Remember, the bigger a business grows, the fewer tax breaks are available.

This should be factored into the financial planning to ensure there are no surprises down the line.

It is impossible to do everything yourself (even if that's the “only way to get it done properly”) — so concentrate on the team. If you take care of your employees, if you up-skill and reward them, then they will look after customers and help the business expand. Organisations with great customer service records, such as Southwest Airlines, often achieve it by creating a culture and values that employees bought into.

Part of the planning process should include clear consideration of the roles and responsibilities of the owner and employees.

Whatever the role, whether sales and marketing, managing key customer relationships or focusing on business management, getting the right team in place is crucial to the process.

Employees are the nerve centre of an enterprise and as an organisation grows it is important that core values are maintained.

In the early stages hiring mistakes may be made, but these can yield important lessons.

When hiring, it is more important to look for an employee who shares the same values and will fit into the company philosophy rather than having all the necessary skills. The reasoning is that aptitude can be developed through training, whereas attitude can't.

And the team needed in year one is not necessarily the same as the team needed in year five.

New skills will be called upon at different stages and new job roles will be created.

It is also important that the business still runs smoothly when no owner-manager is present.

This shows that there is a team is in place to perform vital tasks, and increases the value of the business at the point of sale.

Healthy cash flow is the sign of a healthy business. It is important

that margins are regularly checked so that costs can be reduced, or prices altered when needed. Forward planning is key to ensuring the business doesn't run out of money and external factors, such as the current political climate — Brexit, for example — should be considered.

Effective and careful financial management ensures meaningful forecasts are produced showing what cashflow will look like not just today, but in six months' time.

For this, having an effective back office finance team, or a great accounting firm, is crucial.

The growth phase of a business is a different landscape to the start-up phase. The groundwork has been laid and the focus needs to change from making more sales and managing crises that require immediate attention. It's about long-term planning to build an effective business for sustained growth.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Southwest Airlines’ enviable record for customer service is no coincidence

* Ross Andrews is a partner at Wellers accountancy firm 85

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Dads left behind when it comes to parental leave HR director EMMA YEARWOOD suggests that companies should go ‘one step beyond’ when it comes to gender equality OF THE 200 large UK companies surveyed for its latest report, Equileap has revealed that only three offered equal parental leave for mothers and fathers.

Maybe that's why a study from Deloitte consultancy found that only 56 per cent of new dads believe that they're treated equally to mothers in the workplaces – and 37 per cent say their mental health is affected by the need to juggle work and parental responsibilities.

While the UK has one of the best maternity leave policies in the world, it still has a lot of work to do to ensure fathers are treated equally, and have access to same level of workplace support as mothers.

In 2015, the British government announced Shared Parental Leave, which allows working parents to share

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responsibility for caring of their children. But in 2018, less than two per cent of eligible parents took part in the scheme.

There are many reasons for this, including the fact that it doesn't make financial sense for some families. The system currently offers 38 weeks of shared parental pay at £145.18 a week — but the remaining 12 weeks are unpaid.

On the flipside, statutory maternity pay provides 90 percent of the mother's pay for six weeks.

Current laws are doing little to even-up the playing field. Two men recently brought a case to the UK's Court of Appeal, claiming that being denied the same pay as a new mother in their position constituted sex discrimination (they were unsuccessful).

Employers should strive to go beyond the legal requirements

— especially if they want to protect their employees' wellbeing. Offering support for both mothers and fathers could promote higher productivity, increased team morale, better employee-retention, and more effective recruitment.

There are a lot of myths around shared parental leave that need to be addressed. Many fathers feel that their careers could be affected by taking time off, which isn't necessarily the case. Employers should be actively encouraging discussion with employees to remind them that taking shared leave is normal, and expected in many cases.

Businesses can also lead by example by encouraging senior staff to share their stories and act as role models for the rest of the team. This should prove that someone can take time off and

pxl.store / Shutterstock.com still be a success in the workplace.

Another aspect of this is education. Do employees have easy access to the information they need when it comes to shared parental leave? Are they aware of their entitlements? Educating staff via email, letter or online portals can get the message across.

Studies have shown that a flexible, family-friendly working environment can enhance

employee satisfaction.

With so many recent technological advances entering the workplace, flexible working is easier than ever. Whether it's working from home on selected days or having flexible working hours, mothers and fathers should both be able to work in a way that fits their family obligations.

Having a baby means physical and emotional upheaval, which

results in life-adjustment for both parents. Companies have a duty to create a culture that promotes gender equality.

To ensure the happiness, productivity and wellbeing of the workforce, employers will need to be supportive, provide some form of help with childcare — and go beyond what's required by law. * Emma Yearwood is director of HR at Sodexo Exchange.

THE UK's Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has taken a further step in its commitment to gender balance.

It is supporting an increase in women in enterprise. Its FSB Business Banking service (provided by the Co-operative Bank) was one of the first signatories of the Investing in Women code, launched at a recent reception in Downing Street.

The code represents an important commitment to supporting female entrepreneurship in the UK by improving women's access to the advice, resources and finance needed to build a business, with many banks and venture capital firms signalling their support.

This comes after a recent FSB report revealed that women are increasingly becoming the job creators and growth drivers within enterprise.

The report, Supporting Women's Enterprise in the UK, shows that female-owned businesses now

contribute £105bn to the UK economy (analysing data from 2012 – 2015). But women still face a number of barriers to entrepreneurship, a significant one of which is access to finance.

FSB CEO Julie Lilley said developing and supporting women's enterprise was critically important for the UK's economic prosperity.

“Increasing access to finance for women entrepreneurs is key,” she said, describing the code as “another step in the right direction”.

The Investing in Women code comes after an independent review — commissioned by the Treasury and headed by Alison Rose, deputy CEO of NatWest — identified barriers faced by female entrepreneurs and what could be done to overcome them.

The Rose Review found that only one in three entrepreneurs are women, and that businesses run by women are on average half the size of firms led by men.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

GENDER BALANCE ‘VITAL TO BOOST UK ECONOMY’

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Pulling a sickie, or genuinely ill? If it's the latter, company action protects staff morale OVER the past two years, twofifths of UK businesses have had employees absent for more than four weeks due to ill health.

The figures come from research undertaken by the British Chambers of Commerce and Unum; 1,000 businesses of all sizes, across all sectors, were surveyed.

The overriding impacts of staff absences are operational, but they also have an affect staff morale. Of those surveyed in the business-to-consumer sector — which includes retail, catering and hotels — 93 percent reported operational impacts, and 85 percent felt absences affected morale.

Respondents also reported financial and reputational impacts. Most businesses surveyed recognised the importance of

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Many firms already take proactive steps supporting employee health and wellbeing, with 62 percent offering support, private medical insurance, occupational support services and lifestyle benefits such as gym membership and cycle-towork schemes.

More than 40 percent believe benefits such as income protection insurance and critical illness cover could, or do, help them to attract and retain employees. This figure rises to 52 percent for larger companies with more than 50 employees.

The government is consulting on proposals to prevent healthrelated job-loss, which will require businesses to take a more proactive role.

The return-to-work process can be difficult for employers to manage. They would benefit from financial support and guidance to help them invest in prevention and management of healthrelated absences.

British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) head of people policy, Jane Gratton, said staff constituted “the most important asset of any business”.

“Many firms already take proactive steps to support the physical and mental wellbeing of staff,” she said, “and, when they have the capacity and resources, will offer a range of information, services and benefits.

to both support their people as much as possible and manage the negative impact on their business.”

He said that evaluation of problems facing SMEs showed that fast access to key medical services

would bring tangible benefits.

Unum has launched the help@ hand app, a service to provide employees and their families with access to GPs, second opinions, physiotherapy and mental health support.

JOB-HOPPING WORKERS THREE in 10 UK office workers are considering moving jobs in the next year, driven by the quest for work-life balance, higher salaries and flexible working hours.

The current war for talent is also a contributing factor, according to the study by recruitment consultancy Robert Half UK. This is especially true of technical areas such as software development and cybersecurity, and employees are bullish about their future prospects.

A third believe their skillset will be more desirable in coming months; the same number believe they will receive multiple job offers with competitive salaries.

The three biggest factors cited as reasons for leaving were the desire for a better work-life balance (39 percent), higher remuneration (38 percent) and flexible working hours (32 percent).

But reasons vary across the age groups: Younger workers are as likely to leave their current role to advance their career as they are to achieve a better work-life balance (41 percent). Those aged 16 to 24 are most likely to job-hop, with two in five (38 percent) considering a switch, compared with 28 percent of those aged over 35.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

“Maintaining employees' health and resilience is always the best option.”

It was in everyone's best interests to support the back-towork process, she added. “But managing sickness absenteeism can be difficult and expensive for businesses, especially smaller firms who don't have access to specialist in-house HR services.”

Employers need access to affordable services to help them support their staff, Gratton said, along with clear, up-todate information and guidance on rights and responsibilities.

“The BCC is calling for any additional statutory payment to be reimbursed or off-set in some way, to reflect the extent to which firms are already struggling with the cumulative cost of employment.”

Peter O'Donnell, CEO at Unum UK, said sickness absence had a major impact on businesses of all sizes and across all sectors.

“It's vital that employers prioritise the health and wellbeing of their workforce,” he said.

“Coping with illness can be very hard for employees and their families and good employers want

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.W O R L D Awards 2019 Autumn announcement highlights

AN INVITATION TO VOTE Readers are cordially invited to vote in the Business Vision (BV) Awards Programme.

BV seeks out candidates with outstanding corporate achievements but all eventual winners will have convinced the judging panel that they have the vision to maintain and build on their success well into the future.

Visit our website www.bv.world/awards to place your vote or email us at award@bv.world We will send you a copy of the nomination form.

The information you provide will be used by the BV judging panel but not shared with third parties. As a small token of our thanks you will be entered in a free draw for a one-year complimentary subscription.

No vote is wasted. Your recommendation will receive our full attention.

WWF — Outstanding Contribution to Global Wilderness Preservation | 2019 PEOPLE are at the root of nature's problems: think climate change, pollution, and rampant species extinctions. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) understands that for conservation to be sustainable, it must first be embraced by local communities. When deforesting threatened India's endangered red pandas, the WWF trained locals to make and install efficient cookstoves that require less wood fodder while reducing cooking times and indoor air pollution. WWF works on long-term solutions, tackling six ambitious goals with a human-centric attitude. This integrated approach to conservation includes forestry, marine, freshwater, wildlife, food, and climate. It influences policy, increases awareness, and calls for action — from the grassroots to the global. With one million supporters and partnerships and projects in over 100 countries, the BV judging panel has no hesitation in presenting WWF with the 2019 Outstanding Contribution to Global Wilderness Preservation award.

Emirates NBD — Most Innovative Bank Savings Plans | UAE 2019

Qatar Airways — Best Flag Carrier | GCC 2019

QATAR Airways is renowned worldwide as an airline that prioritises quality and attention to detail. Founded in 1997, Qatar Airways maintains an expanding fleet of young aircraft with an average age of about five years, operating a mix of short, medium, and long-haul international routes to connect over 160 destinations daily. The airline's fleet of diverse aircraft enables it to match capacity with demand, which has helped curb operating costs as well as CO2 emissions. Qatar Airways has experienced strong growth despite challenging obstacles thanks to a disciplined team of professionals, an efficient fleet, and a coordinated focus on customer experience. The BV judging panel applauds the airline's unparalleled business class services, taking exclusivity to new heights for a custom-crafted experience. The judges declare Qatar Airways as the winner of the 2019 award for Best Flag Carrier (GCC).

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

FOUNDED in 1963 as the first national bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), our winner has become an engine of innovation. Emirates NBD takes banking to the next level and encourages fiscal responsibility with 17 unique accounts that make savings fun and functional. Fun options include a fitness account that rewards healthy lifestyles and a Manchester United account that boosts interest every time a goal's scored. Others offer hassle-free convenience and functionality, like the Currency Passport, and Gold Savings Certificates.

Emirates NBD boasts a sophisticated mobile platform, with extra features such as mobile queuing for branch visits and remote scanning and depositing of cheques. In recognition of its tireless efforts to ensure savings are never dull, the BV judging panel presents Emirates NBD with the 2019 Most Innovative Bank Savings Plans (UAE) award.

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Cogebanque — Best Social Impact Bank | Rwanda 2019 COMPAGNIE Générale de Banque, or Cogebanque, is a proudly Made in Rwanda bank. Owned by and operating for the local Rwandan market.

Cogebanque obtained its banking license in 1999 and began operating from a single branch and FrW1.2bn in assets. In the last two decades, it has grown into a diversified financial solutions delivery channel with more than 600 agents, 27 branches, and FrW201bn in assets.

A revised recruitment and retention programme ensures top talent joins the Cogebanque team — and stays.

People are a driving motivator for the Bank, and it strives to establish mutually beneficial relationships with all stakeholders.

Since 2015, Cogebanque has allocated some FrW291m to social responsibility initiatives covering education, healthcare, sports, social welfare, and highly poignant advocacy for genocide awareness.

The BV judging panel applauds the Bank's product line-up, including business loans to support SMEs and savings accounts to increase financial inclusion.

The judges name Cogebanque as the 2019 winner of the award for Best Social Impact Bank (Rwanda).

Zee Learn — Outstanding Contribution to Quality Education | India 2019 INDIA'S leading educational service provider, Zee Learn Ltd., has proved that an inspiring environment and focused attention can ignite a child's imagination. It prepares young students with 21st Century skills to become true global citizens. Zee Learn runs close to 130 K-12 schools namely Mount Litera Zee School and operates Asia's largest preschool chain - Kidzee with over 2000 centers Pan India. Zee Learn provides students with a solid social and academic framework that encourages life-long learning. It uses technology to expand and extend educational opportunities, even in rural and remote areas. Students seeking creative professions can attend Zee Institute of Media Arts, offering courses in film & television or Zee Institute of Creative Art programmes, available in 15 cities, teaching Animation, VFX & Design. With the recent acquisition of MT Educare, Zee Learn has a strong presence in supplementary education offering coaching through test prep/tutorials at pan India level. The BV judging panel gives top marks to Zee Learn, winner of the 2019 award for Outstanding Contribution to Quality Education (India).

Qatar National Bank — Best Socio-Economic Impact Bank | Qatar 2019

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QATAR National Bank (QNB) was established in 1964 as the first state-owned commercial bank of the country, with the Qatar Investment Authority holding the majority stake. Today, QNB Group operations stretch across three continents and 31 countries, and at the end of September, net profits topped $3.1b.

The group's consistently strong financial performance has afforded it the highest vote of confidence from international credit agencies. QNB is always delighted to deliver on increasing demands for sustainable solutions. The bank considers environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to develop sustainable finance solutions that are profitable and purposeful. The Beyond Banking initiative puts its corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles into action with strategic community investments and socio-economic development. The BV judging panel commends the group's contributions to increasing financial literacy, and awards Qatar National Bank the 2019 distinction of Best Socio-Economic Impact Bank (Qatar).

BIAT (Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie) — Best Banking Management Team | Tunisia 2019

MORE than just a bank, Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie (BIAT) spurs the economic and social development of clients and country. BIAT meets the universal banking needs of its customers — from individuals and SMEs to corporations and financial institutions — through a nationwide network of more than 200 branches and 2,000 employees, all unified under the principles of good governance and CSR. The BIAT Foundation for Tunisian Youth articulates and actuates its civic and community commitments, while the group's management structure establishes checks and balances between its governing executives, board members and specialised committees. BIAT has captured key segments of Tunisia's financial markets, with subsidiaries providing insurance, asset management, private equity, stock market intermediation, and consulting services. In recognition of the group's sustainable performance and partnerships, the BV judging panel presents Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie with the 2019 award for Best Banking Management Team (Tunisia).

Emirates Islamic Bank — Most Innovative Islamic Retail Bank | GCC 2019

China Construction Bank — Most Visionary Corporate Banking Team | Asia 2019

FOUNDED in 1954, China Construction Bank (CCB) is a titan of Tier 1 capital, ranking second among global financial institutions. The bank has a presence in 29 countries with some 345,000 team members serving hundreds of millions of private and corporate clients. CCB's focus on consistency and compliance have delivered steady growth, stable assets and a good capital adequacy ratio. CCB closed 2018 with a market capitalisation of $174bn, ranking fifth worldwide. The Beijing-based bank has implemented strategies designed to stimulate and support small industries and enterprises. Fintech has been a driving force of financial inclusion for the bank, promoting optimised products such as SME quick loans, cloud tax loans, collateralised fast loans, and account clouds. The BV judging panel declares China Construction Bank as the winner of the 2019 award for the Most Visionary Corporate Banking Team (Asia).

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

ISLAMIC banking uses a lending scheme based on shared profits and losses. Emirates Islamic Bank understands that innovative Sharia-compliant financial products can create more equitable wealth distribution and increase financial inclusion. The UAE-based bank has a network of more than 50 branches offering a range of personal and commercial financial products to meet customer needs. Emirates Islamic Bank develops products and services that are based on the principles of Islam and designed to enrich customers' lives.

The BV judging panel cited the bank's multi-channel digital and analogue platform as a deciding factor in declaring Emirates Islamic as the winner of the 2019 award for Most Innovative Islamic Retail Bank (GCC).

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Duolingo — Most Innovative Language Education Platform | Global 2019

DUOLINGO is the learning platform that makes language studies fun and effective. The company´s roots can be traced back to Carnegie Mellon University, where Professor Luis von Ahn (Duolingo CEO) and his graduate student Severin Hacker (Duolingo CTO) pondered the transformative power of free education.

The two tech gurus created a free science-based language education platform that provides a private tutor experience through technology — and has amassed more than 300 million worldwide learners. Students can choose from over 30 languages, from popular choices like Spanish and French to more obscure obsessions like High Valyrian and Klingon. Addictive gamification strategies and research-backed learning principles have led Duolingo to become one of the most widely downloaded — and actively used — educational apps.

In salute to the potential polyglots of the world, the BV judging panel names Duolingo as recipient of the 2019 global award for Most Innovative Language Education Platform.

Itaú Unibanco — Best Bank Governance | Brazil 2019 WITH a presence in three continents and 90,000 professionals on staff, Itaú Unibanco supports economic and social development by stimulating the transformative power of people. Across diverse languages and cultures, the Itaú Unibanco team acts as a unified corporate entity with shared goals. The bank has found that good corporate governance practices facilitate access to capital while affording a value-added edge that contributes to longevity. Itaú Unibanco's comprehensive governance code details its commitments and six strategic priorities: customer centricity, digital transformation, people management, risk management, sustainable development, and internationalisation. The bank has made headway honouring its commitments, with inclusion in international trading indices of equality and sustainability. Last year, Itaú Unibanco welcomed the first woman to its board of directors — the first of many, it expects. The BV judging panel applauds the bank's ethical ethos and presents Itaú Unibanco with the 2019 Best Bank Governance (Brazil) award.

CaixaBank — Best Retail Bank | Spain 2019

CAIXABANK'S 37,500 employees and 5,000 branches champion clients' financial wellbeing and drive social progress. The bank brings solutions to each client profile, with a robust suite of products. Retail customers access CaixaBank services through the expansive branch network, some 10,000 ATMs, and the omnichannel digital platform. Over half of Caixa clients take advantage of its digital platform to seek solutions in financing, security, and protection. As one of Spain's top lenders, CaixaBank provides the financing that fuels dreams and accelerates innovation. The BV judging panel recognises CaixaBank as winner of the 2019 Best Retail Bank (Spain) award.

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Holdun Family Office — Best Multi-Family Office | Caribbean 2019 HOLDUN Family Office has a legacy of well-preserved prosperity stretching back almost 150 years. The Bahamas-based firm focuses on conserving and cultivating wealth over the long term, but its performance in 2019 highlights its ability to deliver short-term benchmarks as well. The Holdun Family Portfolio, which celebrates its 30th anniversary next January, has consistently outperformed the market through constant innovation and smart tactics to minimise the effects of market volatility.

Holdun's Income and Opportunity Funds are boasting strong three-year returns, and this year a niche closed-ended product, the Holdun Real Estate Fund, was launched. The fund invests in US medical recovery centres with single-tenant, 10year leases that offer stability and bring impressive yields. The Holt Accelerator, launched in 2017, has since received over 1,000 applications from 75 countries, in which the top 20 teams (two percent) have so far been accepted into its programmes.

The BV judging panel recognises Holdun Family Office, for the third consecutive year, as the winner of the Best Multi-Family Office (Caribbean) award.

Growthpoint Properties — Best Green Workspace Solutions | South Africa 2019

NamPost Savings Bank — Best Sustainable Financial Services Provider | Namibia 2019 NAMIBIA has made great strides towards financial inclusion and now ranks fourth of the 16 countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). And NamPost Savings Bank is driving that agenda. The state-owned savings bank is a division of the Post Office that is championing inclusion.

The NamPost network covers the country with convenient branches offering postal, financial, and logistics solutions to keep clients connected and the cash flowing. Half of Namibia´s pensioners receive their payments through NamPost. The bank helps government hit its inclusion targets by bringing credit and insurance products to people in rural areas who were previously unbanked. Through good governance and strategic tech investments, NamPost sustains a competitive edge and delivers respectable returns. The BV judging panel declares NamPost Savings Bank as worthy winner of the 2019 Best Sustainable Financial Services Provider (Namibia) award.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

WHETHER the metrics of capital returns or operating costs are applied, sustainability makes sound financial sense. South Africa's Growthpoint Properties has crafted a portfolio that aims to do well by doing good.

The company operates as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), providing renters with space to thrive and keeping shareholders happy with a 16-year record of uninterrupted dividend growth. Growthpoint's property assets and offshore holdings are valued at $9bn, including rental properties throughout South Africa. Growthpoint has invested more than $2m in water-saving initiatives and $9m in solar projects, and its properties have been accredited by the country's Green Building Council. Most have been granted fourstar ratings, and that certification is expected to apply across its entire portfolio by 2020. For its outstanding environmental innovation and leadership, the BV judging panel declares Growthpoint Properties winner of the 2019 award for Best Green Workspace Solutions (South Africa).

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Sight Diagnostics — Most Innovative Diagnostic Solutions | Middle East 2019

FASTER diagnosis leads to faster treatment, and Sight Diagnostics slashes the turnaround for lab results from days to minutes. The Tel Aviv company is a trailblazer of biotech, developing a desktop device that uses machine vision and AI techniques to create lab-quality analysis from only a pinprick of blood. Point-of-care providers prepare samples in a fool-proof, self-contained consumable, using an innovative and patented monolayer-cell technology. Founded in 2011, Sight launched a breakthrough solution for Malaria detection called Parasight and has shipped over 600,000 test kits to 24 countries across Asia, Africa, and Europe. Sight's latest diagnostic system — called Olo — is certified according to EU health and safety standards, and fresh series C financing to the tune of $27.8m will continue to fuel its research and expansion efforts. The BV judging panel congratulates Sight Diagnostics, the winner of the 2019 Most Innovative Diagnostic Solutions (Middle East) award.

P&G — Best ESG-Responsible Executive Team | United States 2019 WITH operations in 70 countries and a consumer base of five billion, P&G leverages its full force for good and for growth. The executive team steers the company with a North Star that unerringly points towards environmental, social, and governance (ESG) responsibility. P&G collaborative partnerships ensure that human rights are protected, and environmental resources are used responsibly. The company maintains high ethical standards and uses its dominant global position to influence its entire stakeholder network — from supply chain to consumer. P&G made headlines for creating the world's first recyclable shampoo bottle from recovered beach plastic and has almost reached its 2030 goal of using only recyclable or reusable packaging.

Although the P&G leadership team already has a marked female presence, its 2030 quest is for equal representation. The BV judges present P&G with the 2019 Best ESG-Responsible Executive Team (United States) award.

Groupe BPCE — Best Banking CSR | France 2019

WITH a workforce of 105,000, customer base of 30 million, and a presence in more than 40 countries, Groupe BPCE is the second-largest banking group in France. It approaches corporate social responsibility (CSR) with a commitment to customers, employees, communities, and shareholders – and is a champion of green growth. BPCE understands that workplace diversity and professional development increase productivity and profits and has committed to a 25 percent increase in personnel training (up to 10 million hours) and calls for 45 percent of managerial positions to be held by women. Groupe BPCE throws its global influence behind the transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient economies with a plan designed to minimise risks and capitalise on opportunities. The BV judging panel is delighted to present Groupe BPCE with the 2019 award for Best Banking CSR (France).

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Windsor Brokers — Best Forex Research Team | Cyprus 2019

FAIR trading policies and sound governance are part of the corporate DNA at Cyprus-based Windsor Brokers. The firm's diligent research team meticulously investigates investment opportunities with one driving concern: are investors protected? Windsor Brokers has a mission — and a fine track record — of facilitating access to global markets and ensuring investors' funds remain safely hedged against uncertain market conditions. The BV judging panel began following Windsor's progress last year, recognising its research team for the vast knowledge acquired over its combined 35-years of experience in financial market analysis. Windsor offers Forex and CFD trading on everything from gold and oil to shares and indices — and the research team publishes insightful investment strategies and market trends via the group's digital platform. For its highly regulated and transparent trading practices, the BV judges declare Windsor Brokers as a winner once again, this time for the 2019 award for Best Forex Research Team (Cyprus).

Flare — Most Innovative Emergency Response System | Eastern Africa 2019

Riyad Bank — Best Shariah-Compliant Banking Services | Middle East 2019

RIYAD Bank, one of Saudi Arabia's top three financial institutions, has developed a line of Islamic products and services that caters to all aspects of Shariah-compliant banking. Riyad covers a range of operations for individuals and corporate customers, from everyday transactions to financing and asset management. The bank's dedicated Islamic Banking Management department is deployed to develop solutions that advance clients' financial aspirations and respect Shariah standards. The BV judging panel notes Riyad's thorough attention to the Islamic banking process, dedicating time for planning consultations and following-up flawless execution and implementation. The judges present Riyad Bank with the 2019 award for Best ShariahCompliant Banking Services (Middle East).

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

NAIROBI has three million inhabitants, 20 emergency facilities, and around 100 ambulances— well above the WHO's recommendation for a city of its size. But the disjointed emergency system was costing lives with wait times of two hours or more. Cue Kenyan start-up, Flare, which launched commercially in 2018.

Uber was the inspiration for Flare's business model, tweaked to fit the African context. Flare has united the country's fragmented independent operators into a cooperative network of more than 400 ambulances. It managed to slash emergency response times to an average of 20 minutes and has already completed 350 life-saving rescues. Flare's digitised emergency response system features dispatch services, GPS tracking, resource management and coordination, and direct communication with patients and hospitals. For life-saving efforts of more haste and less waste, the BV judges present Flare with the 2019 Most Innovative Emergency Response System (Eastern Africa) award.

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Having a cruisy day at work?

You're part of the problem, but it may not be your fault ONE in three UK employees is “coasting” at work — and the main cause appears to be unhappiness with their current workplace.

A report entitled Why BWell from Barnett Waddingham calculates that one-in-three figure means more than ten million workers are lagging. The report comes as the UK battles to solve a productivity crisis which has seen output slow more than any other leading western economy.

The report, created through interviews with 3,000 UK workers, was undertaken to gain insights into health and wellbeing in the workplace. When respondents were asked how they were coping at work, just over half (55 percent) were positive about their performance. A third (32 percent) admitted to coasting, and seven percent said they were struggling.

The coasters are split into two groups: those who make the conscious choice to do so, and those affected by disfunction

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within the workplace, or problems with the employer or role. While three in five (62 percent) coasters were content in their lives generally, only around a third (36 percent) were happy at work — suggesting that many could be mobilised to becoming better performing workers if employers could figure out how to make them happier at work.

DISCONTENT One key cause of this discontent is employees lacking a sense of purpose. Less than half (47 percent) of those who coast say their job is meaningful to them and add value to their lives. Among those excelling in their occupations, nine in ten (89 percent) feel that way. Just two in five coasters (39 percent) believe their employer makes best use of their skills, compared to 83 percent of those with excellent performance.

Another contributing factor is the perceived effort that employers make with employees.

Laura Matthews, workplace wellbeing consultant

Coasters are less likely to feel recognised for the contribution they make, and almost a third say no interest is shown in them as a person.

An incentive for employers to address this issue is the fact that statistically, coasters are likely to move on. Two in five coasters did not think they would remain in their current job for another 12 months, compared to just one in 10 of the flourishing workers.

According to Oxford Economics, the average cost to replace an employee is around £30,000 — so high turnover can have a major financial impact.

Happiness may also directly influence productivity, with one study finding that happy employees are 20 percent more productive than unhappy employees.

“Mental health is beginning to get some of the attention it deserves in workplaces,” says Laura Matthews, workplace wellbeing consultant at Barnett Waddingham, “and thankfully, more employers are now looking out for the signs of issues such as stress and anxiety.

“This is great progress, but … employers should be thinking more broadly about employee happiness and the positive impact this can have on all areas of the business, from productivity and innovation to profitability and corporate reputation.

“A third of our workforce is applying just enough effort to get by, and go home at the end of the day. Our research shows that these are not lazy or unambitious people, but often those lacking purpose or confidence in their ability to add value.”

In the past few years, there has been a race to the top in terms of solar cell efficiency

By SIMON PHELAN THE UK Government wants to see at least half of new cars and 40 percent of new vans to be ultralow emission by 2030, something which by many accounts seems doable.

Car buyers are now turning to EVs as they realise they can (almost) afford one, and that the trade-off sacrifices required to drive one are not what they used to be. In 10 years or so, we'll just refer to them as cars, and dropping the “electric” qualification.

By contrast, decarbonising Britain's housing stock is lagging.

Unlike energy providers, where a set number of coal and gas plants can be replaced with solar and wind power, every single boiler in the UK's 26 million homes will need to be replaced. This will take decades to complete.

Cost is the major factor, and the good news is that there appears to be an appetite to pay a premium for sustainable products.

According to Neilsen, 66 percent of those canvassed say they would, and among millennials and generation Z, the proportion is 73 per cent.

The question is: how much more?

A biomass boiler, the greenest option available, will cost anything from £7,000 to £13,000 — several thousand more than the fossil fuel equivalent. There are some subsidies, and in the long run there are savings on fuel consumption (by as much as 50 percent).

But, understandably, this is a far harder sell to the average consumer. Heat pumps are an option, but for this to become a viable low-carbon solution in the UK — which has a fairly carbonintensive electricity production — would require a transition to low-carbon supply, better home insulation, and a move to lowtemperature household heat systems.

In short, this will not be a quick fix.

Technology in the boiler sector is not advancing as quickly as it is in solar. In the past few years, there has been a race to the top in terms of solar cell efficiency. A number of manufacturers have brought higher maximum efficiencies, and in May, MIT researchers

announced affordable technology that could double the efficiency of solar cells overall. Boiler technology is still a way off being able to commit to a zero emissions target, and sustainability in the UK housing sector has failed to keep pace.

Progress in the reduction of carbon emissions from homes has slowed in recent years, according to government statistics; levels have even increased since 2014.

By 2019, all new homes should have been carbon-zero — but this policy was scrapped in 2015, months before it was due to come into force.

Government intervention to create the incentives is needed, as is a ban on gas boilers in new UK homes from 2025. Cost structures mean that going with a gas boiler is still the obvious choice, but a nudge towards green technology in legislation and incentives could help the country work towards lower carbon levels.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Decarbonising homes: Next steps for a climate-wise UK

* Simon Phelan is CEO of boiler, heating and home cover company Hometree 99

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In for the long haul: Qantas experiments with non-stop flights from London and NY QANTAS Airways will run test flights between London and Sydney to discover how planes, crews and passengers will cope with the longest haul ever.

The record-breaking voyages will ply the route from America, too — and a direct flight from New York´s JFK Airport, with just 49 people aboard, touched down at Sydney airport in recent days.

Six pilots, six cabin crew, reporters, some frequent flyers and Qantas CEO Alan Joyce were on board the Boeing Dreamliner.

Numbers were restricted to ensure the payload was minimal and fuel sufficient for the journey. Those aboard were also monitored to check the physical and mental effects of the 19-hour odyssey. All travelled business class.

The non-stop 11,000-mile

Three LondonSydney test flights are planned (17,000km) test flights from London are due to start soon. The planes are also expected to carry around 40 passengers — most of them Qantas employees. Medical tests and post-flight assessments will be undertaken before commercial services start.

Three London-Sydney test flights are planned, and participants — crew and passengers — will be fitted with

wearable technology devices to monitor vital signs, sleep patterns and food and beverage consumption. The results will help to determine the impact on health and the “body clock”.

Joyce has described the ambitious new service as aviation's “final frontier”. He said flights from Australia's east coast would “present a lot of common sense questions about the comfort and wellbeing of passengers and crew”.

The airline hopes to operate non-stop services as part of its regular itinerary by 2022.

Passengers on the New York flight were treated to fine dining (a chef was one of those on board) and a screening of the Elton John movie Rocketman. The flight lasted precisely 19 hours and 16 minutes.

Bahnfrend via Wikimedia Commons

The longest direct flights in aviation history will by undertaken by Boeing Dreamliner 787-9 aircraft 100

Phil Chen Seb Daly / RISE via Sportsfile

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PEOPLE

PHIL Chen founded and leads the Exoduc project at HTC, the world's first smartphone built for the decentralised internet, or Web 3.0.

He is also a founder and General Partner of ‘Proof of Capital', a $50m venture captial fund investing in blockchain technology.

Chen is a big believer in people being able to “own” their digital identity, assets and data — and he feels that the smartphone is the perfect place to start.

He knows the omnipresent device is often seen as a data-trap — but he is confident it can also serve to empower and educate users, and help them to wrestle back control from the world's largest tech companies.

Phil Chen returned to HTC to start Exodus, the company where he previously helped launch the world's first phone to ship with Android, the wistfully named HTC Dream.

He also founded the Vive VR project at HTC — and from that launched Presence Capital, a venture fund specialising in virtual reality and augmented reality start-ups.

Chen's track record in hardware is prescient — he led the $300m deal for HTC to acquire a stake in Beats Electronics from Dr Dre in 2011.

Prior to starting Exodus and Proof of Capital, Phil was part of Horizons Ventures, Li Kashing's venture fund, where he served as a board director and observer for 15 companies globally including Improbable, Sentient, 88 Rising, and Blue Vision Labs.

Phil Chen began his career at an e-book start-up whose product eventually culminated in the Barnes & Noble Nook.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Ahead of his time, and Chen stays at the cutting-edge with Web 3.0

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Post-Brexit immigration: you can't afford to wait and see

BY KERRY GARCIA GIVEN the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, it is tempting to wait and see what happens — but that isn't such a good idea.

The changes are coming, and immigration is sure to be affected at many levels.

That said, there's no need to panic. Free movement might be coming to an end, but European nationals and families can stay on — if they follow the correct steps.

Now is the time to carry out a workforce audit to find out who will be affected, and that doesn't mean just EU nationals.

An employee who is a US national, married to an EEA national, for instance, will be affected.

Provide clear communications and outline what action is needed.

Business owners can also consider asking immigration experts to provide workshops to answer any queries.

If the UK leaves the EU with a deal, foreign nationals have until June 30, 2021, to apply.

In the event of no deal, the deadline is December 31, 2020.

Irish nationals and those with indefinite leave to remain do not need, but those with permanent residence status do.

Individuals who have been continuously resident in the UK (at least six months per year) for at least five years should be eligible for settled status. If there has been a break in continuity it is unlikely that settled status will be granted.

If the individual has been in the UK for less than five years, they should be granted presettled status for five years (which cannot be extended). It is vital for individuals to safeguard their continuous residence.

Employers should consider if an international secondment or regular business travel would

Carry out a workforce audit affect a person's eligibility for settled status. Absence from the UK for a continuous period of more than two years will mean a lapse in pre-settled status.

Those who have been living in the UK for five years and believe they are eligible for settled status should not automatically accept pre-settled status. In this case, seek advice.

Ask employees to let you know once they have obtained settled or pre-settled status, and remind them of the deadlines.

EU nationals arriving before January 2021 will be able to apply for pre-settled status under the scheme, and must apply by June 30, 2021.

If there is no deal, EEA and Swiss nationals and their family members will also be able to come to the UK to work after Brexit and may remain in the UK until December 31, 2020.

To remain for longer, they will need to apply by December 31, 2020, for European temporary leave (“EuroTL”), which is valid for three years. Anyone wishing to

stay longer would need to qualify under the new immigration system.

Employers should ensure that European workers and families who arrive in the UK after Brexit apply for EuroTL before December 31, 2020, and diarise when this leave expires.

Employers should consider if the employee will be able to extend their leave by applying under the new immigration rules.

As some employees will not be able to remain in the UK long term, contracts and offer letters should make it clear that their employment is conditional on their having the right to work at all times.

Further details regarding post2020 immigration system are unknown as yet. It's likely there will be no preferential treatment for European workers, and that employers will have to sponsor skilled staff. If your business has a sponsor licence, ensure you comply with your obligations to safeguard it.

Lower-skilled and lower-paid workers who arrive after a no deal Brexit (or after December 31, 2020) will not be able to remain in the UK long term.

As well as ensuring that existing and future European workers and their family members apply for the correct leave by the deadline, employers should keep an eye on immigration developments.

Businesses relying heavily on European workers to carry out lower-skilled roles may need to consider recruiting locally.

This may require changes to recruitment practices — and higher salaries to attract workers.

* Kerry Garcia is a partner at Stevens & Bolton LLP

A DEDICATED business-growth advisory team is on-hand to help enterprises achieve their growth plans.

Accounting and advisory firm Kreston Reeves says its specialist team provides practical, focused and hands-on support to help firms refocus to achieve expansion.

That focus includes a business model review, assets and company valuation, brand development, a business audit, strategies, sales advice and mapping.

The team also offers a series of workshops to help business owners better understand their brand, as well as business development strategies and effective growth systems.

At the helm is Mark Attwood, who has decades of experience

advising and working with growing businesses. “Businesses are facing new and constantly evolving challenges,” he says, “all of which can impact on performance and growth.

“We have brought together business advisory experts … to help business owners take a step back, understand the changing commercial environment and put in place actionable and focused growth plans.”

The team has also partnered with Belinda Collins, also experienced in marketing, creative and strategic planning.

She has spent years building strategic marketing plans for clients and brings “the creative left-hand-side of the brain” to the table. (We here at BV believe she means the right-hand-side, the

Mark Attwood hemisphere controlling artistic and creative efforts, but hey.)

“Helping businesses grow and be successful is at the heart of what we do,” says Attwood.

His firm advises organisations, individuals and families on business, tax and wealth needs. It has offices in London, Kent and Sussex and employs some 550 people.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Firm launches dedicated team to boost business and advise on expansion strategy

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Rolling with it: Greggs gets the pork in to avoid shortage GREGGS is taking no chances: despite the popularity of its new vegan offerings, the high street bakery chain is stockpiling pork to ensure availability of its sausage rolls in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

“We are preparing for the potential impact of the UK's departure from the European Union by building stocks of key ingredients,” the firm said in a statement.

In a surprising revelation, Greggs listed just 20 percent of its sausage roll ingredients as pork.

The website lists the confection as “seasoned sausage meat wrapped in layers of crisp, golden puff pastry”. The snack is so popular with peckish customers that the remaining 80

Total sales have risen by 12 percent percent probably doesn't matter, and presumably won't be affected come October 31.

Newcastle-based Greggs is boxing clever in the lead-up to the UK's exit from the EU, and with good reason: its total sales have risen by more than 12 percent in recent weeks.

It's not resting on its laurels, moving into the vegan market

and trialling later opening hours with hot meals available after 4pm. The additional caution over Brexit appears typical of the firm's forward planning strategy.

Greggs fears No Deal would affect some food imports and labour costs, and is preparing for any disruption.

It recently announced fewer shop openings in anticipation of Brexit-related chaos. That hit its share price, which fell 10 percent on the news.

Its trading update lists like-forlike sales up by 7.4 percent in the third quarter (to September 28).

That is a slowdown from the first half of 2019, and more than 30 sites have closed — but with total sales up almost 14 percent, it seems to be in a strong position.

Edward Hands via Wikimedia Commons 104

Greggs recently announced fewer shop openings in anticipation of Brexit-related chaos

Get on the road...

...with BV motoring

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Chicken-and-egg dilemma for the EV market: do we need more charging stations, vehicles … or bigger grids?

By HAL WILLIAMS ELECTRIC vehicles may well be the future, but their uptake and the infrastructural challenges of providing charging points for them is part of our present.

A recent paper from the proclean transport campaign group Transport and Environment focuses on the chicken-and-egg dilemma of charging points vs number of vehicles, and opens with a question: “Which comes first, electric cars or recharging points?”

The paper claims that in western and northern Europe, a “basic minimum infrastructure” is, or soon will be, available. There are estimated to be five electric

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‘A reasonable degree of uncertainty’ vehicles (EVs) on the road per public charging point (the desired ratio is 10:1). Theoretically then, in northern and western Europe, the egg part of the dilemma has already been resolved.

The report says “the primary bottleneck” in the growing market for EVs lies not with charging sites,

but in the lack of cars to use them.

Sebastian Speight, managing director of infrastructure at investment company Ingenious, said there was “justifiable concern” about the drag on the adoption of electric vehicles in the UK — but laid the blame on the limited roll-out of associated charging infrastructure.

“A number of market participants are developing and implementing strategies for rolling out charging infrastructure,” he said, “but there is also a reasonable degree of uncertainty about the future patterns of consumer behaviour.”

That creates a “level of risk” in these business models, Speight

Are Europe’s national grids capable of dealing with the daily demand from all those vehicles?

says, “which has a closer fit with strategic or venture capital rather than more traditional infrastructure capital”.

“These uncertainties are around the technology type (AC versus DC), charging location and fear of stranded assets and convergence of operating systems.

A closer involvement from public stakeholders should enable greater visibility on these risks and increase the availability of private capital.”

With projected growth in vehicle and charger numbers, the magic 10:1 ratio will — by 2020 — entail the installation of about 220,000 public fast-charging stations to serve more than two million vehicles. That would include the European motorway network, with 1,000 ultra-fast (power output levels of 150-350 kW) sites.

These would hypothetically supply EVs with a 400 km driving range in just 15 minutes. An additional 5,000 50kW chargers should be available by 2020, or one recharging point for every 34

km of the strategic TEN-T Core road network.

The Transport and Environment study suggests the need for public investment in the period 2020-2025 will decline with vehicle take-up. The cumulative cost of public charging is estimated at €12 billion, “a fraction of the annual €100bn invested by the EU in transport infrastructure”.

Access to city centre charging points should also fall within the commission's proposed 10:1 vehicle-to-charging-point ratio. “It is however clear,” the paper notes, “that recharging is not being (uniformly) rolled out across the EU.” And talking of roll-out, are Europe's national grids capable of dealing with the daily demand from all those new EVs? And — assuming coal- and gas-fired generation will provide many of the missing volts — is this a case of one step forward, one step back?

“Electric vehicles mean a big increase in electricity consumption, and we can't produce that kind of energy in

the grid without having private energy production (such as solar) to help,” says Hans Dahlberg, a Swedish businessman who has been an industry advisor on the roll-out of charging stations. “The grid networks in Germany can't handle the imbalance caused by electric vehicles, and demand is increasing. There is even concern that this could ultimately cause blackouts in some countries.”

Any bid to provide the necessary “green” electricity will be hamstrung by the limitations of environmentally friendly power production and the international desire to be nuclear-free, Dahlberg believes. “We tend to forget that Germany has a vast majority of coal-powered energy.

What happens with those power plants if you get rid of the nuclear power stations? They will increase production, obviously.”

Electricity supply remains a challenge, but strategies exist to mitigate fast-charging grid impacts, for example combining charging with energy storage that discharges at times of peak

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

Ultra-fast chargers will hypothetically supply EVs with a 400 km driving range in just 15 minutes

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‘We are witnessing the phasing-out of automotive internal combustion engines’

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demand. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation's estimates, a city of one million inhabitants would need only one fast charger per 700 EVs. Access to a higher voltage power supply is essential but is “not usually an issue as a mediumvoltage grid exists in many places within urban areas”.

Support for grid upgrades should be prioritised, the Transport and Environment report agrees. With infrastructure ahead of EV deployment, and the planned fast-charging network, EVs will soon be able to tackle most trips throughout western and northern Europe by 2020 — and throughout Europe a few years later.

In China, there are shining examples of charging hubs serving many types of vehicles.

The charging station in Qian Hai — a commercial development in Shenzhen, Guangdong — can simultaneously charge 60 vehicles (maximum capacity 3,200 kW) and is used by taxis (50 percent), vans (30 percent), passenger

cars (10 percent) and buses (10 percent). A project called Mega-e will bring multimodal charging hubs, including ultra-fast chargers, to metropolitan areas of China.

Providing a mixture of services can potentially help to balance demand over 24 hours (but brings with it the problem of space in which to park vehicles before and after overnight charging).

GROWTH OPPORTUNITY With some data suggesting there are now more EV charging stations in the UK than conventional fuel stations, Harry Merrison, investment manager at the Kingswood group, points to the shift away from traditional fuel. “Currently, around the globe, less than one per cent of vehicles are fully electric,” he says, “which represents a significant growth opportunity, given the inevitability of the technology's future monopoly. The charging infrastructure behind this, which is still relatively new, is showing clear signs of preparation.

“The future of driving is very much electric. We are witnessing

the phasing-out of automotive internal combustion engines.”

The result, Merrison predicts, will be demand for more ethical investment products.

“ESG funds, for example, hold younger companies, a structural nuance, as new companies tend to be more ethically focused … and unencumbered with legacy issues. We firmly believe ESG integration and engagement, effectively implemented, can lead to better investment decisions, and ultimately enhanced returns.”

EVs are likely to be attractive as second-hand purchases in the future, with low running and maintenance costs. First generation EVs are likely to remain in countries in which they were first sold, and large flows of second-hand imports into slowstarter countries are unlikely until the early 2030s.

“This would suggest there is little need to develop a comprehensive network of recharging points until the end of the 2020s,” the Transport and Environment paper concludes.

Beast bike beats back all pretenders with brawn — and lashings of titanium Öhlins fully adjustable MotoGP-standard suspension and a low, perfectly balanced chassis provide agile handling and ride dynamics. The six-speed gearbox mated to the billet powerplant is made in-house for an extra exclusive touch, and braking is from an ISR radial system with 12 pads on the front.

Comfort is also part of the package, so bottoms accustomed to being cushioned by piles of banknotes can slide onto the gelpadded saddle without princessand-the-pea syndrome.

In case you manage to forget what you're piloting, a billet handlebar clamp reminds you with an engraved plate reading “Titanium Series RR Limited Edition”.

Weight is a claimed 440 lbs — a poopteenth below 200kg — and let's assume that's dry, rather than fully fuelled. Even so, it's an impressive figure — which is where all that carbon-fibre and titanium come in.

Colorado-based engineer and bike nut Donald Atchison is the man behind the Ecosse Moto Works brand. He enrolled in an MBA program to advance his bike-building skills, and after tinkering for a while he sketched out a design that was eventually to evolve into the Ecosse RR. No clue as to where that moniker came from, btw; there seems to be no Scottish connection.

After creating three prototypes, involving computeraided and real-world testing, his first masterpiece, The Heretic, was ready to hit the road. The Titanium is the logical extension of a damn fine idea — taken to the extreme.

Exquisitely engineered excellence crafted for a very fortunate few may seem like an oddly ambitious business plan, but if you're determined to create a machine worthy of superlatives, it's the only way to go.

Let's hope Atchison kept one back for himself.

Business Vision Autumn 2019 Issue • www.bv.world

By HAL WILLIAMS THE ECOSSE Titanium RR Series — ever heard of it? Key words: supercharged, intercooled, carbon fibre, titanium… and expensive. As in more than a quarter of a million dollars expensive.

But never mind the price tag.

There's a place in every day for dreaming, and this thundering 2,150cc, titanium-framed superbike — born in 2008 but still more than competitive in 2019 — merits a moment of self-indulgent reverie.

The combination of oldschool, V-twin muscle and thoroughly modern tech is always alluring, and it has seldom been better blended than in this beast.

With more than 200bhp at the carbon-fibre rear wheel, and enough torque to tow a truckload of Harleys — 210 ft-lbs of it — rest assured that there's bite to go with the bark from those upswept, under-seat mufflers (hand-made in titanium, natch).

V-twin muscle and thoroughly modern tech makes the Ecosse Titanium a winner

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.W O R L D

EV NEWS ROUND-UP

By RICHARD THOMAS THREE months have passed since the last issue of BV, each bringing more developments in the Electric Vehicles world — on the road and in the air. · The UK's governmentfunded Faraday Institution, an independent body for research into electrochemical energy storage science and technology, will award up to £55m to five UK-based consortia to conduct application-inspired research into battery chemistry, systems and manufacturing methods. The aim is to facilitate improvements in batteries used for transport and other applications, including grid storage with improved performance and cost characteristics. · Faraday CEO Neil Morris said improvements in cost, range and longevity were essential for prospective EV owners. A recent survey by Venson Automotive Solutions revealed that “range anxiety” caused by a perceived lack of charging infrastructure was a concern for 69 percent of UK motorists.

There are already more EV charging stations in the UK than conventional fuel stations (9,199 vs 8,396), but while a petrol- or diesel-powered car can be refilled from empty and be back on the road in around 10 minutes, an EV recharge takes longer. The

VW has launched the first electric Porsche drivable range of most all-electric cars is now greater than many people realise with advances in battery technology. As technology advances and prices fall, these concerns should lessen. · The VolksWagen group has made two recent EV announcements. It is offering a conversion kit and service for its classic Beetle models. The electric motor, drivetrain and battery systems are from its modern e-Up! Model (yet to be released).

The conversion will be done by a specialist partner company, eClassics GmbH, near Stuttgart. · VW has also launched the first Porsche EV, the four-door, 616hp Taycan. It will be available in two models, the Turbo and the Turbo S. Porsche says this is so potential buyers can make valid comparisons with competitors, but outside of Porsche (including here on the BV motoring desk), the general feeling is that the moniker “Turbo” doesn't really belong on anything that doesn't

have an internal combustion engine. More marketing waffle… · A year ago, in the Autumn 2018 issue of BV, we reported on the British engineering company Dyson and its plans to develop an electric car. In early October came news that although Dyson's engineers had developed “a fantastic car”, it wouldn't be commercially viable.

The company hasn't been able to find a buyer for the project and closure was inevitable. Dyson is planning to continue expansion at sites including the Hullavington airfield, and it will work on related technology such as batteries, sensing systems, robotics and machine learning. Chief engineer and founder James Dyson said the firm's batteries “will benefit Dyson in a profound way and take us in exciting new directions”. · Following up on our article on electric flight a year ago, Bye Aerospace is moving forward with the development of new, lighter batteries in conjunction with UK company OXIS Energy.

The technology is based on lithium and sulphur (Li-S). OXIS expects to achieve 500 Wh/kg by early 2020, saying that its Li-S cells and battery systems are ideally suited for aviation, being 50 percent lighter than current Liion systems. CEO George Bye said OXIS could provide a Li-S battery cell that “is truly a game-changer”.

Bye Aerospace 110

The Bye Aerospace eFlyer will be the first aircraft to benefit from the new Li-S battery technology

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