Entrepreneur & Investor - Luxury Lifestyle Issue 7

Creating and Living the Life You Desire

HOW TO MAKE 2017 YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR

FERRARI’S 70TH ANNIVERSARY MAKING IT IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY CYBER ATTACK FINTECH THREAT

DIAMONDS INVEST IN THE BEST

EXPERT ADVICE FEATURES INSIDE

LUXURY LIFESTYLE SPECIAL START UPS l EMPIRE BUILDING l INVESTMENT IDEAS

The Inspiration Issue | £4.95 www.entrepreneurandinvestor.com

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T HE V12 VA N TAG E S EXTREME SPORTS

POWER:

ACCELERATION:

SPEED:

565BHP

0-60MPH IN 3.7 SECONDS

205MPH

Official government fuel consumption figures in mpg (litres per 100km) for the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S urban 12.6 (22.5); extra-urban 27.7 (10.2); combined 19.2 (14.7). CO2 emissions 343 g/km. The mpg/fuel economy figures quoted are sourced from official EU-regulated test results obtained through laboratory testing and they are for comparability purposes only.

WWW. ASTONMARTI N.COM/EXTREME

Swiss movement, English heart

C9 H A RR ISO N BIG DAY- DATE AU TOM ATI C

Made in Switzerland / Modified ETA 2836-2 automatic movement with Big Day-Date complication by Johannes Jahnke / 38 hour power reserve / 43mm, Hand-polished, 316L stainless steel case / Anti-reflective sapphire crystal / Exhibition case-back / Italian leather strap with Bader deployment

EDITOR’S LETTER

EDITOR IN CHIEF Lisa Curtiss editor@entrepreneurandinvestor.com

ART DIRECTOR AND CHIEF DESIGNER Adam Woodgate STAFF WRITERS Emma Ridley Gemma Jones Gayle Penny Jason Penny

DEAR READER,

editorial@entrepreneurandinvestor.com

Welcome!

Heading towards a new year prompts many of us to take stock and consider our lives – and if the path we are on is as rewarding and fulfilling as it should be. This issue, with its bumper number of entrepreneurship and investment articles and largest ever luxury lifestyle section should be both informative and inspirational – and maybe the catalyst to any positive change you need.

Whether you are considering starting a new business, building your empire or wondering about investing in things you have a love of, there’s something inside for you. From the psychology of dressing to success, expanding in to China, investing in diamonds and antique silver, to much, much more, our contributors share their expert advice.

Luxury tropical resorts, new hotels, restaurants and spas, the latest capable 4x4s, supercars and yachts, how to look good and feel great, and gadgets for the home – it’s all there also to remind you to reward yourself for a successful year.

The E&I team and I wish you all health, peace, happiness and prosperity for 2017!

LISA EDITOR IN CHIEF Visit our website - entrepreneurandinvestor.com Find us on Issuu - issuu.com/entrepreneurinvestor Follow us on Twitter - @Entrep_Investor

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DESIGNERS Justin Earle Rebecca Libby Paul Wallwork design@entrepreneurandinvestor.com

ADVERTISING & SPONSORSHIP sales@entrepreneurandinvestor.com

DISTRIBUTION Adam Long adam.ican@btinternet.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS subs@entrepreneurandinvestor.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Amanda Stücklin, Andrew Jackson, Brian Macneice, Chirag Shah, Christer Holloman, Dario Cucci, David Milner, Helal Miah, James Bowen, Jeff Woolf, Jeremy Torz, Jessie Avery, Kerttu Inkeroinen, Lisa Dodds, Lisa Turner, Luke Penny, Lynn Scott, Nick Gold, Paolo Taticchi, Sally Maier-Yip, Scott Brown, Shan Liew, Yulia Kozhevnikova

Published by Fortuana Limited

CONTENTS 22

42

46

68

87

96

108

125

ENTREPRENEUR 12. Top Tips to Secure Productivity Improvements 14. The Inventor Entrepreneur 16. Top 4 Worth an Investment This Winter 18. Keeping Up with Costs: 6 Solutions to Help Small Businesses Manage Budgets and Make Savings 20. Preparing to Sell Your UK Business 22. Ai Is the Key for New UK Tech Start Up 24. Biohack Your Way to Better Performance 25. Boarding to The Board Room 26. Chinese Investment in London 28. Creating The Right Image at Work 30. Digitisation of Tax ‘Harder On Small Businesses’ 32. Taking The Jump from Corporate to SME 34. How Rural Businesses Can Benefit From Apprenticeship Schemes 36. How Small Businesses Can Protect Their Cashflow 37. How to Successfully Launch a New Business 38. Making Immersive Online Retail a Reality 40. May The Best Team Win 42. Making It in The Music Industry 46. The Rise of UK Muslim Mumpreneurs 50. A Thortful Start Up Story 52. Entrepreneurs’ Help Children Stay Safe On The Slopes 53. The Cyber-Attack Threat Over Fintech Start-Ups 54. Understanding Chinese Culture 56. The Rise of the Online MBA 57. The Secret to Small Business Sales Success 58. Perfecting Public Speaking 59. Startup Funding Club Awarded Lead Syndicate Of The Year 60. Online Is Not a Just Another Channel 62. Who Owns the Intellectual Property for Your Website?

63. Your Time Is Money – Stop Giving It Away for Free 64. Stratajet – Start Up to Industry Pioneering Success

INVESTOR 68. How to Successfully Invest in Silver 72. Private Banking: Alternative Investments Mitigating Risk 74. Contemporary Chinese Art Market in The West 78. Are Yachts a Good Investment?

80. Making A Diamond Investment 84. Strausberger Platz 85. The Potential of Investing in Healthcare Properties 88. Bonhams Fine Jewellery Sale Highlights 90. Annual Business Aviation Market Forecast FORTUNE & LIFESTYLE 91. Mauritius Special 104. Ozen, Maldives 108. Special Celebratory Initiatives by Ferrari Ahead Of 70th Anniversary 112. The Mayfair to Monte Carlo Supercar Tour A Car Lover’s Dream 114. Infiniti Q30 116. Jaguar F-Pace 118. Jeep Cherokee Overland 120. New Volvo XC90 122. Hunton XRS43: A Truly Bespoke Luxury Yacht 124. Yacht Heaven 125. Floating Therapy in an Ancient Thermal Cave At Grotta Giusti 126. New Superfood Spa Menu Launches at Marbella Corfu

Hotel, Greece 127. New Sleeping Beauty Melrose Spa at Edinburgh’s Radisson Blu 128. Yoga, Meditation and Digital-Detoxing at Mirihi Island, Maldives 130. The Latest and Best Non-Surgical Facial Rejuvenation

Treatments for Men and Women 132. Freezing Your Fat Off 133. The New Braun Series 9 134. High Style for Dogs 135. Coolest Cufflinks in Town 136. Fine Fragrances 138. Entrepreneur & Investor at Home 140. Atelier Swarovski Home 141. Gorgeously Godiva 142. Entrepreneur & Investor Favourites 144. A Celebration of Champagnes for The Season

NEWS

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SMALL BUSINESSES FEEL UNSUPPORTED

BY BANKS Over a quarter of small businesses do not feel supported by their banks, according to a survey of 500 SMEs conducted

by YouGov. This feeling is most pronounced in the category of businesses turning over less than £1million, in which 30% claim to feel ‘unsupported’.

The research, commissioned

by P2P finance specialist Nucleus Commercial Finance, also revealed small and medium sized companies are in the dark regarding the notice periods on their business overdrafts.

Forty percent of SMEs claimed their banks had to give them at least a week’s notice or didn’t actually know what the notice period was. The most popular overdraft notice period answers were three months or more than three months, with 14% of small businesses and 19% of medium sized businesses claiming their banks were obliged to give them at least three months’ notice.

These results were not unexpected said Chirag Shah, CEO of Nucleus Commercial Finance: “Unfortunately for SMEs, banks don’t need to give them any notice at all before removing their overdrafts – but they often don’t make this clear. Businesses work this source of unsecured funding into their budgets and rely on their overdrafts to plug working capital gaps on a monthby-month basis.

“The fact that a three-month overdraft notice period was the most popular answer suggests many SMEs have a shock coming further down the road when this lifeline disappears.”

Shah continued: “Banks are simply reluctant to make this type

of unsecured lending available.

Basel III required them to acquire more capital to sustain the same level of risk, and SMEs are often their least profitable and therefore lowest priority business customers.

“That small businesses don’t feel supported isn’t a shock: according to figures from the Bank of England, SME lending via overdrafts alone has fallen almost £8.5billion in four years. In fact, the latest BBA figures show in Q1 this year, banks approved £6.1bn of new SME loan and overdraft facilities. This was 18% lower than in the same quarter last year. It’s a worrying trend for SMEs.” The Nucleus survey also revealed that almost a third (31%) of SMEs felt Brexit will make it harder for them to secure funding. Shah continues: “With the current financial uncertainty it’s not surprising SMEs felt business funding might be harder to come by.

“Banks were major beneficiaries of the UK’s EU membership. Our withdrawal will potentially make it harder than ever for SMEs to secure finance from them – all this at a time when many SMEs will need liquidity to ensure they stay afloat. It’s more important than ever that they assess all their finance options to ensure the future success of their businesses.”

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 633 senior decision makers from SMEs. The figures have been weighted and are representative of SME company size.

NEWS

30% OF UK WORKERS UNHAPPY - HOW TO MAKE THEM STAY Recent research revealed a high number of the UK’s workers are unhappy in their jobs and often on the lookout for a position elsewhere. Having to recruiting new staff can be a significant cost and inconvenience to businesses of all sizes, so it’s worth considering what could motivate staff to stay.

Of those who responded to the survey, 69% rated company perks and benefits as important to their overall satisfaction and 26% rate lack of reward and recognition for good work as their number one grievance at work 53% of UK companies do not formally recognise outstanding employees on a regular basis As well as lack of reward and recognition in the workplace, UK workers reported that a toxic negative culture at work was their biggest grievance while 17% highlighted micro management and 15% said long hours

More men than women would tell their boss if they are unhappy at work while older workers (55+) are more likely to tell their boss if they are unhappy than younger workers 16% or 3.4 million UK workers suggested they have either ‘poor’ or a ‘terrible’ boss.

Younger workers are more likely to be motivated by company perks and benefits than the older generation. The majority of 18 – 24 year olds are more likely to stay with their current employer if they were to implement better employee benefits.

Many companies are now recognising the need to incentivise staff. As a result, Perkbox, a company providing incentives to organisations for staff rewards, is booming – and plans to triple sales again in 2016 to £14 million and achieve a turnover of more than £100 million in three years.

STARTUP FUNDING CLUB LEADS SEIS ROUND IN CLUBOID AND ECO COMPANION ALONGSIDE ANGEL INVESTORS The UK’s most popular supplier of management software and solutions for the nightlife industry, and an online search engine that enables its users to find sustainable experiences in nature worldwide are amongst the latest start-ups to have received an SEIS investment from Startup Funding Club.

One of the companies backed by SFC, Cluboid Ltd, helps nightclubs and bars to effectively increase business by equipping them with an advanced customer relationship management software specifically designed for the industry.

The software handles customer enquiries, bookings, ticketing and floor management, and also provides automated marketing, analytics, and data collection.

The other company to receive financial backing from the angel network, Eco Companion, is also part of the leisure business. However, instead of nightlife, they are focused on life-changing experiences: the company's mission is to help people find their next sustainable holiday in nature. Although nature tourism makes up an incredible 20% of the whole tourism industry – and is valued at £128 billion –, today's globally minded traveller currently has no

way of knowing just how sustainable their next holiday in nature is. Eco Companion aims to solve that problem.

Both investments, led by Startup Funding Club, were made alongside experienced angel investors from SFC’s network. Eco Companion will benefit from the support and knowledge of one of its angel co-investors, a successful entrepreneur who recently successfully sold his own company in the holiday booking sector. Additionally, the internal venture arm of the Potential group, Potential VC – a new kind of angel syndicate –, also supported Cluboid.

Potential VC builds, runs and owns a portfolio of private internet businesses that serve millions of people a day and invests in post-traction, pre-seed tech startups run by a diverse group of founders who at the heart of it, must be nice, have some semblance of a team, and an MVP in a market that they will – hopefully – utterly dominate.

Startup Funding Club hopes that the funds raised by the nightlife industry experts and the eco-friendly holiday finders will allow them to maintain the fast pace of growth that the companies have achieved so far and further develop the technology and the business.

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ENTREPRENEUR

TOP TIPS TO SECURE PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENTS Why matching leadership training to actual business needs is central to boosting UK productivity.

S

olving the ‘productivity puzzle’ is one of the toughest challenges facing British businesses today. However, while many businesses have budgets for management training, more often than not the training selected doesn’t focus on the aspects of leadership that can have the greatest impact on productivity.

This is the verdict of executive coach, Lynn Scott who has worked with business leaders across the manufacturing, retail, energy and education sectors, as well as the NHS and local government.

Lynn believes that it’s important that companies recognise where their leadership focus needs to be.

Many businesses invest a lot of money in training but if they are budgeting for time management courses on repeat when they may have more pressing leadership development areas, they won’t feel the benefit.

She says, “Working with a business coach, rather than a pure trainer, will enable companies to look beyond standard training and to understand specific areas that they need to address to enhance their performance. A coach will get below the surface of the business and help to identify key leadership issues. They will then be able to work with the business to address these, and in doing so will optimise areas such as staff productivity.”

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TRAINING TIPS TO BOOST STAFF PRODUCTIVITY THAT COMPANIES CAN ADOPT:

1. Do something about your ‘energy vampires’ - unfinished business or conflict with a colleague makes both of you less productive, as well as those around you too. Find a way to have ‘that conversation’ and move on.

2. Make your meetings more productive - if you’re not contributing or gaining anything of value - find a way to do both. Or stop going.

3. Stop multi-tasking. Research shows it lowers your IQ and makes you ineffective.

ENTREPRENEUR

WORKING WITH A BUSINESS COACH, RATHER THAN A PURE TRAINER, WILL ENABLE COMPANIES TO LOOK BEYOND STANDARD TRAINING

One company that has benefited from taking Lynn’s approach is brand marketing agency Cherry London.

Tamara Gillan, CEO at Cherry London agrees, “We’re a fast-growing entrepreneurial business and productivity is key to our success. It’s too easy to just keep being busy. What keeps us productive is taking time out of the business regularly to reflect on what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and sometimes to deal with some uncomfortable truths.

“Having an effective programme and working with Lynn in real time has enabled us to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done.

She has helped us to implement breakthrough conversations, which has created a positive environment for sharing, understanding and conquering. It’s had a significant impact on the way we work and our effectiveness as a company.”

Lynn concludes, “Those companies that embrace the role played by relevant leadership skills training will be the front runners in making the productivity gains that provide the competitive advantage to move their business to the next level, whether in the domestic market or broader global stage.”

LYNN SCOTT BIO

Lynn Scott has over fifteen years’ experience of providing bespoke programmes for large corporate organisations and SMEs. These programmes include executive and leadership coaching, team coaching and intensive Lead with Impact programmes.

Lynn’s sector experience includes the media, retail, manufacturing, education, the arts, nuclear energy, the NHS and local government. Before moving into coaching, Lynn had an international career in the highly competitive and fast moving travel industry which included management roles in Europe, USA and North Africa. She was the first female Head of Operations for Airtours PLC (now part of Thomas Cook) with responsibility for overseas destinations that included Australia and Thailand.

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ENTREPRENEUR

THE INVENTOR ENTREPRENEUR

Jeff Woolf OBE, is a seasoned innovator and inventor and has many diverse patents. Twice named British Inventor of the Year, Jeff was awarded an OBE from the Queen for services to innovation and business and has been Chairman of the British Innovation Awards judging panel for the past decade. He presented technology products on QVC for 15 years and was also the UK Government’s Innovation Advisor for SME’s. We caught up with him to discover more.

WHAT INDUSTRY DO YOU SPECIALISE IN?

WHAT ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES FACED?

Innovation, across a range of sectors but mostly in safety and wearable technology

Apart from the usual financial challenges the greatest one was getting designers to believe in me. They all said it was impossible but I refused to believe them. I used paper, Lego and Meccano to construct prototypes and when I could see that mechanically it was possible I started working with a top industrial designer. Eventually we came up with an endoskeleton and internal structure that would fold flat and bend but not compromise on safety or interfere with the rigidity of the structure.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR COMPANY? We design and manufacture Morpher Folding Helmets– the world’s first completely flat folding cycle safety helmet. I first patented Morpher in late 2010, but as with many manufactured innovation products, it has taken a long time to create a folding helmet that offers the same safety and protection as a rigid one.

IS THIS THE FIRST COMPANY YOU’VE STARTED? IF NOT WHAT OTHERS? AND WERE THEY IN THE SAME FIELD? I have always had an interest in innovative technologies, and started my first company making holograms after leaving school. For a number of years, I ran an innovative map company and as the Government’s innovation specialist, I worked with thousands of inventors.

WHY DID YOU START THIS COMPANY? Many years ago I was knocked off my bike in London, it was a nasty accident and the doctors told me that my helmet saved my life. When the Boris bike scheme started I wondered why so few people wore helmets. I found that the main reason was that people found them too cumbersome to carry when not wearing them. I realised that the problem could be solved by inventing a flat folding cycle helmet that could easily slip into a bag.

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THINGS YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN ?

I would have saved a lot of time and money if I had understood more about how important saving face is in Chinese culture. I found that they will generally say they can do something even when they can’t. I also wish I’d known how long it was going to take.

I wish I’d followed my gut when Dragon’s Den begged me to go on two years running but my investors advised against it; this was a huge mistake.

I wish I’d insisted on earning a salary but the original business plan was not structured enough and my investors took full advantage of this HOW DID YOU ACHIEVE FUNDING? Initially I approached an old school friend who was keen to invest straight away. I then launched a crowdfunding campaign, mainly to see if there was a market. I set a target of $35k and it was very exciting when I smashed through it because I knew there was great demand for Morpher, we are now up to $265k and more than 2300 people have bought helmets through Indiegogo.

ENTREPRENEUR

HOW ARE YOU PROMOTING THE MORPHER HELMET? Everything so far has been achieved by word of mouth. There has been a huge amount of press coverage worldwide with little effort. The product speaks for itself.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS? We are launching an equity crowdfunding campaign. The aim is to initially raise £1m to £2m to turn this small business a global enterprise, to develop new products for snow sports and other areas and to fund the introduction of stunning new technologies into our helmets to make cycling even safer.

FIVE TO TEN TIPS CAN YOU SHARE

1. Never borrow money from family and friends as when things inevitably go wrong, relationships can suffer. Easy is generally difficult in the long term.

THERE HAS BEEN A HUGE AMOUNT OF PRESS COVERAGE WORLDWIDE WITH LITTLE EFFORT. THE PRODUCT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

2. Value yourself and make sure your business plan includes a salary.

3. Do you research; don’t go with the first company that offers you design or manufacturing. Check your product is patentable and get the patent in place ASAP 4. Try and get an experienced board of directors or advisors.

5. Enter competitions; awards add gravitas and are a fantastic marketing tool. Since its launch, Morpher has won a number of prizes including the Edison Gold Innovation award and Popular Science Magazine’s Invention of the Year and is up for the Euro Bike award.

6. Study your marketplace, your competition and be willing to accept constructive criticism.

It’s very gratifying and exciting to have created a product that not only could contribute to saving lives but that continues to attract a huge amount of interest internationally. It’s being manufactured by the world’s leading helmet company, demand is growing all the time and the potential for growth is enormous. http://morpherhelmet.com/

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ENTREPRENEUR

TOP 4

WORTH AN INVESTMENT THIS WINTER

Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, outlines four companies that have the potential to benefit during the winter months.

MARKS & SPENCER “British high-street favourite Marks & Spencer will be hoping that consumers flock to their stores over the next few weeks to buy that much needed Christmas Jumper, glittering party dress or Christmas gift for their loved ones. Particularly so as earlier this year, new CEO Steve Rowe laid out his new plan to revive sales, especially in the underperforming general merchandise division. Investors should appreciate that although impacted by price deflation, food sales are being helped by the launch of new food lines and the opening of more of the ‘Simply Food’ convenience stores, so the company will be pulling out all the stops to entice people in to buy their festive spread.

“The company has seen some encouraging early signs of progress from its new strategy and earlier this year it maintained full year guidance. We therefore continue to recommend Marks and Spencer as a ‘buy’ for medium risk investors due to the strength of the growing food business, the significant potential to increase profitability in general merchandise and the healthy dividend. Investors will need to be patient regarding Steve Rowe’s plans and it is worth noting that uncertainty caused by Brexit may lead to lower economic growth and impact consumer spending.”

ITV “The clocks have gone back which means it is pretty much dark by lunchtime these days, which should be great news for broadcasters such as ITV as more of us opt for a night in front of the TV rather than going out. With so many options now available to consumers ITV has had to fight hard to maximise its audience share. Recent results have demonstrated that the business is continuing to move in the right direction and analysts are encouraged by the improvement at its Studios business, with a significant increase in new commissions and its digital offering.

“In a fast changing environment the changes that have been made in the group appear to have come in time to save what was once a troubled company. The debt situation has been addressed, which has enabled the group to make a number of acquisitions, geared towards boosting its production business. The result of the Brexit vote hit the share price hard, as a result of concerns over its UK exposure and the effect on advertising rates. However, some analysts have suggested that this fall may have been an over-reaction. We agree and subsequently recommend ITV as a ‘buy’ for medium risk investors, but would suggest investors drip feed until the situation for advertising rates becomes a little clearer.”

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ENTREPRENEUR

BREEDON GROUP “Breedon Group is the largest independent construction materials group in the UK, providing various aggregates to the construction and building industry. As the weather takes a turn for the worse, it is likely that there will be an increased amount of damage to the roads and public surface areas, therefore the group could benefit as there will be repairs to be made. As most drivers will be only too aware spending on road repairs has hardly been top of the agenda for hard pressed local councils. In fact infrastructure spend overall has been sluggish, despite politicians recognising the part this could play in any economic recovery. Breedon would be a direct beneficiary of increased infrastructure spending, which investors should appreciate the group are expecting to grow strongly through to 2018.

“The company has been positioning themselves to benefit from any pick-up in the economy and demand for its products, leading to a number of acquisitions, most recently the acquisition of Hope Construction last year for £336m. These acquisitions should help expand its geographical presence in the UK. Since our September 2013 recommendation the share price has risen by around 140%, as a result of continued recovery in the UK construction sector. This is a smaller AIM listed company that is geared to a recovery in infrastructure spend and as a result, we recommend Breedon Group as a ‘buy’ for medium to high risk investors prepared to take a longer term view.”

CARNIVAL

LOWER FUEL COSTS AND STRONG BOOKING LEVELS WERE THE MAIN FACTORS BOOSTING THE FIGURES AND THE GROUP SAID IT WAS ON TRACK TO DELIVER 25% EARNINGS GROWTH THIS YEAR

“Carnival is the largest cruise company in the world with a total of 100 ships and 212,000 berths.

The company offers cruises in North America, continental Europe, the UK, South America and Australia giving consumers plenty of options for some tempting winter sun! The company continues to outperform and recently stated that results were better than expected resulting in it raising its full year guidance. W “Following a dip in the share in April this year, we upgraded our recommendation to a ‘Buy’ due to relative good value represented by the current price, the strong earnings growth boosted by lower fuel costs and the potential growth in Asia. Strong cashflow is enabling the group to raise dividends quickly and support a share buyback scheme whilst there is the potential benefit of improving relations between the US and Cuba, which could lead to a lifting of the long-running trade embargo and boost demand for cruises in the Caribbean.”

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ENTREPRENEUR

KEEPING UP WITH COSTS

6

SOLUTIONS TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES MANAGE BUDGETS AND MAKE SAVINGS

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ENTREPRENEUR

According to the Small Business Administration, statistics reveal half of all employer institutions survive at least five years and only a third survive beyond ten years or more. This is a far cry from the preceding notion 50 percent of businesses fail in their first year, but it is obvious starting a business comes with a complex array of challenges.

From hiring staff, to growing your customer base and tracking expenses, costs can soon mount up and many entrepreneurs find themselves struggling to stay within budget and manage company finances. As as an independent contractor representing Colonial Life, I am a small business myself and I also get to talk to a lot of small businesses as part of the work that I do, so I know how tough it can be to make informed decisions that provide financial savings and improve the bottom line. Here’s a shortlist of tips for entrepreneurs that may help.

KNOW YOUR OPTIONS It’s tough for smaller businesses to build credit and provide financial figures needed to secure business loans to aid growth. Make sure you’re aware of all of the financing options out there, the pros and cons of each, if your business will qualify and how to apply. Consult with a financial expert on how best to keep your books, as this will differ from business to business. For example; some companies will want to reduce tax liability, whereas others will want to make their income more appealing to lenders.

MANAGE MARKETING CHANNELS We’ve all heard the saying, ‘it takes money to make money’, but not every business will be in the position to spend large sums on advertising, equipment and additional employees. Many small businesses start with small marketing budgets and don’t always know how best to implement schemes to achieve a maximum ROI. A great solution for small business owners is internet marketing. Utilizing online platforms and social media means you are able to compete in the same arena as larger companies, without having to spend a fortune on traditional marketing and PR tactics, which may not be right for your business yet.

TRACK CLIENT RETENTION For a small business, every new client is important. As time passes you will start to build a solid customer base and will need to have a clearer overview of client relations. One solution is to hire a customer relationship manager to keeps track of all customer related information and answer their questions. There are also plenty of digital CRM programs and software that can help you manage all facets of your company and create insightful reports to show how successful your business has become and if the goals and deadlines are met.

NEGOTIATE WHEN POSSIBLE Costs for goods and service make up 28 percent of a small business’ budget. This is the second highest expenditure after payroll. Some costs can be perpetually lowered by negotiating discounts with companies you buy from.

Although businesses are often hesitant to ask suppliers for deals, many B2B companies expect customers to ask for lower rates. Creating some healthy competition amongst vendors is a good way to reduce costs. Often when a supplier knows you’re pursuing other options, they are more likely to offer the best possible deal.

SET TARGETS AND KEEP TO THEM Individual projections can affect the entire budget of your business if they are not met.

For example, if you miss sales targets, you can disrupt cash flow and if your expenses are larger than expected in a certain area, you may drain working capital from paying bills.

To avert missed targets, run a monthly budget variance analysis to check you’re on track with your budget. This will allow you to implement immediate changes if you spot a serious problem.

INTRODUCE BENEFITS PLANS Of course, every business owner wants their employees to feel valued. A good benefits scheme is also a major incentive for an employee to choose to work for you. Finding ways to save on benefit costs means you not only keep within budget constraints, but you also keep your staff happy as well.

Leveraging pre-tax and discounted tax savings for you and your employees through flexible benefit plans can help reduce your payroll taxes, increase your employees’ spendable income and ensure compliance with business provisions and regulations.

While small businesses don’t always have the deep pockets of bigger institutions, it doesn’t mean you can’t flourish or achieve the same level of success. Being creative and capitalizing on more efficient technology and marketing channels can rapidly elevate you above competitors using obsolete methods. Careful decision making means reduced costs and driving larger profits while fostering sturdy foundations for the future. l Jessie Avery, Colonial Life entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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PREPARING TO SELL YOUR UK BUSINESS

There are many reasons to sell a business. Whether you’re emigrating or simply selling your concern to an interested buyer, you will need to give careful consideration to your reasons for doing so. In this piece I’ll explore some of the finer points on selling your UK business.

KNOW EXACTLY WHY YOU ARE SELLING When you put your business up for sale, potential buyers are going to scrutinise the reasons for your doing so. You will need to provide certain and decisive answers to their questions. Fully appreciating your motivations for the sale is the best way to provide these answers.

Depending on what you wish to achieve by selling your business, you may choose to sell the whole operation or just a portion of it. This decision will likely hinge on your personal situation: Are you retiring? Do you have dependants? Do you wish to sell to your employees?

Whatever the reasons, it is best to think long and hard about them. Once you are certain about why you wish to sell, you can figure out how best to put your business up for sale.

HOW TO SELL IT There are various ways to sell a business. The options available depend on factors like business type, size and sector. Most businesses are sold in a trade sale to another business - usually to one operating in the same or a related field.

Business owners need to decide if they want to relinquish the entire company or just a part thereof.

This will, to a large degree, determine how the business will be sold off.

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ENTREPRENEUR

MAXIMISE YOUR SHORT-TERM PROFITS WITHOUT JEOPARDISING YOUR COMPANY’S IMMEDIATE OR LONG-TERM FUTURE. THIS KIND OF REFOCUSSING WILL MAKE YOUR BALANCE SHEET LOOK MORE ATTRACTIVE

Partial sale Understandably, many business owners are reluctant to let go of the operation they have grown over the years. There’s nothing wrong this. In fact, selling part of your business while retaining a small stake in it may give buyers the assurance that you have confidence that the operation will remain a going concern.

Full sale If you’re retiring, moving into a new industry or starting a new business, it may be in your best interests to remove yourself completely from a business.

It may also happen that a private-equity buyer, private investor or larger competitor offers to buy your operation from you. In these cases, you’d likely need to make a decision based on what your financial and lifestyle outcomes would be following a sale.

Sale of assets In cases where a business owner is selling primarily to ease a financial burden, he or she can consider selling some of the business’s assets. Equipment, intellectual property, customer lists and other nonliability creating assets are attractive to buyers who don't want to take on obligations.

Getting paid in instalments Some business owners enter into agreements that allow a buyer to purchase the business in instalments. This can potentially put the seller at risk. If the business fails under new ownership, the buyer may not be able to pay the full price.

In what is known as an “earn out”, some agreements require that the owner stays on at the company while the purchase price is paid in a series of payments based on the company’s profits.

WHEN TO SELL YOUR BUSINESS The state of your operation is the most important factor when you are trying to sell a business. Very few people will be willing to buy a business that shows no potential or is on the verge of going under.

If your business is cyclical, consider when the best time to sell would be. Buyers often look for current profits as well as the potential for further growth in the medium- and long-term.

Keeping plans of a sale confidential is also advisable. If word gets out that you’re planning to sell, your employees may become unduly worried about their futures. Being discreet will also minimise the chance of negative reactions from customers and suppliers.

REDUCE LONG-TERM INVESTMENT It stands to reason that if you are looking to sell your business, you shouldn’t be making non-essential long-term investments for it.

By cutting back on these types of investments, you should be able to maximise your short-term profits without jeopardising your company’s immediate or long-term future. This kind of refocussing will make your balance sheet look more attractive to potential buyers.

COMMIT TO THE HAND OVER Being active in the handover of your business will go a long way in putting a buyer at ease. While you are negotiating and setting the terms of the sale, be sure to show that you are willing to help with the handover of the business.

Often, previous owners are asked to continue working at the company for a fixed period of time.

This can help reassure customers, employees and suppliers that business will, for the most part, carry on as usual. l Scott Brown, MD Sable Accounting entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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AI IS THE KEY FOR NEW UK TECH START UP 22

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Global awareness of data privacy and its implications is improving, not least due to a spate of high profile image hacks. But this has been slow to translate directly into changed behaviour, as in many instances there has been no alternative to storing and archiving images other than on global online services, where data can be mined, hacked and shared. Pimloc, was founded earlier this year by serial entrepreneur Simon Randall to address this issue.

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he founding team includes some of the world’s foremost thinkers in deep learning visual technology and computer vision application development across a range of fields. The firm has already completed an oversubscribed seed funding round lead by staff and UK business angels.

“Up until now the lure of ‘free’ online image services has allowed some global internet providers to gain access and in some cases ownership of very personal user data,” explained Simon Randall, CEO. “This ‘Faustian’ pact has led to a situation

farms to offload processing.

Randall continues, “We’re aiming to put the power of vision-based machine learning into the hands of the people.”

Personal interaction with Pimloc’s deep learning networks improves and evolves searches to give connected, contextual and individualised results.

The platform learns fast. Image search can now be more human, more secure, with endless potential applications.

“The overwhelming level of interest we’ve seen in our new venture reflects a global shift in attitudes towards personal data privacy.

There is a large and growing opportunity for image based services that are built with end user control in mind – appealing to those who have been reluctant to adopt existing cloud services and those who want to take back control of all their online image data,” he concludes.

Pimloc’s first product release will provide private and personalised image management services to the connected home and business environment and will be available for a public beta programme in the new year. l

THE OVERWHELMING LEVEL OF INTEREST WE’VE SEEN IN OUR NEW VENTURE REFLECTS A GLOBAL SHIFT IN ATTITUDES TOWARDS PERSONAL DATA PRIVACY where many users have handed over their image collections without fully comprehending the future implications of doing so. Issues over the control of image data will be felt more acutely than other content domains due to the richness and depth of information which imagery provides. It gives a detailed account of a user’s life over time which can be easily mined for commercial gain.”

The Pimloc platform locates, identifies and learns image by image, all within the security of the user’s archive with no requirement to share personal or private data with a third party. Pimloc’s services can run standalone within a home or small office environment rather than requiring large data

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BIOHACK YOUR WAY TO BETTER PERFORMANCE How a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur took control of his own biology for a superhuman performance in and out of the boardroom.

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s CEO and Founder of Bulletproof, a highperformance brand widely known in the US and now the UK, Dave Asprey is no stranger to success. But unlike many CEO’s, Dave’s success journey spans more than just his business’ growth (though there is that, too). Through ‘biohacking’ his way to the top, Dave has revolutionised the way high achievers are upping their game.

A pioneer in the biohacking field, Dave Asprey explains what this term means; “Biohacking is the art and science of changing the environment inside and outside yourself to gain control of your own biology so your body and mind will do what you want.”

Dave Asprey has been biohacking for over 15 years and has spent over $US300,000 in the process, but it’s been money well spent as he’s increased his IQ by 20 points and even lowered his biological age. His business, Bulletproof, most famous for its Bulletproof Coffee - a blended drink made with grass-fed butter and loved for its incredible performance effects - is thriving and recently launched into the UK with great success. Just a few of its high-profile fans include Arianna Huffington, Brandon Routh, Jeremy Piven and even David Beckham, who all drink the high fat, high-calorie cup to help fuel their great achievements.

As somebody who used to suffer from severe brain fog, in addition to other health issues which were holding him back from 24

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greater success, Dave famously switched up his diet to include lots of quality fats, which freed up his willpower to improve at work and in all elements of his life. The creation of Bulletproof Coffee was pivotal to this – a unique blend of Upgraded Coffee, Upgraded Octane Oil (coconut-sourced. brainenergy-boosting oil) and grassfed, unsalted butter, this drink is scientifically proven to provide more energy, greater mental focus and clarity and support fewer food cravings. Ideal then, for those working long hours, in demanding jobs and who require a clear mind.

Dave starts his day with a cup of Bulletproof Coffee, which he explains is the best way to ensure he’s on form. In addition to the energising effect of the caffeine from the coffee, Dave highlights its benefits; “Bulletproof Coffee uses proprietary low-toxin Upgraded coffee beans so you don’t experience the brain fog that you might with lesser quality beans.

On top of that, the caffeine helps release the fat from the Upgraded Octane Oil and butter into one’s bloodstream so it can immediately be used as an energy source. Your body also naturally uses this energy instead of storing it, which is part of why Upgraded Octane Oil is so good for you. The last critical ingredient, unsalted grass-fed butter - is also great for your energy because the butyric acid in it helps promote brain function.”

As well as his morning cup of Bulletproof coffee, Dave advocates daily practices such as sleep

tracking and the use of ‘smart drugs’ to help brain function. It’s his high fat diet however that has really transformed his life; “I don’t go a whole day without eating at least one or two delicious meals full of healthy fats – usually a combination of avocados, grass-fed butter, and Upgraded Octane Oil to feel my best. A low-fat diet makes you weak. A diet high in unhealthy fats also makes you weak.”

Weakness is not an option for Dave, as the busy CEO of an evergrowing company. He’s busy paving the way for the world to embrace biohacking and is on a mission to make Bulletproof a household name. The brand has just opened their second coffee shop in LA and with the launch of Bulletproof into the UK, it’s clear to see it’s growing from strength to strength.

While Dave has taken biohacking to another level with his years of research, he does highlight that everyone can biohack, regardless of their starting point and he’s documented all of his research online so others can learn (www.bulletproofexec.com).

The biohacking community is made up of all different types of people, but business professionals are embracing it too as they appreciate the need to be at their absolute best; “They are used to switching up variables in order to develop something and make it better when it comes to their work, so doing this on their bodies is a natural follow on. They’re looking to create the 2.0 version of themselves in many ways.” l

ENTREPRENEUR

BOARDING TO THE BOARD ROOM Top athletes’ mentality can be compared to that of entrepreneurs’. The creative drive to craft something unique, a focused determination to succeed, strategic game play alongside teambuilding, and calculated risktaking to push the end result over the line. Susi Mai has been a pioneer as both a sponsored kiteboarding athlete for Red Bull, Cabrinha and Tona amongst other brands, and as Co-Founder and President of the innovative global tech, conservation and kiting movement, Mai Tai Global.

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erman born but Dominican Republic raised, Susi developed an early interest in the ocean through her father’s business in watersports- as a holiday operator and board shaper for surfers. Living in Cabarete, on the north coast of the DR bought Susi into close contact with visiting athletes and early kiting aficionados, all attracted the perfect wind conditions. By the age of 18 Susi was competing, coming second in her first home tournament against 36 of the world’s top female kiters. Sponsorship deals followed, allowing Susi to experience the highs and lows of international touring at the top level.

Early on in her career Susi was astute enough to know she was “not a great competitor, others may ride better under pressure but I just didn’t fare that well. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted the wins as bad as sponsors wanted them but -for me-this was not the ultimate holy-grail.” Spending the next eight years on tour, Susi won several accolades and one PKRA title in Portugal.

A torn ACL in 2009 put the 26 year old out of action for 9 months, forcing her to rethink her future. Using this time productively, she created and launched her website, whilst being flown out to kite events to host or commentate. The physical aspect of kiting all but seized, yet the media activity increased. She produced some webisodes called ‘Sessions’, amplifying visibility for her sponsors and learning valuable lessons on the power of her image.

Having been sponsored by Red Bull for almost five years, the company intensified Susi’s media work.

Her fluency in four languages made her the perfect global face of the brand, the added credibility through her having been a competing athlete.

A request to instruct at an early tech gathering in 2007 led her to connect with renown Silicon Valley VC Bill Tai, who was to become her mentor and eventual business partner. His firm was one of the early investors in Twitter, and he used this embryonic form of social media to communicate with the tech and high net worth individuals he hosted at his kiteboarding camps. The initial meeting

was peppered with jokes about their combined last names forming the cocktail MaiTai, unaware this would become the name of their future brand partnership.

Invited annually to join their rapidly-growing gatherings, by the time Susi was injured she and Bill and the ‘MaiTai’ community had created deep bonds. Not wanting to compete, a second ACL tear and time on her hands created the perfect recipe for Susi to become president of MaiTai Global in 2012.

Together they created the mantra “Leave the place better than when we find it,” and gave Susi carte blanche to direct the development of MaiTai in a direction she had total control of.

“We’re not trying to save the world, just trying to make a difference” is Susi’s approach. The event has grown from an influential networking tech conference to something where each country visited benefits from the MaiTai community. From local fundraising activities for Montessori schools in Cabarete, through to the first shark tagging and ray sanctuary project in the BVI with Richard Branson, conservation and local causes are something MaiTai is passionate about. They became a non- profit in 2014, something her and Bill are deeply proud of.

Making the most of opportunities, Susi is also involved in the Extreme Tech Challenge, a global startup competition, where for the past two years the final ten pitch to a panel of Silicon Valley’s key players at the Consumer Electronic Show in Vegas.

The top three are invited to Necker to present their commodities to Richard Branson, Bill Tai and other high profile and respected industry gurus.

The MaiTai links to Branson extend further with the Blockchain summit, where they have partnered with leading tech company Bitfury Group- the event also hosted at Necker. Many a unicorn have now been found and nurtured through all of the Maitai connections.

Ambitious, intelligent, creative and eloquent.

Little wonder the tech world is queuing up to get involved with Susi’s commercially philanthropic, future-building partners. l entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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Chinese Investment in London

Investment in London residential properties by Chinese investors, including those from Hong Kong and the mainland, has increased rapidly post-Brexit. More favourable exchange rates make buying cheaper.

Diversification, wealth preservation and UK education also are drawing investors in.

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ith the recent volatility of the Chinese stock market, Chinese investors are now increasingly looking for offshore havens. London residential property continues to be regarded as one of the world’s best stores of wealth. This is because London has proven its resilience, bouncing back strong from recession. In general if investors purchase with a medium- to long-term view, then their investment as a business or home will be safe.

Recently the perils of the Chinese currency RMB devaluation mean London residential property investments are seen as a wealth preservation strategy for Chinese investors. The pound has also slumped to a 31-year low against US Dollar, which is down more than 10% at $1.3 to £1. Until 2005, the value of the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) was pegged to the US Dollar. It still does have a strong correlation to US Dollar though and hence has also gained post Brexit. In Q4 of 2007, the exchange rate was RMB15.66 to £1, compared to RMB8.70 to £1 today, which is almost halved, making investment a very sensible option.

Since the recession of 2008, property in London has been a safe haven for wealth, attracting investors from all over the world. As there are no restrictions on foreign nationals owning property and no ‘wealth taxes’ as in France and Spain. Hence property is far more freely transferable than in other countries. Furthermore, in July 2014, Asian Business Port (ABP), a Chinese developer Mr Xu Weiping, received planning permission from Newham Council to commence the £1.7 billion construction of offices, apartments and retail space on currently derelict land in the Royal Albert Docks area. ABP is creating London’s third financial and business district. The Royal Albert Dock project will be unique – it will be the headquarters of Chinese and other Asian companies, enabling them to reach new markets across Europe. It will also be the centre for European companies looking to trade. The £1.7 billion investment to create the Asian Business District at Royal Albert Dock in London will result more than 30,000 jobs, and generate £6 billion to the London economy. It will be a platform for those companies to thrive and prosper and will be the economic engine that will power the economic growth of the Royal Docks.

Rental prices have also remained fairly stable post Brexit. The average rental price for a two bedroom property in London now stands at £1,785 a month. In fact, London rental prices faced a 7.7% increase over the last twelve months to April 2016, according to the latest figures from referencing firm HomeLet. This is due to the demand surpassing supply. Additionally due to taxation changes relating to wear and tear allowances, plus the additional 3% Stamp Duty surcharge on second homes. Excitingly UK rental prices are forecast to increase by a further 16% by 2018, due in part to exciting projects such as the Crossrail, which is due to open in 2018. Transport links are a top priority for tenants and the areas surrounding with train stations nearby always yield

higher. For example Southall and Woolwich Arsenal achieve more than 4% yield, due to its excellent transport links.

Brexit is yet to affect the UK’s demand/supply imbalance, which is a key feature underpinning current housing market trends. The imbalance is most noticeable in London and the South-East, where decades of undersupply have contributed to the ongoing need for a considerable uptick in construction activity. Moreover some developers have also slowed down on construction due to Brexit uncertainty, which will further dampen new homes coming in the market. This in turn puts extra pressure on a serious shortage of housing supply in some areas, particularly London. Greater London Authority’s 2013 Strategic Housing Market Assessment indicates that London will require between approximately 49,000 (2015-2036) and 62,000 (2015-2026) more homes a year. London residential property completions are far below the amount required each year to meet the increase in the population. Due to this large housing shortage, experts predict house prices could rise 25% by 2018 - extremely attractive for investors. Both East and West London have been through a lot of regeneration and gentrification due also Crossrail.

This has helped achieve stronger capital growth and higher yields.

London is also home to 40 universities, where you will find students from all over the world. It also has four universities in The Times Higher Education rankings - more than any other global city. Four British institutions also rank in the world’s top six universities, including London’s Imperial College and UCL. Lately a growing number of Chinese students studying in or near London has boosted property sales in recent years. Areas of interest for Chinese students are Covent Garden, Soho, Aldwych and Kensington, where these leading educational establishments are within walking distance.

Naturally, Chinese investors buy London residential properties to house their children and to rent out to tenants after they graduated. In the long term, they profit on the capital appreciation.

Chinese investment over the last 10 years has increased significantly with the most recent development of the construction of a third London business district, the ABP. A number of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reports investment into the UK as £595 million in the year 2008, compared to £4billion in 2015. In my opinion, London will remain as the strongest magnet for Chinese investment in the UK and Europe; more so post Brexit. Chinese headquarters are more numerous in London than anywhere else in Europe. This should remain, underscoring the importance that Chinese and also other foreign investors attach to London and the UK as a gateway to the Western markets. l Shan Liew London-based Chinese-Malaysian Property Entrepreneur and Owner of 88 Estate Agency www.88ea.co.uk

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CREATING THE RIGHT IMAGE AT WORK When ‘What to Wear at Work’ was sent to us from Jermyn Street shirt-maker T.M. Lewin, it got us thinking about a topic that is close to our hearts- creating the right image at work. Our professional image is formed from others’ perceptions of not only our ability to perform the job we are paid to do, but our personality and presentation, even stereotypes. And with research linking image to career success on many levels, we ask, just how do you create the right image at work?

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he creation of a viable professional image is actually rather more complex than we might imagine. When we consider our professional image and how others view us, we assess the differences between how we wish to be seen (confident, reliable, hardworking) against how we believe we are seen (lacking in confidence, unreliable and lazy). And if there appears to be a gap, there are strategies you can employ to create, alter and maintain your image.

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT There are two ways of managing others’ impressions of you (and therefore your image). The first is the traditional option, reinforcing those personal characteristics you wish to convey (that you are hard-working and so forth), the second involves social identity based impression strategies which in essence could be seen as managing cultural stereotypes. We all have a social identity that relates to things such as our age, social status, race, religion, even life stage and with this comes stereotypes attached to the identities by ourselves and others.

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Consider for example, a youngster joining an older team and the image colleagues may create for this younger worker. And of course, social identity can change over time such as with a worker becoming a parent. The impact of social identity upon image can be so strong that individuals seek to engage in social identity based impression management (SIM), perhaps by distancing themselves from a social identity not valued within the team or by attempting to attach greater positivity to this particular social identity.

NON-VERBAL CUES This is all about how you present yourself nonverbally, the types of clothes you wear, body language, even the fragrance you choose. T.M.Lewin rightly point out that the evolving working environments, from traditional business formal to creative settings and everything in-between, offer an ever present challenge of getting it sartorially right.

And getting it right has never been more important.

Studies found that those who didn’t project the right professional image through clothing were perceived by others to be not only less competent but less of a cultural fit. Interestingly, T.M. Lewin suggest that even business formal can include ‘subtle pops of personality’ and this ties in with research that personal uniqueness can actually transcend stereotyping, meaning that your clothes can assist with social identity based impression management. Similarly, particular ways of dressing can reinforce personal characteristics- like a tailored suit encouraging perceptions of authority and competence. Don’t forget the little details either; research suggests that fragrance is linked to formation of social identity impressions.

VERBAL CUES A huge part of the formation of your image concerns what you actually say and do including the type of information that you give others about yourself, your hobbies for example. A youngster joining a team who wishes to distance themselves from the negative stereotypes held by older colleagues may talk of weekend plans that disconfirm the colleagues’ perceptions of this age group, thus engaging in SIM. Another aspect concerns how you treat others as this can greatly widen the gap between desired and perceived image. Perhaps you wish to be seen as a fair and understanding boss, but are overheard being entirely unsympathetic to an approach from a team member. For an image to have longevity, desired personal characteristics need to be consistent across what you say and what you do.

The first step to changing your image is being aware of what others’ perceptions actually are, consideration of the personal characteristics you wish to convey not only for the job that you have but the job that you want, alongside an honest assessment of your social identity. It is at this point that you can begin to manage your image, looking at the verbal and non-verbal cues you are giving others and how you can subtly amend and alter your image to greater align your desired and perceived image. With attention to detail and commitment to maintenance, an appropriate and viable professional image is absolutely achieveable. l

Luxury Academy London Paul Russell is co-founder and director of Luxury Academy London, www.luxuryacademy.co.uk, a multi-national private training company with offices in London, Delhi and Visakhapatnam.

Luxury Academy London specialise in leadership, communication and business etiquette training for companies and private clients across a wide range of sectors. Prior to founding Luxury Academy London, Paul worked in senior leadership roles across Europe, United States, Middle East and Asia. A dynamic trainer and seminar leader, Paul has designed and taught courses, workshops and seminars worldwide on a wide variety of soft skills. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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DIGITISATION OF TAX ‘HARDER ON SMALL BUSINESSES’ In preparation for its ‘Making Tax Digital’ project, HMRC is in the final stages of its official consultation period with the business community.

The UK200Group, the UK’s leading membership association of qualityassured chartered accountancy and law firms, has been an active part of the consultation process and has in turn asked its members for their views and the views of their SME clients.

The UK200Group represents the interests of 150,000 SMEs through its members and it is taking a lead on tax digitisation to guide business owners through the process. So what exactly does HMRC mean by ‘Making Tax Digital’?

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y 2020, businesses, self-employed people and landlords earning over £10,000 per annum will manage their tax affairs through a digital, online account, and will be required to update HMRC at least quarterly.

These digital tax accounts will be a more sophisticated version of the personal tax accounts which are already in use for individuals, and allow taxpayers to see their Pay As You Earn position, tax credits and National Insurance Contributions, plus an estimate of state pension on retirement. However, by 2018, banks and building societies will be required to report interest payments to HMRC to be included in digital tax accounts, and individuals will be able to report additional sources of income digitally.

Digital tax accounts for businesses will show an overview of income tax or corporation tax, VAT and National Insurance Contributions, plus income and expenses on a quarterly basis.

Taxpayers will be expected to use software accounting systems to record day-to-day transactions, categorise them into different types of income and feed back to HMRC. Andrew Jackson is Head of Tax at UK200Group member Fiander Tovell Chair of the UK200Group Tax Panel, and is also on the consultative committee of the Office for Tax Simplification).

He said, “The digitisation of tax is going to have a very different effect on small companies compared to larger ones. For larger companies with financial controllers, accounts teams and reasonably sophisticated software accounting systems in place, the switch will be much easier than for smaller businesses without a dedicated accountant or bookkeeper. There is already internal reporting going on in a large business so it is not so difficult to start diverting that reporting to HMRC. “‘Making Tax Digital’ will force all businesses and self-employed workers to start using accounting systems, and that implies having someone to deal with accounts – even if they’re not a chartered accountant.

If they don’t have someone to input the data, keep the system up-to-date – who is aware of how things need to be done – they will have to get to a place where they have one. And often, that will be a bookkeeper who has never had to deal with taxation before.

HMRC officials think that getting small business to use accounting systems will reduce errors, and if people are making fewer errors they should have a more accurate idea of how their businesses are performing. That’s got to be a good thing.

However, they don’t seem to appreciate why people aren’t using accounting systems at the moment. I think what they’ve failed to identify is that businesspeople aren’t doing it now because of the cost of implementing an accounting system - this isn’t just financial, but includes the time and effort spent learning how to use it and keeping it up to date.

It’s not just a case of putting a few numbers in various boxes – it takes a whole new set of skills to use these programs properly.

This, again, is going to affect small businesses more than it affects larger ones because the overheads for setting up accountancy systems are going to remain broadly the same, regardless of turnover.

A complex accounting system, for example, is also massively over-engineered for a lot of the UK’s businesses, which might only have half a dozen clients or customers.

HMRC seem to acknowledge this, and are also proposing that businesses be allowed to use simplified methods for doing their accounts.

Unfortunately, what this would do is destroy a lot of the useful information that is the whole the point of preparing accounts in the first place.

There are also technical issues that Andrew sees as potential problems for his clients, such as whether he’s going to be able to access their digital tax accounts easily and effectively.

HMRC officials are happy to make the information in the digital tax account available to agents. Agents will be able to dial into HMRC’s systems, download the information they need and pull it into the tax return or the accounts that they’re preparing, or use various interfaces to see the information in the way that they want to.

They’ll not be restricted to seeing the information in the way that the client does, and the format will be more flexible and more useable. I like that.

However, what HMRC officials have said is that the agent will not be able to see the digital tax account itself. What they’ll have to do is reconstruct the account from the data they have available.

Now that is very dangerous because it means that the taxpayer and the agent are potentially seeing different things. I think it’s crucial that we can see on our screens what the client can see on theirs. If we can’t see your tax affairs, how are we supposed to help you handle them?” l Andrew Jackson, Chair of UK200Group Tax Panel

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TAKING THE JUMP FROM CORPORATE TO SME Kerttu Inkeroinen shares her thoughts on how best to move from corporate to SME, while Jeremy Torz offers advice and insight to SMEs hoping to land an employee with a corporate background.

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erttu Inkeroinen was building a career at Kimberly-Clark and Coca-Cola when she left in 2015 to become Marketing Director at SME Union Hand-Roasted Coffee. Two years in, she’s caught the entrepreneurial bug and has never been happier. The move was just as fruitful for Union Co-founder Jeremy Torz.

He wanted to take on a more classically trained marketer to help Union continue its growth trajectory.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN TRANSITIONING FROM CORPORATION TO SME – KERTTU INKEROINEN 1. Follow your passions. There are some incredible SMEs out there and it is important to choose a company whose mission you believe in. For me, that was Union Hand-Roasted Coffee – a pioneering coffee roaster with sustainable development at its core. Union was the first UK coffee company to introduce direct trade as its business model. It still leads the way in this area and it’s fantastic to be part of a business that has a positive impact on tens of thousands of lives around the world (and produces the most fantastic coffee, which also happens to be my passion). It’s a marketer’s dream – a great story waiting to be told to a wider audience.

2. Consider your career path and opportunities to keep learning. Ask yourself: ‘Will I learn more in the next two years by moving vs. staying within my current company?’. Whilst having smaller marketing budgets and resources, SMEs 32

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can often offer opportunities to gain experience and insight in management and running a business outside of your specific function, and to make a tangible difference to the company’s future. Often people can be worried about limiting their options in the future by moving into an SME, but in my view it can broaden your experience and open up wider opportunities.

Like me, you are also likely to discover that you will love working in a smaller business, and decide to continue on that career path.

3. Interrogate the business, owners and peer group when making your decision. You’ll work side-by-side with the founders, and it’s crucial you respect and enjoy working with other members of the management team. It’s important to feel that you have the trust, support and authority to drive through change. Sometimes it can be hard for small business owners to let go of being involved in each decision, and let someone else take charge. I’ve been very lucky at Union in this respect!

4. Consider whether your working style will fit into a smaller company. Prepare to be hands on.

Both my team and resources are now smaller and this took some getting used to. On the flip side, the people I work with are endlessly passionate and engaged in our mission, and that makes an incredible difference to the working culture. You need to be autonomous and to know what you want, as there are fewer or no guidelines to follow, which can be daunting –

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THE BIG DRAW IS GIVING PEOPLE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACHIEVE CHANGE AND RESULTS

but also very exciting!

5. Stay connected. In a smaller team, there are fewer peers and marketers on who to sound ideas. It’s important to stay connected to your networks, and to stay on top of the latest news, trends and events. There are a lot of free events to attend, which are great for networking and fresh ideas– get on the mailing lists!

6. Make the most of it. In bigger businesses, I worked on some amazing campaigns with incredible people, but the opportunity to affect real change and to contribute to the direction of the company feels much more immediate in a smaller business. At Union I had a chance to conduct a total rebrand - everything from logo, to packaging, to website – and to completely reinvigorate the brand. We’re now listed in Waitrose and Ocado, and we have also launched an online subscription service called CoffeeClub, and have exciting growth plans for the years ahead.

MAKING THE MOST OF A CORPORATE HIRE – JEREMY TORZ 1. Hire to drive growth. For some, joining the board of a smaller company is a rung on the ladder – a notch on the CV. We very consciously wanted someone with a strong affinity to us, our coffee and our culture. Kerttu’s brief is to achieve change and drive the business forward, and for that, she had to share our vision.

2. Ensure a good cultural fit. They might have the requisite professional toolkit, but if the personality doesn’t fit, things could go downhill quickly. You will need to give them the space from very early on to be effective without the owner signing off everything. Build trust through dialogue. Make it clear from the outset that you will look to set them free as soon as possible.

3. Emphasise the wider benefits. The rewards for being in an SME can be quite different from in the corporate world and it’s important that you are clear on the benefits of your organisation and the role. The big draw is giving people the opportunity to achieve change and results – not only in their immediate role – but across the organisation.

4. Use their experience. At Union, we traditionally developed people from within and Kerttu’s experience gave us an external view we had been lacking. Having her on board means we can develop our brand holistically rather than by looking at it from within specific sales channels.

5. Empower them. Kerttu has helped to speed up our decision making process, and given us the courage to make exciting decisions backed up by industry-leading analysis. In a corporate setting, people often have to ‘sell’ their ideas to wider stakeholders before they get the backing of the business. This is a skill Kerttu has put to great use at Union. l

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HOW RURAL BUSINESSES CAN BENEFIT FROM APPRENTICESHIP SCHEMES

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pprenticeships have experienced a renaissance in recent years, driven largely by government incentives and the increase in university tuition fees.

With over 90% of apprentices going into full-time employment, this group is rapidly closing the gap on their university counterparts in terms of employability, while having a significant impact on businesses’ futures.

While apprenticeship schemes benefit a wide-range of businesses from large corporations to start-ups, they can have a significant impact on businesses based in rural areas. With reports highlighting that the British countryside is in crisis, as an increasing number of young people leave these pockets for a number of reasons, rural businesses are competing with the allure of the big cities to hire fresh, young talent. As a result, introducing an apprenticeship programme has a wide-range of benefits for both the younger generation and the rural business. Advantages range from contributing to retaining talent in the local community, learning practical skills, increasing productivity and securing the long-term future of your business to inspiring passion to join your industry. It also enables investment in the learning and employment of young people looking to join your sector, helping to influence their future career decisions.

Taking all of this into account, we really should be singing the benefits of apprenticeships for both rural businesses and the next generation far and wide.

ADVANTAGES OF APPRENTICESHIP SCHEMES Establishing an apprenticeship programme is an investment in the future of your business, as well as in the local economy. With over 60% of apprentices under the age of 25, an effective scheme will help create and retain the next generation of highly trained workers and ensure that specialist skills are kept in the workforce. With reports flying around that the UK is in the wraps of a dramatic skills shortage – within the food manufacturing sector 34

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170,000 staff are expected to retire over the next five years– having an apprenticeship programme is an excellent means to replenish any shortages you may be experiencing while teaching young people skills and increasing their earning potential.

Finding effective ways of retaining talent is especially important for businesses located in rural areas, and is something we at Tyrrells are very conscious of. Implementing an apprenticeship scheme has allowed us to demonstrate that highlyskilled jobs are available for talented young people in our rural community and that they can build a successful career without having to move to the city, while allowing us to give back to the Herefordshire community.

While you will need to take the time to teach your apprentices the necessary skills, in the longterm implementing an apprenticeship programme can create strong brand advocates and help increase your company’s performance. However, it’s not only skills you can impart to younger generations, as implementing a scheme is a beneficial method to integrate them into the wider business and educate them on career opportunities available, encouraging passion for your sector while inspiring enthusiasm in your brand.

Apprenticeship schemes are a valuable resource that hold huge potential, and in order for them to be more widely implemented, the government has introduced initiatives to increase the number of apprenticeships to three million by 2020. In the latest Autumn Budget Statement, the Chancellor outlined plans for a new apprenticeship levy to enhance the quality of apprenticeships going into the workforce.

STARTING AN APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME Setting up an apprenticeship scheme is a relatively easy process, and the time you spend implementing it now is relatively small compared to the rewards young people and your business could reap further down the line. To help your business harness the talent and potential available, we’ve put together our five top tips on starting an apprenticeship scheme.

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CASE STUDY: APPRENTICE ALICE TOPHAM’S STORY 1. Utilise government support. There are a range of incentives available, so investigate what support your business may be entitled to. For instance companies which bring on board an apprentice under 25 years, and currently employ less than 50 people, are entitled to a grant of £1,500. Funding is also available to cover the costs of any qualification your business provides formal training in, which in some circumstances could cover the entire cost.

2. Get clued up on apprenticeship regulations and requirements. The legislation relating to employing an apprentice has changed, so make sure you understand your obligations as a business and as an employer. Examples of these include paying at least the national minimum wage, and providing at least 30 hours employment a week.

3. Implement a structured approach. An effective apprenticeship programme will provide the knowledge and skills needed to work in your industry, including on and off the job training, as well as fully integrating the apprentice into the company, allowing them to gain a broad understanding of the different components and roles. This in turn can encourage passion and excitement for the sector by inspiring apprentices to identify the areas where they can work and understand how their role contributes to the wider business.

4. Identify where an apprentice will most benefit your business. To ensure your apprenticeship scheme is working effectively, place candidates in the areas which have the greatest learning potential and need for support.

5. Decide on the level of apprenticeship you will offer. There are three levels of apprenticeship available for those aged 16 and over: Intermediate, Advanced and Higher. These are equivalent to GCSEs, A levels and Foundation Degrees respectively. Identify which classification is most suited to your apprenticeship scheme and the roles the apprentices will fill.

6. Determine whether you will work alongside a training provider or college. Many businesses run their apprenticeship schemes in collaboration with a college or training provider, these organisations provide the formal teaching which makes up part of any apprentice programme.

Establishing partnerships with local colleges can also build ties with the local community and provide a good source of apprentice candidates.

Instilling passion and providing opportunities for apprentices is so integral to ensuring a steady stream of talent across a range of industries, while contributing to the rural economy. Providing opportunties for the young generation helps to maintain the countryside population, increasing the pool of talent available, as well as adding to the growth and future prosperity of a company. Any successful business will be constantly investing in ways to improve their operational quality and efficiency, but it is those companies that provide additional value that will gain the most return. l David Milner, CEO of Tyrrells Crisps

“Returning to a classroom wasn’t for me - an apprenticeship gave me that immediate experience I was craving” Alice Topham, International Supply Chain Co-Ordinator for Tyrrells, explains why she chose an apprenticeship, and how it has helped her progress Over recent years apprenticeship schemes have experienced a significant revival, with the government setting ambitious targets in this area – but what is it really like to be an apprentice and how can they support you business’ growth?

Former apprentice Alice Topham, 21 years, explains how her apprenticeship allowed her to experience new roles she never previously thought of, while progressing through the Tyrrells ranks…

“I began my apprenticeship with Tyrrells just under two years ago. Having left college early to travel around Australia, I returned home with a strong sense that I needed to continue my education. Though as someone who always feels on the move, returning to a classroom environment didn’t appeal to me – an apprenticeship was a way of gaining both academic qualifications and valuable experience of the workplace.”

“I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but when I saw there was an opportunity at Tyrrells I went for it. It wasn’t a completely random decision though, as a Herefordshire girl I had witnessed Tyrrells’ rapid growth over the last few years and being part of this was an attractive proposition.

It was the right opportunity at the right time, so I seized the moment and filled in my application form. I was invited to an interview and soon after was offered the role.”

“I began my apprenticeship working on reception, this gave me an opportunity to build my experience facing clients and suppliers, as well as communicating information to my colleagues – this ran in conjunction with my college course, and my tutor visited every month to check in with me. After four months I was given an exciting opportunity to work on the UK Supply Chain team, and having performed well, I moved to my current role as International Supply Chain CoOrdinator on the Global Supply Chain team. Gradually being given more responsibility allowed me to quickly develop my skills and experience, without feeling out of my depth.”

“My current role involves speaking to Tyrrells’ international customers, dealing with certain legal aspects of the international supply chain and communicating with the production team to ensure orders are fulfilled. My job has also given me an opportunity to travel – with work taking me to Spain and Portugal. Communication is absolutely vital to my role, and the skills I developed throughout my apprenticeship proved invaluable.”

“One of my proudest moments at Tyrrells was developing a new forecasting system to process international orders – the new process I devised allows the production team to see when we may experience peaks in demand and prepare accordingly – increasing overall efficiency. It goes to show that apprenticeship schemes don’t just help the students!” entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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HOW SMALL BUSINESSES CAN PROTECT THEIR CASHFLOW Businesses are at once very resilient and very fragile. If a company is hit by scandal, it can go off the radar for a while and rebrand. If a company is elbowed out of the top spot by strong competition, it can always bide its time and mount a comeback.

The one thing no organisation can survive is running out of money.

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f you’re an entrepreneur, you likely don’t need to be told that cash flow is important: for many businesses, it’s a constant, daily struggle, one where banks are visited cap in hand, clients routinely disappoint, and plans for growth are quashed.

But it doesn’t have to be quite so despairing.

In fact, you have plenty of options at your disposal: by making certain strategic financial management decisions, you can ease the pressure – and put your company in an ideal position for future growth.

BORROWER BEWARE Hidden fees and unexpected charges can be lethal to businesses with very slim margins. If you hope to avoid running out of money, the first thing to do is attain a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of your liabilities.

The language of financial contracts is deliberately obtuse to the point where it feels like it’s designed to be skipped over. Whether this is intentional or not, a time and cash-poor entrepreneur is, in fact, likely to skip it over – potentially leaving you exposed to massive financial penalties. If they write in a clause that involves a quarterly business audit, you may well have to pay for the ‘privilege’; when the bank is drawing up the agreement, they may conveniently forget to mention their retroactive commission fee.

Now, many of these charges are entirely justifiable, and are recouped for legitimate services rendered. That doesn’t help you if you don’t know about them. Read the small print – and if anyone doesn’t tell you what they want you to pay, reconsider doing business with them.

EGGS AND BASKETS Successful businesses don’t rely too heavily on any one client. Don’t get me wrong: forging healthy, longterm relationships is key to your company’s longterm viability. But concentrating too much of your business in one key account is like sitting on a chair with only one leg: you may well keep the balance for a time, but an inconvenient collapse is never far away.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure no individual client comprises over 50% of your sales.

That way, when a customer’s business folds, or it closes its regional office, or it offers any other pretext for ending your business arrangement, your plans

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won’t be too disrupted.

MANAGE SMALLER INVOICES Pursuing small invoices can be a double-edged sword: on one hand, the value of chasing them up can often outweigh the value of moneys owed. On the other, you don’t want to encourage nonpayment.

Effective financial management means finding a way to make sure smaller amounts are paid in full – without adding to your operational burden. If you employ certain forms of invoice finance, your creditor may handle this process for you; if not, it’s often a case of creating and deploying a process for small debt recovery. Much of this can be automated: a polite email reminder notice alongside the monthly invoice; a follow-up email that – while remaining cordial – escalates the tone; a final warning which outlines the potential consequences of nonpayment.

You must be prepared to restrict access to certain services as a last resort: businesses which allow nonpayment are businesses that invariably run out of money.

REALISTIC TIMEFRAMES Every business needs to have a sense of realism about what it needs and when it needs it.

If you have overheads to think of and no significant cash reserves to speak of, a 150-day payment timeframe often simply won’t work.

Sometimes, this will result in hard decisions – and these hard decisions may result in lost business. In the long run, however, your cashflow will be better off for it.

If a client has a supplier finance scheme that assures timely repayments, sign up for it: the guarantee is usually worth the nominal fee. If not, do everything you can to incentivise clients to pay ontime, or even early – and make sure the total invoice is valuable enough to cover the cost of pursuing it.

Your business’ health is contingent on receiving a regular income stream with as little disruption as possible. Surprise is the enemy of financial management, but if you take the proper measures, it can be contained.

A little common sense and advance planning can go a long way to ensuring your company never runs out of money. l Chirag Shah, CEO, Nucleus Commercial Finance

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HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCH A NEW BUSINESS Following an extensive and successful career working within the cosmetics industry, Lisa Dodds developed and launched her very own beauty brand alongside life-long friend and business partner, Marco Robinson.

Acting as CEO of NKDb Cosmetics, Lisa is passionate about encouraging women to embrace their natural beauty and motivating female entrepreneurs to set up their own business, selling the NKDb products.

Here, Lisa Dodds shares her top tips for starting a business in the ever-competitive world of beauty.

CONSIDER GOING INTO BUSINESS WITH A FRIEND I first met my life-long friend and now business partner, Marco Robinson, was I was 18-years-old.

We’ve had a long and strong friendship and our decision to go into business together was probably to best business decision we’ve ever made. Whilst my role as CEO means that I’m managing the dayto-day running of the business, Marco’s businessmind ensures that sensible decisions are made, budgets are kept to and targets are met. They say that opposites attract and in business two opposing personalities can balance each other out, and offer a much more rounded business.

ADOPT SELF-BELIEF As an entrepreneur it’s vital that you believe in the service or product that you’re offering your customers. If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect other people to? Beauty is an unbelievably competitive industry so you need to be able to prove your passion from the outset.

BUILD YOUR CONTACTS BOOK FROM THE GET-GO The most successful individuals in business are inevitably well connected. They make it a habit to identify useful contacts and then nurture relationships with them. Thanks to the growth of social media, it means there are even more opportunities to build relationships than ever before, for example through the use of professional networking sites such as LinkedIn. GET A MENTOR I think that an outsider’s perspective is such a great way of gaining valuable insight, advice and feedback.

A mentor could be someone you have met on a professional level or even a family member or a close friend. By having someone you respect give you their honest opinions, means that you can become better at looking at things from a wider perspective and it means you become more openminded to alternative suggestions for the business.

UNDERSTAND YOUR PRODUCT AND THE MARKET The starting point for any new business should be defining your target market. Who is most likely to use your product or service? As you answer this question, consider factors such as age, buying power, geographical location, and marital status.

By identifying these things, this will make you knowledgeable in what drives your market’s purchase decisions, and what your product or service should encompass.

ADAPT WITH THE TIMES Flexibility and a willingness to embrace change will make you a more valuable organisation. Social media has completely changed the way we consume beauty and as a brand it’s vital that we keep up with these changes. A huge focus of our business plan is to keep up with the digital world, and we have started to work with hand selected online influencers, and have ensured that social media activity is a priority within our PR and marketing strategy – all to make sure our brand is current and on-trend.

MAKE YOURSELF STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD If you want to compete within the beauty industry, you need to remind your customers why they should buy from you rather than a rival. NKDb products are formulated with specialist ingredients and unlike many other cosmetic brands, the products are not tested on animals. On the website itself, we wanted to offer consumers more than just the option to buy products. Therefore, we have YouTube tutorials which help guide consumers on how to create makeup looks. We also have our ambassador service which allows budding female entrepreneurs to set up their own business selling the NKDb range. This is what we believe sets us apart from other online retailers, so we have taken this unique selling point and have used it as part of our communications strategy for the business. l

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MAKING IMMERSIVE ONLINE RETAIL A REALITY Two ambitious friends are pioneering a retail revolution that is set to transform how we shop online – and deliver a step-change in e-commerce profits for omnichannel retailers. GoInStore is the award-winning pioneer of a first-person, “instore” shopping experience for online customers.

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ebsite visitors can click the “GoInStore” button from a retailer’s product page and connect live with an in-store staff member. The instore expert is equipped with either a pair of smart glasses, a smartphone or a tablet running the GoInStore app, which captures the in-store video stream so that the customer can see the store “through the eyes” of the salesperson, and explore the store and its products as if they were physically browsing in store.

The company was founded in July 2014 by André Hordagoda and Aman Khurana – two high-flying sales executives and friends since school. A former top biller at Experian Hitwise, André is a seasoned business development professional with more than a decade of experience in the technology and e-commerce sector. He has also nurtured three start-up businesses through various growth stages.

“I was involved in a recruitment start-up early on in my career, followed by exposure to a couple of major blue chip businesses where I learned about the structure, organisation and protocol,” André explains. “Then seven years ago I returned to the start-up arena and, immediately prior to GoInStore, I played a pivotal role in the commercial growth of online personalisation technology company, Peerius.”

Aman’s early career followed a similar path, albeit more technically-focused. Having worked in technology-based solution sales for more than a decade, in 2010 Aman went on to found MindAction, a professional training and coaching company aimed at giving young people vital real-world skills not covered in the traditional educational system. He sold his share of the business before moving into the e-commerce field, eventually joining André at Peerius, where the plan for GoInStore was devised.

The inspiration for GoInStore was borne out of André and Aman’s deep understanding of the role of personal interaction in a successful sales process. “You just cannot replace the human-tohuman connection in certain sales engagements,” says André. “GoInStore addresses this gap in the customer experience by restoring to the process what most retailers consider to be their most valuable sales asset: trained retail staff. Successfully delivering the service is a technical feat, but we are fundamentally allowing people to engage in an

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extremely familiar way, as if they were in the store.”

Moving from the initial idea to developing a commercial business has required funding and the ability to capture the imagination of investors, typically via the ‘beauty pageant’ circuit in London and the usual speed pitching events. The GoInStore team quickly became adept at delivering its sixminute pitch presentation, often as frequently as once a week. This, combined with networking through existing contacts, eventually connected André and Aman with an Investment Platform called Envestors, which has worked well for GoInStore’s stage of growth. “They were great in matching us to a curated selection of their high net worth individuals,” says André.

With investment behind them, the team has been able to focus on selling the technology solution – an area in which the founders have a distinct advantage. “Both Aman and I are commercial guys, which means we haven’t had the stress of many tech start-ups in that they build the tech and then try to figure out how to sell it,” comments André.

“We’ve also got a great network of contacts and the PR behind our story has been great, too. We’re now getting inbound enquiries.”

The journey so far has been challenging but highly rewarding, with early major customer wins validating the huge potential for GoInStore, and its wide application within the global retail space.

But, as with many start-ups, the hardest challenge has been getting buy-in for the solution from the right people at the client end. “While many retail businesses have the ambition to remove silos between their channels, the reality is that the moment your conversations go below C-level, staff become protective of their respective digital and physical store revenue lines,” says Aman. “What we are doing is actually empowering retail staff to contribute to the digital revenue channel. Now, if an online customer has a GoInStore session with a retailer and one of their in-store sales people remotely helps with the purchase, we can directly attribute that sale to the specific store or sales representative. As a result, our pitch conversations have very quickly moved from “nice idea” to “why isn’t everybody doing that?” he adds.

Starting a business is no easy feat, and advice from others is never in short supply, as Aman notes.

“For one, it’s difficult trying to filter through all of the

support and guidance ‘noise’ offered to start-ups,” he says. “In the end, you need to take a leap of faith and trust your instinct.”

As the company moves from early adopter into the next phase of growth, the next step for GoInStore is to hit a critical mass of retail WHAT WE WISH WE’D KNOWN clients. This means that broader social awareness of this new I wish I’d know how much fun I’d way to shop becomes be having – despite the fact it’s more important, as the hardest we’ve ever worked. I André knows: “I’d like to think the GoInStore sometimes wonder if we should name and badge will have started this earlier on in life, become a familiar but then again, perhaps we weren’t fixture on high street ready. shop windows – much in the same way that “Just Eat” logos are across takeaways’ windows.”

As the GoInStore TOP TIPS story rolls on to its next chapter, there is undoubtedly much • Start with the challenge you are still to achieve but also going to solve. much that has been • Don’t build something cool and accomplished, of which then try to find a commercially André and Aman are justifiably proud. viable application.

“We celebrated • Hire the best people you can find, our 2nd anniversary both technically and, possibly last month and, to be more importantly, attitude-wise. honest, looking back it’s great to see how far • Winning business is important, we’ve come.” l but it’s even more important to

look after your customer.

• Don’t stop believing in yourself.

• It’s okay to have bad days.

• Regularly celebrate success.

• Find a business partner you trust, has the same burning ambition, and who is or will be your friend!

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MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN FOCUSING ON HIGH PERFORMANCE ENGAGEMENT

Lessons of success from St. Louis Cardinals – how the best-run baseball team in the US consistently outperforms big-spending rivals by focusing on high performance engagement.

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long with being a very successful baseball team – they boast the second-highest number of World Series wins in Major League Baseball – the St. Louis Cardinals is one of the best-run sports franchises in the US. Despite being based in a small market (in US terms), they have delivered sustained performance success both on- and off-the-field. The franchise’s consistent outperformance derives from shrewd and steady leadership, astute baseball development, operational excellence in the front office, and outstanding fan and staff engagement.

Our study of the Cardinals’ high performance model showcases in particular the linkage between engagement and enduring high performance. In this article, we highlight six key lessons for leaders from this research.

LESSON 1: CONSIDER ENGAGEMENT A ‘CONTACT SPORT’ High-performance engagement – whether with staff, customers, suppliers or other stakeholders, is a contact sport, anchored in direct, face-to-face interaction. This type of engagement is built in to the Cardinals’ modus operandi and examples are everywhere across the organization – in the interactions between that take place between the franchise’s current players, alumni and fans, in the working models that exist between the Cardinals and their key commercial partners, and in the ways in which Cardinals leaders engage with more junior staff to name but three examples.

LESSON 2: LEAD BY EXAMPLE High performance engagement is led from the top. Echoing Gandhi’s iconic line “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”, Cardinals leaders demonstrate their own willingness to 40

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engage. Every six months, Bill DeWitt III, President, and Mo Mozeliak, General Manager, sit down with groups of approximately 70 staff drawn from across the organization. They discuss every aspect of the franchise’s operations up to and including team affairs – there are no off-limits areas. The originator of this idea, Joe Strohm, VP of Ticket Sales, notes “It’s a key advantage that our GM cares a lot about the business side of the organization. He knows how ticket sales are going. He interacts with our people. Both Bill and Mo want to know from our front line staff what fans are thinking and saying.”

This engagement brings real, positive consequences, for example when season ticket sales staff discuss renewals with fans, they share first-hand insights from their meetings with Bill and Mo. Fans as a result are drawn in, feeling like they have an inside track into franchise thinking.

LESSON 3: GO PAST THE “STRICTLY PROFESSIONAL” The Cardinals understand that in service businesses, the way leaders engage with staff sets the tone for how staff engage with customers. Before every home game at Busch Stadium, there is a meeting of all event staff that is led by Jack Stretch, Event Manager and lasts for approximately 15 minutes. The tone is light and fun. Jack tells jokes, acknowledges birthdays, shares positive feedback from the last game, distributes a newsletter with facts on the upcoming game (opponents, starting pitchers, league standings etc.), and generally sets an upbeat mood. In Jack’s own words “We recognize the importance of fan engagement and these guys are our front-line troops. We want to send them out into the stadium in an upbeat, happy mood. We want them to engage with the fans about the game.

We want them to set the tone for the fan experience

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in the ball park.” As we witnessed directly ourselves, this practice enables a rapport between front-line staff and the “Cardinal Nation” of fans that keeps the Stadium practically full every time.

LESSON 4: EXTEND ENGAGEMENT BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL BOUNDARIE The Cardinals also recognize that as their organizational architecture becomes more open they need to stretch their model of highperformance engagement beyond franchise boundaries. Cardinals’ engagement extends in particular to the franchise’s key suppliers.

Cardinals’ leaders recognize that these entities are fundamental to their customer proposition, business model and performance, and as such they invest in creating ever-deeper relationships.

They embrace key suppliers as partners and colleagues and – in addition to holding them to Cardinals’ standards – they integrate them fully in Cardinals’ processes, governance and activities.

The franchise’s relationship with Delaware North Companies Sportservice – a third-party provider of game-day services to Busch Stadium patrons – is a good case in point. The extent to which this supplier is integrated into the Cardinals’ ‘family’ can be seen from the fact that when the Cardinals won the World Series in 2011, Sportservice employees were included in the staff ring ceremony along with their counterparts in the Cardinals front office.

LESSON 5: LINK ENGAGEMENT TO PERFORMANCE, NOT (JUST) “FEELGOOD” Engagement at the Cardinals creates a positive environment and makes people feel better. Its deliberate and explicit end, however, is franchise performance improvement. Engagement is singularly designed to facilitate and motivate people

to do their jobs better such that the organization continues to win, and Cardinals leaders measure engagement effectiveness using the yardsticks of the franchise’s overall performance. Rather than viewing an engaged, “happy” organization as an end in itself, the Cardinals’ leadership ties engagement directly to the franchise’s overall vision and strategy for success.

LESSON 6: DON’T OVER-ENGINEER IT The final attribute of Cardinals high performance engagement that we would highlight is its authenticity. By contrast with the sophisticated, wide-ranging, branded programmes that we sometimes find in corporate organizations, engagement at the Cardinals is short on hype and long on substance. It feels and is natural, and while the lessons are generic, the practical implementation of those lessons is 100% specific and situational. It reflects an ongoing commitment to trial, error and improvement, and more broadly to engagement as a fundamental enabler of Cardinals’ success. l

By James Bowen and Brian MacNeice, co-Managing Directors of Kotinos Partners and authors of Powerhouse – Insider accounts into the world’s greatest high performance organisations James Bowen and Brian MacNeice are co-founders and Managing Directors of Kotinos Partners Limited, a niche advisory firm working to help CEOs and their teams achieve sustained high performance. They are also co-authors of Powerhouse – Insider accounts into the world’s leading high-performance organisations, published in October 2016 by Kogan Page. www. theperformancepowerhouse.com entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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MAKING IT IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

Rachael Sage founded MPress Records 20 years ago, primarily to release her own work. Since releasing 12 albums of self-penned folk-pop, she has toured extensively all over the world while releasing several other GrammyÂŽ Nominated and Independent Music Award-winning artists via MPress. 17 of her songs have appeared on the hit TV show "Dance Moms" including one composed specifically for Maddie Zeigler, leading to over 9.5 million YouTube hits. Sage's new album "Choreographic" has spawned a #6 charting single in the US and garnered BBC2 airplay in the UK, where she will be on tour from this Autumn throughout the UK and Europe.

HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU FIRST KNEW YOU HAD AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT? I was 11 years old when I had my first business. I'd just switched to a new school after being badly bullied at my prior, and found an instant soul-mate in my new best friend Jenny because we both loved to "make stuff". Pretty quickly, word got around that all the jewelry and barrettes we were wearing were our own creations, and our classmates started asking if they could buy them (they were very similar to what was already trendy in the local boutiques in Connecticut). We started taking orders from peers, then approached local stores, the mall and even some stores in Florida on a family vacation. We had hundreds of clients, had quite the challenge keeping up with demand, and learned an enormous amount about business in the process. Our parents 42

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I USED SOCIAL MEDIA EVERY DAY TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH LISTENERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD encouraged us and helped us go into NYC to buy wholesale supplies to make everything - so we were very lucky. Of course, all our earnings went right into our college funds! A couple years later we got bored with it, and it sort of fell apart; basically, Jenny became more interested in boys, so then I was on my own - ha!

WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO FOUND YOUR OWN RECORD LABEL? I've been asked this many times and sometimes I answer differently, so there must've been a bunch of reasons. It wasn't as premeditated as one might imagine; I really just wanted to get my work out there - and by the time I was in my early 20's I'd already been making demos and even masterquality recordings for a decade because I started recording my own songs when I was 12. So after what seemed like a myriad of sleazy experiences in a "questionable" business, with gross older men hitting on me and promising me the moon while my unsuspecting parents were out of the room, I gradually realized I was the most qualified person to develop, produce and release my first proper record when I graduated college. Thankfully there were some very positive examples already of strong women creating and releasing their own recordings such as Ani DiFranco and Loreena McKennitt to whom I could look for inspiration, but basically I just had a lot of nerve, and thought "why should I wait around for the exact right situation - which may never come - to share my music that's ready to be heard?"

I also had a specific experience my first year living in NYC - just before I went on tour with Ani DiFranco - where a major label courted me very intensely, came to all my gigs, brought me up to their A&R department, wined and dined me etc but it was all very awkward and didn't feel right. They said things like "we love that you're making records cheaply on ADATS!" and "we'd love for you to be sort of an Alanis at the piano!" and even "being bisexual is very cool right now, we wouldn't want to hide that!" It was a bit over the top and I felt like a stranger in my own movie when all I wanted to do was put my work out there and see where it lead; so that's what I did. I bought a fax machine,

signed all my correspondence as an imaginary manager, ended up charting in the Top 30 on College Radio and got a slot at Liilith Fair not too long after I started MPress, so it was definitely a very empowering choice for me and also underlined the sensibility I was trying to reflect in my music itself of being a strong, empowered and proactive force in one's own life, particularly as a woman.

HOW DO YOU USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO ACTIVATE YOUR LISTENERSHIP? I used social media every day to stay in touch with listeners from all over the world in whatever creative and authentic ways strike me to share my process as an artist. I'm less interested in sharing what I ate for dinner or how my laundry's going...though I know there's a fine art to letting people in to the intimate if not mundane details of one's life; it's just not "me".

I love sharing the writing and recording process, new poetry, new visual art and crafting and of course, my ongoing live performance plans and various footage we collect along the way. I think of social media not only as a way to communicate directly with my listeners but also a way to artfully curate one's life a living documentary of sorts. I love the social as well as archival aspects of Instagram and Facebook and the immediacy of Twitter. I don't use Snapchat yet but I'm planning to learn - because all my young fans from "Dance Moms" keep asking me to!

AT WHAT POINT DID YOU BEGIN MARKETING YOUR MUSIC OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES AND WHAT PERCENTAGE OF YOUR AUDIENCE IS INTERNATIONAL? I'm not exactly sure the year, but I believe I started marketing my music to the UK about 5 or 6 releases ago...so maybe seven or eight years ago? It's a bit blurry but I recall that I attended a few MIDEM Conferences in France seeking overseas distribution for our catalog - which by then also including some releases by additional artists - and we connected with a distributor to help us place our product into UK retail along with Radio and PR promoters, with whom we've had very strong relationships ever since. I would say roughly half of my audience is international at this point; I've also toured in Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, Japan entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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and Israel so we truly do get orders for my music from all over the globe!

WHO HAVE SOME OF YOUR MENTORS BEEN AND WHAT INSIGHTS HAVE THEY SHARED WITH YOU THAT HAVE HELPED YOU IN YOUR BUSINESS? Many years ago I had a singing teacher named Guen Omeron who very much shaped my sense of confidence as a female entrepreneur. In addition to being a widow running her own thriving independent vocal coaching business - with world renowned pop and Broadway clientele - she had also been an MGM chorus girl and in countless black and white musicals, singing and dancing. When her husband died, she then performed - akin to Marilyn Monroe - on army bases and there were photos of her looking glamorous as a pinup all over her studio. She would tell me stories about how she represented herself and her talent through decades, on her own, and how she survived in what was "essentially a man's entertainment business".

Quite frankly she was the most impressive woman I ever met (besides my own mother, who is also a very powerful, wise woman). The biggest takeaway from Guen that armed me for a career as an entrepreneur was her confidence in my songwriting.

Here she was, a world class operatic and old-school musical singer with a voice that rivaled Marnie Nixon, and rather than stressing the importance of my singing voice - which of course we worked on regardless - she continually reminded me that my songs were my currency, and to always keep writing, writing, writing. She emphasisized that no one else could write the songs I could, that an artist is only as relevant as the songs they are singing, and to never let anyone force me to sign away my rights as a young songwriter because that would be the basis for my business, however I evolved as a performer.

This was in the '80's...she was truly ahead of her time!

I have to admit I haven't had that many mentors as an adult, business-wise; perhaps that's why I was forced to figure out so much on my own! But one particular Label Manager with whom I worked early on at MPress - Walter Parks - stands out as someone who truly helped arm me with many of the systems we still use today at the label including our databases, our design programs, and our general marketing approach to each album we release. He also coined the phrase I pretty much live by as an artist as well as an entrepreneur: "Go where the love is!" which is certainly what I try to do and what I believe may set us apart. Not everyone will always get what you do musically, so when 44

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it truly resonates, it's so important to go right to those listeners, that station, venue or whomever the champion may be, and create an experience together that becomes a loyal, lasting source of support. He went on to become Ritchie Havens’ guitarist a few years after we worked together, and we're still good friends.

Beyond mentors, I have also been a member of groups like Indiegrrl, Women In Music and UrbanMuse along with NARAS, A2IM and BMI, and all of these music collectives have provided extensive networking opportunities and a sense of community which is crucial for anyone working in an ever-evolving business like Music.

WHAT TYPE OF WORK ENVIRONMENT DO YOU ENCOURAGE AT MPRESS RECORDS AND HOW DOES YOUR DUAL ROLE AS AN ARTIST IMPACT YOUR SENSIBILITY AS A CEO? I have always wanted MPress Records to feel like a family and specifically, I was inspired by Warhol's Factory with respect to it being a place where not only Music was a focus but also visual art, photography and any/all aesthetic expression that could augment an audience's sense of persona on behalf of our artists. I like to think that we really encourage creative thinking, and everyone who works at the label feels that there's an opportunity not only to work closely with our artists and myself, but to put forth new ideas and explore new technology and processes as they arise - which they often do! I also encourage staff to take ownership of our ongoing charitable efforts, whether it be a compilation for Orlando or a benefit concert for victims of a hurricane. We want each member of our team to feel part of our overarching history (since the label is now 20 years old!) while also having a foot in the future and the excitement that releasing newer, emerging artists brings.

As an artist myself I think I'm inevitably very sensitive to our signed artists' needs and concerns, ongoing. I am a fan as much as a performer so that balance helps remind us why we're doing this, what drives our mission, and that passion for music is at the heart of everything we do. That said, I've become pretty adept at compartmentalizing over the years, so I'm always happy to put my PR hat on, write a press release if need be, design a flyer, or help an artist choose an album cover. I'm very fortunate to enjoy all these aspects of running a label and to have gotten quite a bit of "practice" on myself! I do enjoy mentoring and encouraging, and finding that magical balance between refining something further and leaving it the heck alone.

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HAVE YOU FACED ANY SPECIFIC CHALLENGES AS A FEMALE ENTREPRENEUR IN A MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRY? CONVERSELY, HAS BEING A WOMAN HELPED YOU IN YOUR SUCCESS? The most recurrent challenge I've faced as a female entrepreneur is the perception that because I'm "artsy" or "cute", I must not know what I'm doing. I've been advised by innumerable "industry veterans" to dress and act differently to shift this perception but I've refused, because the fuel for this fire that is my label and my roster of artists has always been being an artist myself. Plus, I'm not marketing to my peers...so it's just noise I try my best to block out. I've also been encouraged by certain peers to "commit to one or the other" i.e. the label or being an artist, the subtext being, "you're so good at promoting others, maybe you should just do that!" or conversely by artist managers to "ditch the label...it's holding you back and you could just focus on you alone if you let it go." I tend to think that these people making these comments (who are often male but not always) are just uncomfortable with the idea that someone isn't putting in the same 10,000 hours doing one thing like they may have.

It seems sort of petty, but it does recur so I have learned to deflect it gracefully. The reality is I don't have much of a social life, I am usually single, and I work very hard. But in spite of that there is always someone wanting to knock any ambitious woman down a few pegs, so I try to just ignore it.

I think being a woman has been pivotal to the substance of my work, because I often sing about my emotional struggles as a woman, a lover, a friend, a daughter...it's all I know, unless I'm being purely imaginative and writing from a man's perspective - which I also do occasionally. So in that sense, it has helped me connect with those who are impacted by my music, regardless of gender. I suppose being a woman in our current society also gave me permission to be flamboyant and feminine when I chose and edgier or more rock 'n roll if I wanted. I wonder sometimes if I'd been male what kind of artist I might've been. Maybe Elton John!!

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WAYS YOU GIVE BACK TO THE MUSIC COMMUNITY FROM YOUR LEADERSHIP POSITION? LIKEWISE, IS YOUR BUSINESS INVOLVED IN ANY SPECIFIC CHARITABLE CAUSES? As a label we've released five volumes of our indie music charity compilation series, "New Arrivals", featuring emerging and established indie artists from all over the world. Our latest benefited National Network For Youth (a homeless teen

advocacy group) and prior compilations have focused on Eating Disorders, Hunger, and Hurricane Relief. You can read more about the series at www. newarrivalscd.com. This year we released a benefit EP for victims of the Orlando shooting, featuring a new song I composed after the tragedy called "Disarm Distrust". As a label we are very involved with Women In Music and always sponsor their annual holiday event in NYC, which is a wonderful way to stay connected to our peers and support women in our field. Personally, I have served on many panels as a volunteer at such industry events as SXSW and CMJ and always welcome the opportunity to share my experiences and learn from others on these panels.

TELL US ABOUT SOME OF YOUR CURRENT PROJECTS, AND WHAT WE CAN EXPECT FROM YOU IN THE COMING MONTHS. My current album, "Choreographic", has been out a few months in the US and will be released in Nov in the UK. I'm super excited because it's a dancethemed record so it's allowed me to merge my first love as a former ballet dancer with songwriting.

Along my upcoming UK tour I'll also be visiting schools and doing workshops encouraging creativity through music and dance.

We have 3 other artists on MPress releasing new music 2017 as well: GrammyÂŽ Nominated singer/songwriter Seth Glier, along with Sean Kelly and Dom Kelly (members of alt-rock group "A Fragile Tomorrow"). Keep an eye on www.mpressrecords. com for news & updates, or find me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!

LASTLY, WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR? The thing I enjoy most about being an entrepreneur is, without hesitation, having creative control over what I record and distribute via my own label. I've been in plenty of situations where I didn't have that kind of autonomy over my own vision - usually if someone else was producing my music - and I know by now that's simply not "for me". I don't ever want to approach making music as an act of submitting or subverting my work to someone else's approval or adjustment. Having my own label and being my own boss gives me enormous freedom, while still affording me the opportunity to work with a team of highly talented individuals from whom I learn and grow all the time. l Visit Rachael’s website: www.rachaelsage.com entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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THE RISE OF UK MUSLIM MUMPRENEURS Business has traditionally been seen as a male dominated world. However, the UK is currently experiencing a shift in a niche area of the entrepreneurial world. A rising crop of female Muslim mumpreneurs who are shattering stereotypes and inspiring confidence in fellow women to start new businesses. It is estimated that females currently form 50% of start-ups from the Muslim community – with this figure set to rise further in the future.

“The stereotype of Muslim women stuck in the kitchen and carrying out household chores are long gone,” said Tahir Mirza, founder of the Muslim Lifestyle Expo.

“When we announced dates for MLE2016, we were inundated with enquiries from Muslim women from not only the UK but across the world wanting to exhibit. It is refreshing to see how these mumpreneurs are shattering the myth that Muslim women are held back and oppressed. It’s a booming industry and these mumpreneurs are working hard in their 9-5 jobs and in their spare time are setting up successful businesses in a wide range of sectors.

According to our research, Muslim women represent 50% of the start-up business community and this figure is set to grow further over the next few years. Furthermore, the biggest inspiration for these mumpreneurs is other Muslim females. Who better than up-and-coming female entrepreneurs with similar cultures and backgrounds to have as role models?”

The Muslim consumer market is now one of the biggest in the world growing at nearly double the rate of the global economy. According to a report by Thomson Reuters, the Muslim consumer spending on food and lifestyle products and services has been estimated at $1.8 trillion in 2014 and projected to 46

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reach $2.6 trillion in 2020.

One mumpreneur who exhibited is mother-oftwo Shahin Hussain from Watford who started The Mocktail Company just three months ago.

The business, which makes non-alcoholic mocktails, has already sold 19,000 bottles and is stocked in over 50 outlets. It is now looking to launch two new flavours by the end of the year, alongside its debut product – a non-alcoholic mojito called Nojito.

“I noticed that there was huge gap in the market and got the inspiration from there.” says Shahin. I had no experience of manufacturing at all but we started to do some taste tests and within a few weeks we were up and running. I have two small children, so it does get difficult to juggle everything but I’ve managed so far.”

“The traditional working class Muslim woman doesn't often get the support to start a business and they don’t use traditional crowdfunding methods” adds Tahir Mirza.

“It is one of the main reasons why we created the Muslim Lifestyle Expo to allow Muslim female entrepreneurs the platform and confidence to showcase their products, network and connect with the wider business world.” l

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Name: Sabah Nazir Business Name: Islamic Moments Nature of Business: Islamic Greeting Cards Location: Leicester Founded: 2004 Website: http://www.islamicmoments.co.uk Sabah Nazir is seen by many as an inspiration to female Muslim entrepreneurs – hardly surprising given that she has been in business for over a decade.

She started her greeting card company back in 2004 designing and producing mainstream greeting cards. However, the turning point came in 2011 after she realised the market was not catering for the modern Muslim consumer.

“I redesigned all my products around the Muslim market, which gradually took over my portfolio and as they say, the rest is history,” she says. “I was determined to create a platform where we became that aspirational lifestyle brand for young Muslim consumers to meet their lifestyle and aspirations in accordance with their faith.”

After initially starting with a small portfolio of 60 greeting cards Sabah now has a portfolio of over 300 Islamic design-led products from greeting cards to notebooks, Eid bunting, banners and balloons, colour in sets, pencil cases, tote bags, mugs to art prints.

As well as juggling her business Sabah mum to four children from ages nine to 19.

Islamic Moments now have around 300 stockists selling in over 20 countries worldwide.

Name: Shahin Hussain Business Name: The Mocktail Company Nature of Business: Non-alcoholic mocktails Location: Watford Founded: June 2016 Website: http://www.themocktailcompany.com Selling 19,000 bottles in just over three months is no mean feat, but mother-of-two Shahin Hussain has only just started.

Like many successful businesses, Shahin Hussain, was inspired to start The Mocktail Company after noticing a gap in the market.

“We wanted to create a premium drink that would be a viable alternative to drinks such as J20, Appetiser and Schloer. Within a few weeks of the idea we had launched the Nojito in a nicely designed bottle and the response has been phenomenal.”

Alongside running a business, Shahin is mother to two young children – Aydan (4) and Sofia (2).

Over the next few months, Shahin is planning to launch two new flavours including a strawberry daiquiri inspired mocktail called the Strawberry Mockiri. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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Name: Shabana Mirza Business Name: The Muslim Lifestyle Expo Nature of Business: Events & Marketing Location: Aylesbury Founded: 2013 Website: http://www.muslimlifestyleexpo.co.uk The team behind the Muslim Lifestyle Expo also have their very own Mumpreneur Shabana Mirza.

Shabana is the wife of CEO Tahir Mirza has been an integral part of the pioneering Expo since its inception in 2013 taking this startup into international markets and being a full time mum with two young children.

In the space of 18 months the couple and the team behind the Expo have delivered two international class events and won an award for their inaugural event last year.

“When I first mentioned the idea of MLE to Tahir, I never thought it would be this successful,” says Shabana. “Organising MLE is daunting and stressful, but I have enjoyed it, learned a great deal and seen first hand the key role women are playing in Muslim businesses.

Name: Nazia Nasreen Business Name: Ibraheem Toy House Nature of Business: Online Islamic toy store Location: Birmingham Founded: 2014 Website: http://ibraheemtoyhouse.com The “Toys ‘R’ Us for the Muslim community”, says Nazia Nasreen, CEO of Ibraheem Toy House when asked to describe her business. Ibraheem Toy House is the UK’s first online Islamic toy store founded by the mother of two in 2014.

In just two years, the number of products it offers has grown from four to more than 200 from 30 different suppliers from around the world selling educational toys and books, including dolls in hijabs and colourful prayer mats.

“I wanted to teach Islam in a fun way to my children and there was nothing available,” says Nazia who still works part-tie during the week. The idea for the business just came from there and even though it was daunting the support of family and friends pushed me to go for it.”

Nazia now plans to design her own product range in the near future with plans for further expansion.

“If you have an idea and you have done the correct research, you should just go for it,” adds Nazia. “That’s my advice to anyone wanting to start their own business.

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A THORTFUL START UP STORY Andy Pearce, CEO of innovative start up Thortful.com tells us about his entrepreneur journey – from founding a bin cleaning company to a selling Powwownow for just shy of £40 million. Persistence, creativity and innovation - and recognising and making the most of a need.

I

started young, I dropped out of university in 1990 and created my first business ‘Bin Clean’ in 1990, I bought a van and a pressure washer for £500 and went door to door cleaning bins, at 19 years old I struggled to get investment to grow it so sold it in 1992 for £40,000.

In 1993 I established Inkfish outsourced call centres. Having worked in a small call centre during my early teens I recognised one key issue all call centres had, I, like my co-workers, were just bums on a seats! I wanted to change that mentality. By caring about my employees, leading, training and motivating them, ensuring they were rewarded well and by giving them a good working environment,

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meant Inkfish grew to 2,700 employees and a turnover of £30m in just 7 years. I sold Inkfish to Domestic and General Group plc for £12m where I became a main board director for 3 years.

In 2004 having been disappointed with the conference call service and the astronomical price we were paying to communicate with my disparate contact centres I turned my sights on conference calling, founding Powwownow the UK’s leading conference call brand. Growing the business to £16m t/o with a £5m profit and selling to PGI the world’s largest conference call supplier for £37,500,000.

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TELL US ABOUT YOUR LATEST VENTURE thortful is a brand new app. A creative platform for a community of independent artists, illustrators and photographers to create, beautiful high quality greeting cards most of which you won't find on the high street. thortful then curates these cards and offers them for sale through our app. All cards are printed on demand across our two printing facilities.

This is the first time a greeting card platform has been developed app first, allowing customers to have 1000's of cards ready to go in their pocket, the app has the ability to store key dates, schedule card deliveries in the future and for the first time it can upload handwriting to print directly on to the card.

We started this is April 2015.

WHY DID YOU START THIS ONE? WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR IT? I was always disappointed with the existing online greeting card offerings, the lack of creativity, diversity and poor quality of the cards produced.

Lead me to come up with the idea of thortful, a greeting card platform for independant creators to design and sell their work, whilst we take all the heavy lifting of sales & manufacture of the product, allowing them to do what they are best at: being creative.

Currently less than 5% of the £1.6bn we spend in the UK on Greeting Cards is brought online.Walking into tradition retailers, Clintons, Paperchase et ali could see people settling for cards "that’ll do” rather than "this is a beautiful card that sums up my feelings for the recipient’" why in this world of AirBNB, Amazon, ASOS & Ocado are we still accepting the awful online offerings currently available?

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY AS AN ENTREPRENEUR I wanted to develop this offering app first, it had to be really convenient to send cards from your smart phone. I employed a team of 6 developers first. I then started recruiting our independent creators made up of artists, illustrators and photographers, the key to our offering is amazing creative work most of which you won’t find on the high street. We have no space issue so can offer 10,000’s of cards all year round.

HOW ARE YOU PROMOTING YOUR COMPANY’S SERVICES/PRODUCTS? We do a lot with social media both paid for and SEO, blogs, Facebook, Instagram & Twitter. Google Adwords drive some very cost effective customer acquisition campaigns as well. All the time we are measuring, learning and refining what is and is not working for us. We’ ve just taken on a PR agency and they are getting a great reaction from the press – we’ve found mentions in the press are a great sales driver for us.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE COMING MONTHS? To grow our customer base: we’ve got a big PR push for Christmas. We will also continue to grow our creative talent. App development is a big thing for us it’s an ongoing process where we continue to improve usability LONG TERM PLANS? To become the UK’s most popular online card retailer. Ultimately I want to be the go-to app for card buying worldwide.

TOP 5-10 TIPS YOU CAN SHARE WITH OTHERS THINKING ABOUT SETTING UP A COMPANY IN THE INDUSTRY SECTOR YOU ARE IN 1. Plough as much budget as you can into marketing, education is essential, only when we got out and talked to the press did we make people understand how this offering is so different to existing brands.

2. Take on and act on feedback as quickly as possible, remain agile 3. Employ in-house developers, you can change things quickly without having to involve external agencies 4. Take time to build a creative base of talent it will set you apart from your competitors 5. Pay your creative talent well, they will produce great work, making your offering exceptional

WHAT KEY CHALLENGES HAVE YOU FACED? One of the biggest challenges was building the technology that differentiates us from our competitors, namely the handwriting feature on the app and creating a unique algorithm that allows customers to find the right card as quickly as possible THINGS YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN? How long it takes to educate a consumer!

HOW DID YOU ACHIEVE FUNDING? We are self-financed entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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ENTREPRENEURS’ HELP CHILDREN STAY SAFE ON THE SLOPES After finding that traditional child reigns were not cutting it for their sports-loving family, an entrepreneurial mum of two and her husband have created the Hobbledehoo; an innovative harness specially designed for active children and families.

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emma and Michael Davison, who also own Lincolnshire-based www.

FirstAid4Sport.co.uk, developed the prototype Hobbledehoo for skiing after realising that a simple rope was the common alternative. As well as the constant bending and lifting in bulky ski wear, there was no way to support the weight of the child which is crucial in the early stages of learning.

With its padded harness, front and back grab handles, and detachable leash, the Hobbledehoo, which was officially launched to market at the recent Ski & Snowboard Show 2016, solves these problems while having a multitude of other uses wherever full control over energetic little ones is needed.

Gemma, said: “Have you ever tried to stop a child from falling on the slopes or had to continually bend over to pick them up? It’s difficult and exhausting. The Hobbledehoo supports the child’s weight while skiing, helping them to learn safely and progress quickly towards more traditional leashes.

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It’s also a favourite with lift controllers and ESF skiing instructors who love the additional security on ski lifts. Ultimately, it provides independent skiing with parental control over speed.

“Since launching, it’s become clear that families don’t need to be on the slopes to benefit from the Hobbledehoo. We’ve had fantastic feedback from parents who enjoy sailing, those with twins who find it gives them a free hand when out and about, children with disabilities who’ve benefitted from the additional freedom, and parents who want to safely help their children learn to ride a bike or scooter.”

The Hobbledehoo features front and back grab handles that allow you to pick up a child and set them on their feet without over bending. Plus, the detachable leash is ideal for those children that need support but want independence. It also makes busy public spaces and transport safer, giving the child a sense of freedom while the parent has extra control. l

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THE CYBERATTACK THREAT OVER FINTECH START-UPS

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n the 21st century, the threat of a cyber-attack towards businesses is a reality we are not unfamiliar with. Despite this, not every firm is prepared against them. Some are oblivious of such peril, while others simply don’t have the tools to protect themselves against this menace.

Mid size companies have become very interesting targets for this type of attack, and they have started to recognise the issue and search for solutions.

SMEs tend to be more innovative, they attract more customers and at the same time, so far there was no solution that would protect their cyber operations and data.

Startup Funding Club (SFC) understood the need for a defence available to small and mid size businesses. This is why the company is looking to work with CyberSparta, a cyber-security start-up we introduced to SFC’s investors during their last pitching & networking event. Cyber Sparta proposes a solution that empowers SMEs to better manage, understand, and protect their business data. Their mission is to simplify cyber-security and make it easier for non-cyber specialists to safeguard their data.

We have asked the team at CyberSparta about Fintech’s vulnerability to cyber-attacks, an industry they believe to be amongst the most exposed to this threat. Fintech is a sector that is constantly targeted by sophisticated threat actors and malicious hackers due to one overriding principle: MONEY. Within the industry, they believe the problem is even bigger when it comes to young companies. This is because, according to CyberSparta, Fintech start-ups are even more defenceless against an attack as a result of them receiving greater pressure to release their product and gain more traction.

The rush to get these companies’ products out to the market usually means that development architecture, principles, and testing are sacrificed.

As stated by CyberSparta, this is the reason why year after year cyber incidents are increasing with devastating impact and irreversible reputational damage. For this, they believe organisations require cyber solutions they can deploy readily, to be able to monitor, detect and defend against these types of cyber-attack regardless of the Fintech services.

ORGANISATIONS REQUIRE CYBER SOLUTIONS THEY CAN DEPLOY READILY

Start Up Funding Club entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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UNDERSTANDING CHINESE CULTURE – ESSENTIAL TO EFFECTIVE WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

By Sally Maier-Yip

D

espite Brexit, Sino-British trade relationship is a web of possible opportunities. Richard Graham, Head of a British Parliamentary Committee on China relations pointed out that China and Hong Kong will be prioritised in Britain’s post-Brexit trade talks.

Most recently, the UK and China have agreed a deal to increase flights between the two nations, which is set to boost tourism and trade opportunities for the UK after Brexit.

To turn these growing business opportunities between the UK and China, I argue that the fundamental success factor is to champion the complex set of skills to work with the Chinese counterparts or people.

As a Chinese national who runs a fast-growing London-based PR agency between the UK and China, here are my top four tips on working with Chinese people, either in China or overseas: TIP #1: WORK HARD ON YOUR PERSONALITY, BESIDES YOUR JOB TITLE The company you represent is of course important when you are trying to win a business deal with a Chinese company or person. However, what you will really get tested is not your knowledge about your product or company which is still crucial, but is your personality.

Chinese people often want to get to know you as a person before signing a contract with the company you represent. They want to know if you are trustworthy, reliable and attentive. If you do not appeal as a person whom they can trust and deal with on a daily basis, you may not win the contract, despite how big your company is or how amazing your product is.

So here is the rule: when working with Chinese people, it is not just about your job, it is more about who you are.

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TIP #2: BE A WECHAT FAN If you want to do business with Chinese people, either in China or the UK, you must use WeChat (called Weixin in China), China’s version of WhatsApp or LINE which has the largest user bases among the ever-growing number of chat apps in China.

Even if you cannot read or write Chinese, it is still hugely important that you have WeChat app downloaded on your mobile phone, follow your contacts’ news and post your own news and photos to show interest and be visible among your Chinese networks. Also, you can have private conversations with your contacts on WeChat which is extremely useful to get immediate replies from your Chinese counterparts. For example, my Chinese clients rarely use emails to communicate and even send me PDF documents and contracts on WeChat.

Trust me, WeChat is not difficult to use, just like Twitter and Facebook, and you may even get addicted to it once you started using it.

TIP #3: DEVELOP YOUR INTEREST IN FOOD, IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY A FOOD LOVER Chinese people love food. They socialise over food or restaurants, not so much drinks or pubs in the UK. They celebrate over food. They love talking about food.

If you have a Chinese client coming to visit you in the UK (or any country), it is important that you give them the best possible hospitality when they are in town, such as bringing them to the best or latest restaurants in town. They will remember the kind gesture you show them over food and they will repay your hospitality when you go to China or meet them next time. What’s more, Chinese people like to talk about big and small business matters over food, and in fact, lots of contracts are still signed in restaurants, not offices.

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Food matters when doing businesses with Chinese people.

TIP #4: TREAT YOUR CHINESE BUSINESS COUNTERPARTS LIKE YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS Arguably because of Chinese rooted culture in upholding family values, as opposed to individualism in the West, Chinese people like to work with people who treat them like their family members. That means you have to go the extra mile when you work with them. They may send you text messages over weekends and expect you to respond to them quite immediately. They may expect you to share your private life with them, such as details about your family members (e.g. who they are and what they do) and your flat (e.g. how much you are renting it or bought it and where it is).

These private details are important to Chinese people. As mentioned in Tip #1, Chinese people like to do business with people who are reliable, genuinely happy and trustworthy, which are often reflected in one’s private life more accurately to some extent. Having said that, it does not mean that you need to pretend to be someone else or hide your struggles, but Chinese people simply like to know who you really are as a person, as if you are part of their close family members.

All in all, please don’t be scared about working with Chinese people. If you are not sure about how to deal with Chinese people or their cultural practices, just be honest and tell them that you are new to doing business with China or Chinese people, and no doubt, they will appreciate your humble learning attitude and effort to integrate with them.

Sally Maier-Yip is a founder and managing director of 11K Consulting, a London-based UK-Asia PR agency who helps British clients unlock the Chinese consumer market and helps Chinese brands increase their presence in the UK.

entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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THE RISE OF THE ONLINE MBA Ambitious professionals are always looking to enhance their career prospects.

The traditional MBA remains a popular option, but a lack of time can make further study an ambitious prospect for many executives and entrepreneurs, and attending lectures or other on campus activities can be challenging. There is little doubt though, that an additional qualification aligned to personal and business goals is a positive step – opening doors, increasing salary expectations and providing access to a new network of like-minded people.

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he 2016 GMAC Application Trends Survey Report states that two-thirds (63%) of online MBA programmes expect to increase their class size in 2016 compared with last year. This a reflection of the growing student interest in accessing quality education from anywhere, at any time.

UPPING THE ANTE WITH TECHNOLOGY The growing credibility of online MBA programmes is due to an increase in the quality of the experience and content these courses can now offer. In the past there was a marked difference between an online MBA and a traditional MBA, and early distance learning MBA courses suffered from low student engagement. Over the past five years though, technology has significantly transformed how online MBAs are designed and delivered. So much so that online versions are no longer perceived as cheaper alternatives to a ‘proper MBA’, but are instead seen as a quality option in their own right.

“I have to plan my studying hours around my training and recovery schedules. Online learning is perfect because I can study at my own pace, in my own time. Often the lecture times clash with my training but I can just download the lectures later and watch them from any location when I have a gap. I don’t feel like I’m torn between two responsibilities; it’s possible for me to focus on my career and my studies at the same time.” – Niall Rowark, professional Hong Kong rugby union player and Global Online MBA student For online education to be successful it can’t simply offer copy and pasted textbook or course materials at the click of a button. It needs to provide an engaging learning experience that is user-friendly and well-structured. Today, an online MBA student based in South Africa can log onto their mobile device and feel part of a London lecture-hall with access to live learning sessions featuring faculty members, renowned academics and industry guest speakers. Fellow students from all over the world can form online study groups and discussion forums, attend webinars and receive support from online tutors as and when needed. A fully interactive campus experience is now accessible from the living room, airport lounge, office or the coffee-shop down the road.

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THE BIG BENEFITS The biggest benefits of doing an online MBA are flexibility and accessibility. It’s a format that works well for busy professionals who travel a lot, have their own business to run and keep unusual working hours. It also allows people who relocate or travel frequently for work to maintain their studies regardless of where they are based for the next few months or years. An online MBA opens up greater choice and opportunities for people who can’t afford to uproot their lives and travel to the cities and countries offering the top, globally recognised courses.

Study-time can be tailored to individual lifestyles and even fitted into work commutes. Potential students don’t have to choose between their jobs or their studies, there is room for both. In fact 20% of our students are actually based in London, yet they’ve chosen to study online and benefit from the flexibility of the format.

DIGITAL NETWORKING In today’s digital age, building and leveraging student and alumni networks is just as possible online as inperson. Technology enables engagement and helps identify fellow students working in similar industries or in the same country. For many students, studying an MBA is as much about the people they meet as it is about the accreditation – a good online course cater for this and loses none of the personal element in its digital format.

That said, studying online is not for everyone; some people prefer face-to-face learning and enjoy attending lectures and study-groups in-person.

Ultimately, it’s a matter of preference and for those who desire flexibility and are comfortable with the digital learning experience, there is more choice than ever before. When it comes to studying a quality MBA at a reputable institution, time, distance and location are no longer the barriers to entry they once were.

More business schools are entering the online learning market in response to the growing demand for flexible, globally recognised studies. The best online business schools are those that enable an excellent online learning experience, encompassing both the academic and the social MBA experience. l Paolo Taticchi, Programme Director, Imperial College Business School

ENTREPRENEUR

THE SECRET TO SMALL BUSINESS SALES SUCCESS Running a small business can be difficult.

Business owners will know that in order to keep a company running, they need to have customers to purchase their products. It is often retaining a constant stream of customers that proves difficult.

Communications and sales expert Dario Cucci has been transforming businesses across Europe by improving their customer services process and shares his advice here.

Dario Cucci With over 20 years of working in sales and customer service, Dario now shares his experience and knowledge with people and businesses in order to help them build better sales through better relationships with customers.

In his program he teaches a simple, efficient, and practical way to build a better and more sustainable sale. He is committed to building true customer care and helping companies build relationships with their customers.

Dario first learned how to sell in his twenties when he made his living from 100% commission-based selling with Anthony Robbins Events. Over the next 15 years, he developed and refined his own relationship sales system.

Today Dario travels the world speaking at seminars and conferences where he helps people and businesses increase their sales by up to 300% in 90 days or less.

Website: http://dariocucci.page.land/

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ario Cucci works with businesses by identifying problems with their current sales strategy and focuses on generating long-term revenue. Over the last 15 years he has developed and refined a relationship sales system that teaches businesses how to improve communications with customers and sustain sales.

He explains, “Keeping a customer happy and loyal is much less costly than finding a new one. It seems all of the big corporations in the world are spending hundreds of millions on marketing to acquire new customers. If sales-driven customer services was that easy, wouldn’t every business be doing it?”

“One of the key elements to keeping customers is nurturing and growing the relationship you have with them. If you rely on automated services, it’s unlikely you’ll a change in your sales. People want to talk to people, it is as simple as that. You will need to start a conversation with a potential customer.

This may seem daunting at first, especially when you are cold calling. Put all your negative thoughts and fears to the side and tell the potential customer briefly what you do. This way you can gauge their interest quickly and time is saved for both.”

“It is important that once you have gained a customer you continue to build on your relationship.

More often than not, an entrepreneur will immediately be looking for the next customer to introduce to their services. This leaves the current customers feeling neglected. The only time they are communicated with is when you have to ask for payment, they have a problem or you have a new product to sell. Imagine you have been on a fantastic first date and then do not speak to them for six months. You could call up and ask to borrow some money. They will question why they should give you money and are likely to say no. It’s exactly the same with businesses – why would they buy from you again if they experienced bad customer service?”

“Automation will not solve your problems either.

Social media and emails are impersonal. It feels as if you are talking at the customer rather than with them. You need to speak to them. This grows trust and increases your chances of repeat sales and recommendations. Additionally, you need to listen to your customers and understand what their needs are. You can then offer a product that they really need. It is a skill to be flexible in conversation and it’s something that can definitely be learnt with the right training.”

“The timing and nature of the follow up is crucial. If a customer has a great experience but no communication, they will start looking elsewhere.

A suitable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will be able to help trace the history of conversations and show when the customer was last spoken to. This also gives a good indication as to what a customer may be looking for in the future. It is helpful to have an expert identify the best system for your business and see where improvements can be made in your sales process.” l entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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PERFECTING PUBLIC SPEAKING Whether it’s a presentation pitch to 10, or a conference keynote to 1000, public speaking can be a daunting prospect, no matter how large your audience. As you draw closer to delivering your speech, those same old worries can start to turn around in your mind, from whether you’ve judged the audience correctly through to stance, posture and tone of delivery. However you choose to deliver your speech, there are certain things that you should aim to avoid at all costs: FAILING TO ADAPT You may have been fully briefed by the organiser prior to an event, but you could still potentially be met, on the day itself, with a different environment to the one expected. Sticking rigidly to a preprepared script, despite its obvious clash with the vibe, will only be painful for everyone involved!

INAPPROPRIATE USE OF SLIDES Slides can certainly enhance a speech by providing prompts for the speaker and interesting visual markers for the audience – but these should supplement the content, not form the basis, and preferably not involve clip art from Windows 95.

NOT SPENDING TIME WITH YOUR AUDIENCE A speaker who spends time with their audience will be remembered fondly even if, for whatever reason, their speech was not the best it could have been. If the audience is not engaged, or the speaker is having an off day, it can be tempting to start clutching at straws. A more successful strategy is to be friendly and involved during the networking session.

As you can see, giving a speech is a potential minefield, but, with the right preparation and approach, these concerns can be overturned to help you deliver an address memorable for all the right reasons. Here are my golden rules: KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE Prior research is essential. I have seen plenty of speeches in my time which have fallen flat because the maker had not gauged the demography of the audience before the event. When you draft your content, ensure that you ask for pertinent information about the audience. Consider the breakdown of delegates in terms of age, culture and language, and factor this into your delivery in order to create the desired impact.

CREATE A CONTENT JOURNEY At the start of any speech you need to clearly define what you will be talking about. The content should be broad and relevant in order to create an experience which appeals to the interests of any type of individual. A breakdown in communication, and subsequently reduced engagement, occurs when an audience becomes lost amongst the nuances of a message. This problem can be avoided by establishing the aims and mapping out the structure of a speech early on in order to help others follow its flow.

STRIKE THE POSE How you deport yourself from the start will define how your audience relates to you throughout your address. Body language has a powerful impact on perception so be confident and upbeat. In the most part, the elements to consider are fairly obvious, such as avoiding slouching, limiting hand gestures, and speaking in a measured, modulated tone.

Clinging onto the lectern for dear life will only give the impression that you’re out of your depth – so make sure to strike the right pose.

Nick Gold, Managing Director of Speakers Corner, a market-leading speaking bureau and consultancy, gives his ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ to help you hone your public speaking skills.

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ENTREPRENEUR

STARTUP FUNDING CLUB AWARDED LEAD SYNDICATE OF THE YEAR

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ondon’s Dorchester Hotel and 300 guests witnessed the 2016 UKBAA Angel Investment Awards Gala. The UK Business Angels Association’s annual awards celebrate the achievement and impact of the UK Angel Investment communities and their supporting role towards the UK’s fastest growing businesses. In this year’s edition, Startup Funding Club, a seed investment fund and network of business angels, not only had the pleasure to attend the gala, but also to go home with the Lead Syndicate of the Year Award.

The ceremony, presented by Kiki Loizou – The Sunday Times’ Small Business Editor –, celebrated innovation and global ambition, and featured some of the most successful new market entrants in the angel and early stage investment space. Jenny Tooth, UK Business Angels Association’s CEO, gave a short introduction that was then followed by Alicce Bentick, one of the co-founders of Entrepreneur First. After two tense but enjoyable hours, the ceremony’s presenter and George Whitehead, Chair of the Angel CoFund – who sponsored the award –, announced the winner of Lead Syndicate of the Year.

Winning one of the most prestigious awards in the venture capital/private equity industry evidences the effort that the team at Startup Funding Club has put in building the syndicate. And being acknowledged for that is, to say the least, something to be proud of, especially after hearing the judges’ comments: “The Syndicate has demonstrated strong activity in the past year with over 35 investments comprising of leading players with entrepreneurial and industry expertise, including a significant 30% ratio of women investors. The investments have been made across a range of sectors and not just in London but also in businesses across other regions in the UK coinvesting with a range of other investment sources.

The syndicate also shows a strong focus on leveraging its experienced investor base to identify Lead Angels to support the gonging growth and scale up of the portfolio” Among the many reasons the judges presented the award to the Startup Funding Club was because of their super-effective model of combining business angels investments with SEIS Funds.

Stephen Page, Founder, SFC commented: “We genuinely believe that this is the formula for success for both our esteemed investors and us, and we hope that more start-ups and investors will soon benefit from our philosophy.” l entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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ONLINE IS NOT A JUST ANOTHER CHANNEL You might think of your website as another sales channel, but that's not how your customers see it.

To them you are a brand. They expect the same service and experience regardless how they choose to buy from you.

Today’s savvy omni-channel shoppers are connected at every step of their ideal shopping experience from start to finish; they know exactly where to find things on your website, which retailer offers the best click & collect service, and which will let them return without a receipt.

It is time to connect the dots with technology and information that allows retailers to provide a great if not superb service. Consumers now do their research before even entering the store, which means they know what they want. So, when they come into the store don’t leave them hanging around while your staff check the stock room or ask another member of the team. Empower your staff with the technology to make the purchase there and then, the same as they would online.

Shopping isn’t just a hobby, it is a science and retailers must start connecting the offline and online customer journeys in order to make the grade.

Consumers are only going to become more and more connected, so retailers who want to sell more online must not forget the importance of the store, especially when it comes to the upsell opportunity.

Store assistants are key to this and they must have the knowledge, skill-set and desire to offer the best possible experience. How about going one step further still and providing technologies that allow store assistants to match up online and in-store data in order to get to know a customer’s preferences, with real time access to inventory availability across the whole store network. Or take the ultimate leap 60

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of faith and follow in the footsteps of retailers like Apple or Dixons, where the store experience is very similar to that of the website and the store associate plays an interactive and fundamental part in the buying process from start to finish.

INCREASED CUSTOMER CENTRICITY Consumers are openly stating that they crave a personal experience. Therefore, it is time to not only understand the individual, but also the segments they fit into and their different requirements. For example, millennials appear to be the generation of personalisation, with fifty-six per cent of them saying they would interact more with a brand if the experience was tailored, compared to forty-six per cent of over 55s.

Retailers must embrace this and build those personal relationships you find at local butchers and bakers. This change in mind-set will allow retailers to take advantage of technological innovation, and engineer a cultural shift that will help to deliver a personalised experience across every channel.

However, this model will of course need to vary from retailer to retailer. Not all supermarkets, for example, can ensure a personalised service online as well as every sales assistant offering that same personal shopping experience in store – not only would that interfere with essential jobs such as restocking shelves but many will not have the skills or desire to deliver such services. However, within a luxury environment, where the majority of customers are likely to want a more personal service, the experience can be more personal and tailored to the needs of the individual.

It is also important to remember that today’s consumer wants a frictionless experience. And

ENTREPRENEUR

MORE THAN HALF OF CONSUMERS STATED FAST DELIVERY AS A KEY COMPONENT WHEN DECIDING WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT

that may mean buying online, collecting in-store, swapping that purchase for a product of different value or spending vouchers to buy something a little more expensive – all in one transaction. It also means an experience that includes pertinent recommendations – a pair of shoes to go with the dress bought last week or a cashmere throw to balance the cushions being collected from store. Today, just a few - some of the world’s most innovative retailers - have the tools, technologies and processes in place, which enable them to deliver that quality of experience. You could be one of them.

CONQUER THE FINAL IMPRESSION More than half of consumers stated fast delivery as a key component when deciding what is most important to them during a shopping experience.

So, what should you be doing to address this?

With twenty per cent of consumers saying they prefer to shop online, long gone are the days where shipping in five to seven business days was acceptable. Delivery expectations have changed; consumers are now expecting action on an order within minutes of when it’s received and they subsequently think processing should be complete within a couple of hours. It is time to assess your fulfilment performance and see where it can be improved. Consumers want the instant gratification they can receive in-store to be matched online, which means retailers must make every effort to get their products to their consumers as quickly as possible at the lowest cost.

The simple way to achieve this is to work the whole network harder by moving fulfilment responsibility away from just the distribution centre,

and bringing it to the high street, where stores can be empowered to pick and pack orders, process returns and see where everything is in the supply chain.

And today’s forward-thinking retailer needs to not just overcome these challenges but also create a foundation to build on success for the future. With more and more online retailers jostling for space on the high street, the old ‘it’ll get there when it gets there’ mentality won’t cut it anymore.

Creating a single stock pool with real-time availability across the business network gives retailers with physical stores a unique opportunity to create outstanding customer experiences, across the entire gamut of bricks and clicks, moving from a siloed, expensive supply chain to a unified omnichannel business where profits are protected.

CONCLUSION 1. Consumers don’t necessarily see online as channel. You are a brand, they expect consistency and an exceptional, personalised service no matter where they purchase.

2. Consumers want their products quickly; they don’t like to be left waiting. Make the whole network work harder so that when a customer buys something online they receive it as soon as possible.

3. Make the whole experience personal. Consumers want to feel like they are the only customer you have and crave a tailored experience created directly for them and their needs. l Christer Holloman author of How to Sell Online

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WHO OWNS THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOR YOUR WEBSITE?

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n the modern, digital economy, many small business owners depend on their website for new business enquiries or sales, some conduct their entire business through their websites and very few do not use a website at all. With visibility on the internet more important than ever, the website has become an invaluable tool for the majority of the UK’s businesses, regardless of size.

However, many business owners are not aware of significant dangers when commissioning the creation of a website by a third party firm.

The UK200Group is the UK’s leading membership association of independent qualityassured accountancy and law firms, and its member firms act as key business advisers to around 150,000 SMEs across the UK. For this reason the UK200Group is warning SMEs that intellectual property is a key concern for even the smallest of businesses.

An issue that has landed businesses in hot water in the past is ownership of copyright of their own website. If ownership rights are not dealt with prior to the signing of a commissioning contract, the completed product – whether that be a website or piece of software – will belong to the creator of the work, rather than the business which paid for it!

The ideal time to discuss copyright ownership rights in the process of hiring a web or software developer is before any contracts have been agreed.

By negotiating this when the developer is looking to win the commission rather than when they have

already built up IP value that is legally theirs, you ensure that the outcome is better and there are no hidden costs at the end.

Philip Partington, Senior Solicitor at intellectual property experts and UK200Group member Virtuoso Legal, said, “The internet is changing the way that many of us do business, and in today’s busy marketplaces it would be difficult to compete without embracing the benefits it can bring us.

“While the digital economy has had a democratising effect in many ways, and has broken down barriers to entry, SME and owner-managed businesses must be careful that they are taking proper precautions before commissioning websites or software.

“It goes without saying that smaller businesses rarely have the resources to go over contracts with a fine tooth-comb, and so they are more commonly caught out by intellectual property pitfalls than traditional corporates.

“My advice to small firms is that correct – or incorrect – use of IP protection can make or break a firm. By properly protecting a website, piece of software or any other piece of intellectual property, you can create valuable assets. However, failing to take the necessary precautions can leave you vulnerable to competitors and the creators of commissioned work.”

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ENTREPRENEUR

YOUR TIME IS MONEY – STOP GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE

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n any business you need to have clear boundaries both internally with your staff, but also externally with your clients. In tough economic times it’s easy to think that you should be prepared to do absolutely anything to get a client and then to keep them happy, but that is the fastest road to madness. Coaches and therapists are particularly susceptible to over delivering their services, often to prospects who aren’t currently, and often never will be, your client.

HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENS… A prospective client contacts you with “a quick question”. You think it might be about one of your programmes or products and that it might lead to a new client so you take the call.

The caller starts to tell you their problems, often going into minute detail and starting back when they were aged 3. They talk and talk, and ask questions. If you happen to be a psychic they might ask you what you “pick up” or “see” for them. And because you are a kind person you might tell them. If you’re a coach you might even find yourself doing coaching with them.

After an hour’s conversation, they go away feeling great with their problem solved but you’re left tired, drained, and probably a bit frustrated. You didn’t get the thing done that you needed to do. You have less time to market yourself and bring in the business that, let’s face it, you really need right now.

You also have less time for the clients who HAVE invested in themselves on your programme, and you have less time for yourself and family. Time is the ONE commodity you can’t make more of.

You might try to kid yourself saying “well maybe they’ll come back and sign up later”. They might, but that happens in only a very few cases and it’s really not an effective business strategy. What you need to do is have a strategy that filters out the “just curious” tyre kickers and time wasters.

SO HOW DO YOU PREVENT IT? When you’re asked questions that require you to deliver something that is part of your paid for service, never tell them you won’t do that for free – instead use this simple process to say no whilst seeming to say yes. Never tell them you won’t do it.

Instead tell them how they can get this information/ service, and offer them a paid for service.

Make sure you stand firm. They may say they can’t afford it or have no money, or that their cat just died or any number of reasons why they think you should give your services for free. But the truth is if they really wanted that solution they would invest in it.

Personally I don’t like to work with people who are “just curious”. I prefer to work with people committed to long term and profound change. And I even tell people that they may make the booking and they may not, but either way you stop giving away your time for free.

Lisa Turner , Specialist in Human Transformation And Evolution www.psychademy.co.uk

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STRATAJET –

START UP TO INDUSTRY PIONEERING SUCCESS

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rom time to time we feature the most interesting case studies we come across and Stratajet’s journey from concept to success is certainly one. Founded by ex RAF pilot Jonny Nicol, it is the world’s first ‘real-time’ private jet booking platform, providing instant and accurate costs and availability of private jets. Jonny talked to us about his entreprenuership journey to date.

Q: WHAT IS STRATAJET IN ESSENCE? A: Stratajet is a cutting-edge new technology that is reinventing the private aviation industry, making private jet travel more accessible to the mainstream traveller. It is the world’s first ‘real-time’ private jet booking platform, providing instant and accurate costs and availability of private jets and allowing you to book online there and then.

Q: WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND WHY DID YOU THINK THERE WOULD BE DEMAND? A: After a stint in the military I became a corporate freelance pilot, which included flying private jets.

This led me to realise there were two huge gaping holes in the industry, not just in terms of the way the industry served its customers – although undoubtedly this was a problem – but more importantly, inefficiencies and wastage that were always going to stop the private jet industry being accepted by a wider audience.

Q: CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE JOURNEY SO FAR? A: I began working on the concept of Stratajet six months before I actually started the company, so it was very much just me in the early stages. I hired a handful of people early on but the thing with startups is that the people you need at the beginning are rarely the same people you need when the business is thriving. We continued to fluctuate in size, from just me to a handful, and up to 14 people during our big data gathering exercise, which was between four and two years ago. From here we shrank back down to six people when realised that we were struggling to build he technology. This was the case until May 2015, when we received a big round of investment, and we are now at 43 staff – across technology, finance, business development, customer services, etc – with the intention of growing to 50 in the comng month or so.

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Q: WHAT’S THE TURNOVER AND GIVE US SOME IDEA OF HOW YOUR CUSTOMER BASE HAS DEVELOPED? A: Having undertaken a rigorous tour of Europe to bring aircraft operators onto the system, we launched to the flying public in April 2016. We are now live in 44 countries in Europe and similar plans are underway to expand into the U.S. market later in the year.

The business has recently secured a $8million round of investment (led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from existing investors Playfair Capital and JamJar Investments), bringing our total funding to $14m to date, which has helped develop additional functionality in the platform’s quoting tool.

What’s more, in the short time since ‘going live’ we have been able to generate an unprecedented two million private jet flight quotes, proving how effective our system can be at giving a wider range of travellers access to the private jet industry.

Q: WHAT IS YOUR MARKET SECTOR LIKE FOR NEW ENTRANTS? IS THERE A BIG OPPORTUNITY AND WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE IN FUTURE? A: Ultimately Stratajet is the only new entrant of its kind into the market. Nothing is stopping a competitor doing something very similar but they would have a mountain to climb behind us – Stratajet is the culmination of five years of hard work and research by an incredibly smart team to build an extremely complex pricing engine.

Stratajet, no matter what else we do, will always be the company that took the last form of transport that was yet to be online, and made it available online. Private jets, until Stratajet, were not accessible online. It was the end of an era – and the end of how a very old-fashioned mode of transport conducted its business.

So we’re looking at the potential of Stratajet. We hope to make private jet travel more accessible to the mainstream traveller. If it all goes well we’ll have a watershed moment in private aviation when people will say there was private aviation before Stratajet and private aviation after Stratajet – it’s a total game-changer.

ENTREPRENEUR

Q: WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MAJOR BUMPS IN THE ROAD AND HOW HAVE YOU OVERCOME THEM? A: The trouble with inventing something – by the very definition that you’re doing something for the first time – is that you don’t know what the challenges are and how long it will take longer to overcome them. You always start off with an element of the unknown – you can’t have a full idea of what’s going to be involved until you go out and actually do it.

On day one I asked myself why this has never been done before. And now it’s obvious! What we’ve done is invent a serious piece of technology with complicated algorithms and I knew building the system was going to be very challenging but never in my wildest dreams did I think that the technology would take five years to build. Once the algorithms were built, the further challenge we faced was getting the system to run fast enough to be a viable consumer proposition. The first time we ran a search it took us 20 minutes to search through 500 aircraft.

So at points we lost investor confidence. But we’ve now got that down to 10 seconds, which in hindsight, wasn’t just time-consuming but was a computer science miracle but one that we achieved.

And it’s now infinitely scalable, so it doesn’t matter how many quote requests we get coming into the system or how many aircraft are on there, it will always take that amount of time to return the prices.

Q: HOW HAVE YOU MARKETED THE BUSINESS? A: There is the idea that only the rich and famous can fly privately, but Stratajet aims to change this perception. It’s more about the luxury of being wise with the time you spend travelling. Its not just HNWIs that need to do this; there are others who travel for business, for example, who can benefit from private jet travel. As such we are focusing our marketing on a wide range of channels such as business newspapers, Google search (SEO) and digital.

Q: WHAT THE HARDEST THING ABOUT RUNNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND WHAT MAKES IT FULFILLING/FUN? A: We had such significant adversity – i.e. not being able to make the technology work fast enough – that succeeding in what we were doing was like a badge of honour.

Ultimately it’s about inspiration. If you can inspire your staff to work and go the extra mile and enjoy what they’re doing you will get them to pull out all the stops and do something really special.

At one point my whole staff had to work for three months without pay but we all believed in what we were doing and none of us were going to give up. We were inspired by the potential of what we were building to change an entire industry and the perception of that industry.

Q: WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST MISTAKE? A: This is perhaps more of a personal mistake but I think the business would have benefited from having another party onboard to drive other areas of the development. Not having a co-founder in retrospect has made it seriously hard work from a personal point of view, as I had to do so much myself, from coding, to finances, to business development, to marketing, to design, etc.

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Q: WHAT SETS YOUR BUSINESS APART FROM THE REST AND HOW HAVE YOU NURTURED THAT POINT OF DIFFERENCE? A: We have no ‘competitors’ although the industry thinks we’re one of many. The reason for that is other companies make bold claims about being ‘online brokers’, but they’re not; they’re brokers who have a website. They do not have the technology to do what Stratajet does. So one of the biggest challenges we now face is differentiation and trying to make people realise that we are telling the truth and everyone else is lying. The problem for us is cutting through that.

This transfers to when we’re speaking to operators, who are wary of other ‘online brokers’ who simply inundate them with quote requests, which take time to produce manually. With Stratajet, operators don’t get quote requests, as we generate accurate and real-time prices electronically on their behalf, so the passengers are able to book directly.

Our pricing engine is 100% accurate and it’s instantly bookable.

Q: HOW YOU DEVELOPED YOUR STAFF – HOW DO YOU INSPIRE YOUR PEOPLE AND WHAT INCENTIVES DO YOU GIVE THEM TO STAY LOYAL? A: I learned a lot of lessons as an officer in the military, during which time I conducted three major operational tours. Each of these was entirely different, and we faced different challenges. The first was quite an emotional experience and that taught me how to deal with people in upsetting situations and understand how to cheer them up. The second was one of momentum and having to keep people on their toes despite being very tired. Tiredness and stress go hand in hand and it’s easy to lose motivation in those situations so a different style of leadership is needed. The overriding emotion during my final tour was more of fear and that relates to running a start-up where there is often a sense of fear that the business might fail. So my military background gave me the experience of different areas of leadership – and how the term ‘leadership’ can mean different things – and the tools to drive people forward.

There isn’t a manual that tells you how to deal with different members of your team but as a leader it’s essential to be able to recognise different people’s qualities and skills and how to manage different people. Some people need a bit of motivation and some need a reassuring hand on the shoulder. It’s the same reassurance needed whether it’s a soldier or a staff member – albeit a different scale and context – but it’s the same human emotions.

Q: WHAT ADVICE CAN YOU GIVE ON CHOOSING YOUR INVESTORS? Choose your investors carefully – investment isn’t ‘just for Christmas’. Never take an investor who you don’t think is aligned with your vision. Some investors might get involved with a company because they can see a different vision for that company.

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THE STER LI N G COLLECTION T H E E P I T O M E O F D I S C R E E T F L A M B O YA N C E .

Timeless craftsmanship informs every hand-turned edge and subtly contrasted stitch. Smooth, black calf enrobes every wallet and purse in the collection. Yet within, extravagant colours burst from soft, drum-rolled leather. A pleasure contained, for the more individual.

E T TI N G E R . TO E ACH TH EI R OWN .

ETTINGER.CO.UK

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Koopman - candlesticks, Paul de Lamerie

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HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY INVEST IN

Silver

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ince the beginning of civilization silver has played an important and enduring role in society, a valuable commodity, which, through the ages, has been and still is revered and judiciously used by man on so many levels. Quite aside from its important role as a means of currency, silver has also been transformed by skilled craftsmen into religious reliquaries to help with worship, or on a far more practical level into the production of decorative items and household wares.

Whatever its purpose, silver is invariably associated with wealth, standing and importance. Hence the meaning behind the old phrase “born with a silver spoon in their mouth”, an expression which directly links silver to affluence.

Little was to change over successive centuries, although with the introduction of silver plate in the mid-1800s, silver did begin to lose some of its exclusive allure. The social upheavals and the decline of many large aristocratic houses which followed on from the World War I, combined with the economic hardships of the 1920s and early 30s, all contributed to a fundamental shift in collecting taste. For a number of years and for a variety of reasons, both social and economic, European society started to fall out of love with silver.

Gone were the days of stately homes such as Downton Abbey, with their armies of staff on hand to clean the family silver. We were entering a modern age of convenience – formal dining was increasingly to become a thing of the past. In post-World War II Europe, the wonderful antique silver masterpieces, which had graced the homes of previous generations were frequently regarded as too old-school and frankly too hard to maintain, hence either laid aside or even sold.

As a result through much of the 1950s and 60s silver was commonly sold and purchased at a price dependent on its weight, with little or no account for maker, provenance nor the quality of design and workmanship. It took the emergent new-wealthy Americans to start to re-appreciate the artistry of antique silver. Taking advantage of the deflated prices, they started buying silver from the royal and aristocratic families of Europe. In particular their focus of attention centered on great silversmiths of

the mid-18th to early 19th century with prize works by masters such as Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751), Benjamin Smith (1764-18??) and Paul Storr (1771-1844) being assiduously sought out.

Amongst the many collectors who helped to revive the appreciation of traditional silver, two names immediately come to mind for the depth of their knowledge and the passion of their eye: Morrie Moss of Memphis with his predilection for the work of Paul Storr, and Arthur Gilbert the Anglophile -American whose considerable collection was recently bequeathed to London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.

At the same time a number of important American museums began to focus their buying power on European silver, resulting in major collections for the public to admire, notably to be found in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Portland Museum of Art, Philadelphia. Not surprisingly America continues to be an important market for the antique silver trade.

Today one of the leading dealers in antique silver is Koopman Rare Art. Founded by brothers Jacques and Eddy Koopman in 1952, Koopman Rare Art has traded from its luxurious premises above the Silver Vaults in the City of London since 1969.

Now recognized as the pre-eminent dealers in antique silver, over the years they have helped form some of the most celebrated collections of silver in the world. These include those of His Excellency Mahdi Mohammed Altajir, the Whiteley Trust and the Australian Kerry Packer, in addition they have sold important silver to major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Lewis Smith, who together with Timo Koopman, the grandson of Eddie is joint director of Koopman Rare Art, explains: “In terms of quality, workmanship, art historical context and often highly distinguished provenances, the antique silver market today is definitely under-appreciated compared with other collecting fields.”

This opinion has also recently been confirmed by Barnebys the world’s largest art and antique search engine. Pontus Silfvertoolpe, co-founder of Barnebys is reported as saying “Antique silver is a bargain at entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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Koopman - Paul Stor Marine Dessert Bowls

Koopman - Paul Storr tureen

Koopman - A Set of Four George III Figural Shell SaltsdSilver-gilt d

Koopman - An Elegant Set of Four George III Silver-Gilt Wine CoastersdLondon, 1804 d

Koopman - A William IV Three-Piece ‘Warwick Vase’ Tea Set Koopman - Paul de Lamerie tureen

KRA - Chinese silver bowls

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KRA - silver coffee percolator

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The silver market is becoming ever more global

current prices”.

Lewis Smith continued: “It’s been slow in coming, but we are starting to see a long-over due re-appreciation of these superlative art works.

What is clear, however is the fact that today’s silver collectors are highly sophisticated connoisseurs.

Not only are they extremely well informed, they are constantly refining their taste and appreciation. They understand the importance of maker, provenance, quality of design and workmanship and are prepared to pay for it. Collectors are simply not impressed with mediocrity – they will only buy the best and will also pay a premium for a blue-chip provenance.”

So where are these buyers and collectors based?

“In terms of location, the silver market is becoming ever more global, with serious buyers from China and the Middle East entering into the collecting arena” says Lewis. “This interest is driven by a rapidly increasing appreciation for European art and antiques and silver helps to complete the refined and sophisticated look. One also has to take into account that most countries in the Far and Middle East have a strong metalwork tradition so there tends to be an ingrained appreciation for works in silver. Silver-gilt pieces for example are particularly sough-after in China where gold is highly regarded.”

One of the many appeals of antique silver is it caters for all tastes and is also an obvious area for cross-collecting. People who buy silver tend to collect in other fields as well be it paintings, furniture and even contemporary art. Classic silver pieces work well in sleek, minimalist, modern interiors and, as we all know, mixing old and new invariably adds a new dimension and creates an element of dynamism.

And of course with the reassessment of the mid-20th century, which is now much in evidence in contemporary interiors, there is an increasing demand for signed pieces of designer silver, by the likes of more contemporary silversmiths such Stuart Devlin and Gerald Benney, to name but two.

Another huge advantage of silver is much of it is practical. It wasn’t all about ostentation. Silver was designed to be used and enjoyed, and by its very nature is pretty robust and durable.

“The majority of the silver we deal in is elegant and usable,” explains Lewis. “We have stunning trays, candlesticks and candelabra, dinner services, tea and coffee-services and important canteens of cutlery. I am pleased to say most of our clients use the silver they buy – whether it’s in their main home, chalet, beach-house or even on their super-yacht or private jet. Encouragingly formal home dining with stunning

silver on the table is once again becoming a feature of 21st century elegant living. Even informal kitchen suppers can be improved upon with the addition of a stunning pair of silver candlesticks.

For example we have one of the earliest silver coffee percolators, made by English silversmiths Emes and Barnard in 1809, the design is elegant, practical and almost modern. On top of which it makes delicious coffee, far better than any machine.

The asking price is a mere £7,500 and it will clearly last for a couple more hundred years. What could be better value? That’s another great thing about silver – the entry level is accessible compared with other collecting areas. For example you can buy a small piece by a distinguished silversmith such as Paul Storr from as little as £2,000.”

What makes exceptional silver stand out, however, is quality and design, all of which reflect the style, fashion and tastes of a particular era. It is the exquisite, naturalistic observed modelling, the attention to detail and the breathtaking skill of the silversmith, which takes the trays, soup tureens, candelabra, tea and coffee services, the cutlery excetera out of the realms of the ordinary and mundane and turns them into masterpieces steeped in history.

“Although there is a limited supply of really top quality silver treasures, there are still thrilling new pieces coming onto the market. All these factors help maintain value, interest and excitement. While the majority of collectors buy for pleasure and enjoyment, often the intrinsic value of top quality silver and its investment potential gives an additional feeling of security. It’s quite simple, buy the best antique silver you can afford and you really can’t go wrong,” concludes Lewis.

Barnebys offer the same advise: “It is now time for new generations to start using silver again, to understand and appreciate the value of quality and durability and the intrinsic beauty of this ancient and much valued precious metal.

“There are bargains to be had out there that are both stunningly beautiful works of art and also quite often very functional as dinner services or as decorative objects with intriguing histories.

Given that silver prices will doubtless rise again its investment value is another reason to buy silver.” l Amanda Stücklin www.koopmanrareart.com Follow Koopman on Instagram @Koopmanrareart www.barnebys.com entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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PRIVATE BANKING:

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS MITIGATING RISK

Private banking is an industry currently undergoing something of a renaissance.

As the balance of economic and geopolitical power between East and West has shifted over recent years, there has been an explosion in demand for private banking services across the Asia Pacific region.

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he emerging markets of China, Malaysia and elsewhere pushed total global assets managed by the private banking industry in 2015 to $20.3 trillion, up from $18.5 trillion in 2013 and the growth of China into a global power has led to an explosion of wealth within its sphere of influence. Recent analysis by the World Wealth Report1 for example, reveals that the number of individuals with investible assets worth $1 million plus in the Asia Pacific region increased by 17% in 2013, to 4.3 million people.

The total wealth held by this group also increased correspondingly by nearly a fifth, to $14.2 trillion.

This growth in the market for private banking has been further assisted by tighter regulation in the post-crash world. Scrutiny and regulation have forced many mainstream and high-street banks out of investment banking, leaving the field open for more specialist and investment driven banks.

Regardless of these dynamics however, striking the right balance between return and risk remains key in the private banking sector.

BUILDING INVESTMENTS‌.

In the wake of the 2008 crash, and the age of low interest rates and quantitative easing which it ushered in, property has remained the most attractive investment for those looking for significant returns. The reasons for this are clear. Recent research from Savills2 revealed that the total value of property worldwide (currently around $217 trillion) is 36 times more valuable than all the gold ever mined (worth approximately $6tn), 2.3 times the value of

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outstanding securitised debt ($94tn), and 3.9 times the total value of equities ($55tn). The same report estimated the growth rate of this global asset class to be 1.77%, so there are returns to be made and growth rates in local markets often far exceed this.

Recent data from MSCI shows that US commercial property funds in 2015 grew a staggering 15.6% according to the PREA/IPD US Quarterly Property Fund Index3. Even more impressive is the fact that investments in US commercial property have seen a cumulative return of 129% over the past six years.

There are downsides to property investment however. Property requires regular maintenance for example and while, on the whole, tenants can be relied upon to not mistreat a property and pay the rent on time, bad tenants can turn an investment into a full time job. Politics can also weigh large in the minds of property investors and housing and property is for many a significant political issue. This ensures that the market is often the subject to policy interventions, and property investors can need to be aware of the political contexts in which they make their investments. Investors in one development in London, for example, have been singled out in the media as being representative of rising property prices and the political frustrations which follow4.

As a result of this kind of rhetoric, rent caps are being considered or implemented in cities including Dublin, New York and Berlin - despite all the evidence against such market intervention.

At the other end of the scale, larger investments

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY AS AN ASSET CLASS HAS OUTPERFORMED US BONDS (UP 4.39% OVER THE PERIOD 2011 TO 2015), STOCKS (UP 13.45%), CORPORATE BONDS (UP 4.72%) AND COMMODITIES (DOWN 10.93%)

through Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), while generating decent returns, are not as high yielding as direct investment can be. The fact that these investments are managed by large corporations and investment houses also means that there is often a potential disconnect between returns, and the allocation of those returns to investors. Indeed, a recent report from a research team in Toronto found that, while REITs had the highest net returns amongst a sample of asset classes, investors in REITs saw the lowest allocations - just 0.6% of total asset value5. ‌AND MAKING THEM WORK Despite the politics property investments continue to outperform other asset classes and so remain popular. Looking again at the US for example, we see that commercial property as an asset class has outperformed US bonds (up 4.39% over the period 2011 to 2015), stocks (up 13.45%), corporate bonds (up 4.72%) and commodities (down 10.93%)6.

SO WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO MAXIMISE RETURNS, WHILE MINIMISING RISK? Rycal Group have developed a niche which is proving to be increasingly popular with investors. The opportunity is centred around the Carlton James Group, an investment portfolio with a focus on the US's hospitality sector. Over the last five years this portfolio has seen average returns of 17% per annum. With a strategy based upon wide-ranging geographical and market intelligence, Carlton James look also for additional revenue generators - for example taking into account a development's proximity to highways, malls and economic infrastructure - as well as local economics.

Simon Calton, Co-Founder and CEO of the Carlton James Group, says: "Private banks and their clients define themselves by their willingness to consider alternative investments - finding the opportunities that others miss. Making alternative investments work for clients however requires depth of knowledge and understanding in any given market. A portfolio such as ours is a perfect partner for investors looking for opportunities in the US that others have yet to capitalise on.

"The secret of Carlton James' success has been the ability to take a 360-degree view of any investment. We recognise that, to a large extent, the residential property market is saturated, and economists from many global cities are talking about local housing bubbles. Property used for hospitality however is a growth market, and will continue to be so in an economy geared ever more towards the service sector.

"Our expertise also extends to considering the local infrastructure around the properties we invest in. How near is closest freeway or shopping centre?

What future developments are planned in the local vicinity? These questions and more are key to the long-term success of our portfolio and guide our decision making processes." l entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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Cosmopolitan Man (Information Overload)

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CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART MARKET IN THE WEST Curator and art dealer Katrine Levin on how we should all be looking east.

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his is an opportune time to discover and invest in emerging artists from China.

Works by known contemporary artists from China, such as Ai Wei Wei, Yue Minjun, and Zhang Xiaogang, are no longer as attractive an investment since they command high prices which have been normalising, and in some cases decreasing, because of the slowdown in the economy. Although works by a world renown artist such as Ai Wei Wei still would be considered a safe investment in a cautious market, works by other highly priced artists carry a much greater risk given the price of entry.

According to ArtTactic, investors are already responding to the uncertain economic times in China by shifting the focus to emerging art markets further afield in Asia. The time is also ripe for looking at talented emerging artists further inside China itself, away from the traditional hot spots that already command high prices. The current economic climate is an opportunity to make an investment with a relatively low risk – that of being left with a beautiful work that was bought at a reasonable price but failed to increase in value. The upside can be a significant return on investment, made sweeter by the thrill of discovery and being proven right.

The wider public in the West still generally associates “Chinese contemporary art” with Ai Wei Wei, the laughing faces of Yue Minjun, and the politically charged post-Cultural Revolution art.

Works in other genres are for the moment relatively less well known, despite the incredible depth and breadth of contemporary artistic expression and experimentation in China. However, the increased globalisation of the market driven by international art fairs and on-line platforms provides access to artists that were formerly only accessible locally and regionally and is helping to broaden gradually how Chinese contemporary art is perceived.

Works by great emerging artists from China are simultaneously beautiful, universal and unusual.

Many address the same universal issues as their Western contemporaries - such as the exploration of self, emotions, and landscape – transcending any one category and having a broad appeal. At the same time, they offer additional interest for the West in seeing familiar issues presented from a different point of view, rooted in the artists’ context entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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and seen through their cultural lens. Some are an emotional appeal through line and colour. Others are part of the longstanding Chinese tradition of storytelling – they are not just images, they are novels and they are meant to be read.

Talented emerging artists from China have something else that adds a special quality to their works. As a result of Chinese fine art education, they possess a deep knowledge of the millennia of Eastern artistic traditions and philosophies as well as of Western artistic expression from old masters to the present. This extraordinary range for inspiration and experimentation is to my knowledge generally unmatched in the West. Working with both Eastern and Western styles and techniques, talented emerging artists transcend the boundaries of a particular style or movement, finding their own distinct voice.

Chinese contemporary paintings are generally valued somewhat lower than their Western counterparts. There is no logical basis for this phenomenon except possibly its current pigeonholing as “Chinese contemporary art” – a trend that is on the verge of being eroded by increased globalisation and ensuing exposure to the broader spectrum of contemporary art from China.

In any event it is difficult to value a work by an artist who has not yet cemented a reputation because the standard approach of looking at past sales does not work, instead one needs to assess the potential of future sales. The most important considerations are doing market research and then trusting your instincts. Another factor is who is promoting the artist and how dedicated they are to the artist long-term. Equally important is to love the artwork in question because even if all goes well it likely will be necessary to hold on to it for 5-10 years as the artist’s star ascends. Helpfully, prior to holding an inaugural exhibition by an emerging artist, galleries often place the artist’s works with significant collectors, which is reassuring to both the galleries and the prospective buyers. Further, the Chinese contemporary art market is not troubled by issues of authentication that have plagued other artistic sectors in China, since the artist is alive to identify the works.

The West is on the brink of a fundamental and positive change in how we perceive and value contemporary art from China, making this a great time to get in on the ground floor of discovering new talent from this fascinating and multi-faceted country. l Katrine Levin Galleries is preparing for its inaugural exhibition in the Summer of 2017, and is working on a documentary about the artists, each of whom has a compelling story and a distinct voice. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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ARE YACHTS A GOOD INVESTMENT? There are many reasons people invest in boats, for the lifestyle, the love of the sea, the freedom to roam the ocean, the ability to sail across to private beaches, even just to get from A to B in some style. They also invest looking for a financial return, either through buying a run down boat in winter and doing it up for resale in the summer or aiming at the charter market. Some companies even invest in boats as water taxis.

So are boats a good investment, well it really depends how you measure it and what you are looking for?

Boats depreciate roughly at around 10% each year, especially true for mass produced boats. So they are more akin to a car in that an average model will depreciate with time, however a well-known brand, a particularly prized make, or a limited edition with great heritage, unique provenance and perhaps celebrity association can do very well. The last few years have seen the price of some classic cars sky rocket upwards, and with a classic boat that is rare, then you will see it keep its value and in some cases even rise if the prevailing market is good.

With a little clever thinking a boat can be a useful source of income, with the charter of a good luxury yacht ranging from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars a day for the larger super yachts, even the super-rich have delved into the charter market since 2008. Now everything is considered an asset and put to work raising capital. Many boat owners were relieved to have a physical asset such as a yacht that did not fall as calamitously as shares in the market crash of 2008.

Boats must be well maintained and looked after to prevent the usual wear and tear that occurs on the water. A professional yacht management company is often the best way to preserve the boat in good condition and keep its value as you can show that it has been properly serviced and they can even save you money when it comes to dockage and other operational costs.

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exclusivity factor during the recession. They didn't have lots of stock, old or new, hitting the market unlike many other brands out there and they have a great pedigree and legendary racing history. They specialise in producing bespoke, quality, luxury yachts, handmade in England. Hunton was founded in 1979 by legendary offshore powerboat racer Jeff Hunton. He won the British Offshore Powerboat Championship six times, a hugely impressive feat. The hull is made of Kevlar composite for world beating stability, comfort, performance and handling in all conditions. The classic deep V hull and top-decks are flawless; teak rolls across the exterior, from the broad swim platform, up the stylish walkway into the cockpit, and extending to the foredeck. Stainless steel work gleams brightly, and high-grade marine leathers upholster the aft sun-pad, C-shaped cockpit banquette and race style seats with double stitching on the exterior upholstery which all exudes a meticulous sense of quality. It is this quality, craftsmanship and bespoke specifications that will all contribute to the return on your investment.

The CEO of Hunton yachts Fiona Pool remarks “Our bespoke one-off builds still form an important part of the Hunton offering,” she adds: “We have many clients who do want that totally bespoke product and we are one of the very few production yards that can offer this.”

A high end yacht supplier in Ibiza, Ibiza Delivers, recently purchased a Hunton to ferry their clients to and from their super yachts. This has raised the value of their offering and brand as they reward their regulars with such a prestigious water based taxi service. It also signals their success to their

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OF COURSE IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MAKE A HUGE RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT, DON’T JUST BUY THE YACHT, BUY THE YACHT COMPANY!

competitors and peer group alike in a particularly stylish way.

Of course if you really want to make a huge return on your investment, don’t just buy the yacht, buy the yacht company!

In 2010 FL Partners invested in Sunseeker on behalf of their clients and then Wang Jianlin, the chairman of Dalian Wanda, bought Sunseeker for £320 million in 2013. This obviously made FL Partners’ clients very happy. Golfer Rory McIlroy is reported to have made around £2 million on his investment.

Wang Jianlin was originally looking at buying around thirty Sunseeker boats for a series of marinas he was building in China. So he figured it would be cheaper to buy the company. FL Partners are said to have made 10 times their original stake in the deal. This is clearly the way to go if you really want to make the big bucks. British brands are particularly well regarded in China who admire British engineering and innovation and their consumption of luxury goods is still growing in the aviation, boat and car sectors.

In the end the real investment return on a yacht is the peace and serenity you get on the water, the pleasure in driving an incredible piece of engineering, and the joy in the sheer speed, exhilaration and experience that such a boat brings.

The purchase of a boat is very much a lifestyle choice and you only have to attend the proliferating boat shows to see how passionate people become once they join the yacht owning community. A community that is a private wealth network in itself, often used for business as well as leisure! l

entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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MAKING A DIAMOND INVESTMENT When you hear the phrase ‘private jewellery concierge’, no doubt you immediately think of sparkling fine diamonds, fabulous jewels and general, all-round glamour. Well, that’s exactly the world that Leeds and London based private jewellery expert Neil Geddes lives in.

We caught up with Neil to get some expert advice in what to invest in and why.

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orking with everyone from the newly-engaged searching for the perfect ring, to high-net-worth individuals such as City bankers and CEOs. Regularly visiting clients from Mayfair to Knightsbridge, and Cheshire to Monaco, Neil can be found showcasing diamonds or jewellery designs to his clients whilst they sit behind their desk enjoying a plate of sushi and working on just another multimillion pound contract.

But it’s not all glitz and glamour. The increase in the number of people buying jewellery for investment has meant that Neil now looks after a portfolio of clients who look to him to source the finest diamonds and jewels from across the world, or help them to identify and buy investment pieces at international auction houses including Christie’s and Sotheby’s, handling the sale of fine jewellery pieces that can creep into six, seven or eight figures.

“The time is now when it comes to investing in jewellery”, says Neil. “The market for selling jewellery is currently very strong, with houses including Van Cleef & Arpels and Cartier achieving high prices for the right period piece, and a huge demand for the finest coloured gemstones, diamonds and fancy colour diamonds” Of course, such demand is music to Neil’s ears, as his service is more popular than ever before.

He continues: “Private investors and those with the money to spend want the best advice available, and they often don’t have the time – or the knowledge – to obtain the jewels themselves. It’s important in such a buoyant market that people are well informed and acquire the best possible piece to meet their requirements when spending such vast amounts of money.”

So, what exactly should be the starting point for the jewellery novice looking to bag themselves a piece that will hopefully deliver a sizeable return on investment 15 years down the line? entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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PERIOD ITEMS ARE A GREAT PLACE TO LOOK WHEN STARTING A SEARCH FOR AN INVESTMENT PIECE

“There are a fair few criteria that need to be considered when looking for an investment piece”, explains Neil.

“Quality, provenance, native country and region and the item’s period style are key factors that dictate future values, and should all be considered from the outset.

“It may sound obvious, but buying with the head and not just the heart is critical. We all know that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but only when chosen and bought well can they become an investor’s, too.

“There is a constant market demand for diamonds which is good, but quality is paramount here. When you’re over five carats, the value starts to really climb and increases even further once you’re over ten carats. For example, a diamond over five carats of D colour and IF clarity is significantly more expensive now compared to around 15 years ago.”

When it comes to investment-worthy design styles, trends often play a large part in dictating market prices, as demonstrated by the reaction to the recent engagement between the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister, Pippa Middleton and beau James Matthews.

Neil says: “Period items are a great place to look when starting a search for an investment piece. Artdeco is a great example. Pippa Middleton’s loosely art-deco inspired Asscher cut central diamond ring has sparked further interest in what was already a popular design style for investors, and as such prices are heading north.

“Combine this with a luxury brand name such as Cartier, Harry Winston or Van Cleef & Arpels, and the value can increase infinitely for the right period piece.

He continues: “Celebrity background also helps, and if the diamond or jewel has previously taken pride of place in an A-lister or Royal collection – as was the case with the Elizabeth Taylor estate jewellery sale of 2011 - then the values can dramatically increase.”

So for those who have done their research and know what they’re after, just where should they be going to make their purchase?

Neil assures us that the prestigious auction houses that are Bonhams, Christie’s and Sotheby’s offer access to some of the most valuable and period pieces, and these houses hold jewellery sales in cities across the UK through the year where jewellery pieces can be acquired from as ”little” as £1,500.

Neil says: “The very best jewels are often traded privately through diamond dealers or via prestigious auctions such as the Magnificent and Noble jewellery sales, which take place in Geneva through Christie’s and Sotheby’s twice a year.

“Recent sales have been setting new records for the highest priced diamonds and jewels, which

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are often an attractive asset for high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, even throughout the recent global recession.

“You only have to look at the Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau who last year not only bought the extremely rare 16.08 fancy vivid pink diamond for £19m from Christie’s, but then the following day purchased the incredibly rare 12.03 fancy vivid blue diamond for a cool £32m.”

For this level of buyer, Neil stands firm on the point that “it is only the very best that will do”.

Fancy coloured diamonds (those outside of the normal colour range, of which the most valuable are saturated fancy vivid or fancy intense, pinks, blues and greens) are at the top of the tree and, Neil says, “are a highly valuable and indeed portable asset”.

“For colourless diamonds, the top D colour (on a scale of D – representing colourless, to Z – representing light yellow or brown) with a clarity grading of ‘flawless’ or ‘internally flawless’ are the most sought after and highly prized, although E and F colours with a VVS (Very Very Slightly included) clarity grading are also widely admired and acquired.”

Aside from diamonds, when it comes to the best of the best gems, the most valuable stones demand a search that spans countries, regions and the very mines that they are extracted from, says Neil.

“Columbian emeralds reign supreme compared to other emeralds, especially those from the Muzo mine in the Western Boyacá Province of the country.

“Cornflower blue Kashmir sapphires and pigeon blood red Burmese rubies are the ultimate gems and can outperform the finest colourless diamonds per carat, and are often traded privately via dealers or via prestigious auction houses.”

Despite the seemingly stratospheric pricing structure of all this, Neil is confident that with the right approach and advice, ‘first timers’ can confidently step onto the first rung of the jewellery investment ladder.

He says: “It is possible to create a valuable fine jewellery piece of your own for a reasonable investment, and something that is unique to a family or individual.

“Bespoke pieces crafted by expert designers can increase in value over time, but creating a timeless piece rather than something overtly ‘on-trend’ is advisable, as just like cars, clothes and holiday resorts, what’s fashionable right now might not be in-vogue forever.”

So, with such large amounts of money on the table, what is Neil’s overarching advice when it comes to investment?

“Stick to the quality factors and buy a piece that you like from a trusted dealer for best value. It is important that the diamond or gem will be enjoyed purely for its own sake as a stunning piece of jewellery, as well as just an investment.

“However, the most basic – and probably obvious - principle of all has to be; set yourself a budget and stick to it. Whether it’s £2,000 or £2million, define it at the beginning and use a private diamond dealer to make sure you get the very best outcome possible.” l

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INVESTOR

STRAUSBERGER PLATZ

A CHANCE FOR INVESTORS TO OWN A PIECE OF BERLIN HISTORY With a fast growing tech sector, a vibrant arts scene and prices well below those of other capital cities, Berlin has become a magnet for property investors.

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he city overtook London to be ranked as the number one in Europe for investment prospects in the Emerging Trends in Real Estate report by PwC and the Urban Land Institute earlier this year.

As Berlin has reinvented itself as a hub for start-ups, the IT and tech sector is driving its economy and former down at heel districts are being transformed into trendy neighbourhoods.

Tourism is also at a record high, with over 30 million overnight stays by visitors recorded last year.

Benoit Properties International is offering one to three-bedroom apartments in the historic Strausberger Platz, one of the twin landmark towers at the end of Karl-Marx-Allee, the monumental boulevard built by the German Democratic Republic in the post-war period as a showcase for socialist ideals. Prices start from just €206,500.

Designed by Berlin’s former head architect Hermann Henselmann, Strausberger Platz and its

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neighbouring blocks built in ‘gingerbread house’ style were designed to be “workers’ palaces” offering luxury accommodation for ordinary people.

Strausberger Platz is situated in the heart of Berlin alongside Alexanderplatz, with its worldfamous TV tower. To the west are elegant boutiques and bars of Berlin-Mitte and the Brandenburg Gate, and to the south, the bohemian district of Kreuzberg, a hotspot for creativity and nightlife.

Apartments are available freehold and offer a rental yield of around 4%.

Matt Lavin of Benoit Properties International says: “Berlin has been at the centre of the major events which have shaped modern Europe and it is now reinventing itself as a capital of cool. Investors can benefit from relatively low entry prices, a high demand for rental properties and the stability of the German economy. Strausberger Platz offers a central location with the added attraction of owning a slice of post-war history.” l

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THE POTENTIAL OF INVESTING IN HEALTHCARE PROPERTIES Healthcare property is one of the property types with the most long-term potential.

One of the main reasons for that is the growing number of an aging population and the increasing interest in personal care and wellness worldwide. Expert Yulia Kozhevnikova of Tranio.com explains.

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n the USA the number of people over 65 is expected to double between 2012 and 2050, while in Europe one in five people will be older by 2020. At the same time, life expectancy will increase in the advanced economies. In Sweden, for instance, life expectancy will grow to 89 for women and to 85 for men by 2060 (from 84 and 80 respectively as of 2016). In the UK the average life expectancy will reach 99 years by 2064.

Investors have already taken note of this trend and made conclusions: “Initially, I was considering investing in office space and retail property”, one of Tranio’s clients tells. “But soon I realised that office space won’t allow to earn much, and the retail property market is largely dependant on the economic conditions and the purchasing power of the population. And then I decided to take a closer look at health properties. The number of senior citizens in the advanced economies is increasing constantly , and 87% of them suffer from at least one chronic condition, meaning that the demand for medical services will grow regardless of the economic climate”.

As reported by Forbes, LetterOne, a company owned by Russian billionaires, Alexey Kuzmichev, Mikhail Fridman and German Khan is going to invest $2-3 billion in healthcare properties via its U.S. branch L1 Health. According to L1, global healthcare costs will grow by 5.2% over 2014–2018. In the USA the healthcare costs will reach 18% of GDP by 2018.

WHAT KIND OF PROPERTY IS THIS? Healthcare properties are known as an alternative class of assets. Primarily, the foundations that want to diversify their portfolios invest in them, and such investments comprise 10–15 % of the market’s total.

WHEN CHOOSING A PROPERTY, IT’S ADVISABLE TO PAY ATTENTION TO: • the demographic situation in the market (the growing number of senior citizens in the location) • the amount of similar successfully operating institutions and the ratio between the profitability of the property you buy and that of your competitors’ organisations • the percentage of clients who receive treatment under insurance or public programme coverage.

• the term of the contract between the insurance company and the medical institution.

You can obtain this and other kind of information about the property during Due Diligence (comprehensive property examination) involving lawyers.

This is a borderline property type: Medical Office Buildings (MOBs) in fact are office buildings with the only difference that the offices are occupied by medics. Therefore, you can buy an office and convert it into a medical centre or vice versa. Health care providing institutions frequently become tenants in the properties of such major retail chains as Target and Walmart in the USA. This trend has received the name of “retailing of healthcare”. For instance, the Tranio catalogue has a shopping mall in Florida, rented by restaurant keepers, a church and a healthcare services provider, along with retailers. Medical centres are often located in multipurpose complexes on the same basis as shops and offices. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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WHEN CHOOSING A HEALTHCARE PROPERTY, OBTAINING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT THE OPERATOR IS IMPORTANT: • the number of clinics managed • the percentage of the rental income in the total revenue (recommended percentage —13–22 %) • profit margin (the recommended ratio between the rental income and EBITDAR — 1.5–2.0 and expenses (staff, compensations) • long-term risks The rental terms are of 3–5 years for small facilities and 15-20 years (with an extension option) or indefinite for medical centres. In the UK term contracts of over 100 years (leasehold) are common. For instance, in 2015 a care home was sold with a rental contract for 150 years.

The yield rate is 3.4% p.a. with annual RPI uplifts of 0-4%.

The buyer is the U.S. Alpha Real Estate company.

The main types of healthcare properties: • Outpatient Care Centers • Acute Care Facilities or Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals, (LTACHs) • Post-Acute Care Facilities • Free-Standing ED’s (Emergency Departments Centers), (FEDs) • Specialty Hospitals • Medical and Diagnostic Labs • Offices of Physicians and Dentists • Medical and Surgical Hospitals • Psych & Substance Abuse Hospitals • Nursing Care Facilities or Skilled Nursing Facilities, SNiFs • Wellness Centres In the case of clinics, Post-Acute and Nursing Care Facilities, investing in properties featuring not a complex of separate buildings but a single building with at least 150 beds and several wings is recommended. The advantages also include compliance with the operational standards of fourstar hotels, availability of open public spaces, modern security systems and infrastructure (pharmacies, cafés, swimming pools, car parkings, etc.) The optimal percentage of one-bed wards is 95%, the rooms should be over 16 sq m (to make a two-bed ward of a one-bed one if required). Having bathrooms and balconies in the wards is recommended. The minimum occupancy rate is 80 %.

When investing in the medical offices located in shopping malls, it’s advisable to have a convertible facility so that you could rent it out to retailers or providers of other services if the healthcare service operator moves out. If the facility is designed to accommodate a particular tenant and this tenant moves out or goes bankrupt unexpectedly, there is a risk that adapting the property for a new tenant will be too expensive and the rental rates will fall significantly. On the other hand, this risk is balanced by the high service users number growth potential, as well as the industry growth potential in general, 86

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and, an increase in the number and welfare of tenants.

THE INVESTMENT NUANCES The main problem of those who invest in healthcare properties is the lack of information about the operator and the business in general. Unfortunately, this property segment is not so transparent as the office space or retail property one, and this is just the case when finding out as much as you can about the particularities of investments is critical.

THE MARKET ENTRY THRESHOLD In Germany the existing healthcare properties sell at a price of €1,500– 2,000 per sq m, while the newlybuilt ones – at a price of €2,600 – 3,100 per sq m.

The average price per square metre in the USA is $2,900.

Individual medical offices sell for under €1M. For instance, in Montenegro a medical office of 100 sq m sell for €650,000.

The prices for the small hospitals in noncentral locations start at €2.5M, for the hospitals of higher quality — at €10M. For example, in Berlin a renovated plastic surgery centre, rented out to a major tenant for 10 years with a possibility of the agreement extension for another 10 years, sells for €16M. The yield rate is 5.57 %, , the absolute annual return is about €900,000.

Foundations close major portfolio transactions (buy several properties at once) tens of millions worth. For instance, the Blackstone Foundation sold a portfolio of three UK Acute Care Centres to a private U.S. investment enterprise for£30.4M. YIELD RATES In general, healthcare properties have higher yield rates in comparison with the office space, as the former have higher depreciation risks due to a more rapid deterioration. Super-prime facilities in the top locations of big cities yield 3.50–5.25% p.a., prime properties — 5.0–5.5 % p.a. The yield rates of the lower quality properties in peripheral locations can reach 7.0–9.0 %.

The average yield rate of healthcare properties in the USA is 6.72%, but it can range between 4.0% and 7.0%. Facilities in prime office buildings yield about 4.5% p.a. on average, less expensive hospitals

INVESTOR

rented out for 20 years — about 6.0% p.a..

The average yield rate in the UK is 4.5–5.5 %.

Primary Care Centres and Care Homes yield 4.5% on average, Hospitals — 5.0 %, Specialist Care Centres — 5.5 %.

In Germany the maximum initial yield rate for modern properties in a good location with a reliable operator runs to 7.5%.

THE SPECIAL ASPECTS OF MANAGEMENT AND RENT Abroad many healthcare properties are constructed and managed by major international companies and are often built for particular tenants. The majority of funds are put into such projects by private investors, while the state acts as a duty-bearer and observes the adherence to the loan and rental income payment agreements. This scheme enables providing the population with medical assistance where there is a lack of public funds.

There are medical centres rented out to one major tenant and also properties rented out to many lesses: for example, 50% of the facilities can be rented out by the provider chain’s employees, the other 50%- by the independent medical practitioners.

Such properties are often rented out to the medical institution operators. For instance, in Germany major Post-Acute Care Centre operators are Median Kliniken,RHM, Mediclin, Asklepios, Helios, Wicker-Gruppe and AHG Allgemeine Hospitalgesellschaft.

WHAT THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE PROPERTIES WILL BE LIKE The main trends include telediagnosis, increase in the number of outpatient institutions, as well as the introduction of co-working spaces for medics.

TELEHEALTH Telehealth is providing medical assistance remotely with the help of modern computer and telecommunication technologies. Probably, in the nearest future this area of medicine will be increasingly developing, especially in terms of diagnostics. Therefore, a new kind of properties — telehealth stations — can appear. Several healtcare providers in the USA, including Cleveland Clinic,

Community Health and Kaiser are already using telehealth platforms. Modern technologies will be used more and more often in the medical service market. Such mobile apps as ZocDoc, are already helping patients to find medical workers in their location, learn the doctors’ attending hours,make appointments, read reviews and give ratings.

SHIFT FROM INPATIENT CENTRES TO THE OUTPATIENT ONES This trend has been observed in the USA for more than a decade : the number of inpatient acute care institutions is shrinking, while the amount of outpatient centres is growing. At the same time the clinics are moving out of to the suburbs more frequently due to the costliness of in-city facilities.

THE INTRODUCTION OF SHARING CENTRES Property rent is becoming more expensive and many medical workers will want to save money and rent facilities on a timeshare or co-locating basis. A similar trend is observed in the office space market where co-working spaces or community offices are spreading.

PRIVATE CLINICS GROWING IN NUMBER Due to the heavy national debts and the necessity to cut social security programmes some countries (e.g., Spain, Italy and France) will probably not be able to provide enough public clinics to satisfy the demand from the growing population over 60 years.

Therefore, the demand for private clinics will be high in this kind of countries. In addition, in Europe investing in the healthcare properties located in affluent countries is beneficial. They include Germany and France, for instance.

WHERE TO INVEST, THEN? We recommend choosing reliable countries — Austria, the UK, Germany, the USA, France and Switzerland — for investing. When choosing a local market you need to pay attention to the demographic situation and the demand for medical services, transport accessibility and the abundance of qualified personnel. It is advisable to choose properties far away from the sources of noise (railroads, highways and plants) and near the residential districts. l entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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Bonhams Fine Jewellery Sale Highlights Jean Ghika, head of jewellery for Bonhams UK and Europe talks us through the highlights of the forthcoming sale of rare and beautiful jewellery.

LOT 121, A SAPPHIRE SINGLE-STONE RING Cushion-shaped, weighing 14.13 carats, accompanied by a report from AGL stating that the sapphire is of Classic Kashmir origin, with no indications of heating. £600,000 – 800,000 “Sapphires are amongst the most highly prized gems for serious collectors due to their rarity. The mines, located high in the Himalayan mountain range in north west India, were only open for a period of approximately 30 years from the late 1880s onwards. Supplies were soon exhausted, making an example of this size a rare specimen.”

LOT 119 , A DIAMOND SINGLE-STONE RING Pear-shaped, weighing 12.08 carats, accompanied by a report from GIA stating that the diamond is D colour, VVS1 clarity. £500,000 – 700,000 “Another highlight of the sale is this 12.08ct, D colour, VVS1 clarity pearshaped diamond coming from a private collection formulated in the 1970s.”

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LOT 120, A FANCY PINK-BROWN DIAMOND RING Lot 120, A fancy pink-brown diamond ring. £600,000 – 800,000 “This 21.33ct step-cut diamond is of particular interest because it displays a pink-brown colour. According to GIA, fancy coloured diamonds account for 0.01% of the polished diamonds produced annually.”

LOT 53, AN ENAMEL AND EMERALD ‘SERPENTI’ BRACELET-WATCH,

BY BULGARI, CIRCA 1965 £50,000 – 60,000 “A rare surviving example of the famed Bulgari Serpenti design bracelet watch dating from circa 1965. The ‘Serpenti’ design was celebrated

by Bulgari in 2016 with an exhibition hosted at the Museum of Rome entitled ‘Serpenti Form: Snake Through Art, Jewellery and Design’, exploring the historical use of the snake through a host of artistic mediums.”

LOT 86, A LAPIS LAZULI, ONYX, EMERALD, SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND ‘PANTHÈRE’ BROOCH, BY CARTIER, CIRCA 1995 £120,000 – 180,000 “Originally created in 1914, the panther is a recurring theme for Cartier throughout the 20th century. The most notable examples belonging to the Duchess of Windsor, created from 1947 onwards. This example, dating from circa 1990, set with sapphires and diamonds and resting on a lapis lazuli branch is likely to be highly sought after by collectors.”

LOT 76, A PAIR OF CULTURED PEARL AND DIAMOND PENDENT EARRINGS, BY CARTIER £7,000 – 10,000 “These earrings are perfect example of the understated elegance synonymous with Cartier.”

Bonhams London Fine Jewellery sale takes place on Sunday 4 December at 1030am. www.bonhams.com/departments/JWL/ Bonhams Fine Jewellery is also on Instagram on @BonhamsJewels.

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ANNUAL BUSINESS AVIATION MARKET FORECAST Short Term Hurdles Ahead, but Long Term Optimism Remains

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en-year forecast predicts ongoing challenges in emerging markets with continued North America dominance; Gulfstream projected to top OEM revenues with Pratt & Whitney Canada taking top spot for engine OEMs. Jetcraft, the leader in business aircraft sales, marketing and ownership strategies, recently released its second annual business aviation market forecast. The 2016 report calls for 7,879 unit deliveries representing $248 billion in revenues (based on 2015 pricing) to be realized over the next 10 years.

The forecast also examines key macroeconomic trends – a slowdown in wealth creation, the migration of ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) from emerging market economies and the fluctuation of oil prices – and evaluates the impact such factors will have on the business aviation sector througout the coming decade. Overall, this year’s predictions are lower than last year’s report in terms of deliveries and revenues. Yet, despite challenges, there are bright spots on the horizon led chiefly by continued growth of the North America market.

“Last year, we highlighted the unpredictability of our industry since 2008, and the impact of global events during the past 12 months have certainly continued this trend,” said Jetcraft’s Chairman Jahid Fazal-Karim. “As global factors continue to influence the business aviation market, we are uniquely positioned—through our 20+ offices worldwide—to qualitatively test our forecast’s assumptions and the impact of these global factors on the ground, providing a cumulative view that joins our analysis with real-world business transactions, ” he added.

FORECAST CALLS FOR 2021 TO BE A PEAK YEAR FOR DELIVERIES This year Jetcraft predicts a marked decrease of 10% in unit deliveries and 9% in revenues from last year.

This is largely due to the continued waning influence of emerging market economies as consumers of business aviation.

The forecast sees a muted business cycle recovery peaking in 2021, with delivery of 932 units representing $29.4 billion in revenues, before beginning a three-year drop as part of a softer downturn. The projected downturn, however, will be

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less severe as compared to last year’s forecast.

Additionally, Jetcraft’s analysis indicates the continuation of a trend post-2008, and a return to a more North America-dominant market as overall unit deliveries throughout the forecast period will disproportionately decrease in international markets.

OTHER KEY FORECAST FINDINGS INCLUDE: • At 30.6%, Gulfstream will secure the highest revenue market share over the forecast period primarily as a result of extending its family of large aircraft.

• Cessna will regain market leadership in unit deliveries securing 24.4% of all new aircraft deliveries over the forecast horizon.

• Pratt & Whitney Canada will replace Rolls-Royce as the market share leader among engine OEMs. • Honeywell will be the dominant player among avionics OEMs securing a 45% revenue market share.

• As a new entrant, HondaJet will provide an incremental contribution to deliveries in the very light jet segment, as its delays in securing certification have led to customer back-up.

AFFECTS OF THE PRE-OWNED MARKET While pre-owned business aircraft inventory is lower than the historical average level of 13% (inventory as a percentage of in-service fleet), there is little evidence of an increase in residual values for 5-year old aircraft (a key benchmark due to the typical ownership period in North America). This has led to lags in purchasing and a slowing of the overall market.

Despite its predicted hurdles, the Jetcraft forecast remains optimistic toward the future of business aviation. “Business aviation is at the midpoint of a recovery run in the current economic cycle,” said Chad Anderson, President of Jetcraft.

“Jetcraft’s recent results, the company’s best since its formation 54 years ago, give credence to the fact that some solidity is returning and there is activity, albeit muted, in emerging markets.” l Jetcraft’s full “10 year Business Aviation Market Forecast” is available for download on https://www.jetcraft.com/knowledge/market-forecast.

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MAURITIUS SPECIAL

This fascinating and beautiful island has been a perennial favourite of the British for decades now, drawn to its spectacular scenery, excellent beaches and high quality accommodation.

There are plenty of 5 start resorts to choose from, each with its own particular ambiance, look and feel. We chose three award-winning luxury properties to review for this particular feature - Shangri-La’s Le Touessrok Resort & Spa, Four Seasons’ Anahita, and Maradiva Villas.

We recommend flying to Mauritius non-stop in Club World with BA from Gatwick – it’s a long flight. And it’s important to research the weather during the month you plan on visiting. The island may be located in the Indian Ocean, but can be very windy, barely warmer than a late summer’s day here (21-23 degrees) , with frequent showers, and as many resorts’ private and main pools are heated by the sun only, it can mean they are not really comfortable to use and the sea can be a little choppy for snorkelling.

Visit www.tourism-mauritius.mu for full details. And www.ba.com for flights. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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SHANGRI-LA’S LE TOUESSROK RESORT & SPA

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art of the acclaimed Shangri-La group, Le Touessrok Resort & Spa reopened after a major refurbishment just over a year ago, and since then has become a firm favourite again of discerning couples and families wanting a resort that’s glossy, pretty and fun with plenty to do.

Located along the less populated east coast of the island, at Trou d'Eau Douce Bay, the resort is a pleasant journey from the airport, through colourful villages and towns, past lush gardens, temples, mountains and of course the sugar cane fields the island is famous for. And you will see dogs of every shape, size and breed dozing in doorways or trotting alongside the cars but they are happy keeping themselves to themselves and don’t pose any harm.

The resort is made up of avenues of pretty white blocks housing the suites, main restaurant and lobby areas, all fringing pools or with views out across palm trees to pristine beaches and turquoise sea. If you are in the top-end Frangipani Wing, designed for couples wanting tranquillity away from children, you’ve lovely views across to a firm Mauritius favourite -the Ile aux Cerfs, with its pearl-white soft sands and 18-hole Bernhard Langer designed championship golf course, and also the resort’s very own private island, Ilot Mangénie, where guests can dine and visit its lively beach club.

The suites are open plan, light, bright and airy, with contemporary furnishings and private balconies where you can sit, enjoy the view and enjoy a glass or three of wine. The Frangipani Wing suites have complementary sweets, chocolate, soft drinks, crisps and beers which are replaced daily. It’s a shame not to have even a half bottle of wine replaced each day instead of just beers, if like us, you’re not a fan of the brown stuff – and some healthy snacks and treats would have been welcomed. We did however thoroughly enjoy the Happy Hour (included in the Frangipani package) at the end of each day, where we could sit feet on the sand outside the large open plan beach bar, and enjoy olives and prosecco whilst watching the setting sun illuminate the sky into in a stunning spectacle of burnished reds and golds.

Food lovers will enjoy the resort on the whole.

The resort features five restaurants that serve Western and Asian cuisines with a good range of choices, from the spices and fragrances of India to the pure, fresh ingredients of Japan. Le Bazar is where most of the families head each night, as it offers a changing and extensive array of cuisines, from fresh pastas to satay and even roasts and a rainbow of ice creams and desserts the children certainly enjoyed.

The pool areas are attractive and we appreciated the calm tranquillity of the adults only pool exclusive to Frangipani Wing guests – made extra special by the resident most charming family of kitties who kept us and other animal loving guests amused for hours, watching them play. The resort’s spa is next to this pool and offers a wide range of very good treatments, and features a gym.

This is a lovely resort, with lots of commend.

Do go when the weather is at its best though as this eastern coast can be windier than the west. l www.shangri-la.com/mauritius

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FOUR SEASONS RESORT MAURITIUS AT ANAHITA

Image courtesy of Ken Seet, Four Seasons 96

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Spacious private villas with pools, golden sand gorgeous beaches, flower-filled tropical gardens, an excellent spa and fine food – what’s not to love at this superbly designed Four Seasons resort. It’s quickly gaining the reputation as the destination of choice for couples wanting privacy, tranquillity and genuine and tasteful luxury. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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ocated at Beau Champ, it’s about an hour from the airport, but does seem miles away from any hustle and bustle Mauritius has. A luxurious tropical sanctuary they call it, and that’s certainly true. Four Seasons properties are always well designed, and this is no exception – it masterfully combines the contemporary you’d expect, with native beauty – stone, woods, water and fire – the use of the elements creating both peace and visual drama.

The resort has a main area where the reception and main restaurant is based, all overlooking and actually on stilts in part above the water, meaning you can dine and watch tropical fish swim by. A gorgeously designed two story open plan Italian restaurant is across the lagoon again with lovely views. The villas are all set amongst flower and palm tree filled landscaping, a decent distance apart for privacy. The most luxurious ones are reached across a bridge over the lagoon, on the resorts own island, overlooking the beaches on either side - some across to the resorts own Erni Els championship 18 hole golf course.

The villas are spacious and beautifully designed – all blonde wood, taupes and understated luxury hues. They feature all the amenities you could wish for, and a rear enclosed garden with an outdoor shower. Patio doors open to a large patio area, with garden and private pool, where you can while away your days sunbathing and watching little fishing boats or yachts pass by.

The main pool area and bar/Asian restaurant are just a short stroll across the beach away from most villas on the island, and again are attractive, tasteful and have lovely views across a gorgeous curving private beach to an island beyond where you can take a boat from the jetty throughout the day.

The spa is wonderful – we booked more treatments that we’d planned because not only were the surroundings and rooms lovely, but the therapists excellent too.

This is definitely a place for foodies – breakfast is a treat with an endless choice of hot and cold items. We particularly loved being able to pop into a bakery area where the hot from the oven artisan breads and pastries were continuously renewed.

And the choose your own juice bar, and of course unlimited Champagne. Lunches and dinner – again excellent.

We arrived as long time Four Seasons fans, and this resort exceeded our expectations. We highly recommend. As with other resorts though in Mauritius, do plan your visit when the weather is usually at its warmest/best, as being on the east coast, like Le Touessrok located only a few miles away, it can be breezy at certain times of the year. www.fourseasons.com

Image courtesy of Markus Gortz, Four Seasons 98

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Image courtesy of Markus Gortz, Four Seasons

Image courtesy of Ken Seet, Four Seasons

Image courtesy of Markus Gortz, Four Seasons

Image courtesy of Ken Seet, Four Seasons

Image courtesy of Markus Gortz, Four Seasons

Image courtesy of Ken Seet, Four Seasons

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MARADIVA VILLAS RESORT & SPA

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A 5 star luxury oasis of calm on the sunny West Coast of Mauritius with views to the peak of Le Morne, across Tamarin Bay. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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or those wanting an exclusive all private villa with pool resort, Maradiva might just be the one for you. It’s actually the only five-star luxury all-villa resort situated on the West Coast of Mauritius, which is generally regarded by locals and tourists alike, as the warmer, less windy side of the island, making it ideal for year round visits. We found the climate was remarkably warmer and drier travelling west during our review trip, and this did make a difference in terms of being able to enjoy snorkelling and catching some sun.

And of course you have the wonderful benefit of spectacular sunsets and views of iconic Le Morne.

Maradiva is family owned too, and as such prises itself in its ability to offer a truly authentic luxury Mauritian experience to its guests, who certainly appreciate the warmth of welcome and unfailingly friendly and smiling staff. You are made to feel special, from the moment of arrival, to your departure.

The resort itself is situated on a stunning natural, powder-soft, white sand Tamarin Bay stretching for miles either way, making it perfect for morning or evening strolls – or runs if you’re more of an energetic type. The view from the pool and beach area is delightful – high mountains in the distance and sea of every blue imaginable. We were lucky to see Le Morne mountain fringed with a rainbow one afternoon, and also pods of dolphins just off from the shore most days. The bay at the resort is very calm and ideal for swimming. The 65 villas are tucked in rows behind the beach, and most do not have beach views, but do have pretty private courtyards filled with tropical plants and flowers of every colour.

The main pool does however sit right on the beach and you can sun bathe here on the terrace and gaze out across the bay. And do head to the bar area by the pool to enjoy cocktails at sunset, as the sun dips below the horizon in a blaze of reds and golds.

Dining wise, there is a good choice, from western, local to Italian and our absolute favourite, Japanese, a visit to which was a highlight of our whole Mauritius trip.

The villas are spacious, calming, and a romantic refuge from the bustle of life. We found them very attractive, but a little on the dark side – although we understand these have all be refurbished now.

The Ayurvedic spa is very well designed and has its own good-sized pool and offers a wide range of healing therapies carried out by wonderfully skills therapists. It’s won numerous awards – and you can certainly see why.

Maradiva is the perfect resort for those seeking quiet, romance and spectacular sunsets. Being on the western side of the Island does make a difference weather-wise and although it is busier than the east coast, at Maradiva there is no sense of this, as it’s so quiet and private. It’s one we would happily visit again and do highly recommend. www.maradiva.com

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OZEN, MALDIVES

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Wouldn’t it be nice to really spoil yourself on your long awaited holiday and not have that niggling thought of ‘how much is my bill going to be at the end’? Few of even the wealthiest of us enjoy financial surprises on departure – and the thought of leaving owing zero, yes, nothing...has to be a rare and welcome treat indeed. Those who travel to the key luxury resorts in the Maldives are used to a hefty bill, but there’s a new 5 star, luxury resort which could set a whole new trend as it’s super luxe all-inclusive - and yes, that does include daily champagne! entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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zen by Atmosphere on the island of Maadhoo promises its ‘Indulgence Plan’ really does include everything – from decent brand bubbles, to a number of spa treatments depending on how long you stay and also dining in its high end underwater restaurant – the likes of which on other islands can easily set you back hundreds of pounds even without wine.

Too good to be true? Actually – no. Keen to visit the Maldives again this year, we headed out to see for ourselves. Twelve hours later, thanks to BA’s non-stop over night flights to Male, and treating ourselves to Club World (which was more than worth the money on this long journey), we arrived in the hot and bustling airport, to be met and whisked away in no time on a speedboat to the resort. Having stayed at other Maldives properties earlier this year that required internal flights meaning sometimes hours of hanging around, I can tell you being able to jump straight on a boat and arrive in an hour was a most welcome bonus.

The island is new – but dreamy. It may lack the mature shady walkways of vegetation of our firm favourites One & Only Reethi Rah, Conrad Rangali and Anatara Kihava, but actually is still oh so pretty with tropical plants and flowers and the villa gardens are lovely. We had no issue at all with mosquitos or other bugs throughout our stay which could be down to less shrubbery for them to hide in.

The villas are large, spacious, fresh and contemporary and feature all the amenities you’d expect. Do opt to experience both the Earth Villas with Pool, and over-water Wind Villas with Pool too – we split our stay and thoroughly enjoyed the best of both world benefits of this arrangement. We could walk along and sunbathe on the pristine white beach on one day, or laze in our large over water pool on another and watch parrot fish and baby sharks swim by beneath us. The pools are larger than many resorts too at 35 m sq.

If lazing by your own pool isn’t for you, then the resort offers a wide choice of activities from its Aqua Club, including diving training with PADI certification. Usually when I see this in a brochure I

run a mile - thinking this might be a kiddie magnet place full of little darlings screeching and running wild. But actually the resort was peaceful, and the guests mainly content to potter in their own villas and pools. The snorkelling trips and excursions (again included) were fun though and worth doing – especially being on a boat with a glass of champagne watching the sun set – magical.

Dining wise, the choice and quality is excellent.

And a visit to the underwater restaurant M6m a must. Refreshingly you are not restricted to just a buffet restaurant as most even highest end resorts stipulate, but can dine around, and enjoy Indo Ceylon one night, Peking another, western/international or simply pizza should you feel so inclined.

Lunch by the large and attractive main pool offers great salads, light bites and snacks, and breakfast – just about everything you could imagine and wish for. All drinks are included also – from decent wine vintages and champagnes to well- known brand beers and spirits. They provide you with red and white wine each day to enjoy in your villa, and 2 bottles of spirits too.

The spa is wonderful, and treatments super relaxing. Depending on if you stay for 6 nights of more, each guest can enjoy two free hour long treatments.

The island is a really welcome mixture of sophisticated cool, yet unpretentiously relaxed too.

People do dress a little for dinner, but shoes off is fine too.

Would we recommend it, and come again – a resounding YES – love to treat the grown up family.

What did we especially enjoy - the fact it was a boat ride away from the airport so no time wasted hanging around; the truly all-inclusive plan – which meant we could treat ourselves to what we wanted dining, drinks and activities wise without the worry of the expense; the large private swimming pools and light and airy villa décor and layout. And of course the island’s pristine beauty, peace and quiet – and plenty to do if you chose.

A fantastic concept, and wonderful place. l www.ozen-maadhoo.com entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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SPECIAL CELEBRATORY INITIATIVES BY FERRARI AHEAD OF 70TH ANNIVERSARY

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Ferrari has recently announced a series of exciting initiatives to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the marque’s foundation in 2017. These include a special logo which will be only used on a small number of iconic models such as the LaFerrari Aperta, the Prancing Horse’s latest limited-edition special series and a unique model in terms of both its technology and styling. And also, no less than 70 different individual liveries created by the Tailor Made atelier and inspired by iconic models from Ferrari history. These 70 different configurations will be used to create a maximum of 350 unique cars: each can be used, in fact, once on one example of five models in the current range. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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12berlinetta: “The Stirling”, inspired by the 250 GT Berlinetta SWB, winner of the 1961 Tourist Trophy with Stirling Moss: it sports a characteristic Blu Scuro racing livery complete with horizontal white stripe and number roundel. A sample were shown at the Paris show including: 488 GTB: “The Schumacher”, an homage to the F2003-GA single-seater, winner of the F1 Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships in 2003, in which the legendary German driver took no fewer than six grand prix victories.

California T: “The Steve McQueen”, inspired by the 1963 250 GT Berlinetta lusso, one of the most elegant Ferraris ever built, which was a gift to the American actor from his first wife, Neile Adams. It

features brown body paintwork and a cabin in camel leather with elegant stitching.

488 Spider: “The Green Jewel”, sports the signature green livery of the 365 P2 fielded by the British David Piper Racing team. Piper was a regular and very well-known Ferrari privateer and drove the car to victory in the Nine Hours of Kyalami in both 1965 and 1966 and, in 1966, in the prestigious Trophée d’Auvergne at Clermont-Ferrand.

A grand world tour spanning more than 60 different countries will also take place, highlighting this incredible company’s global reach and acclaim.

A year-long series of events in Italy and worldwide will see classic Ferraris and modern cars side by side and the celebrations will conclude with an exclusive event in Maranello. l

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THE MAYFAIR TO MONTE CARLO SUPERCAR TOUR

A CAR LOVER’S DREAM

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The ultimate car lover’s trip - driving on some of the best roads in Europe including both Stelvio and Furka mountain passes, enjoying top 5* Hotels, Michelin Star dining–and an F1 celebrity guest as the lead driver.

On arriving in Monaco, guests will join a VIP superyacht party on the Friday night followed

by VIP hospitality at the luxurious La Maree Restaurant within the Monaco F1 circuit. On Sunday evening guests head to the Amber Lounge for a VIP table in the official F1 after party.

The tour price is £9,880pp based on two sharing, with own vehicle. And there is a great selection of supercars available to hire starting from an additional £3,195 pp. l www.exclusivegp.com entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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INFINITI Q30 Stylish, classy, compact.

Infiniti’s Q30 is a refreshing and highly desirable alternative to offerings from the mainstream marques.

Stylish, classy, compact. Infiniti’s Q30 is a refreshing and highly desirable alternative to offerings from the mainstream marques.

With best in class safety features, richness of state-of-the-art technology, quality materials and capability it’s fast becoming a firm favourite of those in the know, wanting a premium all-rounder that’s great to drive.

Out on the road it’s supple, swift and responsive with excellent suspension, traction and yet comfort too. The steering is well weighted and sharp, gearing from both 2.2 diesel and 2.0 variants super smooth and quick and it feels well insulated, solid and safe whether on short local hops, twisty “B’s or long motorway journeys. The seats front and rear are comfortable, supportive and generous and there’s a good amount of boot space.

An excellent, classy car we recommend. www. infiniti.co.uk l

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JAGUAR F-PACE

Jaguar continues its winning streak with the F-PACE – the company’s fastest selling model to date. It’s no surprise to us it’s proving so popular given just how versatile, sporty and stylish it is – and that’s even before we come to the high quality of all materials used right through from bonnet to boot.

Like its siblings, it’s notched up numerous awards in a short space of time including ‘Car of the Year’ and ‘Compact SUV of the Year’ by motoring titles.

And has a growing band of celebrity owners and admirers including Boxing World Champion Anthony Joshua.

So what are the details and stats? An aluminium light yet stiff body structure, frugal yet powerful engines - the rear-wheel-drive 180PS diesel F-PACE emits just 129g/km, while the 380PS supercharged V6 model is capable of 0-60mph in 5.1 seconds.

Fully loaded as you’d expect from Jaguar with the latest in high tech features including optional Head Up Display and a natty ‘Activity Key’ – a wristband that allows owners to leave their traditional key inside the car if they’ll be taking part in activities like swimming or running. There’s also a wi-fi hotspot in the car, allowing eight separate devices to connect, and an InControl app, which lets owners remotely access functions on the F-PACE, like pre-heating, 116 | entrepreneurandinvestor.com

checking the fuel status or even location.

To live with it’s practical – ideal for busy families and active sorts. Spacious, light and airy with ample head and leg room, good visibility, plus a sizable boot that’s big enough to carry all the regular stuff most need. Out on the road it’s a genuine driver’s car. Bright, sporting, nimble – with plenty of engagement and feel. Suspension is just right – much better than others in its class, and it’s rewarding whether tackling tight and twisty ‘B’s, or on longer motorway jaunts. Jaguar’s highly acclaimed Design Director Ian Callum has worked his magic again and it’s a masterpiece of muscular curves, eye-pleasing highlights and unexpected and clever touches.

A hell of a car – especially when you consider the circa £35,000 entry point. l www.jaguar.co.uk

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JEEP CHEROKEE OVERLAND Topping the Cherokee range is the luxury new ‘Overland’ model, providing sophisticated style, elegant interiors, premium equipment, whilst of course retaining the Jeep brand's legendary off-road capability.

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uscular and sturdy, yet curvaceous too, this latest version of the much loved model boasts plenty of curb appeal and is most pleasing to the eye with its polished bright front grille, new bodycoloured door cladding, front and rear bumpers and wheel arches, 18-inch polished bright aluminium wheels. Plus standard HID bi-xenon headlamps, and Overland badge on its tailgate too. In addition to Deep Cherry Red, it’s available in Bright White, Brilliant Black and Billet Silver.

Slip inside and you’ll find a spacious, light and airy cabin, affording ample head, leg and shoulder room for all occupants. Visibility is excellent and the seats super comfortable – especially the powered Nappa leather ventilated and heated driver and front passenger seats with four-way lumbar adjustment – the driver’s seat memorises your favourite positions and mirror set up. The new new steering wheel has a wood insert, anodized silver bezels and vent surrounds, and Berber mats project the floor. There are two interior colour schemes Morocco Black Nappa Leather, or a brand new Pearl coloured Nappa Leather finish. Both interiors come at no additional cost and each carries the signature Overland logo in premium stitching on the front seats. Also as standard are a stylish panoramic sunroof, power tailgate and ParkSense front and rear reverse assist system.

The focus on occupant comfort and enjoyment continues with entertainment courtesy of a powerful Alpine Premium sound system, while there's also a Uconnect radio with 8.4-inch touchscreen display, Bluetooth and GPS navigation.

On test the car proved perfect for busy family life – and provided hours of off road fun tackling byways filled with mud and ruts with genuine ease. The boot is roomy and coped with all sorts of kit and shopping, and even when used for a couple of long motorway journeys, ferried the family to the destination and back in a decent level comfort – insulated from excessive road, wind and engine noise. The spritely 2.2-litre MultiJet II 200 horsepower turbo diesel engine paired with a ninespeed automatic transmission in either Active Drive I or Active Drive II 4WD is more than adequate for anything the car’s asked of. It has a 0-62mph sprint time of 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 127mph.

Economy and emissions-wise, the Euro 6 unit has a 149g/km CO2 figure, due to an improved final drive ratio when compared with the MY15 Cherokee, and a fuel economy of 50.4 mpg.

Over all, an easy to live with, versatile, practical and capable car, that was thoroughly enjoyed by drivers and passengers alike. l www.jeep.co.uk

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NEW VOLVO XC90 Setting new standards in 7 seater luxury SUVs, Volvo’s XC90 is an ideal choice for active family life.

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uscular, large and imposing. Expensive looking and elegant, with plenty of curb appeal - this super-versatile vehicle is more than capable of tackling any transportation demands that could be asked of it. Whether ferrying bales of hay for the horses, golf caddies to the club, a wage’s worth of Waitrose shopping or kids and their friends to the rugby – there’s room for all. The rear-most seats are even big enough for anyone up to 170cm (5ft 7in) tall - very rare for seven-seat SUVs, MPVs or estates.

The cabin is light and airy too, with excellent visibility and is a minimalist haven of high quality natural trims including soft leathers, Scandinavian wood and crystal glass. What’s immediately noticeable when you slip inside is the lack of fussy buttons and switches, which Volvo’s clever designers have replaced with a super-easy to navigate, classleading nine-inch touchscreen in the middle of the centre console – which is combined with an intelligent voice control system. This all new XC90 offers unparalleled connectivity in its class too, with access to a wide range of cloud-based apps via the standard built-in car modem (an optional SIM card with a mobile data allowance can also be utilised). You can use this internet connection to create a WiFi hotspot, so passengers can connect their mobile devices via the car. Apple CarPlay is an option, and allows you to enjoy selected functionality of your Apple device and its apps via voice control, the touchscreen or the buttons on the steering wheel.

The different trims offer a comprehensive array of luxury features as standard and plenty of optional extras. The entry-level trim is Momentum, followed by the dynamic R-Design up to the truly luxurious Inscription which comes with Nappa soft leather upholstery, 20” alloy wheels, a 12.3” active TFT driver information display, Leather instrument panel and door tops and even sun curtains in the rear doors - to name just a few – the spec lists read like a wonderfully long car equipment wish list.

As you’d expect from Volvo, Safety is paramount.

Every XC90 comes with Volvo On Call as standard.

This is a built-in assistance system that includes an app that works on your smartphone or smartwatch.

It offers a range of clever solutions that allow you to control various functions of your car (such as remotely locking and unlocking the doors and, on the T8, setting the climate control in advance), and it can even automatically alert the emergency services if you’re involved in an accident. It is the actually the safest Volvo ever built, and offers the most comprehensive and technologically sophisticated standard safety package in the car industry. It also features two world-first safety technologies – Run-off Road Protection and Auto Brake at Junctions – which are all part of Volvo’s advanced suite of intelligent safety systems.

Out on the road, despite its size, it proved remarkably agile. We felt the comfort suspension setting to be far too soft and bouncy for our particular tastes, but switch on to sport and it was about perfect. The new Swedish-designed and built Drive-E engines are all lightweight four-cylinder 2.0-litre units, willing, flexible and highly responsive.

The fact the Hybrid model we had on test could do the 0-62mph sprint in just above 5 seconds is pretty

impressive - especially when you consider just how sizable the vehicle is. They are all highly efficient too though, with very good economy and low emissions.

There are three engines offered– the D5 diesel, T6 petrol and the new T8 Twin Engine plug-in hybrid – we tested and thoroughly enjoyed both the D5 R-Design and also the T8 range topping Inscription.

Both genuinely excellent cars.

The D5 twin-turbo diesel – which is the top seller in the UK, develops 225hp and 470Nm of torque. Top speed is 137mph and 0-62mph takes 7.8 seconds.

Combined fuel economy is 49.6mpg, while the official CO2 figure is 149g/km, which equates to a Benefit-inKind (BIK) tax rating of 27% in entry-level Momentum trim.

The T6 turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine develops 320hp and 400Nm of torque. Top speed is 143mph and 0-62mph takes 6.5 seconds.

Combined fuel economy is 36.7mpg, while the official CO2 figure is 179g/km. Its BIK tax rating is 30% in Momentum trim.

And, the top-of-the-range T8 is an innovative petrol-electric plug-in hybrid, featuring both a frontmounted 320hp/400Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine and a rear-mounted 87hp/240Nm electric motor. It gives an extraordinary mix of performance and economy, with a combined power output of 407hp, while maximum torque is 640Nm. Top speed is 140mph and 0-62mph acceleration takes only 5.6 seconds. Despite such strong performance, combined fuel economy is 134.5mpg. This translates to CO2 figures of just 49g/ km, which results in a BIK tax rating of 5%.

The T8 can be driven for up to 27 miles on electric power alone – enough for most people’s daily commute – so on many journeys it will not emit any exhaust pollutants at all. Its 400V lithium-ion battery (which is located between the front seats to improve weight distribution without affecting the amount of space available for passengers) can be fully recharged in as little as two and a half hours using the optional 16-amp fast charge cable. Fully charging via the standard three-pin plug cable takes between three and a half hours (at 10 amps) and six hours (at six amps). This particular XC90 actually has a different mechanical setup to others. Its petrol engine drives the front wheels only, while its electric motor drives the rear wheels. This means that, depending on the road conditions and the drive mode selected, the T8 can operate in front-, rear- or all-wheel drive.

The electronically controlled mechanical AWD system in the D5 and T6 automatically sends torque to the wheels with the most grip, ensuring maximum possible traction and safety.

The front-to-rear torque split changes constantly, as the sophisticated electronics that control the hydraulic Borg Warner clutch determine the most effective distribution of torque.

Despite some stiff competition in its class, living with two XC90s on test proved Volvo certainly has set some near on unbeatable standards with this latest version of its much loved model. Little wonder it’s selling so well and is on the wish list of many discerning drivers through the UK and beyond. We highly recommend. l www.volvocars.com/uk entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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HUNTON XRS43: A TRULY BESPOKE LUXURY YACHT

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he British manufacturer of high performance luxury yachts, Hunton, is proud of their long heritage building bespoke boats to fit their clients’ dreams and desires. Known for their style, speed and comfort, Hunton boats are also widely admired for their innovation and luxury craftsmanship. The impressive XRS43 provides the perfect example of this tradition of high quality manufacture and attention to detail, built to order in partnership with each buyer. The breadth and range of exciting customisations possible on the XRS43 makes every commission a truly unique, bespoke project. Hunton delight in working closely with their clients to deliver outstanding results and provide the discerning high net worth with a genuinely exclusive yacht that will turn heads in every marina around the world.

Hunton was founded in 1979 by legendary offshore powerboat racer Jeff Hunton who wanted to use his experience in superior hull design to create the ultimate luxury yacht. He won the British Offshore Powerboat Championship six times, a hugely impressive feat. These superb yachts are handmade in England, down in Hampshire, by highly skilled engineers and craftsman further developing this heritage with the latest technology. Fiona Pool, the CEO of Hunton, formerly Head of European Trading at Bank of America, is shaping the brand to create the most innovative, high quality luxury yachts of the future, blending the finest materials, superior design and the highest quality craftsmanship.

“It’s not about what we want, it is about fulfilling our customers’ dreams,” explains Fiona Pool, Managing Director of Hunton.

Whilst each Hunton XRS43 boasts the race inspired deep V hull and the comfort, performance and stability you would expect, the looks, luxury and

accessories can be tailored to match your deepest desires. Powerful and extremely elegant the Hunton XRS43 will be made to measure for your tastes, with their designers working in tandem with you to create the ultimate in bespoke yachts. The thrills, speed, exhilaration and fun come as standard. Every boat will be created to fulfil your ultimate fantasy of cruising in your personalised Aston Martin of the sea.

Even before you commission your very own Hunton, there is a configurator where you can pick from over a million colour combinations to see exactly what your boat will look like. Choose from a wide range of tones for the deck, hull, waterline, upholstery, infill and decking material. EsthecSmoke or Teak, from Metallic Azure to British Racing Green, Anthracite or Moonstone, the choice is yours to craft that personal statement, match your car, corporate colours, or a much loved piece of jewellery. No challenge is too great for Hunton’s designers and the configurations can be downloaded for viewing offline, or shared with friends.

With Hunton’s global reach, it was only a matter of time before a Chinese customer with a passion for fun requested a built-in Karaoke machine. Another client specified an additional second cabin, whilst other customisations have included a wine cooler, a luxury humidor to house handmade Cohiba cigars, a watch winder and a mobile watch safe. All of which Hunton were delighted to plan meticulously.

They even had a request for the outer hull to be decorated for the Chinese new year of the snake, with a green serpent coiling around the red metallic hull finish. Another Middle East client specified a gold metallic finish for the hull and Hunton were happy to accommodate, but of course you can choose anything you like. From start to finish the client receives a bespoke customer experience as Hunton shares the build progress with photographs, culminating in the buyer test driving the boat before finally taking ownership of the finished masterpiece.

Other possibilities include but are not limited to: Bespoke audio visual systems with onboard computers, wifi, state of the art sound systems and invisible cockpit speakers. Barbeque/grill in cockpit area. Fridges, freezers, ice makers. Crestron lighting with one touch remote. Humidor. Wine fridges.

Karaoke machine. Watch safes. Hermes leathers.

Bespoke cabinetry finishes such as inlaid metals, mother of pearl etc. Cashmere furnishings. Any kind of bespoke paint finishes. Electric bimini’s.

Tender garage. Gyro stabilisers which will help reduce roll considerably for those who want to have an even smoother ride. Solar panels. All the most sophisticated tracking and detection systems of other craft in the vicinity for those concerned about security and privacy.

This is the boat for those who want the very best, but also a craft that is unique and stands out from other yachts in its category, as individual as the customer, with performance, craftsmanship and power hidden beneath its sleek stylish exterior. It is the ultimate luxury grand tourer of the seas, capable of up to 70 knots with a range of over 275 nm without refuelling. Fast enough to take your karaoke talents from Monaco to St Tropez in a couple of hours, singing all the way. The Hunton XRS43 starts at £470K. l entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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YACHT HEAVEN

Is 2017 the year you’ll splash out on a stunning yacht? Here are a few to tempt you.

HELIOS Custom built by Oceanco in 2001 and designed by The A Group, Helios boasts expansive exteriors and state-of-the-art features.

With a stunning refit in 2008, including a complete overhaul of the salon, master stateroom and 7 cabins, her fresh and neutral interiors provide a harmonious environment throughout.

The newly remodelled sundeck is the perfect spot for sun worshipping, while watersports lovers will appreciate her expansive beach club, giving easy access to the open water.

Helios available for sale through Y.CO Asking price: 35,000,000 Euros

KISS Launched in 2015, 46.6m Kiss is a striking example of Feadship build quality. With her standout metallic black hull and contrasting soft calming interiors, she offers stable cruising in chic surroundings. Sleeping 12 guests in 6 cabins with a dedicated owner’s deck and private main deck VIP suite, Kiss is perfect for families. Designed with indoor and outdoor living in mind, Kiss offers light-filled interiors that flow seamlessly to generous deck spaces.

Kiss available for sale through Y.CO Asking price: 29,500,000 Euros

PANTHALASSA Designed with all the seas in mind, Panthalassa’s exquisite light-infused interior, designed by Foster + Partners, takes the yacht into a class of her own.

Her main salon central oval staircase is a design masterpiece in its own right. Versatile Panthalassa can accommodate 12 guests in 6 nearly equal sized cabins, and her dining room converts to a boardroom or cinema, making her ideal for doing business onboard or entertaining the family.

Kiss available for sale through Y.CO Asking price: 30,000,000 Euros

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FLOATING THERAPY IN AN ANCIENT THERMAL CAVE AT GROTTA GIUSTI

The nineteenth-century villa of the poet Giuseppe Giusti, surrounded by picturesque parks, guards what he regarded as the “eighth wonder of the world” - a millennial thermal cave with a thermal underground hot spring lake.

Here guests can enjoy a soothing floating therapy, which is deeply relaxing and a highly effective treatment for combatting stress and relieving pain. Research consistently demonstrates that floating therapy has a significant impact on mood enhancement. Suggested reasons for this increased level of happiness include elevated levels of dopamine and endorphins, through to the deep meditative state achieved during floatation therapy.

The fascinating natural cave acts as a natural steam room where visitors enjoying a relaxing and detoxifying steam bath. The cave is 130 million years old but was hidden for most of its long history. www. grottagiustispa.com Nightly rates at Grotta Giusti start from 200 Euros/£179 per night in a comfort room on weekdays on a B&B basis. Rates also include wi-fi, access to spa and fitness facilities. l

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NEW SUPERFOOD SPA MENU LAUNCHES AT MARBELLA CORFU HOTEL, GREECE

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aintaining a bright complexion and healthy body is as much about what goes on outside as inside. With this in mind, the five star MarBella Corfu hotel - located on the shores of the idyllic Greek island of Corfu - has launched a new, all-natural superfood spa menu, drawing on the region’s benefit-packed produce, including Greek thyme honey, red and black pepper, bergamot, bee propolis and grapes.

Created in conjunction with APITVA, a pioneering natural skincare brand established in Greece, the extensive range of treatments for body and face represent APTIVA’s and Marbella Corfu’s spa expertise.

The new treatments can be enjoyed in one of the serene spa rooms at the five-star hotel’s luxurious spa, and are the perfect addition to a holiday in the warm Mediterranean sunshine. These include an ultrahydrating Mediterranean Skin Food Facial, two rejuvenating wonders - the Wine Elixir Anti-Wrinkle, and Queen Bee Firming treatment, and a selection of super relaxing ones for the body.

MarBella’ Corfu’s prime location on the south-east coast of the Corfu makes it the ideal short-haul holiday for those seeking sunshine and relaxation in one of the prettiest island locations in Greece. As well as having the opportunity to try these new superfood treatments, guests will have the chance to enjoy the peaceful olive grove setting, the turquoise Ionian sea, a long stretch of beach and fresh and nutritious Mediterranean and soak up one of the prettiest island locations in Greece.

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Classic Collection Holidays (www.classic-collection. co.uk) offers 7 nights at Marbella Corfu Hotel, Corfu from £573 per person. Price based on 2 adults sharing on a half board basis and includes return flights from London Gatwick (other UK departure airports available) to Corfu and private transfers. All inclusive from £853 per person. l

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NEW SLEEPING BEAUTY MELROSE SPA AT EDINBURGH’S RADISSON BLU

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he award-winning Sleeping Beauty Salons offer clients high quality treatments with excellent customer care. Created by the beautifully named, Lilac Miller, the Sleeping Beauty Salon is delighted to be working with Edinburgh’s Radisson Blu Hotel on the Royal Mile.

The Sleeping Beauty Melrose Spa has the calming, soothing ambience and essence other salons aspire to and while clients undoubtedly leave the treatment room feeling relaxed, pampered and refreshed, the techniques and products used are so therapeutic they work not only on the body but the mind and emotions too. With this in mind, it’s fair to say that the Spa really is like something out of a fairytale…

The spa has three relaxing treatment rooms, including a double room, alongside a dedicated nail bar. The spa also has a leisure pool, steam room, sauna and gym. The products used in the Sleeping Beauty Spa include Elemis, JustBe and Sleeping Beauty. l

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YOGA, MEDITATION AND DIGITAL-DETOXING AT MIRIHI ISLAND, MALDIVES

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ranquil, exclusive and breathtakinglybeautiful, Mirihi Island Maldives is offering yoga enthusiasts the chance to train with one of Asia’s most experienced instructors, Sean Sanz. From the 1st of November, guests can welcome each day with a yoga session led by Sean, set against the backdrop of a mesmerizing sunrise. Participants will feel the warmth of the sun and gentle sea breeze on their skin as they stretch and energise their body, melting away all stress as they listen to the soothing sounds of the ocean. Guests can unwind at Sean’s evening Meditation session, where guests can balance and synchronise their mind, body and soul through chanting and breathing techniques, as they gaze at the spellbinding sunset ahead of them.

The focus on health and spiritual wellbeing extends to all aspects of the resort, with guests encouraged to switch off from the pressures of dayto-day life. ‘Digital-detoxing’ is very much an option at the remote Mirihi Island, as none of the luxurious floating villas include TVs, nor do the restaurants and bars offer Wi-Fi. l

Nightly rates start from $600 / £489* per villa, on a B&B basis, based on two people sharing. Prices are subject to 10% service charge and 12% GST. Visit www.mirihi.com.

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THE LATEST AND BEST NON-SURGICAL FACIAL REJUVENATION TREATMENTS FOR MEN AND WOMEN It’s never been so easy to freshen up your appearance, with a wide choice of treatments all promising youthful improvements to the face and body – but how do you know which could be best for you? We met with qualified Doctor and experienced Aesthetic Specialist Dr Tatiana Lapa, the Medical Director of The Studio Clinic, Harley Street to tell us all about a few of the latest and best procedures now available.

“As we age there are several processes that contribute to us looking ‘older’ or more ‘tired’, not quite as bright-eyed or fresh anymore. These processes include changes in the shape of facial bones, loss of cushioning fat pads and laxity and dullness of the skin. Our hair also changes – becoming more brittle, coarse, dull or even nonexistent anymore. The Studio Clinic is excited to share the facial rejuvenation secrets that give truly exceptional results. These are three of the most popular and effective:” ADVANCED DERMAL PEEL WITH VAMPIRE THERAPY First the skin is resurfaced with a nano-technology peel, achieving a precise depth of skin penetration.

This advanced type of peel ensures that the skin is brighter, tighter and smoother without having to suffer redness, flaking or skin irritation. Tiny injections of vital nutrients and growth factors which 130 | entrepreneurandinvestor.com

have been harvested from the client’s own blood (hence the nickname of ‘Vampire Therapy’) are then applied. This treatment boosts skin regeneration and gives is treated from within.

• Pain: 3/10 • Anaesthetic: none required • Total time for appointment: 45-60 minutes • Post-treatment: skin redness, sensitivity • Aftercare: Aftercare kit for 3 days • Optimising results: pre-treatment skin preparation with home care kit for 6 weeks • Contraindications: pregnancy or breastfeeding Discuss with the doctor if you have any chronic health problems, regular medication or allergies.

FACIAL CONTOURING / VOLUME CORRECTION There are certain universally accepted features of beauty: high cheekbones, petite nose, good skin, full lips etc. However, the science of beauty is much more complex. For thousands of years, renowned artists have used a "golden ratio" to map out their masterpieces. We now know that there is a precise mathematical ratio with the number Phi (1.618) that predicts beauty.

We may be unaware of it, but subconsciously we judge beauty by facial symmetry and proportion - and not just the features of the the face. Dr Tatiana has pioneered a revolutionary concept in nonsurgical facial aesthetics: Facial Sculpting. She uses dermal fillers to correct volume loss, facial symmetry and proportion. She also brings better definition to features such as the cheekbones, jawline and chin.

Facial sculpting cannot be achieved with surgery and is the ultimate re-vamp for anyone looking to wind back to clock or correct certain proportions of the face.

• Pain: 3/10

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• Anaesthetic: none or injection • Total time for treatment: 45-60 minutes • Post-treatment: skin redness, swelling, bruising • Aftercare: gentle massage for 3 days • Optimising results: try the long-lasting collagen generating dermal fillers e.g. Ellanse • Contradindications: pregnancy or breastfeeding.

Discuss with the doctor if you have any chronic health problems, regular medication, allergies, or if you have had facial surgery previously.

PLEXR ‘SOFT SURGERY’ Plexr is the game changer, Dr Tatiana says. . This is a revolutionary innovation in the field of aesthetic medicine and surgery, which removes excess skin in a process called sublimation allowing a multitude of problems to be tackled without a single cut or stitch.

It is a very safe and effective treatment.

Plexr is commonly used for: • brow lift • saggy skin around the eyes (called 'non-surgical blepharoplasty', 'plexr blepharoplasty', 'soft blepharoplasty', 'soft eyelid surgery') • wrinkles • scars & stretch marks • acne (active or scars) • tattoo removal (any colour) • tightening skin in any part of the body e.g. neck & jowls • removing benign moles/warts/skin tags/sebaceous cysts Pain: 5/10 Pain relief: Numbing cream followed by numbing injections.

Treatment time: consultation appointment 30 minutes, treatment appointment 90 minutes, followup appointments 20 minutes each.

Post-treatment: redness, swelling, carbon crusts across the treated area.

Aftercare: You will need to keep the area clean, moist and protected from sun exposure. You will be given an aftercare kit with creams to be applied twice a day for 7 days. This helps to promote healing and optimise your treatment results. You will need to protect from sun exposure until all of the redness has settled post-treatment.

What are the risks/complications?: Plexr is very safe, it can even be used on the inner rim of the eye. The side effects of treatment are: • redness • crusting of the skin (a thin crust forms over the area treated with Plexr) • swelling (for up to 7 days) • soreness/itching at the treatment site (for up to 7 days) Prior to treatment, the doctor will discuss Plexr in detail with you, including a thorough review of the risks/complications and how to look after the treated area to ensure you get the best results.

When will I see results?: You will see immediate results and the treated area will continue to improve for 3 months after your Plexr treatment - so be patient! The treatment

packages Dr Tatiana offers include 2 sessions of Plexr therapy and comprehensive follow-up with reviews of the results 2 and 6 weeks after treatment.

Optimising results: Repeating Plexr treatment after 6-8 weeks gives the best results.

How long do the results last?

The treatment is permanent. However, the skin will continue to age and eventually you may see problems such as wrinkles, saggy skin etc re-appear (usually after 5+ years). This is a normal process of ageing and the Plexr treatment can simply be repeated again.

HAIR LUSTRE Vampire Therapy for the scalp is the most effective treatment to regain hair and ensure fast growth of healthy, glossy hair. This involves the harvesting of plasma from your own blood and re-injecting it into your scalp. Plasma contains vital nutrients and growth factors that, when re-injected, stimulates hair follicle regeneration and hair growth. This treatment is effective after just several sessions and the results are long-lasting.

Pain: 3/10 Anaesthetic: none Time for treatment: 30-45 minutes Number of treatments: Monthly treatments for the first 3 treatments are recommended, followed by one treatment every 12-18 months as a ‘refresher’.

Post-treatment: scalp & roots may be wet from the fluid being injected, otherwise no down-time.

Aftercare: Leave the treatment on the scalp overnight and wash hair the next morning.

Optimising results: Start treatment in the winter or spring in order to support hair follicles and prevent excessive seasonal hair loss. l Dr Tatiana is the Medical Director of The Studio Clinic, Harley Street. In addition to being a fully qualified Doctor (BSc Aerospace Physiology, MBBS, MRCGP) is an experienced Aesthetic Specialist with a background in Surgery, Dermatology and General Practice.

She has a unique understanding of facial aesthetics bringing creativity, innovation and a sharp eye-fordetail to The Studio Clinic. She combines her artistic flare with her advanced technical skills to achieve beautifully refined results, and champions safe practice, transparency and client-centred care within Aesthetics.

As such, The Studio is proud to offer comprehensive pre-procedure counselling and post-procedure followup.

Dr. Tatiana Lapa also has a keen interest in research and has conducted trials in specialist centres in Brazil and London and has published and presented her academic work internationally. Her research and clinical expertise has lead to expert advisory roles for several highstreet brands and magazines. Owing to her interests in teaching and training, Dr. Tatiana has set up an International Exchange Programme for UK Medical students, worked as a National Exchange Officer for the UK and continues to regularly teach Medical Students and Junior Doctors. www.studioclinic.co.uk entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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FREEZING YOUR FAT OFF Yes - incredible as it sounds, you can actually do this – well at least enough inches to make a real difference to your appearance and confidence.

Called Cryolipolysis, it removes stubborn pockets of far, such as bingo wings, spare tyre, muffin top – or even a double chin, by painlessly freezing the fat cells which destroys them and they do not come back again. Only 1 treatment is needed per area – and there’s no down-time, each application takes just 45 minutes. No needles or anaesthetic are required and the only risks are possible slight bruising and temporary (up to 10 days) numbness to the areas treated.

Dr Leah Totton offers this clever and effective treatment at her Moorgate and new Essex clinics. www.drleah.co.uk

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THE NEW BRAUN SERIES 9 A masterful combination of design and technology to create what we believe to be the world’s most efficient and exceptionally gentle shaver.

Using Braun’s patented intelligent SyncroSonicTM cutting system technology, the shaver reads the density of your beard while you shave, automatically adapting to your beard 160 times a minute. This personalisation provides extra power exactly where and when you need it capturing more hair in one stroke than just about any other shaver in the world.

Braun’s advanced micro-adaptation OptiFoilTM shaving foils manoeuvre nimbly to cut hair as close to the skin as possible over every contour. They work with the centre cutting elements, creating precision teamwork that minimizes the risk of top layers of skin being cut during shaving, helping to avoid skin irritation.

The synchronicity of the shaving head elements are designed to master every type of hair leaving a man’s face stubble-free, soft and smooth.

The SyncroSonicTM shaver head is driven by Braun’s powerful Linear Drive motor. It generates 10,000 sonic micro-vibrations which delivers 40,000 cross- cutting actions every minute and read and adapts to the density of your beard 160 times per minute. This intelligent shaving technology has been ‘torture- tested’ on 3-day beards, guaranteeing the fastest Braun shaver ever*, meaning less friction, less irritation and less burning than ever before.

There are many more features making this a must-buy for all. Available in Chrome (RRP £329.00), Silver (RRP £339.00) and Black variants (£269.00) www.Boots.com and www.Amazon. co.uk. l entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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HIGH STYLE FOR DOGS Maison Le Lou is a luxury accessories and lifestyle brand for a man’s best friend.

Albert Dog Toy in Grey £22

Bondi Wash Dog Conditioner 500ml £20

Cedric Dog Toy in Soft Grey £20

Gerald Dog Collar Ginny Dog Collar in Dark Grey in Raspberry from £72 from £76

Bondi Wash Dry Dog Wash 100g £10

Bondi Wash Dog Shampoo 500ml £18

Gloria Dog Collar Graham Dog Colin Soft Grey from lar in Wine from £76 £74

Gregory Dog Collar in Forest from £74

Tillsammans Poster A3 Betty £19

Tillsammans Poster A3 Hugo £19

Created by former menswear accessories designer Claire Alexander, and inspired by her French Bulldog muse Leonard, Maison Le Lou features a signature range of luxe leather collars and leads at the heart of their collection.

Pour Homme and Pour Femme collars and leads, incorporate classic, luxury design with details such as traditional feather-edge construction, hand-painted edges, sophisticated hardware and so- Nubuck lining for a dog’s comfort. For a finishing touch of decadence, the Pour Femme collars feature a 14k gold plated branded dog tag. All styles are shaded in timeless hues and come presented in a bespoke dust bag to ensure a dog’s accessories to create a truly special gift.

More recently Maison Le Lou has expanded their range to bring well-heeled canine customers the very best in pet lifestyle. Joining their own line are Maison Le Lou branded toys and toy storage, and a tight edit of products sought out from brands with a strong sense of design, quality, ethical manufacturing and brand ideology, that is so important in Maison Le Lou’s own products. www.maisonlelou.com

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Gloria Dog Collar in Soft Grey from £76

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COOLEST CUFFLINKS IN TOWN

Dutch designer Seroj de Graaf, co-founder of international design brand City Cufflinks, has carefully crafted an ode to the city in the form of mini sculptures for your sleeves. Handcrafted in sterling silver 925, the range pays tribute to the capital’s classical and modern landmarks, buildings include the Bank of England, St. Paul’s Cathedral and even ‘The Gherkin’. The design also features a number of the city’s iconic reference points – the black cab, red phone box and double decker bus. entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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FINE FRAGRANCES We’ve tested and curated a wonderful selection of the latest and best fragrances for him and her. Here are our recommendations as ideal gifts or treats.

HER: NARCISO RODRIQUEZ ROSE MUSC EDP INTENSE

HER: ANNICK GOUTAL ROSE POMPON

Inspired by the Rose – the most emblematic ingredient in perfumery, coupled masterfully with the designer’s signature musc. Heady, decadent, delicious, packaged in gold with touches of dark fushia pink and a crystal-like cap. EDP 100ml £125.00

This stunning fragrance is inspired by the story of a woman interacting with nature. Key notes include raspberry, blackcurrant, pink pepper, rose, pink peony, cedar wood and musk. The beautiful packaging has been illustrated by Kerrie Hess. EDT 100ml £87.00

HIM: BVLGARI MAN BLACK ORIENT

HER: NARCISO RODRIGUEZ POUDREE

From the original volcanic nature of Bulgari Man in Black whose trilogy it completes, Bulgari Man Black Orient forges a raw sophistication, magnetic elegance and is unashamedly opulent and bold. This Oriental-Leather-Oud parfum opens on a vibrant vintage rum, subtly combined with the spicy and sensual scent of black cardamom, then the warmth of wood comes through, creating an assertive trail with sensual notes. EDT 100ml £86.00

A masterclass in seduction.

Velvety jasmine, rich cedars, vetiver, Bulgarian old rose and the designer’s heady signature musc – distinctive, decadent, delicious and warming. Comes in a blush pink bottle – understated and stylish.

EDP 90ml £71.

HER: COACH

HIM: DUNHILL LONDON ICON ELITE

Coach Eau de Parfum embodies the values and heritage of the iconic American luxury brand. Created by perfumers Anne Flipo and Juliette Karagueuzoglou, it is a floriental fruity scent inspired by the spontaneous energy and chic downtown style of New York City. A fragrance full of contrasts, it opens with bright, sparkling raspberry which gives way to creamy Turkish roses, before drying down to a sensual suede musk base note. EDP 90ml £69.00

A modern and timeless interpretation of dunhill ICON, the original masculine fragrance. Core accords of Sicilian Bigarade, Vetiver and Sandalwood merge with Cardamom, Black Pepper, Sage and Juniper. Finally, a combination of Ebony Wood contrasts with a Black Suede to convey fine craftsmanship and exquisite quality. EDP 100ml £77.00

HER: VAN CLEEF & ARPELS SO FIRST

HER: BVLGARI GOLDEA ROSE

A sleek & graceful reinterpretation of the original First. Inspired by the snowflake earrings from the White Diamond High Collection.

A delicious floriental. Fresh, with sparkling Bergamot & Magnolia, with a floral heart of Freesia, Jasmine petals & Frangipani blossom; EDP 90ml £65.00

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A tribute to femininity, this fragrance is a bold jewel of seduction. Alberto Morillashas created a magnetic, sparkling and spellbinding fragrance, with key notes of pomegranate, rose, jasmine, musks, sandalwood milk and white incense. EDP 90ml £102.00

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HIM: BVLGARI LE GEMME MEN’S COLLECTION

HER: SERGE LUTENS, GOLD COLLECTION VEILLEUR DE NUIT

Six new fragrances inspired by six gemstones around the world: Tygar, Malakeos, Gyan, Garanat, Ambero, Onekh. From a very bright fragrance in Tygar to the captivating oud seen in Onekh. The stunning bottles are inspired by the shapes and contours of Roman columns and Egyptian obelisks. Available exclusively at Harrods EDP 100ml SRP £215.00

This intoxicating new fragrance is inspired by the moon and the stars. It is a world of dreams; the enchanting world that comes to life while the rest of the world sleeps.

Built around a sweet and slightly bitter dark chocolate note, this addictive fragrance is enhanced by tuberose and vetiver, civet and castoreum to bring a deep sensuality. Parfum 50ml £525.00

HER: ELIE SAAB NUIT NOOR

HIM: ISSEY MIYAKE L’EAUD’ISSEY POUR HOMME NOIR AMBRÉ

The Light of the night. A mysterious Floral –Oriental, with a sophisticated contrast between the captivating depth of dark woods, from the notes of Oud and Patchouli, and the signature of the floral brightness from notes of orange blossom. Available exclusively in Harrods EDP 90ml £110.00

HER: ETRO PATCHOULY EDP LIMITED EDITION A gorgeous limited edition bottle, out in time for Christmas. Patchouly is one of the first fragrances created by the house, and the favourite.

An oriental woody fragrance, that both woman and men can wear, with key notes of lemon, patchouli, sandalwood, amber and musk. EDP 100ML £118.00

The ultimate luxury of the most refined ingredients; a true hommageto nature and elements; a solidified drop of amber; an amber stone. An “Eau-rientale”, an Oriental Woody Amber Eau. A masculine fragrance, with key notes of cinnamon, saffron, amber, black vanilla, dark woods and leather.

Available exclusively at Harrods EDP 100ml £88.00 HER: ELIE SAAB GIFT SETS This year’s beautiful coffrets are decorated with flecks of gold and feature an array of complimentary goodies. Available for Le Parfum EDP and Rose Couture EDT, both including a 50ml fragrance, complimentary 75ml body lotion & complimentary 75ml shower cream. For those lucky John Lewis customers there’s also a 90ml eau de parfum set too, with complimentary body lotion & a prestige purse spray.

Prices start from SRP £52.00

HIM: ABERCROMBIE & FITCH GIFT SETS

HER: NARCISO RODRIGUEZ GIFT SETS

Abercrombie & Fitch First Instinct is available in a stunning coffret, with a complimentary hair and body wash. This modern masculine fragrance is inspired by that first moment of attraction, when a spark is ignited, the perfect gift this festive season. SRP £42.00

Adding a touch of pink to the tree, this year there are 4 beautiful gift sets from narciso rodriguez.

Available for Narciso, Narciso Poudree, For Her EDP and For Her EDT. All coffrets feature a 50ml fragrance, a body lotion and a beautiful make-up pouch.

Prices start from SRP £51.00

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AT HOME NEW PREMIUM BODYCLOCK LUXE FROM LUMIE The dark mornings make it harder than ever to wake up refreshed and ready for the new day – that is, if you’ve not yet tried a Bodyclock. These allow you to choose your time to wake up, and get gradually brighter and brighter simulating a natural dawn, before an alarm beep, bird song, or music or radio of your choice, stirring you awake in a gentle yet effective way. We’ve tested them this last year and honestly couldn’t be without now!

Top manufacturer of these, Lumie, has just launched a premium model – the Bodyclock Luxe 700 (RRP £170) with a host of clever features including ability to set your desired sunrise light intensity and sunrise and sunset duration, Low-blue light feature to minimise alerting effect before bedtime, mimics the colours of a real sunrise and sunset, high quality audio, Bluetooth for music streaming, USB port for music playback or charging your phone, more than 20 optional wake-up and sleep sounds, white noise, fully dimmable light and display, daily/weekly alarms, snooze functions.

Studies have shown that wake-up lights like Lumie Bodyclock, that provide a natural sunset and sunrise experience, improve your quality of sleep and awakening as well as your mood, energy and productivity during the day. At bedtime, the gradually reducing light enables the production of sleep hormones like melatonin so that you feel drift off naturally into a good night’s sleep. The low-blue light feature of Lumie Bodyclock Luxe complements that process. In the morning, the sunrise triggers production of hormones that help us to get up and go, like cortisol, while suppressing those that are associated with sleep.

“We now know that lack of sleep has a range of behavioural (influencing your level of alertness and ability to perform physically and cognitively) and physiological effects, including your metabolism and your immune system. Therefore, it is very important to ensure you have good quality sleep of sufficient duration to promote good health and well-being.

Maintaining a regular sleep pattern and modifying your morning and evening light exposure using Lumie Bodyclock Luxe will help you to have good sleep and also be alert and productive during the day.” Dr Victoria Revell, Circadian Rhythm Expert, University of Surrey.

A perfect gift - or bedroom essential for yourself. www.lumie.com HEAT POD BY DREAMLAND Make a style statement in your home this winter and keep family and guests cosy with Dreamland’s wonderful new cushions and clever heat pods.

The modern and safe answer to the hot water bottle, Heat Pod by Dreamland provides instant heat around the home or out and about on cold days – no need to have to boil a kettle. The ceramic heat technology helps keep you warm for up to six hours from a single charge (costing less than 1p) in a snuggly, washable faux fur cover. £39.99 www.dreamlanduk.co.uk 138 | entrepreneurandinvestor.com

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COCOON, SUPER SMART HOME SECURITY DEVICE As the world’s smartest home security device, Cocoon protects your entire home using sound. Through A.I and machine learning, the device listens to your home’s movements and sound patterns to build a picture of your everyday – deciphering the worrying from the mundane, and letting you know about it through the Cocoon app. This means it can tell the difference between your cat padding around or your kids getting home from school, and a break-in or a pipe bursting.

Clever stuff. £299

LUXURY LUGGAGE Chatelet Hard Demonstrating French elegance, the CHATELET HARD suitcase is packed with style and innovation. The case is equipped with four silent double wheels, a TSA combination lock, a unique identification code, SECURITECH® zip and an integrated brake. With its refined finish, it is the gift of choice for traveling in style. £209 - £309 French Royalty Chic The elegant, vintage-style suitcase presents the perfect “French touch” and is a DELSEY birthday limited edition. Its lining and subtle interior design celebrate the brand’s 70 years. £299 Family-Friendly Travel Confidence Made from material most resistant to impact, the BELMONT case is 100% polypropylene – a highly secure and robust suitcase. Sporting a colourful pop design, the BELMONT is ideal for protecting small and large valuables, providing optimised space for packing. £89- £129 The Travel Companion for Men To mark 70 years of the brand, this limited edition collection is adorned with black and red, for an original, distinctly masculine look. Made of injected polypropylene, DELSEY’s invention and part of its innovation legacy, the suitcase has a rigid structure which absorbs most shocks. £99 - £139 STEAM STYLISHLY THROUGH YOUR LAUNDRY Specialists of steam technology V-Zug has a brand new product called ‘Refresh Butler’ which makes creased, musty clothes a thing of the past.

Fashioned with a premium selection of cutting-edge modes and functions, it’s an industry first for the UK being the only personal laundry assistance specifically designed for the domestic home.

Refresh Butler can refresh and dry clothes, eradicating odours, reducing creases and eliminating 99.9% of bacteria.

Whether placed in the bedroom, kitchen, utility room or even bathroom, this pioneering piece of home technology is able to launder, steam, freshen and decrease via its smart touch screen display.

Equipped with a variety of practical storage fixtures and fittings, such as the highly practical fold-down clothes rail, accessory basket and luxury hangers to name a few.

Priced from around £11,520 www.vzug.com

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ATELIER SWAROVSKI HOME

Atelier Swarovski Home has just been launched. The debut collection, including singular pieces by celebrated designers Daniel Libeskind, Ron Arad, Aldo Bakker, Tord Boontje, Kim Thomé, Fredrikson Stallard and the late Zaha Hadid, is on sale now in an exclusive pop-up within Selfridges’ new accessories hall.

The collection includes pieces created from mixed materials, such as marble, metals and resins together with crystal and is a vivid reminder of the infinite creative possibilities of crystal in design.

Crystal Vase by Aldo Bakker: A collection of modular vases constructed in crystal and other materials including pink onyx and marble. The base acts as a shallow water pool and the sides are made of three interconnecting elements in either faceted stone or crystal.

Glaciarium by Fredrikson Stallard: A series of centerpieces, candlestick holders, bowls and vases inspired by the form of raw crystal. Each piece celebrates the nature of the material and the language of crystal’s natural surfaces.

Plinth by Kim Thomé: A collection of candlestick holders featuring a heavy stainless steel base in a variety of heights, on which sits a crystal halo that picks up the flickering flame of the candle to create prismatic light effects.

Alphabet & Numbers by Ron Arad: In a new font designed for Atelier Swarovski Home, Ron Arad introduces precision-cut crystal incarnations of the numbers 0 to 9 and the 26 letters of the alphabet, standing 15cm tall.

Lux Orbit by Tord Boontje: A collection of inside lanterns comprised of glass, resin and crystal, with a futuristic, science-fiction twist. Lux Orbit references star formations and the colours seen in galactic photography – souvenirs from space with a sense of occasion.

Architecture & The City by Daniel Libeskind: A championship- size chess set inspired by some of Studio Libeskind’s most iconic buildings. The set uses materials from the worlds of construction – concrete, aluminum and marble – as well as artisan craft: silver from Wiener Silber Manufactur and Swarovski crystal.

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GORGEOUSLY GODIVA

Fine chocolates from Godiva are the perfect treat for that someone special

THE GODIVA SIGNATURE HAMPER : £150 Presented in a stunning hat box style basket, the Signature hamper combines Godiva favourites with a few surprises.

LUXURY SWAROVSKI BOX : £130 A keepsake box with an exquisite Swarovski crystal decoration, featuring an abundant selection of 50 chocolates and truffles. It makes a luxurious and show stopping gift, perfect to share with as many as you like.

SMALL BUT OH SO SPECIAL – THE ‘G’ BY GODIVA COLLECTION : £6 At the other end of the price scale, but still exquisite luxury chocolate...is this new collection of six varieties of tablet bar, including our favourite – the brand new Blond Chocolate & Salted Caramel.

www.godivachocolates.co.uk entrepreneurandinvestor.com |

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FAVOURITES KWV CRUXLAND GIN RRP: £30 From: Morrison’s Notes of Juniper and lemon, enhanced by coriander and spice and an earthy character from the Kalahari truffles, lightly tinted by the botanicals, and with a flavour which is both bold and perfumed all at once. This complex yet extremely well balanced gin has a wonderful lingering finish.

FREEMARK ABBEY, CABERNET SAUVIGNON Napa Valley 2011 RRP: £147.70 for a case of 6 bottles From: Armit Wines The 2011 cabernet has an opaque, youthful dark ruby colour. The aromas of dark cherry, ripe Santa Rosa plum and black currant are integrated with the spicy sweetness of oak, cedar, cinnamon, and clove. With the subtle sweet aroma of dried figs, black pepper, dried herbs and dark chocolate, this wine has an abundance of complex aromas and flavours. The body is very full with a soft entry, coupled with bright dark cherry/berry flavours that develop from start to finish. With great texture and mouth feel, this cabernet is full bodied, rich and opulent. In one word….delicious.

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JENKYN PLACE BRUT CUVEE 2010 RRP: £28.50 From: Waitrose (in 35 branches and online at £23.99), Christopher Piper, Jenkynplace.com, Winos Oldham, Bottle Aspotle, Vagabond wine, Bin 21 In its 5th year after vintage, the 2010 Jenkyn Place Cuvee has reached a delicious level of maturity. The nose is characterised by pure, bright citrus with yeastcomplexed fruit, followed by a silky palate of tropical fruits, quince and baked bread. Freshness and precision of flavour is enhanced by beautiful balancing acidity, giving this wine a harmonious mouthfeel with great persistence. A perfect aperitif but pairs well with white meat and fish dishes.

JENKYN PLACE BLANC DE NOIRS 2010 RRP: £35.50 From: Christopher Piper Wines, Jenkynplace.com, Winos Oldham, Bottle Aspotle, Vagabond wine Now in its 5th year after vintage, the first Jenkyn Place Blanc de Noir is ready for release. It has a fresh nose of cashew nuts with notes of lime and ginger and on the palate there is a sensation of ripe pear, golden apple, baked bread and toast. Its great acid structure gives freshness, lift and length. There is plenty of complexity to follow as the wine already has stunning length, poise and detail on the finish – fascinating and delicious! This wine has a fantastic future. An excellent partner for sushi, Thai and modern fusion cuisine.

KWV MENTORS PETIT VERDOT 2014 RRP: £14.95 From: Ocado A concentrated wine with aromas of pencil shavings, flowers and herbs and subtle nuances of mocha and sweet spice. The palate is rich and juicy with upfront fruit sweetness and an intense, lingering finish.

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A CELEBRATION OF CHAMPAGNES FOR THE SEASON The family run House of Taittinger has a selection of perfect Champagnes to add sparkle to any occasion, whether you are throwing a festive or New Year party or spending it with friends and family.

CHAMPAGNE TAITTINGER BRUT RÉSERVE NV 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 25% Pinot Meunier Simply put Taittinger Brut Réserve defines the Taittinger house style. Dry, light and graceful with small fine bubbles. Fresh citrus fruit and subtle, weightier notes of peach and brioche combine to provide elegance in a glass.

RRP £40.05 Stockists: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Majestic, Waitrose, Morrisons, Asda, Oddbins, Wine Rack, www. champagnedirect.co.uk and many other online and Independent retailers

TAITTINGER COMTES DE CHAMPAGNE BLANC DE BLANC BRUT 2006 100% Chardonnay The definitive Blanc de Blancs Champagne, made solely in great years from Grand Cru Chardonnay from 100% rated vineyards in Avize, Cramant, Chouilly,le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Cotê de Blancs.

RRP £147.05 Stockists: Waitrose, Majestic, John Lewis, Harrods, Wine Rack, Berry Brothers, Hoults Wine Merchants, Corney & Barrow, Wimbledon Wine Cellars, www. champagnedirect.co.uk

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TAITTINGER NOCTURNE NV 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 25% Pinot Meunier An exciting and stylish cuvée from the Taittinger family, the easy drinking softness that a touch of sweetness brings makes this a perfect wine to enjoy late into the evening. Not quite as dry as Brut, but not sweet by any means, Nocturne is elegant and beautifully balanced, with soft, mellow orchard fruit characters and a lingering elegant finish.

RRP £51.95 Stockists:Majestic, Harrods, John Lewis, The Soho Wine Company, Hedonism, Hailsham Cellars, Amps Fine Wines, www.champagnedirect.co.uk

TAITTINGER PRÉLUDE GRANDS CRUS NV 45% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Meunier A vibrant rosé with a vivid aroma of red summer fruit, enticing wild strawberry and raspberry dominate the stylish and elegant palate.

RRP £50.30 Stockists:Majestic, Harrods, John Lewis, The Soho Wine Company, Hedonism, Hailsham Cellars, Amps Fine Wines, www.champagnedirect.co.uk

TAITTINGER BRUT PRESTIGE ROSÉ NV 45% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Meunier A vibrant rosé with a vivid aroma of red summer fruit, enticing wild strawberry and raspberry dominate the stylish and elegant palate.

RRP: £48.25 Stockists: Asda, Waitrose, Wine Rack, Majestic, John Lewis, The Soho Wine Company, Amps Fine Wines, Vino Wines, The Oxford Wine Company, Jeroboams, Lea & Sanderman, Fortnum & Mason, www. champagnedirect.co.uk

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ERIC WHITACRE · GLOBAL CITIZEN + GRAMMY® AWARD-WINNING COMPOSER new tumi flagship | 211 regent street, london, w1b 4nf 170 piccadilly, mayfair, london, w1j 9ej 265 canary wharf shopping centre, cabot sq., london, e14 4qt also available at harrods and selfridges

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porsche design Timepieces

FIRST IN BLACK. THE NEW ORIGINAL.

Timepiece No. 1 | www.porsche-design.com/timepieces