HOW THE EAST MIDLANDS IS MAKING THE MOST OF CREATIVE MINDS AND INNOVATIVE IDEAS
It’s no secret the East Midlands is known for its sizeable and prolific manufacturing industry, which sends goods to all corners of the globe, often using our region’s equally reputable logistics apparatus.
Perhaps lesser known are our creative industries, despite being a significant economic player with hundreds of businesses employing thousands in our region, while producing goods and services worth billions.
Nationally, they represent 5% of the total UK economy, yet have a habit of going under the radar in terms of both profile and policymaking.
In our big interview (p31) this month, we speak to Dawn Foote, co-founder and CEO of Derby-based Katapult. The Chamber’s reigning Derbyshire Business of the Year, which has a team of under 20 people, designs themed attractions and experiences across the world for household brands including Ferrari, Lego and Cartoon Network.
Dawn talks about not only the company’s incredible journey and the fun projects it works on, but how she is a passionate ambassador for Derby as a place for exporting ideas and creative thinking, as well as the manufactured goods for which it is perhaps better known.
This is just one example of the tremendous cluster of creative businesses we have in our region. Our focus feature (p68) gives a host of agencies within the Chamber’s network the opportunity to shine a spotlight on a leading-edge project they have each worked on. Recognisable clients include sausage supplier HECK, car dealer Sytner Group, celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo and Team GB at the Olympics.
Many of these, like Katapult, have been recognised with Chamber honours in various forms and as we head deeper into autumn, the Chamber’s awards and events season hits full throttle.
Finalists for our Enterprising Women Awards, which return on 6 October, are profiled on p21-24 and the Business Awards shortlist is revealed on p52-53. Details for the Chamber's Christmas Lunch and the inaugural Generation Next Conference can be found on p46, while our full events programme is available at www.emc-dnl.co.uk/events
Finally, October marks a year since we were crowned the UK Chamber of the Year by the British Chambers of Commerce. As we prepare to hand over the baton, our chief executive Scott Knowles reflects on the past 12 months and looks ahead to the future on p40.
Dan Robinson, Editor, Business Network
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A Derby-based digital marketing company has gone Stateside after its reputation for handling restaurant opening campaigns spread across the Atlantic.
Alphageek Digital has been employed by New York-based Williamsburg Pizza to help launch a new branch in Omaha.
The company’s campaign with the US firm reached one million people, which is more than double the population of Nebraska, outperforming industry standards.
The opportunity came after the company worked on the digital campaigns for national Indian restaurant chain Tamatanga, which has opened branches in Birmingham, Nottingham, Leicester and Leeds, with a site in Sheffield scheduled for later this year.
Alphageek, which is based at Century House in St James’ Court, has also worked on the launch campaign for Binks Yard, the first venue to open at the Island Quarter in Nottingham.
And the firm also ran the digital marketing campaigns for a couple of Derbyshire businesses which branched out into additional locations –Bustler Street Food Market and True Pizzas.
Dan Wild, head of paid marketing for Alphageek, said: “Bustler and True Pizza were two of our earliest clients and I think that really put us on the map, particularly within the hospitality industry, as we led incredibly successful campaigns. Williamsburg Pizza is another one of our earlier clients, and we’re pleased to have supported its efforts launching two venues now –working with a New Yorkbased company has been really exciting for us.”
• Alphageek Digital is profiled alongside other creative businesses within Chamber membership in this month’s focus feature on p68-73.
Loughborough University will be part of a new research team of creative sector specialists established as part of a Government project to give a £50bn boost to the creative industries in the UK.
Announced as part of the Government’s Creative Industries Sector Vision, the new Insight and Foresight Unit will be led by Goldsmiths, which has been chosen as the preferred bidder to be the host organisation, alongside partners at the British Film Institute, the University of Edinburgh and Loughborough.
The Insight and Foresight Unit will support the convergent screen technologies and performance in realtime (CoSTAR) national infrastructure, which will ensure the UK stays at the cutting-edge of new virtual production techniques for stage, screen and live events.
Examples of virtual productions include the ABBA Voyage live show and Disney+ series The Mandalorian Loughborough’s involvement will
be led by Graham Hitchen, professor of practice within the Institute for Media and Creative Industries, and head of the university’s new policy unit. Loughborough is already established as a research leader in the creative industries, being home to the Creative Research and Innovation Centre (CRAIC).
Prof Hitchen said: “This investment provides a brilliant opportunity to be at the forefront of future thinking about creative
technologies in the UK and will enable us to build on our research strengths.”
The Insight and Foresight Unit will focus on identifying industry trends and insights associated with creative technologies, and informing future policy and investment for the screen and performance sectors. This includes considering improved ecological sustainability, a more diverse and inclusive workforce, new workflows and ways of working.
Breathing new life into Mansfield town centre was the project brief for creative media students at West Nottinghamshire College.
Mansfield’s Townscape Heritage Project gave students on the Advanced BTEC Level 3 in creative media practice the opportunity to bring their skills to life.
Mansfield Townscape is a National Lottery Heritage-funded project, which aims to enhance the architecture of the historical conservation area of Mansfield. It will see £1.3m of funding go towards property repairs and
refurbishments to enhance buildings in this area.
The project, which focuses on Victorian and Georgian buildings in the town centre, is part of a wider vision by Mansfield District Council to improve the appearance and vibrancy of the town centre and to put Mansfield on the map as a good place to live, work, visit and invest.
Community participation coordinator Pete Brown set the students the task of designing their building ideas for the future, in a challenge which took the creatives six weeks to develop and present,
before judges selected their winning designs.
He said: “We wanted to get young people involved as it’s their town centre of the future and it’s important to get their ideas and inspiration. The first stage is to renovate the amazing buildings in Mansfield and the second part is where I’m involved to encourage community participation.
“There’s been a fantastic partnership with the college for over three years now. We’ve worked on a lot of these projects and there’s always been a great response.”
‘This investment provides a brilliant opportunity’Teachers Brian Wilson, Milly Gibson and students George Hopkinson, Maddie Thornley, Rory Bates with Pete Brown
A Derby company that is preparing to launch an innovative new range of blinds it has developed has moved into a head office at Oberoi Business Hub in Pride Park.
Blind Screen is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Lenny Reynolds, who has operated in the blinds industry for more than 20 years, and marketing and lead generation expert Paul Cheetham.
The multi-function blinds system combines ultra strength net and honeycomb fabrics with several features, including 100% blackout and thermal insulation technology with sideways opening fly, pollen and haze screens.
This not only increases the energy efficiency in any type of residential or commercial building, but also protects against
environmental pollutants and extreme outdoor temperatures.
Now based in Pride Park, Blind Screen plans to grow its sales and product development teams, while hosting training for national retail and installation partners.
The company, backed by Derby City Council's Ascend business growth fund and Derbyshire County Council's Vision Derbyshire business support scheme, recently appointed a major UK manufacturer and has nearly 250 distributors ahead of an official launch early next year.
Lenny said: “Blind Screen is a totally new category in this highly competitive industry, which has been lacking innovation since the launch and then mass production of shutters more than 20 years ago.
“We have developed the world’s first 100% blackout sideways motion blind screen with new thermal efficient fabric that is currently being independently tested and officially verified by the University of Derby.
“Having carried out soft launches at a major international trade show and at consumer exhibitions such as Grand Designs Live, we have already had an incredible response and some of the leading trade figures have described Blind Screen as a game-changer.”
Leicestershire-based Blueprint Interiors has completed the fit-out of an iconic 1950s office building located on the A5 in Nuneaton.
Formerly the original headquarters of HORIBA MIRA, the building underwent refurbishment and has been leased as a temporary solution to a Swedish automotive brand, which will eventually move to a brand-new purpose built complex within MIRA Technology Park.
The overarching objective was to be sympathetic to the key features of a 1950s building, while modernising the interior office space.
Delivering the design vision meant stripping out several areas where, over the years, lowered ceilings and office partitioning had been added. When the ceiling in the reception area was removed, a double height space was revealed, which now serves as a central focal point.
The design also includes a wide variety of functional desk spaces, break-out rooms and meeting rooms. Toilets and showers have also been refitted with modern energyefficient equipment.
A Derbyshire creative agency creating campaigns to incite positive change has backed an opinion-dividing “Maaate” campaign aimed at tackling violence against women.
Anna Hutton and Claire MacDonald, sister founders of MacMartin, said while they acknowledged the controversy of the “Maaate” campaign, it would have been based on sound science and it was important to wait and see if it was successful.
Launched by London mayor Sadiq Khan, the idea behind the campaign is to encourage men to put the brakes on misogynistic comments made by their male friends.
The aim is for men to interject with a “maaate” when they hear
their male friends making disrespectful and potentially violent comments about women.
The campaign has been rolled out following research from top behavioural scientists, which observed the way men interact in male-dominated spaces such as the gym or barbers. The idea is that by stopping talk of violence in its tracks, it will help prevent it escalating into actual violence.
Officially partnered by LADbible group, comedian Romesh Ranganathan and presenter Max Selwood, the campaign has hit headlines with hugely divided opinions, and many critics labelling it patronising, naïve, and misplaced in that responsibility is placed on bystanders and not those making
toxic remarks. But Anna and Claire said truly effective behaviour change campaigns would always have the potential to cause controversy and are more fairly judged on their outcomes.
Marketing director Anna said: “Effective behaviour change campaigns can’t be insipid or watered down – and this campaign, for all its controversy, has a clear message, talking directly to a particular demographic. Campaigns like this are not made to be interesting to others or peoplepleasing, they are designed to change behaviour for the good of society. If campaigns are doing something good, and having the desired effect, they should not be criticised too heavily.”
‘We have developed the world’s first 100% blackout sideways motion blind screen’The Blind Screen team Anna Hutton and Claire MacDonald
Ocean King is expanding from its 5,000 sq ft base to a new £5m state-of-the-art business hub in Derby.
The restaurant wholesaler’s latest growth project is to extend into a 32,000 sq ft base, from which the company will operate offices and a warehouse.
The new base will also house nap pods, a language school, shared professional services spaces, a wellbeing cafe, business hub, trade and public counters and solar panels – a far cry from the single frozen food truck with which managing director Steven Thai and his dad founded the business 26 years ago.
“It’s hard to imagine that this will be our base,” he said. “We won’t stop at this one. Our growth strategy sees us opening more bases like this over the next decade.”
While Steven has been expanding Ocean King over the last quartercentury, he has received consultancy support from the LLEP Business Gateway Growth Hub – part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to provide free and impartial support for business growth in Leicester and Leicestershire.
The project, led by a consortium including the Chamber, supported more than 4,000 SMEs across the county before concluding with the end of ERDF funding in June. The business support offering from the growth hub will continue.
“With this project and with the business in general we have received support from the growth hub,” said Steven, whose business launched in Loughborough and continues to have a site in the town.
“When it comes to the new base, they have signposted us to contacts in the field of environmental sustainability and other areas of potential funding.
“The team is always on hand to offer advice, ask challenging questions, and make suggestions. It’s always good to have an extra opinion on these things.”
Derby-based Frame Fast has opened a new 10,000 sq ft site to meet growing demand of its aluminium products.
The window, door, roof and glass fabricator has strategically located its base in the city to serve as a hub for its production, distribution and innovation of aluminium windows and doors. The facility is equipped with cuttingedge technology to enable the compan y to meet growing customer needs.
Managing director Nigel Leivers said: “For more than 25 years, Frame Fast has been tuned into
understanding and innovating for our customers, bringing everything under two roofs, as well as a dedicated aluminium showroom.
“We want our trade partners to know that we’re here to support them on everything, from fantastic trade discounts to the use of our showroom.
“We’re looking forward to seeing what this will bring to the
local area, creating jobs and helping to strengthen Derby’s already powerful base of manufacturers, stimulating trade, and hopefully attracting even more investment from big companies into the area.
“This city has always been kind to us in our almost three decades here, and we really want to give back.
“Alongside job creation, we really want to get stuck into the l ocal community, sponsoring events and offering apprenticeships to young workers looking to join the industry.”
The couple behind a Derby gifting company are opening the doors of their business for meetings, birthday parties and corporate events.
The Smile Factory – the base of Colleague Box – is now available to hire and customers will be able to take advantage of the fully-stocked bar, wide range of snacks and hospitality of husband-and-wife founders Adam and Natalie Bamford.
Taking centre stage in The Smile Factory’s 4,500 sq ft warehouse is Colleague Box’s latest venture – a cosy teepee tent hideaway that can seat up to 15 guests.
Colleague Box has hosted events at its city centre headquarters in the past, most notably when former Derby County and Denmark international footballer Jacob Laursen spoke about his career to an audience of Rams fans.
Natalie said: “We have exciting plans to open our space not only for corporate events and parties, but for community groups, too.
“The Smile Factory is a huge space and boasts a fully-stocked bar, special offers on food and drink, and our six-metre bell tent that can also be hired out for private hire at the weekend, along with our mobile bar.
“The aim is to create a space where colleagues, friends and family can gather to connect, chat, drink, laugh, eat and shop in a quirky and relaxed setting.
“We feel that our latest venture is a natural extension of Colleague Box’s mission to bring smiles to people’s faces.”
Set up during the pandemic, Natalie and Adam create bespoke gift boxes for a wide range of local and national organisations such as Ward Recycling, delivery company dpd and the University of Lincoln.
‘We want our trade partners to know that we’re here to support them on everything’
written a published book about what it takes to become one of the best ultra-endurance athletes in the world.
Leigh Timmis is the fastest person to cycle across Europe, pedalling from the most western tip at Cabo de Roca in Portugal to the most eastern point at Ufa, Russia, in 16 days, 10 hours and 45 minutes. The feat broke the Guinness World Record by eight days and 17 hours.
He has now captured the experience in a book, titled The Race of Truth, which includes learnings from preparing his body for the ultra-endurance world record attempt and how it taught him to confront deeper mental health problems to make it to the finish line.
It follows Leigh’s personal transformation over a year in anticipation of the race – which involved cycling for 14 hours a day – and aims to show to readers the feats they can accomplish when conquering their deepest fears.
Leigh said: “The world record project changed me for the better. Guidance from a team of experts helped me to achieve something I could never have done when I set out.
“The Race of Truth captures every experience and lesson I learned along the way, including my own mental health journey, and shares the tools I
specific to sport, they’re applicable to any aspect of life, and I wrote this book in the hope that what I learned will also help readers to achieve their best.
“If my book helps one person to open up about their mental health, achieve their goal, or vicariously escape into an adventure across a continent, it’s done its job.”
The Chamber was the first organisation to sponsor Leigh’s work, and he hopes it will help other members achieve their own world-class performance.
“The Chamber’s display of confidence in my project was a key moment in turning a record-breaking proposition into reality,” added Leigh.
‘Guidance from a team of experts helped me to achieve something I could never have done when I set out’
East Midlands businesses accounted for 7% of administrations in the first six months of 2023 –the sixth highest region in the UK – according to analysis by law firm Shakespeare Martineau.
A total of 759 businesses, 51 of which came from the East Midlands, filed for administration between 1 January and 30 June 2023, marking a 22% increase compared to 2022.
Retail, manufacturing, construction, hospitality and real estate were the worst-hit sectors, accounting for 57% of all administrations. Greater London led the way with 25% of the filings, followed by the North West (15%) and South East (11%), data from The Gazette Official Public Record revealed.
While administrations are still yet to hit preCovid levels (940 in the first six months of 2019), Shakespeare Martineau’s insolvency and restructuring expert warned that more businesses will fail unless inflation is controlled and interest rates stop being increased.
Partner and head of restructuring Andy Taylor said: “Given the prolonged economic uncertainty that is plaguing the country, the increase in the number of businesses filing for administration is no surprise.
“HMRC is definitely taking a harder line than in previous periods and its threat of enforcement
A Leicestershire-based HR consultancy has launched a new service to connect clients with other business services.
Breedon Consulting has curated a select group of trusted professionals it can confidently recommend to clients for various additional services, saving them time and money venturing into new markets with often little knowledge of the industry.
The partnerships service allows clients to access a wide range of services – including recruitment, wellbeing, health and safety, payroll, and legal support – from an extensive network of trusted partners.
Managing director Nicki Robson said: “Our aim is to simplify and optimise the process of sourcing essential services and provide our clients with trusted partners who are mutually aligned.
“We have established a longstanding presence in the Leicestershire business community, fostering valuable connections and relationships with companies that we not only recommend but also rely on ourselves.”
is certainly pushing some businesses towards considering their options, with some seeking administration as an alternative to facing a winding up petition.
“We’re seeing a steady flow of corporate failures. Should some other ‘bad news’ rear its head, then that is only likely to increase. Businesses and individuals need to see interest rates and inflation come down. With a period of stability, we will see confidence increase.”
With the retail industry’s filing almost doubling when compared with the first six months of 2022, it has replaced construction as the worst-hit sector. The hospitality, real estate and manufacturing sectors also remained in the top five.
Andy added: “Our advice remains consistent –seeking professional advice early can open up more options for struggling businesses. It is crucial not to ignore the signs and bury your head in the sand, and take a proactive approach to address underlying issues.”
A novel study undertaken by the University of Nottingham has found that, in the absence of someone in the driving seat, pedestrians trust certain visual prompts more than others when deciding whether to cross in front of an autonomous car.
The aim of the study was to understand how pedestrians respond naturally to selfdriving vehicles with different external humanmachine interfaces (eHMIs) – visual displays positioned on the front of the vehicle.
To do this, a car was driven around the University Park campus with a “ghost driver” concealed in the driver’s seat. A series of different designs projected onto the eHMI informed pedestrians of the car’s behaviour and intention – including expressive eyes and a face, accompanied by short text-based language such as “I have seen you” or “I am giving way”.
The eHMI was controlled by a team member sat in the back seat, while front and rear dash cam footage was collected to observe pedestrians’ reactions in real time. Researchers were placed at four crossing points to ask pedestrians to complete a short survey about their experience of the vehicle and its displays.
David R Large, senior research fellow with the Human Factors Research Group at the University of Nottingham, said: “As part of the ServCity project, which created a blueprint infrastructure for autonomous vehicles in the UK, we wanted to explore how pedestrians would interact with a driverless car and developed this unique methodology to explore their reactions.
“We were keen to identify which designs invited the highest levels of trust by people wanting to cross the road.”
A working scaled replica of the Rolls-Royce thrust measuring rig (TMR), better known as the ‘Flying Bedstead’, has been built by engineering students at the University of Nottingham.
Built and tested by Rolls-Royce in Hucknall, the TMR was the first jet-lift aircraft to fly anywhere in the world, with its inaugural tethered flight taking place in 1953, followed by its first free flight the following year.
Now, to celebrate what would have been the original developer Alan Arnold Griffith’s 130th birthday, engineering students have spent their third year building a representative copy of the experimental aircraft, using modern methods such as 3D printing and open-source electronics.
‘The increase in the number of businesses filing for administration is no surprise’Andy Taylor Nicki Robson
The public can now nominate businesspeople from the East Midlands who have invented, inspired or innovated, giving them the chance to win at the Real Entrepreneurs’ Awards 2024.
Ten categories recognise start-up businesses through to those wellknown in specific industries.
Nominees will be asked to provide supporting evidence detailing their achievements and future plans. Five independent judges will then investigate and produce a shortlist of five finalists per category.
The Real Entrepreneurs’ Awards were established to identify best practice, promote enterprise, and encourage entrepreneurship across the board.
Jenny Cross, CEO of Cross Productions, which organises the awards, said: “We want our judges to see a broad range of entrepreneurs in front of them, so we’re keen for nominations to come in from all sectors.
“The Real Entrepreneurs’ Awards aims to help people identify themselves as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship means different things to different people but ultimately, if you’ve invented something, you’re inspiring others in business or you’re innovating in ways others haven’t, then you’re someone we want to know.”
The Leicester Riders Business Club has kicked off the new season by onboarding new sponsors.
The club’s relaunch coincided with the start of the British Basketball League programme, with sponsors inviting senior business contacts to a networking event, before watching the Leicester Riders take on Cheshire Phoenix at the Morningside Arena.
At the event, guests also joined a basketball session led by coaching staff, entered a price draw and networked with other business leaders.
Player sponsorship has increased 50% year-on-year at the club, with the majority of last season’s corporate sponsors renewing their packages, and new businesses joining, including Better IT, Abel Alarm, 2XL Commercial Finance and Griffin Fit.
Leicester-based ER Recruitment celebrated its 10-year anniversary in September. Its managing director Eileen Perry MBE DL (pictured, inset), a past president of the Chamber, shares how the UK job market has changed over the past decade with Business Network
The UK’s labour market was recovering from a major global event and facing growth challenges when ER Recruitment opened its doors in 2013 – sound familiar?
Employment was building back better following the global financial crisis of 2007. Ultimately, the number of people in jobs would reach a record high of 29.78 million in 2013. It was underpinned by a rise of 110,000 in permanent jobs, while the graduate employment rate hit 87%.
Fast forward 10 years, and today’s big picture is not radically different.
Earlier this summer, the ONS reported that the UK workforce had reached a new record high of 36.8 million in employment.
But a reported one million job vacancies remained in quarter one. That competition for talent has led to wage growth and higher inflation. As winter approaches, we continue to operate in a jobseekers’ market.
So what’s changed in recruitment over the past decade?
• Digital technology: Advances were always on the horizon, but were accelerated by the constraints imposed by lockdown. People got used to online interviews, and working from kitchen tables and bedrooms as hybrid or remote workers.
• The gig economy has exploded: Researchers at the University of Derby found the term to originate in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis –with McKinsey now estimating that up to 30% of people in Europe and the US now work this way.
• Expectation of flexibility: Some jobseekers want to work from home, others want flexible hours. Technology and social shifts mean that many no
longer wish to spend every day working 9 to 5 from an office.
• Career pathways are shifting: The Government is talking more about on-the-job roles, which provide the opportunity to climb the promotion ladder without a degree.
As younger generations enter the job market, new attitudes towards the work and life balance will inevitably be introduced. Coupled with expectations around work culture, reward, and recognition, change will continue.
The businesses recruiting most successfully in 2023 are adapting to the changing expectations of this demographic, and creating a work environment that aligns with these values and supports their growth and development.
At the other end of the career spectrum, George Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, was telling young people entering the job market in 2013 that they would work until they were 70.
Subsequent increases in the retirement age have resulted in more older people in the workforce. Government is now looking for ways to make use of their skills and experience to help fill the shortages in the market.
Of course, this means that the idea of having “one career” looks to be a thing of the past. Jobs are rarely now for life.
Finally, a positive note to finish on. There has also been change in the diversity of the workplace. More is yet to be done, but the Equality Act of 2010 ushered in a solid foundation for modernisation and fairer workplaces.
A Government financing guarantee has helped a Derbyshire metal recycling and waste management company supercharge its export growth and achieve its highest annual turnover yet.
Fourth-generation family business Ward has achieved record turnover and international sales in 2023 at £312m after backing from UK Export Finance (UKEF).
A team of Derby-based HR consultants has doubled in size with an innovative approach to benefits and the help of employer-funded private healthcare.
The owner of Loates HR Consultancy, Sarah Loates, has provided private healthcare for all employees, including the four new team members recently appointed to bolster its HR and management training teams.
Staff at the firm can now take advantage of 24/7 GP appointments, mental health support, physiotherapy, private hospital treatment and menopause support.
Sarah said: “We care about our team and their wellbeing. Not only do we want them to be fit and healthy, but we also want them to feel that we look after them as their employer.”
As well as giving access to medical treatment, the healthcare scheme incentivises members to keep fit via a rewards system, which includes partially-funded Apple Watches and free monthly cinema tickets.
“The job market is extremely competitive and turbulent, so organisations need to be prepared to adapt if they want to attract top talent.” Sarah added.
“As a micro business, it’s vital that when we find good people, we continue to be a great place to work, and private healthcare is ideal for providing that ongoing commitment to our staff.”
The Government department is responsible for issuing loans, guarantees and insurance, to ensure that no viable export fails for want of finance.
Ward specialises in metal recycling and waste management, helping a range of sectors reduce their impact on the environment by collecting their materials and recycling as much as possible. It serves a growing export market for recycled scrap metal, shipping reclaimed material to a global client base.
In 2022, HSBC UK agreed to provide export funding with backing from UKEF to help Ward expand and meet significant demand for recycled metal from clients in India, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt.
HSBC UK secured a loan guarantee from UKEF for an extra £9m in financing, with the guarantee issued under its General Export Facility product, which enabled the bank to release funding to Ward.
The company has since used additional funds to increase the amount of metal for export, which is processed and stored at its docks
in Immingham, Lincolnshire, and more recently in Cardiff. In March 2023, less than a year after UKEF unlocked its financing deal, Ward achieved its highest monthly export sales of metals.
James Balfour, finance director at Ward, said: “We have seen a phenomenal year of growth since this financing was agreed. Support from UKEF and HSBC UK has allowed us to bring our exporting business to new heights, especially in Asia and the Middle East. I’m excited to see how our team can build on this success.”
York city centre is the first location in the UK to welcome Project D’s launch into the high street retail market.
The Derby-based doughnut company opened its first retail store in Parliament Street, York, in September.
The store will sell a wide selection of doughnuts, alongside Project D merchandise and the company’s newly launched own-brand coffee.
The commercial printer commissioned local business Blaby Electrical to ensure the new equipment was installed safely, efficiently and reliably, resulting in optimised printing processes and enhanced productivity for the company.
Lithgo Press also took the opportunity to futureproof its electrical infrastructure to accommodate potential expansion and technological advancements. It also aimed to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability by utilising advanced technologies, such as energy-efficient LED lighting systems and power management solutions.
Mike Atkinson, managing director of Lithgo Press, said: "The successful installation of the state-of-the-art printing machine will undoubtedly lead to optimised printing processes and enhanced productivity, which will ultimately benefit our business.”
The bakery selected York as its first “bricks and mortar” location due to the popularity of its online sales and attendance at its previous pop-up events in and around the city.
Project D’s marketing director and co-founder Max Poynton said: “Whenever we’ve visited York, people have often asked us if we were going to open up a permanent retail store there.”
The firm is expecting to open at least three stores this year, including one in Sheffield.
Sarah Loates‘We have seen a phenomenal year of growth’Leicester-based Lithgo Press has installed a state-of-the-art printing machine. WARD Deep Sea Dock at Immingham
Leicester’s Cultural Quarter erupted with carnival colour as the Niche Business Awards celebrated the county’s businesses at Athena last month.
Among this year’s winners are large businesses that operate across the UK, as well as family-run SMEs in industries ranging from leisure to logistics and from education to environmental.
Formed by Cross Productions nine years ago, the awards promote Leicestershire as a great place to live, work and visit, showcasing the organisations and individuals that make a positive impact on the local economy.
The event is well-known for its quirky themes and breaking down business formalities, bringing local professionals together to celebrate one another's success. With a carnival theme, businesspeople united through vibrant music and movement with a spectacular showcase of upbeat carnival anthems.
Jenny Cross, CEO of Cross Productions, said: “Leicestershire has a thriving business community, one that acts as a benchmark for other cities to aspire to. The ceremony has been a great success and it was a fantastic theme to celebrate Leicester’s culture and bring the community together.”
Sky Recruitment Solutions has been shortlisted in the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Awards 2023.
The agency, which has offices based in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, has been recognised in the Best Company to Work For (up to 50 employees) category, marking its first shortlist in a national awards programme.
The REC Awards are one of the recruitment industry’s most prestigious events, celebrating outstanding achievements and innovation within the sector.
Managing director David Torrington said: “This recognition reflects our team’s hard work, dedication and passion for what we do. It’s a testament to our commitment to nurturing a workplace where each team member feels valued and empowered and will undoubtedly enhance our appeal to candidates as we expand.”
Best Family Business: Premier Logistics
Eco Excellence: EkoJoe
Best Small Business: Pattersons Commercial Law
Employer of the Year: Everards of Leicestershire
Customer Service: Bistro Live
Businessman of the Year: Atul Lakhani – Sanjay Foods
Hospitality: Bistro Live
Professional Services: Springfields Advisory
Best Large Business: Premier Logistics
Charity of the Year: Charity Link
Entrepreneur of the Year: Pete Frost – Unity
Rising Star: Macauley Christopher – Premier Logistics
Businesswoman of the Year: Sarah Higgins – Sarah Higgins Corporate Coaching
Best New Business: On Poynt Creative
Community Champion: Sean Baker – Spectrum Sensory Sports CIC
Creative: Hickman & Smith Architects
Business Growth: Teamwork Partnership
Chesterfield-based CMP Legal is hosting a free event in conjunction with Inclusive Consulting to support local businesses in the region.
Derbyshire-based Bluebell Dairy has launched an educational programme for primary schools and nurseries to learn all about farming and the environment.
The family-run farm park and micro-dairy is set within 320 acres of land in Spondon for children to explore the outdoors and learn first-hand about animals, habitats and food production.
The new programme can be tailored to any age group and is designed to complement the national curriculum, with an array of engaging and interactive activities such as exploring the journey from cow to cone, hands-on animal interaction and bug identifications.
Bluebell Dairy, which has been open to the public since 2008, is home to various farm animals and mini beasts, plus a giant jumping pillow, outdoor play area and recently refurbished indoor play barn.
Michelle Crofts, its educational co-ordinator, said: “It’s so important for children to be connecting with nature from an early age, learning about animals and where food comes from. With so many children living in urban areas, often a visit to Bluebell Dairy is the first time they are seeing a farm animal in real life, which is why our educational programme is so important.”
The commercial law firm will run its “Hybrid hype –redefining the way we work” event on 18 October at Bar Kelham in Sheffield.
Employment director
Lauren Pickard (pictured) will be joined by Emma Conroy, managing director at Inclusive Consulting, to lead the event.
The duo will look at how hybrid working is shaping the future, from the new Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, to exploring leadership’s role in this dynamic world, as well as learning how to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities of hybrid working.
Too many businesses are internally focused – wrapped up in their own activities and challenges. We get it. Pressures often shape priorities, and, in many companies, there will be plenty to think about close to home.
But the most successfu enterprises see everything through the eyes of their clients –those they already have and those they would like to acquire.
At Purpose Media, we believe a clear customer focus is key to any successful marketing strategy. And here are seven reasons why:
1. Customer-centric approach – the heart of strategic marketing
Gone are the days of one-size-fitsall marketing. In today’s world, customers demand personalised experiences. By placing the client at the centre of your marketing strategy, you create campaigns that resonate with their unique needs, desires and challenges.
2. Defining target customer personas – a deeper insight
Knowing your audience goes beyond demographics. It’s about crafting detailed customer
personas that encapsulate their behaviours, motivations and problems. These personas allow the shaping of messaging that truly connects.
3. Tailoring content –relevance is key
Understanding your customers allows you to speak their language, personalise content to address their specific pain points and position your offerings as the solutions they’ve been searching for, increasing engagement and conversions.
4. Targeting marketing channels – reaching the right audiences
Effective marketing is all about being where your customers are. A detailed understanding of their behaviours and where they seek information allows you to concentrate your efforts on the channels they value – and ensures you don’t waste budget on those they don’t.
5. Market differentiation –stand out in the crowd
In a “noisy” marketplace, differentiation is vital. But, with a
comprehensive understanding of your customer, you can pinpoint what sets you apart and craft a unique value proposition to capture their attention.
6. Optimising customer experience – from apathy to advocacy
Customer loyalty is born from exceptional experiences. With insights into customer preferences, you can design engaging journeys through the marketing funnel, guiding your targets towards
purchase and encouraging product advocacy.
7. Data-driven decision making – guiding business strategy
Knowledge drives success and informs not just marketing but also business strategy and product development. By continuously monitoring feedback and preferences, you can stay aligned with their expectations as needs evolve, ensuring long-term satisfaction.
Efforts to reduce crime across Bassetlaw have had a positive impact with a marked increase in incident traceability and reporting, according to the North Notts Business Crime Reduction Partnership (NNBCRP) – delivered by North Notts BID.
This impact has increased since the launch of the Night Angels pilot scheme in Worksop and Retford at the start of June. It is part of a district-wide commitment to minimise the impact of disruptive behaviours and potential criminal activities on local businesses.
Helping safeguard the public on Saturday evenings, the Night Angels scheme had recorded 145 incidents and interactions in Retford and Worksop by the beginning of August.
These reports range from customers leaving venues with drinks, helping intoxicated people get into taxis, reporting venues that are too noisy, helping anyone who may be injured, and
informing the CCTV control room at Bassetlaw District Council of incidents where appropriate.
Video footage of disruptive activities can be used as a form of identification on the DISC database and app. In June alone, 30 offenders were identified and 80 incidents reported and processed. More than 100 alerts were sent out via the DISC app, with 136 members of local businesses, from retail to hospitality, logging in to receive these alerts.
George Buchanan, chair of North Notts BID, said: “We are seeing a positive pattern of increased crime reporting as businesses become more confident in using our wide range of crime reduction services.
“It’s vital that owners continue to take a shared responsibility to increase vigilance, not just for their own activities but to help monitor and reduce antisocial behaviours and potential criminal acts within the community.”
Nottingham-based Insurance agency Russell Scanlan has secured a new sponsorship with golf club Beeston Fields Golf Club, as the club celebrates its centenary year.
Scope Construction is expanding its operation across the East Midlands after four years in operation.
The company, which has increased turnover from almost £700,000 after its first year in 2020 to a projected £8m in 2023, will spearhead the next stage of its growth strategy from a new headquarters in Loughborough.
The Chamber’s Leicestershire Business of the Year in 2022 – which provides construction services to the highend residential, commercial and development markets –has a vision to increase revenue to £20m by 2026.
More than 30 business leaders and His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire attended the official opening of the company’s new office in the Heritage Building, which will accommodate its team of 35 people, with space for future expansion.
Maz Patel, who co-founded Scope Construction with
business partner Paz Patel in 2019, said: “It was fantastic to welcome business leaders to the official opening of our new headquarters, which we firmly believe will be the launchpad for more exciting growth after what has already been an incredible four years in business.
“After building a strong foothold in Leicestershire by becoming a key member of the local business community, as well as providing exceptional services to clients, our vision is to continue expanding our presence across the wider East Midlands by seeking new partnership opportunities in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.”
Scope Construction has provided construction, refurbishment and interior design services for a number of multi-million projects – ranging from commercial office refurbishments, leisure and hospitality schemes, community projects and large private rental residential and student accommodation blocks.
Since Beeston Fields was established in 1923, the golf club has been a cherished landmark for golf enthusiasts in Nottinghamshire and beyond, hosting several big names in golf and measuring at more than 6,400 yards.
As the club embarks on its 100-year milestone, Russell Scanlan will participate in the ongoing events for the centenary celebrations, which it says demonstrates its commitment for local and community-driven sports.
Mike Dickinson (pictured), sales and marketing director at Russell Scanlan, said: “The team is looking forward to engaging with the club's members and contributing to the success of this flourishing heritage brand.”
Tell us what your company does and a brief overview of its history?
Xact Packing was formed in June 2022 by five senior directors who between them have more than 100 years’ experience in the fields of contract packing, warehousing, freight, logistics and recruitment.
Our principal activity is gift packing assemble for the cosmetics, perfumery, personal care, DIY, food and alcohol retail sectors. While this is weighted towards Christmas gifting, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Easter also provide a significant volume of business in this division. In addition, we operate a 41,000 sq ft warehousing and logistics facility, offering flexible storage and distribution solutions for an array of goods including PPE, electrical goods, paper and display units.
All above is supported by a network of long-term partners, enabling Xact to offer UK and international transport, import and export, seafreight and airfreight shipments, with e-commerce and mailing solutions.
Who are your main customers and what is your USP to them?
Xact’s main clients range from a major UK high street chemist to the supermarket chains, plus
Location: Loughborough
Number of employees: Nine full-time employees, plus up to 72 temporary workers at peak time
Spokesperson: Kal Merrin, director
wholesalers such as Costco and Booker, as well as online retailers and the NHS.
Across all sectors of the business, all requirements are assessed prior to the start of the operation and detailed standards are agreed by both parties. This ensures that
Two representative bodies have reaffirmed an agreement to help companies in the rail sector benefit from more opportunities to grow.
The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) Midlands and Rail Forum have updated and refreshed their previous memorandum of understanding established in 2019.
CECA Midlands represents dozens of companies in the civil engineering sector, offering a range of events and training opportunities to give the sector a voice.
Rail Forum is a national body, based in Derby, with more than 360 members drawn from every aspect of the rail industry. It provides strong advocacy for the rail supply chain alongside a range of services, including events and strategic priorities such as future talent, safety, innovation and exporting.
The two organisations will meet quarterly to identify opportunities for collaboration in areas that help members of both bodies and recognise the value of the rail
CECA Midlands chief executive
Lorraine Gregory and Elaine Clarkindustry supply chain.
Elaine Clark, chief executive of the Rail Forum, said: “Workij21ng collaboratively is in our DNA and having a strong relationship with CECA just makes sense for us and our members. From wider sharing of knowledge and opportunities for members, to ensuring consistent messages to Government –members of both organisations will benefit from our relationship.”
customer requirements are adhered to throughout the project, giving fast and accurate delivery on time and within budget.
What is your position in the business and what does your day-to-day role involve?
I hold principal responsibilities for day-to-day operations within both the contract packing and warehousing divisions of the business. This includes liaison with onsite temporary employment agencies, organising receipts and deliveries, customer service, site security, and all health and safety. Assistance with sales, quoting and negotiations with key suppliers to the business also falls under my remit.
What challenges have you faced in recent times and how have you tried to overcome them?
Key challenges to the business in its first year have been the escalating costs in utilities, overheads, materials and labour. Initially labour supply was a challenge, but this is now good, and the general calibre of staff is excellent.
Space was certainly an issue in 2022, with the warehousing division running at around 120%
capacity at peak, but this has been resolved with the sourcing of space locally and an outsourced local partner.
What are the company’s plans for the future?
Investment in further packing equipment, machinery and training form Xact's plans for 2023, along with further recruitment. Additional plans for targeted advertising, exhibition attendance and networking with key organisations, such as the Chamber.
How long have you been a member of the East Midlands Chamber, and how have you engaged with the membership benefits to support your business activity?
We have been a member of the Chamber for just over a year. Key personnel have worked with the Chamber in the past when it operated separately across the Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
We have attended some events to date and plan to work with our membership account manager to maximise the services and benefits available, plus attend key events relevant to the business, which offer valuable networking opportunities.
In August, the Chamber welcomed 25 new members:
• 3RS IT
(pictured)
• The Van Yard Ltd
• Vaughandale Construction Limited
• WB Power Services Ltd
Rhenus Warehousing Solutions UK, which recently won an award for its sustainability measures, is helping retailers become more environmentally-friendly, by operating from a new, sustainable warehousing campus in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.
Rhenus Warehousing Solutions UK is a logistics supplier that provides warehousing, fulfilment and returns processing to multi-channel retailers and brands. It utilises the latest emerging technologies to provide efficient storage, B2B and B2C order fulfilment, value-added services, and comprehensive returns management.
The third-party logistics provider is committed to having a positive impact on the environment, and recently received the 2023 UKWA (United Kingdom Warehousing Association) Award for Excellence in Sustainability. The win showcases how Rhenus Warehousing Solutions UK is focused on energy efficiency, carbon reduction and implementing environmental initiatives.
The brand-new sustainable facility, known as the ‘Rhenus Campus’, is ideally situated in the heart of the Golden Triangle, a prime location nearby the M1, M69, M6 and M42. The campus is home to two warehouses, measuring one million square feet in total across 64 acres.
The ‘Rhenus Campus’ is certified “BREEAM Outstanding” and has been designed with reference to the UK Green Building Council
(UKGBC) Framework Definition for Net Zero Carbon Buildings.
The campus promotes sustainability by generating renewable energy on-site via solar panels and air source heat pumps, installing electric car charging points, and caring for local wildlife by introducing hedgehog homes, bat and bird boxes and habitat boards all made from recycled timber.
The site will also be home to a pond, wildflower grassland and meadow, and between 700 and 900 native trees which are being planted to encourage biodiversity and enhance existing woodland.
Kerry Delaney, regional director, Europe NorthWest at Rhenus Warehousing Solutions UK, said:
“At Rhenus Warehousing Solutions UK, being sustainable is a core part of our ethos and we have made it a priority at our campus. We pride ourselves on reaching high sustainability standards and are on-hand to help retailers reach their own environmental targets.”
Rhenus Warehousing Solutions UK specialises in contract logistics for retail, wholesale and ecommerce warehousing and distribution. It offers its customers a personalised service and prides itself on building strong relationships.
For more information on Rhenus please email warehousing.enquiries@uk.rhenus.com or visit www.rhenus.group/uk
The Chamber’s Enterprising Women network holds its annual awards gala dinner celebration on 6 October. Before the winners are announced, Jasmine Thompson takes a closer look at this year’s finalists.
Sponsored by headline partner Michael Smith Switchgear
Becky Valentine and Victoria Green – Spenbeck
Since 2012, Spenbeck has been run by siblings Becky and Victoria, who have diversified its offering into consultancy, affordable office and residential design services, alongside sustainability and building health client support.
Dawn Brown – Rose Cottage Doggy Daycare
Rose Cottage Doggy Day Care provides a happy, healthy and stress-free experience for canine companions and a luxury boarding experience. Dawn has grown the business from her passion for dogs, which started when she volunteered at boarding kennels aged 13.
Emma Allen – Acute Business Advisory
Acute Business Advisory, founded more than two years ago in Derby, is a financial services firm. Emma is the company’s founder and financial director, and has brought a unique set of skills and methods to the business, contributing to its success.
Jaz Kaur – Fraser Stretton Property Group
Jaz is the co-founder and CEO of Fraser Stretton Property Group. Her combination of property law knowledge and experience combined with the latest technological developments enables Fraser Stretton to offer a quality service for landlords, vendors, new-build developers and property buyers.
Sandy Prime – S&D Roofing
A family-run roofing contractor with 25 years of knowledge and
experience, S&D Roofing is a trusted roofing partner for leading housebuilders. Sandy leads the operational teams, managing everything from the financial management to delivering health and safety toolbox talks.
Sponsored by Futures Housing Group
Alice Lees – Rolls-Royce
Alice is a degree apprentice undergoing a placement in electrical within the digital team at Rolls-Royce. Feedback from Alice’s placements is consistently of a high standard, commenting on her exceptional work ethic.
Florence Comasky – EMA Training
Florence joined EMA Training as a content creator and has since suggested new processes and efficiencies to implement within the marketing department
Lucy Coope – trentbarton Lucy is trentbarton’s first female apprentice technician. By learning both on the job and at college, Lucy is training in all aspects of bus and coach repair and maintenance.
Lucy Hilton – Cosy Direct
During her time at Cosy Direct, Lucy has introduced new technologies that have helped improve engagement across social media channels and implemented a new email strategy.
Sophie Shapcott – Smith Partnership
Sophie is the marketing and business development executive for Derby-based law firm Smith Partnership, responsible for helping spread the word about its work with clients across the full range of legal services, including corporate, civil and criminal litigation.
Sponsored by Nelsons
Asiya Parekh – Leicester Hospitals Charity
Asiya has worked for Leicester Hospitals Charity since November 2021. She started in her role as charity operations manager and was promoted within a year to corporate fundraising officer.
Brogan Lees-Collier – Forsyth Barnes
Brogan is head of talent at Forsyth Barnes across its global offices in Nottingham, London and New York City. As a Nottingham Trent University graduate, she joined the talent team, mainly focusing on bringing in recent graduates, and championing women in recruitment.
Cherryl Holland – trentbarton
Cherryl has been trentbarton’s general manager in Sutton-inAshfield for seven years. From a mum-of-four working two days a week in a travel shop, to training as a bus driver before moving on to roles such as service delivery manager, Cherryl has blossomed on her career journey.
Emily Brailsford – Rural Action Derbyshire
Emily is The Willow project officer for Rural Action Derbyshire, which supports rural communities in the county. She has run the project, which delivers awareness training to help people identify signs of domestic abuse, since 2020.
Sarah Budgie – Regency Source
Sarah is the business development manager at Regency, an independent training provider. She is key to managing relationships with clients for the company’s adult education programmes and alternative provision schemes in local schools.
Sponsored by Fraser Stretton Property Group
Julie Adams – Auditel
Off the back of founding cost, procurement and carbon solutions company Auditel in 1994, Julie has established consultancy Melvaig Associates. She also runs C Four Paws in Chesterfield, growing it from a bankrupt business to one turning over more than £1.5m.
Julie Clark – Savage Lighting Savage Lighting specialises in designing and manufacturing highquality lighting products for the global superyacht industry. From joining the business in 2001 on a six-month contract, Julie took sole ownership in 2021.
Sally Faulkner – Bond Street Distillery
Sally acquired and renovated the old Bond Street Glass premises in Hinckley, Leicestershire, in 2018 to create the distillery. She launched her first award-winning gin in 2019, and now has a collection of five products additional to speciality gins.
Sarah Withers – Withers Gin
Withers Gin is a Derby-based, familyowned business that produces and sells gin to customers across the UK, founded as a side hustle by gin enthusiast and collector Sarah.
Therese Lord – Construct3D
Construct3D manufactures nextgeneration 3D printers that it claims works faster than anything else on the market. Therese set up the business in 2020, and strived to create a “disruptor” product in the additive manufacturing industry.
Sponsored by Breedon Consulting
Flame UK
Established in 2015, Flame UK supports businesses to implement sustainable and cost-effective management systems to reduce energy and waste costs and increase recycling. Led by managing director Pam Knight, it has since won contracts with large national clients.
Generation Next supports young professionals in the East Midlands aged between 18 and 35. The team of ambassadors, introduced by its young governance board of “champions”, represent a variety of sectors and specialisms in business.
PPL PRS collections team
PPL PRS is a non-profit organisation that facilitates the issuing of TheMusicLicence. In 2022, the collections team, led by three women, collected 110% of budget while building strong relationships across the wider business.
PPL PRS marketing team
The marketing team holds the
record within the business for best staff retention, as well as the highest engagement scores. The team of seven is led by three strong female leaders.
Rotheras Solicitors
Rotheras has been providing high quality legal advice for almost 200 years. Its wills and probate department, led by partner Kirsten Wood, advises clients on a range of contentious and non-contentious matters.
Sponsored by Unique Window Systems
Blueprint Interiors
Blueprint Interiors is a specialist workplace consultancy that designs and fits-out offices. In 2010, Chloe Sproston and Rachel Biddles became directors and now jointly run the business through a “human-focused” ethos.
CMP Legal
CMP Legal was established in 2021 by four solicitors looking to establish a unique approach to advising clients on a variety o f matters. Its founding principle of being “refreshingly approachable” helped it secure clients throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Design Studio Architects
Design Studio Architects is a family-run Leicestershire architecture firm providing a full design and build service. Its mission is to create environments that inspire and improve quality of life.
Katapult
Katapult designs themed attractions and experiences tha t amaze and engage visitors globally. Its experiences are enjoyed by 50 million visitors, at 81 attractions, in 18 different countries, each year.
S&D Roofing
Director Sandy Prime leads the family-run roofing contractor’s operational teams, managing everything from the financial management to delivering health and safety toolbox talks.
Sponsored by Pick Everard
ChangeXtra – Claire Mann
ChangeXtra facilitates conversations about the menopause and empowers women through positive change.
Pausetrack – a health tracking app designed specifically for women in peri-menopause – enables women to monitor and understand their physical and emotional wellbeing.
Construct3D – Therese Lord, Jacob Lord and Jason Lord
Construct3D is a family-run SME founded in 2020, which manufactures 3D printers. Its printers are “disruptors” in the additive manufacturing industry, with faster turnaround times on products, parts and prototypes compared to other 3D printers.
Purpose Media – Ruby Birks
Purpose Media is a full-service marketing agency based in Derbyshire. In her role as project manager, Ruby has constantly worked to create better ways of working that enable the clientfacing team to service clients.
RimPro-Tec Wheelbands –Deborah Chester
RimPro-Tec’s Wheelbands system is a fully patented wheel and rim protector that provides protection while helping to avoid costly reconditioning of automotive alloy wheels. Deborah developed the product and invented the machine to make it.
Sponsored by The Turnaround CEO
Chloe Heard – MHA
Chloe is an audit trainee at MHA, working towards her chartered accountancy status. She has taken initiative to build her network across the business and its member firm, Baker Tilly International, as the vice-chair of its young professionals network.
Coral Guard – GBS Apprenticeships
Coral started at GBS as an administrative assistant in 2019, and has progressed to brand development manager. She has been involved in all aspects of the business, which provides Government training initiatives, such as skills bootcamps and apprenticeships.
Katie McLoughlin – Soft Touch Arts
Soft Touch Arts uses a variety of art, music and cooking to improve the lives of young people aged 10 to 25. Katie started working at the charity as a project assistant on an internship in July 2022, and has since been promoted to a co-ordinator, now successfully leading its outreach project team.
Ruby Birks – Purpose Media
Ruby has worke d as a project manager at Purpose Media since completing her apprenticeship at the start of 2022. She has been with the agency since early 2021, progressing from an apprentice to leading project management.
The winners of the Enterprising Women Awards 2023 will be revealed in the November edition of Business Network.
For more information on the network, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/enterprisingwomen
Scarlett Canavan – ER Recruitment
Scarlett is the business and marketing manager at ER Recruitment and has been with the company for nearly eight years, starting out as an intern during her time at De Montfort University. She represents the recruitment firm across the region and is a board member of Generation Next.
Sponsored by She Inspires Global Cosy Direct Cosy promotes a natural and active childhood by supplying sustainable nursery and educational equipment worldwide. The Derbyshire-based company donates 10% of its profits to its own foundation.
Part of Lear Corporation, Guilford delivers automotive interior solutions that include body cloth capabilities, headliner and specialty applications.
Rosie May Foundation
The Rosie May Foundation was established in 2004 by Mary Storrie, following the murder of her daughter Rosie May, aged 10, in 2003. The foundation has grown into an international charity, supporting thousands of children, and their families, to create safe spaces for them to grow.
Rotheras has been providing legal advice for almost 200 years to both individuals and businesses on services ranging from conveyancing, family law, and wills and probate, to commercial property, debt recovery and transport.
Spenbeck was founded in 1981 and has been synonymous with regenerating Nottingham’s Lace Market, with its CSR efforts now focusing on the creation of sustainable cities, health and wellbeing and reducing inequalities in the city.
generation with his brother Hendrik. "We succeeded in this because, as a family-run company, we act very flexibly and quickly and have made courageous investment decisions - especially in our own paper production and the expansion of renewable energies," says Schumacher.
Through the acquisition of the Kaierde board mill, the majority stake in the Italian corrugated base pap er manufacturer Cartiere Modesto Cardella SpA and the purchase of the Leipzig Land GmbH board mill, the corporate group has significantly increased its own production and processing capacities.
the packaging specialist is developing intelligent combination products together with its joint venture partner Verpa Folie.
In this context, Schumacher Packaging is also concerned with the new draft of the European Packaging Regulation (PPWR), which the European Commission presented in November 2022.
The Schumacher Packaging Group, one of Europe's largest manufacturers of customised corrugated and solid board packaging (www.schumacherpackaging.com), has successfully continued its growth trajectory in 2022.
Despite high volatility and difficult economic conditions on the world markets, the company was able to increase its annual turnover by almost 40 percent to around 1.2 billion euros compared to the previous year after sales deductions.
Decisive factors for the strong growth were the development of new product fields as well as strategic decisions. Nevertheless, Schumacher Packaging is concerned about the development of Germany as an industrial location. The familyowned company is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
The sales target of 1 billion euros was clearly exceeded across all areas of the group of companies. Against the backdrop of increased energy prices, strong inflation and falling consumption, which shaped market events with the outbreak of the war against Ukraine, the packaging specialist's sales remained almost constant compared to the previous year. No growth was achieved in the primary business areas.
The growth in sales was mainly achieved through the acquisition of additional plants and the development of new product fields in the area of plastic reduction, especially for the food industry, but also for online retail. The number of employees rose from 3,700 to 4,111 in the past calendar year.
"Last year, our top priority was to secure supplies to our customers," explains company boss Björn Schumacher, who runs the company in the third
In addition, part of the 700 million euro investment programme was already brought forward to last year in order to make energyintensive production increasingly independent of natural gas.
Nevertheless, the high energy and labour costs are of great concern to the business leaders. "Industrial companies based in Germany are under immense strain. Some of our customers have already informed us that they will no longer make investments in Germany or that they will relocate their production facilities abroad, where the political framework conditions are different. As a result, we are also having to critically question our planned investments in Germany at the moment," says Schumacher.
"The turbulent year led to less consumption and caused the demand for corrugated and solid board packaging to shrink compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the trend towards paper-based packaging and intelligent combination products continues among manufacturers and in the trade," says Hendrik Schumacher, Managing Director of Schumacher Packaging.
The food industry in particular has proven to be crisis-proof in terms of packaging over the past year. Products such as HALOPACK®, which reduces plastic by up to 90 per cent, and Stackpack, which is made of solid board and can completely replace conventional plastic trays for fruit and vegetables due to its bio-based protective barrier, were in high demand.
The company is also developing paper-based solutions for polystyrene parts in packaging, which can even be used for sensitive and heavy electronic products. In areas where plastics still have their place due to their technical properties,
Schumacher Packaging supports the objectives of the regulation, which is intended to reduce the volume of packaging, ban overpackaging and further develop the circular economy in Europe. However, the family-owned company considers the fact that the regulation provides for the use of reusable packaging for household appliances and in non-food mail order to be worthy of criticism, although according to a recent study by McKinsey, these can cause up to 200 per cent more emissions in online retailing.
"Flexible solutions that reduce air in packaging are important to further reduce CO2 emissions," Björn Schumacher emphasises. The company also relies on this, for example, in its cooperation with the software provider Skrym. Based on existing data and artificial intelligence, packaging sizes and thus emissions and logistics costs can be reduced by up to 15 per cent. "Packaging made of corrugated and solid board already offers many advantages in terms of volume reduction and material efficiencyacross all industries. We hope that these important aspects will be taken into account for the elaboration of the PPWR."
For more details contact Naomi Harvey at Schumacher Packaging sales_bir@schumacher-packaging.com
Former Carpenter’s Arms residents celebrating a collective 300 years of sobriety
Men seeking to rebuild their lives after drug and alcohol addiction came together in June to celebrate their road to sobriety at The Carpenter’s Arms graduation event.
About 2,000 men across the UK have been supported by The Carpenter’s Arms charity over its 15 years of operation. Its residential programme, which takes place at eight sites across Leicestershire, includes support sessions, group work, employability support and leisure activities, with the aim of helping residents find hope and a new start, live independently, and re-build relationships with their families and friends.
The graduation event, which took place at Nottingham Trent Vineyard Church, brought together the charity’s residents and their families, along with high-profile supporters.
Arch Communications is helping two local good causes make headlines across the region by providing nearly £30,000 worth of support.
The Nottinghamshire-based PR agency has aided an allotment project for the homeless and supported plans for a trans-Atlantic rowing challenge that is raising money for a hospice.
A £10,000 gift from Arch meant the Friary homelessness charity, based in West Bridgford, has been able to launch a scheme transforming its old allotments into a haven for vulnerable adults. The agency’s pro-bono PR work for the charity led to the story being featured on both BBC and ITV regional news programmes.
The company has also donated 50 hours of free PR support to a couple who are planning to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Its expertise will be put to good use in helping Jooles and Ian Paillin-Dean attract the sponsorship they need to take-on the World’s Toughest Row challenge in 2024. With the team name Stronger Twogether, the couple will raise money for the Leicestershire hospice LOROS, and their story has also featured on regional TV news.
Matt Youdale, founder and director of Arch Communications, which has provided more than £170,000 to local good causes via donations and unpaid work, said: “These are two terrific causes and we’re very pleased and proud to help them. It’s all part of our whole business ethos – providing high-quality PR and marketing services, so that we can invest in our community.”
An entrepreneur who delivers team-building sessions to charities, businesses and teachers has been helping bring a smile to the faces of NHS staff and patients across the UK.
Gravity Digital has teamed up with Derby County Community Trust (DCCT) to help break down barriers facing young people keen to further their education and training.
The Derby-based digital marketing agency has joined DCCT’s partners programme and chose to specifically align with the trust’s Education Hardship Fund as part of the company’s commitment to support young people into the workplace. The fund helps young people who may have a financial barriers to accessing the trust’s wide range
of educational courses by supporting their travel, kit costs and living expenses.
In the coming year, more than 700 young people will be part of the education programme, which has activities ranging from football and education to sport-related degrees.
Gravity Digital director Sharon Stevens-Cash said: “Education and employability skills are particularly relevant to our fast-moving digital marketing sector, which relies on the enthusiasm, positive attitude and flexibility of young people who are the future of this industry.”
Aaron Betesta set up Laughtercise in 2021, delivering online teambuilding sessions for key workers going through the pandemic. He has since delivered nearly £10,000 worth of sessions for free to staff in third-sector organisations.
He cites organisations such as the British Heart Foundation and Amazon as customers and his sessions have been praised by participants, with 70% of NHS staff claiming to feel less stressed after taking part.
Aaron’s most recent event was for patients Living with and Beyond Cancer hosted by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals, where he delivered a fun, feel-good session to patients and staff.
One of those in attendance was Paul Neale, who is recovering from bowel cancer, and the 62-year-old said laughter – and a positive outlook on life – was important in coming to terms with his diagnosis.
Aaron said: “We’re proud to work with some incredible organisations and meeting people such as Paul is humbling. There was a great atmosphere in the room, and it was amazing to see so many people who have gone through so much, enjoying the release that comes with smiling and laughing.”
‘These are two terrific causes and we’re very pleased and proud to help them’The Friary chief executive Ben Talbot (left) with Arch Communications director Matt Youdale at the charity’s allotments, in front of the new £5,000 greenhouse funded by the agency Barrowcliff, and Sharon Stevens-Cash, of Gravity Digital
An army veteran who has served around the world has joined the team of a Derbyshire rail firm.
Bruce Spencer (pictured) joins MTMS, based in Swadlincote, as the group strategic lead, where he will look at the company’s long-term aims.
Bruce has dedicated most of his working career to the army as both a regular and reserve officer. He travelled the world for 38 years after first being commissioned into the Worcester and Sherwood Foresters.
He said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining MTMS. It’s a growing company, and has great ideas and great leadership. It fills a muchneeded capacity gap in the UK railway system, contributing to the nation’s green footprint.
“I will be looking towards the next three years, at what we are doing now and suggesting how we evolve as a company.”
A former student-turned-teacher at West Nottinghamshire College says her appointment to one of its top roles is a “dream come true”.
Diane Booth has been named as the college’s vice-principal for curriculum and quality, responsible for developing its strategy for teaching, learning, assessment and curriculum planning.
Her association with the college spans more than 35 years, having studied general and communication studies in the late 1980s alongside her Saturday job in a local hair salon.
With ambitions of becoming a teacher, Diane joined the college as a commercial trainer in its hairdressing department in 1999, becoming hairdressing training coordinator one year later.
After briefly working as a lecturer at another college, she returned in 2005 to lead and develop the college’s hairdressing programmes for 14 to 19-year-olds.
Diane’s most recent role was assistant principal for quality and standards. She played a key role in the college’s Ofsted inspection earlier this year, which resulted in it being judged to be “good” with areas of “outstanding” provision.
She said: “As a local person who first walked through the college’s doors as a 16-year-old hairdressing student, it’s a dream come true to become vice-principal for curriculum and quality.
“I have always been passionate about further education – I believe it changes lives and makes a big difference to local communities, employers and students. I’m testament to that.
“As soon as I started teaching, I loved it and knew this was the career for me.”
Law firm Geldards has appointed partner Jay Atubra to head up its networks team following the retirement of partner Jamie Gordon.
The Geldards networks team is one of the country’s largest specialist legal providers of volume property solutions for the utilities sector. Jay will lead a team of more than 40 legal colleagues, who work closely with electricity operators, water suppliers and gas transporters, as well as fibre-optic broadband utilities network providers.
Jay joins from Knights where she was partner in the asset management team and brings with her a wealth of commercial property and utility experience.
Jay said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Geldards earlier in my career and am thrilled to be following on from Jamie to continue the success of the networks team.
“Geldards and Jamie have built a successful and highly specialist team and I look forward to continuing the development of our
Gurpreet Dehal(pictured) has been appointed the new chair of the University of Derby’s governing council.
Gurpreet was appointed as an independent member of governing council and as chair-elect in September 2021. He takes over tenure from Stephen Smith, who has been in the role since August 2018.
He has been involved in higher education since 2010, first as a council member at Royal Holloway, University of London, and then in a national regulatory role.
His non-executive experience includes trusteeships with multiacademy trusts and with a counselling charity, as well as board roles in defence, infrastructure and finance.
Gurpreet has also advised the Government on improving access to dormant assets for the public good.
The role of chair has the responsibility for strategic leadership of the university’s governing body.
specialist connections service that is such a critical factor to all our clients.”
Geldards, which has offices in Nottingham and Derby, has further strengthened its commercial property team with the appointment of public sector partner Neil Walker.
Neil joins from Browne Jacobson,
where he spent the past 11 years, most recently as legal director in the built environment team. He brings with him more than 25 years’ experience having forged a career specialising in property development, investment and dealing with complex regeneration and commercial property projects for the public sector.
Gurpreet said: “It is a privilege to be invited to chair the governing body at the University of Derby, supporting the vice-chancellor Professor Kathryn Mitchell and her executive team as they progress with a focus both on excellent student experience and outcomes.
Derbyshire-based Planning & Design Practice has expanded its architectural team with the addition of senior architect David Symons.
Sarah Wilson has swapped the supermarket shop floor for tech –after bucking the gender trend by landing herself a role in IT.
The 30-year-old is currently the only female member on the technical team at Castle Donington-based True MSP.
The former Morrisons worker took the plunge after 11 years in retail and started an apprenticeship with the firm – keen for a change in career but not so eager to head back into the classroom, choosing instead to learn on the job.
Sarah said: “I’ve always had a fascination with technology – from a young age I was always into
computer games. It was a nobrainer - it’s something I enjoy, so I thought I might as well try and make a career out of it.”
Findings from the European Institute for Gender Equality show that just 17% of information and communications technology specialists are women — by comparison, 34% of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) graduates are women.
Sarah added: “I think things are progressing now and there are a lot more opportunities out there for women. To any females thinking of a career in IT, I would say ‘just do it’.”
David is an RIBA chartered architect who studied architecture at the University of Nottingham, with experience working in practice in both the UK and Canada.
Prior to Planning & Design, David was project architect as part of a practice of 60 and responsible for constructions budgets of up to £20m.
He has experience leading multi-disciplinary teams and working with diverse clients on projects ranging from town centre regeneration, commercial office fit-outs and university projects throughout the West Midlands and the UK.
David said: “Having experience working on projects from the smallest to largest scale, it is great to be joining the Planning & Design team to assist with a strong existing portfolio of varied projects and during a period of growth in domestic enquiries and larger developer schemes.
“Having assisted with implementing transformative projects in other areas of the country, it is fantastic to be joining the team with such strong local connections during a time of great growth and change for Derby in particular.”
A director at Duncan & Toplis has been invited to join The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) on its members and commercial board.
Timms Solicitors has made three key appointments across the firm to support its ongoing growth.
Marketing manager Sharon Jeffery, and finance and systems manager Ali Jodiyawalla, have been promoted to senior associates. Wills and probate solicitor Matt Kelly has also been promoted to associate after completing Timms’ bespoke Pathways career development programme.
The firm has offices in Derby, Burton, Swadlincote and Ashby, and managing partner Fiona Moffat said: “Everyone at Timms has a personalised career development plan and we are fully committed to supporting individual’s aspirations and goals.
“These promotions are all very much deserved. The marketing, IT and finance functions are obviously crucial in the sustained growth of the firm across our high street offices and Sharon and Ali’s promotions reflect the value that we place on their work and input into the business.”
Andrian Rose, partner and the firm’s training principal, said: “We remain firmly committed to achieving growth through home-grown talent and ensuring that young professionals have all the support, training and qualifications that they need for their own career development and to achieve the high standards of work that we expect at Timms.”
Accountant and ethics adviser Stuart Brown (pictured) will help to steer the development, operation and implementation of policies and actions that will impact the organisation’s almost 200,000 global members.
From software start-ups to highflying airlines and high street banks, 98% of the best global brands rely on ICAEW chartered accountants. In addition to supplying advice on precedent-setting cases and developing new guidance within the organisation, Stuart will now actively help to shape policy decisions that will impact organisations around the world.
Stuart said: “This is a great mark of recognition that I’m honoured to accept.”
From a studio in Derby, Katapult helps to design themed experiences and attractions for some of the world’s bestknown brands across the world. Dawn Foote, co-founder and CEO of the Chamber’s reigning Derbyshire Business of the Year, chats to Dan Robinson about how the company has built its name and reputation both locally and internationally.
Birthplace to the Industrial Revolution, Derby is synonymous with manufacturing, making goods that are distributed to every corner of the world.Not so much is known about its burgeoning creative sector, which instead of having a flagship name like Rolls-Royce or Toyota is filled with lots of small enterprises doing no less interesting things.
Take Katapult, a business of 19 people who spend their time working with brands including Ferrari, Lego and Warner Bros Discovery to design themed attractions and experiences so far visited by more than 50 million people worldwide.
“Derby is known as the place for planes, trains and automobiles, but it’s always had a creative community,” says CEO Dawn Foote.
“Lara Croft was designed in a studio just across the road from us, and there’s lots of other companies like web developers, design studios, codemakers, architects and jewellery makers that just quietly get on with what they’re doing.
“The creative sector is one of the fastest growing in the UK but it gets little attention because it’s fragmented with lots of small entities.
“In our business, we have clients around the world that are buying our storytelling, our design thinking and our intellect.”
Recent projects these ideas have been lent to include the Ferrari Experience concept, which features simulator rides, simulator rides, an Esports adrenaline hub and a dining experience; the DOTS immersive experience for children at Legoland Discovery Centres in Europe, North America and Asia; and an upcoming family entertainment centre for Cartoon Network World in Kuwait.
There have also been green screen photography experiences at attractions such as Sea Life London, CBeebies Land at Alton Towers Resort and Emerald Park’s Viking-themed ride, not only immersing visitors within the fictional universe they are visiting but having a chance to take home a souvenir photograph featuring a favourite character.
Getting Derby’s story straight for external audiences is crucial to realising its great potential, says Dawn.
She believes it goes under the radar on a national scale but that it has plenty to say if it can produce a compelling narrative.
“Derby is a great place with so much potential and has so much already happening here, but we need to work on letting other people know,” she says.
“When we bring clients here, they don’t know what Derby is about. They don’t have a negative perception but just neutral.
“That’s actually a great opportunity for us to make Derby what we want it to be for people from outside the area by writing our story and communicating it clearly.”
Dawn, originally from Lincolnshire, has lived and worked in Derby ever since she arrived for university in 1997
Commercial opportunities provided by these worlds extend to retail and catering operations, which Katapult’s team also gets involved in. Examples range from a Thomas & Friends-themed shop just over the Derbyshire-Staffordshire border at Drayton Manor Resort, to a range of premium photo experience products – including queue signage, promotional counter stands and packaging – for guests at Atlantis, The Palm, in Dubai to help boost merchandise sales.
When Katapult was formed in 2001, she established the Creative Industries Network in Derby to facilitate greater collaboration between businesses in the sector. It ran for about a decade before being rolled into Mainframe, a digital and creative business community based at Derby Quad.
“I love being in a city where I feel connected to other people in businesses,” says Dawn, who has been a Derby Theatre board director and Derby QUAD adviser.
“The creative sector is made up of mainly SMEs, the majority of which are under 10 employees, but there is so much talent here.
“Our business has art directors, concept artists, 3D unreal engine designers, writers, producers, storytellers, creative directors and producers, and project managers – all really high-skilled jobs, and we attract talent from all over.”
“There’s so many well-known TV shows, themes and brands that can translate into a memorable experience, and we’re lucky enough to be trusted by some of those great brands to bring these to life,” says Dawn.
“We tap into the characters and every part of the world to create so many weird and wonderful things that people can interact with.
“Some of our team are ex-Disney imagineers so they have great experience with world-
In collaboration with local Legoland Parks teams in eight locations such as Windsor, Billund and Malaysia, the Katapult team designed and produced an “activation” featuring build tables, inspirational Lego models, a central Planet Legoland globe, and an interior and exterior design – all matching the aesthetic of Lego’s Rebuild the World campaign.
Another project with The Lego Group involved creating the Lego DOTS activation worldwide at 30 Legoland Discovery Centre sites, run by Merlin Entertainments. This hands-on experience encourages young visitors to interact with Lego DOTS craft toys, have creative freedom and be self-expressive by building what they like. The space design comprises a DOTS cart,
building. If you go to Disneyland, you become fully immersed in this world and those moments are emotional for people, which is why it’s on their bucket list.”
KATAPULT STARTED LIFE in a student flat more than two decades ago, with the company formally established the day Dawn and cofounder Phil Higgins graduated from the University of Derby in 2001.
‘There’s so many well-known TV shows, themes and brands that can translate into a memorable experience’Ferrari Experience is a concept Katapult has worked on and now looking to take to market Lego DOTS is one of Katapult's signature projects
During their first year, they began collaborating with other creative students on projects outside the core curriculum of their photography, video, design and music degrees, and in second year they began taking on clients, often from the city’s vibrant music and nightlife scene.
“We were supplying the VJing visuals that are projected live in synchronisation with the DJ’s performance in a nightclub,” Dawn explains.
campervan, spinning totem letters, hanging hoops décor and supporting activities.
EMERALD PARK
Appointed by Ireland’s top theme park to re-energise its queue line experience for the popular log flume ride, Viking Voyage at the Park. It featured an apparition of a Viking God using a mist projection, an augmented reality experience enabling visitors to see themselves in traditional Viking dress, animatronic ravens inspired by
birds from Norse mythology, and a new photo opportunity area in the form of a throne.
WORLD
Designed and developed a 32,000 sq ft immersive attraction in Kuwait, with features including dynamic simulators and physical play challenges, and bringing to life popular characters including Ben 10 and The Powerpuff Girls. The team has worked in collaboration with Cartoon Network, owned by
Warner Bros Discovery, as well as leisure and entertainment group Future Kid.
DRAYTON MANOR RESORT
Worked with the theme park operator and Thomas & Friends IP owner to create a shop based on the children’s TV show.
Working with operator Merlin Entertainment, the BBC and other IPs connected with the CBeebies
TV channel, Katapult created a new photo studio at the heart of the popular CBeebies Land, giving visitors the chance to have their photo taken in a replica of the CBeebies TV studio and with their favourite characters.
Working in collaboration with Ferrari and Simworx, it has created a media-based midway attraction that includes immersive simulator rides, an Esports hub and exclusive themed dining experience.
“Then we started moving more into commercial work like live events with Sinfonia Viva orchestra and videos for furniture companies as marketing agencies hired us to create content.
“At that point I wasn’t clear what I wanted to do post-university. I was just following my interests and passions for the creative arts and photography. I thought if I did that, everything else would fall into place from there.”
And fall into place it did, with more clients coming forward after Dawn and Phil’s graduation, Katapult taking space at Derwent Business Centre and the company – starting as a team of five people – diversifying into a design and marketing agency.
Dawn admits she naturally took to the business side as she enjoyed collaborating with partners and spotting opportunities for growth, but there was also a sense of “naivety” expected for young entrepreneurs.
She recalls: “We lived on beans on toast for a while and didn’t even pay ourselves a living wage for the first six months. We just lived off our student loans.”
Over time, the company began to specialise in the sector that would take its team to far-flung countries, working on innovative new concepts for world-renowned brands and generally working hard while “having a lot of fun”.
Explaining how Katapult stepped to the forefront of the themed attractions and experiences space, Dawn says: “When working for nightclubs, we were producing themed attractions in an environment, and this helped us to land projects for different events and attractions like Derby QUAD and Derby Festé.
“As time went on, this morphed into working on experiences and in particular themed
attractions, which has taken us into lots of different environments. We worked a lot with a company called Picsolve, which provides photography experiences for leisure attractions, and we gradually began working directly with the theme park operators and the IP holders.
“Now, the work we do ranges from the full masterplan and design for an entertainment centre and being the design partner for attractions in theme parks, through to working with real estate owners on the experiences for visitors coming into shopping malls from a design point of view.
“We predominantly come into the mix when we are commissioned by IP owners like Lego, Ferrari, Hasbro and Warner Bros as a design partner. An operator will be developing an attraction under their IP and we will ensure the design is aligned with the brand and the experience is up to the standard expected by the IP.”
MANY OF THE projects Katapult is working on are strictly confidential under non-disclosure agreements, but there are still plenty to talk about.
A recent example is Gigantosaurus Land, a four-acre interactive theme park extension a based on the Netflix series Gigantosaurus at Roarr!, a dinosaur-themed adventure park in Norfolk.
The new space, which forms the most ambitious expansion in the park’s history, is designed to actively encourage new exploratory and sensory family play, while it also features dinosaur-themed food and drink outlets and a shop modelled on the TV show.
Among the design features implemented during the four-year project are huge dinosaur footprints along walkways and a slide made from Gigantosaurus’ scales.
A particularly strong and rewarding relationship has been with Lego. Katapult has
Cities and towns must consider the visitor experience if they are to thrive, believes Dawn.
Many urban are areas undergoing significant change in a post-Covid world in which the former dominance of retail is being replaced by a combination of living, working and leisure spaces.
But while a spate of new mixeduse developments are popping up across locations such as Derby, Leicester and Nottingham, Dawn wants to see new thinking also adopted across the spaces in between buildings in order to improve the holistic experience.
She says: “We think some of our design thinking approaches could be adopted in cities as they try to reinvent themselves when we think about the visitor experience.
“It’s about putting the ‘guest’ front of mind and considering the physical interactions they will have.
“For example, if you’re walking through a city and there’s a sign saying ‘don’t go here’, what is the experience you are providing people? A lot of the time, we don’t consider the spaces in between buildings, but there’s so many opportunities to use playful messaging that encourages people to walk to the next junction, or down a side alley. We can do wonderful, creative things in the most unusual spaces that help to transform forgotten spaces.”
Examples she cites include railway arches, which have been turned into shops, restaurants and bars in some cities, while immersive dining experiences are another
suggestion in former industrial buildings.
Locally, Down to Earth Derby’s community garden Electric Daisy, which opened to the public in Bold Lane in June, has showcased new thinking.
Featuring flowers, plants, cabins,
seating areas and an entertainment space for guest speakers and live music, it is designed as a place for people to socialise, do work or relax.
Dawn says: “It’s all about wellbeing and reconnecting communities – cities have a big role to play in reconnecting people.”
‘An operator will be developing an attraction under their IP and we will ensure the design is aligned with the brand’The World of Aardman is one of the next big projects for Katapult Down to Earth’s Electric Daisy public garden in Derby has been supported by Katapult
collaborated with the world-renowned Danish toy maker and attraction operator Merlin Entertainments to create a number of immersive brand experiences used by millions of visitors.
It was appointed to work with 19 of Merlin’s Legoland Discovery Centre sites worldwide on designing challenges and immersive experiences for children, including creative tables for them to make and display their Lego masterpieces. Visitors are challenged to design a vehicle that can make its way down a zip line and make their own stop motion Lego videos using fixed iPad points.
Subsequent projects have included the creation of a Lego Creative Club within these sites, bringing new play experiences for families that consider everything from the welcome guests receive from a “playmaker” on arrival and a book library where they gain inspiration for designs, through to the spaces in which visitors build their creations, then finally celebrate these by displaying them and capturing the moment with a souvenir photograph.
Most recently, it has created hands-on experiences for the Lego DOTS product range now live at 30 Discovery Centres and an activation linked to the Rebuild the World brand campaign at eight Legoland Parks resorts.
A testimonial on Katapult’s website from Legoland Discovery Centre commends the agency for “really understanding the brand and completely getting what we are looking to create”.
The love is reciprocated, as Dawn says: “Lego is a great company to work with. I love its culture, ethos and entire purpose in terms of how it has a mission for children to learn through play.
“Being a family business, it’s clear it has stayed true to its vision as the whole experience being created is around creating family togetherness.
“We work with the team at its headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and the people there are brilliant – they just have so much creativity.”
Another household name on Katapult’s client roll call is Ferrari. The brief for the Ferrari Experience, which it designed in partnership with the automotive maker and Dudley-based
Being crowned the Chamber’s Derbyshire Business of the Year has helped to “relaunch” Katapult in the local area.
After making a name for itself internationally in the theme park and attractions sector, the honour in November last year has enabled the company to build its reputation closer to home too.
The firm initially won the International Trade Award before it was read out again for the top award, which had no nominees and was chosen from all the winners.
Dawn says: “In a place like Derby, where there’s so many big exporters, it was such a big moment to win the International Trade Award as it really helped to showcase how the creative sector is a big player locally.
“We didn’t realise the final award was picked from the other category winners, so we were really shocked when our name was read out. It’s brilliant from our point of view – because we had been quietly getting on with things, our profile in Derby was probably higher 10 years ago when we worked on local projects.”
simulator ride designer Simworx, was to broaden the brand’s popularity beyond motor enthusiasts and F1 fans by appealing to the family market.
The resulting concept, which is yet to be rolled out to a location, is a media-based midway attraction that includes immersive simulator rides, an Esports hub and themed dining experience. It is billed as a new way for people to experience the brand.
Dawn explains: “It offers a new way of telling the story of Ferrari to a wider audience – from its founding by Enzo Ferrari, and the design and engineering development it has gone through, through to its place in F1.
“We used our expertise of designing themed attractions and storytelling to do this, and we are excited to take the concept to market.”
KATAPULT’S CREATIVE FOOTPRINT can be found at more than 80 attractions in 18 countries, which span markets including the Europe, North and Latin America, and the Middle East. Eighty percent of sales are overseas.
The Asia-Pacific region is next in its sights, with Dawn recently visiting Singapore and Vietnam.
She says parts of the region provide potential as “burgeoning economies” and believes trade missions, conferences and expos – which Katapult attends as a member of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions – are the best route to tapping into these.
There is already an ongoing future project for a water park hotel and theme park resort in an unnamed “top destination”, while back home the company has been commissioned as a design partner in The World of Aardman. The visitor attraction will be based on the Bristol-based animation studio Aardman, which created Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run.
Its location has not been announced but Dawn says it could be rolled out globally, featuring interactive experiences and real production sets along with food, drink and retail outlets.
All these are examples of major brands whose consumer experience was once limited to television screens and tangible products, but are now branching out into real-world environments to reach new audiences.
Dawn is an executive committee member for trade body Experience UK, which advises the Government on the experience economy, and she believes this reflects a wider consumer trend.
“There’s been a huge demand from people who want new experiences, whether it’s from a secret cinema through to different concepts in a shopping mall,” she adds.
“People’s time is precious and it has a big say in how they spend their money, so creating memories in which families can spend time together and experience something new is becoming more valued.
“Traditionally, the leisure offer was about bowling and the cinema, but now there’s so many more options.
“Our experience of working with different IP means we get to use our expertise to bring to life those brands into experiences that can become the new bucket list items.”
FIND
IN THE CHAMBER BUSINESS AWARDS
2023 ON PAGE 52
A more strategic and professional approach to career guidance is needed from Government, according to a new University of Derby report.
The publication, titled Investing in Careers – What is Career Guidance Worth?, urges policymakers to offer everyone in England access to lifelong career guidance backed by a so-called Career Guidance Guarantee.
It sets out three key principles that should guide the future of the careers system – a more strategic approach to ensure public money is well spent, a need to professionalise the system and guarantee quality, and an increase in resources and assurance it is being directed to where it is most needed.
The report was launched by the Career Policy Development Group –which brings together organisations with a strategic interest in career guidance, the university being a founding member – at an event with cross-
party think tank Policy Connect and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Skills, Careers and Employment at the House of Lords, hosted by Baroness Garden of Frognal.
Professor Siobhan Neary, head of the International Centre for Guidance Studies at the University of Derby and a co-author of the report, said: “The Career Guidance Guarantee’s overarching message is simple – career guidance helps people manage their life, learning and work.
“Our report demonstrates that investment into career guidance has decreased over the years, and we are calling on the Government to recognise the benefits of the guarantee and how it can contribute to developing a more cohesive career guidance system in England.”
The Universities for Nottingham partnership, a pioneering collaboration in which the city’s two universities work together with local partners, has achieved strong success since its launch, a new report claims.
The partnership set out to improve levels of economic prosperity, educational opportunity, sustainability, and the health and wellbeing of residents across Nottinghamshire.
The refreshed civic agreement, signed by both universities and eight local partners in March 2022, has resulted in several key achievements cited by the report. These include:
•Securing the £5.1m Co(l)laboratory project, which will train 50 PhD students and provide 25 paid “citizen scientist” research placements over the next eight years
•Publication of the Student Living Strategy, which seeks to integrate students into their local communities via a focus on
accommodation, waste and noise issues, and promoting the benefits this population brings to the city •Incentivising half a million individuals to make positive sustainable choices, tracked using the Green Rewards App that has helped avoid the emission of one million tonnes of CO2 from the universities and local councils.
A joint statement by University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University vice-chancellors, Professor Shearer West and Professor Edward Peck, said: “We are motivated by the challenges ahead and heartened by the clear evidence that working together can have real, lasting benefits.”
According to the report, £68 is currently spent per person each year on the delivery of career guidance to young people and £26 for adults, compared to £159 and £35 respectively in 2009, adjusted for inflation.
To implement the Career Guidance Guarantee in full, the report states an additional £315m needs to be spent on youth careers services and an additional £235m on adult careers services. This equates to an average additional
spend of £47 per person on career guidance for young people and an additional £6 per head on workingage adults.
Professor Kathryn Mitchell CBE DL, vice-chancellor of the University of Derby, added: “This way of thinking about career guidance will, we hope, change the narrative – from seeing career guidance essentially as a cost, to one of seeing it as an investment which will have a significant impact on individuals and the economy.”
The University of Derby and Derbyshire Voluntary Action (DVA) have renewed their strategic partnership to further strengthen the link between the university and community groups across Derbyshire.
The organisations created Community Chesterfield in 2019. The lottery-funded partnership project, led by the university’s College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, aims to connect knowledge and expertise at the university with the voluntary and community sector.
The Community Chesterfield partnership has won several national awards in the past four years, including from the Student Nursing Times and Voluntary Sector Awards.
It has delivered thousands of hours of training, placements and networking opportunities for students and staff at the university, as well as supporting businesses, charities and community groups.
The expanded strategic partnership will unlock further resources and opportunities for students and staff across the university to connect with charities and community groups across Derbyshire, allowing new areas of the university to access and benefit from Community Chesterfield’s network.
Jacqui Willis (pictured), chief executive of Derbyshire Voluntary Action, said: “Amplifying the voices of communities has never been so important. The opportunities Derbyshire Voluntary Action’s partnership with the University of Derby has created for students to enhance their studies has been incredible and impactful.”
‘Career guidance helps people manage their life, learning and work’Prof Siobhan Neary Edward Peck and Shearer West
Insurance broker Aston Lark has undergone a transformation after rebranding to Howden UK Brokers Ltd.
The firm, which was created in 2017 following a merger, has an established presence in the region via its Derby branch. It is one of more than 75 offices across the UK and Ireland, employing 2,200 people and serving over 220,000 customers in total.
The rebrand comes as the company renewed its strategic partnership with the Chamber.
Commercial director Lee Parr, who leads the Derby office, said: “Our presence in the East Midlands has deep roots, with our Derby branch diligently serving businesses of all sizes across the region.
“We take pride in our clientcentric approach, investing time to
truly understand their unique needs. This enables us to offer personalised advice and support.
“We're exceptionally proud to have earned the distinction of being East Midlands Chamber's preferred insurance broker. Our commitment to the region remains as steadfast as ever, and we look forward to continuing our journey as Howden UK Brokers Ltd.”
Aston Lark became joined forces with Howden, the international insurance broking group, in April 2022 with the aim of creating a “standout, full-spectrum British broker with unrivalled reach and access”. The official rebrand took place on 2 October.
Loughborough University’s Talent Match programme is set to return – now offering SMEs access to undergraduate and postgraduate talent for shortterm projects and resourcing needs.
The scheme matches students with businesses that can put their skillset to use in a real-world environment, opening the door to employers to gain fresh perspectives and benefit from the added value they bring.
Lee added: “We knew this partnership would eventually lead to a new name, and that time has come. Rest assured, while our name and brand look is undergoing a change, our core values remain the same. We’re still all about care for our clients, our community, and our incredible employees. Together, we're empowered to deliver nothing but the best outcomes.”
Many middle-market businesses are performing well, with sentiment and growth on the up, according to new research by RSM UK.
The audit, tax and consulting firm says that while this is good news for business, it presents a problem for the Bank of England as it grapples with inflationary pressures.
The RSM UK Middle Market Business Index (MMBI), a quarterly survey of 411 senior executives at middle-market companies conducted in July, jumped to 146.5 in Q3, its highest level since the survey began in 2021.
The big jump in the proportion of firms increasing prices in Q3 – from 46% in Q2 to 55% in Q3 – led to a surge in those saying their turnover and profits rose (43% to 53% and 42% to 54% respectively).
But while the proportion of respondents saying they were having to pay more for their inputs fell from 72% to 65%, the increase in the number of firms raising their prices suggests inflation may fall slowly. There was also an increase in businesses hiring more people (43% to 54%) and paying them more money (44% to 55%). RSM said this could pour more cold water on any hopes the labour market is about to materially ease.
Kevin Harris, office managing partner in Leicester at RSM UK, said: “Our latest quarterly index reveals that many middle-market businesses are in good shape. Much of the increases we are seeing stem from an improvement in the ability of firms to pass on price increases to their customers.”
Loughborough University offers free recruitment support, including advertising roles on its careers portal, sifting through applications and assisting with shortlisting. It also has some funding available to cover a large amount of a student’s salary during an internship.
Talent Match’s undergraduate programme comprises two streams –micro-internships and finalist internships – which are both designed to place students into roles where they can offer short-term support on a piece of work within an organisation. The new postgraduate scheme features 100 hours’ work across six to eight weeks in February and March 2024. They can be flexibly designed to fit student and business needs. The university is also in the process of developing a Talent Match scheme tailored specifically for postgraduate students.
Businesses interested in participating in either the undergraduate or postgraduate programmes can find out more at bit.ly/LboroTalentMatch or by emailing employer.services@lboro.ac.uk
THE CHAMBER IS HONOURED BY THE SUPPORT OF ITS STRATEGIC
‘Our presence in the East Midlands has deep roots’Kevin Harris Lee Parr
Key stakeholders across the region met to discuss the progress of East Midlands devolution as plans to give the region extra power and funding gather momentum.
Mark Rogers, interim chief officer for the East Midlands devolution programme, gave a welcome talk after his recent appointment to representatives from business groups including the Chamber, universities and colleges, and emergency services.
The event, held on 18 August, also involved chief executives at the four uppertier local authorities providing updates on key elements of the proposed deal, including transport, skills and adult education, housing, and net zero.
Scott Knowles, chief executive of the Chamber, said: “The East Midlands has historically received the lowest levels of public funding in England. The fact that the East Midlands has consistently delivered GDP growth close to the UK average, from very low levels of investment, is testament to the commitment and ingenuity of the thousands of SMEs that are the backbone of the region’s economy.
“Devolving decision-making powers over how funding is spent to local areas is an important step and a once in a generation opportunity to organise ourselves in a way so that it’s easy for Government to provide us with the funding we need to grow our local economy, productivity and wealth.”
Mark brings a wealth of experience to the interim chief officer role, having served as chief executive of Birmingham City Council and Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, and also played a pivotal role in the formation of the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Business leaders and investors can find out the latest updates on key developments happening in and around Chesterfield at an upcoming event backed by the Chamber.
The Chesterfield Investment Summit, organised by Destination Chesterfield, takes place at the Casa Hotel on 18 October from 8.30am to 11.30am. It is sponsored by the Chamber and Turner & Townsend.
Speakers include Chesterfield Borough Council leader Councillor Tricia Gilby and CEO Dr Huw Bowen, Strata Homes managing director Gemma Smith and Chamber chief executive Scott Knowles.
Book a place at www.chesterfield.co.uk/ business/investment-summit
Businesses in the East Midlands will soon receive a significant boost to their operations with a helping hand from the Chamber’s new generation of business support.
The Chamber has secured £4m of funding until March 2025 to deliver a new series of business support schemes via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Innovate UK EDGE and Made Smarter programmes.
UKSPF – a key part of the Government’s levelling up agenda, aimed at boosting communities, supporting local businesses and improving skills – will back the East Midlands Chamber Accelerator programme.
This aims to strengthen local entrepreneurial ecosystems and support businesses across the region at all stages of their development to start, sustain, grow and innovate, with each participating district determining where it wishes to focus efforts.
Innovate UK EDGE helps innovative SMEs to grow and achieve scale, while Made Smarter assists manufacturers in switching to advanced and automated technologies.
Diane Beresford, deputy chief executive of the Chamber, said: “The Accelerator programme has been carefully designed to provide businesses across the district with the right support, at the right time.
“At the heart of the project is a team of locally-based advisers and specialists, employed by the Chamber, who will offer high-intensity support to businesses seeking to grow, create new jobs or exploit technology to improve performance.
“Working with an adviser or specialist will be a key ingredient for businesses interested in taking advantage of Accelerator support and a diagnostics report will show them where best to point their energies.”
Key activities will be delivered under the strands of net zero, innovation, digital and financial to help businesses achieve the following:
•Develop new-to-the-firm technologies
•Improve productivity
•Safeguard and create jobs
•Adopt new digital technologies and processes
•Engage in new markets
•Improve productivity
•Introduce new products and services
•Increase revenue
•Make progress on their journey to net zero
The Net Zero Accelerator will build on the success of the Sustainable East Midlands campaign to deliver events, workshops, and the
Businesses interested in benefitting from this next generation of business support are invited to contact the Chamber’s Information team on 0333 320 0333, info@emc-dnl.co.uk to arrange an exploratory meeting with a business adviser.
Upcoming events delivered as part of the Accelerator programme include:
•18 October: Blogging with authority and trust
•25 October: Getting started with marketing
•31 October: Performance management
•2 November: Building a highperformance team
•7 November: WordPress masterclass
•14 November: Negotiating sales through excellent customer care Workshops will be held in person at various locations across the districts.
For a full list of East Midlands Chamber Accelerator events, visit bit.ly/AcceleratorEvents
Other investment themes include increasing investment in research and development at local level, with a focus on commercialising ideas and accelerating the path to market; improving training hubs, incubators and accelerators to support entrepreneurs and start-ups through the early stages of development and growth; and taking a whole systems approach to infrastructure investment that delivers effective decarbonisation across energy, buildings and transport.
While the Accelerator programme is open to participation from all sectors, there is recognition that manufacturing, visitor economy, retail and services businesses are critically important sectors that warrant targeted support.
to provide businesses across the district with the right support’
The Accelerator programme will build on the success of the Growth Hub service via a range of fully-funded action-planning workshops delivered locally on topics such as finance, carbon efficiency, HR and digital marketing.
At the heart of the project is a team of locallybased advisers and specialists, employed by the Chamber, who will offer high-intensity growth implementation support to businesses to create new jobs or exploit technology to improve performance.
Working with an adviser or specialist will be the first port of call for businesses interested in taking advantage of Accelerator support. Diagnostics will be assessed, and a business action plan produced through the Balanced Scorecard strategic management system model. Growth vouchers worth up to £2,000 –covering 100% intervention – will be available for specialist or sector-specific training or consultancy advice, in addition to support for identifying and accessing grant funding.
Businesses employing more than five people and with a turnover of £100,000 are invited to apply for a Chamber subsidy covering the £750 cost of joining the Help to Grow: Management course being delivered by the region’s universities, with the remaining cost of attendance covered by a Government subsidy.
The course provides an excellent opportunity for senior managers and leaders to engage with and learn from their peers.
Collaboration is very much the theme too for the Chamber’s East Midlands Manufacturing Network, in which manufacturers have the opportunity to share best practice and seek advice during local forums that take place every six weeks.
Business, industry and academic leaders gave a firm pushback against the Government’s “shifting of the goalposts” on net zero policy at the Chamber’s Sustainability Summit.
Speakers said “flip-flopping” over net zero commitments from Westminster created huge uncertainty that undermined long-term investments and would ultimately harm the UK’s quest to become a global leader in the green economy.
About 200 people representing organisations from across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire gathered at Reach Events, in Derby, for the event, held in partnership with the University of Derby, Mazars, Thompson Tree Services, Epson and Blueprint.
Exploring how to unlock the green growth for SMEs and the wider East Midlands economy – across themes including leadership, innovation, international trade and best practice – it took place against a backdrop in which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the Government will water down net zero policies, including delaying a ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and phasing out gas boilers.
The Chamber’s director of policy and insight Chris Hobson said: “We heard at our Sustainability Summit about some of the great things that businesses are doing in pursuing green growth and the very tangible rewards they are reaping with innovation and financial growth.
“These are the shining examples of success we can glean from embracing net zero, which means viewing it as not just a challenge but a golden opportunity.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the Government’s levelling up agenda and provides £2.6bn of funding for local investment by March 2025.
The fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK by investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.
For more information, visit www.gov.uk/ government/publications/uk-sharedprosperity-fund-prospectus
“Yet while our national leaders correctly talk up the research and development strengths of our businesses and ambitions to be a global leader in developing lowcarbon goods and services, there is a huge disconnect between this messaging and Government policy – as evidenced by the Prime Minister’s ill-judged shifting of the goalposts on our country’s net zero commitments.
“We saw first-hand the impact policy flipflopping has on business decision-making during the chaotic political landscape of 2022, which quashed business confidence and thus investment. The lack of certainty about the future direction of our economy will unfortunately have a similar impact at a time when we should be encouraging transformational long-term investment.”
In October last year, East Midlands Chamber was named the UK Chamber of the Year by the British of Chambers of Commerce (BCC). As it prepares to pass on the baton, chief executive Scott Knowles (pictured) reflects on how his organisation landed the honour out of 53 accredited chambers and what the future holds.
When we previously won the UK Chamber of the Year title in late 2018, little did we know how much the world was about to change in the following 18 months and beyond.
We have always sought to provide an evolving and comprehensive offer in supporting our members through whatever the world throws at us.
During a prolonged period of constant change, we provided a stable supporting hand to businesses across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, while representing their interests in Westminster, and were delighted much of this work was highlighted by judges when awarding us the UK Chamber of the Year title once more last October.
Initiatives we deployed during the pandemic included a £100,000 membership relief fund, helping 982 businesses to access Covid-19 funds valued at £1.4m, supporting 322 retailers to improve their online offering via a Digital High Street project, and supporting 902 businesses to fill 2,093 work placements for 16 to 24-year-olds in the Kickstart Scheme.
With the pandemic also shining a light on how we must “build back better”, the Chamber was keen to help members adapt to new ways of doing business.
Our Sustainable East Midlands initiative was established ahead of COP26 to collate practical advice and funding opportunities that support businesses on their net zero journey, and we have since held more than 100 events
attracting several thousand delegates. Our Green Growth Trends in the East Midlands research with the University of Derby provides a unique assessment of adoption in our region over the past eight years.
Internally, our own sustainability journey is ongoing with a carbon reduction action plan, installing solar panels on Chamber offices, identifying waste collection providers to offer as near to zero landfill as possible and achieving ISO 14001 environmental management accreditation.
While this addresses the ‘E’ in ESG – the acronym for environmental, social and governance, which has risen up the priority agenda for businesses – we have also taken a lead in other aspects. This includes promoting the intrinsic link between businesses and their communities via an #EMComingTogether campaign, CSR Summit, and our annual Celebrating Culture and Communities showcase event.
We were one of the first signatories of the Fair Chance Business Alliance, which aims to give ex-offenders a second chance in life with a start in employment, while Chamber representatives sit on prison employment advisory boards to help bridge the gap
between the parole and employment systems.
These are just some of the ways in which we are supporting businesses to create more inclusive workplaces in order to help plug acute labour shortages, and this work evolves via an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) partnership with emh group that involves gathering research and sharing best practice.
At the Chamber, we like to shout from the rooftops about how the East Midlands is a Centre of Trading Excellence, a place with world-class expertise for making things, moving them and innovating in how we do this.
This idea formed the basis, and title, of our latest Business Manifesto for Growth, which we launched during a special Westminster reception last November.
Comprising a series of key policy asks for how Government can help grow the economy in the East Midlands and beyond, it marked the culmination of our policy engagement work with Chamber members over the previous two years. This included record response rates to our Quarterly Economic Survey, which measures various aggregators to give a picture of the region’s overall economic health.
After being a major supporter of forming the East Midlands Freeport, we continue to work closely with the operational team behind the UK’s only inland freeport, which represents one of
our region’s biggest economic opportunities in recent decades.
On the near horizon is not only a General Election – and we will develop our manifesto material when we communicate the needs of businesses to the main political parties – but a new East Midlands Mayoral Combined County Authority for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, devolving some political decisionmaking powers from Whitehall to the local area. This must bring additional investment into our under-funded region.
The bread and butter of being a chamber of commerce – the UK Chamber of the Year for the past 12 months, no less – is supporting businesses in their everyday needs, and we look forward to continuing our work with more than 12,000 organisations in total.
There are many ways of engaging with the Chamber, whether it is through membership, our networks – including Generation Next, Enterprising Women and the East Midlands Manufacturing Network –seeking support to meet your international trade ambitions or via fully subsidised business support programmes. We are now rolling out the East Midlands Accelerator projects, which is supported by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (more information on p38-39).
Our BCC recognition was swiftly followed by a new website and branding for the Chamber as part of our digital transformation journey, and over time this will also develop new ways of supporting and engaging with businesses.
‘We have always sought to provide an evolving and comprehensive offer in supporting our members’
In the latest spotlight on the Chamber’s Charitable Fund, Business Network speaks to Rachael Grime (pictured), chief executive of Foundation Derbyshire.
What is the background to your charity and who do you support?
Foundation Derbyshire is Derbyshire’s community foundation, a philanthropic adviser and grantmaker, that provides a bridge between those with the means and commitment to give, and those needing their help.
A trusted, independent resource for both supporters and beneficiaries of local causes, we are experts in managing donated funds and effectively distributing grants to Derbyshire’s grassroots charities and community groups meeting a wide range of local needs. These include homelessness, physical and mental health, sports and the arts, poverty and disadvantage, family support, early years, older people and much more.
Why do you believe community foundations have an important role to play in local areas?
Over the past 27 years, we have developed longstanding relationships with hundreds of local, and often
very small, voluntary groups and organisations, resulting in a deep understanding of what’s needed in Derbyshire. Our strong links, extensive county-wide networks and local knowledge enable us to respond to new challenges and social concerns as they arise.
This also leaves us uniquely placed to advise our donors and enable them to reach the small grassroots organisations across our city and county, whose work is largely hidden from view. It’s a way for donors to reach past national charities, and support the incredible work and vital services that are making a difference in the villages, towns and cities where we live and work.
What are the biggest recent challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As challenges go, Covid precipitated some fundamental changes to the way that we work as an organisation at a time of unprecedented grantmaking. During the first six months of the pandemic, we distributed over £1m of emergency response funding across Derbyshire,
n For more information about East Midlands Chamber’s Charitable Fund, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/chamber-charitable-fund
To find out more about the work of the three community foundations, visit:
• Foundation Derbyshire – foundationderbyshire.org
• Leicestershire & Rutland Community Foundation –www.llrcommunityfoundation.org.uk
• Nottinghamshire Community Foundation – www.nottscf.org.uk
providing vital financial support to the frontline community groups and organisations that were beginning to see – and meet – overwhelming increases in demand for their services.
Despite its challenges, this was a time that the community foundation model came into its own, with our on-the-ground presence and invaluable relationships with both grantees and donors enabling us to respond with agility and flexibility.
How important a role do businesses have to play in supporting your charity?
Businesses are already a vital part of our city and county’s
philanthropic ecosystem, donating significant sums of money, employee volunteer time and probono services every year.
However, there are many businesses that want to keep their giving local but don’t know where and how to find the groups that need help, while others aren’t convinced that what they’re doing is aligned to their own corporate values or reaching those that need it most.
By working with their local community foundation, businesses can ensure their giving goes further, lasts longer and has a greater impact on local communities.
A new industrial partnership has been formed to promote the East Midlands as the UK’s largest inland hydrogen cluster.
East Midlands Hydrogen was established last month by a number of key private and public sector organisations in the region to size the opportunity offered by lowcarbon hydrogen production, distribution and industrial end-use.
It brings together an intensive cluster of hydrogen demand forecasts from across 70 industrial sites in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and north Leicestershire, which together require more than 10 terawatthours (TWh) of hydrogen by 2040 to enable site decarbonisation.
For these sites alone, access to low-carbon hydrogen would enable carbon savings of 1.9 million tonnes per year, the equivalent of gas-
related carbon emissions from 860,000 homes.
The organisations behind East Midlands Hydrogen are D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, Midlands Engine, East Midlands Freeport, Cadent, Uniper and Toyota.
Will Morlidge, chief executive of
D2N2 LEP, said: “We are delighted to be launching East Midlands Hydrogen with our industry partners to stimulate and grow an end-to-end hydrogen ecosystem in our region.
“We have the ambition, drive, energy and the partnerships to do this at scale as we drive towards our net zero future. I can’t emphasise enough the scale and
immediacy of opportunities across our region and I’m looking forward to working with our partners to make this happen at pace.”
The group believes the East Midlands is perfectly set up for large-scale, low-carbon hydrogen production through electrolysis.
Previously known as ‘Megawatt Valley’, its high voltage electrical transmission power lines were originally constructed to enable power export from the string of coal-fired power stations built along the River Trent.
Available water from the river, coupled with imported renewable energy, could enable ‘Megawatt Valley’ to metamorphose into a hydrogen production heartland at gigawatt scale, with multiple forecasts suggesting there is potential for 500 megawatts production across the region.
Business support professionals were recognised for the crucial role they play in their organisations at the inaugural East Midlands PA Awards.
Seven awards were handed out at a gala celebration, held at the Radisson Blu East Midlands Airport Hotel, on 8 September.
The event was organised by the PA Forum and backed by East Midlands Chamber as headline partner.
Introducing the awards, Lesley Young, executive support manager and company secretary at the Chamber, told the audience: “As business support professionals, we have a unique view and knowledge of the workings of our own organisations.
“We are no longer gatekeepers, we are gateways. We are enablers in that we support others to achieve their objectives, without our support others start to fail.
“Simply put, we should not underestimate our contributions but acknowledge and celebrate the difference we make. You are our trailblazers and ambassadors. Tonight, we celebrate your successes, your achievements and invite you on the journey to being recognised for the difference you make.”
THE WINNERS
Independent Virtual Assistant of the Year: Jess Warr, The Virtual Colleagues
Administrative Professional of the Year: Millie Wilkinson, Eversheds Sutherland
Rising Star: Amy Fisher, Michael Smith Switchgear
Outstanding Contribution: Stacey Whyte, Holland & Barrett
Team of the Year: Programme co-ordination team, Competitive Edge Training & Consultancy
Lifetime Achievement: Louise Scott, Competitive Edge Training & Consultancy
PA of the Year: Amelia Bone, Eversheds Sutherland
The Bank of England’s decision to hold the base rate at 5.25% following 14 consecutive rises will be a “huge relief for businesses”, says the Chamber’s chief executive.
Scott Knowles said East Midlands firms had expressed an increasing concern about rising interest rates.
The Chamber’s Quarterly Economic Survey shows UK and overseas sales have declined throughout the year, while investment intentions remain low.
“If the Bank’s aim has been to dampen demand in the economy, this has now been achieved,” said Scott.
“Therefore, given the impact of these measures takes some time to be felt in the economy, a policy of relentless monetary tightening is no longer necessary and we hope the Bank will now take some time to pause, allowing the economy to adjust on its own accord over the coming months.”
Izwi Art is a dynamic art house, offering a dedicated platform which celebrates excellence in African artistry. The art house operates a dual model featuring a travelling art gallery and interior styling studio. Our travelling gallery will exhibit in different locations across the UK, creating a moving and ever-growing platform for dialogue on a variety of themes. Our interior styling studio provides services such as art leasing and commissioning for the seamless inclusion of contemporary African art in the places where we live, work, and unwind. We are looking to collaborate with businesses on our art leasing program.
Are you ready to transform your office or lobby into a space that not only captivates but also tells a compelling story? Discover the magic of Contemporary African Art with Izwi Art's Leasing Programme.
Our curated collection of contemporary African art pieces will breathe life into your surroundings. From vibrant abstracts to thought-provoking sculptures, our art beautifies your space and ignites conversations.
Each piece we offer carries a unique story, rooted in the diverse cultures, histories, and traditions of Africa. Immerse yourself and your
visitors in rich untold stories that transcend borders.
Our Interior Styling Studio ensures that integrating art into your workspace is effortless. Whether it's a corporate office, hotel lobby, or restaurant, we tailor our art to fit seamlessly into your environment.
We understand that every business is unique. That's why our leasing programme offers flexible terms, allowing you to choose short-term or longterm leases to suit your needs.
Art isn't just for decoration; it's a catalyst for creativity and conversation. Inspire your team and leave a lasting impression on clients with our art.
Contact us today to learn more:
Tel: 07785 790210
Email: info@izwiart.co.uk
Web: izwiart.com
Generation Next is running its first-ever conference on 12 January to help young professionals ignite entrepreneurial thinking.
Held at the City Ground, home to Nottingham Forest FC, the free Chamber-run event will take a deeper dive into how to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset to navigate a variety of situations, opportunities and obstacles, and how it can be used to meet business objectives.
Celebrity chef Jon Watts (pictured, inset) will be the keynote speaker and he will talk about how he overcame adversity to carve out a successful career in the hospitality industry.
Jon ended up in prison with a six-and-a-half-year sentence as a teenager, but found a passion for cooking while completing his Duke of Edinburgh Award, becoming the first person in custody to achieve all three accolades.
He was later employed by chef Jamie Oliver for five years before
setting up his own catering company, which saw him cooking for royalty and landing some major contracts, such as ITV’s X Factor.
Jon adapted his business in the coronavirus pandemic and used his profile to become one of the top recipe creators, leading to national recognition on prime-time television shows, as well as a publishing deal, with his first cookbook being released in October 2023.
He is joined on the agenda by Stephen Fern, managing director at 200 Degrees Coffee. Since it was founded in Nottingham in 2012, 200 Degrees Coffee has expanded to 18 coffee shops and six barista schools, and sells its coffee across the country.
Stephen has more than 20 years’
experience across finance and operational roles, using his financial insights to drive operational performance and cashflow while maintaining focus on employee engagement, culture and customer experience.
The half-day conference will also mark the launch of a report providing insights into the development needs and views of the young generation in the East Midlands business community, following a recent survey.
The event is backed by Generation Next partners ITS Technology Group as headline sponsor, as well as Mattioli Woods and MHA.
Dave Ferry, head of enterprise at ITS Technology Group, and Callum Griffiths, trainee consultant at Mattioli Woods, will sit on a panel
discussion led by the Chamber’s director of policy and insight Chris Hobson. The panel will discuss the findings from the report and what businesses in the region must do to attract top young talent.
The Chamber’s director of resources and Generation Next lead Lucy Robinson said: “The conference will be an excellent opportunity for young professionals, and their employers, to learn more about how entrepreneurial thinking can be applied to all areas of working in business.
“We also look forward to sharing the results of our first-ever survey, which will help inform our network’s activity moving into 2024 and beyond.”
To book free tickets, visit bit.ly/GNConference
The Chamber has reached a key milestone for its Virtual Office service after surpassing the 100mark for businesses signed up.
Small businesses, often without fixed premises, use the service to have mail and parcels delivered to, or collected, from one of the Chamber’s offices in Chesterfield, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham.
It can either be collected or forwarded to their preferred address by a member of the facilities team.
The Chamber’s annual Christmas Lunch returns to Athena, in Leicester, on 1 December, from 12pm to 4pm.
Hundreds of members gather every year for the lunch, which features a three-course meal, live entertainment and networking opportunities.
This year’s entertainment will be provided by comedian Nick Page, a Britain’s Got Talent finalist.
Tickets cost £75 + VAT for members. Register at bit.ly/EMCXmas23
There are various tiers of the service that also include desk space and meeting room hire, as well as printing, with prices beginning at £22 + VAT per month.
The Chamber’s facilities coordinator Dean Symonds said: “With many businesses having moved to remote working, or for sole traders and start-ups that don’t have a fixed office space, the Virtual Office offers a useful support service for having mail and parcels delivered to a recognised location.
“Our facilities team can collate
mail on site and forward it on to their preferred address, or simply give the customer a call to collect when convenient, which we find is beneficial for people who travel a lot for business so won’t be at home to receive important deliveries.
“It also provides reassurance about guaranteed collection and having items held securely until they are ready to collect.”
For more information about the Virtual Office service, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/services/ virtual-and-managed-offices, email dean.symonds@emcdnl.co.uk or call 0333 320 0333.
‘The conference will be an excellent opportunity for young professionals’
The Chamber is the responsible body for Business Peak District (BPD), a membership organisation that represents businesses in and around the Peak District. In each issue, Business Network will shine a spotlight on a different BPD member.
Tell us a bit about your business?
We are a fast and furious multiaward-winning, Scottish-style ceilidh. A ceilidh is probably the most fun, social, and inclusive dancefloor you could have.
The person calling the dances (that’s me) tells everyone what they need to do and keeps it going. Everyone dances with everyone, whether you know each other or not. My entertainment is unique because it captivates guests and has them up on the dancefloor from the get-go.
I’m originally from Inverness and have been in the East Midlands for almost 20 years now. Most of my customers are wedding couples, with the rest being parties of all sorts, corporate events and seasonal soirees.
Name: Schuggies-Ceilidhs Ltd
Location: Derby
Number of employees: One
Spokesperson: Schuggie Dougie, ceilidh caller
What recent successes have you had?
Having previously won Specialist Corporate Entertainment Company of the Year for Central England at the Prestige Awards a couple of times, this year I’ve won Specialists Wedding Entertainment of the Year for the same region – which I’m over the moon about.
The judging panel based its decision upon areas such as service
excellence, quality of the product and service provided, innovative practices, value, ethical or sustainable methods of working, as well as consistency in performance.
How does a networking group like Business Peak District support your ambitions?
Networking groups like Business Peak District support my ambition to raise awareness of what ceilidhs can offer.
Having a season of weekly ceilidh events in local halls would attract both locals and visitors alike, building social connections for folks who love this area.
Businesses like farms, which have diversified and are now event venues, can use ceilidhs to engage
with their local communities and build a reputation for fun, social and inclusive events.
Ceilidh workshops can be used for those entering employment as it develops soft skills and confidence. If you’ve never been to a ceilidh, it can be totally out of your comfort zone but by the end of the session, you don’t want it to end.
What are your future plans for the business?
Following the Covid downtime, when I spent a lot of time delivering Ceilidh sessions online, I’ve built the wedding side of my business back up. Over the next couple of years, I’m looking to diversify the other types of events I run ceilidhs for.
The Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) will preserve its legacy – and continue to provide services –as work begins on the transition of core functions.
Directors have tasked chief executive Phoebe Dawson to collaborate with partners on identifying which LLEP functions will be required in future.
Work will then commence to transition those functions into alternative accountable bodies. It comes after the Government indicated that central funding for local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) nationwide will be withdrawn at the end of March 2024.
The Chancellor described during the Spring Budget his intention for LEP services to be delivered by local government from as early as April 2024. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities subsequently wrote to LEPs to confirm the decision and establish the scope of each LEP’s existing work and relationships.
The LLEP board agreed to form a transition group, chaired by Phoebe, to work with key partners on transferring LLEP functions while building on gains made over the years.
She said: “Government has put a timeline in place and therefore transition planning must commence promptly. Not only will this preserve our legacy, and provide the best outcomes for all of our stakeholders, it will also give greater clarity to our team members in relation to their own futures.”
A family-run business whose costumes have taken centre stage at The BRIT Awards and Michael Flatley shows has built its digital strategy to identify new markets –with support from the D2N2 Growth Hub.
Images Costumes, based in Chesterfield, supplies custom-made dancewear, uniforms and active wear to dance schools, individual performers, theatres and production companies across the UK and beyond.
After Covid almost decimated its business – cruise ships and their live entertainment were first to go, followed by theatre productions and dance shows – the company turned to the D2N2 Growth Hub to help it find alternatives B2B routes to market by honing digital skills and assets.
Michelle Webb, owner and managing director of Image Costumes, said: “Technology really is ever-changing and, no matter how we try, we are never up to date. So the triage of support we’ve received – D2N2 business adviser support, workshops and digital
consultancy – has been hugely important to our business.”
The D2N2 Growth Hub, a funded business support service delivered by a consortium including the Chamber, offered advice, diagnostic and brokerage support.
This involved identifying how to make better use of the company’s website and so cial media channels, with the team attending workshops
Plans to redevelop Worksop’s Priory Centre into an entertainment and leisure destination have taken a step forward as a key partner comes on board the project.
Bassetlaw District Council has signed up BPL, the wellness and leisure charitable trust that operates the Barnsley Metrodome leisure complex, as its official partner to develop and manage the site.
The council, which bought the Priory Shopping Centre in March, has a £20m investment strategy – backed with £17.9m from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund – to turn the site into a location for shopping, food and drink, leisure and entertainment. Plans include a bowling alley, climbing wall, indoor adventure play area and café.
Councillor Julie Leigh, cabinet member for identity and place, said BPL, which already manages four leisure sites on behalf of the council, has an “excellent track record of managing venues like this and has increased the number of people using our own leisure centres to record levels”.
She added: “Bringing a leisure and entertainment venue to the Priory Centre gives people another reason to come into Worksop. By offering a mixture of leisure and entertainment alongside shops and a new food court, we hope to drive footfall to the town centre, making it a more attractive proposition for retailers, residents and visitors alike.”
including “WordPress masterclass”, “Launching a killer website” and “Greater impact through social media”.
Image Costumes also benefitted from 12 hours of fully-subsidised Digital Upscaler consultancy support, with guidance from digital consultant Rob Gregory on implementing improvements to website functionality.
Leicester Business Festival returns for its ninth year from 6 to 17 November.
It features a series of free events that aim to share knowledge and best practice, as well as promote growth and collaboration.
The festival, which operates as a community interest company (CIC), has a purely business-to-business focus with events run by organisations across Leicestershire.
Richard Osborn, regional director at Excello Law, and chair and director of the Leicester Business Festival CIC, said: “This year the interest in hosting an event has been incredible. It is brilliant the business community has backed the festival by submitting their events earlier than usual.”
Topics include activating inclusive growth and innovation, money to grow your business and routes to funding.
For details visit www.leicester businessfestival.com
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
(Sponsored by Purpose Media)
Coach Hire Comparison
Devtank
LT VA Services
Strive Business Solutions
Test Your Intolerance
COMMUNITY IMPACT
(Sponsored by University of Derby)
Archaeological Research Services
Derventio Housing Trust
Penguin PR
Sporting Communities
OUTSTANDING GROWTH
(Sponsored by Amazon)
AG Group Bloc Digital EcoTech Engineers
Ocean King
Test Your Intolerance
EXCELLENCE IN COLLABORATION
(Sponsored by ITS Technology)
Be the One in 111
Bloc Digital and JCB
Colleague Box and Blue Light Card
Cosy Direct and Derby Kids’ Camp
Partnerships for Better Business
Sunbelt Rentals UK
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
(Sponsored by Futures Housing Group)
HSG UK
Licence Check
Hopkinson Waste
COMMITMENT TO PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
Longbow Bars & Restaurants
Midland Lead
Morrison Design
Purpose Media
Vibrant Accountancy
APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR
Anthony Yeomans – Devtank
Elena Richards – Rolls-Royce
James Bird – The Silver X Group
Leah Bancroft – Longbow Bars & Restaurants
Lucy Hilton – Cosy Direct
Molly Grice – EEM
ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by East Midlands Manufacturing Network)
Ian Chambers – App4 Developments
James Bowers - Enicor
Jonathan Edgeley – Montrose Health Group
Rob Hattersley – Longbow Bars & Restaurants
Steven Thai – Ocean King
EDUCATION AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
(Sponsored by Concertus, part of Vertas Group)
Althaus Digital
EMA Training
Embark Federation
Penguin PR
EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
(Sponsored by Aston Lark)
Longbow Bars & Restaurants
Motorcycle Funerals
Peak Translations
Reformed IT
The Silver X Group
EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE
(Sponsored by East Midlands Freeport)
Bloc Digital
IVC Brunel Healthcare
Spatial Global
SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
Bloc Digital CarMats.co.uk
Cedar Tree Chiropractic
EcoTech Engineers
Reformed IT
Rosewood Wealth Management
EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION
(Sponsored by Rolls-Royce)
Bloc Digital
Engine Mobile
Rose Cottage Doggy Daycare
DERBYSHIRE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Mazars)
Winner to be announced on the night
The finalists of this year’s East Midlands Chamber Business Awards have been revealed.
About 150 organisations from across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire have been recognised in the 2023 edition of the annual awards, celebrating the region’s worldclass business community and once again delivered in association with headline partner Mazars.
The awards are split into three events for each county and feature 14 categories, ranging from Community Impact and Excellence in Collaboration through to Excellence in Innovation and Commitment to People Development.
Finalists were announced at the President’s Summer Celebration event at the Radisson Blu East Midlands Airport hotel on 24 August. They were then given a chance to state their case for winning at virtual judging panels in September. Panels comprised sponsors, a Chamber board member and a representative from the
The Business Awards gala dinners take place on the following dates:
• Friday 3 November: Leicestershire Business Awards – The Venue@DMU
• Friday 10 November: Derbyshire Business Awards – Derbyshire County Cricket Club
• Friday 17 November: Nottinghamshire Business Awards – Nottingham Belfry
All events take place from 6.30pm to midnight. Hosted by ITV Central news presenter Sameena Ali-Khan, each gala dinner features a three-course gourmet dining experience, keynote speakers, live entertainment and networking opportunities.
Tickets cost £90 + VAT for members and £110 + VAT for non-members, with tables of 10 priced at £850 + VAT.
To attend the East Midlands Chamber Business Awards 2023 or to find out about sponsorship opportunities, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/services/business-awards
‘The resilience, ingenuity and hunger for growth within the East Midlands business community never ceases to amaze’
Chamber’s senior leadership team.
An overall Business of the Year is also selected for each county from all finalists by Mazars. Last year’s winners were Katapult (Derbyshire), Scope Construction (Leicestershire) and Copley Scientific (Nottinghamshire).
The Chamber’s chief executive Scott Knowles said: “The resilience, ingenuity and hunger for growth within the East Midlands business community never ceases to amaze.
“Our firms have faced some of the greatest challenges they will have ever encountered in recent times. Rather than become consumed by these, they have instead found new ways to succeed, whether that be through collaborating with other organisations, adopting new technologies to innovate, connecting with local communities, developing new export markets, or identifying opportunities for driving environmental and cost efficiencies.
“These achievements are reflected across the line-up of this year’s Business Awards, along with individual honours that recognise the tremendous entrepreneurship existing in our region, as well as the future generation of talent among our outstanding apprentices.”
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
(Sponsored by East Midlands Manufacturing Network)
Assured Energy
Consultus International Group
DWS Legal
COMMUNITY IMPACT
(sponsored by emh group)
Beaumont Shopping Centre (Savills)
Canine Partners
Duncan & Toplis
Focus Charity Mosaic 1898
OUTSTANDING GROWTH
(Sponsored by Business 2 Business)
Consultus International Group
Datalink Electronics
Fraser Stretton Property Group
Menphys
Scope Construction
Unique Window Systems
EXCELLENCE IN COLLABORATION
Creative62 and Mosaic 1898
Innovative Leicestershire
Hyve - Hydrogen Skills Collaboration
Menphys and Leicester Riders Foundation
Soft Touch Arts, Arch Creative, and Leicester Museum & Art
Gallery
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
(Sponsored by Cambridge & Counties Bank)
Abacus Flooring Solutions
Auditel
Go Travel Solutions
Shrinker Digital
Unique Window Systems
COMMITMENT TO PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
(Sponsored by De Montfort University)
Assured Energy
MHA
Pattersons Commercial Law
Pick Everard
REAL Education
APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Loughborough College)
Charlie Woodward - RVL Aviation
Kaustubh Vijaikumar – Unique Window Systems
Muhammad Delair – emh group
ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Bradgate Estates)
Gurdev Mattu – Fashion UK
Jaz Kaur & Narinder Nijjar – Fraser Stretton Property Group
Luke Tobin – Digital Ethos
Matthew Hayes – Champions (UK) plc
Sameer Karim – DWS Legal
EDUCATION AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
(Sponsored by Blueprint Interiors)
De Montfort University
Loughborough College
Leicestershire Cares
EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
(Sponsored by ER Recruitment)
Assured Energy
Consultus International Group
Creative62
Great Business Matters
EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE
(Sponsored by East Midlands Freeport)
Druck Fashion UK
Specialists Crafts
Spoox Racing Developments
SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by SMB College Group)
Design Studio Architects
DWS Legal
Fraser Stretton Property Group
Menphys
S&D Roofing
Scope Construction
EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION
(Sponsored by RSM)
Abacus Flooring Solutions
Designeering
Reflex Vehicle Hire
RimPro-Tec Wheelbands
LEICESTERSHIRE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Mazars)
Winner to be announced on the night
BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
(Sponsored by Air IT)
Shortlist Marketing
Summit Creative
Turner & Townsend
COMMUNITY IMPACT
Base 51
BatFast and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club
Duncan & Toplis
Primary Integrated Community Services
Spenbeck
OUTSTANDING GROWTH
BFY Group
Eight Days a Week Print Solutions & Eight Plus
Growthack
Metric Search
EXCELLENCE IN COLLABORATION
(Sponsored by East Midlands Manufacturing Network)
BarefootCoaching and Center Parcs
Enviro Electronics, KCM and The Deaf School
My HR Hub, Nottingham Trent University and BreatheHR
Think Pink Taxi Driver Alliance - Rosie May Foundation & DG
Cars
Volute, Touch Design and West London NHS Trust
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
(Sponsored by East Midlands Freeport)
Eastwood Hall
Hillside Environmental Services
Murphy & Son
COMMITMENT TO PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
(Sponsored by Nottinghamshire County Council)
Aspbury Planning
Fidler & Pepper Lawyers
Murphy & Son
REAL Education
Ryley Wealth Management
APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Eight Days a Week Print Solutions)
Alicia Anderson – The Motor Infinity Group
JJ Smart – REAL Education
Matilda Espin – My HR Hub
ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Eversheds Sutherland)
Claire Mann – ChangeXtra
Jo Jani - Metric Search
Keshiv Sudera - Design Studio Architects
Lance Hill - Eight Days a Week Print Solutions
Mary Storrie - Rosie May Foundation
EDUCATION AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP
(Sponsored by University of Nottingham)
Base 51 Training Academy
SMB College Group
The Air and Space Institute
EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
(Sponsored by Express Recruitment)
Eight Days a Week Print Solutions
Motorcycle Funerals
PAB Languages
Rotheras
Your IT Department
EXCELLENCE IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE
(Sponsored by DHL)
Medigarments
Metric Search
PAB Languages
SMALL BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Nottingham Trent University)
BatFast
Forsyth Barnes
Murphy & Son
Motorfinity
Viridis Building Services
EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION
(Sponsored by Geldards)
Barrister Link
BatFast
ChangeXtra
Eight Days A Week Print Solutions
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR
(Sponsored by Mazars)
Winner to be announced on the night
The Chamber’s bespoke training service manages businesses’ training requirements from start to finish, choosing which approach best addresses their needs and aligns with their objectives. The Chamber’s head of leadership and training Vicki Thompson discusses ways members use the service.
INTERNAL
We can provide training bespoke to the internal systems within organisations, such as the Microsoft Office and Google suites, and even on methods to extend the efficiency of those systems through artificial intelligence applications and programmes.
For businesses that require help in understanding the capabilities of their own IT systems and internal processes, the Chamber’s trainers can review them to create specific training exercises and support.
Once the trainer has completed their review of an organisation’s internal systems, they can also identify ways to streamline processes to ensure teams and systems are working more efficiently. The improvements made to processes and systems can contribute to transforming the way
Led by the Chamber, the East Midlands Manufacturing Network is a supportive peer network for manufacturers across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
By uniting manufacturers at local meetings, it enables them to harness the cross-industry, business, funding, engineering and manufacturing knowledge necessary to evolve and expand.
• Derbyshire Dales and High Peak
6 October, 7.30am
• Nottinghamshire
17 October, 7.30am
• Nottingham
25 October, 7.30am
• Derby
7 November, 7.30am
For more information and to book places, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/emmn
employees work, creating a happier and more profitable workforce.
Whether it’s director or management development, marketing and sales or health and safety training, the Chamber can curate training programmes specific to the skills needs of a department or individual. The bespoke offer allows team members to train together in a format that best suits their diaries – be that online, one-to-one or group sessions – and programmes can be customised to align to a department’s core objectives.
By sourcing training programmes through the bespoke offer, the Chamber’s trainers will use a consistent approach that is responsive to the
organisation’s needs in order to create an outcome aligned to the culture of the organisation. This ensures all employees are on the same page and working together towards unified goals.
Businesses may also want to consider bespoke training for their international trade operations. This could involve dedicated delivery of our flagship programme, the International Trade Operations and Procedures (ITOPS) course, to the relevant team or providing export documentation training specific to a company’s processes.
To discuss your organisation’s bespoke training requirements, get in touch with the Chamber’s head of leadership and training Vicki Thompson at vicki.thompson@emc-dnl.co.uk
An acclaimed culture expert is joining the Chamber’s training programme to run a masterclass series.
Speaker, creative thinker, actor and producer David Chabeaux (pictured) is delivering a series of full-day, in-depth masterclasses, to help leaders develop a culture that promotes trust, creativity, resilience, understanding and aligns to their organisation’s objectives.
David spent four years working for, and studying under, global change guru Stephen R Covey –author of The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People – before becoming one of the most sought-after speakers and facilitators in Europe.
As a taster to these in-depth sessions, the Chamber will run six one-hour online webinars
throughout the autumn to get delegates prepared for this masterclass journey, funded through the D2N2 Growth Hub.
These will tackle the following topics:
• Cultivating a culture of trust
27 October, 11am
• Igniting a culture of creativity
10 November, 11am
• Building a culture of resilience
24 November, 11am
• Aligning a culture of execution
8 December, 11am
• Seeking a culture of understanding
15 December, 11am
• Empowering a culture of talent
5 January, 11am
For more information about the sessions and to book tickets, visit www.emc-dnl.co.uk/ masterclass/
Bob Woods MBE (pictured) is best known for co-founding wealth management firm Mattioli Woods with Ian Mattioli in 1991, but away from business he is a philanthropist and has a passion project on the issue of environmental pollution, for which he sponsors the University of Leicester. He will host an upcoming event in partnership with the university and Chamber to highlight the work of the Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability, with a focus on the impact of chronic ill health on the circa nine million economically inactive people in the UK and its effects on the workplace.
While it is without doubt climate change is the number one challenge to the planet, few are aware that a close second, and associated with many of the issues of climate change, is trace pollutants found throughout our everyday environments.
There is growing evidence that such widespread pollution – be it the air we breathe, the food we eat, microplastics and other pollutants previously thought to be harmless –may indeed be acting as a catalyst in so many worrying health trends. These include increases in cancer and brain disease cases, reduced fertility, heart disease, stroke, dementia and a long list of other, often chronic, conditions.
While this may sound like yet another internet conspiracy theory, the hard facts are that, over the last generation when world population has grown by about 40%, there has been approximately a 300% increase in deaths from brain disease, circa 250% increase in cancers, roughly a halving of male semen counts and an increase in incidence of miscarriages, according to sources including the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which conducts the Global Burden of Disease study.
The Lancet Commission on pollution and health reported that pollution was responsible for nine million deaths in 2019 – about one in six deaths. However, this does not include deaths nor ill health for which the causes are not yet fully understood. Just think about that – nine million deaths.
There is also a severe economic impact from anything that is leading to greater incidences of chronic health conditions. Analysis by The Health
Foundation projects there will be a 37% rise in the number of people living with a major health condition, reaching 9.1 million, between 2019 and 2040. By comparison, the number of healthy working-age people is estimated to increase by just 4%.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) states 29% of the 8.9 million economically inactive people in the UK have long-term ill health issues, and its figures show a rise of 412,000 people, citing this as a reason for economic inactivity, between December 2019 and May 2023.
As a result, businesses have faced significant recruitment challenges, and we are only just beginning to realise this is a problem with a sinister impact on the workplace and widespread effects throughout our society.
The Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability at the University of Leicester –established in 2018 and led by Professor Anna Hansell, a leading environmental epidemiologist – is the first centre of its kind in the UK. Its focus is to understand this most important but complex area of health in order to establish cause and effect.
A key area of concern is the World Health Organisation’s 2012 report into endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are found in many man-made chemicals that have become part of everyday life in western society, including pesticides and herbicides.
EDCs can mimic, block or interfere with the human body’s hormones, and research will focus on to what extent these chemicals are associated with a wide array of health issues such as those listed above.
This is a serious problem and I have become a passionate advocate for the research in this area, which is why I donated a significant sum in 2018 to give the University of Leicester seed capital for setting up the centre. We are immensely proud that the university was ranked second in the UK for clinical research excellence by Times Higher Education last year, and the centre plays its part.
On Wednesday 15 November, Mattioli Woods will host an event at our office in New Walk Place, Leicester, in partnership with the Chamber.
The purpose of this event is to bring to attention the centre’s work on this hugely significant issue, which will undoubtedly have an impact on all of us in business, both in our professional and personal lives.
We will hear from the university’s vicechancellor, Professor Nishan Canagarajah, as well as Prof Hansell and her team of researchers.
Anyone interested in attending can contact Jo Spain via events@mattioliwoods.com to secure their place.
‘Thereisasevereeconomic impact from anything that is leading to greater incidences of chronic health conditions’
The Morningside Arena in Leicester has embarked on the next chapter of its sustainability journey by providing reusable cups to customers.
It has partnered with Event Cup Solutions to implement the company’s ONE Reusable Cup System.
The managed service includes the supply of the environmentally-friendly drinking apparatus, which replaces single-use plastic cups, and cup return points for future reuse.
Tracey Hallam, head of commercial at Morningside Arena Leicester, said: “We’re proud to work with Event Cup Solutions and take steps towards a sustainable future at the arena.
“Doing our part for sustainability and the environment is high on our agenda, with our upcoming net zero conference helping local business achieve their carbon-neutral goals. The ONE Reusable Cup System is another positive action we’re taking in the name of sustainability.”
What does your company do and how does your business model embrace the sustainability agenda?
Our primary focus is the care of trees. The juxtaposition of trees and the built environment creates both issues and opportunities. We work to ensure that trees are maintained in good health and don’t present unacceptable risks.
This helps to maximise the benefits that trees bring to us. These benefits include providing shade, cleaning the air, improving the soil, improving health and wellbeing, increasing property value, supporting wildlife and capturing carbon.
We operate the business with due regard to staff wellbeing and working conditions, including fair and generous remuneration, and we engage in opportunities to assist local groups and organisations in ways which enhance their contribution to local communities.
What prompted the decision to embrace the sustainability agenda and how has it impacted your business?
It is our moral obligation to ensure the activities of our business maintains and improves the social, economic and environmental conditions of both our local and wider environments.
The success of any business is linked to its responses to the challenges of the many issues on the sustainability agenda. Seeing the responses to these challenges as an investment rather than a cost has given us a competitive advantage.
How important do you believe embracing the sustainability agenda is for businesses today?
We live in a time of ever-increasing awareness of our environment and the harm that human activity causes. We are also increasingly aware that action needs to be taken to reduce and
Location: Wirksworth, Derbyshire
Number of employees: 23
Brief description of company: An arboricultural contracting and consultancy company supplying professional, high-quality tree care and vegetation management services throughout the UK and across all industry sectors.
Spokesperson: Dave Robinson, operations director (pictured)
reverse that damage.
Businesses must play their part in this task as the consequences of failure are likely to be significant, and have negative impacts on the efficiency and profitability of any business.
What are your future plans for making your business more sustainable?
We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions further over the next five years. We have worked on our decarbonisation plan and will continue with its implementation. As technology advancements are made, I am sure we will surpass our expectations of what can be achieved.
In terms of our service offering, we can see an increase in our tree planting activities as this becomes more of a priority for businesses and communities.
We have recently completed a report looking at potential carbon capture of a tree planting project for an organisation, and it would be great to support more organisations along these projects. We will continue to add social value to regions in which we operate and hold contracts, as we believe this improves our communities for all connected to these areas.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham have joined forces with biotechnology company HydRegen for a project that will unlock sustainable biocatalytic hydrogenation –allowing the process to be scaled up and improved for industry use.
The focus of the feasibility study will be on the intensification of metallo-enzyme production. It aims to lower the cost of production for three enzymes that are critical to the production of the chemical building block quininuclidinol, which is used in the production of many important drugs and other end-products.
Metallo-enzymes are exceptional tools for industrial biotechnology as they can carry out effectively a broad range of useful reactions. Their production, however, is more challenging than other enzymes and requires tailored research.
By validating the cost and sustainability metrics for quinuclidinol manufacture, a “licenceready” bio-based manufacturing route for quinuclidinol that meets the needs for reshoring key active pharmaceutical ingredients production can be produced.
Dr Rhiannon Evans, head of enzyme production and molecular biology at HydRegen, said: “This has the potential to make a stepchange in HydRegen’s ability to lower cost and increase scalability of hydrogenase production.”
The Government has announced the CE safety mark can be used indefinitely in the UK.
It had previously stated that manufacturers would have to begin using the UKCA marking system from December 2024, but the intervention means they can continue to use both markings.
Businesses had called on the Department for Business and Trade to extend the use of the CE mark as meeting new standards would add unnecessary costs to production, especially as the UKCA mark would not be recognised in the EU.
David Pearson (pictured), the Chamber’s director of partnerships and international trade lead, said businesses would “breathe a sigh of relief” amid high inflation forcing costs up across the board.
“There are strong benefits for business in retaining the most recognised system for testing and marking of industrial and electrical goods,” he added.
“This will save money and grow exports, whereas divergence from the current system would have had a costly impact on investment, trade and ultimately jobs.
“Now we must develop processes for regulatory co-operation between the EU and UK, so that businesses can avoid any unnecessary cliff-edges on the introduction of future regulations affecting UK-EU trade in goods.”
The Chamber has launched a new international trade service to help businesses comply with HMRC’s customs regulations.
Customs Audit Compliance Consultancy offers a bespoke service that assesses a company’s compliance and identifies any gaps in procedures in order to head off any issues with HMRC’s customs audit programme, which may involve a visit to a firm’s premises.
Checks during any visit include:
•Inspecting goods and documents relating to customs and international trade
•Asking for information about goods or services a business provides across an international supply chain
•Check the company is complying with any customs-related approval, authorisation, registration or licence it holds or has applied for.
HMRC places full responsibility on businesses that imports or exports, and expects full awareness and compliance with these responsibilities.
To arrange a one-to-one session with a Chamber customs consultant, email internationaltraining@emc-dnl.co.uk
The ITOPS qualification is a practical and relevant qualification designed to prove that candidates have the necessary skills to accurately operate procedures in an international trade administration environment.
Running over eight half days, delegates will learn how to avoid costly mistakes and improve their international trade procedures. Some previous delegates have saved their employers thousands of pounds.
Successful candidates will be awarded the ITOPS qualification. The course is suitable for anyone employed in an international trade environment – whether that of a manufacturer, supplier or freight forwarder.
The next ITOPS course begins on 6 November and runs until 18 January from 9am to 12.30pm on each course day. It costs £1,950 + VAT for Chamber members.
Register at www.emc-dnl.co.uk/services/international
As the Chamber’s flagship international trade training course returns, Business Network finds out how a business has benefited from enrolling on the International Trade Operations and Procedures (ITOPS) programme.
What does your company do?
We are part of the wider Ecobat business, which operates across the US and Europe, making us a member of the world’s largest producer of refined lead products used in energy storage solutions and other industrial and commercial applications. Ecobat Darley Dale is Britain’s leading recycler of lead batteries and scrap lead.
Alongside our lead pro duction and recycling operations, we reclaim polypropylene and other plastics used in premium polymer solutions.
We use state-of-the-art technology and a highly trained workforce to ensure the lead acid batteries we recycle do not harm the environment, employees or the communities in which we work.
According to Battery Council International, more than 97% of all battery lead is recycled, and a typical new lead acid battery contains 60 to 80% recycled lead and plastic. We are proud to be part the world’s best example of safe and sustainable closed-loop recycling. More than 75% of the world’s lead is recycled.
What does your international trade operation involve?
Ecobat manages shipments of inbound used batteries and scrap lead, which goes full circle to supplying lead ingot and lead bullion back into
the battery market and other industries. Europe is our biggest market aside from domestic, and our key focus from the Darley Dale location.
How have the events of the past few years affected your importing and exporting activity?
Brexit impacts have increased the administrative complexity of providing smooth and timely delivery to European customers.
Other challenges like Covid-19 and the international transportation crisis in 2022 have also impacted our EU supply chain. We have worked closely with our customer partners to mitigate these developments. Much work still needs to be done to overcome Brexit complications.
Why did your company want to enrol on the ITOPS course and who took part?
Ecobat is an advocate for developing and offering training to its workforce. We have been members of the Chamber for several years. I have attended various courses through this avenue and have found them to be of great benefit to my personal development, team and the wider Ecobat group.
I have recently been promoted to customer service manager and have a team of four who report to me. I wanted to know my subject to a high level to enable me to support the vice-
DATE: 11 October
TIME: 9-12.30
COST: £160 + VAT
This course is suitable for beginners who are new to their role and provides a highlevel overview of the import process from a practical perspective. It also includes a practical session creating clearance instructions from a pre-defined set of trade documents.
Rules of origin
DATE: 19 October
TIME: 9-3
COST: £285 + VAT
Learn about the certifications required by customs officials around the world to demonstrate the origin of a product, which determines how tariffs are decided
Inward/outward processing
DATE: 24 October
TIME: 9-12
COST: £160 + VAT
Introduction to methods of obtaining inward and outward processing relief from customs duty and VAT on international transactions
Understanding commodity coding
president of commercial when questions around freight, documentation, processes and rules of exporting arise. It gives our customers assurances that Ecobat is well versed and competent in this field.
I am a campaigner for my team and other departments within Ecobat to utilise the services and support the Chamber has to offer. All members of my team are booked into courses with the Chamber this year.
Ecobat understands the importance of ensuring its staff is fully up to date with current import and export rules and regulations.
How did you find the course and what did you learn?
The ITOPs course was interactive with other personnel from different businesses. It was interesting to hear the challenges they also face with imports and exports. The trainer Steve Townsley, from Fidelitas Training, and the team were extremely knowledgeable and helpful, providing support right from start to finish.
Although some areas of the course perhaps were not applicable to Ecobat and our business transactions, it enabled me to broaden my overall knowledge, which I feel will be a great benefit in the future.
The biggest takeaway was how essential accuracy of documentation is and the rules
applicable to the trade and transaction. There is so much information and guidance around this, but it’s knowing where to look.
In particular, seeing first-hand how freight forwarders operate and having the opportunity to visit the business 512 on-site, learning more about the hurdles it faces, brought it all together for me. Understanding its operation and bonded warehouse facilities, and the whole set-up, was of considerable use to my learning.
What impact does the ITOPS qualification have on your business, and what would your message be to other companies considering enrolling?
I would highly recommend this course to any business exporting goods internationally. This has given me confidence in this subject and a high level of knowledge. For businesses with employees generating export documentation, this course is a sound investment.
Having the right knowledge can potentially save businesses money, as we found out on the course. The awareness and skills I’ve learned has enabled me to set up robust end-to-end processes within my department.
What does the future for your business hold and where does international trade come into this?
Ecobat is committed to its mission as a specialist materials recycler with a particular focus on batteries. We are always looking for innovative strategies and continue to seek opportunities in the market. While localised production and consumption of raw materials is essential for business efficiencies and environmental sustainability, it is in continued international partnerships between our employees, stakeholders and our clients that we achieve our global ambition.
DATE: 9 November
TIME: 9-12
COST: £160 + VAT
Navigate the complex and difficult international system for coding products for customs purposes
Authorised Economic Operator (AEO)
DATE: 22 November
TIME: 9-12
COST: £160 + VAT
Introduction to AEO, the “trusted trader” status and an internationally recognised quality mark for the international supply chain Customs special procedures – how to save time and money
DATE: 22 November
TIME: 1-4
COST: £160 + VAT
Introduction to the facilitations offered on customs requirements by HMRC to help speed up the movement of goods in and out of the UK, and help save money
Export foundations
DATE: 23 November
TIME: 9-4
COST: £285 + VAT
Get an overall picture of how the many elements of international trade fit together, including hands-on experience of the administration involved with getting an export consignment ready
*Prices listed are exclusively for East Midlands Chamber members Book on to courses at bit.ly/EMCinternationaltraining
In the biggest political change in generations, a new East Midlands Mayoral Combined County Authority will be established in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire next year, bringing £1.14bn extra public funding over the next three decades. But getting devolution right is not without its challenges, as a national think-tank made clear in launching a landmark report on this subject in Nottingham over the summer. Dan Robinson picks out highlights from the analysis.
Devolving key economic powers from Westminster to local areas in England has crossparty support in Government, and is being embraced by areas including Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
The Institute for Government (IfG) – the UK’s biggest independent think-tank with a remit to make Government more effective via analysis, commentary and public events – is also on board with the general concept.
Akash Paun, programme director at the IfG, said: “We think England is too decentralised, which leads to poor decision-making on the ground. So we welcome the fact Government wants to roll out devolution to the 50% of areas that don’t yet have devolved powers, and steps towards deepening those powers.”
In July, it published a report titled Art of the devolution deal: How England’s counties and cities can make a success of devolution in partnership with the University of Nottingham’s Institute for Policy and Engagement.
It sets out how politicians and officials can give new devolved institutions the greatest chance of success by examining how devolution has worked well in some places, struggled in others and failed to get off the ground in certain locations.
Many people agree devolution is an important vehicle for the destination an area wants to reach, but identifying this end goal is crucial, says Sarah Hall, professor of economic geography at the University of Nottingham.
“Is it for better public services? Growing skills and productivity? Enhancing community identity?,” she said.
“In the East Midlands, the question of regional identity is a very open one, so thinking about how you foster this in a meaningful way and aligning it with the institutions we want to build relationships with is critical.”
Mansfield MP Ben Bradley, who is also leader of Nottinghamshire County Council and has thrown his hat in the ring to be the Conservative
Party’s candidate for elected mayor, added to the debate.
“At the moment, we have 18 councils with 18 different leaders, so when people want to invest in the East Midlands we compete with each other,” he said. “We’re not very good at selling our vision to Government because we have 18 different visions.
“So the ability to draw together a shared and collective strategy around transport, economic development, skills and housing has huge potential.”
A tangible example of where devolution could have a big role to play is the Government’s Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) programme to build the UK’s first fusion energy plant at West Burton power station, near Retford. It is expected to bring more than £20bn and up to 10,000 jobs to the area once complete by around 2040.
Mr Bradley said: “Devolution will help us to take that public investment and wrap around the commercial investment from the businesses that want to come and create jobs there, but also gives us the opportunity to develop the necessary skills provision in our universities and colleges, as well as the transport infrastructure so people from Mansfield and other towns and villages can get to the jobs being created.”
The IfG’s report says “devolution deals have enabled local leaders to allocate resource, regenerate their economies and reshape public services in light of local needs and preferences”.
It cites how Greater Manchester has addressed health inequality, the West Midlands is redesigning its skills system to tackle low levels
of advanced qualifications in the workforce, Liverpool city region is bringing buses under public control to help create a more integrated and sustainable transport system, South Yorkshire is investing in a region-wide active travel network, and Tees Valley is supporting the growth of green industry and clean energy as a core part of its economic strategy.
But it also acknowledges how it “is not a silver bullet”, with deals based on an incoherent geography, lacking sufficient local support and poor implementation severely diluting their effectiveness.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, West of England and Tees Valley are among the areas to encounter problems, while a deal for Cornwall collapsed.
Speaking at the launch, Akash, who coauthored the IfG’s report, said: “When devolution works, it can be transformational, but it hasn’t been a uniform story of success in all cases, at all times.
“This realisation that we have a variable picture led us to produce this report and we’ve found there’s a science for devolution across the quality of leadership, strength of relationships among stakeholders, shared purpose for what
‘The ability to draw together a shared and collective strategy around transport, economic development, skills and housing has huge potential’Akash Paun (left) and Ben Bradley
devolution is actually for, and how it will enable the region to improve social and economic outcomes.”
The IfG’s report outlines four key phases in the establishment of a devolution deal – conception, negotiation, implementation and operation.
Yet it stresses how it is not a linear process, but a cycle, with many places that successfully implement devolution returning to the table for broader and deeper powers, like the so-called trailblazer deals being worked on with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands.
In the recommendations set out by the IfG for devolution to be effective, it says central Government should offer a small amount of capacity support to places implementing an agreed deal, such as via secondment of Whitehall officials and, along similar lines, investing in a formal interchange scheme of staff between combined authorities and Whitehall departments that are closely involved in devolution.
Local leaders are advised to continue working on refining their shared vision for the area, to
Devolution involves the decentralisation of governmental power, such as the powers granted to the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales, Northern Ireland Assembly and Greater London Authority since the late 1990s.
Over the past decade, control of various budgets and functions has been transferred from Westminster to combined authorities led by metro mayors across the rest of England, including Greater Manchester, Liverpool city region, the West Midlands, South Yorkshire and Tees Valley.
The Government has made a renewed push towards devolution as part of its levelling up agenda, publishing a three-level devolution framework in February 2022.
Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire’s uppertier authorities –Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council –have agreed a level three deal, the highest in the framework. Leicester and Leicestershire councils did not reach an agreement to join the deal.
This deal requires the adoption of a directly elected mayor and offers the widest set of devolved powers and funding from across several Whitehall departments, including control of devolved transport, housing, investment and skills budgets. It also has the power to create mayoral development corporations and impose a council tax precept.
The East Midlands Mayoral Combined County Authority (EMCCA) will be established in spring 2024 and will provide the area, which has a population of 2.2 million, with a guaranteed income stream of at least £1.14bn over a 30-year period – or £38m a year.
More funding is expected to become available once the EMCCA is formed – so far, £18m has been awarded to help improve local housing, transport and skills provision.
identify new priorities and challenges, and to make the case to Government for how further devolution could help improve social and economic performance.
A continuing need to build a coalition of support among local stakeholders – whether that be the district councils that hold important policy levers or businesses, colleges, universities, training providers, transport authorities or emergency services – will also be important, the IfG says.
Speaking at the event, Akash added: “Devolution works best when you have that strong broad foundation of consensus about wanting to work together.
“Places have to seize an opportunity when it arises, such as when Government is ready to do deals, as well as be realistic about who has the power in the negotiations and about working within the framework set.
“For areas like the East Midlands, it’s important to have a long-term vision about where the region wants to be in five to 10 years’ time.”
To read the report, visit www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/ publication/devolution-deals
The region has also been invited to establish an investment zone, which will attract £80m of support over five years, with tax incentives for businesses to help boost economic growth across the region.
The East Midlands devolution deal aims to:
•Boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards
•Spread opportunities and improve public services
•Restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging
•Empower local leaders and communities. It has four priority areas to deliver this vision – homes, skills, transport infrastructure and net zero.
A final version of the devolution proposal will be submitted to Government once the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill receives royal assent, ahead of the formation of the EMCCA next spring. The first election for a regional mayor is due to take place in May 2024. The Labour Party has selected Claire Ward as its candidate, with the Conservative Party expected to announce this autumn.
For more information, visit www.eastmidlandsdevolution.co.uk
As companies recognise the symbiotic relationship between employee health and productivity, innovative solutions are being sought to create healthier and more balanced work environments.
Aromatherapy utilises the therapeutic properties of natural essential oils to promote wellbeing and is a powerful tool for enhancing health in the workplace. With its holistic benefits and proven effects on mood and stress reduction, aromatherapy is gaining momentum as a holistic solution for fostering a harmonious work atmosphere.
It involves the use of essential oils, which are extracted from various parts of plants each carrying distinct aromatic profiles and therapeutic qualities. These oils can be inhaled or applied topically, and they interact with the body through the olfactory system and the skin. The scents of essential oils can trigger emotional and physiological responses, influencing everything from mood and stress levels to cognitive function.
Dr Jane Mitchell, a holistic wellness expert, emphasises the potential of aromatherapy in the workplace, stating: “Aromatherapy offers a non-intrusive yet effective way to support employee wellbeing. The right scents can create a positive atmosphere, reduce stress and improve focus.”
Our very own Penny Price, a renowned aromatherapy expert, believes aromatherapy has the remarkable ability to positively impact employee wellbeing. Incorporating essential oils into the workplace, she says, can create an environment that supports mental clarity, reduces stress and enhances overall productivity.
While quantifying the impact of aromatherapy in the
workplace may be challenging, scientific studies offer promising insights. Research conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has shown that inhaling certain essential oils can reduce stress and improve mood.
A study by the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found the use of aromatherapy reduced workplace stress and improved employee wellbeing. Additionally, a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that aromatherapy massage significantly reduced work-related stress in healthcare professionals.
Incorporating aromatherapy into the workplace wellness strategy requires a commitment to holistic wellbeing. While aromatherapy alone cannot address all workplace challenges, it can contribute significantly to a healthier and more enjoyable work environment.
By fostering relaxation, reducing stress and promoting mental clarity, aromatherapy empowers employees to navigate their workdays with improved focus, energy, and overall wellbeing.
The integration of aromatherapy into the workplace is a testament to the growing recognition of holistic wellbeing's importance.
As companies strive to create healthier work environments, the power of scents to influence mood, reduce stress and enhance productivity is being harnessed. By following expert advice and incorporating top tips, companies can create a workspace that not only supports physical health, but also nurtures the mental and emotional wellbeing of their employees.
‘Aromatherapy is gaining momentum as a holistic solution for fostering a harmonious work atmosphere’
1. Select appropriate essential oils
Different essential oils have distinct effects. Lavender is known for its calming properties, making it ideal for reducing stress and anxiety. Peppermint and citrus oils like lemon and orange can boost energy and enhance concentration. Consider the needs and preferences of your workforce when choosing oils.
2. Aromatic diffusers
Place essential oil diffusers strategically around the office space. These devices disperse the aroma throughout the air, creating a soothing and uplifting environment. This method ensures the fragrance is present without being overwhelming.
3. Personal inhalers
Provide employees with personal inhalers or rollerball blends containing essential oils. This gives them the autonomy to enjoy aromatherapy's benefits at their desks or during breaks.
4. Customised workstation sprays
Create natural room sprays using essential oils. Employees can use them to refresh their workspace and reset their mood, creating a calming and motivating atmosphere.
5. Wellness rooms
Designate a quiet room or a corner of the workplace where employees can go to unwind.
Infuse the area with calming aromas, providing employees with a quiet space to relax and recharge.
6. Mindful breaks
Encourage employees to take short mindful breaks and step away from their desks. Inhaling soothing scents during these breaks can reduce stress and mental fatigue.
7. Educational workshops
Host workshops led by aromatherapy experts. These sessions can educate employees on the benefits of aromatherapy and guide them on selecting and using essential oils.
Every company should have a policy relating to health in the workplace. But is this enough to support real employee wellbeing and harness a culture of psychological safety? And are the policies appropriate to your living, breathing team?
Poor workplace mental health costs UK employers around £56bn every year, with a 25% increase since 2019. An average employee takes around 18 days off a year to deal with stress, depression or anxiety, and 17 for physical injuries.
How you handle employee wellbeing plays an integral part in your company’s overall performance. To start treating your employees like the valuable assets they are to your business, make their wellbeing a priority.
Good health policies are the foundation. But you must go beyond what sounds good on paper to engrain a positive workplace culture and bring that intended behaviour to life.
First, it’s important to understand what wellbeing means in practice: it’s bringing together the emotional, physical and psychological health of employees in a holistic approach. You need to support all elements – or else you risk an unmotivated, poor-performing and vulnerable team.
Recognise each person has their own needs, so there should be flexibility in your approach to health. People need to be invested in the work they do, believe in a shared purpose, and feel supported to be happy and healthy at work.
Without that combination, your employees are much more likely to feel unfulfilled, take more days off and perform badly. When employees feel happy, like their job and feel valued, organisations see a reduction in safety incidents by 64% and absenteeism by 81%.
What does your current policy say – and critically, are you acting on it? If not, evaluate what you can do about it.
Are you not getting genuine interest about certain incentives, or is it that you’re not implementing policies with the care and attention they deserve?
For a positive and caring workplace culture, both sides need to take responsibility to bring the wellbeing policy to life. Employers need to communicate what they will do to support employees and create a safe space, showing they care about employee wellbeing.
Employees need to look after themselves and feel like they can say what’s on their mind without repercussions (or else you can’t do anything about it).
The key to achieving true employee wellbeing for all is great communication. Without open conversations, you won’t make any progress – even when you have seemingly robust health and well-being policies.
To make any real change, you also need to get the whole team onboard. Involve the HR department – don’t see it as a threat or a barrier, but as a partner.
By making use of in-built systems, you can work together to build a strong, successful team. HR can support your wellbeing incentives by holding feedback sessions, checking policies regularly and asking employees for their input so you can continue to tweak and improve.
Assign wellbeing champions that offer no-judgement support, so employees open up without fear. This boosts team culture, improves inclusivity and makes every employee feel integral to the company fabric.
As a leader, you need solid emotional intelligence to understand your people’s needs. Train in these skills so you can have honest but empathetic conversations. This helps to foster a culture of psychological safety, set realistic expectations and create better boundaries.
While prioritising wellbeing is essential, it's also crucial to not forget that core business operations still need to be profitable for you to scale and reach the excellence you dream of. It’s about striking a balance between showing empathy and making sure everyone understands where their responsibilities lie.
Hitting this sweet spot allows you to reach the long-term vision of company success.
There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, but a good place to start is by framing health and wellbeing policies less as rulebooks and more as tools to care for your people.
Even though it’s hard work to begin with, investing time to really improve employee wellbeing will pay off in the long run.
‘Employees need to look after themselves and feel like they can say what’s on their mind without repercussions’
Creative minds are dotted across the East Midlands, steering small agencies that bring new perspectives and ideas to local, national and international organisations for important projects. Jasmine Thompson speaks to individuals from a pool of these creative agencies to find out what they’ve been working on recently and what impact they’ve had on key clients.
LOCATION: DERBY
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 22
PROJECT CLIENT: DONOTAGE.ORG X THE BEAUTIFUL GAME
SPOKESPERSON: ART LINDOP, MANAGING DIRECTOR
How did this project come about and how did you execute it?
We have recently staged our most high-profile campaign to date, which meant travelling more than 4,000 miles and rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest footballers in the world.
Our team co-ordinated a campaign across two continents, providing a range of services including video content, paid advertising, SEO and PPC, email marketing and social media, to publicise The Beautiful Game, a celebrity football match that took place at the Exploria Stadium in Orlando, USA.
The match was sponsored by our longstanding clients, health supplements supplier DoNotAge.org, and featured a star-studded line-up of world-famous footballers including Brazilians Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos and Cafu, exNetherlands striker Patrick Kluivert and former Columbian goalkeeper Rene Higuita – who made his name when he performed a scorpion kick at Wembley Stadium. Other big names included current players Vinicius Junior, Eder Militao, Willian, Lucas Moura, Joao Felix and Paulo Dybala.
The c ampaign involved creating graphics for global adverts and social media posts in the run-up to the match, filming 90 hours of footage at the event itself and running ads during the game.
The team spent five days in the US before heading back to Derby to edit the video footage and analyse the results of the campaign.
Why did your team enjoy working on this project and what was unique about it?
Not only was it a privilege to film huge stars like Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos, but it also showed the full range of what our agency does.
In the weeks leading up to the event, the brand amplification and content team worked closely to design social media graphics, banners, leaflets and billboards, incorporating the most famous players as well as DoNoAge.org’s supplements.
DoNotAge.org has been one of our most loyal customers and wanted us to make sure its sponsorship of the match was maximised to its full potential. We’d been planning it
for months, and it was brilliant to finally be there and see everything taking place.
What has been the impact of your work on the client’s business?
The results speak for themselves – we reached 5.5 million people via Facebook and Instagram, gained 1,596 new followers, 140,000 impressions for sales ads, and increased DoNotAge.org’s engagement by almost 23%. It shows the power of social media when you’ve got a good plan.
Have you got any plans to further develop this work in the future?
Our captured content has been used for our client’s social media platforms to promote the sponsorship well after the event ended. We are delighted to continue our partnership with DoNotAge.org and have several other big-name and international ventures on the horizon.
LOCATION: LEICESTER
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 11
PROJECT CLIENT: SYTNER GROUP
SPOKESPERSON: MAT MABE, CO-FOUNDER
How did this project come about and how did you execute it?
Post-Covid, established vehicle purchase journeys were being disrupted and the preferences of vehicle customers were changing at pace.
With a reputation for our work in the automotive sector, we were approached by Sytner Group to help it better understand its dynamic marketplace and customers, ensuring it could continue to provide market-leading service quality in this evolving context.
Our creative partnership and established user-centred design methodology was employed to pioneer a hybrid
approach to vehicle purchasing – creating a customer experience that puts the customer in control of the purchase journey they preferred to undertake online and the one they preferred to complete with a salesperson in the showroom. This allowed for Sytner’s first fully digital purchase journey.
Working proactively and in close collaboration with Sytner Group’s marketing, IT and sales teams was critical to the project success. To this end, we conducted jobshadowing, user research and creative workshops with stakeholders from every level of the business, including Csuite, managers, marketers and sales advisers.
Why did your team enjoy working on this project and what was unique about it?
The scale and scope of the project allowed our team to consider every use-case and to build a comprehensive and flexible design system, which is well-rounded and delivers a consistent experience to Sytner Group’s customers.
What has been the impact of your work on the client’s business?
Our work has supported Sytner Group’s newly established in-house development team by providing a visual toolbox through which it now has the power to scale and deliver digital products faster and with precision.
Its online presence has been transformed from a shop window to a full digital sales platform, affirming the group’s reputation in the vehicle retail and service market, and has opened-up opportunities to reach a new generation of vehicle customers.
On a user level, the system helps increase goal conversion rates and makes interactions with online customers more meaningful.
Have you got any plans to further develop this work in the future?
The suite of digital resources we have produced alongside Sytner Group has the power to future-proof its digital presence and to accelerate the development of new products with minimal design intervention. Investment in a design system for any business operating online is a smart move. Employing design thinking at the outset in this way means a reduced reliance on design intervention in the future, a clear and consistent visual aesthetic and user experience, as well as ensuring development efficiency – all combining to produce better products quicker and with a lower level of investment.
LOCATION: DERBY
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: SIX
PROJECT CLIENT: HECK
SPOKESPEOPLE: ROB DAWES AND DREW TAYLOUR-DAVIS, DIRECTORS
How did this project come about and how did you execute it?
We have worked with some great companies at Briight, including projects for the BBC, Microsoft and Nintendo Switch games. Our campaign for HECK – a well-known supplier of sausages to all major supermarkets –recognised our love for creating eye-catching marketing videos and for letting our creativity flow. The company invests heavily in impactful advertising, and we created the launch promo video for its latest campaign, “One Heck of a Flavour”. HECK worked with talented choreographers to create an eye-catching dance routine to accompany the UK’s first sausage soundtrack, which is now available on Spotify.
Although not every business needs a video of employees miming and dancing in a refrigerated meat factory, HECK is a prime example of a client that understands the need to be unique and memorable with its digital marketing. There’s a lot of competing noise online, which is what we set out to overcome on every project.
Why did your team enjoy working on this project and what was unique about it?
We love working with companies and brands like HECK – those with real ambition to push creativity and let their culture and personality shine through in all their marketing. So a music video shot over three days with part of the HECK team busting moves choreographed by two of the hottest choreographers in the UK was a dream come true.
LOCATION: NOTTINGHAM
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: FOUR
PROJECT CLIENT: TEAM GB
SPOKESPERSON: TIM BASSFORD, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
How did this project come about and how did you execute it?
We had been working in partnership with the UK Institute of Sport for some time, helping it to communicate key messages to its elite athletes around the impact of personal health on training and performance. We completed one particular video project around elite athlete travel health, and I believe some staff within Team GB saw this and asked UK Sport who created it.
What has been the impact of your work on the client’s business?
The project was a great exercise in raising brand awareness. The focus on personality and culture made waves on the socials and helped further cement HECK as a brand that really understands its audience. Ambition, an openness to try ideas and a readiness to push creativity made the project a proper success.
Have you got any plans to further develop this work in the future?
HECK also wanted to explore Spotify advertising, so we transported our portable voiceover setup to its base in Yorkshire to capture some soundbites. These were blended with YouTube advertising clips, which we created for the project to add in as an extra call to action.
We worked with the team in the pre-production phase to explore all the possible marketing uses for the video and proceeded to make them part of the plan. There is so much value in terms of content creation to be gained from any project – you just need to identify these avenues early and plan for it with the production.
We have discussed future projects with HECK, with everyone agreeing to try and avoid another freezing cold outdoor winter shoot.
The Team GB clinical team then approached us, and asked for our support in communicating the importance of how and why athletes should remain vigilant to Covid safety requirements. It needed a campaign that resonated directly with the athletes, while standing apart from the usual branding and commonplace Government Covid messaging.
We liaised with its behaviour change team, performance coaches, Covid task force and marketing directors, and subsequently created an athletecentric campaign that delivered clear Covid-safe messaging for both the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics. This project included videos, animations, posters, Olympic village printed collateral and social media content.
We were incredibly proud to work with Team GB at such a crucial and significant time for athletes globally. We also enjoyed hearing updates from the team at Tokyo on how well the campaign had been received.
Why did your team enjoy working on this project and what was unique about it?
I think we all enjoyed working on it as it was for such a high-profile, creative and exciting client. It gave us a sense of great satisfaction knowing we had played a part in helping keep athletes safe and fulfilling their full potential at the Olympics Games.
What has been the impact of your work on the client’s business?
The greatest accolade of this Covid campaign, for all involved, was that all Team GB athletes remained Covid-free.
The Independent called Team GB's achievements “the miracle of Tokyo” and went on to say, “Team GB returned no positive Covid cases and matched their London 2012 medal tally in Tokyo in what officials rightly labelled ‘the greatest achievement in British Olympic history’.”
Have you got any plans to further develop this work in the future and what might this involve?
Following the success of this campaign, we are now looking froward to working with Team GB on materials for Paris 2024, our third Olympic games.
We are also developing communication and marketing projects with other national sporting bodies, helping them communicate with their elite athletes and grassroots sports clubs. We’re helping to identify the unique challenges, opportunities and new innovations that come into play as you aim to communicate with such an exciting and focused audience.
Without art and creativity, there would be no laughter, no music, no imagination and no stories. Can you imagine such a world?
The importance of the creative industries to our regional and national economies cannot be understated.
An up-to-date estimate by The Creative Industry Policies and Evidence Centre states the creative industries generate £115.9bn in gross value added (GVA), nearly 6% of the British economy, and employ 2.3 million people. They also contribute greatly to our country’s status internationally.
Here in Leicester, where I have built my own professional creative career, there are many local creative networks all doing their part to encourage and foster creativity, collaboration and innovation in our city. In fact, research has shown the city of Leicester has the largest creative cluster of businesses outside of London. That’s some going!
Some of the networks playing their part include:
• Create, which runs a series of free quarterly events for digital creators, producers,
LOCATION: LEICESTER
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: NINE
managers and administrators, aiming to inspire Leicester’s digital design community
• Film Leicester, which exists to make Leicestershire a destination for film and TV production
• Leicester Startups, a community for existing and aspiring entrepreneurs. It runs and promotes engaging networking events, seminars, mentoring sessions and hackathons designed to bring the community closer together.
Another such network is Creative Coffee Leicester, something I have been directly involved with for more than nine years. Originally started by then professor of new media at De Montfort University, Sue Thomas, Creative Coffee has been going for 16 years. It’s been kept spinning over the years by a small handful of volunteers who are passionate about Leicester and our local creative economy.
Throughout the year, there are monthly events that aim to connect the creative community to businesses, academics and each other. It’s a great way to exchange ideas, foster innovation and kickstart relationships – all from
a relaxed café-style environment. We find alternating between inspiring talks, table expert discussions, workshops and informal networking strikes a great balance.
We came up with four key pillars that guide us and remind us why we do what we do. All our events exist to offer creative inspiration, encourage knowledge-sharing, stimulate growth and encourage collaboration, and provide a friendly space to network.
PROJECT CLIENT: NORTH WARWICKSHIRE AND SOUTH
LEICESTERSHIRE COLLEGE
SPOKESPERSON: MARK ROBINSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR
How did this project come about and how did you execute it?
Hyve is about inspiring and empowering the next generation of automotive engineers. It aims to be recognised as the first-choice provider of knowledge and skills training for automotive and logistics businesses across Leicestershire, as they embrace the low-carbon technologies that deliver cleaner, greener transport. As rostered design agency for the project’s lead partner North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College (NWSLC), we were asked to contribute to the project. From naming to brand creation and website design to vehicle wrapping, we had a hand in every part of Hyve’s inception and development. The project is a collaborative partnership between NWSLC, Leicester College, Loughborough College and SMB College Group, so working quickly and diligently while ensuring we provided clear, concise presentation visuals was key to keeping the project on track.
Why did your team enjoy working on this project and what was unique about it? This project gave us the opportunity to show what we can do as a fullservice agency. It relied on multiple team members working together to hit deadlines and exceed the client’s expectations. Learning about hydrogen and electric vehicles, and seeing how the educators got to grips with how they would deliver the training was something unique. As sustainability becomes more engrained in business life, it was great to be part of something you know will have such a positive impact.
What has been the impact of your work on the client’s business?
With the Hyve project just beginning to roll out, it is too soon to measure its direct impact for NWSLC. However, the project has been recognised by
the Chamber, having been announced as a finalist in the Excellence in Collaboration category for the Leicestershire Business Awards.
Have you got any plans to further develop this work in the future and what might this involve?
I am sure we will continue to support the initiative, but one of the key objectives for the project was that partners should be empowered to create their own Hyve assets once we were past the launch. It would be great to be involved with helping more organisations to promote their sustainable products and services.
Earlier this year, a former television studio in Nottingham was transformed into an immersive creative production hub that aims to boost film and TV production in the East Midlands while helping businesses to use emerging technologies in order to reach new audiences. Professor Helen W Kennedy (pictured), co-lead of the LEADD:NG project that established the Virtual and Immersive Production studio, explains what this work has involved.
Live, Experiential and Digital Diversification (LEADD:NG), a collaboration between the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University, was a 30-month, European Regional Development Fund-supported project delivered by a talent pool of more than 20 researchers from arts, computer science, business, law and beyond.
An incredible depth and breadth of expertise was put to work across the city and region to support SMEs, artists, freelancers and performers in their engagement with increasingly popular and powerful immersive technologies – including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), ambisonic sound, projection mapping and holograms.
promote movement and interaction with a specific focus on supporting those experiencing dementia.
MishMash Productions, led by Liz Muge, experimented with hybrid live and digital performance to support its mission to deliver inclusive music education, while Roma Patel developed the Home: Zero art installation, which uses interactive technologies and a hologram to help people reimagine how they can live sustainably at home.
The project has created a complex web of new knowledge exchange relationships, partnerships and collaborations, has made visible sector-leading expertise, and inspired nationally significant new artistic and commercial interventions.
The project has also put Nottingham on the creative industries map as a micro cluster with considerable potential for investment in the burgeoning immersive experience economy.
TAKING LEARNINGS INTO THE VIP STUDIO
The success of the programme and the scale of the interest led to the development of the Virtual and Immersive Production (VIP) studio. The acoustically-treated studio that was once part of the Carlton Television Studio, in Lenton Lane, where well-known 1990s sitcoms and gameshows such as Blockbusters, Catchphrase, Family Fortunes and Bullseye were filmed.
The VIP studio, which forms part of a wider vision to reimagine once-vibrant studios as creative research and production hubs, will allow filmmakers, performing arts companies and creative industry businesses to explore future technologies in areas such as VR, animation and 360-degree immersive sound technology.
By focusing on collaborative cutting-edge research and experimentation, we can support innovation, as well as sustain our connection with the LEADD:NG beneficiaries and the growing community of immersive experience expertise within our region.
More than 150 individuals and organisations were engaged through the programme, with more than 65 benefitting from 12 or more hours of direct support from the talent pool including workshops, hackathons, mentoring and hands-on prototyping sessions. Thirty-six beneficiaries were taken through an intensive bespoke programme of support to develop new services, products and experiences.
Projects have included immersive theatre experiences, interactive AR applications, mixed media gaming experiences, digital twin musical performances, VR training applications, VR video dance experiences, audio augmented photography, projection mapping, and many more virtual and immersive-focused collaborations.
The project was particularly successful in attracting women to the programme. They have created compelling new experiences that demonstrate considerable investment potential and also evidence a commitment to socially responsible innovation.
Examples include Emma Wass, a cognitive health practitioner who has created a prototype of a gesture-based interface to
‘The project has created a complex web of new knowledge exchange relationships, partnerships and collaborations’An immersive experience taking place in the LEADD:ING project studio
LOCATION: NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 12
PROJECT CLIENT: CLEARMARK SOLUTIONS
SPOKESPERSON: TINA BROWN, DIRECTOR
How did this project come about and how did you execute it?
For our client Clearmark Solutions (ICE), a manufacturer that specialises in coding and labelling, we have helped with many of its previous direct mail campaigns. For a recent project, it wanted something much more targeted that would really stand out to its target audience. As this company’s products are technical, it can often be a struggle to easily convey the details in a succinct and memorable way. So, the Summit Creative team popped on our thinking caps and presented this solution – the video mailer.
Why did your team enjoy working on this project and what was unique about it?
We love to work on unusual projects that stretch our resourcefulness. These mailers are a specialised product, therefore the team got to use its sourcing
skills to find the right supplier to produce exactly what the client required and at the right price. It is always rewarding to work on a project where we know the client is likely to receive a higher return-on-investment than if it was using more traditional marketing methods and this is exactly what these video mailers do.
What has been the impact of your work on the client’s business?
The beauty of this format is it combines the power of video with the impact of direct mail, an incredibly effective method to get your message across in a memorable way. The client has not divulged the exact value of orders generated from this campaign, but we know it was very successful for it.
Have you got any plans to further develop this work in the future and what might this involve?
The video mailer has become a coveted marketing tool by many of our clients. It has been utilised in several ways, from a travel agency using it to introduce holidaymakers to their recently booked cruise ship, to a building firm showcasing their latest building project. The product is as versatile as the video within it.
LOCATION: DERBY
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: FIVE
PROJECT CLIENT: GINO D'ACAMPO
SPOKESPERSON: MARK AVERILL, CO-FOUNDER
How did this project come about and how did you execute it?
We provided photography and videography services for the launch of Gino D’Acampo’s new pizza ovens. We created a whole suite of imagery, videos and social media content for the project, including Instagram reels and TikTok videos.
To get the content, eight of us went down to an Italian-style venue near Stansted Airport to use as a backdrop. The team was made up from the entire AVIT staff, plus some of our other business contacts to help with lighting and sound. We only had about five hours to film with Gino, but he is extremely professional and great to work with, so the day went really smoothly.
The work came via a referral from another one of our clients, who was linked to Gino’s business partner. It was a really big deal getting this contract because we were up against some big London agencies.
Why did your team enjoy working on this project and what was unique about it?
Working on this product was one of our biggest projects to date, so the profile and scope of work was really exciting for us all.
Working with Gino himself was also a highlight – he’s got a great personality so it was a fun experience. He also cooked his pizzas for us all, which was a major perk!
It was a big product launch for Gino and his business partner, meaning there was a lot of pressure to get it right, and we spent a long time running through ideas and reviewing competitor activity to get the best concepts.
What has been the impact of your work on the client’s business?
Everything on the @ginopizzaovens Instagram account was produced by AVIT. On his personal account, Gino has got 1.7 million followers, so the first time he posted out the content, they were selling the products as quickly as they were getting them in.
Have you got any plans to further develop this work in the future?
Gino has a lot of different elements to his business, including TV, restaurants and hotels, so we are hoping to progress within his other brands. We’ll also be working on further projects within the pizza ovens brand, including plans to film in outdoor settings to highlight different uses for the product, such as campsites.
successful implementation of new ideas is crucial
a business retain its competitive edge. But how can a business adopt a culture of innovation? Business Network explores.
Innovation is vital for any business. It can help keep a company at the forefront of new developments and technology, which in turn can help it stay ahead of its competition, exploit new markets and improve profitability.
It can also create opportunities for greater efficiency, establish new partnerships and produce a more engaged and productive workforce. Innovation can mean a standalone breakthrough – a totally new product or service, for example, or a series of smaller changes.
Don’t innovate for innovation’s sake – you can waste a lot of time and money developing a service that your customers don’t want or need. A great starting point is finding out exactly what your customers like about your product or service, and what can be improved.
Are there any gaps in their lives that your service could fill? Could your product be cheaper, or easier to use? Conduct customer surveys and market research to generate constructive criticism and get an insight on what they want.
You may think that to be innovative, you need to assemble a top team of creatives, or that it should be left in the hands of the board or upper management. However, you shouldn’t limit your opportunities to be innovative before you’ve even begun.
Bringing different departments together can spark conversation, which in turn can lead to creation as your staff mix with people they might not usually interact with.
You may find some of them have been waiting for an opportunity to have their ideas heard, or a change of scenery can trigger new ways of thinking. Reward innovative ideas, as incentives can help encourage staff to think more creatively.
New technology can present incredible opportunities for businesses looking to innovate. Embracing technology can be as simple as moving paper-based systems to the cloud, selling your product online, or as technical as adopting cutting-edge tools such as artificial intelligence, or virtual and augmented reality.
However, you don’t necessarily have to invest in the latest tech to be innovative. Coming up with a better way to streamline your workforce or generate new sales is just as innovative, and can be just as dramatic on your bottom line as developing world-changing technology.
Adopting a culture of innovation requires businesses to be open to experimentation, but businesses must also acknowledge that not every experiment will prove to be fruitful.
Don’t let the fear of failure put you off, however – even the most successful companies have made mistakes or had projects fail. It is important to learn from your mistakes and use that knowledge to refine your ideas.
You must encourage risk-taking and experimentation among your staff too. Create a support environment where your employees feel free to express their ideas without criticism, and don’t penalise those who try new ideas and fail.
Annalie Sheils (pictured below), Konseileo client director, East Midlands, shares what it means to be part of a Teal organisation and the experience of working for a truly empowering company.
Konsileo were formed in 2012 and in this short time, they have become ‘Modern Work Award Winners’ and been named as ‘Employer of the year’ for two years running. They have also been awarded Chartered Insurance Broker Status in 2022. Chartered titles are jealously guarded by professional bodies and are not awarded lightly. Only 12% of UK insurance brokers hold this status.
As of today, Konsileo have employed over 100 highly experienced Commercial Insurance Brokers throughout the UK and are growing fast. They enable brokers to be completely trusted, have access to the whole of the insurance market with no restrictions, and build strong advisory relationships through expertise, in an authentic and personal way.
Imagine a workplace where hierarchies blur, individual brilliance thrives, and authentic connections blossom. This is the essence of a Teal organisation. In this vibrant ecosystem, every voice is valued, and the collective wisdom of the team is cherished. It's a place where collaboration isn't just a fad but a way of life, where everyone is encouraged to bring their whole selves to work and contribute to something greater.
Here are a few of the amazing benefits I've experienced since joining Konsileo:
Within this Teal landscape at Konsileo, trust is the beating heart that drives our actions.
Rather than relying on rigid rules and micromanagement, we are given the freedom to explore our passions, make decisions, and forge our own path. Trust breeds responsibility, and responsibility ignites creativity, allowing us to unleash our true potential and make a genuine impact.
Gone are the days of superficial workplace relationships.
At Konsileo, bonds are formed on a profound level. We celebrate each other's unique strengths and perspectives, creating an environment where empathy, support, and collaboration thrive.
Here, personal, and professional development aren't buzzwords, but cherished ideals. We're encouraged to expand our knowledge, acquire new skills, and embrace the full spectrum of our potential. I too am on a transformative journey, stepping out of my comfort zone and learning from the overwhelming collective knowledge of some the best brokers insurance has to offer.
I believe from my brief time here, that Teal organisations have a place in the modern world and can represent the future of work. By embracing the Teal ethos, and culture, we can cultivate workplaces that inspire, empower, and uplift every single individual who walks through their doors.
Peter is an ordained priest and is serving his curacy in a large urban Parish in Northampton, supporting 15,000 people and multiple schools as well as being a volunteer chaplain for the NHS. Peter is part of our central team and is available to speak to all Konsileo brokers 24/7 in complete confidence.
Being a client director at Konsileo places me in the perfect position to provide excellent customer service with a high attention to detail. I am very inquisitive which enables me to identify cover issues as well as the ability to solve these in an efficient and pain-free manner, so my clients can go on running their business with peace of mind.
I conduct my services with integrity, fairness, and transparency, striving to give expert advice on a range of sectors and industries. Having worked with major UK and Ireland brokers, I have been exposed to a wide range of complex practices and processes, from Reinsurance premium allocations, global insurance regulations, claims to compliance. My clients have included Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson, Louis Vuitton/Moet Hennessy to name just a few.
I had a cancer diagnosis two years ago and the idea of returning to a corporate platform filled me with absolute dread and it started to have an impact on my mental health. During my sick leave I realised my life had been 30 years of non-stop work and I decided to reevaluate my career. In my opinion, Insurance has become more of a transactional service and not an insurance solution. I’m passionate about role and I cannot act as a ‘click and send’ Insurance Broker – I need to know every client has a tailor-made insurance solution and a broker who really cares about them.
I was drawn to Konsileo in 2018 and have now officially returned! It’s the best decision I have ever made. I love the company’s philosophy and mentality with treating customers fairly being at the core of everything we do. For me, Teal is the future business tool, enabling you to be your best self through managing your own diary, negating corporate pressures, and taking care of yourself through wholeness.
If you need any commercial insurance advice, please do not hesitate to contact me. (Fear not, I’m not a salesperson). I have 30 years’ experience across all sectors of business and 100 colleagues who can assist if I need a particular specialist. I look forward to protecting your business, properly.
For more information please contact me.
T: 0116 504 0143 M: 07935 213309
E: annalie.sheils@konsileo.com or visit www.konsileo.com
…and in turn we are disrupting the insurance broking industry with a unique approach to insurance that nurtures the often-jeopardised, client-broker relationship.
By Lucy Rennie, founder and director of LR Comms
We are living in a VUCA world, a world of:
• Volatility
• Uncertainty
• Complexity
• Ambiguity
We are still experiencing the impact from challenges including Brexit, Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and a cost-ofliving crisis to name just a few.
And over the past few years, we have seen people are starting to re-evaluate how they want to live their lives and what’s important to them.
People want another way of life; they have different expectations and are looking for much more from their favourite brands.
Your customers are changing the way they interact with brands like yours too. They are becoming more curious, intentional and selective, they want to know what you stand for. They want to know you care about them as customers, the planet and the wider community.
The global management consultancy McKinsey & Company states: “Consumers increasingly expect brands to ‘take a stand’. The point is not to have a politically correct position on a broad range of topics. It is to choose the specific topics – or causes – that make sense for a brand and its consumers, and to have something clear to say about those particular issues.
“In a transparent world, younger consumers don’t distinguish between the ethics of a brand, the company that owns it, and its network of partners and suppliers. A company’s actions must match its ideals, and those ideals must permeate the entire stakeholder system.”
This is a massive opportunity for you to stand out from the crowd and become the “go-to” brand for your product or service.
Here are three steps you can take today in your business to build solid foundations and future-proof your business:
1.
Check-in with your vision, purpose and values. These are the foundations of your business, and will help you move forward in the right way and make informed decisions.
They will be the driving force behind attracting and retaining the right kind of people, who resonate with you and your brand and what you stand for – whether that is more customers who want to buy your products and services, future employees who want to join your team or other like-minded people who want to partner with you.
How you communicate is key to standing out from the crowd and help people get to know, love and trust you. Remember you want people to resonate and engage with your brand.
Review your communication plan and ask yourself these questions:
•Who are you communicating with and why?
•What do they want or need to know from your business?
•What do you need or want them to know?
•What is the most appropriate and effective way of communicating with them?
•How can you create two-way communication, creating opportunities for conversation, feedback and engagement?
People absorb information in different ways, whether that is visual, aural, reading or kinaesthetic (VARK by Neil Fleming). Usually, the answer is a good mix of all of these, so think about how you communicate. Finally, don’t underestimate the power of telling stories that show you understand, how you can help and why they should choose you.
Embrace what I call the TripAdvisor Effect
In the business-to-business (B2B) world, 84% of decision-makers start their buying process through a referral, according to a 2016 study by Harvard Business Review.
In other words, they ask for a recommendation or a referral first before Googling. People want to see and hear from people who share the same values about their experience with your brand first before they buy – they want social proof that what you are doing is of value.
There really is no better marketing than word-of-mouth marketing, which is the key to future-proofing your business, so encourage more people to leave reviews and recommend you to their friends, colleagues and family. Ask yourself these questions:
•How often do you invite people to give you feedback or leave a review?
•How often do you encourage your existing customers to refer you to a friend or colleague?
•What systems do you have to capture feedback, reviews, and referrals?
Lucy Rennie
‘There really is no better marketing than word-ofmouth marketing, which is the key to future-proofing your business’
Today’s packaging has to balance sustainability with functionality. Darren Crowder (pictured), innovation manager at Filtrona Tapes explains why their tear tape innovations can deliver on both counts.
Consumers have long been frustrated about aspects of their packaging, and according to our research, 57% of consumers still cite a difficult opening experience as their top frustration stemming from packaging design.
But equally, consumers also want their packaging to be more environmentally conscious, a position shown by countless studies from data experts like Deloitte, Mintel, and McKinsey.
So how do you solve these issues for a diverse range of packaging types; from cartons with no opening device, which ranked number two for the most frustrating pack type, to flexible packaging, which requires the consumer to separate a pack into component parts to drop each part into the correct colour-coded bin.
Neither scenario appeals to modern, timepoor and sustainably-minded consumers.
Filtrona Tapes has developed the ECO Range to create a growing portfolio of sustainable tape solutions that do not compromise on functionality
Rippatape® Halo is a new repulpable tear tape focused on the e-commerce market. Years of tireless research have enabled us to create a paper tape that delivers a frustration-free opening of paperboard-based packaging, while maintaining impressive strength for a clean opening without weakening the board's structure as a perforation does. As it has been certified externally as recyclable with paper, it can also enter the recycling stream with the board it is applied to.
For easy opening or separation of plastic and flexible packaging, Supastrip® PCR was a market first for tear tapes. It offers the easy opening experience that consumers expect but is made from a plastic film containing 70% post-consumer recycled material. By innovating to make the opening experience more convenient and more mindful of the planet, packaging producers can enhance their packaging offer in line with today’s consumer expectations.
To learn more about Filtrona Tapes’ range of total tape solutions, visit www.filtrona.com
Ambitious businesses across Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire have received valuable support to embrace new technologies courtesy of the Digital Upscaler project.
The project, which was led by East Midlands Chamber and partfunded by the European Regional Development Fund, ran from 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2023.
It supported more than 1,000 businesses with the knowledge, investment and capacity to scale-up through intensive digital adviser support and specialist consultancy, capital grants to support technology investment, dedicated peer networks and a comprehensive programme of strategic actionplanning workshops.
•1,068 businesses supported
•7,598 hours of business support interactions delivered
•20 grants awarded – valued at £1.6m
•5 specialist consultancy projects brokered
•1,877 bookings secured on an events programme, which resulted in attendance figures of 1,363 (73% attendance rate)
•272 businesses supported in accessing over 12 hours of support
•15 businesses supported to introduce new products and services through the grant scheme.
An agricultural machinery dealer is hoping to gives sales a major online boost with a new website – after a helping hand from the Chamber’s Digital Upscaler project.
Customers of B&B Tractors, based in Warsop, Nottinghamshire, will be able to order online from a choice of more than 30,000 ancillary products, including tools and spare parts, when the ecommerce site goes live before the end of this year.
Technology grants valued at £1.6m in total, which were delivered as part of the project, have supported companies across a range of sectors to acquire and integrate new enterprise resource planning (ERP) and material requirements planning (MRP) systems, new access and entry systems, as well as install high-performance servers and high-speed Wi-Fi.
Diane Beresford, deputy chief executive at the Chamber, said: “Digital technology support has been a core service of the Chamber for many years now. A significant part of that offer was Digital Upscaler, the impact of which can be seen both in the project’s deliverables and in the subsequent growth of the businesses supported.
“ERDF support may well have ended but the Chamber’s innovation and technology specialists continue to be on hand to guide scaling businesses on tapping into support from the Chamber’s new East Midlands Accelerator projects and through national programmes such as Made Smarter and Innovate UK EDGE.”
Examples of how businesses used Digital Upscaler support and grant funding include:
•Datalink Electronics, Charnwood, Leicestershire: The electronics manufacturer invested in a new
IT server and MRP system, helping it to transform its interworking capabilities, cater for remote working and improve data accuracy.
•Great British Car Journey, Ambergate, Derbyshire: The visitor attraction, which exhibits motor vehicles dating from the 1920s until the present day, established an e-commerce channel that digitises its visual assets so these could be reproduced onto canvas and Tshirts for online ordering.
•Home Curtains, Sutton-inAshfield, Nottinghamshire: The second-generation wholesaler and manufacturer of household textiles and soft furnishings has integrated a new ERP system, installed high-speed Wi-Fi, and implemented a new access and entry system.
Further information on the businesses supported through the project is available at www.emcdnl.co.uk/services/digital-upscaler
Businesses interested in the next generation of innovation support are invited to contact the Chamber’s innovation and growth team on 0333 320 0333 or info@emc-dnl.co.uk
The company received support from David Dobson, a digital business adviser in the Digital Upscaler team who provided her with a sounding board to ensure the website was developed to a high standard for users.
Group marketing manager Sara Paoloni (pictured) said: “Ensuring customers can successfully access our online platform on every device will open more sales channels for us.
“When it goes live, our new e-commerce site will give us a competitive edge – we’ll be one of just a handful of dealers offering online ordering facilities.
“Working with the Digital Upscaler project has had a massive impact on our business – we’ve seen tangible improvements made that were only realised thanks to the advice we’ve received from our digital business adviser David Dobson.”
B&B Tractors, a family-owned and managed business established in 1991, employs more than 80 people across four depots and operates in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.
It is a co-provider of sales, services and parts for leading machinery brands, including Massey Ferguson, Valtra, Fendt, Kuhn, Vaderstad, Honda, Isuzu, Manitou and Sany.
The company had plans for a new website that integrates five individual sub-sites covering specialist divisions, including machinery, ground care and plant, into a single dynamic interface.
Sara contacted the Digital Upscaler team to receive impartial advice on device functionality and user experience, after previous versions of the website had been clunky and would often crash when access via mobile phones.
She said David’s support was “game-changing” by helping to simplify the website design and making it more user-friendly, including splitting out products across more pages to keep the website cleaner and easier to navigate.
“Visually segmenting divisions on a central online hub will provide focus to visitor journeys, optimise our sales channels and help us to connect with a much bigger audience,” Sara added.
‘Digital technology support has been a core service of the Chamber for many years’B&B Tractors base in Warsop
Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has appointed an agency to carry out a programme of significant user research and consultancy to uncover the realities and needs of its students’ digital experiences.
Digital customer experience agency Great State will work collaboratively with NTU stakeholders to embed future ways of working between them and the university.
It is part of NTU’s aspiration to be the most digitally sophisticated university in the UK by 2025. With more than 40,000 students and colleagues spanning five university sites, it is one of the largest and higher education institutions in the country.
The university wants to put students at the heart of its technological transformation programme to gain deeper insight into how best to transform its digital offering.
Amanda Neylon, director of digital technologies at NTU said: “We have a diverse student community, and we are committed to pursuing personalisation of the student experience above and beyond expectations. We’re looking forward to carrying out this research and feeding the insight into our digital
plans to meet our ambition to be the most digitally sophisticated university in the UK.” Great State is known for its digital transformation work with large-scale public sector digital platforms, including the awardwinning employee empowerment app MyNavy, used by 78% of the Royal Navy each month.
The importance of data to the UK retail industry has been highlighted in new Barclays research, as nine in 10 retailers (93%) predict that effective data capture and use will be important to the future success of their businesses.
However, many people still need convincing, with nearly half of consumers (46%) not fully comfortable sharing their information – and only 19% completely comfortable with this prospect.
Fortunately for UK retailers, there is a route ahead, according to The New Retail Reality report.
The majority (61%) of those who say they are not comfortable would consider sharing their data for an incentive. Barclays research has shown loyalty schemes are the most popular way to reward consumers, with 83% of shoppers using between one and four memberships.
Karen Johnson, head of retail and wholesale at Barclays Corporate Banking, said: “Retailers need to tailor what they offer so that people experience the benefits of data sharing on a regular basis, with end-to-end personalisation, exclusive rewards, and smoother customer experiences. If they can do this consistently, consumers will be happy to join them.”
personalisation of the student experience’
A slowdown in the economy is often seen by acquisitive businesses as an opportunity to grow. There are many reasons why companies acquire other businesses.
An acquisition may bring the benefits of growing profit through economies of scale or growth in market share, or it could provide the buyer access to new technology that would be otherwise too expensive and time-consuming to create itself. Other benefits could be growth in geographical reach, a foothold in a new market or an increase in cross selling opportunities.
Acquisitions are not always successful and serial acquirors have usually had some experience of an acquisition not generating the value they thought it might. But if they have not been put off, t hey soon become sophisticated buyers and are very adept at spotting where the value is in the enterprise they are looking at. Owner managers need therefore to be clear on where the value is in their business and be proactive in protecting it.
Enterprise value is more than just the profit the business can generate – it’s customer relationships, longevity of income, bespoke sales and marketing processes, brand val ue, supply chain sustainability, strategic positions and, of course intellectual property.
Business owners need to consider how they have locked these valuable parts of their business into the business and be confident it can be demonstrated when scrutinised by a prospective buyer. This will often necessitate a review of the contractual arrangements that sit behind the trade. Being conscious of where the enterprise value is in a business, and having a focus on strengthening it, will pay dividends in an uncertain economy.
In July, the Government changed the “statutory legacy” sum from £270,000 to £322,000. This means that if a person dies without a will, in addition to being entitled to their personal effects, their spouse or civil partner will automatically receive up to £322,000 worth of assets from the deceased’s estate, with the remaining sum split 50/50 between the surviving spouse or civil partner, and any children.
If there are no children, the surviving spouse or civil partner will automatically inherit everything. But this is only applicable to those who are married or in a civil partnership, and doesn’t include cohabiting couples.
Unfortunately, there are many people who still believe a common law spouse exists, and think they will automatically inherit everything if their partner dies.
This is absolutely not the case –those who are married or in a civil partnership, and don’t have a will, only inherit up to £322,000, plus 50% of whatever remains of their partner’s estate, whereas unmarried couples who don’t have wills in place risk ending up with nothing.
Getting married is not for everyone, but getting a will should be. Without one, you and your loved ones are unprotected and
instead of following your wishes, the distribution of your estate will be determined by fixed rules under UK law.
For estates worth less than £322,000, the surviving spouse or civil partner will inherit it all. For estates over the new threshold, a split in inheritance could lead to issues for those left behind.
If the deceased owned the family home in their sole name, subject to the value, this new statutory legacy threshold could lead to surviving spouses or civil partners being forced to sell the property to
release sums due to their children, or including children on the deeds, potentially limiting what the surviving partner can do with the property down the line.
It’s worth considering that the rules of intestacy use an arbitrary system to prioritise distribution of assets, which is limited to spouse or civil partner, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles. It therefore doesn’t take into consideration stepchildren or other dependents you may have. The only way to guarantee they are included in your estate is to prepare a will.
With the cost-of-living crisis and an increasing number of second marriages, blended families and unmarried couples, an estate that is distributed under intestacy (without a will) is more vulnerable to costly challenges and claims from dependents, or those who were given promises of inheritance.
It is critical for families to have an open and honest discussion with their loved ones while still alive to avoid any confusion and financial misunderstanding when they eventually die.
All too often, the will disputes that we deal with arise from a lack of communication, misunderstanding or incorrect assumptions of the law that leaves people without money they were depending on.
Making a will has always been an important task for individuals but, following new legislation introduced over the summer, it has become even more vital. Hannah Tait (pictured), private client partner at Shakespeare Martineau, explains
‘It is critical for families to have an open and honest discussion with their loved ones while still alive’Debra Martin
At DWS Legal, we understand that when you need legal services, you want to use a firm of solicitors you can trust. Our positive online reviews, personal recommendations and a high client retention are testament to this. Shortlisted for both regional and national awards, we are a multi-award winning, full-service law firm making waves in the legal landscape.
Our clients come to us because of our depth of experience, unrivalled commercial and legal knowledge and a ‘think outside of the box’ attitude, ensuring tailored solutions that yield a positive outcome, whilst achieving cost effect results.
The Team at DWS Legal understands their social responsibilities and strive to go beyond the limits of the office; conquering the first of its kind initiative by pledging to plant 1000 trees in 100 days and then surpassing that target, setting an inspiring example for environmental stewardship.
DWS has been recognized and shortlisted for prestigious regional and national awards, a testament to their commitment to excellence.
With groundbreaking reviews and active engagement on social media platforms,
DWS is not just a law firm but a digital influencer in its own right.
DWS has gone beyond the courtroom, conquering the first-of-its kind initiative by planting 1000 trees in less than 100 days, setting an inspiring example for environmental stewardship.
Keeping pace with the technological frontier, DWS has recently established an AI Testing and Review Hub. This innovation is aimed at harnessing the benefits of AI to provide even more efficient and effective legal solutions.
Our diverse clientele ranging from private individuals to corporate giants benefit from the knowledge of our team of experts. Whether you are an individual or a business (of any size), DWS Legal is your trusted partner in navigating the complex legal landscape.
Nottingham-based George Square Financial Management has acquired independent financial advice firm Taylor McGill in the latest stage of the firm’s ambitious corporate expansion plans.
The deal will see George Square, which provides independent financial planning solutions and mortgage advice across the East Midlands, grow its client base significantly and add an independent financial adviser to its team
Also based in Nottingham, Taylor McGill is recognised for offering bespoke financial planning services for its clients.
The firm has built up a sizable portfolio of 250 private clients since it was founded in 1991 by the company’s directors Simon Taylor and Gerry McGill.
Simon’s son, Daniel Taylor, also joined the team in 2008 in an administration capacity, before becoming a financial planner for the firm on completion of his qualifications in 2013.
As part of the acquisition, George Square will acquire all of Taylor McGill’s client base, which will now be able to access
additional financial services provided by George Square, including specialist lending and independent mortgage advice.
Daniel will also join the George Square team as an independent financial adviser, bringing with him 10 years’ worth of expertise in supporting clients who have inherited wealth and are looking for financial guidance, as well as in providing retirement and later life planning advice.
George Goward, managing director of George Square, said: “This acquisition marks a significant step in George Square’s three-to-fiveyear corporate expansion plans that we set out at the start of 2023.
“I have enjoyed a longstanding relationship with Simon and Gerry for many years now, and know too well how tirelessly they have worked over the last three decades to establish and maintain Taylor McGill’s fine reputation.
“Taylor McGill clients can rest assured that they will continue to receive this top level of service from George Square, while also benefiting from the additional services we offer, such as independent mortgage advice.
“We are also delighted to welcome Daniel to the George Square team. His extensive knowledge and expertise will help add value to our personal financial planning service offering.”
Gerry McGill, director of Taylor McGill, said: “George Square’s values align perfectly with the approach we have always taken at Taylor McGill over the years.
“Considered planning, sound
investment management and the strong ethos of partnership lie at the heart of what the team at George Square does, and I am confident our clients are in safe hands as we begin this next chapter.”
Simon Taylor, director of Taylor McGill, added: “Gerry and I founded our company 33 years ago, and we are extremely proud of what we have achieved over the years through offering a value for money service that, in turn, has added value for the people we have worked with. This acquisition marks an exciting step for the firm and for our clients.”
Small businesses in the East Midlands attracted £98m of equity investment in 2022, according to the British Business Bank’s annual small business equity tracker.
The bank’s report revealed there had been 58 announced equity deals in the region – but because of the downturn in the market, the East Midlands attracted 37% less in investment on the previous year.
Despite the downturn and fall in investment, the number of deals in the East Midlands in 2022 remained relatively stable, and was the second highest annual total on record.
The British Business Bank allocated 2.1% of its equity deals to the region, compared to 2% across the wider equity market.
In areas outside of London, the number of deals fell by 10% in 2022 to 1,337 deals. The total investment value in these areas also fell by 11% to £5.8bn. The decline in the number of deals is twice as fast as the decline experienced in the London region.
The biggest concentration of investment is once again focused in London, with the bank saying this highlights the need of its regionallyfocused programmes – including the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), which plays an
important role in increasing the supply of finance in the Midlands.
Dr Sophie Dale-Black, UK network director for the Midlands at the British Business Bank, said: “2021 was an incredibly strong year for equity investment in the East Midlands, and it is positive to see such a huge amount of equity investment coming into the region to help smaller businesses to grow. This shows there is still a desire for that to continue.
“But, as we start to feel the economic downturn, the decline in investment in 2022 reflected concern about the overvaluation of deals, and the effects of higher inflation and rising interest rates.
“The bank continues to back smaller businesses in the region and will monitor these changing equity finance conditions carefully.”
Meanwhile, the British Business Bank is now inviting proposals from potential fund managers to operate the Midlands Investment Fund II, which launches in spring next year. It has earmarked £400m for funding SMEs to drive sustainable economic growth.
Fund managers can make proposals at www.meif.co.uk
‘I am confident our clients are in safe hands as we begin this next chapter’From left: Daniel Taylor, George Goward, Gerry McGill and Simon Taylor Dr Sophie Dale-Black, of British Business Bank
G F Tomlinson has linked up with an Austrian training programme to welcome an international student.
The family-run contractor, based in Derby, took on Konstantin Pata for a four-week internship in which he learned about UK construction methods compared to those in Austria – with G F Tomlinson also gaining an insight into Austrian methods via the knowledge exchange.
The 21-year-old works for Austrian construction firm Filzmaier Dach Fassade GMBH, which sponsored the apprenticeship alongside The Dual Academy training scheme.
Andy Sewards, chairman and managing director of G F Tomlinson, said: “We were only too pleased to step in and assist Konstantin with his quest for vital construction experience in the UK, following a call from a mutual contact.
“It is a very unique partnership that both parties can benefit from.”
Gi Group, one of the UK’s largest HR and recruitment agencies with branches across the East Midlands, has launched an HGV Driver Academy apprenticeship programme to tackle the perpetual shortage of drivers in the logistics industry.
In partnership with one of its subsidiary businesses, Tack TMI, Gi Group will offer its new driver apprenticeship schemes across the UK.
Andrew Fletcher, operations manager for the south at Gi Group, said: “We’re passionate that the future of the industry can be shaped by young, innovative men and women.
“Driving offers people a flexible working environment and opens up opportunities to work around your life, with the possibility of some serious salaries.”
In today’s rapidly evolving job market, the demand for employees with a well-rounded set of skills is higher than ever.
Employers seek candidates who not only possess technical expertise, but also exhibit workplace power skills that contribute to a positive and productive work environment.
For young employees entering the workforce, developing these skills is essential for long-term success. At Chesterfield College, we often get asked, how can employers encourage workplace power skills in their new, young employees? Here I give my own advice from what I’ve seen work in the past.
Effective communication lies at the heart of a successful workplace. Encourage young employees to practise active listening and articulate their thoughts clearly and concisely.
Provide opportunities for them to engage in group discussions, presentations and written communication exercises.
Constructive feedback and mentorship can further refine their communication skills, fostering better collaboration and reducing misunderstandings.
Problem-solving is a critical power skill that separates exceptional employees from the rest. Encourage young employees to approach challenges with a proactive mindset. Provide them with real-world scenarios to solve, allowing them to analyse and implement solutions.
By nurturing their problem-solving abilities, employers empower their workforce to adapt to changing situations and drive innovation.
The modern business landscape is marked by rapid changes and unexpected disruptions. Encourage young employees to embrace change and develop resilience in the face of adversity.
Assign tasks that expose them to different roles and responsibilities, helping them become versatile
team members. Acknowledge their efforts to overcome obstacles, creating a culture where adaptability is valued.
Time management is crucial for maintaining productivity and achieving goals. Encourage young employees to prioritise tasks, set realistic deadlines, and avoid procrastination. Teach them how to create schedules and to-do lists, and use free tools like Trello, enabling them to effectively manage their workload.
Even in entry-level positions, leadership skills are valuable. Encourage young employees to take ownership of their tasks, show initiative and inspire others through their actions.
Additionally, foster a collaborative environment where teamwork is emphasised. Group projects, cross-functional training and mentorship opportunities can help young employees understand the dynamics of effective teamwork.
In today’s digital age, proficiency in technology is a must. Provide training and resources to enhance young employees' digital literacy. This not only includes using common software tools but also understanding the broader digital landscape. Highlight the relevance of social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram for business, as these skills can greatly enhance their professional versatility.
Learning doesn't end with formal education, it's a lifelong journey. Encourage young employees to embrace continuous learning by attending workshops, webinars and pursuing additional certifications.
By demonstrating your commitment to their growth, you create a culture of learning that benefits both the individual and the organisation.
A new plan designed to boost skills and career opportunities for local people has been launched by Chesterfield Borough Council.
The Skills Action Plan sets out a variety of partnership initiatives – working with local agencies and businesses – to help bridge the skills gap.
It includes new projects that are designed to provide training and support for local people to improve their skills and access a wider range of career opportunities. The plan also establishes a new Skills and Employment Partnership, which aims to put employers at the heart of local skills development and ensure people develop the right skills to access new opportunities.
Councillor Tricia Gilby, leader of Chesterfield Borough Council and vice-chair of the Skills and Employment Partnership, said: “This new plan and partnership aims to deliver our objective of creating a thriving borough where everyone can benefit from a growing local economy.
“We want to ensure local people have the skills to progress in their careers or access new opportunities as they become available. Working closely with businesses is key to achieving our aims because we need to ensure we are helping local people develop the skills that employers need.
“Our action plan introduces a range of new
programmes and initiatives that will help people of all ages to boost their skills and develop new careers. We will be working with lots of delivery partners including education providers, employers, voluntary sector organisations and other councils, to ensure these programmes meet the needs of local people.”
The action plan sets out 12 areas of action across six themes, including young people, ambitions and connections to work; increasing higher level skills; barriers to employment and widening the workforce; anchor organisation
project opportunities; sector-specific and future skills; and skills brokerage and partnership.
Within each theme are a series of activities and commitments. These include the expansion of the Careers Made In Chesterfield programme, delivering a digital inclusion and work readiness programme, and the creation of a workforce upskilling programme focused on green and digital careers.
The Skills Action Plan, funded by the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, runs from 2023 until 2027.
‘This new plan and partnership aims to deliver our objective of creating a thriving borough’A student gets work experience at Oasis Studio as part of the Careers Made In Chesterfield programme
Work has begun to build affordable homes on the site of a former lace factory in Long Eaton.
The Oakleys Road scheme, which is being developed by MyPad on the former Oaklea Mill lace factory site, will provide 46 homes – with 29 earmarked for affordable rent and 17 for shared ownership.
The £10m development, which is set for completion in winter 2024, is funded and delivered by affordable housing provider emh group, with a grant contribution from Homes England as part of its strategic partnership agreement with Homes England.
Futures Housing Group has retained its top ratings for governance and viability from the Regulator for Social Housing after its latest indepth assessment.
The G1/V1 gradings mean the Castle Doningtonbased housing association has sustained toptier ratings without interruption since the current regulatory framework was introduced.
Lindsey Williams (pictured), chief executive at Futures, said: “Our board and teams throughout the organisation work hard year-round to ensure we run our business well and provide the very best services possible to our customers. It’s fantastic to see this reflected in the regulator’s judgement and this will hopefully show once again to our customers, funders and partners how seriously we take our work.”
Emh group has worked with Erewash Borough Council to draw up detailed plans that ensure the homes meet housing needs of local people, with sizes ranging from one-bedroom apartments to four-bedroom houses with gardens.
Chan Kataria, chief executive of emh group, said: “We are proud that our close work with Erewash Borough Council means we can be certain that the homes offered by the scheme will contribute towards meeting the housing aspirations of local people.”
Councillor James Dawson, leader of Erewash Borough Council,
A planning consultancy has helped to secure approval for two key developments at the Royal Derby Hospital.
added: “We need more homes in the borough, particularly affordable housing for those on Erewash’s housing register, some of whom will be facing homelessness, or living in difficult conditions.
“Also, buying a home is out of reach for many people, so these 46 new homes are really welcome. We know that emh will provide wellmanaged, energy-efficient and longterm homes for local residents.”
The homes have been designed to reflect the character of nearby homes, and residents will be within walking distance of the town centre and close to local amenities.
An Ilkeston-based composites components manufacturer has chosen Derby as the home for its growth plans.
Atlas Composite Technologies will take up occupation of a modern industrial unit following a deal brokered by Salloway Property Consultants.
The new building, which comprises 30,000 sq ft of workshop and office space, is located in Millennium Way, Pride Park, directly opposite Derby County’s stadium.
Hugo Beresford, the surveyor at Salloway who was responsible for the deal, said the transaction was far from straightforward.
“My client was the existing tenant that had sub-let to another company,” he said. “The sub-lease was coming to an end but the timings did not align with Atlas’s requirements.
“In the end, we had to negotiate a surrender with the landlord, simultaneously with the grant of a new lease to Atlas.
“I am delighted to have been able to put this deal together, not only because it releases my client from its obligations under the old lease, but also because it secures new premises for a successful and growing manufacturing company, which enables it to fulfil various exciting new contracts.”
Planning & Design Practice worked with the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust to firstly gain planning permission for the retention of a single-storey ward and adjoining link, which had been installed in a car park on a temporary basis in late 2018 to tackle acute winter capacity pressures at the hospital.
It had permission to continue operating until February 2023 but, as the need for the ward continued as a valuable facility for delivering patient care, especially during the pandemic, the Derbybased practice submitted a successful retrospective application to allow for the ward to be retained permanently.
The second approval was for a rooftop extension to the Kings Treatment Centre. This application follows a similar scheme that was submitted in 2018, but was never implemented due to funding not being secured at the time.
The proposal involves the infill of an existing rooftop courtyard at the south end of the centre and installation of an additional air handling unit on an adjacent existing rooftop to support the additional accommodation being provided.
The extension will accommodate the relocation of the elective procedures unit, which in turn will provide additional space for the expansion of the intensive care unit in the main hospital building.
Ihave driven plenty of off-roaders in my time – many of them not the likes of, say, a Range Rover but perhaps “soft” versions that still plough their way through mud and fields, while holding a presence on our roads today. I’m talking about the likes of the Mitsubishi L200 and the Toyota HiLux from years gone by.
Today, I see an array of these on tarmac and they have grown somewhat into ludicrously large, mean machines. I often wonder how on earth you find a space in which to park these vehicles. I had the pleasure of finding out not so long ago when I took the Ford Ranger Raptor out to see what all the fuss is about.
It’s huge. I mean really, really big. Ford has emblazoned its name across the vast grille, and the wheels and tyres look outrageously dominant. This latest version oozes technology like never before, starting with a beefy three-litre petrol V6 engine under the vast bonnet.
Should you wish, you can still have the old model’s diesel power plant but this new one is on a different level, what with its 10-speed automatic box and offroad settings that you can enjoy amid superb comfort in wild terrain.
‘This latest version oozes technology like never before, starting with a beefy three-litre petrol V6 engine under the vast bonnet’
On terra firma, however, it remains comfortable and surprisingly quite quick despite it weighing in at nearly 2.5 tonnes. Visibility is excellent seeing as you’re so high up, but you do have to make some effort to gain entry aided by a set of sturdy side steps.
The highlight is a 360-degree camera, which sends images to the brilliant 12-inch central touchscreen, plus it has a vast swathe of equipment in here to help navigate the roads and fields. Interestingly, one has a three-pin socket to power equipment on location – a neat, useful touch.
I loved it, but it does have flaws. It’s not particularly brilliant on economy, so you have to think ahead about where you’re going with it, and everyday use would be a headache. But what a blast to be able to try it out and hand the keys back after a week of hooning around in it.
Ford Ranger Raptor
PRICE OTR
From £59,560
PERFORMANCE
Top speed: 110mph
0-60 mph: 7.8 seconds
POWER
292 horsepower
ECONOMY 20 mpg
In recent weeks, I’ve seen two professionals claim “nothing you say to a journalist is off the record”.
Each had a role requiring engagement with media. Neither was East Midlands-based. I don’t agree with either of them.
To give them the benefit of the doubt, such conversations are an ethical grey area. Outcomes are dependent on the integrity of both source and journalist.
But their claim matters because it goes to the root of what journalism is about: trust.
Before delving into the ethics, it's important to understand what the term actually implies.
For journalists, the phrase “off the record” carries significant meaning. It denotes confidential communication. It is a professional agreement.
McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists (a copy of which will sit on the desk of any aspiring hack) contains a whole chapter on confidential sources.
Generally speaking, “off the record” means that information is supplied to aid the journalist's contextual understanding.
Some industry commentators offer further clarification. While “off the record” means the information cannot be used for publication, “not for attribution” implies information can be published – but without identifying the source.
You only need to look how frequently “friends of ministers” are quoted in Sunday newspapers to see the latter in action.
There are potentially reputational, regulatory and legal consequences for journalists managing such confidential conversations. Offrecord is an essential tool in the
daily work of newsrooms – but should be handled with care by those without experience.
Perhaps the real issue is, “How should you go off the record with journalists?”.
The key is mutual agreement and understanding, between journalist and source, about what “off the record” means in their specific conversation.
Both McNae and non-profit US fact-checker Poynter recommend that a source asks a reporter first if something can be off the record. This gives the reporter the choice to agree or refuse. Note – ask before
conversation starts. This is where sources frequently go wrong.
There’s a complex ethical debate as to when and why off-record confidences may be broken.
Suffice to say, the most ethical journalists balance their responsibility to inform the public with their duty to respect their sources’ wishes for confidentiality.
I recall being inspired as a trainee reporter by a journalism lecturer who, in a former life as a crime correspondent, found himself on the verge of being sent to prison for his refusal to divulge to a judge the name of his confidential source in a public interest story.
“Off-the-record” conversations can be useful. Journalists are often shared into off-record confidences that never make it anywhere near print. However, off-record sometimes helps to balance editorial decisionmaking or prevent inaccuracy. Journalists make ethical decisions all day, every day. Off-record can be a nuanced tool for people from all backgrounds to communicate with media. Too nuanced to be reduced to a single cliche characterising a whole industry.
The main theme of this month’s Business Network magazine is the creative industries. I considered this a good reason for a creative experiment when drafting this piece, so here goes…
“The creative industries are a diverse and growing sector that includes everything from art and design to fashion and music. They are a major contributor to the UK economy, generating £101.5 billion in revenue and emplo ying over 2.9 million people in 2021.
“The East Midlands is home to a thriving creative sector, with a wide range of businesses and organizations. The region is known for its world-class universities, which produce talented graduates who go on to work in the creative industries. The East Midlands is also home to a number of major cultural attractions, such as the National Centre for Contemporary Art in Nott ingham and the Leicester City Football Club.
“The creative industries are a key driver of economic growth in the East Midlands. They generate high-value jobs, attract inward investment, and boost tourism. The sector is also a major source of innovation, with creative businesses constantly coming up with new ideas and products.
“The East Midlands Chamber of Commerce is committed to supporting the creative industries. We believe that the sector has the potential to create even more jobs and growth in the region. We are working with businesses and organisations to promote the creative industries, and to help them access the resources they need to succeed.”
That is all good stuff. And, as part of my creative experiment, the last 208 words were composed entirely by Google’s open artificial intelligence (AI) programme, Bard, not by me.
What can we learn from this experiment, one that took me about 15 minutes despite never having used an AI generator before? Probably too much for an article such as this.
Does AI replace creativity? Definitely not. I had to decide the structure of the article, to set
up the prompt and to use the text generated by Bard, rather than that by ChatGTP 3.5. Bard generated 425 words for me; I chose to cut three bulky paragraphs to arrive at the text above.
All of which left me clear that I was creating, but exactly which part of this drafting process is the creative bit?
Does AI enhance creativity? Well, my short experiment hardly makes me an expert, but I suspect it can. It can certainly provide nice pieces of serendipity.
For example, Bard does not know I am a passionate home and away supporter of Leicester City Football Club, and yet it chose Leicester City (rather oddly) to be one of the two cultural attractions mentioned in the text. Nor does it know I am on the board of one of our region’s “world-class universities” that it also chose to reference. Interesting, eh?
Is the nature of creativity changing in the face of new technologies? To quote Bugs Bunny –“Duh!” (Well, Bugs Bunny was listed as the first user of “Duh” according to an online etymology search, which took 0.37 seconds).
The nature of creativity has constantly changed in the face of new technologies. From fire, to paper, to printing presses, to the internet. There is nothing new about that.
Is creativity all about economic output? Again, no. Our artists, writers, poets, designers, architects, musicians all serve to make our existence richer in ways not captured by economic measures alone and – as those who have read my previous Last Word articles will know – I believe there should be some higher purpose than mere economic growth.
Indeed, to limit “creativity” to “the arts” also misses a point. In another experiment, I asked my partner Claudine, who works in a hi-tech “creative” industry, for her views on the topic. Her comment came in at rather fewer words: “All industries require creativity”. And she is, assuredly, flesh and blood, and not an AI bot.
Does the current rapid pace of change present
risks? Yes, I think it does. Humans take time to process change, and the current pace of technological change is arguably faster than our ability to process it.
The possibility of malign actors using AI to influence public opinion and elections is scary. The possibility that someone might think the AIgenerated prose is the best part of this article is almost equally so, or at least an affront to my personal self-image. And the possibility that some genuinely creative individuals might find themselves squeezed out by machine-based facsimiles is, frankly, rather sad.
I am not sure that I have my head around this topic enough to draw any definitive conclusions. I would urge everyone, however, to at least be acquainted with what these new technologies can do. They certainly do change things.
And I will finish by quoting directly the final 78 words that Bard provided for me:
“The East Midlands Chamber of Commerce is committed to supporting the creative industries. We believe that the sector has the potential to create even more jobs and growth in the region. We are working with businesses and organisations to promote the creative industries, and to help them access the resources they need to succeed.
“If you are interested in learning more about the creative industries in the East Midlands, please visit the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce website.”
See? I could not have written that better myself … except that I’d like to think I would not have used two paragraphs so similar in structure in one short 450-word piece. But, hey, that is me being all “human” and stuff!
Footnote: The prompt used for the text quoted was: “Write an editorial for the East Midland Chamber of Commerce of 300 words on the importance of creative industry to the economy of the East Midlands of the UK.” The text was generated on 3 September 2023 using Bard 2023.07.13 and an alternative version was generated on the same day using ChatGPT3.5.
Chamber president Stuart Dawkins offers some musings on creativity and the role of rapidly-evolving technology within it
