Driven

Steve Bulley

Head of Business Engagement at Dorset Chamber and car fanatic I’ve never had so The new MOKE

much fun driving slowly.

What do the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Brigitte Bardot and now me all got in common? We have all been captivated by the personality and unique styling of iconic MOKE.

The first MOKES were manufactured at BMC’s Longbridge, Birmingham plant, where 14,518 were made between 1964 and 1968. Forward to 2021 and Hendy Group is the UK distributor for the new MOKE made by MOKE International. It’s 56 years since the doorless and roofless stripped-down Mini first went on sale and there were just 56 first editions of the new MOKE available at around £25,000 each.

The manufacturer says the chassis still remains true to the original, which is based on the legendary Austin Mini design. However, the 56 cars that have been sold to UK customers feature a raft of component upgrades.

It’s the most fun you will have driving slowly, under the bonnet is a 66bhp 1.1-litre fourcylinder petrol engine linked to a four-speed automatic gearbox. You can have a manual gearbox but it’s extra, so most will be autos.

You get supercar glances wherever you go and every time I stopped someone would come and chat about the car or their memories of the original.

Everything about this car is retro, from the dashboard dials to the radio, which to be honest you can’t hear when driving with the doors or roof off.

The first 56 are all sold and buyers could choose one of 24 colours including vibrant red, the colour of the car I drove. MOKE has released three special editions Army green, Air Force blue and Special Ops black, ideal if you like the Action Man look. The personalisation only extends to colours as you won’t find heated seats or autonomous driving modes in the MOKE, which is a godsend as it’s driving in its purest form.

Apparently the average fuel economy is 34mpg, but who cares! You are having such fun driving that refuelling is no hardship. I did manage 55mph on the dual carriageway but the MOKE is best suited to buzzing around town, going to the beach or just cruising about.

If you want the MOKE experience, contact the team at Hendy Performance in Poole as they have a handful of special editions in stock. www.hendy.co.uk/moke

William F1 driver George Russell Original Moke from the 1960’s

Former F1 world champion Damen Hill

Superior doubles apprenticeship positions following surge in applications

Ferndown-based manufacturer Superior saw a surge in enquiries from prospective apprentices looking to join its award-winning apprenticeship programme, backing the latest research by UCAS where more than three quarters (78%) of students who have received A-Level results do not plan to immediately start a three year full-time undergraduate degree but are interested in starting an apprenticeship.

With the number of applications increasing, Superior doubled the amount of apprentice positions starting this month across all five of its facilities.

Tim Brown MBE, managing director of Superior, said: “University has often been seen as the only route to a successful career, but apprenticeships can be a great way to give someone the skills needed to get the job they want. We started our award-winning Superior Academy in 2012 to enable us to invest in people so they can build a strong foundation for a career they love and in an environment in which they can thrive.

“Going to university isn’t the only way to get a degree. With our inhouse training and traineeships, we are able to provide qualifications, including degrees to anyone in the business. This means that at any stage of their career any Superior employee can develop their skills and understanding of a relevant subject while benefiting from the security of employment.”

The successful apprentices will spend one year training at the Superior Academy with full support from the dedicated training manager, followed by a rotational placement in different areas of the business where technical experts will mentor and support each person. Apprenticeships require a minimum of two years’ commitment and up to six years for a Masters’ qualification.

Azets launches recruitment initiative to target retirees and those on career breaks

Azets aims to fill at least 10% of this year’s job vacancies with retirees and career breakers

Azets, the UK’s largest regional accountancy firm and business advisor to SMEs, is launching a new recruitment initiative across the South East, including the Solent region where the company has several offices including Southampton, Winchester and Bournemouth – to proactively target retirees and those on career breaks. Azets is keen to open opportunities to those who seek flexibility and who will bring valued experience to the business.

The top 10 accountancy firm, which this year has hired 200 graduates and recently announced a further 650 new roles over the next 12 months, is investing not only in the next generation of talent but also in retirees and those looking to return to the profession on either a full or part-time basis. The business aims to fill at least 10% of vacancies by hiring retirees and those on a career break who are looking to return to the profession.

William Payne, Regional CEO for London and South East, Azets, commented: “We believe that we can boost our ambitious growth plans by adding people with a wealth of experience and leadership qualities. The national recruitment drive is supported by a multimillion-pound investment in a fully digitised, mobile-enabled hybrid working environment. This allows staff more choice and the flexibility and encouragement to ‘work from anywhere’ (WFA) as they are fully provided with the infrastructure and systems to support the workplace transformation. We are looking forward to welcoming these skilled people, who may not yet be ready for full retirement, to our network across London and the South East.”

The firm is hiring at all levels and across service lines including audit, tax and business advisory, with ambitious growth plans to increase revenue by 50% within the next five years.

Anna Murphy, Head of Group Resourcing with Azets, said: “While it’s common for top firms to focus only on hiring and developing young, ambitious trainees, there is a vast, untapped talent pool of retirees and those looking to return to work after a break who often aren’t ready to retire or want to progress in their careers while being able to fit work around other commitments.

“Azets proactively targeting retirees and career breakers is testament to our commitment to developing people in all age groups in any life circumstances, right across the business. This is further demonstrated by our aim to fill at least 10% of our new vacancies with people looking to come back into the profession either after retirement or a career break. With our continued investment in graduates and school leavers, there is also an opportunity for reverse mentoring, enabling the exchange of skills, knowledge and understanding between our youngest and most senior advisors.

“We want to hear from retirees and people returning from career breaks from across the UK who want to have the choice of working flexibly in a way that suits their lifestyle.”

www.azets.co.uk/careers

The Importance of generational partnership in Business

My name is Toby Berry, a first, going into second year, Economics and Politics Student at the University of Exeter. I‘m currently on a voluntary work placement at Prosper Protect Limited, based in Blandford, which has spurred me to highlight this fantastic partnership.

Being a resident in the local area, I felt it would be a great opportunity to use some spare time over my summer holidays, to pro-actively gain valuable work experience, attempt to then decipher and shape which area I’ll move into with my Degree as it can be a minefield for young people.

I have gained valuable insight into the work that goes on ‘behind the scenes’, gaining many transferrable skills such as confident and clear communication with colleagues and clients, as well as being able to provide a customer with a tailored, personal service and an excellent experience.

More importantly I have also been able to pick up on industry-specific skills, whether that be in mortgages or protection insurance; all new knowledge for me, which I can take back to my Economics degree.

Opportunities like these are so important to students and young people like me as it gives us a chance to experience what work in a particular industry could be like, helping us make more informed decisions about our future. It also provides a chance to widen our contact circle and help make new connections, that will be so important in the future and our potential careers, opening doors that otherwise would have never been there for us.

If you feel you could offer myself or my fellow students the opportunity to learn about your business; there is undeniable value for young adults. I truly believe a fresh mind, not yet having been moulded into a specific mindset or way of working in business, might be able to provide fresh insight, innovation and ideas, and I would relish the chance to get to know you and bring value to you and your business also.

I would love to encourage local businesses to support young people, to help shape our futures, open our eyes to business, and present us with career ideas, to really make our future generations thrive, and continue to build businesses for the success of Dorset, and indeed Dorset Chamber. www.prosperprotect.co.uk #GetBusinessDone

Is it ever too early to talk about Christmas?

Some will say yes, but in the retail space it’s never too soon

We all saw that last year’s peak season was different to the norm. With the pandemic, supply chain and logistical issues, and changing consumer shopping habits, many retailers started their seasonal advertising and promotions earlier than usual and Christmas looked very different for many. This year, people are keen to return to tradition - but the same shouldn’t apply to retailers.

While the thought of changing your approach to Q4 might be daunting, there is one thing you can consider to help you make the most of this vital season: start selling on a new marketplace. Shoppers value convenience and choice now more than ever, so the opportunity offered by marketplaces is undeniable, however I’m talking about growing marketplaces.

OnBuy.com has scaled rapidly, with the eCommerce boom only accelerating our growth, and we’re glad to have helped thousands of retailers grow alongside us. While OnBuy is well established as a booming marketplace, our journey is only just getting started and there’s still plenty of opportunity for retailers to join us as we continue scaling.

Rich Insight (an online marketplace agency and trusted partner of OnBuy) recently shared some insightful tips with us into the value of being first to market on growing eCommerce sites, and I wanted to share these tips with you as we get closer and closer to the golden quarter. Brand representation Marketplaces often use catalogue systems to organise their product range, which means multiple sellers can list on the same product. Being the first to sell a product means you get greater control over the way the product is represented (through well-optimised data, product images, a compelling description and so on), and you can also make your mark as an established seller of that product. Category dominance Entering into categories in their early stages on a growing marketplace can mean gaining prominence in that sector - especially when its other categories are already booming. By claiming your stake as an early adopter, you can increase visibility with your audience and get a head start on building up your reviews and reputation, attracting even more customers down the line.

New customers Being an early adopter of a growing site gives your business the chance to grow alongside them - whether they’re building up their customer base or expanding into different markets. Not only that, but if you’re there early on, your products will be exposed to more customers over time as the platform grows.

It’s clear to see there is a benefit to being an early adopter to growing marketplaces, particularly as we see the world continuing down a digital path with retail at its very core.

www.onbuy.com

#GetBusinessDone

Stop hallucinating and start achieving your Vision

Traction Six helps business owners and leaders get what they want from their business using a complete set of simple proven tools – known as EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System).

One of our clients with headquarters in Hampshire, Fresh Relevance, is growing rapidly, experiencing record YTD revenues and recently closed a follow-on investment round with the Foresight Group.

Reaction Six caught up with the CEO, Mike Austin and asked him to share more about the business, why he took the investment and how EOS is helping the business. Q. What is the company’s core focus and what do you do for your clients? In short, we drive personalised customer experiences. Clients use our personalisation platform to get better results from the websites, email marketing and mobile apps.

It’s no secret that a more personalized experience better serves the needs of customers. Better served customers spend more.

Our clients are across many different sectors. Our solution is particularly suited to eCommerce, travel and publishing. Clients see increased sales, improved customer experience and uplift in important metrics such as return visits and time on site. Q. How many staff do you have across your Hampshire, London and US offices and why did you decide to take further investment now? We’re now at 64 staff across the offices and we’re growing fast. We took investment now to accelerate our progress and increase the speed with which we can take advantage of the boom in eCommerce over the past 12 months.

The shift in consumer habits that would have happened over the next 3 to 5 years has been compressed into a year and a half because of the pandemic. Q. How do you plan to use the new investment? We’re accelerating our expansion in Europe and the US as well as continued investment into product development.

Product focus is on three key areas - ease of use, understanding the shopper and influencing their journey.

These developments further enable digital marketers and eCommerce professionals to increase customer engagement and revenue. Q. What has been the secret sauce to the business success? We align very closely with the needs of our customers. Having understood their needs, we build powerful, flexible systems which allow them to achieve their goals.

A key differentiator of our solution is the versatility. The solution handles the demanding and complex needs of many major household name eCommerce brands. There is a very good chance you’ve visited a website that uses our solution! Q. The business decided to implement EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System), a system that harnesses human energy using a simple set of tools. What drove this decision? With a small start-up, alignment within the team is easy, everyone knows each other well and can talk to each other frequently. A light touch informal approach is fine to keeping the whole team aligned and rowing in the same direction.

As the business grew communication became harder, complexity across the business increased. I saw the clear need for structured approach to aligning the whole team and execution on a shared vision.

EOS provides that structure with simple practical tools to make communication and decision making efficient and faster. It’s a simple approach and doesn’t add bureaucracy. Q. A common concern with change when implementing something new is that it will be a short-term distraction that negatively impacts performance of an already busy business. What has your experience been? The EOS implementation has been straightforward. The small initial investment of time for the implementation sessions was well spent.

The sessions helped crystallize and develop our thoughts in many areas. We found the tools quickly started saving the team time. Many people have remarked that the L10 meeting pulse is saving time in 1-1s and ad-hoc meetings, keeping the whole team better connected and on track.

And Rocks have created clarity about the true priorities for individuals, driving more accountability than we’ve ever had. The result is we’re getting more of the right stuff done. Achieving more. Q. How has implementing EOS helped the business, what positive impact has it made – in short does it work? The business is running more efficiently and people across the team have a clearer understanding of our shared purpose. Everyone knows what they need to do in the immediate term to achieve our longer-term goals.

As a result of EOS, I’ve now more time to be working on the business and spend less time getting dragged into working in the business.

In a word, yes, it’s working for us.

The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) is a set of simple concepts and practical tools used by more than 100,000 companies around the world to clarify, simplify, and achieve their vision.

Ultimately eliminating common businessrelated frustrations and helping entrepreneurs get what they want from their business.

www.tractionsix.co.uk

#GetBusinessDone

Imaginative Merchandise for Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre

Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre is an aerospace museum located at the former airbase of RAF St Mawgan, near Newquay. With over 20,000 visitors a year, ranging from young families, aviation enthusiasts and school groups, the team at the museum were keen to start the 2021 summer season with an exciting range of branded clothing for their onsite gift shop.

As the founder of Workwear Pro Direct is a keen aviator, Martyn Perry was delighted to engage with the museum and instantly tasked the company’s in-house graphic designer to create numerous ideas for consideration. The WWPD team’s creative went well beyond the traditional museum branded clothing that they had been selling for the previous 5 years and designed a selection of desirable garments with unique imagery. WWPD also created several humorous T-Shirts and Hoodies that would also be attractive to visitors.

The Directors at Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre were extremely impressed with the imaginative designs and the quality of garments selected. WWPD also sourced new point of sale racking to improve the retail look of the collection in the giftshop. The new range is proving immensely popular with museum visitors.

WWPD are supporting the museum retail sales further by building an online shop to allow enthusiasts and supporters of the museum to purchase T-shirts, Hoodies, Caps and other merchandise in-between return trips to Newquay!

The team at Workwear Pro Direct are seasoned experts in helping charities and visitor attractions to maximise their income from merchandise sales, whilst helping to grow their brand awareness to the public.

Please contact via hello@workwearprodirect. com to arrange a free, no obligation consultation with one of the team.

www.workwearprodirect.com

Tower Supplies are a Public Sector Approved Supplier of PPE

Tower Supplies have been named as a supplier on Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) RM6157 Building Materials & Equipment Framework for Lot 7, Personal Protecitve Equipment (PPE).

The Crown Commercial Service (CCS) supports the public sector to gain the greatest commercial value when buying common goods. CCS helps thousands of public and third sector buyers in the UK with billions of pounds of spending each year.

Tower’s Director of Marketing, Mark Dowling said, “The Crown Commercial Service tender process is designed so that their commercial agreements use competition among suppliers to increase quality and value. For Tower to be successful in this process it demonstrates the company’s strength in this marketplace which is complimented with our 38 years of trading experience.”

Framework RM6157 provides buyers with core rates for PPE in 13 categories: First Aid, Coveralls and Gowns, Gloves, Footwear, Hats and Helmets, Spectacles and Goggles, Ear Plugs and Muffs, Face Masks, Rescue Kits, Trousers, Shirts, Jackets and Coats, and Underwear. www.towersupplies.com