Enterprise Magazine by Gillan Williams

Summer 2009

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* New Travel Section * Movers & Shakers * Top Tips * Doug Richard Interview * Surviving the Downturn

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Distribution Director: Fed Pereira Distribution Manager: Eduardo Stevens Distributers: Lawrence Burns & Steven Roberts Contact www.enterprisemagazine.co.uk Email: enterprise@pearpublishing.com Address: Unit 3, Penllyne Way, Vale Business Park. Llandow CF71 7PE Telephone: 01446 776950 Fax: 01446 775570 All materials copyright 2006 Pear Media Enterprise is a trademark of Pear Media 2003. Reproduction in print or full is strictly prohibited. Enterprise magazine is the National Business Magazine for Wales. It is a contemporary and independent business publication and web portal that focuses on the innovative development of Wales as a modern, enterprising economy. It is regarded by its business partners and clients as the business communication medium for targeting private and public business in Wales. With a high quality circulation of 10,000 copies Direct Mailed to business leaders and key decision makers within the Public and Private sector and a readership of 50,000 encompassing the world of business in Wales. Through its independent, innovative and challenging values and design, Enterprise delivers a competitive advantage to its business partners and clients. Enterprise consists of an unparalleled quality editorial team offering incisive and expert commentary on a range of business issues. A range of marketing communication tools varying from advertising to specialised promotional solutions, are tailor made to achieve the business objectives. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents, the publisher cannot accept any responsibility for errors or omissions, or for any matter in any way arising from the publication of this material. The views expressed by the contributors and writers are not necessarily those of the editor or the publishing company. The publishing company does not hold any responsibility for any of the information or contents within the adverts.

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Dream come true’ for winners of £75k business package

wo single mums from south Wales who have won a competition to run their own catering business in a prize package worth £75k, said it is a ‘dream come true.’ Friends Akita Duggan, aged 33, and Paula O’Donovan, aged 40, both from Cardiff, beat off stiff competition from over 150 applicants to win the ‘Cook Up Success’ competition, thought to be the first of its kind in the UK. Described as the opportunity of a life time by competition organisers Costain, Venture Wales and the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC), the lucky winners will have the chance to run their own catering business serving meals for up to 250 workers every day at the Church Village Bypass, the largest highway construction scheme being undertaken in the UK.

Paula added: “We’ve both had disappointments to deal with so when we found out we’d won it was a dream come true and a bit overwhelming, even the judges shed a few tears. It’s a great opportunity and we’re determined to work hard to provide a great service and to run a successful sustainable business.” Both women have worked in the catering and restaurant trade Paula as a caterer and Akita in sales and marketing. The pair believe their complementary skills will help them make a success of the business. Phil Cooper, managing director of leading business support agency, Venture Wales, and spokesman for the partnership, said: “Akita and Paula have done exceptionally well. The competition was fierce but the judges felt they had the right skills, experience and personal attributes for the role.

Like many people affected by the economic down turn, both Akita and Paula have faced difficult times. Last year Paula lost her catering job of 12 years due to the recession. When judges announced they had won the pair burst into tears of joy.

“They face many challenges but they’re capable, tenacious and determined and they’ll receive an excellent package of support, advice and training that will give them a fantastic head start in business, particularly in the current economic climate,” he added.

Akita said: “It was such an emotional moment we just started crying, we just couldn’t believe it. There were lots of very strong competitors and we knew we were the under dogs. Since we saw the story in the South Wales Echo and applied to take part everything has happened so quickly, it’s all been a bit of whirlwind.

The business partners, who have named their company A-Kapitul Catering Services, an anagram of their names, are currently busily putting the finishing touches to their business plan. They have also been meeting with bank managers at Barclays, which is also supporting the ‘Cook up Success’ campaign, as well as

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potential suppliers ahead of launching the business later this month. Paula, a mother to Karleigh, aged 21, and Dane, aged, 17, said: “We will provide customers with good quality freshly prepared food and a varied menu with healthy options as well as more traditional alternatives such as a fullWelsh breakfast and bacon butties.” Akita mother to 13-year-old Georgia, added: “We want the business to be part of the community and we’ll be looking to work with local suppliers. Longer term we’d liked to offer youngsters considering a career in the catering industry work experience placements, support and advice.” The bypass at Cross Inn, Pontyclun, has been commissioned by Rhondda Cynon Taf Council. While, the bypass will be completed in Autumn 2010, and the site and catering unit closed, it is hoped Akita and Paula will have developed the business and expanded into new premises creating a secure long-term future for A-Kapitul Catering Services. Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s cabinet member for transportation and customer care, cllr Andrew Morgan, said: “In the short-term the bypass has of course created many jobs and I’m pleased to see that one of our objectives of increasing local employment opportunities is being realised through this exciting initiative.”

on 01443 742888 • www.venturewales.com

Ask the Expert Bill Harrison

Bill Harrison is a senior consultant with Wales’ leading business support agency Venture Wales. Here he offers Enterprise readers some tops tips for surviving the recession.

How do I survive the recession? This is the million dollar question everyone is asking but there is no easy answer. There are of course many variables involved that need to be considered such as how the recession is impacting on your company, and key stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, lenders and shareholders. But the first thing to do is not panic. Remember you’re not alone almost everyone is experiencing difficulties. Take a step back and don’t be spooked by events. It’s all too easy to panic which leads to confusion and knee-jerk decisions that you may regret later. We’ve been through tough times before and survived and we can do it again.

Ok, I’ve stopped panicking, what should I do next? Ask yourself, do you really know your own business situation? Take a holistic honest look at your company. Bring key senior staff together and carry out a quick but effective business diagnostic

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review. You need to react quickly to events. In times of crisis businesses are forced to restructure or die. Devise a strategy, compiling a survival road map will help. Review the warning signs (i.e. cash flow difficulties; customers/sales; suppliers/purchases; technological/operations; organisational; and legal issues). Decide on action and if your business is solvent then aim for crisis stabilisation and put together a short term action plan followed by a recovery plan and share this with stakeholders. Also think about what government help is available, how you can work with your bank, and whether you can avoid redundancies by reducing working hours. This will help retain talent and boost morale by avoiding job losses. You should also ask yourself if you need external help. If your business is insolvent then seek professional insolvency advice. Either the business will go into liquidation and be wound-up or you can weather the storm by going into receivership and finding a new buyer for the company, which could lead to it becoming a sustainable business again.

Right, I’ve stopped panicking, I’ve devised a recession coping strategy, what else can I do?

then sell the business; (3) sell the business, or (4) close the down the business. It is crucial that you accept the reality of the situation whether good or bad. You need to act decisively, focus on what is important for survival by managing cash flow addressing your cost base, and lowering your breakeven point and improving gross margins. You must have reliable management and financial information and involve and motivate the whole workforce. Your survival strategy must have buy-in from all stakeholders and remember to capitalise on opportunities the recession may have created for your business. Where appropriate seek outside help. Early intervention is critical and company directors must be the ones to initiate the turnaround process, which involves: (1) crisis stabilisation; (2) leadership; (3) stakeholder management; (4) strategic focus; (5) process improvements; (6) organisational change; and (7) financial restructuring. This is just a brief overview but I hope it illustrates that no matter what your situation there are strategies, solutions and options available. Don’t panic be positive and take control!

Let’s consider the solutions and options. You can either (1) fix the business for success; (2) fix and

on 01443 742888 • www.venturewales.com

$ON T TURN THE PAGE

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READING THIS IT COULD SAVE SOMEONE S LIFE !ND WHEN WE SAY @SOMEONE WE MEAN A CANCER PATIENT OR A BURNS VICTIM A PREGNANT MUM OR A NEWBORN BABY SOMEONE WHO IS IN NEED OF AN OPERATION OR SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT )T COULD BE A CHILD OR AN ADULT OR THE PERSON SITTING NEXT TO YOU IT WILL MOST CERTAINLY BE SOMEONE IN YOUR COMMUNITY 9OU SEE THE BLOOD THAT WE SO DESPERATELY NEED SUPPLIES OUR HOSPITALS IN SOUTH MID AND WEST 7ALES 4HE 7ELSH "LOOD 3ERVICE NEEDS TO COLLECT DONATIONS A DAY TO KEEP UP WITH THE DEMAND FROM THESE HOSPITALS AND WE CAN ONLY DO THIS WITH YOUR HELP 0LEASE BECOME A BLOOD DONOR WE REALLY DO NEED YOU CAN YOU THINK OF A BETTER GIFT TO GIVE TO YOUR COMMUNITY OR ONE THAT CAN MAKE SUCH A DIFFER ENCE TO THE PEOPLE WHO RECEIVE IT

7E CURRENTLY SUPPLY SIXTEEN HOSPITALS IN SOUTH WEST AND MID 7ALES AND THIS REQUIRES US TO COLLECT OVER SIX HUNDRED DONATIONS OF BLOOD EVERY DAY

Digest

The Monthly Briefing

Top 10 most innovative PR stunts 1.

Edward L. Bernays was hired by cigarette brand Lucky Strike to expand sales and after consulting a psychoanalyst he developed the idea that cigarettes could be seen as torches of freedom for women who wanted to be equal to men. Bernays then persuaded ten debutantes to smoke while walking in New York’s Easter parade. The stunt was a massive success with an immediate and dramatic impact on sales, although allegedly he didn’t ever let his wife smoke!

When aiming to make their chocolate more appealing to young people Cadbury struck gold with their drum playing Gorilla advert. When it appeared on TV screens in the UK the advert was so popular that it became an instant viral marketing success with over 1 million views online, which were predominantly generated by consumers recommending the advert to friends and associates.

The Ospreys scored a major coup when they persuaded the Ordinance Survey people to produce an OS map of ‘Ospreylia’, the geographic area covered by the Welsh rugby region. The map was part of an award winning branding campaign and struck a cord with supporters - the region is now the best supported in Wales, and sells more rugby jerseys than any other Welsh region.

The Miss America Pageant was created in 1921 as a clever way to attract business and tourists to Atlantic City. The stunt worked with the pageant firmly putting the city on the map, generating hundreds of thousands of column inches and attracting millions of visitors in the process.

At a Australia v New Zealand rugby match two naked men ‘scored’ for non-sponsor Vodafone when they streaked onto the playing field sporting only the mobile phone giant’s logo.

In 1949 a reporter asked the FBI to name the toughest of their most-wanted fugitives. Former Director J. Edgar Hoover then utilised the power of PR to capture America’s toughest outlaws and drumbeat the successful efforts of the FBI. Thus, the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” Program was born. Of the 458 names that have appeared on the list since its inception, 429 have been apprehended, including 137 nabbed as a direct result of tips from the public.

During the 2006 Football World Cup the final PR score was official sponsor Budweiser 0, rival Dutch brewery Bavaria 1. To placate Budweiser tournament organisers stopped hundreds of Dutch fans entering a match wearing their traditional orange lederhosen which had Bavaria’s logo on. Many fans had to watch the match in their underwear and the resulting fuss generated far more publicity for Bavaria than it could have achieved otherwise.

The hype surrounding the low-budget film The Blair Witch Project before it’s release was phenomenal. The film was made with hand-held cameras by the actors themselves, with no camera crew, and is directed as seemingly real footage. After a well organised campaign by the film’s producers which convinced a large swathe of the public that the film was a ‘real-life’ story, the film was a major hit and grossed around $150 million at the box office.

In 1903 newspaper publisher Henri Desgrange started a new bicycle road race as a temporary publicity stunt to promote his newspaper. The stunt was an immediate success as sales of his newspaper rocketed to 130,000 copies and within a year the paper’s main rival publication went out of business. More than 100 years later the Tour de France is still going strong.

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IT giant Microsoft skulked around outside an Apple store in Birmingham, encouraging potential Mac customers to record their own “I’m a PC video” instead. The results? It’s hard to attribute specific sales figures but in terms of the stunt forming part of a wider marketing programme, when was the last time you went a week without using a Microsoft product?

Top 10 excuses fortaking the day off work (sickies) 1. I hurt myself tackling a burglar 2. My Sat Nav sent me to Grimsby (this one doesn’t work if you actually work in Grimsby!) 3. The dog ate my car keys. We’re going to hitchhike to the vet 4. My horoscope says working today is bad for my soul 5. I dreamt I was sacked so I stayed in bed 6. The council is paving my street and I can’t get out 7. The voices told me to clean all the guns today 8. I was abducted by aliens over the weekend and I need time to recover 9. I have amnesia and can’t even remember if I work for you 10. I’ll be stalking my previous boss (who fired me for not showing up for work). OK?

The Monthly Briefing

For the £2billion lost you could have bought...

Snow Joke In Figures

2.5 Wembley Stadiums

125 of Sotheby’s D-Grade Flawless Diamond

Digest

200 million acres of the moon

The relatively small yet significant snow we had throughout the UK recently definitely seemed to polarise the country. Although many of us were happy to have the day off work to play in the snow or catch up on paper work, business owners and managers in particular were rather cooler in their response, devastated to effectively ‘lose’ a working day during what is already an extremely difficult economic climate. The general consensus among business leaders is that on Tuesday, February 3 the UK lost around £2 billion due to a lack of trading, so we thought we’d bring out our inner-child (and calculator) to pontificate about exactly what £2billion could have bought.

666,666,667 pints of lager Summer 2009 The summer is filled with new opportunities is upon us. Make the most of it. The Apprentice Never fails to amaze how stupid the contestants can be. 10 Arsenal football clubs

4 B-2 Stealth Bombers

Cheap flights Take advantage of this unbelievable deal for your upcoming business trip. 24 the finale Jack Bauer Kicking ass is completely helping us forget our business woes.

Alan Sugar on Delegation

“The secret of delegation is to make sure you are delegating the right tasks and to follow through on them. If you are the leader of an organisation, it is a poor use of your time to do admin tasks. If you are the engineer, by all means make your suggestions to the marketing guys, but don’t start writing the advertising copy. If you are the project manager, don’t start undermining your team by doing all the work yourself. You get the idea. ”

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Bad Summer 2009 Take a deep breath. The recession looks set to get worse this summer. Green issues on the backburner It seems that no one wants to be green when we’re in the red. The Budget Is our Chancellor living in this century? Gordon Brown Need we say more?

May - July 09

Digest

The Monthly Briefing

My Media Life Gwyneth Moore Gwyneth Moore is Associate Director with Cardiff based agency Equinox PR. She’s worked in PR and marketing for about 15 years and was once a graphic designer, in the days when people still did some artwork by hand! She’s worked for an IT specialist PR agency running national and global accounts and also ran her own consultancy. Gwyneth sees the digital revolution as the most exciting thing that’s happened to the PR industry and thinks DPR (digital public relations) is fundamentally changing the way we work. Magazine/s I’ve worked in trade PR for years and have actually read some of the obscure mags that have been on ‘Have I Got News for You’ like Wet News – it is a real mag! My favourite leisure mags are Coast, Living etc and Creative Review. Newspaper/s The Guardian every time for me, as it’s the arts and media bible. Guardian online is a brilliant website and leads the way in content and being ‘sticky’, keeping users interested and hanging onto them when they visit

Websites I look at as many websites as I can every day and I’m a devoted Googler of everything - someone introduced me to it about 9 years ago before most people had heard of it. I look at The West Australian (newspaper) website to keep up to date on my old home city! TV Programme I’m a big ER fan and think I’ve watched almost every episode since it began. Six Feet Under is good and quirky, and shows how good US TV has become in recent years. What’s happened to UK drama series, they used to be the best in the world! I love Project Catwalk and Project Runway too, I studied fashion years ago and love the whole concept. Radio Show I’m actually an avid Radio 1 listener – it still plays the best music and supports new artists. I like Front Row on Radio 4 on the way home and The Archers can be addictive. Podcast Radio 1 Podcast for the week. I often only get to listen to half an interview on the way into work, so

catch up with stuff via the podcast. Last YouTube video viewed The Gingerbread Men doing the Hakka – hilarious! It’s a promo clip for a New Zealand bakers’ competition. Facebook, Love it or hate it Love it, ‘cos it keeps me in touch with old mates from school in Oz from years ago. The whole putting your personal life on public show is a new thing for my generation, but I’m getting used to it! I’ve even put some photos up there now! Facebook, Love it or hate it? I was sceptical when I first signed up but now I love it, to the point I think I may need to go to FA (Facebook Anonymous) meetings soon.

Blog of the monthOur choice from the www Our blog of the month choice goes to the foremost business reporter of our times. Robert Peston not only breaks the biggest stories but has become agenda setting in his own right. He is the go to man for all things business. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/

Ad Campaign MacDonalds - we love it because... In these economic times, as consumers drop luxury brands quicker than the proverbial hot potato, the lower market national brands are making the biggest inroads into the public persona. This month we choose MacDonalds, not so much for one particular campaign, but for the way they rebranded and repositioned their whole campaign and properties just before the financial world imploded. In times like these the family market is returning to the brand in their droves and they are finding that MacDonalds has stepped into the 21st century by altering their whole image.

May-July 09

Digest

The Monthly Briefing

How Much Do you need? How rich is rich? According to money expert, publisher and personal hero of the editor, Felix Dennis, the more money you have, the greater your army of accountants and advisers, and the more difficult it is to truly value what you are actually worth. That’s why so many rich people distrust the flash and eye-catching ‘rich lists’ published in newspapers and magazines. Even so, it’s still exciting to look at a ‘rich’ scale so that next time you’re in the company of a rich person you might be able to work out if they are filthy rich, super rich, or just common old rich. Wealth Measured by Total Assets (True Net Worth) Wealth Measured by Cash-in-hand or Quickly Realisable Assets £1 million-£2 million The comfortable poor £50,000-£200,000 The comfortable poor £2 million-£5 million The comfortably off £200,000-£500,000 The comfortably off £5 million-£15 million The comfortably wealthy £500,000-£1 million The comfortably wealthy £15 million-£40 million The lesser rich £1 million-£5 million The lesser rich £40 million-£75 million The comfortably rich £5 million-£15 million The comfortably rich £75 million-£100 million The rich £15 million-£35 million The rich £100 million-£200 million The seriously rich £35 million-£50 million The seriously rich £200 million-£400 million The truly rich £50 million-£100 million The truly rich £400 million-£999 million The filthy rich Over £100 million The filthy rich and the super rich Over £999 million The super rich

Business Quotes from Steve Jobs (CEO Apple) “The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.” “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” :Apple’s market share is bigger than BMW’s or Mercedes’s or Porsche’s in the automotive market. What’s wrong with being BMW or Mercedes?” “A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.” “I think we’re having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we’re always trying to do better.”

Top 6 largest stock market losses ever recorded Dow Drop 1. -777.68 2. -733.08 3. -684.81 4. -679.95 5. -678.91 6. -617.78

Date 29/09/08 15/10/08 11/09/01 1/12/08 09/10/08 14/04/00

May-July 09

The Monthly Briefing

Digest

Business Advice from the greats - The Medici The Medici family were the first truly international bankers of the modern age. They built their business and power base from humble beginnings and there was one bit of advice that was passed on by every generation of the Medici. Be attentive, to your conduct, and confide in others too little rather than too much. There is one rule which I would recommend to your attention in preference to all others. Rise early in the morning. This will not only contribute to your health, but will enable you to arrange and expedite the business of the day. Lorenzo de Medici (1449-1492) was the unofficial ruler of Florence from 1469 until his death. He was a humanist, arts patron - and a skillful politician. In 1489 he manages to have his son Giovanni made a cardinal, at the age of 14. Giovanni later ruled as Pope Leo X (reigned 1513-1521) and was also a patron of the arts. In the letter quoted, Lorenzo, warns his son also to avoid vice and luxury.

Top 10 Richest football clubs 1) Real Madrid: £289.6m 2) Man Utd: £257.1m 3) Barcelona: £244.4m 4) Bayern Munich: £233.8m 5) Chelsea: £212.9m 6) Arsenal: £209.3m 7) Liverpool: £167m 8) AC Milan: £165.8m 9) AS Roma: £138.9m 10) Inter Milan: £136.9m

Top 10 Most outrageous business fradsters 1. Nick Leeson 2. Conrad Black 3. Bernard Madoff 4. Frank Abagnale 5. Robert Maxwell 6. Gregor MacGregor 7. Konrad Kujau 8. The ‘Natwest three’ 9. Kenneth Lay 10. The entire Enron board

Top 10 UK cities for mobile phone theft 1. Cambridge (20 per cent) 2. Leicester (19 per cent) 3. London (15.5 per cent) 4. Birmingham (13.7 per cent) 5. Glasgow (12.1 per cent) 6. Sheffield (11.8 per cent) 7. Manchester (9.4 per cent) 8/9 Liverpool and Southampton (9.2 per cent) 10. Newcastle (8.7 per cent)

May - July 09

Feature MVP - Most Valuable Player

Luke Morris The Enterprise MVP

Continuing our series of interviews based on key people in the Welsh Business landscape, we talk to Luke Morris, a Cardiff based Area Sales Manager for Luminar Leisure. So successful has Luke Morris been in his position that he is being honoured as our very first Enterprise Magazine MVP - Most Valuable Player. A success for the present and a talent for the future. Watch out for his rise to the very top of the entertainment industry tree.

Tell us about yourself. I am currently working for Luminar Leisure, a company that owns and operates nightclubs, bars and restaurants across the UK. I’m based at Oceana in Cardiff, the city’s largest late-night venue, and I manage the Luminar brand in the southwest of the country. I’m originally from Hereford and decided to move to the big city. I’m from a nightclub background: I used to run bars and clubs and I owned a nightclub myself, so I am accustomed to the industry. I tried to get out of it at one point but fell back into it! How did it all begin for you? By mistake, to be honest! I was at college in Hereford and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to work in the leisure and hospitality industry and I got to know a guy in Hereford who bought a pub and he sold me the dream. He trained me as manager of the pub at the age of 18 and went on to buy a nightclub, which I also managed. I eventually took over the lease and worked there for about three years. I then got the opportunity to move to Cardiff, which I took in order to move away from the leisure industry but, within six months, I was working in nightclubs again! What is it like to work for one of the biggest nightclub operators in the UK? As a brand, Luminar is fresh, new and ahead of the rest. Stephen Thomas, the CEO, was born and bred

May-July 09

in Wales. He commands such respect from all of us as he has built the company up from nothing and is a great man to work with. The fact that he is from Wales originally means that he is keen to look after us here in Cardiff and Swansea, and I truly believe that the Welsh passion that he puts into the company is a huge contributing factor to Luminar’s success. What three things do you think you have brought to the company? Firstly, I would say initiative. When I joined the company, the notion of the traditional nightclub was dying. People no longer want to just go out at 9pm and come home at 3am; they want themed nights, a brand behind the club and a venue that looks more like a 5-star hotel. I was taken on as Sales Manager for the Cardiff unit, which was certainly a challenge, but the change I helped to implement succeeded beyond our expectations and the ideas were rolled out across the other venues in the UK. Secondly, having been my own boss and worked for other people in the industry, passion is a very important driving force. Finally, whether you are a manager or a glass collector, teamwork and cooperation are absolutely essential to keep everyone happy and the business running smoothly. You mentioned that Stephen Thomas has been incredibly forward thinking in his approach to the industry. What else do you think has he contributed?

May - July 09

Stephen is very well respected and influential in the industry. To own over 100 nightclubs and say that the nightclub industry is dying takes a huge amount of courage, but you either continue to chug along as you are, or take a stand and decide how to move forward and get ahead of your competitors. Luminar is an award-winning company because of Stephen’s entrepreneurial flair, which has, in turn, been passed down to every member of the team. We promote from within to allow people to work their way up in the company and everyone knows that there is help there should they need it. What do you enjoy most about your job? I love people. I love mixing and chatting with the different customers, finding out what they like and dislike about their experience. Obviously there are perks to the job, which I also enjoy, but I mainly I like the variation that comes with the job and dealing with people. Who are your role models and have they changed over time? I’m not from a well-off background but I was always interested in making money when I was younger. I always admired Alan Sugar, chairman of my favourite football team, Tottenham Hotspur, because he grew success out of nothing. I always used to think ‘what would Alan Sugar do? How did he make money?’ Also, my dad worked all the hours God sends in a factory to send my sister to university and to allow me to take on the lease of a club. Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Today, I look up to Philip Green, for whom my girlfriend works. The way he is simultaneously standing up to the storm of the credit crunch and protecting his workers by investing in the company is very admirable. How is the credit crunch having a bad effect on business, or do people still want to go out and party? It’s difficult to judge because, in the case of Cardiff, it’s a capital city and people travel from all around for a night out here. It’s hard to tell. Perhaps in the smaller cities, such as Swansea, the business is feeling the pinch, but I think that people still want to be sociable and enjoy themselves, regardless of the depressing times that we’re in. Who has inspired you? When you look for inspiration, you look to those around you and those in the public eye. For me, it’s important to keep a mix between the two in order to stay focused and be realistic about my goals.

The one thing that has changed me as a person, especially in this role, is working in a team of people with the same mindset as me after having worked for myself for so long. I rely on and trust the capable people around me, and they give me a boost if ever I’m feeling down which is great. What is it about the corporate structure of the company that works so well? As I mentioned before, the entrepreneurial spirit has trickled down to every member of the team; from the CEO to the Sales Managers to those who actually work in the venues and beyond. It is a huge company, yet if something has to change, we adapt quickly to get it done.

I always admired Alan Sugar, chairman of my favourite football team, Tottenham Hotspur, because he grew success out of nothing. I always used to think ‘what would Alan Sugar do? How did he make money?’

What business challenges have you faced in your career? It was always hard working for myself. I learned from the people around me and found my own way, but it’s easy to pick up some bad habits, especially at such a young age. Ultimately, failing and making mistakes makes you a good businessperson. You learn to pick yourself up and keep going. It makes you a stronger person and I have to do it on a daily basis. The current economic climate is affecting the business on a corporate, rather than a day-to-day, basis in that there’s pressure to keep the customers coming in and spending their money for parties, etc. It’s always good to have challenges whatever your job; otherwise you’re almost waiting for something to go wrong. If it doesn’t kill you, it only makes you stronger!

Quick-fire round What has been your most extravagant purchase? Probably the Mulberry handbags that I have to buy for my girlfriend! I love clothes and gadgets and I spend a lot of money on them. I don’t tend to save up to buy one thing; if I see something I like, I have to have it. I am good at...dealing with people because I love doing it. I am bad at...getting up in the morning. Working in this industry, I’ve had to train myself to be nocturnal, but that means my brain doesn’t wake up until about 1pm! I am not a politician but...I’m pretty sure I could do a better job than most of them! A phrase that I use too often is...‘We are Team Cardiff!’ with two colleagues who work on other units in the city. We tend to say that when we’re pleased with ourselves! If I weren’t working in this job I would be...lying on a beach in Kenya or miserably slaving away in a 9-to-5 job that I hate. The coolest thing I own is...my Iphone because it keeps me in touch with the world. What’s rocking your world at the moment? How well Team Cardiff is doing right now, Harry Redknapp at Tottenham and Kanye West’s new album. What’s your current favourite track? ‘Heartless’ by Kanye West. What are your top corporate hospitality tips? The one thing that people always get wrong is that they think that one type of event will please everyone. You have to be flexible and not think that taking your clients to the rugby or the football will automatically work. You have to be very adaptable and cater for everyone from bankers to younger professionals. You need to have a flexible hospitality team to cover all bases and deal with every situation effectively. Know your weaknesses and no one will know you have any.

Regular Columnist

Harry Lewis is the Head of HSBC Private Bank for Wales and the South West. In this column he assesses how the High Net Worth individual will be seeing the current downturn.

Harr y Lewis E

very High Net Individual will obviously have specific circumstances but in general three inter linking themes will be occupying their thoughts in battling through a recession as difficult as this one. “Firstly they will be assessing their capital base. Traditional asset classes such as property and equities have seen very significant markdowns; Privately owned company values are heading in the same direction as the general economy now reaps the whirlwind of the credit crunch and the financial crisis of last autumn. Repayment of historic and expensive debt will be a priority. In looking for safe havens, historically Gold has been hugely defensive in such times and the price has soared in the first quarter this year - a reflection of the dash for security.

long term view for capital values and lock now into yields in excess of 7%. Similarly in equity markets, shares of companies that are traditionally defensive through their essential nature and cash generative qualities - such as the utilities - are popular and seen as relatively risk averse with well covered and strong dividend payments.

We always strive to provide the most relevant services for our members and by getting involved now you can find out what we have to offer

“Secondly they will be acutely aware of their income situation. The majority of successful individuals are conservative with the wealth they have created and much of their wealth will be held in cash or near cash investments. Accordingly the very severe drop in returns caused by the sharp decrease in interest rates leaves them with the choice of eroding capital to maintain their income or taking significantly more risk in looking for commensurate return. “So increasingly we are seeing interest in the commercial property sector; whilst most agree with the consensus that the sector has further to fall in the short term, those same investors take the view that much of the pain is now “in the price” and anyway those deals will be very competitive at the time the market bottoms out. So the theory is to take the

“Thirdly - and critically - the high net worth individual will also see the downturn as an opportunity. After 16 years of consecutive growth in the economy, the substantial asset price corrections we are now seeing will - at some point in time bottom out and the recovery begin. That point will not be lost on the entrepreneur.” (E)

May - July 09

Digest

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May-July 09

Regular Columnist

Neil Cocker Your personal online brand

nless you’ve decided that you won’t engage with the internet in any way, then it’s almost certain that you have at least one profile online somewhere. Whether it’s a personal profile like Myspace, or a more business oriented one like LinkedIn, you are using social media to project an image of yourself that, to one extent or another, will be viewable by any person on the planet with an internet connection and, here’s the kicker, your greatgreat-grandchildren. Having an online identity is inevitable, and it will be available for anyone to view forever. How we engage with the social internet is something not to be taken lightly.

For more information: www.neilcocker.com www.distilled.co.uk www.nativehq.com

Firstly we must be aware of search results. What’s going to come up when our name is entered into Google? What about the information that is always associated with our name – our biographies. Do they portray us as hyper-efficient, revenue-generating machines or a laid-back networker? What are the keywords that will attract attention, and do those keywords trigger the relevant searches on Google? What words do you want to be associated with on search engines? Tom Critchlow, Head of Search Marketing with web-experts Distilled, had some great tips for using social media to improve your online identity. “Make sure you choose an online ‘handle’ which is both easy to remember, unique and short. <http:// www.neilcocker.com/> Be consistent - make sure that you keep the same username across all the social media sites. Make sure you are contactable - If someone wants to get in touch with you make it easy for them. Never underestimate the power of email. Last but not least, engage! When someone emails you, email them back, when someone twitters you, twitter them back”. With his final point, Tom hits on a crucial fact about social media and online branding - You can’t just expect to just constantly promote yourself and your products. There’s a certain amount of give and take. For every time you advertise your blog to your Twitter network, be prepared to make 20 other

“tweets” that are relevant links to other people’s works. And this leads us neatly onto the social network of the moment. You’ve no doubt heard of Twitter by now and if you’ve read this far then, yes, you should be using it. For me, it’s the network where the boundaries between social and professional are most blurred. But it’s also the most powerful networking device I’ve ever come across. The micro-blogging format lends itself to sharing links to interesting articles and reports, using keywords to attract more followers and thus generating fantastic contacts with people you would never normally have found. However, it also lends itself to pithy asides, comments on the latest TV shows and occasionally a silly photo or a drunken joke. Keeping your discipline, and maintaining a professional (if informal) image is important.

Tom hits on a crucial fact about social media and online branding - You can’t just expect to just constantly promote yourself and your products. There’s a certain amount of give and take

I’ll leave the final words to Carl Morris of social media strategists Native. “The term ‘personal brand’ is not to everyone’s taste, but if you do anything on the web you need to understand it. Your prospective client, employer or advocate will take seconds to figure out who you are. Attention is scarce! So you need to represent yourself in a way that makes it as easy as possible for them”.

May - July 09

Inter view

Exclusive

imes are hard Doug. How are you coping? In terms of my own portfolio, better than expected. My life is composed of getting involved with early stage high-risk, hightech businesses, and if I look across the portfolio of businesses that I’m involved in, most of the bad things have already happened - the ones that remain are doing pretty well and those that were struggling and unable to access funding have already fallen.

So you think that in terms of the businesses you’re involved in the worst has already happened? Only in the sense that the credit crunch has had an impact on every part of the business spectrum, including the venture capital industry which has virtually come to a standstill and stopped investing. What that means is that any company needing investment in the last four months has largely been unable to access funding even if they were doing well, so both good and bad companies have gone under, as a sort of accident of timing. If you don’t need funding right now then you’re fine until you do and the hope for these types of businesses now is that they have enough to see them through the business cycle. I suppose I’m grateful in that all the businesses I’m active in right now are in that position.

When do you envisage the economy to pickup and the money to start flowing again in the venture capital sector? Tough call. The venture capitalists will continue to back companies they’ve already invested in and if they already have an investment they’re not relying on anyone else to support those companies, rather they’re just relying on themselves. So I think you’ll see some people claiming they’re investing again

but really it’s just supporting companies they’ve already invested in. You’ll see some activity over the next few quarters but in terms of when the venture capitalists actively start investing again I think it’s going to be a long time.

Do you think the government is doing enough at the moment to support investors like you and what else do you think they could do? I think in the context of the credit crunch, which started the problem and remains the issue, no the government hasn’t been effective but it’s not for a lack of trying. The unfortunate reality is that the government has been doing many of the right things but shooting itself in the foot at the same time. For example Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently announced an insurance package to help banks cover the toxic debt which in itself is as good an idea as any other floating around the western economies. But he also said he wouldn’t let the banks get away with it and so he added a moral component to it and in so doing the shares stalled enormously because the shareholders had a look at the offer he was making and assumed they were going to get screwed. So in reality he’s shot himself in the foot. Until Gordon Brown starts to understand economics as well as politics I suspect that you’ll find that perfectly reasonable programmes will be unsuccessful. Do you feel that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will have to start taking notice of this? I don’t think he’s capable of doing that and until he does you will continue to see a political tension with economic necessity.

Doug Richard 22

May-July 09

May - July 09

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May-July 09

Exclusive Inter view Taking into account that you have business interests in both the US and UK, what effect do you think newly elected President Obama’s economic policies will have on the general global economy and how will that effect the UK economy? Firstly I’d like to say that I’m a huge Obama supporter, but not necessarily because of his economic policies. I voted for Obama for lots of reasons, but its never been proven that pumping large amounts of capital into an economy actually works in bringing that economy out of a recession. Having said that, I’m not saying I’m absolutely opposed to this policy because there is a lot to be said for stimulating demand, but the huge stimulus package announced in the US will not in itself solve the problem, its just part of a series of things that can be done. If you look at history, the US government bailed out the savings and loans banks and in doing so created what was essentially a toxic debt bank. And although it took 25 years the US government did eventually make a profit on that debt even though you very rarely here that reported in the media. There is a series of things which can be done but the biggest impact that Obama has is essentially ceremonial. You can’t underline the fact that a great deal of an economy rests on confidence, so a new president, especially Barack Obama, and a change of government will definitely help if things go Obama’s way. I also see the US economy coming out of a recession before the UK economy, which will help the UK economy, as the financial interrelations between our economies which has in part caused the recession will help both countries to pull out of it. Do you think we will take any lessons out of the recent crisis? I think we’ll take some and that has already been taken. The main thing is that inactivity didn’t work, and there was a huge period of inactivity when the crisis first emerged. Trade protectionism during the great depression actually accentuated the great depression and there are elements of trade protectionism in Obama’s proposed policies, but buying American could create issues for the US if other countries start doing the same thing so hopefully we’ve learned our lesson. The US is going to keep going down and then come up quite resoundingly, where as the UK economy is much more fragile. The UK has the potential to suffer badly with inflation, more so than many other Western economies, it was weaker going into the recession and it has a productive economy that rests on very few things. The continuing lack of housing stock is creating a floor for demand which is also coming home to roost. In the past there was seen to be big differences between US and UK businesses. Do you think this still remains? Yes and no - I think there are greater similarities that there are differences. Obviously the US is a

much larger country so companies in the US have a much larger domestic market on their doorstep which means that the potential market for any startup is much bigger, giving it better growth potential. Also because the US is a much younger country than the UK the infrastructure for distributing goods and services is much more efficient, which again increases the potential for growth. It’s not a case that the US is ‘better’ than the UK, just that businesses there have better opportunities. However, some of the differences are stark. For example in Wales I think somewhere in the region of 70% of people work for the public sector. This means that if only around 30% of the workforce are in private enterprise then the creation of wealth in the economy is extremely limited and after all the government is funded by the wealth created in the private sector. I think we need more entrepreneurship here in the UK.

You recently worked with the Conservative Party on the Richard Report, which looked at business and enterprise in the UK. How was it received? The report wasn’t well received by a lot of people. My primary concern after reviewing the entire measure of support for small businesses and entrepreneurship in the UK was the vast percentage of money spent was either of no value or was impossible to value because nobody had done anything to measure it. Therefore, it was subject to the suspicion that it had no value. Unfortunately that’s a damning indictment of an entire infrastructure system. It suggests very strongly that the only thing business support programmes provided by the UK government, either centrally or through devolved government, are essentially just creating jobs for people to enter a new industry - the business support industry. You end with an industry that is existent in itself. Lots of companies have set up here with little or no regard of whether they actually do anything. So it would probably be better if a lot of that stopped, meaning a lot of people would be put out of work, but they would be put out of a type of work that wasn’t doing anything anyway. The vast majority of the report has been accepted by the Conservatives as part of their policy platform. Interestingly enough events have moved on since I produced the report but some constants remain. I think entrepreneurship can be taught, I think it starts culturally and therefore has to start in our schools. And I think we have to remove the moral question i.e. it’s OK for people to make a profit and be successful and they have to be able to enjoy the fruits of the wealth they create. We should celebrate their achievements. Do you think the entrepreneurial buzz that swept through the UK a few years ago, which was personified in shows like Dragon’s Den is now disappearing? There’s something very counter intuitive about a

recession, it tells people several things. Firstly it tells them they should spend less which of course makes a recession worse but it’s the natural thing to do and I’m absolutely not criticising anyone that does. At the same time it also reminds people in a forceful and sometimes life changing way that you can’t rely on a job with a big company no matter how big it is. We forget that lesson every generation. That’s why we need to keep creating and training entrepreneurs, such as self employed professionals like plumbers, for example.

How did you get onto Dragon’s Den? When the shows producers started putting the show together they got in touch with some Venture Capitalists who were friends of mine and they declined the offer but suggested my name to the producers and I decided to give it a go. Did you always believe that Dragon’s Den would be a huge success? No. I thought that it would be a flash in the pan and then disappear. I mean I thought what business show could possibly be popular. Why do you think that Dragon’s Den caught the public’s imagination in the way it did? That’s a good question. I think that it’s the first time anyone has distilled those frightening and tense moments in business onto a TV screen. Also the fact that the show was real, with real investors and real entrepreneurs putting-up real money made the show a captivating thing to watch.

Are you still working with any of the businesses that you invested in during the show? Most of them are done, as in they have either failed or just muddled along but there is one business that is reasonably successful so it worked out alright - it could have been worse! From your time on Dragon’s Den is there one success story that really sticks in your mind? Yes. Many people will probably remember a gentleman that developed a new way of growing truffles, well he went on to later success, although unfortunately I didn’t invest in him but I always regretted that I hadn’t. Do you think that each series produced one or two of these great successes? Yes, absolutely. I think its remarkable how many reasonable ones do come up at all, its a very small percentage. Having said that in each series there were a couple of times I thought ‘gosh, that’s a really good idea’. Doug Richard is available through, CSA-Celebrity Speakers Ltd which is Europe’s leading speaker bureau serving corporate and sophisticated cultural audiences worldwide for the past 25 years. Please contact Sylvie Guenier at +44 (0) 1628 601 421 or sylvie@speakers. co.uk for further information.

May - July 09

Feature

Recession Advice

How to market effectively during a downturn

t’s tempting in a downturn to find quick and easy cuts, and the marketing budget is often the first place companies start looking. Yet there’s increasing evidence that the companies that successfully ride out the storm of a recession are those who maintain their marketing spend and commit robustly to their marketing plan; albeit modifying it to take into account changes in the environment.

Richard Houdmont, The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Director for Wales, look at how to market effectively during a downturn.

May-July 09

There are several reasons why this makes sense. Firstly, customers do not stop buying in a downturn they just buy differently. This means tailoring your approach to ensure that they buy from you, rather than a competitor; and that means marketing to them effectively. As the marketplace gets tighter, customers become more careful about who they buy from. This creates a need to target more effectively than before, to attract potential customers and prevent them going to the competition. Targeting is also important because you don’t want to be forced into a pricing war, and so you find other ways of finding and keeping customers who are perhaps spending less and being more cautious about their

buying habits. The other important aspect is to ensure that you’re effectively differentiated. That can be in terms of better service, a strong brand, a sustainable and ethical outlook, or better innovation than your competitors.

Adapting to the environment is what survival of the fittest really means; so the companies than can adapt to the downturn are the ones that will thrive. It’s arguable that there are only two real business drivers, innovation and marketing. With this in mind, its clear how steady as she goes is potentially a trap to be wary of. To achieve growth, sustain profits, maintain market share and fight off your competitors, you need to continue your investments in innovation, training and marketing, not cut back on them.

Tesco, for example, achieves its growth by identifying what customers want and providing it to them in ways that make the competition seem

Recession Advice

Feature

Marketing?

irrelevant; the essence of good marketing, and the clearest benefit of having Terry Leahy, a marketer by trade, as CEO. Faced with a downturn, Tesco does not look at ways of cutting back on service, or close under-performing stores, or reduce quality, or trim quantity of product to enable it to continue selling at the same price. Instead it looks at customer-focused solutions. At the moment, it is considering more own-label products and finding ways of reducing the price of its standard lines, without compromising quality.

Its only by thinking from the customers point of view i.e., developing a marketing mindset that you can research and identify what customers want and expect, discover what your competitors are doing, and develop new service strategies that will satisfy your existing customers and encourage them to continue buying from you.

It’s still vital to communicate effectively in a downturn otherwise, how will customers know what you can offer them? That means maintaining, if not increasing, your marketing spend. When the

airline industry suffered a downturn after the 2001 attacks, most airlines pulled up the drawbridge and reduced their marketing, accepting they were going to take a hit on profits. Ryanair bucked this trend by robustly increasing their marketing, and experienced significant growth as a result.

This is partly because customer psychology doesn’t always follow the logic you might expect. There’s evidence that customers can behave counterintuitively in such situations; or as the marketer might say, when times are tough your holiday is the one luxury you can still afford. Not only that, but if people love your brand, they will still buy from you as long as you maintain a positive presence.

What could prove fatal, however, would be to risk damaging your brand by producing cheaper alternatives; or by falling into the temptation of heavy discounting. Whilst this might increase sales in the short term, the long-term results are likely to be that you devalue your business. If you communicate panic to the customer, the customer is likely to panic too, and decide against buying.

Two thirds of Financial Directors think that the downturn will only get worse over the coming months. Yet for the qualified marketer with the right attitude, a downturn offers as many possibilities as problems. Key for any organisation that wants to weather the storm of tougher economic times is to find out how their customers behaviours are changing, and offer products and services that match consumers changed expectations.

Instead of battening down the hatches, investing in marketing during a downturn is the best way to ensure their long-term survival. If you cut your marketing, the gap between you and other brands will merely increase. Instead, maintain your advertising and promotions; just don’t overdo it. Allocate your spend differently if needs be, but don’t slash it. Try to offer increased value, rather than price cuts; and bear in mind that customers don’t always behave as logically as you might expect them to.

May - July 09

Digest

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Why tackling gender equality in the workplace makes business sense

usinesses risk losing out on skilled and experienced staff as a result of inflexible working practices. Finding innovative ways to attract and retain a skilled and diverse workforce will go a long way in creating a workforce geared up for success, particularly in the current economic climate. Ed Pereira has been looking at new project designed to help employers do just that.

Text: Sara Robinson

May-July 09

Feature

I am an employer looking to benefit from Agile Nation. Am I eligible? Employers from all sectors who have an office in any of the Convergence areas listed below are eligible to be part of Agile Nation: Anglesey, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea and Torfaen are eligible. How do I apply to take part? Contact Chwarae Teg on 029 20478900. Where can I find out more? For more information please log onto www.chwaraeteg. com/agilenation.

A £12.5m project funded by the European Social Fund and the Welsh Assembly Government, aimed at tackling the difficulties women face when progressing in the workforce, is set to assist 600 employers across Wales. Women looking to achieve their full potential and advance their careers are being urged to take part in Chwarae Teg’s Agile Nation project, which will help women to achieve their full potential by promoting gender equality in employment and supporting career advancement. The project will also help over 600 employers with advice and guidance on equality and diversity issues, raising awareness of the business benefits of flexible working, and will promote and educate employers around work life balance issues. According to Chief Executive of Chwarae Teg, Katy Chamberlain, taking part in Agile Nation will introduce beneficial new ways of working that will

have a long-lasting impact on the bottom line: “Evidence shows there is still much to do to improve equality of opportunity for women in the workplace. By working with businesses to address barriers to progression and encourage the take-up of flexible working, the project will benefit their entire workforce, and will contribute to the retention of talent which, in the current economic climate, is crucial to success.” Over 2,800 women in Convergence areas are being sought to take part in Agile Nation which, through training and mentoring, will help them progress their careers and secure higher-skilled employment opportunities. A training allowance scheme will also be available for women with job-specific training needs. The project has secured the backing of the leading body representing small businesses in Wales. Russell Lawson, spokesperson for the Federation of Small Businesses in Wales said:

“Flexible working practices can reduce costs and help increase productivity and are incredibly powerful tools when it comes to staff retention and motivation. Managing flexible working can be a challenge so by engaging with the Agile Nation project small businesses across Wales can be given an all-important helping hand and could really reap the rewards.” Jane Hutt, Minister for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, said: “Agile Nation will mark a step change in the position of women in the economic environment in Wales. Chwarae Teg has a long and successful history of promoting the positive contribution that women make to the Welsh economy and this innovative and exciting project will be a lasting legacy of best practice for Wales.”

May - July 09

Sponsored

Feature

How do I become ... a lay inspector for Estyn? Lay inspectors are now an integral part of inspection teams in schools. It can be a challenging role but definitely worthwhile.

n 1992, members of the general public became an integral part of the school inspection process. These members became known as lay inspectors. Lay inspectors are expected to provide an objective and impartial assessment on the provision of education, reporting honestly and fairly, whilst always acting in the best interests of learners. Legally, they must not have been employed in the management of a school or the provision of education within a school. They can, however, have acted in a voluntary capacity or as a governor.

quality of education in schools.”

This month, Estyn, the education and training inspectorate for Wales launches a new recruitment campaign for lay inspectors. Over the next two months, the inspectorate is hoping to attract around 30 talented people to work with school inspection teams on the inspection of primary, secondary and special schools across Wales.

Daniel said “As a father of two and former chair of governors, I am strongly aware of the importance of education in the lives of young people. I wanted to play an active role in helping to improve teaching and learning in Wales.”

Alun Morgan, Her Majesty’s Inspector, who is responsible for leading on this recruitment campaign said, “This is a unique and challenging role for the right candidates. Working as a lay inspector is a great opportunity to get involved helping to improve the

“We are looking for candidates who have excellent communication and inter-personal skills, and who are able to work under pressure and bring a fresh perspective to the provision of education.” Daniel Smith* from North Wales is a managing director of a small company. He has been working as a lay inspector since 1994 and has participated in over 200 inspections in both primary and secondary schools throughout Wales.

“I have been fortunate that my ‘dayjob’ has allowed me the flexibility to train and participate in school inspections. I am notified well in advance about a possible school inspection so I am able to manage my business and workload. Being a lay inspector has been both personally and professionally fulfilling and I

would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new challenge.” A lay inspector is on-site for usually one day. Their role is primarily to provide impartial advice and give a fresh perspective on the provision of education. Some of the issues they will be asked to focus on include aspects such as attendance, behaviour and the quality of school buildings and resources. Interested applicants can download the application pack from the Estyn website add in link. Once completed applications have been assessed, chosen applicants will be invited to attend a three day training course in St Asaph, North Wales from 14 -16 July. If they successfully complete this course they will then be asked to register with Estyn as a lay inspector. Once they are placed on the list of lay inspectors candidates will be eligible for work and will be invited to tender by external contractors to assist on inspection of primary, secondary and special schools across Wales. For further information please visit our website www.estyn.gov. uk * The names have been changed to protect the anonimity of the inspectors

May - July 09

Executive Insight

CEO Dropouts -

The business leaders who did not attend university

The youth of today are constantly being hounded by the belief that you don’t have a hope of getting a decent job without a university degree. Leaving school at 16 and going straight into a job certainly seems to be frowned upon these days. Yet here are four men who did just that and ended up on the list of the world’s richest CEOs. 01 Name: Sir Richard Branson Age: 58 Occupation: Chairman of Virgin Group Estimated net worth: £3 billion The eldest of three siblings, Sir Richard Branson started life in Blackheath, South London. He attended two different secondary schools where, due to his handicap of dyslexia, he performed very poorly but discovered his ability to deal and communicate with people. At 15, he set up two ventures – growing and selling Christmas trees and selling budgerigars – that ultimately failed. Aged 16, he launched his first successful business, Student magazine, and soon after travelled to Europe where he purchased crates of record cutouts from a discounter. He sold these from the boot of his car back in England and named his business Virgin, as the records we in perfect condition and had never been handled. Joined by colleagues who were also virgins to the business, he set up a record shop on Oxford Street in London and the Virgin Records label followed with epic success. Branson went on to establish Virgin Airways and Virgin Mobile, earning him an estimated fortune of £3 billion in the process. He is heavily involved in humanitarian initiatives, such as Nelson Mandela’s peace group, The Elders, and supports Xtraordinary People, a dyslexia awareness charity. He states, “Being dyslexic can actually help in the outside world. I see some things clearer than other people do because I have to simplify things to help me and that has helped others.” It has certainly worked to his advantage. 02 Name: Bernie Ecclestone Age: 78 Occupation: President & CEO of Formula One Management & Administration Estimated net worth: £2.4 billion Born and raised in a small hamlet in the heart of the Suffolk countryside, Bernie Ecclestone left school at the age of 16 to pursue his hobby of motorcycles and to work at the local gasworks. With his friend, Fred Compton, he set up a business immediately after the Second World War dealing in spare motorcycle parts. Ecclestone had a brief career in racing at his local track, Brands Hatch, which was cut short when he was involved in a

May-July 09

serious collision and, consequently, decided to quit. He went on to make investments in real estate, became manager of the Weekend Car Auction firm and manager of an F1 driver, who was killed in a race. Ecclestone bought the Brabham team in 1971 for $120,000, prompting a complete overhaul and improvement of the team’s previous cars, designers and financing. After several successful championships and racing seasons, he sold the team to a Swiss businessman for $5 million. At the time of the original purchase, Ecclestone also founded

the Formula One Constructors Association, which, after a long-fought battle, allows him to maintain the TV rights to F1 races. In 2007, he became coowner of Queen’s Park Rangers F.C. and is now the 3rd richest person in the U.K.

03 Name: Sir Alan Sugar Age: 61 Occupation: Former CEO of Amstrad Estimated net worth: £830 million The famously belligerent Amstrad boss worked his way up from humble origins to making millions in the electronics industry. Born and raised in Hackney, East London, Sugar lived in a council flat and used to spend his Friday nights after school boiling beetroots for the local greengrocer. He left school at 16 and sold aerials and other electrical goods out of the back of a van that he had bought with his savings of £100. In 1968, he founded Amstrad, which went on to become known for high-quality electrical goods sold at prices that undercut every competitor in the market. In an age of technological advancements, Amstrad made waves and millions of pounds for its CEO. The hard-nosed businessman then became Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., much to the upset of its fans. After 9 years in the role, he sold his share in the club for a sum of £22 million and BskyB bought out Amstrad for £125 million in 1997. Sugar is still at the helm of Amscreen, a company run by his eldest son that manufactures advertising screens for public spaces, such as schools and bars. After a tough but highly lucrative career, he says, “I was born in Hackney. When you’re born in Hackney and you do well in life, you move to Chigwell.” So don’t knock him for pointing his finger in The Apprentice – he’s earned it. Name: Francois Pinault Age: 72 Occupation: CEO of retail company PPR Estimated net worth: £11.5 billion As a schoolboy in Rennes in the 1940s, Francois Pinault was teased incessantly for his rough-looking clothes and peasant background. Unsurprisingly, as a result, he quit school at 16 without a single qualification to his name and went to work in his father’s woodcutting business. His hatred for the bourgeoisie and school propelled this teenager with a rather large chip on his shoulder into a prosperous career in the world of business. After a stint fighting in the army in the Algerian War, Pinault returned home and took out a loan in order to start up a wood-importing business, sourcing timber directly from Scandinavia, cutting out the middlemen and, therefore, the need to pay commission. As the company grew, he bought out small ailing businesses in the same industry and hit the big time in 1974 when he made a killing in sugar, just before the market collapsed. After that, he moved into distribution and retail, areas where he now focuses his efforts and on which he has based his multi-billion pound empire. PPR has control of major retail brands, including Gucci, Converse, Printemps, Samsonite, as well Christie’s auction house. Pinault is also now the proud owner of the one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the world. All this from a man who believes that the only useful paper qualification he owns is his driving licence. (E)

5IF /BUJPOBM #VTJOFTT .BHB[JOF GPS 8BMFT

The Monthly Enterprise Business Audio Bulletin On Monday 23rd February Enterprise will be launched the new audio business briefing. Anchored out of Cardiff with contributions from London and Europe our network of Editors, contributors and key business leaders will look ahead to the stories, personalities and forces that will shape the next month in Wales and across the world.

For more information and to listen to the show log on to www.enterprisemagazine.co.uk

Premiers 2009

May - July 09

Quickﬁre Round What’s your favourite cocktail? A Stilletto. What’s your worst overindulgence? Gluttony! I love food What’s your most extravagant purchase? Designer dresses. What was the last thing you bought? Two dresses from All Saints. What’s your favourite holiday destination? I don’t like going back to the same place twice, but I went to China last year and that was really cool. I really like Italy, especially Tuscany because I’m a ‘foodie’ and you can’t beat somewhere where the wine is amazing and the food is divine. Favourite restaurant? The food in and around Brecon is good. Ichiban in Cardiff is somewhere I really enjoy. Favourite bar in Cardiff? Laguna Bar. Finish the following statement: “If I were the Prime Minister I would...” Do more straight talking. What’s your favourite book? Diplomatic Baggage. Your naughty indulgences are? Chunky Monkey Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Finish the following statement: “ I’m good at...” Hopefully pulling others along and getting them enthused. Finish the following statement: “I’m bad at...” Accepting failure in anything. Which phrase do you use too often? That’s so cool. If you could change one common public misconception what would it be? That train travel isn’t fabulous.

May-July 09

Vanessa Schotes-

Marketing Mover & Shaker

anessa, your from Germany so how did you come to live in Wales? When I was fifteen years old I had this grand idea that I wanted to spend a year in Britain to learn English. I convinced my parents it was the right thing to do and so I came over to this country when I was sixteen. I’ve had such a blast that twelve years later I’m still here having a whale of a time.

Here at Enterprise we like to track the rising stars in the Welsh business scene. Indeed we have been following the meteroic rise of this marketing mover & shaker from her early beginnings at a Cardif Bay agency through to her key role at one of Wales’ top companies. Vanessa Schotes is the Head of Marketing at Arriva Trains Wales and is making waves with her ability to put cutting edge campaigns in front of the commuting masses.

Leaving your home at such a young age is a massive challenge no doubt. How did your parents react to that? They were incredibly accommodating by being willing to give me that freedom and that chance. Most parents would have said no to a request like that from their child in that situation. There was a lot of potential there for me to mess it up but my parents placed a lot of trust in me to say: “if you really think you can do it, try it!”. There was also a lot of support from them when I tried it and loved it and wanted to stay here. I never saw it as something really challenging, it was just great fun. You obviously enjoy living and working here so what made you fall in love with Wales? I think that Wales, and Cardiff in particular, has got something about it that keeps pulling me back - it’s the people as much as anything. Everyone is very friendly, especially compared to other places I’ve been. Also, Cardiff ’s got such a lovely mix of culture, it’s the capital city yet it’s a reasonable size and walkable, you have the sea on your doorstep and the Brecon Beacons are very close. Every time I’ve had the option to leave somehow I always end up picking Wales again. How long have you been at Arriva and how have you found it? I’ve been with the company for three and a half years. It’s been really interesting because when I first started I didn’t realise just how varied a job in the railway industry would be.

What really attracted you to the company? The variety within the job is absolutely fantastic. Railway itself, in terms of its set-up and how it operates in Britain it’s quite a different industry to most. This makes it challenging in terms of marketing promotions because the pricing is partly regulated and you have to find your way within that to develop products that are relevant to your market and that passengers really respond to. It’s also an industry that’s perceived to be quite traditional. My quest is to move with the times and get away from the traditional approach to marketing the railway and find ways which are much more approachable in terms of how we speak to people and how we get them engaged with the Arriva Trains Wales brand. What’s been the biggest challenge? A lot of it has been about changing people’s perceptions. For me it’s very much about developing Arriva Trains Wales to be a true consumer brand and communicating with passengers on a regular basis rather than being seen as a corporate brand. It means focusing on developing products communications and promotions which are relevant to the market. We have worked really hard to develop value for money fares for our customers. Around two years ago we brought in a completely new advanced purchase fares structure which really delivers great value. It’s gives people the opportunity to mix and match best value fares and be flexible with their travel times to be able to get the best deals on their travel. The uptake on the product has been fantastic and I think it has helped chip away at the perception that rail travel is pricey. There are some fantastic deals out there if you book in advance. Looking back at what you’ve achieved as Head of Marketing for Arriva Trains, what achievement are you most proud of? There have been a few things. Introducing the new advance purchase fares and seeing the great uptake by passengers has been great. The safety campaign May - July 09

we ran last year, has been fantastic too because it’s been breaking the mold in terms of how we communicate with passengers. We are working on coming more in line with those companies who are being edgier in terms of how they get their message across. We are delighted with the customer feedback we’ve received on this campaign and we’ve licensed the concept to another train operator. The other highlight has been my work on the express service linking north and south Wales. It’s been quite tight in terms of time scales and we’ve come up with a super product which customers love. How are you finding the challenge of getting people back onto the trains after not using them for years? Different factors have come into this equation now. In early 2008 we saw higher fuel prices making some car users who may have been convinced that using the train wasn’t for them turning to taking the train instead. It was interesting to see what growth resulted from that and how many people we’ve retained, even though fuel prices have gone back down. It’s convenient, it’s city centre to centre, it’s a chance to read a book or chill out before you get to work or arrive back home, you can have a little nap if you need to catch up on some sleep, and it’s comfortable. I must hold my hands up as well - I used to be a car addict before I came to work for Arriva but now my car rarely gets out. Anywhere I go, I get some ‘me’ time, and I love being able to either catch-up with some work or just being able to relax after a busy day. A lot of the time I travel on the train with colleagues so we can either have a pre-meeting brief, get some notes together, or pick up another piece of work. You’re not losing the time you normally would being stuck behind the steering wheel of a car. Is this a role that you’ve always wanted to do? I’ve always wanted a role which doesn’t put me into a particular bracket. What I love about the job is the different areas within the business which I get to work with and have influence on. I’m doing everything from marketing communications, which is what I originally set out to work in, to looking after PR, getting involved with train refurbishments and developments on the fleet, to staff uniform and station presentation. What advice would you give to a young person aspiring to achieve what you have? Never undersell yourself. If you believe that you can do something the worse thing you can do is not to stand up for yourself and sell yourself properly. Did you find that you were a lot younger than the people you were competing against for your current job and that age had a factor? To become Head of Marketing for Arriva Trains 38

May-July 09

at twenty eight years old was cool. Compared to a lot of other people in similar roles I am fairly young, and they may have more experience than I do. However, in marketing, creativity and vision are critical as is getting your teeth into everything. There’s nothing wrong with contributing regardless of age. Is your industry male orientated? Traditionally it has been, but there’s quiet a shift going on. If you look at the different train operators across Britain I believe there are now around five female managing directors, possibly more, so the industry is really changing.

“Unfortunately, I think many companies always see marketing as the obvious thing to slash when cost cutting,. When you’re looking to grow a business you should be looking to talk to potential customers more not less.”

Was there a glass ceiling in the industry, and if so has that now changed? I have had the best time since I’ve joined and I’ve never felt there has been a glass ceiling. I started working for Arriva as marketing communications manager, followed by a business development role and then went on to my current role, so I certainly don’t feel like I’ve been held back. If anything Arriva has given me an amazing opportunity which has really helped me to develop. Because of that working for Arriva has been an absolute joy because it’s always helped give me the confidence to think “actually, I can do that”, and I’ve never once encountered attitudes which have suggested that because of my gender or age I wasn’t capable of doing the job. I’ve just spent a couple of months covering for my boss, who was on secondment, and again it’s been fantastic to have a look at a higher level within the company and gain new insights, and that’s been in a very supportive and nurturing environment. Which form of media do you see as the future for your marketing communications? You cannot beat a good integrated, cross channel campaign, because you get the halo effect of the combined media and everything picks the other elements up. But if I had to pick one area I would say digital. We have some some fantastic results using digital media over the last year. We’ve focused a lot of development on that, working with existing customers trying to keep people engaged in the brand. I love the measurability of digital media, it

really helps justify our marketing spend. Digital really proves that we can deliver what we set out to do with our marketing. Has social media affected the way you work in your industry? Yes, I think it has. It’s something we’re looking into at the moment because we want to facilitate discussion, but we’re also aware of the need to respect people’s personal space. There’s an Arriva fan group on Facebook created by students who have really enjoyed our service and so it’s great to see something that is genuine and has started of its own accord. As a whole, what do you see as the future challenges for the marketing and communications industry and how do you think the industry is working to meet them? It’s a difficult time for everyone right now because of the economic climate. Unfortunately, I think many companies always see marketing as the obvious thing to slash when cost cutting. When you’re looking to grow a business you should be looking to talk to potential customers more not less. I find that in marketing it is essential that you measure everything and if something is not working then pull it. I find the decision not to ‘go to market’ at all an odd one. Focus spend on activities that you know work, but don’t give up! Use five words to describe yourself Hyperactive, enthusiastic, happy, smiley and creative. Which of those five qualities do you utilise the most in your work? Probably enthusiasm. I couldn’t do the job the way I do it unless I got enthused and excited by the work. I love bouncing off the wall and throwing creative ideas around. Where do you see yourself in five years time? I would love to carry on to progress and to help take the business forward and I certainly like the commercial angle, so I just want to keep developing and bringing my enthusiasm to things. In short, somewhere I can put my five best qualities to their best use. Who is your greatest inspiration? I don’t have just one person who I think “wow, I would love to be like that”. I come across different people that I find inspiring and I try and draw from them. I think I get inspired by people’s ideas more so than individuals. Brands like Innocent Smoothies inspire me by going out there and doing something different. I admire people who are different and have an edge.

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Redundancy - not the only answer your biggest financial liability as well as your biggest asset. The cost is so huge that it’s often the first place people will look to make cuts. “Because they are in a crisis situation, a lot of people become quite blinkered and only see one part of the picture because they are focussing on it so intently. They’ve got to look at the wider picture and reexamine the other parts of it where there may be answers. “But we’re asking them if they have looked at other options. Some have and redundancy is a last resort but for others the alternatives can work. It’s perhaps something they would never have thought could work for them and they are grateful that redundancy is not the only road to go down.

he team at the leading Cardiff law firm has been inundated with calls from employers asking about redundancy but several are learning of alternative solutions to save money without losing staff. Employment lawyer Jeremy Consitt said: “We’re having calls about redundancy after redundancy and everything connected with it. Over half of what I’m working on at the moment is redundancy related and it really gives you a picture of how hard the recession is hitting everyone. “It’s difficult because you’re dealing with employees who are being dismissed – they know they won’t be able to find another job and they’re downtrodden - then there are the employers who don’t want to dismiss staff. There’s always the feeling that employers don’t care about their employees but they do. They are realising there is a human element to what they’re doing and it’s hurting them and they’re finding it distressing too. “If you look at a company’s budget, the staffing cost is usually the biggest spend. Your staff is both

As the recession continues to bite, redundancy is not the only road to cutting costs according to the employment law team at Dolmans solicitors.

“The first alternative is looking at restructuring and streamlining the organisation. This may involve cutting the number of staff working hours in the day or even cutting back to a four day week. It’s a question of whatever works for each individual company. “Another option is to cut salaries. It sounds worrying but people are not averse to cutting their salary if it means they can keep their job. “If you lose your staff, when the tide turns then you have to face recruiting costs, retraining costs and the efforts to find the right calibre of staff again. If you do have to make people redundant, as a first port of call take advantage of natural wastage and offer voluntary redundancy. “Aside from hours and salary, other ways you can save money are by looking at your overheads and benefit packages. Become more efficient, simple things add up and together they can make a difference. “There are other ways of cutting costs rather than going straight to the workforce. It’s not about working harder but smarter. Can you get people to do different jobs? With some retraining, you can plug holes in one area of the business while cutting costs in another. In a recession your business psychology has got to be different, you need to play to different strengths. “Look at marketing as well. What was a good marketing tool in a boom time may not be working as well now as people’s spending habits are different and the market itself is different. Don’t rely on the statistics and subsequent approach formed previously, make sure your targets and strategy are based on today’s market for the best results. “What is key when taking these approaches is how

you engage with your workforce. It may be possible to push through changes to hours as a genuine business necessity but that may not help you. It could result in employment tribunal claims which will end up being more costly than no change at all. “You need to engage with the workforce to bring them on board with any changes. If they can understand that times are desperate then they will be more likely to support you. But if you go in there like the proverbial bull in a china shop then employees will react badly and start fighting for their rights. “Get the level you pitch this to the workforce just right. It’s not like an ordinary pitch to a customer, this is your workforce and for some this job is the only thing they know. An upfront and straight talking but sympathetic approach will help. “If you can get that right you can save yourself so much expense and you can move forward as a team. “Once you’ve got agreement, then you can go along with it - it can be that simple and morale will be higher than with redundancies because everybody is still in work. Everyone now knows there is a recession and people are becoming more grateful for what they have got. It’s the idea of employer and employee working together to get through this. “Some employers will have no options but for those who do, look outside the box to see what all the options are. Be open to suggestions as these are difficult times and new solutions and ideas are required. Flexibility is key to both employee and employer. “It’s not about crisis management, but long term planning and realising there’s got to be a different way of looking at things. “Traditionally in a recession, it was predominantly the manufacturing sector that struggled. But this recession is also hitting the service industry in a big way. It’s affecting industries which have never been affected before and across the board - this is not just about your blue collar workers but white collar workers too including those at management level and even directors. “The silver lining is that we will come out of this recession. It is cyclical and we will recover which is why it is so vital to plan for the long term. It’s not just a case of managing a crisis now, it’s a question of recognising it, accepting it and working through it.” (E) May - July 09

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It’s the 21st Century - Stop Managing rules and procedures which can be counterproductive and costly. A commonly held belief is the theory that for an organisation to be successful it has to have a good manager (usually male…another argument, for another time) at the top of it’s structure. Well unfortunately, the evidence suggests over the past 20 years, organisations are successful despite the manager, their systems, planning, and strategising; not because of it.

Apart from his day job as University Director, Dr Paul Thomas heads up DNA Wales, a critical thinktank organization which researches and examines leadership in business. He believes that the main issue for the 21st century business, large or small, private or public, lies in outdated management thinking.

A commonly held belief is the theory that for an organisation to be successful it has to have a good manager

he majority of people in employment are hard working, loyal, trustworthy, and passionate - except for the 8 hours they spend in work each day! But the problem isn’t with the workers or staff, as most senior managers might think, it’s with the ‘mindset’ of managers, their systems, processes and structures, and their need to control. You might disagree with this, but just ask your workers if they are excited about coming into work each day. Those of you that were around in the 80’s and 90’s would be able to remember the ‘revolution’ which took place with frontline workers and unions. The revolution of the new millennium is now in the Boardroom, with senior managers. We have to stop managing with 19th Century thinking and leap to the 21st Century if we are to survive as a country, and industry. ‘Leaders’ must become critical about managerial thinking and practice. We tend to treat people like children, telling them when to come in, what to do, when to go home, even at times giving permission to go to the toilet. The problem, if we treat them like children, is that they will often respond like children. Yet, to question how managers at all levels manage, becomes an extremely complex task. This level of criticality and scrutiny can cause uncertainty, fear and worry for most managers. They quickly realise they are not necessarily adding value to the ‘customer’ but simply creating more bureaucracy,

At DNA Wales, we’ve found in our 7 year research that the solution to almost every problem will be found within the organisation already via the ‘frontline staff ’. They are already your consultants, leaders, ready, willing, passionate and hopefully loyal to the cause. That’s if you allow them to say what they think, encourage debate, trust their opinion, and give them reason to trust you. This is why management in its whole sense must be removed, for it hinders this relationship. To remove the managerial practice of command and control and consider alternative approaches is of course difficult in some industries. However, we should all want an organisation in which there is not just one pair of eyes, the manager, looking out for the competition, and searching for customers, but a thousand pairs of eyes, all of the employees in the organisation, each watching the competition and searching for customers. This doesn’t just apply for small private sector companies, but large multinational companies and Public Services. Managerial meddling is bringing industry and public services to their knees by a desire to control, plan and limit the interaction of staff. It’s always anathema to me that we believe in democracy in all areas of our life, except the workplace, and this needs to change. I strongly believe that managers get in the way of staff who have the capability, desire and skills to satisfy customers, if only they were supported via a system of trust, freedom, true empowerment and democracy. The managers must now empower staff to make things happen – particularly to ‘delight’ the customer within the boundaries of budgets. Staff and front line workers should be trusted – as adults. We live in a democratic society outside of work, why do we have to be answerable to those above in the workplace who are not democratically elected. Why isn’t everyone in the organisation trusted to make the right decision in line with the organisations’ agreed values? (E) May - July 09

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Branding Feature

How getting the right brand is crucial to a business’s success

In today’s marketplace, recession and downturn are the hot topics. So is it possible to grow your brand with success during these difficult times?

Great businesses have been established and developed in the toughest of times; for example MTV was introduced during the economic slump of 1981, and IBM defied the current trend by announcing a 12% profit in January of this year. Since opportunities will always be maximised by clever businesses, design expert Joe Brown from designdough explains the key role brand can play in the success of your business, whether you are a sole trader or employ a team of people. ‘While the dictionary definition of branding is simple – “the act of giving a company a particular design or symbol in order to advertise its products or services” – it is amazing how few people understand its importance. Applying it to ourselves as individuals, ‘brand’ or identity is mainly instinctive. Your vocabulary, style, humour and personality are just some of the components of what makes up ‘you’. In business, it’s just as important to get to grips with your image to ensure customers understand who you are and why you are the best people for the job! Every business wants to be a customer’s first choice and building and managing a brand can play a significant part in making that happen. Successful organisations from Cadburys to Innocent Smoothies consistently highlight the importance of brand as a core business and organisational asset. What is a ‘brand?’ What these companies understand, is that a brand is not just a funky logo (although smart

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design certainly helps in the credibility stakes!). It incorporates values, ethics and personality. The success of branding programmes for the likes of Innocent Smoothies has been the recognition that a brand is a collection of perceptions about your business, derived from your product, activities and communications. A brand is a ‘promise of value’ to the customer – and one that can give you competitive advantage. Take a look at Innocent’s website – key to their brand is a fun approach and engaging language, but underneath are stronger messages of ethical practice, integrity and health benefits all tied together by a sense of community, a community that you, the consumer can join! Companies like this, who have prospered from successful brand management are great to study and use when considering your own brand. The starting point for building a brand requires some reflection. What is unique or individual about your business? What do customers really value about your product or service? Get to grips with your core values, aims and objectives in business, and start to think about how you deliver them. Although this sounds basic and you will intrinsically know the answers, this information is not always obvious to other people. Tough times As the credit crunch hits and times get tough for business, it is now more important than ever to secure your position in the marketplace. A strong brand is the only way to stand out from the crowd,

and taking decisive action with your brand can open loads of doors for you – even in times like these. It is easy to see how your brand can work for you during the credit crunch. If you can clearly communicate integrity, strength, success, good value and a customer-centric approach through your brand, chances are you will fair far better than a competitor (who may feel they offer all these things, but do not present them clearly to the customer). Cutting back on marketing, and effectively reducing your foot-hold in the marketplace may save you money in the short-term, however you will emerge behind your competitors when things improve. Investing in your brand and communicating the added value you are offering during tougher times will improve your customer retention and loyalty in the long run. Some of the basic methods for driving your brand forward are really simple and have negligible cost. For example, spend time with your staff, ensuring they are equipped to communicate your values and reflect your brand. Let them be your advocates! Be consistent in your messaging, check that all of your customer contact points are positive, engaging and in line with your brand expectations. Get networking - referrals are invaluable and instantly build credibility and trust. When the time is right, get a professional on board who will take time to understand your business, customers, your goals, values and ethics and will develop smart design solutions that support, communicate and drive your vision.

Designdough’s top tips for building a successful brand: 1) Remember your brand is the lasting impression and value of the customer experience – not just a logo! 2) Begin by defining your business’ persona and brand values – this will be your unique offering to your customer and over time they will automatically associate your company with the qualities you have chosen to highlight 3) Remember your customers – a brand exists in the mind of its customers. Your brand is no good if it isn’t delivering what your customers want – involve them in your decisions and plans 4) Your brand must be easy for the customer to recognise and remember, therefore, keep names, symbols and logos brief, simple and to the point 5) Be consistent. Make sure in all communications you are reinforcing your brand values 6) Be original and honest – don’t impinge on another’s design and make sure you believe in your brand 7) Get employees involved in the branding early on – make sure they understand and believe in your brand as much as you do 8) Meet and exceed what your brand promises 9) Manage your brand – make improvements and changes to reflect shifts in the way you do business or trends in your market 10) Most importantly, employ innovative designers to create and communicate the vision Providing a creative mix of brand generation, design for print, and web solutions, designdough works with both public and private sector clients including Mazuma, Henry Howard Finance and the University of Glamorgan to produce inspiring design solutions. For more information visit www.designdough.co.uk , email Joe at studio@designdough.co.uk or call 02920 008834.

Despite the downturn in the economy there are still jobs available in Wales. Latest figures from Job Centre Plus indicate that there are more than 27,000 unfilled vacancies advertised at their offices alone.

ith thousands of newlyredundant workers joining Wales’ unemployment register and the UK jobless total now passing two million, its highest for more than a decade, what hope is there for those who have been of out of work for months or years? Marcella Maxwell of Working Links argues that employers should still consider the long term unemployed as a valuable resource in today’s labour market.

Marcella Maxwell of Working Links argues that employers should still consider the long term unemployed as a valuable resource in today’s labour market. Marcella Maxwell is Wales Director of Working Links, a UK public-private-voluntary partnership that helps longterm unemployed people return to work.

Over recent years the live unemployment register in Wales has been on a par with most other parts of the UK and, even now with the impact of the recession, the latest figure, 109,000, is rising in line with Britain as a whole. However this masks the fact that, behind the live register of those actively seeking work, lies a much larger number who have been out of the workforce for many months or even years, often claiming incapacity benefit or other welfare payments. In addition to the wider social and economic consequences for Wales, long-term unemployment and inactivity has a deep-seated effect on the

individuals concerned, and on entire communities which have been blighted by years of poverty and exclusion. Many of those affected will view the rising jobless figures with dismay, particularly the ones who have been training and preparing for a return to work. For them it would seem inevitable that their place in the queue will be taken by someone recently made redundant, who is likely to be regarded by potential employers as more ‘job-ready.’ Despite the downturn in the economy there are still jobs available in Wales. Latest figures from Job Centre Plus indicate that there are more than 27,000 unfilled vacancies advertised at their offices alone. Many of these may be exactly the sorts of jobs longterm unemployed people, often with lower skill and qualification levels, have traditionally been attracted to; exactly the sort of jobs employers would, in normal times, have considered them for. For example we know that there is major growth in the number of childcare and care workers needed in Wales and the contact centre and retail sectors are also still recruiting. Because of the economic downturn and the low value of the pound against

Recession mustn’t detract from ‘Jobs for All’ aim the Euro, there is an expectation that many more people than usual will choose to holiday closer to home this year which could have a positive impact on the current 6% of vacancies identified for hotels and restaurants, another sector which has proved a suitable destination for those returning to employment after a long layoff. However these are not normal times and we are facing a distorted market in which people of all backgrounds and qualifications may be competing for all kinds of jobs, just to get back into work quickly. The concern is whether employers will automatically discount the claims of long-term jobless people - who have been re-skilling and rebuilding their confidence - in favour of these ‘lower-risk’ recruits who have just come onto the jobs market. If this does occur, it won’t be good for Wales and it won’t necessarily be that beneficial for the employers themselves either. Although Wales’ official unemployment rate hasn’t been that bad over recent years, the proportion of economically inactive people here – including those on incapacity benefit – is one of the worst in the UK. In fact, five of the ten UK local authority areas with the highest percentage of incapacity benefit claimants are located in Wales. Getting people like this back to work remains vital for Wales’ prosperity and social cohesion, and it’s crucial they continue to compete strongly for employment, despite the reversal in the number of jobs available. However it’s not just a social and national argument. There’s also a sound business case for employers to consider recruits from this background. It’s a case based on the sustainability of employment.

Many business sectors require recruits for what are described as ‘entry-level’ jobs – jobs that require skill-sets for which people can be trained relatively quickly. Working Links has been collaborating successfully with employers in these sectors for some time to provide them with candidates, who may have been out of work for a long time, but who have now been equipped with employability skills and a new confidence, ready for a return to work. Experience has shown that these candidates have been well matched to such jobs and have tended to stay and commit themselves to the employers concerned. This loyalty provides stability for the employer as well as helping to reduce the recruitment, induction and training costs which occur when staff leave an organisation. At the moment employers in these sectors may be finding workforce turnover levels lower than usual, as fewer staff are willing to move job during a recession. However, when recruiting new staff, they must also think of life after the recession. Sandra Busby director of the employer-led Welsh Contact Centre Forum summed up the situation when she said that firms recruiting staff at present should ask themselves whether the candidate in front of them would be content to stay in the job concerned if he or she had a choice. Clearly those employers who are recruiting right now have plenty of choice themselves, given the high numbers looking for work. Obviously they must make considered business decisions and select the people they believe will be best for the company or organisation. But the best person isn’t automatically the one with the most recent employment history.

In some cases the person who has hauled him or herself back from the wilderness of long-term unemployment, retrained and set their sights on a job in a particular sector – such as contact centres, retail or hospitality - may well be the one who will ultimately give most to the business in terms of loyalty and motivation. The drive to integrate people back into the workforce after long periods of inactivity must continue unabated, despite the recession. ‘Jobs for all’ must remain the ambition and no one should be left behind. Research has shown that getting long-term inactive people back into work brings benefits for the whole of society and the economy, with positive impacts on the health, well-being and security of whole communities as well as a reduction in the benefits burden on corporate as well as personal taxpayers. Our own organisation Working Links has helped over 17,000 people in Wales make that transition in the past eight years and we’ve seen the rewards it has brought. Realistically things are going to be tougher in the jobs market for the foreseeable future, but, potentially, the long-term unemployed can play an important part in the eventual upturn. With proper preparation and support, and with openmindedness on the part of employers, they can make a very significant contribution to the country’s economic recovery. It would be disastrous if the current recession were to choke off opportunities for those already disconnected from the labour market. That risks making it even harder for them to return and leaving us with an even bigger mountain to climb when we eventually emerge from the current difficulties. (E)

Financial Feature

The Recession

London Wasps Players, Simon Shaw; Paul Sackey, visit a ChildLine Call Centre.

CSR - Corporate Social Responsibilty With the onset of a recession in the UK, for many companies the prospect of looking at their CSR fills them with dread. Some forward thinking companies though, are pushing forward with their CSR commitments and are making a real difference in their community. Over the next few pages we see it from the charity perspective as well as from the SME viewpoint.

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Feature

CSR

Harsher economic conditions are forcing us all to take stock Text - Caron Jennings / Head of Fund Raising in Wales / Mencap Cymru

his can be irksome, but it can also be a fresh and exciting opportunity. Comfortable old habits come under the micro-scope and we suddenly realise there may be a better, more effective way of getting things done. Charities are affected by recession just as much as business and individuals, some of the challenges charities may face include, raising fuel and energy costs; falling donations from cash strapped supporters; faltering returns on their investments; all coupled with a greater need for their work. There is no easy answer to all this, but there is a clear strategy; all our activities must be more effective than they used to be. In order to survive and grow in a recession, charities have to be more pro-active, more creative and better advised. Now is the time to be brave. In a recession donors with tightening belts are going to be asking more and more searchingly, ‘Yes I know the cause is right, but are you the right charity with the most effective solution’. What is needed is brutal and complete honesty. All fundraising cost money-here is how we spend it. All fundraising is a long -term investment and ultimately, it’s about service delivery. Mencap is the UK’s leading authority on campaigning for people with a Learning Disability. A learning disability is caused by the way the brain develops. There are many different types, and most develop before a baby is born, during birth or because of a serious illness in early childhood. A learning disability is lifelong and usually has a significant impact on a person’s life. Learning disability is not a mental illness or dyslexia. People with a learning disability find it harder than others to learn, understand and communicate. People with profound and multiple learning disabilities need full-time help with every aspect

of their lives- including eating, drinking, washing, dressing and toileting. Day in, day out, Mencap hears from people who are fighting to lead an ordinary live. It is unacceptable that in the 21st century our society is still such a long way from valuing people with a learning disability equally. There are 1.5 million children and adults with a learning disability in the UK – 2 in every 100 people. Including their parents, siblings, carers and supporters, the lives of around 6 million people are affected by the failure to give people with a learning disability the chance to run their own lives in the same way that others do. The number of people with a learning disability is expected to increase by 14% by 2021. This is because more small, premature babies are surviving and because people with a learning disability are living longer. The number of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, whose needs are complex, is increasing. Historically, many people with a learning disability were placed in institutions, like the old long-stay hospitals. They weren’t allowed to go to school. They were kept out of sight and out of mind. Now, people with a learning disability often live in the community or with their families. However, they still aren’t included in every day life. They go to school, but there is noting for them to do when they leave school or college. This means that many end up wasting their days in poorly run day centres or stuck at home, staring at the TV. They could contribute so much more. There has been significant progress over the past 60 years. It is now illegal to discriminate against people with a learning disability and there are laws to protect basic human rights. But the biggest barrier to inclusion still exists – the barrier of people’s attitudes. It includes the attitudes of those making decisions about public funding to pay for services. It includes the attitudes of those making business decisions about commercial funding, such as whether to provide Changing Places toilets in a shopping centre.

Mencap will not rest until we have achieved our vision of fair treatment for people with a learning disability and their family carers. We will not settle for anything less. The government has said it wants equal citizenship for all disabled people by 2025, which is a goal we wholeheartedly agree with. There is an unacceptable gap between the government’s stated aim and the reality of day-to-day life for people with a learning disability and their families. Cuts in services mean that the gap is getting bigger. And it is harder to get services because the rules about qualifying for them are getting tougher. We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. We need greater recognition of people with a learning disability, and the funding necessary for them to live equal lives. Not one carer should be left at breaking point. Not one person with a learning disability should be denied their right to lead a healthy, independent and fulfilling life. Not one person should be excluded from everyday life. We will ensure that all our services conform to our values and principles. We will operate services that put the individual in control, and are designed to enable people to do what they want to do with their lives. But we will not lose sight of the biggest challenge: we must challenge society. We will confront prejudice, preconceptions and discrimination wherever we find them – so that people with a learning disability can live life as they wish, and experience a future full of possibilities that others enjoy. We will do our part to create a society where people with a learning disability are free of the fear of violence, free of the fear of the services they depend on being withdrawn, free of the fear of becoming a victim of discrimination. The mood of 2009 is one of endurance than enjoy, change is the child of crisis, so let Mencap Cymru show you and your business how to nurture and grow with your Corporate Social Responsibility profile.

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Feature Corporate Social Responsibility

Deloitte staff get out and about in South Wales

eading business advisory firm, Deloitte, has got its staff out of the office and into the community as part of its National Community Investment Day.

Over 1,500 Deloitte employees around the UK are today setting aside their regular work and contributing their time and skills to local community organisations. More than 60 staff from Deloitte’s Cardiff office have spent today [26 September] helping out on a series of three different projects over south Wales, in a bid to help out the local community. Participants worked in teams of 10-20 depending on the size of each project, at children’s hospice, Ty Hafan in Sully Deloitte staff have helped volunteers at the hospice to tidy up the garden and have added

a winter splash of colour. The second project is at The Leonard Cheshire Home in Tongwynlais, nr Cardiff, staff from Deloitte took to the garden again to help turn the overgrown back garden into a fresh area where people who visit the home will want to spend time. The final project is at Bettws Boys and Girls Club in Bridgend, this club aims to provide young people with tools for developing both morally and physically. The club provides a wide range of sporting activities for young people including basketball, boxing and yoga and Deloitte staff visited the club to help decorate the internal walls. They had a tough job on their hands as the kitchen was painted black but is now a nice light colour.

Cath Burnett, part of the Private Client Services team at Deloitte in Cardiff organised the community day in South Wales she said: “These days provide an opportunity for teams of Deloitte employees to get involved in their local community for a day in the firm’s time. They are excellent ways to support the local community as well as helping build staff moral. “ This year staff from across the UK Deloitte offices will participate in over 50 community and environment projects such as clearing and planting within a woodland area, gardening projects for an old people’s home, painting and decorating a youth centre, and painting murals in a school classroom. Mary Rhead-Corr, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Deloitte said: “In total, each year Deloitte staff contribute more than 36,000 hours to community projects. This year, we are really excited to have so many people participating in this unique one day event throughout the UK. “Despite recent economic concerns, we remain very committed to supporting our local communities. In times of economic downturn it’s often an easy decision to reduce investment in areas such as community programmes, however Deloitte’s commitment to supporting the local community remains a top priority for the firm.”

St. David’s management team lend a helping hand

t David’s Shopping Centre’s management team have been getting muddy, creating a racing track with a difference at a local farm as part of their corporate social responsibility promise. The 10 strong team spent two days at Greenmeadow Community Farm, in Cwmbran digging a 15 by 20 metre track for children between the ages of three and seven to race mini tractors. Staff, including the shopping centre’s director Steven Madeley, spent the day digging through the mud in order to create the track which is set to open before Christmas as the ground needs to settle ahead of opening. The shopping centre team away day takes place twice a year and all staff spend the day doing something for the community. This year the

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team has already pulled together to help build a educational garden for St. Helen’s RC primary school in Caerphilly, and the St. David’s team hope that the tractor track will be as popular with the children as the garden proved to be. Steven Madeley said: “Team away days are a great way for the whole team to get out, have fun and work together for a good cause. We really enjoyed creating the track, and we know the children will have lots of fun driving around the course.”

Staff at Greenmeadow were delighted that they had help during the initial stages of the track development. Kate Holly, Commercial Manager at the community farm said: “There is still a lot of work to be done on the track before it is ready for the children however the ground work is done now. The tractors will be arriving in a couple of weeks so all visitors to the farm will be able to see what lies ahead at Christmas. We are extremely grateful to the staff of St David’s Shopping Centre and hope that they enjoyed their experience also.”

Corporate Social Responsibility

Paralympic sponsorship for Penn Pharma

Feature

he went on to his first major competition for Great Britain at the 1999 European Disabled swimming Championships in Braunschweig, Germany where he won all four of his races. He competed in his first Paralympic Games in Sydney in the summer of 2000 where he won an impressive haul of seven medals. Peter George said: “Meeting David was really inspirational. Just spending a couple of hours with him made me realise that he is very humble and competes for sponsorship and recognition among other able bodies athletes. The man has won eleven gold medals, four of those at last years Beijing Paralympics but he still remains grounded. David will support Penn through motivational speaking seminars and being the inspiration behind Penn’s quality improvement programme ‘Going for Gold’

eading Welsh bioscience company, Penn Pharma, has become the first commercial sponsor of eleven-time Olympic gold medallist, David Roberts CBE. Penn decided to sponsor the Paralympian following an informal meeting where Penn CEO, Peter George, got to know one of Wales’ most successful athletes. Penn will be sponsoring all of David’s travel,

currently unable to drive, David catches the train daily from Cardiff to his swimming training in Swansea, all these costs will be covered by the sponsorship. Penn are also paying for driving lessons for David and have given him a brand new car to help him get to his training sessions. David, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 11 was encouraged to participate in swimming activities as a form of physical therapy, from there

“We are really pleased to be able to sponsor David with his travel arrangements as well as giving him a notebook computer to log on and update his drugs tester on his location and training patterns.” David said: “Penn are really supportive, they have already helped me out with my train tickets and are patiently putting me through driving lessons so that I can drive my new car to training instead of catching the train everywhere!”

To further show its support, Buy As You View is also set to launch a company-wide Community Fund encouraging staff to become designated charity champions to raise money for charitable causes. The company will support their efforts and contribute additional funds to the pot. On a green platform, Buy As You View has committed £23,000 a year to lease specialist equipment to help recycle up to 80 percent of waste which would otherwise have gone to landfill.

Buy As You View Leading electrical and home furnishing retailer Buy As You View is increasingly showing its support for the local community. The Bridgend based company has already made donations to local youth sports teams and employees tirelessly raise money for charities including Cancer Care Cymru and Comic Relief. This Spring, Buy As You View is match funding a charity mountain climb for Breast Cancer Care by a dozen members of staff.

In a further commitment to reducing its corporate carbon footprint, Buy As You View is switching to eco cars for its 500-strong national sales force. Marketing director John Smith said: “Corporate Social Responsibility is an important issue to Buy As You View and one that we strive to maintain throughout all aspects of the company. We have always made a commitment to our CSR work but this year has seen us take greater strides both environmentally and with the forthcoming launch of the new Community Fund.”

May - July 09

Improving cash flow in a challenging economy - Deloitte’s 10 tips for entrepreneurs

Banks don’t like surprises so communicate regularly, keep them informed and don’t be afraid to discuss additional funding.

Access to debt and equity markets is proving increasingly difficult in the current economic climate, making the freeing up of cash the focal point for many Welsh entrepreneurs, according to Deloitte, the business advisory firm.

ohn Antoniazzi, Partner at Deloitte in South Wales, explained: “For growth businesses, cash has always been a priority. Irrespective of the financial health or trading outlook of a company, the benefits of effective cash management and cost reduction are obvious, but never more so than at the moment. “We’ve compiled a list of ten simple, quick to implement tips to help growth businesses free up cash in these challenging times. Some may appear basic common sense, but surprisingly can often be overlooked in favour of far more complex moneysaving initiatives.”

1. Customers – ensure that overdue accounts are chased quickly, but fairly. If you offer certain customers preferred terms, can you tighten these without damaging the relationship?

2. Suppliers – talk to them, discuss extending payment terms. Whilst they are likely to be under pressure too, if you are a reliable customer with 52

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a good payment history, they may be willing to temporarily relax payment terms;

3. Bank Financing – banks don’t like surprises so communicate regularly, keep them informed and don’t be afraid to discuss additional funding if you have a plan or an immediate need, but always think ahead; 4. Information – make sure you know what’s happening with every penny in your business, or more importantly, that you have the ability to find out. A good financial system will pay for itself in no time;

5. Costs

– are there areas of fat that can be trimmed? These may not be immediately apparent but a review of the business can identify opportunities that won’t adversely impact performance;

6. Operations

– is your technology or

machinery up to date? Whilst capital expenditure may be off the agenda, even small steps to improve your processes can save time and money, and improve profitability;

7. VAT – scrutinise your payments. Many businesses overpay and fail to claim possible rebates. Take advice if you are not clear on how to do this; 8. Currency

– not for everyone, but if you source materials overseas, you can protect yourself and improve your ability to plan by using the financial tools available to guarantee price;

9. Credit insurers – increasingly important both as a customer and supplier. Ensure you have a good relationship and shop around for the best terms;

10. Reduce risk – is now the time to reduce the overall risk profile of your business?

When the going gets tough – Marketing keeps going! Louise Worth is a Chartered Marketer and PHD Research Student at Newport Business School, University of Wales, Newport.

Marketing is concerned with effective leadership, a thorough understanding of your business, and being close to your market. If you’re simply looking for more bangs from your marketing bucks, then try the following:

For more help and advice from The Chartered Institute of Marketing see www.cim. co.uk/marketingresources.

s marketing in an economic downturn any different to marketing in any other period? Surely marketing is simple: pleasing your customers and annoying your competitors? As Nigel Piercy, author of Market-Led Strategic Change, puts it “Marketing is simply the process of getting your business to market”. If you’re having problems “getting to market” then any marketing activity should start with an understanding of what (if anything) is wrong and an exploration of what possible actions could be taken to put it right. No one said business was going to be easy and nor is it for the faint-hearted. We know from experience that business is cyclical and that bad times come (and go). That is why we have business plans incorporating strategic marketing plans. Focus on efficiency and effectiveness – are you doing the right things and are you doing the right things right? Avoid ‘analysis paralysis’. Speak to your employees and customers for valuable feedback. If and only if you’re doing everything right and with optimum efficiency then it’s tempting to say “do nothing”. Current sports psychology suggests that the best place to save a goal is by staying in the middle of the posts – a “do nothing” strategy. However in the unlikely event that there is no room for improvement, Jonathan Deacon, Newport Business School and Chair of the Wales Board of The Institute warns “playing it safe is a much riskier strategy than it seems. A robust marketing plan that maintains marketing spend can be a key part of an effective strategy to weather the storm in a downturn”. You only have to look at Woolworth’s and see the consequences of a lack of investment, innovation and marketing. In terms of doing the right things, it is important to focus your efforts on those activities that differentiate you from the competition and we’re

Refer to your personal network – often a source of new business, capital, ideas and support. not talking lowest price. Take the retail and food industry for example, if customers are willing to spend what spare income they have they want to be looked after. Perhaps too nostalgic for some but the “Are you being served?” philosophy of smiling, experienced staff with good old-fashioned manners goes a long way in enhancing the customer’s experience. Additionally don’t scrimp on quality or overcompensate by offering more for less, noone wants to be “ripped off ” or pay for things they don’t need. Customers can be very unforgiving and have long memories, look after them and they will look after you. When asked for his top tips on surviving the down turn Peter Lewis, Managing Director of Industrial Automation and Control Ltd and Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing, advises “Business should not be complicated – keep borrowing to a minimum, concentrate on cash flow and have a buffer, pay your bills on time, work with all parts of the value chain, keep the team focused, eliminate waste in all areas, continuously look for opportunities in other areas of business and finally stay close to your customers.” A well thought-out marketing strategy should compliment and enhance all areas of your business. By being creative and focusing on the needs of your key customers you can target your resources more efficiently. If the majority of your business is coming from only 20% of your customers then perhaps it’s time to review your relationship with the other 80% and the associated costs of maintaining them. Equally, if 80% of your turnover is coming from only 20% of your product range then consider limiting your offering and redirect any savings on improving other aspects of the business.

If you haven’t embraced the internet yet, consider an online presence – you’ll be amazed at the savings you could make and the opportunities for new business. Collaborate with the competition – what can you do together, share costs, new ideas? Consider reciprocal agreements with your suppliers – what can you do for each other? Refer to professional organisations for help and support – often free. Be creative and consider below the line marketing campaigns – small scale customer events can be very effective. Don’t opt for a DIY approach to your marketing communications – let the professionals do their jobs. Revisit the original agency brief and renegotiate terms - if you’re unable to make it work re-pitch if necessary. Be more accountable and introduce control measures with your suppliers – what returns are you getting on your investment? Stay positive and don’t lose sight of the long term – if it’ll damage the brand don’t do it.

Day in the life-

Marketing Director

ith two children under five years of age, I’m definitely becoming a morning person. This is a good thing in my job because my day normally starts early, either in the office or at a networking breakfast. I’m a big fan of the business breakfast, as it normally involves free food and a great opportunity to chat to potential and existing clients. I’ve recently taken up the role of chair of the M4 Business Network, for which Peacheys is the main sponsor. This Network has been meeting for breakfast four times a year since 1994, and it’s a great privilege to be instrumental in organising something which has resulted in the formation of so many strong business relationships over the years. I was appointed as marketing director at Peacheys Chartered Accountants at the start of 2009, with the aim of increasing the turnover and profit of the practice. How you do that is obviously not that simple, but the discipline and principle of marketing is the same whatever your industry sector. It is this structured marketing planning approach I have taken with Peacheys, as it has served me well in past roles.

Steve Sulley is the Marketing Director at Peacheys Chartered Accountants in Newport

May-July 09

The implications on your working week of following that approach means your workload is stimulatingly varied. A normal day can see me hosting a networking breakfast at the Celtic Manor, briefing a design agency, listening in on the calls being made by our telesales team, meeting the PR Agency, meeting a potential new client and taking customers to the rugby. That’s also balanced of course with slightly less exciting tasks like, manipulating huge amounts of data as CRM systems are upgraded and

general business responsibilities such as negotiating servicing contracts. My previous roles, especially the last one in the regional press, have helped me build up a large network of local and regional contacts, and whilst this might not be in any marketing textbook, it is a vital tool in taking any business forward. Extracting the maximum value from networking opportunities is an essential skillset for any marketer and I have always tried to engage with as many of these opportunities as possible. Of course talking to potential clients with a beer in your hand, whilst watching Wales play six nations rugby, is always a little easier than the 6.45am breakfast meeting 20 miles from home, but you never know who you will be sat next to! I’m very lucky at Peacheys to work with some pretty dynamic fellow directors (yes accountants can be interesting!) and a committed and professional team of 40 staff in a modern new headquarters in the regenerated waterfront area of Newport. Our approach is to provide business solutions for our customers, and not to be passive number crunchers, hence our range of business consultancy services. For me, it’s all about exceeding our clients’ expectations, being versatile and improving through change. Outside work I am a huge sports fan and have travelled the world watching Wales and The Lions play rugby. I have also previously served as a non-executive director for Newport County Football Club, which was a great experience. I’m already picturing my two boys walking out at the Millennium Stadium with the three feathers on their chest. No pressure there then!

Day in the life-

Hotel General Manager

here is no average day for me, being the manager of a busy hotel in the city centre means that I wake up not knowing what expect from the day ahead of me. It can involve anything from spot checking the hotel rooms to meeting MP’s to talk through city centre issues! On the top of the news agenda currently is clearly the economic climate and I won’t deny that the current conditions have been tough for every industry including for hoteliers. However, the Six Nations rugby provides a boost to hotels in Cardiff and to be honest it a very busy time of year for us! February has been a manic month, what with Valentines Day and the rugby! It is the norm for us to have the away teams stay with us and we annually host the dinner for the Welsh team to celebrate, this is always a fun event and the staff really look forward to serving the players.

Marie Fagan is general manger of the Hilton Hotel in Cardiff city centre. Marie retuned to Cardiff, following a career with the Hilton group across hotels in the UK and Europe her role is to ensure all guests are happy and everything in the hotel runs like clockwork.

We have seen a number of celebrities come through our doors both to stay the night and to take part in a dinner event. When Gavin and Charlotte first got together it was one of the first places where they were photographed. Our other celebrity guests include Wesley Snipes, Meatloaf, Olivia NewtonJohn, Piers Morgan, Lionel Ritchie, Kanye West, Katie Price and Ant and Dec and they are treated the same as our other ‘non-famous’ guests, we give everyone the same five star hospitality that the hotel is famous for. Being in charge of such a well known, respected hotel in the centre of Wales’ capital city means that I have to remain a step ahead and always be

thinking about every element of the businesses. It is imperative that I have full understanding of what is going on in the hotel in every department from food and beverages to health and beauty. Even when I’m away from the hotel I still make regular calls to my team to check everything is running smoothly. I know that all the staff at the hotel are true professionals and work hard to ensure that all guests no matter what their background or fame enjoy their stay, but being the manager I have to keep them on their toes!

Being in charge of such a well known, respected hotel in the centre of Wales’ capital city means that I have to remain a step ahead.

To be a hotel general manger it is always good to get a decent understanding of the way a hotel works. I realised my lifelong ambition of becoming general manager of Hilton Cardiff after starting my career as a waitress at Stradey Park hotel in Llanelli. From there I went on to work in London for 10 years at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, the Waldorf hotel and The Cavendish before moving to Italy to work for the Hilton. There is nothing like hands on experience and working your way up the career ladder I mean just look at Sir Alan Sugar and Sir Richard Branson.

May - July 09

May-July 09

Adam Price - Online video streaming In a time of recession, how can I make my website and message stand out from my competitors? With the outstanding pace at which technology is progressing it’s no surprise that visitors are now expecting more from their online experience with businesses. This is why it is not only important to have an online presence but also to be able to make an impact on your visitors, really grab their attention and get your personality across as if the visitor had sat down in front of you. The latest way in which to do this is through the use of video. Professional Video is rapidly becoming a popular feature on corporate websites today such as Apple and Adobe. It’s a fantastic tool for demonstrating to visitors exactly what you offer and they way in which you offer it. This gives you the opportunity to show off your products and services; showing them in action, demonstrating how easy they are to use or just how great they look but more importantly, they get to see you as a company and the personalities within it.

Many of you will already know Adam Price for being a Search Engine Optimisation expert, but in this edition Adam wanted to share with you his expertise in the online video streaming arena. This hot topic is spreading across the internet fast and we have had quite a few emails sent into us asking for information so this is your chance to find out some key points on what to do and look out for.

When it comes to business, it’s important to change with the times in order to keep in touch with your target market. Your website is one of your best marketing tools and with technology moving so quickly these days, keeping your website looking up to date is vital. Video enables you to make a lasting impression on visitors to your website. They will not only learn more about how you operate as a company but they’ll also be able to see that as a business, you are innovative by adopting such cutting edge technology. You can also add video to create more of a personal touch. By having someone talking on the video it enables the visitor to build more of a relationship with your business as they will feel they know you and can put a face to the company. Is it easy to add video to my website? Putting video on your website is simple! That is as long as you seek advice from a company who really know what their doing and not just opt for the You Tube approach. You Tube is a fantastic avenue for distributing video content but the free player to add to your site has its drawbacks in the business word.

There are two options; downloading and streaming. The best choice would be to stream as this enables the user to start watching the file almost as soon as it begins downloading. As a result, the file is sent to the user in a more a less constant stream meaning that the user watches it as it arrives at the visitors screen. Therefore, there is no waiting around for the file to be downloaded to view and your visitors are able to experience spectacular visual aids as soon as they arrive to your website. If the download it too slow visitors lose patience and move straight on to the next site rather than wait to see your message. You may have the best product in the world but due to the slow video, visitors may leave your site before they have seen it. The other area to consider is your results in the search engines. You must make sure that the video has been added onto your website in a search engine friendly manner. After all, there would be little point in enhancing your website with video if it’s going to hinder people being able to find it in the search engines. There are a select few companies who will specialise in creating an online video platforms which can achieve all of this. As this is a specialist service you need to be sure that the company that you have chosen can deliver exactly what you require. Make sure you don’t rush in to any decisions and always ask for examples of previous clients websites. Before committing to the service you want to be sure that this company can deliver what they are promising. Where will the costs be in delivering video through a website? Creation of the video This could get very expensive depending what your looking for but you should be able to find something from about £100 What format should you use? There are several video types but the one of the most used is MP4 Hosting the video so as it will stream This can be even more expensive than the video if you do this the wrong way but they are a small number of companies that are coming out specifically offering on demand, high speed bandwidth for delivering movies online.

There are two main things to consider when your adding video to your website: the method used and search engine optimisation. An important area to think about is which method you choose to display videos on your website. This can have the biggest impact on whether video really enhances your website or turns people away from it.

For more information please do not hesitate to ask the expert, Adam Price – asktheexpert@it3.com

May - July 09

Digest

Office Design

Beacons Business Interiors Top ten tips for your office fit out Bbi is a multi-disciplined company offering a comprehensive range of facilities support services including account management, interior design and space planning, mechanical and electrical design, project management, internal construction, office furniture, corporate signage and consultancy services. For more information, visit www. bbi-uk.com

iven that most of our waking hours are spent at work, office design is becoming an increasingly important part of a facilities mangers role. It is not just about the superficials, a well designed work environment can improve the bottom line, help increase staff motivation and reduce absenteeism, as well as create a powerful first impression for clients. With this in mind, Richard Randall, Lead Designer from Beacons Business Interiors (Bbi), looks at the ways in which design plays an important part in today’s office environment. Businesses are increasingly analysing their office layout to get the most out of it. They want the best utilisation of space possible to make the office a hot house of efficiency. However, this does not mean that organisations want a hot house environment. The following are my top ten tips for creating the most efficient working environment. Create more break-out areas for informal discussions and ‘touch down’ spaces where people can dip in and out to check emails. It’s all about getting staff engaged with their office space to encourage participation and collaboration among co-workers.

In terms of overall structure, we are seeing a continued reduction of the cellular space, where every director and manager has their own

May-July 09

office, to a much more open plan way of working where even directors work with teams on the ‘shop floor’. This is coupled with a rise in informal break-out spaces where networking and meetings can take place in a much more relaxed setting.

The introduction of ‘third level space’. This is where informal meetings are encouraged around office printers. Bbi works with a number of blue-chip companies who have even installed white boards and tea and coffee making facilities next to their printers, so people can network as documents come out hot off the press! This facility reduces considerably the need for wasting time in more formal meeting rooms discussing non confidential information. Colour! No longer will magnolia walls or oak desks suffice! Colours, such as pale greens and off-whites, usually get interpreted as being bland and lacklustre, dampening creativity. Staff and employers are demanding a lot more from their work space and want their expectations to be met. Coloured lights, bright graphics, white desks, bright chairs and dividers are creating an exciting and stimulating office environment. Even the wash-room facilities are more like posh hotel toilets than the public lavatory feel of the past!

Replace old corner desks. These were created as a solution to cumbersome CRT monitors, but as these have been replaced by their sleeker flat screen counterparts, so desks have evolved. In fact, they have come almost full circle to 20 years ago to become bench-like again, which is also far more space efficient.

Do your bit for the Environment. Businesses are increasingly going to see legislation and regulations that will require them to use a minimum amount of recycled products in new projects. Why not try using recycled carpet tiles instead of buying new and send any unwanted old furniture to charities that can put it to good use.

Bear in mind the different generations working in your office. The typical office now hosts four completely different generations – Traditionals (the oldest group, born before 1945), Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X-ers (born between 1965-1980) and the Millenials (the youngest group born between 1981 and 1999). Employers need to provide workers with tools and initiatives that are specifically designed to allow a multi-generational workforce to work together easily, while still meeting each generation’s specific needs.

Research shows that 64% of office workers are interrupted more than 20 times a day. It is therefore important to look carefully at acoustic control within your office. Sound proofing between meeting rooms and offices is essential for ensuring confidentiality and sound masking in open plan offices combats the effect of noise on staff efficiency.

Go for a striking reception area. The reception is the first port of call in an office and it is important that it gives the right first impression. A striking reception desk is a starting point but this needs to be supported by other elements such as welcoming furniture or interesting wall graphics. A good reception area shows your clients and your staff that you mean business.

Finally, storage is key. This seems a simple idea but ample storage in the office means the workspace will be organised and tidy. It will cut down on the number of congested areas in the office and a tidy, streamlined office helps portray the right signals to clients and colleagues!

Office

Office Style Out monthly top design tips to ensure you have cutting edge office style.

Top Tip Your office requires the most order, and the key is to get organized. Use wall systems with two kinds of shelves: Closed shelves for displaying your books, folders, boxes and files of all types and open shelves for single pieces of accessories to brighten up the room. Tip: Colour-coordinate your books. It looks fantastic and creates an interesting and balanced look.

Veneto Chair From £689 www.boconcept.co.uk

Occa Mini Table £999 www.boconcept.co.uk

Cushion Multi Stripe £95 www.boconcept.co.uk

Digest

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Travel Section

* Golfing Travel * Stockholm Guide * Malaga Guide

May - July 09

Tee off around the world From bunkers to water hazzards, we reveal some of the best golfing experiences worldwide.

St Andrews, Fife, Scotland The oldest golf course in the world has many remarkable features which help make it so special to golfers around the world. It is the Home of Golf where golf was first played 600 years ago and yet it remains a real test of golf for today’s champions. Despite its reputation and status, it is a public course and is one of six public courses on St Andrews Links. The Old Course has evolved over time and was not designed by any one architect. The people who played a major role in shaping it are Daw Anderson (1850s), Old Tom Morris (1860s- 1900) and Dr Alister Mackenzie (1930s). The course is known for its particular physical features including 112 bunkers, some of which are especially famous e.g. ‘Hell’ on the long 14th, ‘Strath’ on the short 11th and the Road Bunker at what is probably the most famous golf hole in the world, the 17th or Road Hole (so called because a road - which is in play - runs hard against the back edge of the green). Another peculiar feature of the Old Course is the double greens where the outward and inward holes are cut on the same putting surface. These greens are large, not surprisingly, and golfers can be faced with putts of almost 100 yards. The Old Course is also unusual in that it starts and finishes in the town, but its truly remarkable feature is that in today’s modern golfing world, a course which has evolved over six centuries, remains a true test of championship golf. 62

May-July 09

“I fell in love with it the first day I played it. There’s just no other golf course that is even remotely close.” Jack Nicklaus “Without a doubt I like it the best of all the Open venues. It’s my favourite course in the world.” Tiger Woods A view of the Old Course, St Andrews Links, taken from behind the 17th green (The Road Hole). This view features the clubhouse of the R&A (Royal and Ancient). Credit: St Andrews Links Trust/Russell Kirk www.standrews.org.uk

Pebble Beach, Calafornia, USA Each of Pebble Beach Resorts’ four courses offers a unique heritage, breathtaking beauty, and a once in a lifetime experience. Since 1919, the exquisite beauty and unique challenge of Pebble Beach Golf has thrilled golfers and spectators alike. Pebble Beach has been the site of golf ’s most prestigious tournaments, including the annual AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, the 1972, ‘82, ‘92 and 2000 U.S. Open Championships. Designed by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant, the course hugs the rugged coastline, providing wideopen vistas, cliffside fairways and sloping greens. It is a delightful challenge for all players. 18 Holes Par: 72 Black Rating (US Open Championship): 74.3/ Slope 144; Yardage - 6,828

In the five years between 1995 & 1999 and also in 2004, Royal Portrush Golf Club hosted the Senior British Open Championship (‘British Seniors’). The Senior British Open Amateur Championship will be held at Royal Portrush in 2011, from 3rd to 5th August. Situated on the beautiful North Antrim Causeway coast, Royal Portrush Golf Club occupies a triangle of giant sandhills which present magnificent views in all directions. The hills of Donegal in the west, the Isle of Islay and Southern Hebrides in the north, with the Giant’s Causeway and the Skerries in the east. The course is overlooked by the ruins of 13th century Dunluce Castle and this gives its name to Royal Portrush’s famous Dunluce course. Royal Portrush is the only golf course outside Great Britain to host the British Open Championship in 1951, won by Max Faulkner. In 2003, Royal Portrush hosted the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship. In July each year, its hosts the North of Ireland Amateur Open Championship. www.royalportrush.com

Rio Mar Beach Resort, Puerto Ricco, Caribbean The Rio Mar beach resort & spa, a Wyndham grand resort, in Puerto Rico, is the Caribbean’s ultimate beachfront golf and vacation resort. A magnificent 35,000 sq. ft. clubhouse is at the center of Greg Norman’s new 6,945-yard River Course and Tom and George Fazio’s 6,487-yard Ocean Course. Enjoy luxurious accommodations, a palm-lined beach, 11 superb restaurants, lounges and entertainment venues, tennis, water sports, full-service spa, thrilling casino and award-winning service.

Blue Rating: 73.8/Slope 142; Yardage - 6,737 www.wyndhamriomar.com Gold Rating: 72.3/Slope 137; Yardage - 6,348 White Rating: 71.2/Slope 134; Yardage - 6,116 Red Rating: 71.9/Slope 130; Yardage - 5,198

Kauai Lagoons Golf Club, Lihue, Hawaii

www.pebblebeach.com

Discover a little corner of paradise.

Royal Portrush Golf Club, County Antrim, Northern Ireland Royal Portrush golf course in Northern Ireland is one of the best and most challenging links golf courses in the world.

Tucked away in a tranquil tropical setting of Hawaii is the majestic Kauai Lagoons Golf Club. A Golf Magazine “Gold Medal Golf Resort” winner, Kauai Lagoons Golf Club features 18 Jack Nicklaus Signature holes. The fairways offer stunning island vistas at every turn, creating a relaxing atmosphere in the midst of a challenging game of golf. >>

May - July 09

Digest Enter text here Sharing this amazing paradise is Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club, set amidst 800 waterfront acres along the Kalapaki Bay. The resort features one of the largest pools in Hawaii, along with five oceanfront and open-air restaurants, spa, and fitness center. www.marriott.com

Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic Pete Dye, considered by many to be the world’s most renowned golf course architect, has designed three of the most internationally renowned courses at Casa de Campo. The breath takingly beautiful Teeth of the Dog, Dye Fore and Links courses offer distinct challenges and distinguished charm and beauty. The “Teeth” course attracts the best professional and amateur golfers in the world. Tricky shots include a devilish dogleg and signature Dye obstacles such as elevated greens and trick of the eye trees. Top-notch caddies are ready and eager to guide you through the terrain. • Course Length/Par (All Tees): Back 6,888 / 72, Middle 6057 / 72, Forward 5571 / 72. • Course Slope/Rating (All Tees): Back 140 / 74.1, Middle 129 / 70.1, Ladies’ Middle 139 / 75.4, Ladies Forward 130 / 72.9 www.casadecampo.com

The high-tech computer designed greens make for many interesting pin placements. The entire course features immaculate conditions, a neo-classic design and alkali variety from hole to hole, along with an abundance of water and sand hazards. The course is a constant test of one’s golfing proficiency. www.thaicountryclub.com

Laguna Golf Course,Vilamoura Algarve Portugal The Laguna Golf course as the name suggests is set with water hazards on a flat layout. It also is characterised by strategically placed bunkers. This thus demands good placing of shots. The course is without pines or much trees and thus provides open fairways, except for in the eleventh and twelfth hole which are around a lake. The 18 Holes have been laid out over level ground and provide and with the exception of the eleventh and twelve that take the player around and over a lake, it is open fairways for the player with very few trees to present difficulties. It is a course that can be likened to some degree to the challenges that are provided by a Links course. www.golfalgarve.com

The Belfry, Warwickshire, UK

Thai Country Club, Bangkok, Thailand Thai Country Club is a joint venture between the Phataraprasit Group and the The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited. The Phataraprasit Group is a Thai-owned business conglomerate with extensive business interests in the north of Thailand, primarily in the distilling industry. Designed under US PGA international standards by Denis Griffiths, at that time president of the world-renowned American Society of Golf Course Architects, opened in December 1996. The design adapts to everyday member use up to a very tough challenge for major international tournaments featuring the finest players in the world. The 7,157yard course, from the professional tees, was tested

during the 1997 Asian Honda Classic won by Tiger Woods.

May-July08 Autumn 09

As the UK headquarters of the PGA and spiritual home of the Ryder Cup, the noble game and The Belfry are inextricably linked. The Belfry has become synonymous with golf and a Mecca for both professional and amateur players. Our two stunning Championship courses, sculpted from 500 acres of lush North Warwickshire countryside, have provoked some of the most dramatic moments in the history of the sport. Play the Brabazon, their internationally recognised and revered championship course and home of the Quinn Insurance British Masters. Play the PGA National, England’s only PGA course. Or Play The Derby - a shorter, more relaxed course for players of all levels. Better still, make a break of it and play all three, or challenge the rest of your party to a game on the mini Brabazon Putting course. www.thebelfry.co.uk

Costa Ballena Golf Club, Cadiz, Spain

www.enterprisemagazine.co.uk

Golf for All Five Senses. The Golf Club is part of the Costa Ballena complex, an exclusive resort for tourism, leisure and sports in southern Europe . Its facilities, its setting, its climate, its urban design and its environmental protection policy make Costa Ballena one of the world’s top tourist complexes. Very few facilities of this kind anywhere on the planet boast such an exceptional golf course, designed by José María Olazábal Integral Golf Design. Costa Ballena’s 400 hectares are located in the heart of millenary Andalusia, in the province of Cadiz, just 100 kilometres from Doñana National Park in the southernmost part of Spain. This is the region that produces some of the world’s oldest and most famous Sherry wines. It is also the home of the Carthusian horses, origin of the renowned Spanish breed. The course has 27 competition holes, nine par-three holes and the best practise area in Europe, according to Sweden’s Professional Golfers Association (PGA). These are just some of the features that describe Costa Ballena Golf Club. The key to its success is a perfect balance between leisure, training and sport. and sport. www.ballenagolf.com

The New Website from Enterprise Magazine. It is not a mirror of the magazine, but a news resource all of its own.

NOW WITH ADDED FEATURES INCLUDING PODCASTS

Weekend Break Malaga In the past a weekend break often involved a rain ruined few days in dull and grey Great Britain. Even though you prayed for sunshine when you planned your trip this country’s weather is notoriously fickle and bank holiday unfriendly. But with the growth in low cost air travel and an increase in the number of destinations offered by airlines you can now be basking in virtually guaranteed sunshine on the continent within a couple of hours. With that in mind, have you considered popping over to Malaga next time you go on a weekend break?

Why Go?

Most people fly into Malaga then get out of the city straight away to stay in places like Sevilla. Nothing can beat the superior location of this gateway to the Costa del Sol. Along with being a perfect jumping board for excursions, including quick trips to Granada, Sevilla, and Córdoba, its shore-side location offers up the best of two worlds. Imagine having the sophisticated pleasures of a modern, culture-packed metropolis while basking in the relaxed vibe of a beach town. So whether you’re a culture vulture, a beach comber, a party animal, or a sports enthusiast, you will find yourself right at home in Malaga.

Stay At...

Hotel Puerta Málaga, a cool, sophisticated, urban chic hotel right in the heart of the city.

Shop At...

your first stop should be at the Calle Larios. As the commercial heart of Malaga, is full of shopping options for you to enjoy. Calle Larios is a fascinating blend of the old and the new. It is lined with modern, highfashion boutiques standing side by side with shops that sell unique handicraft and souvenirs, as well as shops that have been in Malaga for several generations. From sleek and ultra-modern shopping malls to oneof-a-kind curio and souvenir shops, Malaga is a shopper’s haven. There are also tons of restaurants throughout the shopping district, enabling you to combine a few of Malaga’s favorite pastimes – shopping, eating and socializing!

Explore...

Malaga houses some of the most beautiful and breathtaking parks and gardens in Spain and even in Europe. This wealth of botanical heritage offers you a trip to paradise – lush gardens featuring a diverse range of botanical species and coupled with historical sculptures and buildings. The major attractions when it comes to Malaga’s gardens are the La Concepcion Gardens, the El Retiro estate and the Malaga Park. All of these- and more- form another fascinating facet of Malaga, one that is best enjoyed by leisurely walks on warm sunny days.

Malaga is not called the “city of museums” for nothing; it has over 20 museums, 15 of which are grouped together in the same vicinity. Feast your eyes on a wide array of options from contemporary art to religious art, historical artifacts and, of course, Pablo Picasso’s works housed in the Pablo Picasso Birthplace Museum and the Picasso Museum of Malaga. Major sights such as the Roman theater and the Gibralfaro castle hark back to the times of the Romans and the Moors, respectively. Malaga is also replete with religious monuments and churches, foremost of which is the La Manquita, Malaga’s cathedral. Malaga’s architectural scene is certainly a mosaic of different personalities ranging from Moorish to Baroque, religious to modern, and more.

Party At...

Culture...

Lounge At...

Shake your boody and dance to the groove in the bars and disco clubs that abound. Malaga’s nightlife district can be found along the streets and squares of the Plaza de la Merced, the Plaza de la Constitucion, Calle Granada, Calle Alcazabilla, Calle La Malagueta and Calle Larios. Malaga comes out in full force (both the young and the young at heart) to dance the night away.

Eat At...

You will find many beach cafes (chiringuitos), restaurants and tapas bars along the esplanades so prepare your palates for a veritable feast of fresh seafood, gazpacho, and sweet Malaga wine. Here, you will find food havens featuring great traditional Malaga cuisine. Be sure to try the pescaito frito, an assortment of fried fish such as red mullet and sardines. Bodegas, which are pubs or wine bars that serve local Malaga wine directly from the barrel, are also must tries.

Malaga has 3,000 years of history from which it has accrued a multitude of customs; hailing from many different cultures, these traditions have left a fascinating flavor that is unique to Malaga. Plus, there is always something going on in Malaga! There is a wide range of exhibitions, festivals (or “ferias”), musical concerts, and more. Witness Malaga decked out in its finest during festivals such as the Feria de Agosto, Carnaval de Malaga and the Fiesta Mayor de Verdiales.

FAST FACTS

How to get there: Fly from Cardiff International Airport with BMI Baby: www.bmibaby.com Flight time: 2 and a quarter hours We recommend you book into the VIP lounge on outward bound leg of your journey: www.tbicardiffairport.com

Extreme Makeover: Hollywood Edition

High-speed connections

Sights to see before they disappear

The Hyatt’s new brand, Andaz, opened its first hotel on Liverpool Street in London in 2007 to critical acclaim. The latest addition to the company’s collection of first-class hotels is the Andaz West Hollywood, which opened earlier this month. Inspired by art, music and sculpture, the rooms and lounge areas reflect the cosmopolitan feel of the surrounding neighbourhood, and the personal, uncomplicated service and relaxed ambience give the Andaz West Hollywood an air of space and calm. Supreme sophisticated simplicity.

Passengers on the high-speed TGV trains in France are now being treated to a wifi service in First and Second Class carriages. Those travelling on eastbound services out of Paris, such as the international line from France to Switzerland, are able to get online for free during the initial trial period. Once the internet service is available on all trains, it will cost the passenger no more than 10 Euros to use. There are also plans in the pipeline for the TGV operator, SNCF, to launch a multimedia entertainment portal, which would enable people wishing to use the onboard wifi to access information, video content and city guides on their destination. Cool, non?

Forget 50 things to see before you die. Some wonders of the world are slowly being claimed by the forces of global warming and aren’t likely to be around for very much longer. Venice and The Maldives are succumbing to the rising tides and the 95% of the Great Barrier Reef ’s living coral is going to be wiped out in the coming years as water temperatures rise. Visit them before they’re gone forever.

May - July 09

30 second Travel Guide Stockholm Stockholm is one of the most knowledgeable and IT-intensive cities in the world, but it has always struggled to fight off its image as a cold and outrageously expensive capital. Until now. Sweden’s medieval metropolis, set on a stunning archipelago of over 30,000 islands, is fast becoming a top destination for business travellers. Here are our top tips for getting the most out of a trip to Scandinavia’s cheapest city.

See... the Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s old town, where you can see the Royal Palace and the famous church, Stor Kyrkan. On Djurgården island, you will find the excellent Vasa Museum and Skansen, an openair zoo and historical museum that attracts over 1.3 million tourists every year. Travel on the metro and you will be surrounded by masterpieces in the world’s longest art gallery, created by 140 artists for the network’s 90 stations.

Go... to the Stockholm archipelago. With some of the world’s most spectacular and breathtaking scenery, you would be crazy to miss out on what the islands have to offer. The Stockholm ferries, Djurgårds Färjan, are the best way to take in the view, as well as the Vaxholms Båtarna, bigger ferries which will take you even further out into the archipelago.The city prides itself on its eco-friendly policies and is Europe’s least-polluted city. It is said that the water is so clean that you could go fishing in the city centre!

Shop... in Ostermalm for posh and exclusive labels; in Sodermalm for bohemian chic and outdoor bazaars; and in the City district for the main department stores, such as NK and Åhléns.consequat.

Eat... with the literary elite at the world-famous Gyldene Freden in Gamla Stan. Established in 1722, the restaurant still contains most of the original décor and surroundings at the time it was built. Several other good eateries can be found in the same area. A popular lunchtime choice is the Hotorgshallen, a vast indoor market where you can find specialities from across the globe and put together an impromptu picnic to enjoy in a nearby park. Alternatively, try the Kungsholmen (Norr Mälarstrand, Kajplats 464), a food hall-cum-lounge with seven different food stations to suit every taste.

Drink... at Café Opera (Karl XII’s Torg, Norrmalm), a trendy celebrity hangout. Marie Laveau (Hornsgatan 66, Sodermalm) is a popular place for lounging and clubbing. A must-see is the Absolut IceBar at the Nordic Sea Hotel. Definitely the coolest bar in town – the room temperature is -5°C. In the day, sample a ‘fika’ (Swedish coffee) at Xoko (Rorstrandsgatan 15), a stylish bakery serving up desserts, coffee and organic treats.

Stay... at the elegantly spacious Clarion Hotel (Ringvägen 98). This modern hotel effortlessly combines contemporary art, music and design to provide relaxation and comfort for its guests.

Fly... in summer and see Stockholm come to life in an array of food and culture festivals. You can fly to Stockholm from the UK on most airlines, including Ryanair, KLM and Scandinavian Airlines.

Our Business Hotel favourite... Nestled near the charming 18th century Haga Royal Park and overlooking the Bay of Brunnsviken, the Radisson SAS Royal Park Hotel is ideally located just 5 kilometres from Stockholm’s city centre. The hotel is housed in a historic manor home which has kept many of its original features such as the 19th century fireplaces, tall, airy ceilings and beautiful neoclassical exterior. With its leafy surroundings and charming atmosphere, the Radisson SAS Park Hotel is the ideal base to mix business with pleasure

For more info... Visit the Stockholm Tourist site: http://beta.stockholmtown.com/en/ We recommend you fly from Cardiff Airport: www.tbicardiffairport.com

Take Care to Present Your Case By Clive Sherer of West End Training

ne of our clients, a major stock broking firm in The City of London, was aware that even though their organisation had an excellent reputation and strong profile in the world of underwriting floatations, they were losing potential new business because their presentations did not have that extra ‘polish’. The lack of knowing how to present effectively can also have a damning effect whether you are presenting to a small group of your own colleagues or even in a one-on-one situation to a client who is sitting across the desk from you. We have all sat listening to presentations that neither hold our interest nor let us feel part of the subject. So how do we ensure that we avoid conducting poor presentations ourselves? You only have a few seconds to hold the audience’s attention from the time you start speaking. Try using the word INTRO to write the introduction to your presentation.

I = Interest.The opening phrases need to be interesting. Maybe a statistic. N = Need.The need for them to know. T= Title. Every good presentation should have a title. R = Range.What will be covered during the presentation. O= Objectives.What will be the result of the audience hearing the presentation. Within INTRO, you will tell them what you will be telling them. During the body of the presentation you will tell them. In the conclusion you will tell them what you told them. Involving the audience makes the presenter’s job easier. You may also find that contributions from the audience help to put over your case. By the careful use of questions, you can also test the audience’s understanding of the presentation. When asking a question, use the Pose, Pause, Pounce method. Pose the question, and then Pause whilst everyone is thinking about the answer. Then Pounce on a member of the audience to answer. By using this method, everyone has had the benefit of thinking about the answer. This is more beneficial than choosing some one to answer the question first and

then saying, ‘John, tell me why ......’ If you use this method, only John will really be thinking about the answer, whilst everyone else ‘switches off ’, glad that they have not been asked. When you get the answer to your question, praise the person answering and repeat the answer because not everyone may have heard the answer. Avoid distractions. If you play with your jewellery or watch, take them off. Do not jingle money in your pocket. By ensuring clarity of speech and avoiding jargon, you should ensure that your next presentation has the extra polish it deserves. West End Training offers a range of personal and business development skills and courses can be held exclusively for client organisations.

Contact Darren Evans or Clive Sherer. www.westendtraining.co.uk info@westendtraining.co.uk

Make the right connection

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Overview

Clear Connect was formed in 2000 as a new player in the growing business communications market as a switchless reseller. The company offers Voice and Data services primarily to the Corporate and SME (small and medium sized enterprises) market in the UK. Clear Connect Limited Connect House PO Box 143 Swansea SA2 0WT 08450 99 22 22 www.clear-connect.com

The Last 15 Lee Smart

1) Did you ever get into trouble at school? A little - mainly because I thought I knew best!

What was your first part-time job? Washing up in local restaurant – I started when I was 13 years old and worked until I left school. It was good fun and easy money, which is most probably why I lasted so long. I then went on to become an apprentice chef in the same restaurant. I had nailed a burnt Yorkshire pud to the wall years earlier so they wanted to see if I could do better!

3) What did you spend your first pay cheque on? A pair of Adidas football boots - a month’s worth of money. They lasted so well that I continue to buy the same type of boots to this day.

What was the best piece of advice you have been given? “Always have clean shoes,” - it’s the first thing people notice and first impressions count.

5) What was your worst business mistake? Not giving a friend £5K to help start a business in return for 40% share - KPMG last year offered him £5 million for it.

6) What is your greatest business achievement? A few great moments including being asked to come on board at Westco but the greatest is hopefully to come in my new role. Lee Smart from Westco Fllors. Westco Floors is one of Cardiff’s oldest businesses with over 70 years experience in the flooring industry. Westco supplies leading flooring retailers and DIY stores with a range of laminate and real wood flooring, accessories, cork, vinyl, carpet tiles, and wood parquet products.

May-July 09

7) What car do you drive and what does it say about you? An Audi A6 Le Mans 3.0: practical, safe, getting old….!

8) If you could have invented any product, what would it have been? It would have to be penicillin - such a small thing that can achieve so much. Working in the flooring industry I would like to of invented Amtico, probably the best branded flooring product available today.

9) What do you most like about the flooring industry? The friends I have made and the characters in it. People tend to stay around forever so the stories are long and eventually I guess you too become part of the stories.

10)

Which single possession would you rescue if your house caught fire? My children, Ben who is 15 years old and Victoria who is coming up to 14 years old- that’s two things but would never chose between them! Anything else is just materialistic and can always be replaced.

11)

Do you have any hobbies? Still trying to play football on a Saturday afternoon - the mind still thinks it’s a great idea but the legs don’t always agree.

12) What is your favourite tipple? Gin and tonic - unless I am at dinner when a good glass of wine is always favourite. The best selection I have yet come across was in the George V Four Seasons in Paris. The wine list is so big you need a separate table to put it on.

13)

How many times a year do you take a holiday and what is your favourite destination? I rarely have a main holiday, I prefer long weekends, but I guess visiting family in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico would always be top of the list - around Easter time just as the whales are heading back out to sea.

14) Which one record and book would you take to a desert island? Il Divo to help me chill out and the Encyclopaedia Britannica to hopefully give me ideas of what to eat and how to get off the island!

15)

What was your most embarrassing moment? I put my foot in it when I once told a waitress how glowing she looked and asked her when the baby was due. She wasn’t pregnant! (e)

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Spiro’s (Cardiff) Ltd, St Peter’s Hall,St Peter’s St, Cardiff, South Glam CF24 3BA Tel:

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Would you like to consistently achieve your business goals? Would you like to improve the performance of your employees to get the results that you want? Would you like to develop a positive team culture to provide the foundation for future development? Your greatest asset is your people but they can sometimes be your greatest problem. Your employees can drive your business forward but they can also hinder its development. But you can get the results your business deserves with Designs On Life. Designs On Life will enable your employees to perform at their full potential with our tailored, supportive and inspiring coaching programme. In fact, 100% of our clients achieve goals earlier than expected.

www.designsonlife.net nadine@designsonlife.net

It’s 8am on Monday morning. You’ve had a sun-filled, cocktail-laced weekend and now it’s back to business. You need to know what’s going on in the world of business fast! Let Enterprise, the newly re-launched, topical, cutting edge business website from one of Wales’ leading business magazines, excite and innovate your business senses

www.enterprisemagazine.co.uk

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Enterprise is a title within Pear Publishings’ stable of magazines. For more information log onto www.pearpublishing.com Pear Publishing is a division of Pear Media Ltd

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