Platinum Business Magazine – issue 52

PLATINUM BUSINESS MAGAZINE ISSUE 52

Celebrating the English

WINE Industry

Gatwick Diamond Business Awards Open for entries

Jacob Rees-Mogg

The Prime Minister for

The Big Innovation

Debate

18th Century?

the

The entry date has passed, hundreds have entered and the rigorous and intense judging process is underway for the 30th year of the Sussex Business Awards.

The Sussex Awards is the longest running such event in the entire country and celebrates the great and the good of our remarkable region.

It’s too late to enter and it’s too late to sponsor but it is not too late to join over 500 business leaders at the event at the Grand Hotel in Brighton on November 29th 2018 at what will surely be the

EVENT OF THE YEAR Join us at the event and buy your tickets now.

Tables of ten available at £850 and tickets at £90 each.

Contact: sussex@platinumpublishing.co.uk

CONTENTS 7

Local and National News

14

THE BIG STORY: Jacob Rees-Mogg

20

Interview NatWest Regional MD, Stuart Johnstone

24

The gig economy DMH Stallard

26

Cyber Crime LMS Group

28

Digital tax Carpenter Box

30

Top 5 VAT issues Kreston Reeves

32

Improving contracts Rix & Kay Solicitors

35

Wellness at work Sherrards

37

Profile Allied Irish Bank

39

Chichester centre profile Basepoint

41

Preview Meet the Buyers

43

Preview Sussex Supergrowth Awards

45

Enter Now Gatwick Diamond Business Awards

46

WINE: Celebrating English Wine

59

Expert Panel Whitespace

60

CEO Fight Club Scarlet Monday

63

Preview Adur & Worthing Awards

64

Innovation Debate Santander

73

Innovation Frontier Pitts

74

Innovation euVAT

76

TRAVEL: MICE & Leisure Travel

84

The Innovation Debate Santander

86

Preview Medieval Banquet

89

Charity News Chestnut Tree House

92

Women in tech Sussex Innovation Centre

94

Focus Start-Up Surgery

98

Preview Michael Gove Charity Lunch

100

Spa Hotels The Grand Brighton

102

Focus on Sponsors BAHBAs

104

Community Spirit Hilton Brighton Metropole

106

Preview NetXP

108

MOTORING: McLaren 570s Spider

111

Diary Chambers of Commerce

114

ANGER MANAGEMENT: French Whine SPORT: News

119 120

Alistair Cook

122

Football

125

Motor Sport

126

Network my Club

128

John Young

129

Rugby

130

Health & Well-being

132

Float Spa

133

Active Sussex

134

When Business Meets‌

138

View from the Sofa

14

Will Rees-Mogg takes us back to the 18th Century?

20 Exclusive Interview with NatWest Regional MD Stuart Johnstone

46

A celebration of our Sussex wines

84

Focus on Innovation - The roundtable debate

All rights reserved. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions relating to advertising or editorial. The publisher reserves the right to change or amend any competitions or prizes offered. No part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written consent from the publisher. No responsibility is taken for unsolicited materials or the return of these materials whilst in transit. Platinum Business Magazine is owned and published by The Platinum Publishing Group.

3

Celebrating Business Excellence

Join us as we recognise the passion and talent of our business community The Gatwick Diamond Business Awards celebrate people and businesses who have shown innovation and inspiration in their work, and have demonstrated a real commitment to the region. The Awards have become one of the most prestigious business occasions – celebrating the best of the best across the Gatwick Diamond.

For more information and to download an entry form, visit:

WWW.GATWICKDIAMONDBUSINESSAWARDS.COM

@gdbizawards

WELCOME

Hopefully you will notice, that we have totally redesigned the magazine with our new expanded in-house design team. We hope you like it.

In partnership with Lloyds Bank,

So, in the spanking new magazine

you will find our big story featuring Jacob Rees-Mogg, a man either destined for the top job or for a bit part in Pride and Prejudice. He is a funny old cove but could he be just what this country needs? It’s that or Boris – you choose.

NatWest has a new MD

for our region. We meet Stuart Johnstone and look at the exciting plans he has to assist our firms grow.

DMH Stallard take a good hard look at the GIG economy. Following on from the BA hacking debacle, the LMS Group offer you a free review of your cyber protection and our secret Travel Insider also tackles this subject, warning that you are seriously exposed if you allow your team to book their own travel arrangements. It is a sobering wake-up call.

asb law and Kreston Reeves we celebrate the launch of the Sussex Super Growth Awards and with Jeremy Taylor as our compere, this will be a first too. Although JT has now departed Gatwick Diamond Business, the GDB Awards will continue apace with the sparkling awards ceremony on March 21st 2019. It will odd to see JT as an audience member.

We are proud to present our definitive

English Wine feature celebrating all that is great about, what could soon be, the world’s finest sparkling wine industry. It is already spanking Champagne in blind tests.

We present another Santander Round Table de-

bate and this month it is on the subject of Innovation and Technology.

&

Enjoy this issue and now Maarten must shoot off as he has just found out that there is still some tread left on the McLaren’s tyres!

Maarten Ian

Platinum Business Magazine October 2018

The Team

Maarten Hoffmann – Director

Lesley Alcock

Fiona Graves

Laurence Elphick

Kate Morton

Rose Dykins

maarten@platinumpublishing.co.uk 07966 244046

Business Developement Director

Events Director

Head of Sport

Copy Editor

Travel Editor

Ian Trevett – Director

Ewa Rogalska

Poppie Sharman

Amanda Menahem

Steve Elford

James Morrison

ian@platinumpublishing.co.uk 07989 970804

Head of Design

Events Manager

Food & Drink Editor

Head of Web Developement

Head of Web Design

5

21st November 2018 THE ARORA HOTEL, CRAWLEY

Don’t just Meet the Buyers get yourself connected The Gatwick Diamond Meet the Buyers Programme brings together Buyers and Suppliers to help each other grow their businesses.

For Buyers, you will have the opportunity to meet new Suppliers of the products and services you need as well as explore ways to solve your procurement issues.

For Suppliers, you will be able to access the kind of businesses you simply cannot reach elsewhere, with face to face meetings with their procurement professionals.

From June 2018, there will be a programme of free Seminars to help you understand how to engage with Public Sector and large businesses that are seeking new suppliers as well as improve your general sales processes.

t: 01293 813889

e: info@gatwickdiamondmeetthebuyers.com

www.GatwickDiamondMeettheBuyers.com

Sponsored by

@GDMeettheBuyers

Sussex

news

The Power of the Platinum Club A

s well as being a hugely enjoyable social gathering, The Platinum Club is the place where deals get done. Last year, Neva Consultant’s Graham Prince and Focus Group’s James Jones discussed life and business over a few glasses of fine champagne at the club.

The two companies have now signed an exclusivity contract to provide each other with their services for the next three years which is worth at least £3 million.

Neva Consultant’s award-winning fleet management solution ‘e-Fleet’ will be embedded into Focus’ processes. Currently, Focus Group have a fleet of 100 vehicles but through growth and acquisition are forecasting to increase their fleet size to 200 vehicles over the next three years. Neva Consultants are presently discussing with Focus Group how hybrid and full electric vehicles could be integrated into their company car policy to bring the carbon footprint even lower.

In return, Neva Consultants have signed a three-year exclusive contract with award-winning telecoms provider, Focus Group, in which they will supply Neva Consultants’ head office and their office locations across the UK with 135 new hosted handsets across all 29 sites.

The new system has transformed Neva Consultants’ ability to communicate with not only their customers, but their colleagues across all of their sites. The projected cost savings alone have more than paid for the system upgrade. www.platinumpublishing.co.uk/platinumclub marketing@focus-grp.co.uk info@neva-consultants.com

Diversity champion crowdfunds

B

righton’s local community radio station, RadioReverb, was awarded the National Diversity Award for Community Multi Strand at the National Diversity Awards held in Liverpool in September.

RadioReverb was awarded the gong for its community ethos and commitment to diversity. Rooted in Brighton & Hove’s local community, RadioReverb ensures the voices of local people are heard – especially if they are from social groups typically underrepresented by the main-stream media.

Ali Rezakhani, RadioReverb’s co-director, said, “Diversity and giving a voice to marginalised groups is key to what we do.”

The station has launched a Crowdfunder to raise funds to upgrade their transmitter and ensure more diverse voices can be heard on the airwaves.

RadioReverb director Tracey Allen said: “Local radio is getting smaller, but happily RadioReverb is getting bigger!

“After over 10 years of making community-focused, not-for-profit radio, RadioReverb now needs your help to buy a new transmitter that will enable us to improve and expand our vital service.”

To donate to RadioReverb’s Crowdfunder visit: www.crowdfunder.co.uk/radioreverb

“If it’s stupid but works, it isn’t stupid” Janette Aquires an Award

VIVAT goes Euro

J

W

anette Whitney & Associates have won Best Business Consultancy 2018 Southern England in Acquisition International’s prestigious 2018 Business Excellence awards.

Janette said, “We’re delighted to win and I believe our success is attributable to our integrity, commitment, professionalism and our one solution does not fit all approach. But our success is also due to the fact that we have 40 years+ experience in a number of specialist areas and sectors, meaning we can provide both a high level and very tailored service.”

Janette Whitney & Associates are multi-award-winning business consultants and business growth specialists based in Horsham. www.whitneyassocs.co.uk

ith Brexit drawing near, not everyone is rejecting the EU. In fact, international VAT specialist, VIVAT Online has changed its trading name to euVAT online.

Chief executive Martyn Redman explained, “It’s designed to make us easier to find. We still have the same advanced digital solutions of course.

“We have also just released a web based VAT Reclaims system for VAT professionals. This joins its sister product the euVAT Returns system that allows any size business to prepare totally compliant European VAT Returns.

“It’s why we’re still market leader in online VAT Technology. We take care of the technology and VAT legislation. Our clients take back control.”

For more information, see the new website www.euvat.org

7

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20/03/2018 11

Sussex

news Newerhaven N

ewhaven, one of just 44 Enterprise Zones in England, is undergoing a period of rapid change which will see thousands of jobs created and millions invested into the local economy.

A year on from the Newhaven Enterprise Zone (NEZ) going live, Councillor Garry Wall, chairman of Greater Brighton, and Councillor Andy Smith, Leader of Lewes District Council, were given an update on the progress by its programme director Corinne Day.

Constructing

a new expo A

fter ten years in Kent, The South East Construction Expo moved to Sussex in September for the first time.

Carole Black from South East Construction Expo, said: “We were delighted to welcome leading lights from the region’s construction industry, where they could meet buyers, explore new projects, network with other businesses in the South East and sample the industry’s latest technology,” said “The place was really buzzing and we had great feedback from our delegates who enjoyed an exciting programme of speakers, including experts such as

“The most popular labour saving device is still money” Wayne Hemingway MBE of The Design Council Board and Neil Edwards of the Builders’ Conference trade association, sharing their industry experience, tackling subjects such as the immediate and long-term future of the construction industry and answering questions on how to prepare for Brexit.” www.constructionexpouk.co.uk

The NEZ was established as a three-way agreement between the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership, Lewes District Council and Government, with the support of Greater Brighton.

Covering eight sites and 79 hectares in the town, the NEZ acts as a catalyst to deliver new economic development opportunities. The aim is that within 25 years it will create 55,000 square metres of new commercial floor space for employment to sustain around 2,000 jobs.

During the visit, the two council leaders saw progress on some of the £30 million that has already been invested in the area - with critical flood defences created, new business units built and key regeneration sites unlocked.

Three join the mobile boardroom

A

ward-winning corporate finance and business management firm EMC has strengthened its ‘mobile boardroom’ of senior executives with three new appointments.

Andrew Field, John Stevenson and Simon Weatherseed join the Sussex, Kent and Surrey-based firm as it is about to enter its thirtieth year of providing SMEs in the region with director-level interim and project management support and advice.

EMC CEO Nik Askaroff said: “We are delighted to welcome three more vastly experienced people to our team. Their arrival is a boon not just for ourselves, as we are busier than we have ever been, but also for all the client companies that we help to plan and achieve their business objectives.”

“We boast the region’s largest and most active corporate finance team – we’re on course for a record year with 14 deals already completed and a further eight under offer.” www.emcltd.co.uk

9

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MHA Carpenter Box Wealth Management will offer a fresh approach to all of your financial planning requirements, providing guidance and advice that is suitable for your personal circumstances.

Our services include: Investment advice and planning • Portfolio management Estate planning • Retirement planning • Corporate tax planning

Get in touch Gatwick: 01293 227670 • Worthing: 01903 534587 Email: wealth@carpenterbox.com

www.carpenterbox.com/wealth

national

news

Flying Low without a Pilot P

rivate jet owners in the UK and Europe are finding it increasingly difficult to get off the ground because there is a shortage of pilots, a survey revealed last month.

Seven out of 10 private jet buyers find it hard to ensure there are enough pilots and crew to operate the plane, according to London-based Colibri Aircraft, up from 20%

five years ago. A surge in demand from airlines hiring from private sector pilots, plus demand from Asian and Middle East airlines hiring European and UK pilots, has triggered the dearth.

“Jet ownership should be a means of making your life easier, but right now crew availability is a real issue affecting ownership

The Big Business Apple

L

ondon has been replaced by New York as the world’s most attractive financial centre, a survey has indicated, as Brexit prompts banks to shift jobs out of the city to keep access to Europe’s single market. New York took first place, followed by London, Hong Kong and Singapore in the Z/Yen global financial centres index, which ranks 100 centres on factors such as infrastructure and access to quality staff.

London’s score fell by eight points from six months ago, the biggest decline among the top contenders. The survey’s authors said this reflected the uncertainty around Britain’s departure next year. Britain’s decision to leave the EU poses the biggest challenge to the City of London‘s finance industry since the 2007-2009 global crisis.

About 5,000 roles are expected to be shifted from London or created in the EU due to Brexit by March, a Reuters study published earlier this year found. Many London executives have warned the biggest threats to London are not from other European centres but from global competitors, such as New York and Hong Kong.

and usage,” said Colibri managing director Oliver Stone. The problem is worsened by owners hiring only one full-time pilot and using contract flight crew.

To get around the problem, owners are urged to shell out for three full-time pilots or buy a plane which comes with its own crew.

“A consultant is someone who takes the watch off your wrist and then tells you the time”

Britain’s Not Got Talent T hree in five firms says the UK’s skills shortage worsened in the last year and more than half expect the situation to further deteriorate, according to research from the Open University.

It found that 53% of UK businesses expect problems with recruitment to deepen in the next 12 months as the country leaves the EU. Official figures released last month revealed that unemployment remained at a 40-year low of 4.1%, giving firms few options when it comes to hiring. Meanwhile, net migration from the EU has dropped to a four-year low. The lack of available talent is already affecting 91%

of employers surveyed. Collectively, those businesses said they spent £6.3bn last year to combat a shortage of required skills. This included an extra £2.2bn on higher salaries, £1.2bn in additional recruitment fees and £1.5bn on temporary staff.

More than two in five business leaders said they expect their organisation to struggle financially in the next year, as they attempt to make up for the shortfall in skilled workers. Senior positions have so far presented the most difficulty for companies looking to hire - 56% of those polled said they had struggled to fill management positions over the past year.

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national We are Family T he organisations across the UK who are leading the way in building family friendly, flexible workplaces have been announced by the work life balance charity Working Families. Employers large and small from across the public, private and third sector compete annually to gain a coveted place on the list of Top Employers for Working Families. This year’s Top Ten Employers for Working Families (in alphabetical order) are: American Express, Barclays Bank, Crown Prosecution Service, Deloitte, Independent Living Fund Scotland, Intellectual Property Office, Lloyds Banking Group, Pinsent Masons, Royal Bank of Scotland and Southdown Housing.

news

Employers are scored on four key areas to build a comprehensive picture of their flexible and family friendly working policies and practices which specifically support mothers, fathers and carers.

Jane van Zyl, Chief Executive of Working Families, said: “For these best practice employers, their flexible and family friendly working policies supporting mothers, fathers and carers are well developed, and flexible working is becoming embedded. But, as our research shows, flexible working on its own is not enough to deliver work life balance for parents. What’s key to unlocking parents’ potential is a family friendly workplace culture”.

“Artificial intelligence is not a match for natural stupidity”

Beetles’ out of Juice

V

olkswagen is to stop producing the classic Beetle in 2019 due to a decline in sales. It announced it will stop making the bugshaped vehicle at its Mexico plant in July next year after releasing two special editions. The Beetle was developed in Nazi Germany after being conceived in the early 1930s by engineer Ferdinand Porsche. He was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to develop a mass production car that could carry a family of four with luggage. Production was stalled by the onset of WWII, but in 1945 the Volkswagen factory was saved by British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst.

Despite its foundation in Nazi Germany, the Beetle went on to be one of the biggest selling foreign-made cars in the US during the 1960s, proving popular with hippies. The car was sold for around 30 years in the US before being taken off the market in 1979. It went on and off sale several times over the following decades, with the last original design rolling out of the Mexico factory in 2003.

The firm’s US chief executive Hinrich Woebcken said: “The loss of the Beetle after three generations, over nearly seven decades, will evoke a host of emotions from the Beetle’s many devoted fans.”

A Sugar High C

oca-Cola is considering developing a range of marijuana-infused beverages to help ease physical problems such as inflammation, pain and cramps.

The world’s largest drinks company is in talks with major Canadian marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis, but stressed that it was interested in the properties of cannabis that treat pain but do not get users high. The talks come as

Canada prepares to legalise cannabis for recreational use, after many years of permitting it for medicinal purposes.

Coca-Cola said it was monitoring the industry and was interested in developing new drinks infused with CBD or cannabidiol, the non-psycho-

active ingredient found in cannabis plants which alleviates pain. It said: “Along with many others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world. The space is evolving quickly.”

13

THE BIG STORY

“

The England of yesteryear is a foreign country, with different moral codes, politics and prejudices. Could we really reject our modern

ways and join Rees-Mogg into a journey into the past?�

14

THE PRIME MINISTER

for the

18th Century?

Like a stuffy English snob from a BBC period drama, Jacob Rees-Mogg is so posh, it’s as if he has been transported in time from a previous century. With his plummy accent, pronounced verbosity and astounding pomposity, the thought of Rees-Mogg becoming the UK Prime Minister is beyond the realms of even the most adventurous script writers, let alone in real life. How could the population relate to someone who seems so far removed from everyday reality? But then who believed that Donald Trump would become the President of the United States? So how has Jacob Rees-Mogg established himself as a political contender?

Profile by Ian Trevett

Too posh to rule?

For much of his political career, Rees-Mogg has been regarded as little more than an Parliamentary eccentric, viewed affectionately from both sides of the house. He was the Conservative Dennis Skinner, always ready for a sharp, biting quote, yet far enough from the corridors of power to seriously offend.

Rees-Mogg never disappointed, always ready and willing to live up to his upper-class stereotype, using obscure words that sent journalists scrambling for their dictionaries or historic references only understood by professors. He was famed for his skill at filibustering, where MPs block bills by talking for long enough to block the progress of a bill.

His Wikipedia profile details some of his idiosyncratic highlights: “In his long

speech to filibuster the Sustainable Livestock Bill, he recited poetry; spoke of the superior quality of Somerset eggs, and mentioned the fictional pig, the Empress of Blandings, who won silver at the Shropshire County Show three years in a row, before moving on to talk about the sewerage system and the Battle of Agincourt.

“In a December 2011 debate on London Local Authorities Bill, he said that council officials with the power to issue onthe-spot fines should be made to wear bowler hats. In February 2012, he used the word “floccinaucinihilipilification”— meaning “the habit of considering as worthless”—during a parliamentary debate; it was noted as the longest word uttered on the floor of the House of Commons.”

In 1997, at the age of 26, in his first foray into politics, he stood as the Conservative candidate in the Labour stronghold of Central Fife. To the bewilderment of the locals, he campaigned with his nanny, driving around in an high-end Mercedes. Although Rees-Mogg at

least had the sense to note that: “My Bentley would be most unsuitable for canvassing.”

Journalists, on visiting his home, note with amusement that his young boys are dressed formally in three-piece suits, looking like mini-adults rather than children. Jacob was similarly attired himself as a child.

He was born into the establishment. His father, Baron (William) Rees-Mogg was editor of The Times from 1967 to 1981, a member of the BBC’s Board of Governors and chairman of the Arts Council.

William Rees-Mogg cut a traditional figure against the backdrop of a rapidly changing society, yet he famously criticised the sentencing of Mick Jagger to a year in prison for cannabis possession. In an editorial entitled “Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?”, Rees-Mogg senior declared. “There must remain a suspicion in this case that Mr. Jagger received a more severe sentence than would have been thought proper for any purely anonymous young man.” Jagger was promptly released from jail.

15

THE BIG STORY

The England of yesteryear is a foreign country Rees-Mogg senior may have defended Mick Jagger, the strutting, drug-taking bad boy of the 1960s, but his offspring were never going to threaten the status quo. The young Jacob knew his own mind and was a confident child. At the age of ten, he became obsessed with stocks and shares after his father invested £50 left to Jacob in shares in the General Electric Company (GEC). By the age of 12 he was taking up his right, not just to attend shareholders meetings at GEC and Lonrho (which Jacob had by now invested in), but to stand up and cross-examine the chair of proceedings.

One of the earliest known interviews (possibly the first) with Rees-Mogg was

by Vicki Woods for Tatler in 1985, who visited the 16-year-old at Eton. She recounted the story of the precocious young shareholder: “In 1981, when Jacob Rees-Mogg was twelve, he attended a shareholders’ meeting of GEC, in which he held (at the time) 175 shares, and he told the chairman Lord Nelson that the dividend on offer was ‘pathetic’. This time the incident was more widely reported, partly because Rees-Mogg père had himself joined the board of GEC only minutes before Rees-Mogg fils started slagging off the chairman of the company, and partly because amused City editors had by now cued in their warmer-hearted, human-interest, star-columnist brethren. The schoolboy financier was a gift to such as these. Twelve-year-old worth £3,500! Jacob was photographed looking heart-breakingly young with huge brown eyes and was set upon by the likes of Jean Rook [The Daily Express columnist known as The First Lady of

16

Fleet Street], who wrote that her grizzled old heart melted clean away when Rees-Mogg turned his eyes upon her.”

“Q: ‘Do you always wear a suit?’

“A: ‘Oh, yes. Occasionally I wear a blazer and flannels.’”

Vicki Woods’ initial exchange with Rees-Mogg is entertaining and revealing.

The 16-year-old Rees-Mogg was just as pompous as the 2018 version nearing his 50th birthday:

Authenticity in the age of the fake

“It wasn’t what you’d call a light-hearted chat.” writes Woods.

“Q: ‘How old are you, exactly?’

“A: ‘I am to the day exactly one hundred and fifty years older than Queen Victoria.’

“Q: ‘Wouldn’t you rather be at a Catholic school?’

“A: ‘Eton, although not a Catholic School, is of course a Catholic foundation dating from the fifteenth century and Catholics are rather well catered for. There is Mass every morning at 7.30 for those Catholics who are prepared to attend it, and on Sundays at ten forty-five.’

In a society where formality outside of the workplace has been extinguished and the flaunting of privilege is deemed taboo, a politician like Rees-Mogg should be extinct. But his influence has never been greater and the proud embrace of his background clearly appeals to many. His supporters see him as a refreshing anecdote to the blandness of the media-trained career politicians.

What can be more boring than watching an MP on Question Time spending the whole hour avoiding saying anything that might cause controversy; the type where you can hardly work out which party they represent?

“Jacob has been interviewed so often that he thinks he’s learned the trick of it.

He wore a dark suit, dark tie, white shirt, black brogues. He speaks sonorously and in paragraphs, nodding away like a Latin master and employing old-man’s tricks like peering over the top of one’s horn-rims and putting the tips of one’s fingers together.

Class has been taboo in UK politics for over half a century. The concept of a ruling class running the government was swept away in the 1960s (or at least the perception of a ruling class), when the British decided they had enough of the stifling rules and officialdom passed down from above.

The last unreconstituted toff in number 10 was Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who’s year in power came between October 1963 to October 1964, after Harold Macmillan had called it a day. The Profumo scandal had shone a light on the behaviour of upper class, and how they would use their influence to cover their tracks, and the writing was on the wall.

The spell was broken and every Prime Minister from 1964 until 1997 was educated in the state sector, with Harold Wilson, Ted Heath and Margaret Thatcher all Grammar School pupils. It was not until 2010 that an old-Etonian returned to power, a remarkable fact as more than a third of all Prime Ministers had graduated from the ‘the nursery of England’s gentlemen’.

David Cameron may have been an old-Etonian, but he actively downplayed his privileged past and was keen to be regarded as a man of the people. A critical, unauthorised biography of Cameron was entitled Call me Dave, mocking his casual chumminess. Cameron had fielded a question on a radio show which asked how people addressed him.

“Some people call me Dave,” replied the PM. Not quite a request for informality, but you could hardly imagine Rees-Mogg saying” “Some people call me Jake!”

Bagehot in The Economist describes the cult of Rees-Mogg: “He is more than just the leader of a faction or a cult. He is also the embodiment of the average Conservative Party member. A recent survey by Queen Mary University of London painted the fullest picture to date of Tory members. Some 44% are over 65 and 71% are men. They think austerity has been a good thing. They believe in traditional values and harsh prison sentences. They love Brexit— and not just any old Brexit, but the fullstrength sort, leaving both the customs union and the single market.

“These activists put up with David Cameron, and his embrace of Notting Hill values, so long as he was winning. But their hearts lie with Mr Rees-Mogg, not just because they agree with his views but because they love his style.

I take my whip from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church rather than the Whips’ Office”

He is the blue passport in human form, the red telephone box made flesh, the Royal Yacht Britannia in a pinstripe suit; a reminder of a world in which traditional Britons didn’t have to apologise for being who they were and bow before the gods of multiculturalism, feminism and health and safety.”

Rees-Mogg’s authenticity is beyond question, but many fear his undiluted, uncompassionate approach to politics. The writer Suzanne Moore has compared Rees-Mogg to Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and Donald Trump, noting that like them “he embodies the three things that many people require of modern politicians: a veneer of authenticity; an ability to cut through perceived liberal wisdom; and enormous privilege that is flaunted, rather than hidden.” Moore also suggests he uses his “religious faith” in an attempt to “excuse his appalling bigotry.”

Rolling back the years

Naming the ReesMogg clan

In true Rees-Mogg style, the names chosen for Jacob and Helena’s six children are suitably unique: • Peter Theodore Alphege Rees-Mogg • Mary Anne Charlotte Emma Rees-Mogg • Thomas Wentworth Somerset Dunstan Rees-Mogg • Anselm Charles Fitzwilliam Rees-Mogg • Alfred Wulfric Leyson Pius Rees-Mogg • Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher Rees-Mogg Jacob’s wife’s full name is Helena Anne Beatrix Wentworth Fitzwilliam de Chair.

Jacob himself has the rather plain given names of Jacob William

Being the embodiment of a historic English gentleman has its charm and it is easy to observe him through nostalgic rose-tinted glasses. He is unfailingly polite and plays fair. When a protestor recently targeted his children, rather than use it to score political points, he was very quick to point out that it was a Class War anarchist rather than a Corbyn-supporting Labour Party member.

However, the England of yesteryear is a foreign country, with different moral codes, politics and prejudices. Could we really reject our modern ways and join Rees-Mogg into a journey into the past?

Rees-Mogg’s voting record places him firmly to the right of the party, and it is clear that he rejects the liberal consensus which has been widely accepted for the last fifty years.

The New Statesman’s Martin Fletcher writes: “Rees-Mogg has uncompromising views that extend far beyond Brexit.

He opposes the 1998 Human Rights Act, gay marriage and all abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.

17

THE BIG STORY

“… Rees-Mogg has opposed increases in welfare benefits, even for the disabled – ‘the safety net [has] become a trap’, he contends. He supports zero-hours contracts, arguing that they benefit both employers and employees. He backed the controversial ‘bedroom tax’ on council tenants deemed to be living in properties larger than they needed, and caused anger last autumn by appearing to welcome the fast-growing number of food banks.

“Rees-Mogg is also a climate change sceptic who opposes costly measures to reduce greenhouse gases. … And so the list goes on. He opposes foreign aid because “this is not the job of the government but ought to be a matter of private charity”. He regards fox hunting as “the most humane way of controlling the fox population”. He supports the sale of state-owned forests, the mass surveillance of communications on security grounds, and restrictions on legal aid. He opposes any more devolution of powers to Scotland and Wales.

“He wants tougher immigration and asylum rules, and is no fan of positive discrimination. In 2006, he resisted Cameron’s efforts to increase the number of Conservative parliamentary candidates from ethnic minorities (He argued that fulfilling quotas can often “make it harder for the intellectually able”). “‘He had these sort of views when he was eight or nine. To still have them when he’s 48 seems to me to be pushing it a bit,’ Chris Patten, the former Tory chairman, fellow Catholic and old friend of Rees-Mogg’s family, told me. ‘I don’t think they have very much relevance to Britain’s problems in the 21st century, and the idea he could lead his party in this century is completely absurd.’”

It is telling that even his friends worry about a Rees-Mogg premiership, and much of the fiercest opposition (and adulation) comes from within the bitterly split Conservative Party.

Matthew Parris, the commentator and former Tory MP, wrote in The Times: “For the 21st-century Conservative

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He is the blue passport in human form, the red telephone box made flesh, the Royal Yacht Britannia in a pinstripe suit; a reminder of a world in which traditional Britons didn’t have to apologise for being who they were.”

Party Jacob Rees-Mogg would be pure hemlock. His manners are perfumed but his opinions are poison. Rees-Mogg is quite simply an unfailing, unbending, unrelenting reactionary.”

The most apt description of his politics is probably ‘High Toryism’ which is described as a traditionalist conservatism, usually at odds with the modernising elements of the Conservative Party.

A “High Tory” will tend to have an appreciation of religion and high culture.

They have historically been either a high church Anglican or traditional Roman Catholic, as well as a gentleman, and often an agrarian.

Catholicism above Politics Rees-Moggs world view is drawn from his interpretation of faith. He makes no bones about where his loyalty lies. “I

take my whip from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church rather than the Whips’ Office,” he says.

His particular take on Catholicism is often too harsh for the cardinals. He was forced to resign as a director of the Catholic Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in London by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor in February 2008, after protracted arguments over the adoption of a tighter ethical code banning non-Catholic practices such as abortions and gender reassignment surgery at the hospital.

In 2013, Madeleine Teahan from the Catholic Herald interviewed Rees-Mogg to understand what the faith meant to him.

He told Teahan, “If it’s available I like going to the Extraordinary Rite… The more you go the more you will find that it is a good thing to go to. You get some time to think and it’s not all noisy – and there’s no risk of guitars. I think Mass can be too noisy and guitars should be banned. We have had an outbreak of guitars in Somerset and I find them disagreeable.”

On more serious matters, Rees-Mogg outlined his opposition to legalising assisted suicide as well as abortion: “It’s very easy to use the very troubling cases to allow for exceptional circumstances which you find, quite quickly, become the norm. And then people are pressurised into ending their lives early because they’re a burden on their families and so on.

“Whether our motives are religious or practical people who are nervous about euthanasia need to be very well prepared to stop that going exactly the same way as abortion, which went from being something specifically about the mother’s health to being a variant form of contraception.”

Rees-Mong traditionalism was emphasised when he proclaimed, “My great hero is probably Pius IX because of his traditional view of the state and the Church and his Syllabus of Errors was a

The danger of nostalgia

clear view.” Pius was best know for his ruling of papal infallibility, i.e. the doctrine that the pope cannot err when he teaches in matters of faith or morals.

Rees-Mogg’s deference to the pope, doesn’t always sit comfortably when the hierarchy moves towards modern values.

“The difficulty with being a relatively High Church member,” says Rees-Mogg, “is that I have to accept what the Church does within its own ambit as a matter of its own authority and if it’s legitimate within the Church’s teaching, it’s not up to me to say whether or not they should do it.”

The arch Brexiteer The connection to Rome doesn’t not extend to wishing to share the political system to which the city belongs.

Rees-Mogg has come to prominence, above all, for his rigid insistence that the UK must leave the EU, as soon as possible, deal or no deal.

His rejection of the the EU is a lifelong crusade. The Economist’s Bageshot, writes, “He has served the longest apprenticeship in Eurosceptic thinking in British history. His late father, William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of the

Times, was one of the founders of the movement. Sir William Cash, another Eurosceptic grandee, recalls tutoring the young Jacob in the cause. Now he is increasingly the movement’s public face, as the leader of the European Research Group, a caucus of Eurosceptic MPs.” The worry is that so ingrained is his anti-Europeanism that he will push for the hardest of Brexit under any circumstances. One former Tory minister complained that, “He’s theologically opposed to having policy driven by evidence and facts, insisting that anyone who disagrees must be lying or relying on false information.”

Rather inconveniently his business interests don’t always match his pontificating. He co-founded Somerset Capital Management in 2007 and according to the register of MPs’ interests, he still he owns at least 15% of the company.

The $10bn fund manager is managed via subsidiaries in the tax havens of the Cayman Islands and Singapore and deals in emerging markets (ie not Europe conveniently).

In 2018, Somerset Capital opened an investment fund in Dublin. A prospectus for the new business listed Brexit as one of the risks, as it could cause “considerable uncertainty”!

Rees-Mogg has often been tagged the ‘Honourable Member of the 18th Century’ but more accurately, Rees-Mogg is a throwback to the comforting certainties of the 1950s and early 1960s, the UK of Macmillan and Douglas-Home. During the Labour years of 1964-1970, to the abject horror of the God-fearing establishment, Home Secretary Roy Jenkins oversaw a series of legislations that changed the whole nature of UK society. He embarked on a series of reforms that caught the mood of the swinging sixties. He secured parliamentary time for private members’ bills to liberalise the abortion law and legalise homosexual practices between consenting adults. He also set in train a strengthening of race relations legislation and the abolition of theatre censorship. Given half a chance, Rees-Mogg would turn back the clock.

“His manners are perfumed but his opinions are poison. Rees-Mogg is quite simply an unfailing, unbending, unrelenting reactionary.”

Rees-Mogg’s supporters look back mournfully on simpler times, best described by John Major as days with “long shadows on county grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools fillers and – as George Orwell said – ‘old maids bicycling to holy communion through the morning mist’.” (Ironically Major used this speech as part of a pro-EU speech!).

But the 1950s were also days when landlords could put signs in their windows stating ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’, when homosexuals were persecuted and imprisoned, when a woman’s place was in the home and women died in horrific back-street abortions.

Nostalgia has its place, and that is in cosy TV dramas on BBC on a Sunday night. We should learn from the past but look forward - and ignore politicians who try to convince us otherwise.

19

INTERVIEW

Working to help businesses grow In June of this year, Stuart Johnstone took on the role of NatWest Regional Managing Director, Corporate and Commercial Banking for London and the South East. He tells Ian Trevett his main priority is to help his customers grow…

What might 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence or blockchain do to your business or your industry?

A

fter starting out with the NatWest Graduate scheme, followed by a decade working for Dutch banks, Stuart found himself back at RBS ten years ago after the group acquired ABN AMRO, the bank where he

20

was working at the time. The purchase of ABN AMRO wasn’t the best decision RBS ever made, but for Stuart it offered a new career path, culminating in his recent appointment where he now looks after the bank’s business customers across London and the South East who turnover more than £2m a year.

Responsible for a team of approximately 300 across London, Kent, Sussex and Surrey, Stuart’s core purpose is simple.

How can the bank help their business customers be more successful? How can the bank help them grow?

“Our core proposition is obviously the provision of funding and banking services but around that we provide so much more,” says Stuart. “Sometimes that’s acting as a sounding board. Many of our

relationship managers are considered to be trusted business partners, particularly for some of our smaller businesses.

“Sometimes it’s about helping businesses find new suppliers, new customers, staff, professional advisors, or even a new commercial premises to support their expansion. It’s about using our networks.

“If our customers grow then that supports the local economy, it creates employment and it also creates business opportunity for us. We have around a quarter of the market, which means we play a very important part in supporting the economy in this region.”

The market share in the business sector is very impressive, but there is no room for complacency with increased competition.

“We already have a very competitive banking sector in this country and the level of competition is increasing,” says Stuart. “Some of the new challengers are pursuing a digital-only offering, others offer a traditional face-to-face approach. Whatever business model they choose, increased competition is ultimately good for the customer – it gives them more choice and it means that we have to constantly up our game in terms of the products and services that we offer and the customer experience that we wrap around them. But if we get it right we can offer the best of both worlds; the combination of smart technology with a face-to-face presence.

“We have a strong face-to-face proposition through our network of relationship managers – people who are plugged into the local ecosystem. We can combine the benefits of being part of those local communities, with the specialist knowledge and expertise that comes from our national presence. Added to this is a set of digital solutions that allow customers to see to their everyday banking needs when and where they want to.”

As the nature of banking changes with the digital revolution, Stuart is passion-

ate about embracing new technologies and he is keen to keep abreast of new ideas.

“I was in San Francisco recently for a summit run by Singularity University whose purpose is to help leaders understand exponential technology and help them think about how it can be used to make the world a better place.

One of the key takeaways for me was to recognise that the world is changing faster than any of us appreciate – the future is here already, it’s just not evenly distributed.

“We have a role to play, amongst others, to help educate businesses and stimulate their thinking - for example by asking “What might 3D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence or blockchain do to your business or your industry? Are you looking at it? If not, how can we help you begin that journey? It is important that we continually raise awareness and help customers on their journey to understand and embrace innovation and exponential technology.

“At the bank we’re actively using quantum computing, blockchain and artificial intelligence; we’re piloting an avatar that our retail customers are going to be able to interact with.

“Every business and every industry will be disrupted by technology. We just don’t know exactly how. So this need to be thinking ahead and to be agile is going to be important. We can bring customers together who are facing the same challenges or opportunities with technology. It’s almost an obligation for us to help in that space. We can help you find information, meet technology providers or some of the businesses who are pioneering in this space or speak with research scientists to co-develop solutions specific to your business.”

Inevitably, the B word crops up in our conversation. Brexit uncertainty is a concern for businesses according to Johnstone: “Our recent mid-market business survey conducted together with Warwick

Every business and every industry will be disrupted by technology. We just don’t know exactly how.

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INTERVIEW Business School (insert link) underlines just how important exporting is to businesses – especially in the South East, where more than 80% of businesses export in some way, shape or form, and the vast majority of these export into the EU. So when you ask customers what’s on their mind and what they’re worried about, Brexit tends to come towards the top of the list.

“Economic indicators would suggest that there is some slowing down of activity because we’re now entering this period where it’s not entirely clear what the rules of the game will be and what exactly the deal will be. It’s very difficult to know exactly what the final form of Brexit is going to look like. Uncertainty is not helpful and human nature is such that people are therefore a little bit more cautious than they otherwise would be.”

Whatever happens the bank is wellplaced to deal with shocks to the economy having significantly increased the amount of capital and liquidity that it holds. It wasn’t always the case and the 10-year anniversary of the financial crisis is a good moment to reflect on just how far the bank has come in that time “I’ve seen at close hand how the bank has rehabilitated itself over the last 10 years. Despite the challenge of dealing with some pretty large legacy issues I am incredibly proud of how we have stayed focused on serving our customers through that period, and we have of course been rewarded in turn with fantastic loyalty from our customers which I hugely appreciate. Now all of our main legacy issues have been resolved, we have a very strong business that is doing some great things for customers and I know that we will continue to do even more going forward.

BGF & Esme

We have featured the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator hubs regularly in these pages, but there are other initiatives the bank is involved with that have made a significant impact on the health of the economy. Stuart Johnstone sits on the board of both BGF and Esme Loans. Here he explains how these organisations work…

Business Growth Fund (BGF) was set up in 2011 to offer growing companies and ambitious entrepreneurs patient capital and strategic support. They are the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in SMEs with £2.5bn of funding available to support a range of growing companies – early stage, growth stage and quoted – across every region and sector of the economy and NatWest are a backing BGF through a significant shareholding.

The funding that BGF provides is longterm, patient capital that management teams use to fund growth or equity release, making initial investments of £1-10m in return for a minority stake.

A major strategic advantage of working with BGF is their ability and willingness to provide significant further funding as the company continues to grow, alongside practical and strate-

gic support directly through the BGF team and also through access to their broader networks.

The BGF model has been so successful that many other governments from around the world are now coming to the UK to find out how they could learn from what we are doing to help improve access to equity capital for SMEs.

Esme Loans Loans is a fully digital online lender, owned by NatWest, which was created to meet a need for simple, fast and hassle-free loans for businesses. As an alternative to the likes of Funding Circle, Esme offers unsecured loans up to £150,000 to UK SMEs. We launched the business about 18 months ago and it is growing really well. It’s getting fantastic feedback from customers with NPS consistently above 75%. The platform gives customers the ability to apply for a

loan online in under 10 minutes and if approved, get access to money that day – which for some businesses is something that they really value. So yes, I’m involved in supporting that as well.

“I see my purpose as helping businesses grow. That’s what we do every day at NatWest, BGF is all about supporting growing businesses through access to equity finance and management expertise and in Esme we’re providing a different way that businesses can access quick and efficient finance if that’s something that’s relevant to them.”

23

LEGAL

THE GIG ECONOMY:

Where do we go from here?

W

ith nearly five million UK workers classed as self-employed and in ‘non-traditional’ employment, the gig economy is under increasing scrutiny in the courts and in government. Supporters of the gig economy talk about empowerment, flexibility and entrepreneurship; critics are concerned about the lack of stability, low pay and exploitation.

Is the rise of the GIG economy a bad thing? Greg Burgess, Employment Partner at DMH Stallard, discusses.

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So what is the current situation, and what do recent court decisions and consultations mean for employers and workers going forward?

The three-tiered UK model UK employment law uses a three-tier model with regard to the status of working people, as follows:

Tier 1: Self-employed These individuals operate their own businesses, absorbing any risks, and are thus not entitled to workers or employee rights. Any rights they have are contained in the contracts formed with clients.

Tier 2: Workers This is the “in between” category. These individuals generally have short-term contracts and are entitled to basic statutory rights such as rest breaks, minimum wage and holiday pay. They have the right to protection from discrimination and under the whistleblowing legislation.

Tier 3: Employees Employees carry out work regulated by an employment contract, and on top of the basic workers’ rights, they are entitled to maternity, paternity and sick pay.

They have the fullest protection under UK employment law, including the right not to be unfairly dismissed and to receive a statutory redundancy payment.

The Gig Economy on trial A quick summary of the cases so far shows the Courts offering protection to a variety of “workers”.

Driver = Worker Uber – drivers are workers as long as they: yy Have turned on the app yy Are ready and willing to accept fares yy Are in the area they are authorised to drive in Addison Lee – drivers required to hire car from AL’s associated company and not to use vehicle for any other commercial purposes. Not uncommon for drivers to earn all of their income from their driving job with AL. Cycle courier = Worker yy Addison Lee – their fleet of cycle couriers provided a service for AL, and there was mutuality of obligation all the time the courier was logged on to the app. yy CitySprint – cycle couriers required to log on to tracking system and wear their uniform.

Plumber = Worker yy Pimlico Plumbers – plumber normally had to be available for minimum of 40 hours per week and had to wear uniform.

Deliveroo cycle couriers, however, were found to be self-employed. Why? Because there was evidence of a genuine right of substitution where some cycle couriers sub-contracted the delivery work to others, and took a cut of the fee earned.

Tax risks These issues are also extremely important so far as tax treatment is concerned, where the position is slightly different than under UK employment law. For HMRC purposes, there are

just two categories – self-employed or employed.

In the above cases, the company was treating the individual as “self-employed”. Even if the individual was paying tax and NI through the self-assessment process, there is a risk that nevertheless HMRC could seek to recover tax, interest and penalties from the company.

In one recent case, drivers working for a haulage business were found to be employees for tax purposes as the business provided them with lorries and drivers were paid fixed rates.

The future for the Gig Economy In 2017 the Good Work: The Taylor Review of Modern Working Practises report lamented the ambiguities under

The government is currently proposing: • That the right to a written statement of terms of employment be extended to all workers, including those on zero hours contracts.

• That all workers be entitled to itemised payslips from April 2019.

• That the one week gap between assignments to preserve continuous employment be increased.

The European perspective It is estimated that around 40% of EU citizens are part of the “irregular labour market” ie. self-employed, part-time etc. In September 2017, the European Commission announced it was pressing EU members to ensure a higher level of protection for these individuals

Supporters of the gig economy talk about empowerment, flexibility and entrepreneurship; critics are concerned about the lack of stability, low pay and exploitation. current law pertaining to the distinction between workers and self-employed persons, and advocates for statutory reform to clarify this distinction. Increased clarity would protect individuals by allowing them to know what statutory rights they have, and help business mitigate against falling victim to unfair advantages being awarded to competitors who attempt to take advantage of the absence of workers’ rights for independent contractors.

In response to the Taylor Review, the government released a report in February 2018 in which they agreed that “everyone [should] be able to have easy access to information about their working arrangements and what rights they should have”.

in terms of social security benefits and maternity rights. The output from the Commission’s consultation is awaited.

There is still very much a place for the zero hours worker in the UK economy. If you would like advice on how to structure this contractually, or on any employment law matter, please contact Greg Burgess on 01293 558547 or any member of our Employment team.

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TECHNOLOGY

UK CYBER SECURITY

C and Your Free Review What you need to know about cyber security and what you can do to keep your business more secure.

ybercrime cost British businesses £29bn in 2016. Although figures have not yet been produced for 2017, we’re certain that the figure will rise. Businesses of all sizes are targeted – large, medium, and small. No company is safe. It’s never been more important to protect that which your business values most – its data.

What is cyber security?

Cyber security is the protection of all of your systems, networks, and data from digital attacks. There are many different ways that you can be attacked and there are even more ways in which you can protect yourself.

The reason that criminals conduct cyber-attacks is because they want personal and company data. They can use that data to take out loans or place large orders for which you pay and from which they gain the benefit, to steal confidential information, and to exploit unprotected payment information (like credit or debit card details).

Why is cyber security important?

Businesses and organisations today rely on data. This information could be your customers’ details or a hospital’s patient information. Without this data, normal day to day activity could not take place.

An inability to access your critical data could stop your business from trading for an indefinite period until you’ve regained full access.

Aside from the financial loss caused by a cyber-attack, a breach reflects very badly on your business in the eyes of both existing and potential customers.

People are less likely to work with you if they aren’t sure that their information is in safe hands.

What goes into cyber security?

The term “cyber security” covers a broad range of topics. The ones that you need to know about are: SPAM AND MALWARE PROTECTION Malware is a type of software that is designed to get into your computers without your permission. Once it is in, it will attempt to access your data either to destroy it or hold it at ransom. The latter of these two is specifically referred to as “ransomware”.

Malware can access your computer through email attachments, downloads, and even just by clicking on the wrong site.

CONTENT FILTERING Speaking of clicking on the wrong site, if you allow users on your network to access sites which could be pose a threat, then there is more chance of accidentally becoming exposed to malware. This approach you can take to stop this is called content filtering.

Malware is easily downloaded, especially if employees visit webpages containing Macromedia Flash and Java consoles.

WIRELESS SECURITY Wireless security is a broad area and it includes making sure that your WiFi passwords are not easy to guess and that, when members of staff are not working from an internal network, making sure that they are not accessing sensitive information on their mobile devices.

If your network is compromised, an intruder will be able to read and intercept the flow of data that passes through your

network. More determined attackers may try to change administrator privileges on your network for further access to the data stored on your internal network.

The Cyber Essentials Certification

BACKUPS AND RECOVERY

The Cyber Essentials Certification is a government-backed scheme which allows businesses to demonstrate that they know how to protect their customers’ data from theft.

An important part of cyber security is making sure that all of your data is available to you, even if something goes wrong. You should always regularly back up all of your data.

The best way to do this now is by using cloud computing. Your system will automatically upload your backups to the internet – specifically, a server that is hosted somewhere else. These servers have up-to-date encryption which keeps your backed-up data safe from hackers in the event of a successful cyberattack.

The people involved in your processes Each time you allow a staff member access to higher levels of your computer network, you become more vulnerable to an attack. This is because there are more and more potential points of entry from which hackers can enter your network. Make sure that your staff only have the privileges that they need rather than giving them access to everything straight away – this is particularly important in the era of GDPR. It is important that your staff members are all aware of the potential risks that are associated with cyber-attacks along with what they can do to help prevent them. A great firewall is a great firewall but most cyber-attacks are successful not because of technical failure but human failure.

As time goes on and the threat from cybercrime continues to increase, you might find it difficult to find clients from the public sector and from government if you have not been awarded Cyber Essentials certification.

Your free cyber security assessment LMS offer a free cyber security assessment which will test your current systems to the limit. As a part of the assessment, we will travel to your place of work and examine your IT infrastructure and the security measures that you are currently using. We’ll then detail exactly what you could be doing to improve your security.

To get started and book your free security assessment, get in touch with our team on 0330 088 2565 or email sales@lms-uk.com.

27

FINANCE

M

aking Tax Digital (MTD) for Business is a key part of the Government’s plans to make it easier for businesses to get their tax right and keep on top of their tax affairs. Keeping digital records and providing updates to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) directly should in theory help reduce errors, cost, uncertainty and worry.

Stuart Noakes, Partner and Head of Tax Services at MHA Carpenter Box discusses preparing for Making Tax Digital and how it can actually help streamline your tax and accounting processes.

Keeping digital records and providing updates to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) directly should in theory help reduce errors, cost, uncertainty and worry.

Who does it affect?

The first deadline is rapidly approaching: from April 1st 2019, all VAT registered businesses with turnover above the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) will be required to: yy Maintain digital records (for VAT purposes only) yy Provide their VAT information to HMRC using third party commercial software This includes: yy Unincorporated businesses yy Trusts yy Companies yy Non-UK businesses with a UK VAT registration yy Landlords (e.g. with Options to Tax) yy Charities/trading subsidiaries VAT registered businesses below the threshold can file their VAT information through MTD if they wish, although they are not required to do this. Initially, there will be no change to the filing or payment deadlines, or to the basic information submitted to HMRC. From 1st April 2021 all other businesses will be required to comply with MTD.

What software can I use?

The biggest challenge in the move to a digital system will be the availability of suitable software. The regulations will require any business within the scope for MTD to use ‘functional compatible software’ to meet the new requirements.

HMRC have stated they will not provide free software, however, they are working closely with software providers to ensure a wide range of options will be available.

The software you use must be able to: yy Keep required records in a digital format yy Preserve those records in digital form for up to six years yy Create a VAT return from the digital records yy Provide HMRC with this data on a voluntary basis yy Receive information from HMRC about the business’ compliance record via the Application Programme Interface (API) platform

Do I need to keep digital records?

There will be no requirement for you to keep supporting documents, such as invoices and receipts, in a digital format. However, businesses will need to store transactional information digitally, including the time and value of each supply, together with the applicable VAT rate. Retailers within the VAT retail schemes will be able to keep a record based on their daily gross takings rather than recording details of individual transactions.

MAKING TAX DIGITAL FOR BUSINESS

How READY 28

Businesses will still be able to use the flat rate scheme under MTD, meaning digital records of purchase invoices will not be required (unless they relate to capital items which cost more than £2,000 including VAT).

What do I need to do to prepare?

Firstly, make sure you understand when MTD affects your business – we strongly recommend you don’t leave this until the last possible moment!

Larger businesses with their own internal IT teams should be liaising with the head of the Finance and Tax Departments to ensure that they are aware of the coming changes and that systems are being developed to cope with these changes.

Smaller businesses’ main priority should be implementing a cloud accounting system if they do not currently have one in place. Be sure to contact your accountants to establish what offering they have and whether their accounting software packages will meet the requirements of ‘functional compatible software’.

What are the benefits of MTD? One of the biggest benefits will be access to real-time information: if your bookkeeping is up-to-date then you will

The biggest challenge in the move to a digital system will be the availability of suitable software. be able to see real-time figures for your business’ performance. If you can see how the business is performing, you are better able to make informed decisions which can improve the profitability of the business.

You will also have far less paperwork, as your software will make automatic records of the money coming and going from your business. You just need to check and update the data with HMRC every quarter.

are you?

Finally, you’ll be able to improve your cash flow planning. By getting your annual accounts produced sooner, you will know your tax liability well in advance (and even have time to make strategic decisions to lower your bill), helping you to better plan your cash flow.

How we can help At MHA Carpenter Box, we offer a wide range of services and support to help you become MTD compliant. We can help you find a cloud solution, submit quarterly submissions to HMRC or even provide training for your team.

While MTD can seem daunting, by updating your accounts more frequently, you’ll have a better understanding of your business position and be able to react to opportunities and threats more quickly.

For more information on Making Tax Digital, please contact Stuart Noakes on 01903 234094. You can also visit www.carpenterbox.com/making-taxdigital for all the latest MTD updates.

29

FINANCE

The High The top five VAT issues to look out for when growing your business, by Rupert Moyle, Partner and Head of VAT and Duty at Kreston Reeves.

W

hether you have already embarked on an ambitious venture and are growing quickly, or are about to start a new business, VAT needs to be given a high priority. There are many pitfalls that can be encountered and these need to be managed.

Rupert Moyle is a Partner and Head of VAT and Duty at accountants, business and financial advisers Kreston Reeves.

He can be reached by email: rupert.moyle@krestonreeves.com www.krestonreeves.com.

Five

1

WHAT, TO WHO AND WHERE am I selling?

VAT basics are crucial and where most errors are found. It is key to understand and categorise what you are selling, who is buying and where they are based. Things to consider include: Are you selling goods or services?

Is the customer an individual or a business?

Where are goods moving from and to?

Where is your customer located?

Does the supply attract VAT? Are you supplying one item or a package?

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For those just starting out, getting to grips with the basics will allow you to determine if you have to register for VAT. As a default, most goods and services when supplied in the UK attract VAT at the standard rate, currently 20%. When considering trade within the UK, there are a number of VAT reliefs available, but these are quite tightly defined and often need careful analysis.

Selling abroad creates another level of uncertainty, and you will need to consider whether your customer is an individual or in business and the place of supply.

The general rule for (business to business) cross border services is that the place of supply is where the recipient is located and therefore outside the scope of UK VAT, but the customer is required to self-account for the VAT in its country.

2 3 PRICING

VAT represents a 20% additional charge for some customers, and not just individuals. VAT is often a cost for those that have exempt sales or undertake activities which are freely given or not in ‘business’, such as charities, banks, insurance companies and property companies.

To remain competitive and not to reduce your profit margin unnecessarily, you should consider at the outset of a new service or product line the reliefs available and be clear about your pricing.

INTERNATIONAL

trade

Subject to any changes as a result of Brexit, the following issues need to be considered:

Do you need to register overseas? If you sell items to individuals or consumers from the UK or if you, or goods owned by you, are physically present in a different country you may be required to register.

Do you trade through an online platform?

Do not assume that the rules in the UK are the same as in each EU country Is the Duty tariff classification on imported goods into the UK correct (possibly leading to Duty overpayments)?

Do you have adequate export evidence which is essential for zero-rating goods moving outside the EU? Have you completed statistical declarations such as EC Sales Lists for goods and services?

Care should also be taken when advertising prices and when agreeing contracts to ensure that they provide for the addition of VAT even if you do not think your service is subject to VAT. The ability to go back and recover VAT undercharged from business customers in error at a later date is essential in mitigating larger exposures.

4 5 MANAGING RISK:

system and controls to avoid penalties VAT accounting procedures and controls do not always keep up with the rate of growth of the business and, as HMRC becomes more interested in the business, the possibility of larger compliance errors increases and inherent inaccuracies can surface.

Controls over the systems may well be missing and the exposure to HMRC assessments and penalties can be more acute for medium-size businesses. Reviews by VAT specialists, additional staff, or outsourcing of reporting are all options which could be considered.

up work and aggravation for all parties concerned.

Dealing with

It is also advisable for all HMRC decisions to be reviewed as these may not be right and may have wider implications for the business.

Routine VAT audits by HMRC do not usually require VAT specialist assistance. However, there are occasions when a degree of sensitivity in how sales and activities are described is needed from a VAT perspective. VAT is, after all, an inherently interpretive tax as demonstrated by so many court decisions since its inception in 1973. If you are concerned about any issue a VAT specialist should be consulted before entering into negotiations with officers. This ensures that technical matters are explained in the right way reducing the amount of follow

Finally, Making Tax Digital (MTD) requires a mention. The legal obligation to digitally link VAT return information through to HMRC’s system with compatible accounting software gets closer and closer. This will be live in April 2019. Whilst initially businesses will only have to ensure compatibility in filing returns digitally, they will also have more stretching obligations to adhere to from April 2020. This will include digital links between spreadsheets and companies/ divisions within a group (or VAT group). This should be embedded in any VAT return process.

HMRC

LEGAL

Be Cautious with your Contracts Businesses beware, your clients could cancel contracts without paying you a penny.

W

ith more and more people turning to online providers to make high value purchases and the rise of mobile technology, businesses are relying on contracts that are often signed outside of their physical offices.

In 1994 the first ever recorded online retail transaction took place and one year later both Amazon and eBay launched their own online shopping sites. As true pioneers of e-commerce and online purchasing, they sparked a revolution in consumer buying behaviour which is now common place across almost every industry sector.

During the last 22 years consumer confidence has continued to grow and now more and more people are using online innovation to enter into high-value contracts with profession-

32

al service providers. The advance of mobile technology has accelerated that trend as people have gained confidence in undertaking all manor of high value transactions online, from holidays, expensive gadgets and home appliances to cars and in some cases even houses.

Alistair Rustemeyer, Dispute Resolution Partner at Rix & Kay explains why service providers need to approach with caution.

Of course, as a service provider, it makes perfect sense to make it as easy as possible for potential customers and clients to enter into contracts and nowadays it’s common practice to do this during an initial meeting that often takes place outside of the organisation’s place of business.

If you adopt this practice, then this could potentially result in your client cancelling the contract without having to pay a penny for your services, even if those services have already been provided.

During the last 22 years consumer confidence has continued to grow and now more and more people are using online innovation to enter into high-value contracts with professional service providers.

Why do they have the right to cancel without paying?

In June 2014, The Consumer Contract Regulations came into force which gave rights to consumers to cancel a contract that had been made at a distance or “off premises” without any reason other than they have changed their mind.

The time in which a client has the right to cancel, known as the “cooling-off” period, is 14 days from the day the contract is entered into providing the client is made aware of their right to cancel.

This is where many businesses come unstuck. Their failure to inform their client that they have the right to cancel means that the 14 day cooling off period has yet to begin, leaving clients the right to cancel your contract at any time. Needless to say this can leave your business exposed to unnecessary financial risk and worse, a potentially expensive and damaging dispute.

PRACTICAL

TIPS

TO PROTECT YOUR BUSINESS

There are a number of simple ways that businesses can make sure they protect themselves when entering into contracts with clients:

1

UPDATE YOUR TERMS OF BUSINESS

2

MAKE SURE YOUR CLIENTS KNOW THEIR RIGHTS

3

ENSURE YOUR COSTS ARE CLEAR

4

TAKE CAUTION WHEN PROVIDING SERVICES INSIDE THE 14 DAY COOLING-OFF PERIOD

5

INFORM YOUR CLIENT

Prior to 13th June 2014, the cooling-off period was only seven days. Make sure that your current Terms of Business have been updated to reflect the new cancellation period of 14 days.

Provide your clients with the information listed in Schedule 2 of the Regulations, including the new model cancellation form for your clients to exercise their right to cancel if they wish. These can be obtained from www.legislation.gov.uk. Failure to do so may be a criminal offence and could result in a fine.

It’s important that your Terms of Business provide clear information about the costs of your service, and the basis upon which any final cost will be calculated. This should help to avoid any disputes that later arise.

If your clients want you to begin providing a service within the 14 day cancellation period, you should gain their written consent and advise them that if they later cancel your contract they will need to pay for any services delivered until the point at which they cancel. If you fail to do so, the consumer may not be liable for any costs that you have incurred during this time.

Once the contract is signed, you should provide your clients with a copy of the signed contracts. The burden of proof that the required information has been given rests with the trader, so it is in your interests to keep good, clear records.

What is distant selling and “off premises”?

There are of course some legal definitions as to what constitutes “off premises” but as a general rule, if you are not signing the contract together with the client, simultaneously, at your business premises, then it is likely to be deemed distant selling and the 14 day cooling-off period comes into play.

For more information and guidance on how to implement robust distant selling contract processes or if you have a disputed contract with a client, email Alistair Rustemeyer alistairrustemeyer@rixandkay.co.uk

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LEGAL

Resilience and Wellness at Work Stress remains one of the leading causes of employee absence in the UK. Happy and healthy employees have better attendance rates and are more productive at work, and so there is a strong business case for employers to invest in employee wellness, says Victoria Bevis, Director and Solicitor at Sherrards Employment Law.

a culture where employees can ask for help is key to tackling the toll that stress can take on an organisation. This is why management training is essential.

For employees the personal goal of ‘being the best version of yourself’ summarises what resilience is all about. Mental and physical health are closely linked and to develop optimal resilience employees need to think about their health holistically. Resilience isn’t necessarily about going to the gym more often or making the most sales every month; it is about investing in yourself. Most of all it’s about problem solving – can you create a plan to do better without beating yourself up about where you are now or what happened last time? Those are skills that most of us weren’t taught at school, but resilience can be taught.

There are techniques that we can employ in our day-to-day life and we can train ourselves to think more positively.

Ideas to promote employee wellness in your organisation could include:

A

s technology expands and many of us have work emails accessible on our mobile phones 24/7, the division between work and home life is more blurred than ever.

Whether you are thinking about a work deadline, health problems or financial worries, the daily pressures of life can seem relentless. Unaddressed, long term stress can lead to other long term illnesses from depression to alcohol abuse.

Resilience has been a real ‘buzz word’ throughout 2018, as employers and employees become increasingly aware of the links between employee wellness and productivity. Many employers have embraced the concept and developed impressive employee wellness programmes and whilst few would dispute the merits of investing in this area, others are left wondering “what exactly is resilience?” and “how do I develop it in my organisa-

tion on a tight budget?”, so let’s look at both of those questions.

What is resilience and how can I develop it in my organisation?

Some people cope better with stress than others, the difference is ‘resilience.’

At an organisational level, employers can foster resilience by having the right training and policies in place. You can’t force your employees to be more resilient, but you can create an environment that enables them to thrive. That does not mean removing all triggers of stress. Stressful things like meeting deadlines or dealing with demanding customers are inherent in many jobs and an optimal amount of pressure is good for performance. However, it is important to be able to identify the warning signs if the pressure on employees becomes too much. Developing

zz Training: A course to give your employees tools to develop resilience and for managers to understand their role in developing organisational resilience. zz Provide a water cooler, herbal teas and fruit (rather than just biscuits and a snazzy coffee machine) in the office. zz Benefits: gym memberships, employee assistance programmes. zz Display literature that raises awareness of mental health and promotes healthy activities. zz Develop a ‘Stress at Work’ policy. zz Encourage employees to take their rest breaks .

Sherrards offer two In-House Resilience courses, one for HR and line managers, and the other for all staff. Both have engaging and practical content, and are offered at a time when mental health in the workplace has never been higher on the agenda.

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40

TH

BUSINESS SHOW2018

THE

TH

BUSINESS 14 & 15 NOV 2018 SHOW2018

THE

40

| EXCEL, LONDON

THE GREAT BRITISH BUSINESS SHOW 2018

THE LARGEST B2B EXHIBITION IN EUROPE

For all stand and sponsorship enquires please contact Ryan Treloar on 01872 218007 or ryan.treloar@prysmgroup.co.uk

SHOW SPONSORS

PROFILE FEATURE

Powering business ambitions Emma Lane on Allied Irish Bank’s commitment to supporting and celebrating local business success

We boast a track record that is second to none, offering bespoke support with a dedicated relationship management team based locally in Sussex.

M

edium to large sized businesses play a key role in the British economy, creating wealth and jobs across all sectors and regions. Together they account for almost half of the nation’s private-sector employment and their health and growth are vital for our long-term prosperity.

At AIB (GB) we are committed to supporting high-growth, and ambitious businesses and are delighted to be involved with the Sussex Business Awards sponsorship of the ‘Large Company of the Year’ category. We work with businesses across the Sussex region and are proud to be part of the awards which recognise a wide range of innovation and success.

Our commitment to providing the very best local services to businesses is highlighted by the expansion of our relationship management team that covers the South East region. Since taking the helm at the end of 2017 I have focused on enhancing our team with the addition of some key new members who joined this year including Deputy Area Director Colin Ridgway who has extensive experience in financial services and corporate banking.

Colin joined the bank from Willis Towers Watson where he was Head of Sales and he also previously worked at Barclays.

ing in the charity sector. Amy brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of working with commercial and corporate customers across the region in relationship management and business development roles.

Our lending commitments also demonstrate our focus on supporting business growth which is coupled with our strong focus on customer service. We boast a track record that is second to none, offering bespoke support with a dedicated relationship management team based locally in Sussex. Last year AIB (GB) lent £1.4million of funds to power business ambitions and has seen 50% in growth in business opportunities since January of this year. We continue to work with our customers to offer a full range of financing options designed to help businesses invest and ensure they are poised to take advantage of new opportunities and contribute to economic growth.

To see how AIB (GB) can help you with any of your business needs, please contact AIB (GB) South East Business Centre on 01273 574195 or email with an initial enquiry to brighton@aib.ie Emma Lane is the Area Director for Allied Irish Bank (GB) in the South East

A new Relationship Manager has joined the team; Amy Brooks. Amy re-joined AIB (GB) after starting her career with the bank in 1998. She has also worked for the Royal Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank and enjoyed some time work*The AIB logo, Allied Irish Bank (GB) and Allied Irish Bank (GB) Savings Direct are trade marks used under licence by AIB Group (UK) p.l.c. incorporated in Northern Ireland. Registered Office 92 Ann Street, Belfast BT1 3HH. Registered Number NI018800. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

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RACING

Summer changes

Plumpton Racecourse’s Dan Thompson previews the new season

at Plumpton

W

ith the 2017/2018 season long gone, and having watched lots of racing going on in beautiful conditions over the summer, we are looking forward more than ever to the start of the 2018/19 season here at Plumpton.

A question we get asked a lot on course is: “What do you do in the summer at Plumpton?” We have actually had a very busy summer with lots of development going on. We have expanded the Owners and Trainers bar to create a facility that is modern but can also cope with the growing interest and expansion of racehorse ownership into syndicates.

We’ve changed the layout of the ground floor of the Southdown Stand, expanded the Southdown Bar, relocated the Racecourse Office and repaired the Paddock Restaurant roof.

There are plenty of other plans in the pipeline and we can’t wait to have you all back to see for yourself what has been going on to make your experience even better than it has been in the past.

The 2018/19 season involves an array of fixtures including our high-profile race meetings, featuring our signature races such as The Sussex National, Sussex

Champion Chase and Sussex Champion Hurdle but we also have some new meetings in the Plumpton calendar.

Three midweek fixtures bring something completely new and we are excited for you to come and enjoy some racing on a Wednesday afternoon. In addition, we are thrilled to announce a brand-new fixture on the 18th March, extending our season to 17 racedays.

We hope to welcome you to Plumpton this season and if you have enquiries please call 01273 890383 or email racing@plumptonracecourse.co.uk

2018/19 FiXtures AT PLUMPTON RACECOURSE

2018

Mon 22nd Oct

Moorcroft Racehorse Welfare Centre Raceday

2019

Mon 5th Nov

Sun 6th Jan

Mon 11th Mar

At The Races Jump Season Preview Raceday

At the Races Sussex National

Anglo-Irish Raceday

Mon 19th Nov

Timeform Raceday

Wed 16th Jan

Mon 18th Mar

Pompadour Raceday

Mon 3rd Dec

Festive Fun Raceday

Mon 17th Dec

Christmas Raceday

Wed 30th Jan

Spring Jumps

Sun 7th Apr

January Jumps

Sussex Raceday

Wed 13th Feb

Sun 21st & Mon 22nd Apr

Mon 25th Feb

Sun 12th May

Midweek Racing

February Raceday

Easter Festival Ladies Day

Advance Standard Racedays Tickets available from: £13 Advance Picnic Enclosure Tickets available from: £13 (not available at every fixture)

Tel. 01273 890383 racing@plumptonracecourse.co.uk www.plumptonracecourse.co.uk

BUSINESS PROFILE

How long have you been in Chichester?

Chichester Enterprise Centre opened on the 1st March 2018.

What type of businesses are currently based at the new site?

There are 27 businesses already in occupation at the centre from a wide variety of sectors including professional services such as accountants, solicitors, architects to web designers and cyber security as well as an electrical and lighting company, software developers and management consultants to name a few.

What types of businesses would benefit from being at Basepoint Chichester?

The centre was designed and built to provide start-up and growing SMEs high quality flexible workspace, to suit a wide variety of businesses. There are a wide range of offices, from small one person

private offices up to larger suites for 10+ workstations. The centre also benefits from light industrial workshop units that have a roller shutter door, convenient for deliveries and access and these units also have a mezzanine floor fitted as well as self-contained kitchen and toilet.

The centre has services ready on site including high speed fibre broadband, meeting rooms, breakout lounge and a coworking space. We also offer virtual offices for those looking to portray a professional image through the use of a business address.

What are the advantages of using serviced workspaces?

The units are available to rent via licence agreements, and these can be short term and flexible month to month contracts with longer term solutions of up to 24 months available if that is more suitable for your business. This enables businesses to quickly expand and downsize depending on the ex-

act requirements of their business at the time, rather than fixing into a lease which may not be the right solution for that company’s future needs.

The friendly management team are on hand to assist with any queries, and the centre also runs a series of free B2B networking events.

Why is Chichester a good place to do business?

Chichester is a thriving business community, and is well located with excellent transport links to London, Brighton and the Hampshire coast.

COOL spaces If you’re a start-up or a growing SME that needs a new space to work from then look no further than the Chichester Enterprise Centre, which comes complete with lounges, co-working areas, meeting rooms and industrial workshops. Q&A with Rebecca Gattinesi, regional manager of Basepoint.

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Book your Christmas party package at Brighton Harbour Hotel - packages from ÂŁ30 per person.

Quote Platinum Business Magazine and get a complimentary prosecco reception.

E: brighton.events@harbourhotels.co.uk T: 01273 323 221 W: www.harbourhotels.co.uk/hotels/brighton

MEET THE BUYERS

Gatwick is at the heart of the local and national business community.

Alison Addy, Head of Community Engagement at Gatwick Airport, explains more about the airport’s economic contribution and its involvement at this year’s Meet the Buyers event.

G

atwick supports thousands of jobs in the local community and makes a significant contribution to both the regional and national economy, with activity in and around the airport generating £5.3 billion value added contribution to GDP in 2016 and supporting 85,000 jobs. This impact is estimated to rise to around £6.5 billion and 98,000 jobs by 2025, as result of further traffic growth on the current single runway.

We contribute £2.3bn to the Gatwick Diamond economy alone and last year spent £132.8m with local and regional suppliers. We also support 24,000 jobs on our campus, across 251 businesses, and of these jobs 56% of airport staff live locally with more than 6,000 staff living in Crawley.

Sitting at the heart of the growth corridor between London and Brighton and at the centre of the Gatwick Diamond, Gatwick provides a catalytic role in the local economy. In addition to

Gatwick have been involved in the programme for the past 16 years and has provided extra sponsorship over the past two years to allow us to move more into the West Kent and East Sussex area with a series of free seminars – alongside those in the West Sussex, West Surrey and South London regions.

After the 2017 event, we estimate that over £700,000 of orders have been placed by buyers attending.

the 30,000 jobs sustained on the airport campus, Gatwick is a key facilitator of job creation in the region, and provides a global gateway for thriving business sectors including creative, digital, IT, financial and business services, advanced manufacturing and engineering and health and life sciences.

Gatwick values the strong, productive relationships it has developed with local and regional economic partnerships and business organisations, from South London to the South Coast and across Sussex, Surrey and Kent. The airport is an active member of several economic groups and partnerships, working together to build a strong local supply chain; boost business and strengthen opportunities for employment and skills development.

Since 2016 Gatwick has also sponsored the Big Breakfast Networking events in Croydon, Sussex, Surrey and Kent. The free breakfast events provide businesses with the opportunity to make new contacts and open up supply chain opportunities.

Gatwick values the good relationships it has with its neighbours and is active in supporting our community. Last year we sponsored more than 40 community events and awarded £300,000 in grants to 66 community projects across Kent, Sussex and Surrey through the Gatwick Foundation Fund. As well as raising more than £146,000 for our charity partners, our staff are encouraged to volunteer for local causes.

The airport’s focus on using local and regional suppliers where possible generates further benefits for the Gatwick Diamond economy. The spend with companies located in this area has been consistently above 30% of the airport’s total supplier spend. Gatwick’s procurement team is committed to identifying further opportunities to engage new Diamond suppliers and will be representing Gatwick as buyers at this year’s Meet the Buyers event.

The Meet the Buyers Programme exists to build relationships between buyers and sellers from businesses across the Gatwick Diamond and beyond.

Diamond Business www.gatwickdiamondmeetthebuyers.com

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BUSINESS AWARDS

SUSSEX SUPER GROWTH AWARDS 2019

Celebrating the fastest-growing companies in Sussex The search for the 2019 Supergrowers is now on…

D

espite some of the persistent uncertainty that surrounds our business economy at the moment, there are many Sussex-based companies achieving remarkable rates of sustained growth, creating jobs and delivering the success that drives the UK forward. The Sussex Super Growth Awards return for a fifth year to give these businesses the recognition they thoroughly deserve.

The Sussex region is a significant and growing contributor to the national

economy with sector strengths in construction, manufacturing, information and communications technology, aviation and professional services. Over 60,000 active businesses contribute to a regional economy worth over £30 billion, employing more than half a million people.

Sussex Super Growth is a collaboration between asb law, Lloyds Bank and Kreston Reeves, with Platinum Publishing Group as media partner. The Awards produce a unique index of the fastest

Unlike traditional business awards, there is no cost involved in participation and companies do not need to apply to be included provided full accounts are filed at Companies House over a 4-year accounting period. This information is assessed against rigorous qualifying criteria to identify the fastest growing companies.

RUSSELL BELL

ANDREW CLARK

Senior Consultant, at asb law

Relationship Director, at Lloyds Gatwick office

“Now in its fifth year, the Sussex Super Growth Awards have celebrated the success of some brilliant businesses, and the 2019 cohort is no exception. With a number of new entrants and previous finalists who have been able to sustain some remarkable growth, we’ve proved what a dynamic economy we have in the county and the great environment we have to support our entrepreneurs. Long may it continue.”

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growing private businesses across the region which is announced at a special breakfast event to be held at The Amex Stadium on March 14th 2019.

‘’With the Super Growth Awards now an established fixture on the Sussex business calendar, we look forward to another successful opportunity to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our most successful fast-growth companies.’’

The fastest-growing company in the 2018 Sussex Super Growth Awards was

First Central Insurance Management Ltd

with an outstanding growth rate of 391%. Andy James, UK Chief Executive Officer, explained: “Since our launch in 2008, we have enjoyed remarkable growth, reaching our milestone three millionth customer in July last year. This growth is testament to the talented staff that sit at the heart of our business. We are committed to delivering a simple experience for both our customers and our employees, ensuring that our products provide people with quality cover at competitive prices. It was an honour to have our success recognised at the Sussex Super Growth Awards 2018.”

Tom Acott, Jo Harrison and Andy James from First Central Insurance Management Ltd

S

hould your company meet the Awards criteria below but has filed abbreviated accounts at Companies House without profit and loss data, you still have an opportunity to be assessed for inclusion in this year’s Awards.

Please send full accounts for your latest available and three preceding financial years to: neil.gardner@asb-law.com before 5.00pm on Friday, 7 December 2018.

THE CRITERIA • Privately-owned business, trading and registered in Sussex.

• Growth in turnover measured over a 4-year accounting period based on latest full accounts.

• Information filed at Companies House as at 9 July 2018.

• Minimum turnover of £2m in base year.

• Profitable growth in the period.

PAUL ROE Partner at Kreston Reeves

“We are proud to be sponsoring the Sussex Super Growth Awards and celebrate the continued success of businesses in the county. It’s always great to see Sussex businesses doing well and these awards are unique in their ability to pick up fantastic success stories. Congratulations to all the finalists, and a special mention to those repeat finalists who are achieving sustained business growth.”

Sponsor profiles asb law is an innovative, client-centric, UK law and consultancy firm providing services constructed around its four key values of transparency, certainty, collaboration and innovation.

We have been working with high-growth businesses for over 40 years, helping them to sustain their growth, maximise efficiency and reduce risk. Whether you are gearing for growth, thinking about preparing your business for sale, or simply need advice and guidance in your day-to-day activities, we can provide flexible and cost-effective legal expertise that fits your needs. We understand the growth journey and tailor our approach to ensure we deliver maximum value – as you define it To start a conversation, please contact Russell Bell on 01293 603637 or email russell.bell@asb-law.com Kreston Reeves is very proud to have been a founding sponsor of the Super Growth Awards since it launched in Sussex five years ago. Kreston Reeves are one of the most experienced accountancy and business advisory firms in the region and demand for corporate finance support from business remains high. Through organic growth and merger we have extended our range of client focused services to the county’s SME businesses from our five offices across Sussex, in Brighton, Chichester, Gatwick, Horsham and Worthing. Kreston Reeves advise dynamic organisations, private individuals and families on their business, tax and wealth affairs to help them make confident decisions about the future. We continuously work alongside high growth businesses and understand the challenges that they have to navigate in order to reach and sustain growth. So, whatever position you attained in this growth list, you should be rightly proud of your achievement.

For more information about Kreston Reeves please contact Paul Roe on 0330 124 1399 or email paul.roe@krestonreeves.com Lloyds remain completely aligned to the Group purpose of ‘Helping Britain Prosper’. We are proud that what we do has a hugely positive impact on the UK economy and we are doing more than ever before to help businesses succeed and grow through digital innovation, the provision of working capital, assistance with exporting and providing a whole suite of value adding products, services and insights. At the heart of our offering are experienced, locally-based commercial managers who invest time in building close and supportive relationships with our business clients. Only through understanding a business, it’s future aspirations and the people running it, can we provide the right package of lending, deposit and ancillary services to help it succeed and grow.

To find out more about Lloyds Bank and what we can do to help your business, contact Gavin Potter on 07788 185894 or Andrew Clark 07834 946 029. Alternatively email gavin.potter@lloydsbanking.com or andrew.clark@lloydsbanking.com

The Sussex Super Growth 2019 Awards will take place at the Amex Stadium in Brighton on Thursday 14th March 2019, hosted by highlyregarded local business leader

JEREMY TAYLOR.

“Having attended both the Sussex and Surrey Super Growth Awards over recent years, I was delighted to be asked to host and present the Awards in Sussex in 2019. It is important that we recognise the achievements of the fastest-growing businesses in the county and celebrate their successes.”

Jeremy Taylor, Managing Director, The Company Connector Ltd

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Is your business Going for Growth?

Our nationwide survey explores the growth strategies of more than 500 private UK businesses, the barriers to growth they are encountering and where they are looking to expand.

Find out how you measure up...

For your free copy of the survey report – published in September - please visit www.krestonreeves.com/preference and select the ‘Going for Growth updates’ option on our ‘Keeping up to date’ form.

Why Going for Growth?

The current economic landscape has never been so uncertain, leaving individuals and businesses secondguessing what tomorrow might hold.

As advisers to growing businesses and business owners, we aim to understand this shifting landscape together with current growth plans, goals and obstacles businesses face.

Register to receive ‘Going for Growth updates’ using our ‘Keeping up to date’ form on our website www.krestonreeves.com/preference or contact us on +44 (0)330 124 1399 or email enquiries@krestonreeves.com to discuss your business, tax and wealth needs.

Gatwick Diamond Business Awards OPEN FOR ENTRIES The closing date for Gatwick Diamond Business Awards 2019 entries is November 23rd.

Enter your company now.

We are delighted to be announcing the eleventh Gatwick Diamond Business Awards.

Once again we have brought together a fantastic group of sponsors and judges to help us find and celebrate the very best businesses across the Gatwick Diamond.

Headline Sponsors Gatwick Airport Ltd NatWest Thakeham Group Extech.co.uk

Pre-Dinner Reception: Business Growth Fund

Award Categories & Sponsors Business of the Year (Over £1m Turnover) – NatWest Small Business of the Year (Under £1m Turnover) – Stiles Harold Williams Business Person of the Year – KPMG Responsible Business of the Year – University of Sussex Business School International Business of the Year

The Gatwick Diamond Business Awards celebrate people and businesses who have shown innovation and inspiration in their work and have demonstrated a real commitment to the region.

Any business that is located in or trades in the Gatwick Diamond region can enter – you do not need to be a member of any particular organisation and it is free to enter.

The Awards have become one of the most prestigious business occasions – celebrating the best of the best across the Gatwick Diamond.

Partners Design Partner – Storm12 Ltd Venue Partner – Copthorne & Millennium Hotels Staging Design & AV Technology Partner – AvensysLive Media Partner – Platinum Business Magazine

– Gatwick Diamond Initiative The Award for Customer Delight – DHM Stallard The Award for Developing People for Business Success – Crawley College The Award for Innovation & Technology – asbLaw Employer of the Year – Search Consultancy Green Business of the Year – tbc Supply Chain Excellence – University of Brighton New Business of the Year – Basepoint Business Centres Apprentice of the Year – Reigate & Banstead Borough Council The Award for the Place to Meet – Control Energy Costs Ltd Manufacturing Business of the Year – Kreston Reeves Professional Services of the Year – Crawley Borough Council

DATES for

your diary

Closing Date for entries November 23rd

The Gatwick Diamond Business Awards 2019 March 21st 2019

Finalists Announcement February 14th 2019

Sponsors & Winners Celebration Breakfast April 18th 2019

To find out more about the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards and to be involved, visit www.gatwickdiamondbusinessawards.com or follow the awards on twitter @gdbizawards

ENGLISH WINES

Sparkling SUCCESS

The English sparkling wine scene has had an evolution over the last 20 years and Ridgeview are extremely proud of their part in this historical rise. Ridgeview’s story began with a dream of founders Mike and Christine Roberts who wished to create one of the world’s greatest sparkling wines without having to leave their home country of England.

T

he husband and wife team sold a successful IT company based in Burgess Hill in the early 1990’s, which they had started from scratch, and ended up being one the biggest IBM dealers in the UK. During their time in IT they developed an interest in wine, particularly Champagne.

Upon selling the company and not wanting to rest but invest they began the journey of their next career phase. Mike was ever the entrepreneur and began researching the potential of producing sparkling wine in the cool climate of the south downs of England. At the time in the early 90’s the English wine industry was primarily concentrating on still wines using Germanic varieties such as Bacchus, Ortega and Rechsteiner, selling mainly direct from the winery or farmers markets.

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Ridgeview began the journey on their 32acre site producing around 20,000 bottles.

To Mike the chalk and clay soils of southern England and the marginal weather bared an uncanny resemblance to the most northly wine region in France, Champagne. Mike visited various sparkling wineries around the world then went on a mission to find the location. A site was found at the foot of the South Downs, chosen for its suitability in climate and soil conditions which were deemed perfect for cool climate wine production. Whilst the vineyard and winery were being established, Mike went back to college to learn winemaking, closely followed by

his son Simon to England’s only winemaking college at Plumpton.

Ridgeview began the journey on their 32-acre site producing around 20,000 bottles. The first wine that Ridgeview ever produced went onto win English Wine of the Year in the national competition. Mike and Christine’s daughter Tamara who began her career in the London financial world after completing her Law and Acountancy Degree, joined the family business in 2004 to oversee the expansion of Ridgeview. Appointed as CEO in 2014, Tamara has steered Ridgeview to the current production of a quarter of a million bottles and has ambitious plans to double this again over the next five years. As well as the day to day running of Ridgeview, Tamara is heavily involved with the wider industry, on the board of Wines of Great Britain, Wine and Spirits Trade Association and Sussex Wineries. Tamara was awarded ‘Sussex Business Woman of the Year’ in the Business Women Excellence awards in 2016. Second generation Simon Roberts is Head Winemaker at Ridgeview, responsible for production of Ridgeview and several exclusive sparkling wine making contracts. The Ridgeview team has now grown to 30 employees including four family members. Family is integral to the business and central to the passion, drive, ambition and pride shared by employees who have grown with the company.

Tamara Roberts and the Ridgeview family.

Since foundation, Ridgeview have amassed over 250 medals including the trophy for the World’s Best Sparkling Wine at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2010. To this day, this is the only time a sparkling wine another than Champagne has won this trophy. Her Majesty the Queen has served Ridgeview at numerous state banquets at Buckingham Palace and Bloomsbury was the official sparkling wine for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. The Ridgeview winemaking team are also behind the production of Great Windsor Park Wine, managed by Laithwaites, grown within the Queen’s private grounds at Windsor Castle. Ridgeview was awarded Small Business of the Year and Best South-East Business in 2016, and current title owners of Sussex Best Drinks Producer 2018.

The English wine industry has had incredible growth in the last twenty. There are now 502 commercial vineyards and 147 wineries producing nearly 6 million bottles annually and this is set to grow.

When Ridgeview began sparkling wine represented a small portion of the wine grown in the England, sparkling wine now represents over 70% of the vines planted in the UK and over 2 million extra vines have been planted over the last two years. The South East represents of 75% of production under vine. Still less than 1% of wine drunk in England is English however this is set to grow in the future and increasingly important in an uncertain global wine world.

Key to the growth of Ridgeview has been working with local restaurants, resellers and direct with consumers. Overtime Ridgeview has developed a fantastic relationship with chefs, local producers and other wineries. Ridgeview have had the attitude ‘together we are stronger’ and work very closely with the wider wine industry. They were key in getting together a contingency of Wine producers together for the world’s biggest wine trade fair Prowien in Dusseldorf. As a result of this show and other initiatives exports of English wine has gone from strength to strength which is important for the future sustainability of the industry. Ridgeview sparkling wines are now

With the prospect for one of the very best harvests ever to be seen in England due to the spectacular Summer of 2018, the future of English wine looks very sparkling indeed! exported around the globe; with wines sold in 12 countries worldwide including USA, Norway, Japan and Finland Wine tourism is becoming so important to Ridgeview and the wider English wine industry. Ridgeview has been fundamental in working together with other Sussex Wineries to create a body for promoting the wine region www.sussexwineries. co.uk. Visitor numbers are up 100% year on year. Set amongst the beautiful South Downs near the picturesque village of Ditchling, Ridgeview is open daily between 11am – 4pm. The winery welcomes guests to call in and taste the range of sparkling wine in their beautiful tasting room overlooking the ridge or enjoy a glass of sparkling in the Ridgeview wine garden. This year has seen the development of mini festivals celebrating street food and music at the vineyard and their new Wine club called OurView.

Further events include a chef series of

dinners beginning with celebrated local chef Matt Gillian, cooking a perfectly paired dinner menu to be hosted at Ridgeview in celebration of harvest.

With the prospect for one of the very best harvests ever to be seen in England due to the spectacular Summer of 2018, the future of English wine looks very sparkling indeed!

Detailed tours of the vineyard and winery are available by checking www.ridgeview.co.uk

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ENGLISH WINES

THE

MAKING OF

fine English Wines Blackdown Ridge Estate sits at 440 feet above sea level in the Sussex Weald, enjoying extraordinary views over the South Downs National Park. The vines planted here create fine English wines, taking advantage of the superb location and conditions.

The wines of Blackdown Ridge Estate are the result of the vision of owner, Professor Martin Cook, who has lived on the estate for 20 years. Professor Cook tells the story of the vineyard

Blackdown Ridge We create fine English awardwinning wines from grapes grown on our beautiful south-facing slopes, at the highest point in the Sussex Weald.

We welcome visitors to the Estate for tasting and tours. Learn about our vines, the wine-making process and taste our awardwinning English wines.

For more information call Lucinda on 01428 656003 Blackdown Ridge Estate, Lurgashall, West Sussex GU27 3BT

W

e are a small but cohesive team, our ethos here is to create superb wines, spread the word about the wonderful English wine industry, and encourage visitors to spend time with us in the wonderful countryside overlooking the South Downs National Park.

The soil of the Sussex Weald shares much with the terroir of the Champagne region of France, and this influenced our plantings of the classic sparkling wine varietals: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay.

These have been used to create our classic cuvee sparkling white wine which is delicate and superbly balanced, also our

first sparkling rosé which is bright and summery and perfect for a celebration.

The grapes planted for our range of still wines include the aromatic Bacchus for our single varietal English white wine, Triomphe d’Alsace and Sauvignon Blanc.

We have 10.5 acres currently planted to vines which are nurtured throughout the growing year with an environmentally sensitive approach to viticulture that ensures optimum ripeness, yield and fruit quality.

As harvest approaches, regular sampling and observation ensures that when the grapes are plump, ripe and full of delicious varietal flavours, our expert winemaker can choose the perfect moment to begin the harvest. The winemakers first decision is to destalk or not, this depends on the elements he wants to create in the final product.

As the grapes arrive at the Winery a careful blend of science and magic begins. Our white and rose varieties are then gently pressed in our pneumatic press to minimise the extraction of undesirable colour and tannins, only releasing the grape juice, known as the ‘must’. The fresh must is moved to our stainless steel tanks for fermentation,

transforming the natural sugars of the grape into alcohol. They will remain in the tanks until they are filtered, blended and bottled several months later.

Grapes intended for red wines undergo a slightly different process where, once destalked, they are transferred to opentop fermenters. Fermenting the juice with the skins allows for all the distinctive flavour and colour components of the skins to be released. Maintaining temperature control is key – too cold and the yeast

As the grapes arrive at the Winery a careful blend of science and magic begins.

won’t work, too hot and the fermentation will run too fast and possibly get stuck.

Once the tannins and flavours are ready the skins are removed through pressing and malolactic fermentation starts, transforming tart malic acid found naturally in the fresh grapes into softer, rounded and more desirable lactic acid.

Racking the wine into small oak barrels for the remainder of the process allows the red wine to age and develop, and regular tasting and careful blending ensures that the result is a truly well-rounded and quality tested example of English wine.

You may have heard the word ‘recherché’ meaning refined, elegant, rare and undiscovered - well, we like to think that we have a particularly recherché selection of wines for you to explore.

We are happy to answer trade and retail enquires on 01428 656003 or office@blackdownridge.co.uk We also specialise in providing wines for your celebrations. Please call us for further information and advice.

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ENGLISH WINES

Jeremy’s restaurant

A HIDDEN GEM

IN THE GATWICK DIAMOND

M

any vintages ago, Jeremy Ashpool clinched the deal (and the friendship) with the Roberts family of Ridgeview Wine Estate in Ditchling.

Jeremy and his wife Vera toasted their new restaurant at Borde Hill Gardens with the newly fledged bubbly from Ridgeview. And twenty years on it’s still his favoured fizz to serve by the glass.

Jeremy’s wine list meanders through Kent, Hampshire and Dorset, making several stops in Sussex, and one in Essex, home of New Hall Vineyards, whose floral, herby, tropical Bacchus Reserve is also by the glass here. But the list, 200 strong, ranges the world, including of course the classics, but also unexpectedly delicious bottles from Macedonia, Washington, Greece, Tasmania and Austria.

The kitchen likewise blends the local with the exotic. Head chef Jimmy Gray was Sussex Young Chef of the Year before he took off for a sabbatical, tasting and cooking his way through India and South East Asia then settling briefly to cook fusion and Asian style in Brisbane and Melbourne. Back at Jeremy’s, his food is complex and inventive, now modern Sussex, incorporating flavours and techniques of the East.

Especially in summer, the chefs pluck flowers, herbs and vegetables from the herbaceous borders of the restaurant’s walled Victorian garden. Wedding and corporate guests have the option of a smart, all-weather marquee that seats anything up to 120, its sides opening up on warm days to the orchard and the vine-hung walkway. It’s a gorgeous setting for drinks parties (for up to 200 guests mingling cocktail-style in the marquee or gardens). And magicians,

Inspired cuisine, great wine list, the perfect place to woo customers or treat your teams…

live jazz, casino nights, light-hearted wine tastings and team-building ‘wine options’ evenings, all can add to the gastronomic delights.

The light-filled restaurant room itself seats business parties of up to 52, potentially with exclusive use. It triple-tasks as a room for wedding ceremonies and a gallery for modern art and sculpture, and looks out over the terrace and barbecue to the garden beyond.

For winter, come evening, there’s the additional smart private space of the adjoining Café Elvira (where Vera cooks up seriously good dishes and cakes during the day).

Good wines are a feature of both businesses.

Good wines are a feature of both businesses. Jeremy’s autumn wine dinners (on October 18th and November 8th) focus on some of Catalunya’s and the Languedoc’s most exciting wines. Jeremy’s wine club is run by local wine expert Charles Metcalfe. For the autumn sessions (about to start on four scattered Tuesday evenings) a small, intimate group will explore how well-known grape varieties behave in different regions, each wine accompanied by a little dish.

And then comes Christmas. Chef Jimmy Gray’s turkeys lived a life of luxury - at Bridgers Farm in Hurstpierpoint, on the edge of the Gatwick Diamond. They would make for a gobbling gem of an office party!

For corporate bookings and events and to join Jeremy’s mailing list, contact reservations@jeremysrestaurant.com or 01444 441102

51

ENGLISH WINES

THE RISE

OF

English Sparkling wines Would you like a glass of Sussex rather than Champagne?

Michael Yeoman – and many international wine experts agree!

O

ver the last couple of years, you may have noticed more than the odd mention of English wines and vineyards in both the local or national news.

In recent years, more and more vineyards are being planted across the UK. In Sussex we are fortunate to have the most vineyards of any county in the UK together with many of the UK’s best known award winning sparkling wine brands such as Ridgeview, Nyetimber and Breaky Bottom, who have led the way forward in English wine production. We also have the largest vineyard in the UK - Rathfinney, which was first planted in 2012 near Alfreston, has just released its first sparkling wine this year. It aims to challenge some of the traditional Champagne houses with over 50% of it’s output focused on the export markets.

We are also seeing the likes of top Champagne House such as Pommery and Tattinger buying land in the South East of England. This could be seen as shrewd business, when the equivalent piece of land in Champagne can be up to 20 times more.

In tastings, English sparkling wine is beating all comers across the world in terms of quality. In blind tastings such as one in Paris in 2016 we have seen experienced French wine tasters choosing a glass of English bubbles against Premier Cru Champagnes.

52

My personal journey into English Wine I first tasted English wines after returning from a wine road trip holiday to France and Italy in the summer of 2016.

My fiance and I visited the wine regions of Chablis, Barolo, Chianti and Champagne over a three week period. When we returned back to the UK, we missed the wine tasting so much that we decided to continue our vineyard visits back home, sampling what Sussex had to offer in terms of wine.

family. Peter happily spent nearly two hours taking us around the vineyard, providing stories and insights into his 45 years of wine making. This was topped off with a tasting of his three sparkling Cuvee wines which we all enjoyed in the late summer sun. I now call Peter affectionately ‘The Godfather’ of English wine, as he started growing the Champagne grape varieties in 1990’s, when most English wine producers were focused on Northern European grapes and German style still wines.

The main reason why the UK has seen such a rise in prominence and quality is primarily down to climate change.

As we had visited both large scale and smaller vineyards in Europe we decided to focus on the smaller producers in Sussex to really understand how the wines were made at first hand. A random search on the internet provided us with a few options with just half an hour’s drive from Hove. Fortuitously I came across the name Breaky Bottom which is situated in the middle of the South Downs National Park near Rodmell. I spoke with the owner Peter Hall and we arranged a tasting together with the other six members of my

After meeting Peter and his lovely wife Christine, I decided I wanted to become involved with English Wine and set up my English wine business English Wine Box/Sourced Drinks in September 2016. For me I have chosen to focus primarily on small batch producers from across the South East to both individuals and businesses that are interested in trying English wines that are not typically available on the High Street or Supermarkets. As well as selling English Wines I help out at Breaky Bottom vineyard at key parts

of the season. Last month I, together with several helpers, helped Breaky Bottom bottle last year’s vintage into approximately 12,000 bottles. To aid my own development I have undertaken several courses of wine education at Plumpton College, who are the only English speaking facility in Europe providing degree level courses in wine production.

The result of this change in climate and perfect ‘terroir’ is typically a light, fruity and well balanced sparkling zwine which is now being lauded as a world beater, against all other sparkling wines from France, Italy, Spain and Australia.

So why has English wine seen such a rise in prominence?

The future of English wine looks great!

There is much investment into new vineyards with 100 of thousands of new vines being planted every year. I believe that in 10 years time the South East country side will drastically change with much of the grazing land around the South Downs being developed for wine production.

The main reason why the UK has seen such a rise in prominence and quality is primarily down to climate change. The improved temperatures and amount of sunshine we are now receiving the South East has the ideal climate for growing fine quality still and sparkling dry white and rose wines.

Because of the ‘terroir’, we have a particular affinity for growing the Champagne grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier which thrive on the chalky soils of the South Downs. In fact, the soil from Champagne is part of the same formation of chalk that spans the South of England across the English Channel to the vineyards of Reims and Epernay.

The future of English wine and expectations of the 2018 vintage?

As you will have experienced yourselves, this years summer has been excellent in terms of weather and quantity of sunshine, this has been reflected in high levels of fruit on the vines for many growers in the South East. There has also been some ‘green harvesting’ where winemakers remove some young bunches to ensure a higher quality final crop of grapes from the vines.

Most vineyards will be harvesting over the coming weeks as the grapes are

In tastings, English sparkling wine is beating all comers across the world in terms of quality.

Peter Hall

ripening nicely but unfortunately you will not be able to taste the results until they have been fermented, bottled, disgorged and rested, before final release from 2022 onwards.

Do not fear though, we have several excellent vintage from 2009 to 2014 that are ready to drink. May I raise a toast to Sussex wine producers, Cheers!

Further information Michael Yeoman runs his English Wine businesses in Hove providing wines for individuals and businesses that are interested in trying a wide selection of small batch English wines. For more information feel free to contact Michael on michael@sourceddrinks or visit www.englishwinebox.com

For more on the blind testing go to: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ news/2016/04/20/english-sparklingwine-beats-champagne-in-parisblind-tasting/

ENGLISH WINES

ON THE VERGE OF

something special!

By Lesley Alcock

R

ob Blackman and his wife Annette purchased the English Wine Centre in January after a conversation Rob had with the previous owner at his daughter’s wedding which was being held at the centre (Yes, they do weddings!).

Rob said: “I was looking for a change and Colin was looking to retire. My daughter has a lot to answer for!“

Whilst that chance conversation might have been the catalyst, it soon becomes clear that Rob is passionate about English wine.

The English Wine Centre has been championing English wine for 50 years. Back then there couldn’t have been much to champion but oh how things have changed. A combination of consistently warm summers and better science have seen a massively improved English wine offer, led by spectacularly good English sparkling wines.

Over a rather excellent meal (in their charming restaurant) of grilled sardines with horseradish aioli followed by a sunflower crusted sea trout, Rob told me that there are now well over 500 vineyards in the UK and whilst they are concentrated in the south they deal with vineyards as far north as Leeds. Rob said: “Where wine is concerned our role is to select the best and be able to tell the vineyards story. Some vineyards still have a way to go but the quality across the board (sparkling, red, white, rose) is generally getting better everywhere.“ After the meal Rob showed me the new hotel with five very well-appointed en-

54

Rob Blackman

English Wine FACTS AND FIGURES

5.9m 2554 Annual production

Area under vine

Hectares

suite bedrooms and a large function room resplendent with bar and grand piano, their RHS designed garden and their 17th Century oak barn which is used for weddings. Standing under its massive oak beams Rob talked about the investment opportunities and the interest in vineyards from the city and abroad: “Wine production in the UK is attracting investment from wealthy individuals and companies from the UK as well as abroad. Whilst I have some reservations about how this may play out for smaller vineyards, there is no doubt that this investment could be an excellent driver of quality, providing that the areas identified for planting remain thoroughly researched and appropriate.“ Rob’s own plans in this regard include self-guided tours using electric bikes and the centre is now working closely with the South Downs National Park to develop a tasting which will be used at the beginning or end of a vineyards tour where all the wines from the South

English Wine

FACTS AND FIGURES Share taken up with sparkling wine varieties

72% 31% Growth since 2015

Exports

No of wineries

+

4%

165

Downs can be tasted under one roof.

“We’ve always offered tastings and our monthly tutored wine tasting (First Saturday of every month) is very popular but we are also seeing a massive surge in interest from abroad and we are dealSharedaily taken up groups with sparkling wine varieties ing almost with from Sweden, Holland, Denmark and Germany.“ On asking Rob what his plans are for the future of the site he tells me: “There used to be an English wine museum on the site but that had to make way for the hotel. It would be really nice to resurrect the museum. I think there is a great story to tell spanning all the way back to the Romans. I’ve been shortlisted for a grant to build it and I’m in the process of putting together a team to work up the plans.“ As I get ready to leave I can’t help but think that with all the buzz that surrounds English wine the time for bringing back the wine museum is perfect.

There is a lot to celebrate.

ENGLISH WINES

A Toast TO CHEESE The Sussex cheesemakers may receive less publicity than the winemakers but they have certainly attracted international recognition.

I

t’s not just the French winemakers who are looking enviously across the channel. The French are just as superior about their cheese as they are with their wine, but the quality of our cheeses has been creating a stir for some time now.

In the county we have a wealth of quality cheesemakers earning recognition and international awards. Recently High Weald Dairy was awarded a Super Gold at the World Cheese Awards for its Brighton Blue. Alsop and Walker’s Mayfield is also a Super Gold winner.

Bookham Harrison Farm produces Sussex Charmer which won Gold at the International Cheese Awards 2008.

The question is how to take advantage of the wealth of fine cheeses produced in the county. The answer is to call upon the services of The Cheese Man. Started over 20 years ago, this family-run wholesale company specialises in distributing local cheeses across Sussex and beyond – supplying some of the leading restaurants, farm shops and delis in the county.

Director Tony Cowling explains the company’s ethos: “We are passionate about cheese and fine foods, and as a local

56

family-run company are proud to promote local cheeses.

“We are ever mindful of the finest cheeses and charcuterie products and working closely with local cheese makers we have produced a guide to develop local awareness of quality cheeses from the surrounding areas.

Some of the nest ranges of cheeses are right here on our very doorstep.

“In sharing our knowledge and expertise we hope this menu will highlight what products we can offer and that some of the finest ranges of cheeses are on our very doorstep ready to be collected at the best time that suits you.”

The Cheese Man was started in August 1995 by Fred Cowling, who had 25 years experience in the cheese industry. He began with one van working out of out of a small 500 sq ft unit on the Sussex Coast. While Fred was out in the van busily building up business, his son Tony would help after his day job, by taking in deliveries and rotating stock ready for the next day.

After three years of building up trade, the business had grown sufficiently to allow Tony to join as a partner in the business in 1998.

Now, the business has a fully refrigerated 7,000 sq ft site at The Shoreham Port, along with a fleet of ten vans.

Tony has been in the industry long enough to witness the change in consumer tastes and the passion for local produce. “When I first started in the business people wanted continental cheeses and cheddars.” he says. “Now customers are much more aware of the provenance of their food. And such is the demand for local cheese that they have recently opened their own shop as well, The Cheese Hut at Hove Lagoon, which is run by Tony’s wife Verity, so still keeping it a real family business.

“At The Cheese Hut, we currently have over 100 different cheeses in stock, and almost half of those are from Sussex,” continues Tony. “In fact, some of the finest ranges of cheeses are right here on our very doorstep.”

www.thecheesehut.co.uk www.thecheeseman.co.uk

O

ur local vineyards will soon be picking the produce to start producing next year’s English Sparkling wine. Why not plan your Christmas gift ideas now and include a bottle of local ‘bubbly’ from one of our award-winning vineyards?

Eastbourne-based Fizz on Foot has developed a range of gift hampers with other local businesses to give you the chance to thank those you appreciate.

There are hampers with wine and flowers; wine and chocolates; wine chocolates and flowers – or just simply wine!

The hampers contain a bottle of either Champagne or English Sparkling wine together with a box of handmade Belgian chocolates from Deliciously Gorgeous. The flowers are a hand tied bouquet in water from The Bloom Factory. The choice of combination is yours. Delivery within the Eastbourne area will be carried out personally and further afield will be arranged for overnight.

MISTLETOE

AND

(English) Wine

We have had one of the best summers on record and the English wine grape harvest is looking good!

Fizz on Foot’s walking and wine tasting tours are also available for company team building days and saying thank you to clients and staff. Groups of walkers enjoy a guided walk in the beautiful South Downs National Park followed by a lunch of local produce which can be hosted surrounded by the greenery of a vineyard or in a traditional Sussex pub. The group is then taken on a ‘vine to wine’ tour delivered by the winemaker followed by a tutored tasting of the range of wines produced at the vineyard. Each person can then appreciate the story of the production and experience the taste at first hand.

www.fizzonfoot.com

Why not plan your Christmas gift ideas now?

The perfect way to have a team building day!

For your clients or as a staff reward

• • • • •

Walking in the South Downs National Park Qualified knowledgable walk guide Walk to match your fitness Seven Sisters hike/Cuckmere River stroll Sussex pub lunch with local produce

• Accompanied by our wine connoisseur • Vine to Wine tour of prize-winning vineyard • Tutored wine tasting by the on-site wine maker • Transport included

We can build your day around you, just call us!

Tel: 01323 737271 Mobile: 07971 851777 fizz on foot @fizzonfoot @fizzonfoot www.fizzonfoot.com info@fizzonfoot.com

We are a Brighton based creative agency specialising in design, web and marketing.

Founded by three passionate creatives.

whitespace.studio

Creators of the Platinum Publishing Group website

EXPERT PANEL

LARGE

How can I let people know about my business without a marketing budget?

Milly Stone, Managing Director at Whitespace answers your marketing questions.

1 WORK IT OUT, then shout!

Make sure you know who you are and tell people about it, write a statement that explains your business and be sure to share that wherever you are.

2

Your family and friends ARE YOUR EMPLOYEES

Let them help you to spread the message of your business to their contacts. That doesn’t mean actively pressuring them to talk about you but just ask them to support your business by mentioning when in situations that might suit a mention!

4 NETWORK

This topic always gets mixed reviews but I truly believe in the power of networking, it far outweighs the old style cold calling business promotion to businesses and people you know little or nothing about. There isn’t an instant win as some would expect but a strong network is one of the greatest assets a business can have.

3 COLLABORATE Work with other businesses who can enhance your business and you theirs, don’t be afraid to promote and work with other businesses.

5

Get your voice

HEARD

Lots of people (me included) hate public speaking, you don’t need to be a pro at it but make sure the information you’re providing and discussing is useful, and the more you do, it the better you will become.

6

BUILD

Each client doesn’t have to just be that one job, or that one service, if you build meaningful relationships and forge friendships you’ll be surprised at what you can generate.

7

8

Create an INTEREST

Give benefits to returning customers if this suits your business model, discounts for loyalty, discounts for varying services in other areas of your business the customer doesn’t currently use etc.

Get people talking about you, get to know reporters/publications and press. Make people share your business and your expertise.

All of the below are inexpensive or free marketing tips. The best thing to remember is to engage with people, build relationships and most importantly keep your brand at the front of peoples minds.

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If you would like further guidance or assistance with your marketing or just purely don’t have the time in the day to fulfil the things you really want to do then we are offering all Platinum readers a complimentary Marketing Review. Just email: milly@whitespace.studio referencing Platinum18.

Whitespace Creative Studios info@whitespace.studio 01273 258 000 Whitespace.studio

59

CEO FIGHT CLUB

I

was running through the forest when I stopped again. The dogs are used to it now; me, stood mouth open as the words in the audio book I’ve just listened to have a fundamental impact on me. Normally it’s a belief or a preconception that has just been exploded into a hundred pieces.

Like the rain drops usually falling on the dogs as they wait for us to start again.

By Si Conroy, owner of Scarlet Monday

This time I’d just taken Susan Cain’s 20 Questions in ‘Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking’.

These questions give you the answer as to whether you are an introvert, extrovert or somewhere in between.

As a self-analysed extrovert I’d always enjoyed the ‘Extrovert Ideal’ – the generally held view that the ‘ideal self is gregarious, alpha and comfortable in the spotlight… preferring action to contemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking and certainty to doubt’ – Cain.

The reason for my open-mouthed stop in the woods? The test said I was actually an introvert. A heavily highlighted section of the Kindle version of the book sheds light on my response to this news, and encapsulates well society’s view of the two: ‘Introversion — along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness — is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a

man’s world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we’ve turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.’

It’s when the book throws in the fact that researchers believe between one third to one half of western populations are introverted that a flood of questions wash in:

yy Can you be an introvert and lead? yy What does an introverted leader look like? yy What is in-between introversion and extroversion as a leader? yy Can you change your introversion to extroversion? yy Is thinking in that way about wanting to change even correct?

I was reminded to write about this topic while in the toilets at a networking lunch as guest of a client last week. You need to know the precise details of my location because my insight into my extreme introversion for me answered a series of conflicts I couldn’t explain e.g.

I have never had a problem addressing hundreds of people during a conference speech, yet would find every reason not to attend networking events, lunches, dinners etc. I’ve previously written in this column that sometimes this should be

WHO IS THE BEST LEADER:

Introvert, Extrovert or Ambivert?

60

a deliberate choice [‘Fingers up to Great Expectations, CEO Fight Club 2]. However, if I did attend, sometimes I’d spend up to 45mins in the loo stalls rather than have to talk to people I felt perfectly confident to talk to. Last week I was only in there 10mins, but came out to catch an unsuspecting attendee giving himself a confidence ‘boost’ in the mirror. I smiled knowingly; he left flushed.

Other conflicts included a dread of invitations to social gatherings of more than four to six people and an unusual desire to sometimes to be on my own for long periods of time.

Cain solved my conflict by explaining that the true differentiation between introverts and extroverts is how they ‘energise’ when tired. Introverts seek the company of themselves, their partner or a small group of friends to reenergise. Extroverts seek the company of more and more people to reenergise and relax. In a discussion with the initially certain extrovert CEO sat next to me at the lunch we quickly unpicked that she, like me as a CEO, is an Ambivert. An Ambivert is an introvert who has learned how to act like an extrovert when required and who then wants to

go home and have a bath with a book, or watch Love Island (that’s me, not her by the way). Or vice versa.

So what I’ve come to realise is the best leaders can be introvert, extrovert or ambivert, as long as they know themselves. Even if they don’t know what they are, as long as they relax into being and doing what feels natural, rather than an alpha extrovert leadership stereotype, their success will only be constrained by – amongst other things - intelligence, skills and attitude to learning and mindset. Not what they ‘should’ be or do.

This may sound like too simple an answer to the questions above, but I hope you can start to see the power of the Ancient Greek aphorism “know thy-

An Ambivert is an introvert who has learned how to act like an extrovert.

self” within the context of the growth/ learning mindset most of my columns preach. When your level of Extraversion is one of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits most psychologists have agreed on, who truly has the most power? The person who is just themselves, or the person who knows themselves and learns how to model the behaviours of other personality traits which could be used to their advantage?

Si Conroy specialises in helping business owners remove their blockers to profitable business growth; be they strategy, marketing and sales, people, finance or systems/process.

Trained at PwC and owner of Scarlet Monday (www.ScarletMonday.com) and www.ConstantMentor.com, Si practices what he preaches across a number of businesses in which he has invested. si@scarletmonday.com @siconroy

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HURSTPIERPOINT COLLEGE

BUSINESS AWARDS

Adur & Worthing Business Awards

2018 Award Categories

Overall Business of the Year Sponsored by Electronic Temperature Instruments Ltd Start-Up Business Sponsored by Michael Jones & Company Small Business (up to 9 employees) Sponsored by Adur & Worthing Business Partnership

Lifetime Achievement Sponsored by JSPC Computer Services

Green Business Sponsored by Southern Water

Manufacturing & Engineering Sponsored by MHA Carpenter Box

Retailer Sponsored by Worthing Town Centre Initiative

Young Achiever Sponsored by Lancing College Preparatory School (Worthing)

Place to Eat and/or Drink Sponsored by Bennett Griffin Solicitors & Notaries

Customer Service Sponsored by Worthing & Adur Chamber of Commerce

Building & Construction Sponsored by Gardner Scardifield

Medium Business (10 to 49 employees) Sponsored by Allergy Therapeutics

Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Sporthing Council

Business in the Community Sponsored by FRP Advisory

Large Business (50+ employees) Sponsored by 5 Rings Group

Innovation Sponsored by Kreston Reeves

Training & Development Sponsored by MET – Greater Brighton Metropolitan College

Business Personality Sponsored by The Martlet Partnership

Sponsors and Business Partners

Overall Business of the Year

Start-up Business

Small Business

Medium Business

Large Business

Business Personality

Lifetime Achievement

Manufacturing & Engineering

Young Achiever

Customer Service

Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure

Innovation

Training & Development

Green Business

Retailer

Place to Eat and/ or Drink

Building & Construction

Business in the Community

Media Partner

Media Partner

Supporter

Supporter

Supporter

DARREN CRABB WEALTH MANAGEMENT www.darrencrabb.co.uk

Media Partner

Charity Partner

Supporter

Print Partner

The Adur & Worthing Business Awards take place on November 16th at Worthing Pavilon

63

BREAKTHROUGH MOMENTS

A SANTANDER PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

How do businesses innovate? Do we spend enough on research and development?

What are the barriers to innovation? We invited a panel of business owners and innovation experts to discuss the importance of creativity.

Focus on Innovation Colin:

Welcome everyone. I’ll be facilitating today although our experience of our Breakthrough Moments series events is that there will be a lively debate without me having to do very much at all! We’re here today to talk about innovation and technology.

I speak to a lot of SMEs and professionals and I’ve seen that Innovation means different things to different people. I’d be interested to understand what it means to our panel.

Colin Berkeley

Regional Director, Santander Business Banking Santander UK

So first I'd like to ask the panel what does innovation mean to you?

Bankim:

Bankim Chandra

CEO, Dotsquares Based in Albourne, Sussex, Dotsquares provide web design, development, hosting and digital marketing services. www.dotsquares.com

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In simple mathematical formula, for me it’s “innovation + creativity = efficiency”. Business is all about efficiency, how quickly you can deliver to your customer or how quickly you can do a particular task. I’m a strong believer in CRM systems, so we created a customised web-based, mobile-based and watch-based CRM system, and it even links up with Alexa. So I can say: “Alexa, give me information about company X.” You can access all the information through voice command or request reports. It’s all about saving time and making information easily available.

Facilitated and chaired

by Colin Berkeley Edited by Ian Trevett

David:

A lot of people don’t feel innovative as they think it’s just about the big ideas. It doesn’t need to be. Innovation is about working out ways to test ideas, seeing if they're going to work and being brave enough to stop investing time and valuable resource in pet projects if it's clear it won’t work.

You have to test ideas or products, it gives you the confidence to decide: “Yes, let’s invest something in this. We know it’s going to work. We have all these proof points. Let’s take it forward.”

We can link the CRM to Skype and use an application programming interface (API) to link to the bank account, for instance.

It is all about efficiency and how you bring that efficiency to your customer, bringing them greater value at a lower cost.

David Bailey Innovations team, Santander UK

Maarten:

Peter:

Creativity is in extremely short supply within most work places because a lot of it is to do with how you engage, and having the time to engage. It’s about engaging with people outside of the building. People generally aren’t creative on their own. They require stimulus that challenges them in completely different ways.

It’s also something that we lose as we get older – or at least we become less open to creativity as we get older because we have preconceptions of what is or what isn’t possible.

It’s good to be forced to think outside of your comfort zone.

Peter Lane

Sussex Innovation Centre Based at the University of Sussex and Croydon, the innovation centre is a leading business incubator for research commercialisation. sinc.co.uk

I heard a fascinating story about Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Radio 4. Most of us are a little confused about AI and we wait for someone to explain its use. This story explained how it was used in Moorfields Eye Hospital. They used machine learning technology to study thousands of historic eye scans to identify signs of eye disease.

They found the AI system can recommend the correct referral decision for over 50 eye diseases with 94% accuracy, matching worldleading eye experts.

And it will only get better, no doubt soon exceeding the human experts.

If you have an idea or a new product, innovation is about how you commercialise it or put it into practice – it’s a different set of skills. It’s about how you look at the business model, how you intimately understand the customer and the problems, their needs and likes and then how you evolve a commercialisation strategy.

I think there’s a fear within large organisations of knowing how to give people time and space to innovate and be creative.

Innovation within a company can become quite inwardly focused and it tends to become incremental about the products that you have or the services that you deliver.

Maarten Hoffmann

The Platinum Publishing Group Publisher

BREAKTHROUGH MOMENTS

A SANTANDER PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Bankim:

Sometimes I feel SMEs don’t want to be the first ones to try new technologies, whereas corporates can try new ideas. If it fails it can go into the criteria of “We tried and we can work on more” whereas start-ups and SMEs want to see a proven formula. It’s all about having the resources to cope with failure.

Nnamdi:

Creativity, for me, contributes to innovation, and innovation is basically problem solving, helping my business make more money by doing something in a much less expensive way, by using or bringing in something new.

Nicholas:

Innovation is the realisation of creativity but for SMEs, the big challenge is, how do you manage creativity for it to become something tangible and of business worth? Ideally there should be a greater amount of autonomy to allow your employees to innovate and be creative. But what SMEs really tend to be interested in is focused creativity; creativity with a value at the end of it, with an output that the business can actually use.

Dr Nicholas Dacre

From a more academic and student perspective, one of our roles at university is giving potential future employees the skills to think creatively and learning how to apply that in a business context.

University of Sussex Business School

Nicholas:

Nnamdi Uche

Nnamdi & Co The Guildford-based fashion brand is looking to disrupt the tailoring industry https://nnamdi.co/

So creativity in your environment is used very much as a problem solving exercise in order to be able to innovate. From a business perspective, in terms of creativity, we are seeing tools like escape rooms, gamification and things like that that businesses can use to try and engage their employees and collaborate with external partners to drive more creativity and innovation.

Nnamdi:

One of the major ways we use creativity is by creating partnerships.

You can learn so much when you work together.

I started out as a fashion designer but when I had issues with my website, I had to learn coding and become strong on the technical issues, which is effectively innovating, especially when the coding isn’t working and I have to problem solve.

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Colin:

It is interesting that when I asked what innovation means to people, everybody around the table linked it to creativity.

A case of too much technology?

David:

There are advantages of a hybrid model. People are starting to push back a little bit against digital just because there’s a feeling that something has been lost as technology has taken over people’s lives. People have a high expectation that technology will enable all sorts of things and things have to be instant, but there’s always a space for the human interaction element. John Lewis has a successful model because it uses a digital innovation but people know there is always a person they can talk to. There is a perception of trust and service.

Colin:

We recognise that our customers want to interact with us in different ways. Sometimes the same customers want to interact with us in several different ways, it isn’t a “one size fits all”. Sometimes they will go to a branch, sometimes they will bank online, sometimes both. We call it omnichannel. We want our customers to be able to interact with us in any way they want to, at any time, in any combination, and that’s what we’re developing. We spend a lot of time talking to customers to try and understand what it is that they want. Anything we do will be copied almost immediately, so it’s got to be about the value-add and the service.

Maarten:

We embrace technology yet resist it as well. If we became a solely online magazine, with all the 47,000 other online magazines, we will just disappear into the ether. So we are loyal to the printed format.

But we use technology to increase efficiencies. The cost of printing has actually come down because of the innovative ways they are printing, although the cost of paper is doing nothing but going up.

Within the office, we grab any technology we can get our hands on. Everything that we can find that makes our job easier, we grab it. So we have a huge appetite on one side and on the other side we’re knocking it back as fast as we possibly can.

How to encourage innovation?

Peter:

At the Innovation Centre we run a student start-up competition called Start-Up Sussex.

In the first year we did it, the would-be entrepreneurs would write business plans, then a panel would judge them and we’d give the winner a couple of grand. It was dreadful. It was so depressing because people won some money and they didn’t have the foggiest idea what to do with it.

The business plans were mostly a waste of time.

Our passion became creating an experiential learning course. We wanted people to learn how to assess the difference between an idea and an opportunity. To help people engage with customers and understand exactly what they are thinking. We got the entrepreneurs to pitch to real-life investors and business-owners.

Nnamdi:

My experience has been that running an actual business and winning competitions are completely different things. It is nice to win a competition and the prize money is great but it is never enough to make a tangible difference to a business.

Peter:

You’re quite right, but the funds are actually a very small piece of the jigsaw. If you have a strong business idea, winning a competition is a strong validation. It may also help generate interest from first-stage investors.

Bankim:

It’s great that you’re running this programme and encouraging students to come up with ideas. I’ve been part of Young Enterprise for many years as a business advisor, going every week, discussing the idea and then helping that idea into a business. You see great ideas but they don’t have the business skills. I do agree with Nnamdi, that you need that support and business skills at the same time. For every business it’s the contacts which are required at the start, and you need to have that luck and then the right funding in order to take that next step. Everything requires money, no matter how good your idea is.

Peter:

We’ve evolved the model at the Sussex Innovation Centre, and we have an in-house team to help small businesses overcome all the hurdles.

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BREAKTHROUGH MOMENTS

A SANTANDER PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Application

of technology Bankim:

Through usage of technology we created an augmented reality app. We use this at expos, where people use the augmented reality to answer question on our stand and win prizes. We were showing it to one of our customers and he said “That would work very well in museums.” You could stand in front of a painting, open that app and access information and the history about the painting.

IKEA have got this app. With the augmented reality, you can see how a piece of decoration will look on a table, for instance.

Peter:

We’re trying constantly to make connections with larger companies to come and experience some of the potential new technologies coming out of academics at Sussex.

Maarten:

The beauty of being connected with a university is that it’s pumping out hugely talented people with some fabulous ideas.

You are right on that doorstep to suck that talent in.

Peter:

A lot of our job is connecting people. Even if they are in the room next door to each other they wouldn’t know why they should be talking to each other. So it’s very much a hub, a connection and a network. I would ask: “Can I introduce you to someone who perhaps has done this before? Can we advise you on what kind of IP protection you might need to have in place? Can I introduce you to a freehour lawyer or a patent attorney?”

The power of connecting to people David:

The contacts that you have are powerful. It's about expanding this network. I love the idea of bringing together the energy of young people with brilliant ideas coming straight out of university with people who have experience and can offer valuable advice.

Colin: Nnamdi:

Personally connections have helped me a lot. I didn’t know anything about proper accounting and then I have a friend from church who just did the whole thing for me. He created a spreadsheet for me when I started and I still use it.

It’s always about connections.

We actively work with our customers to help them make the right connections, whether that be with professional services, other SMEs who have been through similar experiences or our university partners. You may have a great idea but how can you make money out of it? Linking people together and mentoring is very powerful.

BREAKTHROUGH MOMENTS

A SANTANDER PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Should we embrace new technology?

Colin:

You see it on Dragons’ Den quite a lot where somebody will stand up, make their presentation and the Dragons say: “You’ve come up with a fantastic solution to something that isn’t actually a problem. It’s lovely but no-one is going to buy it because it doesn’t actually add any value.

Maarten:

When it comes to technology, it is easy to act like lemmings. Does everybody need an app? No, they don’t!

I read something like 33% of all apps are never downloaded.

No-one ever touches them. I’m continually fielding calls and emails from people saying I need an app for the magazine. Well, actually, no I don’t. More people need to say no to technology that doesn’t actually work for them.

Bankim:

There should be a separate department in a business whose role it is to look at what’s happening in technology, looking at the papers which are published by big analyst companies like Gardner & Forrester. That department reads those articles and understands what’s happening in technology, and can apply those innovations that actually help the business. On the subject of apps, an app doesn't necessarily need to be external. It can be something within the company which is used by staff members We recently did a gamification app for a large car manufacturing company. We had the hardware and software integrated into an app which assessed: How quickly are they making the car? How quickly are the bolts, nuts, wheels assembled? And then we created a leader board, which helps increase productivity.

Peter:

What a lot of organisations struggle with is that if you innovate you’ve got to accept, as children do, that it might not work. And if it doesn’t work, who cares? Let’s move on.

Should we all be

Innovators?

Nicholas:

The field work that we’ve done at the university suggests that with the smaller businesses, key people within the company are assigned creative responsibilities and job roles. What is key is that these individuals aren’t operating in isolation. You want this creativity to permeate throughout the organisation.

It can come from the top, from the CEO or CFO, but it also can come from the customers, injecting new ideas into the organisation. The question is how do you then capitalise on that? How do you make it something tangible that is of worth? How do you embrace new ideas?

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Nicholas:

The university is a great place where we try and embed that culture of “Don’t be afraid to fail” because it’s the place to fail and it is part of the learning journey.

Nnamdi:

Someone who was not on my team suggested that we use Chatbots to get people in from Facebook, and it’s something that I wouldn’t have looked at otherwise. A Bot can chat to you and link you straight to my website. They’re more intelligent now and they can ask you what you want. This will save me time and money. If it works well it’s something that I would invest in.

Nnamdi:

I did some coding at university but not very much. It was just basic C++ but now I’ve learned some more and did some courses on EDX and practised it. We have a tech guy but it is important to understand the technology, and I can step in and help when we have problems. I like problem solvers because they will help you succeed. I have to think creatively because what we are doing has never been done before, so it’s brand new. The good ideas come from me thinking simply; often people would try and do something complex, but I would suggest something quite simplistic. But now everyone thinks like that because that is our business culture.

David:

You could argue that an innovation team almost needs to do itself out of a job within two or three years because they should drive the innovation culture to permeate through the business. Innovation teams cannot work in isolation. Every idea we investigate or try to solve. If the idea has not already come from the business we’ll look for sponsorship within the business.

We want the bank staff to say: “We’ve identified this customer problem and we think we have a way to solve. Can you help us to work it through?” That collaboration is really critical.

Nicholas:

In the banking sector you guys are facing open banking, FinTech, all these types of innovation. Do you feel pressure that you need to innovate in these particular areas?

David:

Absolutely, we've been thinking about what the future holds. There are a lot of unknowns, so we have been doing some testing and learning and trying ideas out. Once we have gone through the testing processes we can look at taking new ideas forward. We try and encourage colleagues to say “If you have an idea come and tell us about it and we can help you bring it to life. We can help you test something quite quickly and then see whether it’s worth taking forward and investing more on that idea."

While we may have resources as a bank that allow us to innovate, we recognise the flexibility and speed of decision making that smaller businesses have. There are necessary constraints in a large corporate environment, particularly within financial services.

Do we invest enough money in innovation?

Colin:

I heard an item on Radio Four, discussing a single IT system for the NHS, which up to now has always failed. Apparently, the NHS spends about 1% of their budget on IT development. They are very much more advanced in the States, and over there they spend 5%. Do we think SMEs understand that they sometimes need to get their cheque book out to do that or does the fear of failure put them off too much?

Peter:

I ran a business for 20 years with my brother and sister. As an SME you are always looking at the bottom line, you are always thinking about money and it becomes quite difficult to justify some of the behaviours we’ve been talking about.

However, the world is a very fast-moving place now businesses really have no choice but to innovate. It’s ‘do or die’.

Time to

think

Google has an employee innovation initiative known as the “20 Per Cent Time” policy. The concept allows employees to dedicate 20% of their working hours to projects they think will most benefit Google. Is this a concept that we should introduce?

Peter:

Google encourage employees to get out of the building, experiment or whatever else they carry out in trying to add value to the business. It’s a great model and it’s fantastic if you’ve got billions of dollars sitting in the bank that allow you to be able to behave in that way.

Maarten:

There’s no difference between the Google model with all their billions and an SME just finding thinking time. It’s experimental time. Thinking time is the most undervalued thing on the planet. It is invaluable to go and sit in a coffee bar without a phone and take the time to think.

Peter:

The Google ethos is for the staff to follow their passion. None of us do anything unless we’re passionate about solving a problem.

It’s a tremendous motivator for employees rather than just sitting there saying “This is what I’ve got to do and at the end of the day I do this and then I get home.” Engaging your employee base is vital. An interesting way of spurring that creativity and innovation could be to bring something completely unexpected into the room, maybe as professor of psychology or whatever, to say “Let’s talk about customer behaviours.”

David:

Actually we do have a psychologist that we use as part of our testing process. It’s absolutely brilliant because they can bring clarity to how people actually think, how they are likely to respond and what they care about.

Peter:

One disadvantage of the constant access to phones is that it leaves you almost time-starved to think laterally or creatively about your business.

David:

I believe there are side benefits in allowing your staff the time to innovate, particularly with regards morale and happiness.

Obviously you have to run your business, but if staff feel their ideas are heard and they have a contribution to make outside their daily tasks this benefits everyone.

BREAKTHROUGH MOMENTS

A SANTANDER PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

David:

There’s a continuum from a cost perspective in terms of what you can do as well. But there are lots of tools out there that enable you use technology without having to commit huge resources.

Even within the bank we’re really being encouraged to test more before we go and build something. With SMEs it’s just getting comfortable with finding ways to test an idea out before investing too much of their limited resource and time.

What are the biggest barriers to innovation for SMEs?

Bankim:

A lot depends on the business owner; how technology-oriented are they? How long can your business sustain itself without innovation?

Maarten: Time and money!

Bankim:

The fear of failure. One solution is to use people in the right part of the world to get the maximum out of them. We have development centres in India. You have to use the right resources form the right part of the world in order to get the best for your customers.

At the same time we invest in apprentices. I strongly believe in the apprenticeship scheme over here. You get the best people – it’s a bit of a hit and miss process, but still worth giving people a chance.

Nicholas:

There are two types of employees. You get employees who get given a task and they’ll say ‘That’s not part of my job description.’

And then you get other employees who are given a task that they’ve never dealt with before who say ‘This is exciting. I’ve never done this before. How do I overcome this issue or that particular challenge?’” For organisations to survive they need the latter.

Colin:

We started off by talking about what innovation means – and I’ve now got quite a different idea of what innovation can mean which is that it’s about being creative to solve problems, to find solutions, not being afraid

to fail and accepting that when innovating probably quite a lot of what they try is not going to work first time. It’s very much about a state of mind – if a business owner wants to be creative to innovate he can drive this through his business and enable his employees to be part of this too.

Calling SMEs If you're interested in finding out more about how Santander can support your business, please contact Colin Berkeley on colin.berkeley@santander.co.uk or visit santander.co.uk/business

72

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Keeping Intruders at Bay

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he LPS1175 Platinum Gate range has been developed over the past two years by our Research and Development team, headed

by Frontier Pitts BIM (Building Information Modelling) specialist.

Many clients had been installing unrated Security Gates that had not been tested alongside LPS1175 security rated fence lines. By testing and upgrading certain elements on all models of our Automatic Security Gates, Frontier Pitts is now pleased to bring to the market the first complete LPS1175 Anti-Intruder Gate

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Platinum Gates SR2 SR3 Cert/LPCB Ref: 1059b/03

INTERNATIONAL VAT

BREX-VAT and MTD

Are you ready?

Martyn Redman highlights how Brexit might impact on international VAT issues particularly against the background of Making Tax Digital.

A Martyn Redman is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and has held executive roles in both the public and commercial sectors. He has been at the forefront of international VAT and technology for that industry for over 20 years.

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s I write, disputes over the Chequers deal are not just continuing but escalating. As a result, businesses and professionals alike have a great deal of uncertainty about cross-border VAT. Although HMRC have released documentation indicating how a no-deal Brexit would impact on VAT rules for UK businesses, there are as yet no practical steps saying for example how to plan your IT. This is understandable.

As with all other member states – HMRC are aiming to make tax digital (MTD) as soon as possible but at this stage are still in the consultation period.

For businesses based, and buying and selling, in the UK, post Brexit changes are likely to be minimal. Even if no deal is reached, HMRC will aim to keep VAT procedures as close to how they look now – except in so far as they are now moving strongly to MTD. However, for

those that buy or sell in the EU there will be some changes regardless of whether it’s a hard or soft Brexit, as the UK will be out of the EU and hence out of the EU VAT regime.

For example, it will mean that businesses selling digital services will instead have to use the non-EU MOSS scheme. Also distance selling thresholds will no longer apply to businesses selling goods to private customers in the EU and this may mean they will need to register for VAT in other EU countries. They will then be legally required to prepare VAT returns in those countries.

So, are you ready to do an Austrian or Danish VAT Return?

UK businesses will still be able to claim VAT refunds from EU member states on hotel bills, taxis, exhibition or events but will need to use instead the paper process that currently exists for non-EU businesses – they will not be able to use the EU VAT refund system through their UK tax portal. These will have to be submitted in the precise form required for each member state. So are you ready to submit a claim in German or Greek?

Most readers will know that the Government is moving strongly towards digitisation. Their prime aim is to reduce tax avoidance and evasion. However, it is also good for businesses (less paper, less error, easier to report and have dialogue). I read a recent report stating that over 50% of businesses in the UK are not prepared at all for MTD. This is exacerbated if they have many subsidiaries, and more than one accounting system. The preparation of many returns, each with different rules, is a challenge especially when you throw in currency and language problems. For information, the UK’s MTD approach is minimal compared with other countries – eg Spain – where individual transactions are being recorded in real time! So watch out.

I’m pleased to see that a number of our competitors are now busy with MTD preparations, and some taking part in

the HMRC VAT digitisation pilot in order to be ready for auto preparation of UK VAT returns by April. One or two are aiming to copy our lead of a simplified online process for foreign VAT returns and for claiming refunds.

At euVAT we are already ready.

Indeed, we have been for over a year!

And for that matter, not just in the UK. We already provide an online service to enable any size business regardless of their location worldwide, to prepare VAT returns in all but one member state (this because the tax authority recently changed procedures!). We already provide an online tool for VAT professionals to facilitate cross border VAT reclaims. It incorporates tools like automatic VAT coding to help to make life easy (see image below).

Both the returns and refund products can be used by any organisation even if they have multiple subsidiaries with multi currencies. In the background, we constantly monitor changes in VAT legislation across Europe and build these in as they occur. Just as well because in the EU, on average there is approximately one change in VAT rules every day!

Whatever happens with Brexit and/ or MTD our clients are covered. I’m extremely proud of my team that have kept us ahead of the game. Our motto: “We take care of technology. Our clients take control.”

Martyn Redman euVAT Online.

01273.325000 martyn@euvat.org.

TRAVEL

The powerful, charismatic beauty of Table Mountain is usually the first thing that lures people to Cape Town, overcome by the desire to climb this landform that looks quite unlike anything else on this planet. Then, the more you find out, the more you want to go. The Winelands, the surfing, the penguin colonies, South Africa’s poignant recent history and its lingering legacy. In my opinion, it’s the most unique city in the world.

Cap

With its uniqueness comes a unique set of challenges. For example, in January, after a prolonged drought, the news broke that Cape Town could become the first major modern city in the world to run out of water. “Day Zero” loomed – the day the government would have to turn off the city’s taps and citizens would have to collect their water from communal stations. Water usage was restricted to 50 litres per person per day. Capetonians made a rigorous effort to re-use or avoid using household water. The result was a drastic cut in waste water, and the imminent crisis was avoided (though the pressure remains for the city to continue being diligent). The saga has placed sustainability even more firmly on the agenda for Cape Town and its people – something all visitors ought to be respectful of during their time there (using the same hotel room towel throughout their stay and taking short showers are a start).

The challenges this year may have some effect on 2018 visitors numbers to Cape Town, but prior to that, the figures were buoyant. The 2018 African Hotel Valuation Index revealed that hotel room occupancy in the Western Cape increased by 25% in 2017. And the city was named the number one city in Africa for hosting international association meetings for the tenth year by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). Congresses relating to health and medicine, engineering, IT, mining, oil, gas, agro-processing and the green economy have all chosen Cape Town as their host.

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The alluring South African city offers diverse activities and adventure for corporate travellers, says Rose Dykins

pe Town

Shake Hands in

The city was named the number one city in Africa for hosting international association meetings for the tenth year by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)

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TRAVEL

In January, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) completed a £45 million project that doubled the size of its event space. The venue gained a new extension that added 10,000 sqm of exhibition areas, connected to the existing CTICC via skybridge. The expansion has greatly enhanced Cape Town’s potential to win bids for large-scale international conferences and CTICC’s executive mayor, Patricia de Lille, commented on how the development is an important piece of the puzzle for a city that is being sought after by companies across the globe: “Cape Town is fast becoming the ideas capital of Africa. Organisations and businesses now choose Cape Town as a place from which to develop their Africa strategies. Many of the CTICC’s flagship events are testimony to Cape Town’s ability to connect people from the tip to the top of Africa.”

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The city’s luxury hotel scene is wellestablished. Last year, an eye-catching addition was Silo Hotel. Occupying six floors above Zeitz MOCAA (Museum of Contemporary Art Africa) in a landmark building – a former grain factory with its exteriors reworked by architectural firm, Thomas Heatherwick – the stunning property has 28 rooms overlooking the gentile V&A Waterfront district and the mountains beyond. And set to open last month, the five-star Signature Lux hotel, also situated on the V&A Waterfront, combines high-tech and chic design with eco-friendly credentials. It has 87 bedrooms and an extravagant restaurant and dining area, where Louis XIV-inspired decor has an African twist.

Flight prices to Cape Town from the UK are consistently rather high due to lack of competition. BA is the only airline that

The more you find out, the more you want to go. The Winelands, the surfing, the penguin colonies, South Africa’s poignant recent history and its lingering legacy.

TOP

PLACES

for a meeting or event CTICC The Cape Town International Convention Centre Following its recently completed extension, Cape Town’s convention centre has up-to-the-minute facilities. Spaces include a 1,500-seat auditorium, a 2,000 sqm ballroom and a roof terrace that seats 300 people. cticc.co.za

One and Only Cape Town Overlooking Table Mountain, this contemporary five-star property has two boardrooms and a ballroom for 250 people, and its restaurants include the first African outpost of Nobu. oneandonly.grandluxuryhotels.com

Zeitz MOCAA – Iwan Baan

flies direct to Cape Town from Britain – in 2016, it started operating three flights a week from Gatwick, adding to its twice-daily service from Heathrow. South African Airways also flies daily from Heathrow to Johannesburg, where it’s a two-hour and ten-minute hop onwards to Cape Town.

Once in South Africa, however, the weak rand against the UK pound makes Cape Town great value (at the time of writing this, South Africa had entered a recession after its economy shrank by 0.8 percent in the second quarter of 2018.) Europeanbased event planners will see their budget go a lot further when arranging three-course dinners and wow-factor incentives for corporate travellers.

The city’s luxury hotel scene is wellestablished.

And for incentives, you’d be hard-pressed to find a destination that has as much to offer as Cape Town.

Culture, history, adventure, beaches, wildlife, dining, wine tours, safaris, you name it, and chances are it can be arranged within the city and its surrounds (for ideas, visit adventureworks.co.za).

It’s highly likely that delegates will want to add on a couple of days to explore – snorkelling around Seal Island, abseiling down Table Mountain, exploring the UNESCO World Heritage site of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years, or hiking up breathtaking Cape Point, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.

Lagoon Beach This beachside four-star property with 211 rooms has 14 meeting spaces to choose from, the largest of which holds 600 guests. lagoonbeachhotel.co.za

Radisson Blu Waterfront Offering dreamy ocean views and 117 rooms and suites, this modern hotel’s largest space holds 200 people for a reception, and backs on to the boardwalk next to the V&A Harbour. radissonblu.com

Table Bay Hotel A five-star property on the V&A Waterfront, this classic property has numerous elegant event spaces, including a ballroom that holds 300 people and a Victorian-style pavilion that seats 96 people for a banquet. suninternational.com

Avenue The event space at this edgy V&A Waterfront venue includes a 400-capacity hall that looks directly onto the predator tank of the Two Oceans Aquarium. avenuecapetown.com

Century City Conference Centre This versatile venue can host 1,900 delegates across its 20 event spaces.

It has an on-site hotel with 125 stylish rooms and suites, plus a central square with cafes, bars and restaurants (which can also be hired). ccconferencecentre.co.za

TRAVEL

atwick Airport prides itself on providing innovative solutions to enhance the passenger experience at every touch point. Embracing the latest digital enhancements is therefore vital as they will help the airport to improve its efficiency further, which in turn will allow further growth.

To enable its digital transformation Gatwick has just future proofed its entire IT network for the next decade and can now take advantage of new, modern technologies for the benefit of airport users – including more than 250 on-site businesses, 30,000 staff and 45 million annual passengers. It also makes the airport’s network more resilient and tolerant to disruption.

Terminal and Airfield technologies New technologies include the ‘Internet of Things’, which means sensors can be deployed to measure numerous parameters across the airport campus, including waste bin levels, occupancy of check-in desks, table availability or pond water levels. The airport is also now using

The new app means that holidaymakers and business travellers can enjoy a more seamless experience when travelling through Gatwick.

machine learning to improve its ability to turn around aircraft quicker and get its passengers away in good time. High definition CCTV and facial recognition is being implemented to bolster security and a superfast WiFi is being rolled out to provide reliability for passengers, while allowing airlines and handlers to use it for vital systems including baggage.

Under the slogan ‘App App and Away’, Gatwick’s first passenger app launched at the start of the year and provides personalised, real-time flight updates, gate

information and check-in and security queue times straight to your phone.

The new app means that holidaymakers and business travellers can enjoy a more seamless experience when travelling through Gatwick. It boasts a range of features including intuitive maps that guide passengers though the airport using 2,000 navigation beacons located throughout terminal buildings.

The app also won ‘Mobile Innovation of the Year’ at the National Technology

SKY HIGH

INNOVATION Digital technology and sophisticated innovations is enabling smarter services at Gatwick Airport.

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Passengers, staff and local residents can reserve and return cars to any one of 300 compatible pick-up/ drop-off points across London or back at Gatwick.

awards as well as ‘Mobile App of the Year’ at the Real IT awards.

A trial has been taking place this summer of electric-powered autonomous vehicles that will soon see workers shuttled between popular locations on the airfield. The trial is thought to be the first of its kind for any airport in the world and – if successful and scaled up – could lead to airfield transport needs being met from a much smaller pool of autonomous vehicles, reducing the need for such large vehicle fleets, reducing emissions and saving on costs.

Innovative travel initiatives In July this year, the airport launched a UK airport first electric car sharing service, which passengers, staff and local residents can reserve and return to any one of 300 compatible pick-up/ drop-off points across London or back at Gatwick. The service has been rolled out in partnership with Bluecity, offering a convenient, zero emissions travel option for getting directly on and off the airport. Customers can also reserve a car in seconds via the Bluecity app.

Furthermore, and this time as the first airport in the world, Gatwick has also recently launched an innovative car-pooling service that offers staff preferential parking spaces and tracks their associated reduction in vehicle miles and emissions in real time. The service, in partnership with journey sharing platform Faxi, collects data from each shared

journey – via a smartphone app – and uses it to incentivise drivers with access to preferential parking bays in their existing car park.

The Faxi app provides drivers with information showing other staff on their route and the potential diversion from their normal route (in minutes) for pickup. This allows drivers to fill their vehicles with passengers, minimise their environmental impact and gives the best chance of being upgraded to their choice of car park.

Gatwick is also the first UK airport to host a new peer-to-peer car rental scheme, which allows people to rent out their vehicles to others, while they are away travelling. The partnership is with start-up company, Car & Away, and small vehicle owners can expect to earn up to £80 per week in rental income, while owners of larger cars can expect to earn up to twice that amount.

Car & Away ensures all vehicles are fully insured, cleaned and meet RAC approved vehicle roadworthiness checks, before being offered to renters. Once the renter returns, the vehicle passes through the same checking processes and is waiting for the owner in the dedicated Car & Away parking bays upon their return from holiday.

To enable its digital transformation Gatwick has just future proofed its entire IT network for the next decade and can now take advantage of new, modern technologies for the benefit of airport users

Airport information at Gatwick will soon connect passengers to intelligent chat bots using Facebook Messenger, Skype, and other popular apps. Behind the scenes we are also using machine learning to bolster security and develop passenger journey mapping so gate staff can track late running passengers and send notifications via a range of apps.

Gatwick has transformed itself into a world-leading airport and there’s plenty more to come. With the rate of growth the airport has experienced, it is essential Gatwick is able to continue finding more efficient ways of processing passengers through the airport safely and securely.

More exciting tech and service innovations are on the horizon as the airport continues to deliver the very best passenger experience.

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check-in Month-to-month changes shaping your travel, by Rose Dykins

Marriott launches Barcelona EDITION hotel M arriott International has opened an EDITION hotel in Barcelona. Located in El Born, the city’s creative hub in the Ciutat Vella district, the Barcelona EDITION’s 100 rooms and suites feature parquet floors and walnut-panelled walls, as well as beds with Spanish leather headboards and luxury

linens. There are three restaurants, two bars, a rooftop plunge pool and a 24-hour gym.

Conceived by Ian Schrager – co-founder of New York’s Studio 54 nightclub – Marriott’s upscale EDITION brand focuses on creating personal, unique hotel experiences.

BA suspends flights to Tehran

Ryanair tightens hand baggage restrictions

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ritish Airways suspended its direct flights from London to the capital of Iran last month, with its last flight on September 22nd and return flight the following day, as the route was “currently not commercially viable.”

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rom November, Ryanair will no longer allow passengers to take a small suitcase on board its planes for free. Instead, passengers will have to check in wheelie cases at the airport and pay a fee of £8 (if they have purchased the service in advance) or £10 on the day. If passengers purchase priority boarding, they will be entitled to take a carry-on bag on board for £6 (weighing up to 10kg). The fees apply for each leg of a journey.

Passengers will still be permitted to take one small bag on board Ryanair flights for free, provided it will fit underneath the seat in front of them.

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Business travel exceeded $1 trillion in 2017

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he amount spent globally on business travel reached US $1.33 trillion in 2017, an increase of 5.8% on 2016, according to the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA).

Recent research from GBTA forecasts that spend will grow a further 7.1% this year and reach $1.7 trillion by 2022.

The GBTA says: “The current high-growth business travel era has been fuelled by improving economies around the globe. Many of the improvements, however, have been ignited by both monetary and fiscal stimulus, which is likely to lead to policy challenges and slower economic growth down the road.”

The decision followed President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal between Iran and other nations, and the restoration of US sanctions on Iran.

BA resumed its flights to Tehran in September 2016, following a four-year suspension of the service due to worsening relations between Iran and the UK.

TRAVEL INSIDER

BOOKERS BEWARE

In our new monthly column, our secret travel mole gives us the latest insider info, breaking news and travel facts that you need to know.

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he BA data breach was a wakeup call. If your employees travel on business for your company, your alarm bells should be ringing very loud too!

British Airways became aware of their data breach late on September 5th, and took immediate action the very next day advising an estimated 380,000 customers that their card and financial details may have been compromised.

Alex Cruz, British Airways Chairman and CEO immediately apologised to affected clients, and said the airline was 100% committed to compensate affected customers.

British Airways have been the target of criminal activity, and the speed and transparency with which they have handled this breach has been refreshing.

Every company is at risk of criminal activity particularly around data - Air Canada was a target of an attack that affected approximately 20,000 people between August 22nd and 24th this year.

In 2016 a breach of Uber data exposed about 25 million people, including 1.4 million drivers. The company took a year to admit that systems had been compromised and the company are also said to have paid hackers a bounty to destroy the stolen data.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings had a data breach of credit card and data of more than 360,000 of its customers in 2015, the company agreed to pay $700,000 in settlement of the case in 2017.

In BA’s case it appears the breach surrounded transactions on BA.com and the British Airways app which launches a web portal to complete the bookings.

It is believed that hackers gained access by inserting some additional code to an update that was provided to BA by a third party provider, which is why it was initially difficult to detect.

If you allow your staff to book themselves via exterior travel sites, where the purpose of the trip is business, and your employee’s personal data is subsequently breached you and your company could be held responsible for such a breach.

Cyber security is an area that continues to be an issue for all brands, but travel in particular is clearly a target for hackers as every single transaction in travel is centred on the traveller’s personal data, a potential goldmine for criminals.

Any company that has employees travelling on business should note that any bookings booked through a Travel Management Company (TMC) were not at risk, as TMC’s use tried and tested systems such as Amadeus or Sabre.

If you have employees who travel on business for your company, under GDPR you have an enhanced duty of care to make sure your employee’s personal data is secure when used for business purposes.

Companies should also be checking their corporate travel policies. If you allow/ authorise your travellers to book themselves via exterior travel sites, where the purpose of the trip is business, and your employee’s personal data is subsequently breached, as in BA’s case, under GDPR you and your company could be held responsible for such a breach.

Whereas if your travel policy makes clear your employees must use a TMC to plan and book any business travel, you would have been deemed to have taken all reasonable care by employing professional travel experts.

Want to know more, email travelinsider@platinumpublishing.co.uk

LUXURY TRAVEL

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y problems seem to melt away during my time in Bhutan. The absence of phone signal and the patchiness of the hotel wifi certainly played a part. But after a week of uninterrupted hiking to humble hilltop Buddhist temples, with misty green mountains, undulating rice paddies and fluttering prayer flags all around me, my mind felt completely clear, yet stimulated in a really pure, peaceful way.

Bhutan is a truly unique patchwork – like a mountain-based iteration of The Shire, bordered by India and Tibet, governed by Buddhist principles.

Rather than Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Gross National Happiness (GNH) is how the nation measures its progress (via interviews with its citizens). This permeates the country’s natural and social environment, from its meticulously preserved landscape, where everything from strawberries to marijuana grows side-by-side undisturbed, to the wellfed stray dogs that sleep soundly in the middle of the main road that runs through the capital of Thimpu. Hiking, exploring monasteries, temples and dzongs (fortresses) and spending time with a local guide learning more about Bhutan’s fascinating way of life are integral parts of any visit, and I highly recommend a farm stay, where a Bhutanese family welcomes you into their home for the night.

GNH also influences Bhutan’s tourism policy, which seasoned backpackers may find a little restrictive, but the whole idea is to ensure that tourism is managed in a sustainable way, rather than allowing it to dictate the nation’s development. For example, all international visitors (apart from Indian citizens) are accompanied by a guide during their travels.

There is a set fee of $250 per person per day, which covers travellers’ food, accommodation, entrance

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fees to cultural sites, guide and driver (minus tips and a visa). Booking through an approved tour company is required – they work with you to pre-arrange your trip itinerary. A single airline flies into Bhutan, Druk Air, which connects to eight cities including Bangkok, New Delhi, Kolkata and Singapore.

Over the past five years, Bhutan’s tourism offering has become more diverse and new resorts have popped up, offering luxury, but also respecting Bhutan’s core principles.

Coming later this year is the eagerly-anticipated Six Senses Bhutan, which comprises several luxury lodges opening up across the nation. The first of its three lodges will

Bhutan is a truly unique patchwork – like a mountainbased iteration of The Shire, bordered by India and Tibet, governed by Buddhist principles open in November in Thimpu, the historic town of Paro, and the valley of Punakha, with another two following in the valleys of Gangtey and Bumthang in early 2019. Featuring suites and villas that fuse Bhutanese design with modern luxuries, each property will have its own spa, influenced by national wellbeing rituals – including traditional hot stone baths in the Thimpu lodge spa, the perfect way to unwind after a day of exploring Bhutan’s bountiful terrain.

Punakha Dzong Monastery

Six Senses Bhutan, Thimphu

The Himalayan nation prioritises spiritual wellbeing over profit – and offers a chance to escape the madness of modern life. Rose Dykins reports

Bhutan BUCKET LIST:

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Come and join us for a unique charity fundraiser in aid of Sussex Cancer Fund

Brighton Medieval Banquet Saturday 2nd March 2019 at the Grand Hotel, Brighton In aid of

PRICE INCLUDES: Drinks reception Three course medieval banquet Jugs of wine, ale and mead on your table TV’s Sid Sloane - celebrity host Entertainment Live band - Empire Prize for ‘Best Dressed Couple’ Medieval fundraising fun

Hosted by TV’s Sid Sloane

BOOK NOW

www.brightonmedievalbanquet.co.uk

Headline Sponsor

Media partners:

Sponsors

EVENTS

Brighton Medieval Banquet

IN AID OF SUSSEX CANCER FUND

By popular demand it’s back for a second year, a fundraising event like no other The Brighton Medieval Banquet sponsored by Mayo Wynne Baxter on March 2nd 2019.

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his themed dining experience is a truly unique event as you will be one of over 300 guests transported back in time. The night will start with a drinks reception, tankards of ale and goblets of wine before you are called to be seated at the long banqueting tables in ‘Prince John’s Hall’. Don’t expect to eat from best china either as wooden plates, bowls and your fingers can be used.

Medieval fayre will be served to the tables and guests will help themselves to the feast before them. During the banquet, guests will be entertained by minstrels, jesters and possibly the occasional sword fight as Robin and his Merry Men ‘steal’ from the rich to help the poor!

The evening will be hosted by TV’s Sid Sloane who will keep the guests in order and there will be live music to dance the night away.

Guests are encouraged to dress in medieval fashion and an amazing prize worth £750 awaits the best dressed couple on the night.

Your ticket price includes: yy Drinks reception yy Three course medieval banquet yy Jugs of wine, ale and mead on your table yy Celebrity host yy Entertainment – Martin Sanderson Magician, Portcullis, Knights of Herstmonceux and more yy Live band - Empire yy Prize for ‘Best Dressed Couple’ sponsored by James Ross Jewellers.

There will also be some fundraising on the night with some amazing raffle prizes and auction items and all money raised on the night goes directly to Sussex Cancer Fund.

Details can be found at: www.brightonmedievalbanquet.co.uk and ‘early bird’ discounts apply if you book before 4th November - tables of 10 are £800 + vat. Due to the nature of the event it will not be suitable for under 18s.

If you or your business would like to be a sponsor for this event please email the organiser, Jason Edge: jedge@mayowynnebaxter.co.uk

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NETWORKING

Does NETWORKING work?

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he Focus Group and Neva Consultants have now signed an exclusivity contract to provide each other with their services for the next three years, which is worth at least £3 million.

The deal came about after an informal conversation at The Platinum Club, one of many deals made at the leading peer-topeer networking group in the region.

The Platinum Club is attended by CEOs and business decision-makers.

CAN YOU AFFORD NOT TO ATTEND?

Email: maarten@platinumpublishing.co.uk for more details

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CHARITY NEWS

MAKE A WILL AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO YOUR

LOCAL CHILDREN’S HOSPICE A number of local solicitors have generously agreed to donate their time and willwriting expertise throughout October in return for a donation to Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice.

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hroughout the month, selected local solicitors are offering a limited number of appointments to help write or update a Will.

Instead of paying the solicitor for their professional advice, they are asking for a suggested donation to Chestnut Tree House, the children’s hospice for East and West Sussex and South-East Hampshire.

SNOWMAN SPECTACULAR FUNDRAISING BALL

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reparations are well underway for The Snowman™ Spectacular Fundraising Ball 2018, which is taking place on Saturday 1st December at the Hilton Brighton Metropole. The annual event, which is now in its 11th year, celebrates over a decade of association with the charity’s friend and Patron, Raymond Briggs CBE, and his beloved character, The Snowman™. The Ball is the biggest event on Chestnut Tree House’s fundraising calendar and couldn’t take place without the generous support of sponsors.

Avensys, Clearline Recruitment, Creative Pod, E3, ECE Architecture, Gemini Print, Gusto Wines, Hilton Brighton Metropole, Oliver & Graimes, Platinum Publishing Group, Shoreham Vehicle Auctions, Signature Flights, and Sussex Life for sponsoring this year’s event.

Chestnut Tree House would like to say a special thank you to Green People and Willmott Dixon, who are headline sponsors of The Snowman™ Spectacular Ball 2018. Thanks also to Amber Scaffolding,

To find out how you and your business can support Chestnut Tree House, visit: www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk, email: corporate@chesnut-tree-house.org.uk or call 01903 871846 / 01323 725095.

The Snowman™ Spectacular Fundraising Ball is already sold out, but there is a waiting list. Please visit www.thesnowmanspectacular.org.uk for more information or to register your interest.

Rosie Last, Development Fundraiser at Chestnut Tree House explains more: “We are really grateful for the support of local solicitors and hope that the Appeal will prompt people to make or update their Will.”

“It costs £116.79 per hour to provide all of Chestnut Tree House’s community services, which allow children with life-shortening conditions and their families to receive care in their own home, so the suggested donations of £110 for a single Will and £160 for a joint Will could make a real difference.”

The charity also hopes it will prompt people to consider leaving a charitable gift in their Will. Chestnut Tree House currently cares for over 300 life-limited children; the care provided to 1 in 4 of these children is made possible thanks to gifts in Wills.

Solicitors across the region are taking part. Anybody who would like to take advantage of this offer can contact their chosen solicitor and book an appointment to take place in October, quoting ‘Chestnut Tree House, Make a Will Month’.

More information, including the full list of participating solicitors is available at www.chestnut-tree-house.org.uk/makeawillmonth or you can contact the charity on 01903 706351 or wills@chestnut-tree-house.org.uk

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RECRUITMENT

Opportunity Knocks The recruitment industry is showing no signs of slowing down. We speak to recruitment specialist and Clearline Recruitment founder, Angela Potter, on life at her Brighton-based boutique consultancy. reputation for exceptional service to both clients and candidates, based on a thorough knowledge of the industry.

One key area in which Clearline Recruitment can be differentiated from other consultancies is our philosophy, which is geared towards the creation and maintenance of long-term relationships with clients and candidates.

Describe a typical day at your consultancy?

How long has Clearline Recruitment been established?

Clearline Recruitment was established in September 2017 and provides specialist recruitment services to firms in Sussex.

As there are a number of recruitment companies based in Sussex, Clearline Recruitment was set up with the aim of providing a distinctly personal and professional service to our clients and candidates.

Why did you decide to set up a recruitment business?

What makes you different?

I made the decision to utilise over 20 years’ experience in the local recruitment industry and my commitment to finding the right candidate for every vacancy by setting up my own recruitment business.

Clearline Recruitment is a consultancy that prides itself on our innovative approach to recruitment. Since our foundation, Clearline has established a

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Based in the heart of Brighton, our office feeds off the vibrant buzz of the city, ensuring that there’s never a day quite like the one before! Our dedicated team of consultants spend every day ensuring that they are communicating to our clients and candidates, to ensure that they find the very best candidates their perfect roles.

How has the recruitment industry changed over recent years?

There has been a fundamental shift in the recruitment industry, which has been neatly described as becoming increasingly ‘candidate-led’. A combination of a shifting working environment and new technological advances has driven this change, as the needs of businesses adapt and new skills become required.

For example, the effect of the increasingly digital world has been profound on recruitment across the UK and further afield, as businesses are adjusting to an increasingly 24 hour environment and a

need for technical savviness. The sudden spike in demand for candidates who are skilled within the digital environment has had numerous effects, including these particular candidates subsequently being able to dictate the market, and the rise of widespread skill shortages in emerging sectors.

On the other side of this effect, businesses are finding that there is increasingly fierce competition for top talent across many sectors, due to a combination of shifting skill requirements and subsequent shortages. This can of course mean that it is difficult to find the ideal candidate for a vacancy, and the role of the recruitment consultant in aiding this is key to minimising any negative effect this could have on the hiring company.

What advice would you give to a potential candidate looking for work?

There are various things that potential candidates can do to make themselves the best possible option for a hiring business. Presenting yourself in a way that both demonstrates your abilities and your needs and desires is key to this, whether that be through interview preparation or simply ensuring that you are clear in discussing your skills and key drivers that underpin your motivations.

Talking of preparation, it is fundamental to ensuring that you as a candidate make the best possible impression when looking for work. For example, when approaching a consultancy, ensuring that you communicate your needs clearly so that they can make sure they are met adequately is hugely important when searching for work. Later in the process, researching the business that you may subsequently interview for is hugely important, to ensure that you can deal with any question that’s thrown at you at interview stage.

SUSSEX INNOVATION CENTRE

Why Sussex Innovation is working to increase representation for women in start-ups.

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n the UK tech sector, woman make up just 17% of employees, and only 17% of start-ups have female founders. Hackathon culture is also traditionally very male, but the Sussex Innovation Centre is hoping to freshen up the concept with their SINC_HACK >17% event, taking place on October 6th as part of the annual Brighton Digital Festival.

This lack of representation derives from several issues surrounding gender equality, from the gender pay gap, to unconscious bias in recruitment, to the lack of visible female role models in STEM industries. The inaugural SINC_HACK is based around the theme of >17% - by shedding light on these unfortunate statistics in business, the path can open to change things through innovation.

Taking the 92

The number of female-dominated spaces in business is vanishingly small.

Recognising a lack of gender balance among its own community of entrepreneurs, start-ups and tech businesses, Sussex Innovation has set out to create a space that nourishes and champions female-led talent.

What is SINC_ HACK >17%?

The hackathon will feature fun learning exercises and social activities throughout the day, delivered by Sussex Innovation members including leadership consultancy Momentum4, mobile developers Fat Fish Games, and the Sussex Innovation support team.

Ice breakers, exercises and energisers

Lead

Working with innovative start-ups is an inspiring job,

but as a team we’re very aware of the disparity between the number of male and female founders that we meet every day. Our mission as an organisation is to help anybody with a great idea to start a business – and the numbers tell us that we’re not delivering on that promise for enough of the entrepreneurial women out there. We’re determined to do more, and this event is just one of many initiatives we’re working on to redress the balance.”

DR CHLOE PEACOCK, INSIGHT AND MARKET RESEARCH ADVISOR, SUSSEX INNOVATION

will help keep the creative spirit flowing.

There will be a chance to learn the basics of coding from professionals, plus regular breaks for delicious locally sourced food and drink and great music.

On October 6th, people of all genders, interests and technical abilities are in-

We recently conducted an insight project with help from Sussex Innovation,

and will soon be publishing a white paper on the challenges faced by women in leadership roles. Many of the women who participated in our research told us that they struggled with confidence and assertiveness, and not feeling seen or heard. One of the underlying reasons for that is certainly the lack of visible role models bringing women’s perspectives into the boardroom. As a mother of two girls, I feel a responsibility to help address this, which is why I’m delighted to support the SINC_HACK.” LARA WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR, MOMENTUM4

vited to come together and collaborate on solutions to the challenges women face in business, technology and entrepreneurship. Attendees will be formed into teams of creatives, developers, freelancers, students and researchers, and work together over an intensive 12-hour period. Reflecting on one of the themes described above, the teams will brainstorm innovative solutions and work towards a pitch session at the end of the hack.

Through a series of sprint exercises and bitesize workshops, the teams will work in a vibrant and challenging environment with the finish line being an inspiring idea to take into the world. You don’t need to be a coder or even a technical person to participate. Creative thinkers, artists, project managers - and anyone who just wants to try something new are all equally important.

timeframe that’s sure to yield exciting results. If your organisation would like to get involved by sponsoring or delivering a session on the day, find out how you can participate by contacting events@ sinc.co.uk.

SINC_HACK >17% will be held on the weekend before Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating the pioneering achievements of one of the world’s first computer programmers, and the remarkable women who have since followed in her footsteps. Even if the world didn’t recognise her intelligence at the time, Ada certainly did. She is quoted as saying: “that brain of mine is something more than merely mortal; as time will show.”

Sussex Innovation hopes to help foster that same Ada-inspired confidence in enterprising women today.

As well as great individual prizes to take away, the winning team will receive a free discovery meeting with a member of the Sussex Innovation team to potentially take their idea out into the world.

All participants will get to exercise their creative muscles, hopefully leaving with enthusiasm for a great idea, along with a well-stocked goodie bag. Sussex Innovation have also teamed up with local feminine hygiene charity The Red Box Project, and will be running a collection box for disadvantaged women throughout the day.

Bringing cultural and gender diversity to your business can widen its vision because of the chance to engage with different experiences, opinions and mindsets. The first ever SINC_HACK is putting this theory to the test in a frantic

If you want to learn more about or register for this event, go to www. sinc.co.uk/events or visit the Brighton Digital Festival website.

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START-UPS

Start-Up SURGERY

Welcome to the first edition of Start-up Surgery, a new section offering advice and information, plus profiles of new businesses in the South East. Edited and compiled

by David Tewkesbury.

M

y aim with this new section is to provide businesses with support, advice, guidance and a place to showcase their business and their achievements in a glossy quality magazine that puts them side by side with ‘Business Greats’. And, in time, for them to become a ‘Business Great’ themselves.

I work daily with new, existing and expanding companies and am excited to be have the opportunity to showcase the great work done by individuals and businesses across the region.

I’m excited with the opportunity that this magazine brings, to publicise and showcase the great work that is going on in and around our region. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to see your company’s name on these pages. I’d love to spread the good news.

Start-up Showcase This month, I’m proud to showcase two exciting business, Bounce and Skin Genius. Both companies have had support from the NatWest Business Accelerator programme in

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Brighton and have a similar aims – to help people.

Bounce, started by Christopher Weeks and Alastair Bryne, wants to change the way people look at, and act about mental health. Mental Health has received some really positive coverage over the past few years, including support from the young Royals with their ‘Heads Together’ Campaign. Bounce draws on this and uses the power of our mobile phones to help us make our mental health a daily habit and create a healthy, happier you.

SkinGenius, is an award winning natural and organic skin care solution particularly useful to those who have acne and spots. It came to life after Julia Vearncombe, who struggled with acne as a teenager, was constantly asked by parents how they could help with their skin struggles.

Working with a homeopath, they developed a range of products to fill this market gap.

Other News Finally, there have been a number of horror stories recently about whistle

I’m excited to publicise and showcase the great work that is going on in and around our region. blowing or more precisely, where staff don’t feel able forward to report concerns in the workplace. RiskTalk have developed an app for this. Their phone and web app allows individuals to quickly report their concerns, anonymously if they wish, to ensure risks are resolved before they become problems. Just search Risk Talk in the App Store.

Get involved. Send your business questions to davidtewkesbury@merranti.com.

Or if you would like your start-up profiled, email David for details.

ASK

DAVID

I am asking for start-ups to send in questions about starting and growing a business. To kick off, I am answering question that I am often asked:

What is the difference between a coach, a mentor and a business consultant?

How do I know which my business needs.

It is a great question and one that I hear a lot. All three roles are critical to businesses but it’s important to find the person that fulfils your need.’

Coaches work with their client to help them develop their own solutions, believing that the answer is within the client.

It is a facilitative engagement where the coach asks questions, suggests techniques and helps the client to identify the right solution for them. Coaching generally takes the form of several sessions and therefore is often completed over a period, from one month to longer.

Best for: Personal and business development over several months where the learning is key Mentors use their knowledge and experience to help guide their client to a successful outcome. Using their own experience and knowledge, a mentor suggests solutions and helps a client develop over a period of time. Like coaching except the mentor provides some of the solutions.

Best for: Personal and business development over several months where the client needs to develop new skills.

Business Consultants are engaged for discrete pieces of work with specific outcomes. The client will come to them with a business challenge, problem, or need, and the business consultant will fix that problem. Actual client effort varies with each piece of work, but it is normal to expect the Business Consultant to do much of the work.

INTRODUCING

DAVID TEWKESBURY

David has vast experience across multiple business sectors. His ‘day job’ was working in the corporate world, looking after IT services provided to major customers such as the top six energy companies, national department stores and specialist marine insurance companies.

In parallel, he had a 26-year career in the Police Service as a Special Constable; a part time, unpaid Police officer. He was appointed the Special Chief Officer in Hertfordshire overseeing 450 Police volunteers.

David is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and is a member of the Institute of Directors, the Association of MBA’s, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the International Coaching Federation. He is also a qualified Personal Performance and Corporate and Executive Coach.

He says, “These affiliations help me to stay connected, stay up to date and enable me to provide the absolute best service to the businesses that I work with.”

Last year, he took a step away from the corporate world to use his knowledge, skills and experience to help business people achieve their goals. He says, “I love to see that ‘aha’ moment in my clients faces and eyes when they ‘get-it’. I work throughout the South helping all manner of businesses and business people achieve their goals and exceed their targets.

BEWARE

SCAM ALERT

I’m sure you’ve all seen the emails, letters and adverts on TV about payment scams. In August, I nearly had one affect me. Let me tell you what happened and, more importantly, how to prevent it. One of my clients emailed my accountant, saying she confirmed she could change the invoice payment details.The problem was, neither I or my accountant sent her an email requesting a change. She had been hacked!

The hacker knew the invoice number and the value and was purporting to be me via email. They also used a process which looked pretty official: I (the scammer) emailed her and said I (the scammer) needed to change the payment details. Could she please confirm this was ok and I’d (the scammer would) send on new details.

She replied and then was waiting for the new details.

In the email, my name was spelt incorrectly and the language wasn’t 100% correct, but these could easily be missed clues. I called her, explained the situation and luckily she hadn’t made the payment.

This was a large organisation and their email had been intercepted

somehow. It was fortunate that ghee did not say the scammer.

I’ve put a plan in place now for these things and I’d like to share them with you. My 3-point plan to protect you, your client and your business.

1 Make it clear to your clients that they should not accept payment changes to invoices once issued, especially by email.

2 If you do need to make a change, reissue the invoice and cancel the original, make your client aware of this with a phone call.

3 Use telephone calls to validate any queries. Use a codeword if necessary to ensure you both are speaking to the right person.

A lesson for me and the company concerned. We thought we were smart and would spot an issue. Problem is, the hackers are smarter and learn how to make things look real. Don’t get caught out. Put protection in place.

START-UPS

Start-Up

PROFILE

Bounce Q&A WITH CO-FOUNDER ALASTAIR BYRNE

Bounce is a preventative solution for workforce mental health. It helps boost your employees’ resilience, which reduces sickness absence, and increases productivity and employee retention, while their insights help you easily target your mental wellbeing efforts through their network of partners.

Tell us about your journey into entrepreneurship?

Christopher Weeks and I started Bounce to change the way people look at, and act about, mental health. A large number of our friends, family and close ones were suffering from mental health issues, and we found that solutions were often reactive, heavy handed and hard to access. We wanted to create something better. We wanted to create something that would take a preventative approach to mental health, while being simple, easy to access and available to anyone, anywhere at anytime. So we started our own company to look for the best approach to solve our mission of: inspiring and supporting everyone to better look after their mental health.

In five years time, what impact will your business have on the world?

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In five years time we want to be helping millions of people all around the world improve their mental health.

Whether this is through employers providing Bounce to their employees or individuals signing themselves up to our product, we don’t mind.

What’s your #1 tip for fellow entrepreneurs?

help our business grow. It is great to be surrounded by people who can speed up our learning, improve our skills and provide us with support.

What are you most excited about right now?

We are most excited about getting as many people trying Bounce and improving their mental health.

Always be willing to ask for help.

It is hard work building a business and you can’t know everything, so you need help and lots of it.

How has the NatWest Accelerator programme helped to accelerate you and your business?

The programme has helped us to accelerate our business by surrounding us with other entrepreneurs, advisors, and connecting us with a network of individuals that can

You can try it for free now at: https://bouncebot.io or contact chris@bouncebot.io if you want to help your team improve their mental health.

Follow us on twitter: @bounce_bot

Start-Up

PROFILE ucts and eliminate the use of single use plastic within the company.

What’s your #1 tip for fellow entrepreneurs?

SkinGenius Skincare

Q&A WITH CO-FOUNDER JULIA VEARNCOMBE

SkinGenius Skincare Ltd is an award-winning natural and organic skincare solution that brings positive results to anyone who has acne and spots within 24 hours.

Tell us about your journey into entrepreneurship?

Having struggled with acne as a teenager and into my early twenties, when my clients started asking what they could use on their son/daughters skin as they were getting spots, I took a keen interest in finding out more. There were on the shelf products that were full of chemical ingredients and as I wouldn’t put them on my skin I couldn’t recommend them.

Working in hairdressing and beauty, it felt exciting as I worked on my new challenge alongside my ‘day job’. I called on my friend Hilery, a homeopath who has a wealth of knowledge on the skin and ingredients and between us, our skills pulled together to create SkinGenius, which launched at the end of 2015. It took several months to come up with the name and we quickly realised we had a winner as we fought off two large corporate companies for it. We stuck

to our guns from the beginning and refused to be intimidated as we knew the amount of hard work we had done so far and we were not going to let the big boys shout us down.

We won – full steam ahead.

In five years time, what impact will your business have on the world?

We want to be the market leader.

With ethical skincare sales rising, we want to provide a natural, kind and quality skincare solution that works with the skin, whoever you are. Our products bring positive results with the skin, bring confidence and change peoples lives. We currently support ‘Be The Change’ programme which helps young students with confidence and getting out into the workplace. We are committed to using only natural ingredients and we will commit to finding alternative packaging for our prod-

Believe in yourself and remember why you started. Stay strong, you can succeed and conquer the obstacles that come your way with a positive mind and your belief.

How has the NatWest Accelerator programme helped to accelerate you and your business?

The programme has given us support, understanding, opportunities, workshops, advice and has challenged us. Everyone you meet has a genuine interest in you and your business and want to help and give you opportunities whenever they can. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time so far and I look forward to going into the office and attending any meetings or workshops.

What are you most excited about right now?

We have relaunched after extensive customer analysis and workshops - we have redesigned the labels and our website has had a complete overhaul. We will be launching a new product this year for the range and are currently developing our next product range. We have also won our eighth award so we are currently buzzing with everything that is happening. The testimonials and reviews we receive regularly from customers telling us how SkinGenius has changed their lives in different ways keeps us excited and happy daily.

www.skin-genius.co.uk or facebook, twitter and instagram, search for SkinGenius.

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Team Domenica at The Grand WEDNESDAY 14TH NOVEMBER 12PM–4PM

Charity Business Lunch With charity appeal

by Founder Rosa Monckton MBE

Find out what the opportunities are for you as an employer

Live auction with VIP host (TBA)

Raising awareness of learning disability employment

With guest speaker Rt Hon Michael Grove MP “Taking back control – the importance of telling the Prime Minister who’s really the boss!”

teamdomenicathegrand.eventbrite.co.uk 01273 681111

www.teamdomenica.com

£75 per ticket Includes three course lunch with drinks, tea and coffee

CHARITY LUNCHEON

Telling the PM

who’s the boss The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP is the guest speaker at the Team Domenica fundraising lunch

C

ome and join Team Domenica for a charity business lunch at The Grand, Brighton on November 14th 2018, with special guest speaker Rt Hon Michael Gove MP. The star-studded business lunch and charity fundraising event, which is being hosted by Team Domenica, a Brighton-based social enterprise charity helping young people with learning disabilities find work, aims to increase awareness of learning disability employment.

need the most help, and whose lives will be the most transformed by full engagement in the community.”

Besides the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP’s speech, the event, which will be hosted a Special VIP host, also includes a welcome drink, three-course lunch with tea and coffee, a charity appeal by Team Domenica’s Founder Rosa Monckton MBE and a live auction with VIP host.

Speaking ahead of the event, Team Domenica Founder & Chair, Rosa Monckton said: “The work that we do is life changing. We are giving hope, where previously there was none; giving young adults with learning disabilities a sense

of self-worth, and – often for the very first time – a sense of achievement and belonging.”

To learn more about Team Domenica and the work we do, please visit: http://www.teamdomenica.com/ You can buy your ticket for our charity networking event by visiting our Eventbrite page: teamdomenicathegrand.eventbrite.co.uk

Rose Monckton and her daughter Domenica

If you, or your business, is interested in finding out how employing young adults with learning disabilities can benefit your organisation, or you are seeking to engage with your local community and support Team Domenica, this is the event for you.

The main guest for the event is the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who will be delivering his speech: “Taking Back Control – the importance of telling the Prime Minister who’s really the boss!”

Commenting on his participation, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP said: “Team Domenica is the model for what we should be doing to give employment opportunity to those with learning disabilities who

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HOTEL

T

his year’s National Spa Week ran from September 10th-17th, and as much as we loved lazing about wearing dressing gowns and having treatments, there’s more to the benefits of the spa than just the obvious.

Rachel Hutchinson from The Grand Brighton explains why you should book a hotel with a spa for your next conference

Eat, drink, meet and

RELAX 100

Why would you book a spa hotel for your next conference or company team building event?

Well, we know that as a nation we are more stressed out than ever before; with increased workloads, jangling emails 24/7 on our devices, and the overwhelming constant juggle that is the work/life balance.

All this stress and pressure means that it’s vital we are given a chance to recharge our batteries and disconnect, even if only briefly, from the pressures of modern life. And this escape applies to the time spent at events too.

Corporate wellness has increasingly come under focus as businesses realise the importance of their employees’ physical and mental health alike. We are more

1

FIRSTLY,

2

SECONDLY,

3

IT REDUCES STRESS

booking a quality venue with a spa tells your staff that you care about them. Seriously. Who wants to stay in a budget hotel with ghastly facilities? Love your staff and they’ll love you back. So that’s a good reason all on its own. you’re going to get a much more positive approach from your attendees. Obviously not if they’re bunking off in the spa when they’re supposed to be contributing to the ideas cloud in the boardroom, but you get the gist. Feeling well and feeling valued will pay dividends in terms of commitment.

A bit like No 2, if your staff are feeling refreshed and revitalised they’re going to function better and be more productive. Stress is a productivity killer. When your body experiences stress, your body is flooded with cortisol and testosterone, preparing for the ‘fight or flight’ response. These additional chemicals work against your brain and stop you from focusing on the task at hand. Reduce that stress.

4

HAVING TREATMENTS LIKE MASSAGES has been proven to help alleviate stress by reducing your cortisol levels and in turn lowering your risk of high blood pressure, protecting your immune system and reducing your risk of obesity. (Interestingly, you do not need an hour-long massage to lower your stress levels, a mere 15 minutes is sufficient.)

5

EVERYONE’S GOING TO SLEEP BETTER

Did you know that losing sleep directly destroys your concentration levels and problem-solving abilities? In fact, studies show that for each hour of sleep that is lost each night, your IQ is temporarily reduced by one point! Get that all-important quality sleep.

able to recognise the detrimental effect burn-out will have on performance if we ignore wellbeing. And a business is nothing without its staff.

But why are events an even bigger deal than day to day pressure?

First of all, you’re away from home, and although a change from the norm or a new destination can be refreshing sometimes, it can also mean additional pressures i.e packing, travelling, missing loved ones... Conferences and events also involve long days with intense periods of concentration demanded; the risk of burn-out in delegates is high. The same with extreme days at events, or even simply the burden of spending long periods of time with people we don’t know… or maybe don’t like!

How about residential events, where partners are allowed? What do they do with themselves all day? Or simply the sheer mental release that goes with a night away from home and a chance to ‘let go’? And what about if you have delegates that really just don’t want to go to the event?! Let’s face it – that hap-

6

IT HELPS WITH THE HANGOVERS Need we say more? Regretting that last round of shots? Maybe didn’t need all that wine with dinner? How about busting that hangover with a sauna and a shower in the gorgeous-smelling spa and coming out feeling like a million quid? We even offer a ‘Whiskey Chaser’ treatment package for those who have overindulged the night before.

7

EVER THOUGHT

about making it part of the event? In Finland they do everything in the sauna – drink beer, have meetings, even give birth (no, honestly!). Why not consider holding your loose agenda in the spa area?

With less pressure and stress, creative juices will flow, and ideas will flourish.

pens (more often than anyone would think, we bet!) The solution? Book a hotel with a spa. It’s a no-brainer, really.

For more information on booking a conference or event at The Grand Brighton, visit: www.grandbrighton.co.uk/meetings Or for more information on the treatments and facilities at The Spa at The Grand, visit: www.grandbrighton.co.uk/spa

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SPONSOR

SPOTLIGHT

BRIGHTON AND HOVE BUSINESS AWARDS 2018

T

he Brighton & Hove Business Awards 2018 was held at the Hilton Brighton Metropole on July 14th and was the biggest and best event in its 13 year history, with a record breaking number of entries.

We would like to thank all our valued sponsors for giving their time in the rigorous judging process and arriving at such a worthy roster of winners. Being an award winner can have a huge impact on the business and marks you out from the crowd.

This is the first year in the ownership of the Platinum Group and a huge effort was made to ensure it was an evening to remember. The theme was circus with a variety of stunning and hilarious acts and a finale that got the room dancing into the small hours.

To be a winner in 2019, prepare those entries as you will not believe what we have in store and you really do have to be in it to win it.

Sponsor of GREEN BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

GREEN GROWTH PLATFORM The University of Brighton’s Green Growth Platform provides support to green, environmental, and low carbon businesses. The project assists a thriving green sector in Sussex through a menu of 1-2-1 business support, innovation and R&D support, events, opportunities and skills development, delivered by a team of industry experts, business advisors and university specialists.

WINNER: Brighton & Hove Energy Services Cooperative Sponsor of PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AWARD

QUANTUMA Quantuma is a leading business advisory and restructuring firm, with a partner team of 250 years of collective experience in successfully delivering tailored solutions to businesses facing financial difficulties. They offer a full range of services and solutions from advisory assignments and informal procedures, to formal insolvency procedures alongside many additional services such as corporate finance and forensic investigation.

WINNER: Cardens Accountants Sponsor of INNOVATION IN BUSINESS

UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON The University of Brighton is a thriving, multi-campus university with a focus on practice-based, creative and professional education. A dynamic, diverse and creative community, the University of Brighton has a long-established track record of partnering with industry and providing practical solutions to meet the challenges of an ever-changing business environment nationally and internationally.

WINNER: Ignitho Technologies

Sponsor of BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE

RED7 Red7 is an independent travel company which organises premium holidays, group tours and business travel and arranges bespoke corporate retreats and staff incentive holidays to destinations in the UK, Europe and across the globe. Founded in 1997, the company is based in Brighton’s North Laine and is IATA accredited, ATOL and ABTA protected.

WINNER: The Old Ship Sponsor of SME BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

HILTON, SHARP & CLARKE Hilton, Sharpe & Clarke were established in 1870 and have been the leading firm of independent chartered accountants in Brighton and Hove ever since, working with clients locally, nationally and internationally. As trusted advisors, they deliver proactive solutions for all of your business and personal finance needs, harnessing the latest technology to provide real-time insight into your business.

WINNER: Pragmatic Sponsor of OUTSTANDING BRIGHTONIAN

SKERRITTS WEALTH MANAGEMENT Skerritts Wealth Management are a leading firm of Independent Financial Advisers and Wealth Managers, attaining Chartered Financial Planning and Discretionary Investment Manager status. Serving in excess of over 25,000 clients, they provide financial and investment advice to a broad range of high network individuals, directors, trustees and companies, and have won the New Model Adviser Award eight years running.

WINNER: Norman Cook Sponsor of COMPANY OF THE YEAR

DMH STALLARD DMH Stallard is an award-winning law firm which works in partnership with some of the most successful organisations in the country. With offices in Brighton and across Sussex, Surrey and London, they provide an exceptional level of client service to businesses and private clients, whether they are an established business, a start-up or an individual.

WINNER: Paxton Access Sponsor of BEST INDEPENDENT RETAILER

CHURCHILL SQUARE Situated in the heart of Brighton, Churchill Square is the city’s retail destination and has over 80 leading high street and international retailers all under one roof. Anchored by department store Debenhams, Churchill Square is home to leading fashion brands including Topshop, Urban Outfitters, Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear, Tiger, Victoria’s Secret, Skechers and many more.

WINNER: Kellie Miller Arts Sponsor of BUSINESSPERSON OF THE YEAR

NATWEST NatWest is a UK centric bank that remains committed to the SME market, offering businesses specialist knowledge and entrepreneurial support. The focal point of their service is a dedicated Relationship Manager for their customers, available on hand to meet their financial and corporate banking needs, as well as offering useful insights about the local business area.

WINNER: Steve Kerassitis, Haybury

BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY

T Hilton in the Community The Hilton Brighton Metropole won the award for Business in the Community at the BAHBAs in July. On these pages we highlight some of the ways the team at the hotel raise funds and awareness for local good causes. This year the team has raised ÂŁ100,000.

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he Hilton Brighton Metropole is well known for hosting charity balls, and millions have been raised over the years at these events, particularly through auctions, but working for good causes is not limited to black tie events. The staff are actively involved in a wide range of charitable and community events, and this commitment throughout the business was noted by the judges at the Brighton and Hove Business Awards.

Having a Ball The Hilton Brighton Metropole, along with the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People, organises its own Midsummer Ball, which has become an unmissable date in the diary, and well

known for encouraging local celebrities and businesspeople to perform their dancing skills (or sometimes lack of dancing skills) before a packed audience. This year’s event, ‘A Night of Nashville’, raised £74,717 for Action Medical Research, Chailey Heritage Foundation, Chestnut Tree House and The Starr Trust. This is the 17th year the foundation has held a ball in partnership with the hotel to help the young people of Sussex.

The money raised from the ball will be used to improve the lives, aspirations and care of disabled, sick and disadvantaged young people of Sussex through the work of the local charities.

Sascha Koehler, GM of Hilton Brighton Metropole, has announced the 2019 date for the midsummer ball will be June 22nd with A Night at the Moulin Rouge.

Snailspace Hilton Brighton Metropole is proud to support Brighton and Hove charity, Martlets Hospice, and be part of the Wild in Art campaign ‘Snailspace’ this autumn.

The team at the hotel, chose Iris designed by Melanie SramekBennett t to be our snail. Iris now proudly sits at the entrance to the hotel and we will be encouraging all of our team member to get involved with the trail through a number of fundraising initiatives on behalf of the Martlets. Hilton Brighton Metropole is also sponsoring the much anticipated final event of the Snailspace Sculpture Trail which will see the auction of 50 incredible works of art by over 40 different artists, surprise lots, guest appearances, hundreds of bidders and two hours of nail biting excitement both in the Oxford Suite and online. Guests will include sponsors, artists major donors and snail lovers and will take place on Monday December 3rd.

a series of water based challenges including kayaking, raft building and raft race across Hove lagoon. This great event helped raise over £5,000 with monies still coming in.

Brighton Pride For the past five years, Hilton Brighton Metropole have supported Brighton Pride and the Golden Handbag Awards.

As hotel headquarters we host a VIP Pride Breakfast which overlooks the route from the 7th floor as well as accommodating the Pride acts, a float on behalf of the hotel is entered into the parade, in 2018 the hotel partnered up with local company E3 to deliver a panto themed float. The Golden Handbag Awards which celebrates everything positive about LGBT in the Brighton community is held annually in the Oxford Suite and is sponsored by Hilton Brighton Metropole.

Beach Clean In July the sales team took part in a Brighton beach clean up for Hilton’s ‘Global Week of Service’. GWoS is where we as team members give something back to the local community we live and work in. After donning personal protective equipment and armed with waste collectors the team managed to collect six full waste bags.

Starr Wars

Trek the Night Hike in aid of Action Medical Research

LivingWell Health Club entered a 4 person team in the annual Starr Wars event, which raises much need money for two local charities The Starr Trust and Rockinghorse the official fundraising arm of the Royal Alexandra Children’s hospital. The team had to undertake

At the stroke of midnight on the 14th July 2018 our Mad Hikers began a 40 mile challenge which starts at the ancient site of Devil’s Dyke all in aid of charity. They trekked through some of the most challenging and breathtaking landscapes the South Downs has to offer on one of the

For the past five years, Hilton Brighton Metropole have supported Brighton Pride and the Golden Handbag Awards. hottest days of the year, past beautiful Lewes Castle, through the picturesque village of Alfriston and over the famous Seven Sisters cliffs. After watching the sun rise, our mad hikers pushed on through the next day, to the finish line at Beachy Head, Eastbourne, to complete an insane adventure and raised over £1,500 for Action Medical Research.

Strictly Charleston Hilton Brighton Metropole and Strictly Charleston dance contest raised over £750 at the opening weekend at Brighton Fringe. MyCharleston held a ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ style competition in aid of Mind, the mental health charity. In the run up to the event, MyCharleston trained three members of staff from Hilton Brighton Metropole – Maria Di Leo, Sara Merriman and Inmaculada Guerra Sanchez – for a month with a professional dancer partner. Each couple took to the floor on the 5th May to win votes from the audience of 200 people, raising over £750 for their chosen charity. The hotel’s Front Office Supervisor Maria di Leo won with dance partner Rachel Hulme.

These are just a selection of fundraising events the team at Hilton Brighton Metropole have been involved in during 2018 and there are many more planned for 2019!

brightonmet.hilton.com @BrightonMet

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BRIGHTON EVENT As we welcome in autumn, the new season brings with it the Sussex Conference, one of the area’s biggest business conferences. Sonny Cutting, founder of Net XP, explains more.

Bowling for

Business

S

ummer has been and gone, and autumn has inevitably set in.

The Mid-Sussex Business Expo at the South of England Showground on the 27th September delivered Net XP's biggest exhibition to date. It brought together 100's of local businesses under one roof and was a phenomenal success.

The ‘Early Bird’ business breakfast and conference enlightened, inspired and energised guests in the morning with delegates listening through wireless headphones to capture the keynote speakers’ talks.

Headsets like this have only ever been previously offered by the biggest expo event organisers in London at locations including Excel and The O2, but Net XP recognised the value, and so adapted to the marketplace opportunity with lightning speed. Keeping ahead of the game and keeping up with technology advancements at tradeshows and B2B events has meant Net XP are harnessing everything in its power for exhibitions.

With the final exhibition of the year now officially out of the way, what's next for Net XP, and the creator of the brand, Sonny Cutting? Sitting back, relaxing and watching the rest of the

year unfold? Not a chance, a few days break and then straight into the final preparations for the Sussex Conference on 6th December being held at the Malmaison at Brighton Marina.

The conference is like a roadshow roaming Sussex. Hurstpierpoint hosted it for the first year in 2015, Eastbourne in 2016, Hastings in 2017, Brighton in 2018 and Gatwick will host it in 2019. The conference is our endof-year extravaganza; the opportunity to relax, have an exquisite lunch, and be inspired by successful entrepreneurs who are still venturing along their own business journey.

Our keynote speakers are personally and painstakingly chosen by us - we look for memorable and engaging individuals who will resonate with our audiences. It takes time, effort and experience to enthral and capture an audience’s attention and this year will not disappoint.

The 2018 Sussex Conference's speakers include: Anthony Prior, Bagelman;

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Mina O'Brien, Ditzy Media; Simon Bulteel, Cooden Tax Consulting; James Dempster, Cobb Digital; Heather Kingdon, Assist First Aid; Wes Atkinson, Appitierre; and Gerry Thompson, Positive Comedy, to finish the day. The conference runs from 12pm-5pm and is just £75+VAT pp to attend. We've also got drinks on ice at the bar for relaxed networking and enjoyment for when the event finishes.

Who would like to come and join us for a tenpin bowling themed conference which will be a 'strike' to remember?

Sorry, couldn't resist. Please contact Sonny for more information at netxp.co.uk.

Customer Service Excellence The Sandown Group are proudly sponsoring the ‘Best Customer Service’ award at this year’s Surrey Business Awards.

At Sandown, we pride ourselves on excellent customer service. Our dedication to customer care and quality stretches beyond the forecourt, with specialists always on-hand to help you find your new or used vehicle. As well as expert servicing and repairs to keep your car running smoothly for years to come.

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Mercedes-Benz of Guildford

MOTORING

THE

WONDER FROM WOKING

McLaren Automotive is based in Surrey and quite apart from running the world-famous Formula 1 racing team, now produce some of the most eye-watering sports cars in the world. Their F1 team might be in the doldrums at the moment but that certainly cannot be said for their road cars, as you might have noticed in issue 49 when l reviewed their barnstorming new 720S.

By Motoring Editor, Maarten Hoffmann.

T

he company’s smaller brother to the 720S is the 570S and when they asked me to review them both, it felt churlish to refuse!

Although this is the ‘entry’ version, it is the first in their Sports Series, slotting in below the Super Series (650S and 675LT) and the Ultimate Series (P1 and P1 GTR) but don’t let the word ‘entry’ confuse you as this packs a punch and a half. The 3.8-litre twin turbo delivers 562bhp and will hit 60mpg in a

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blistering 3.1 seconds and will go onto 100mph in only 6.3 seconds.

As a rival to the Porsche 911 turbo and the Audi R8, it delivers in just about every area and leaves them both standing. This is not a drive – it is an experience. An experience you will want again and again.

The smooth and silky body just screams to be licked (when no one is looking, of course) and, unlike the

720S, it does not have any active aerodynamic bits of kit, just a sleek body that slips through the wind at breakneck speed. It offers the same carbon fibre tub and seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and no limited slip diff. The dihedral doors are also here giving a bit of theatre to every entrance and exit and the throttle response is astonishing. It should be mentioned here that the engine and gearbox are developed in partnership with Ricardo plc, based in Shoreham, Sussex.

Model tested: McLaren 570S Spider Engine: 3.8-litre V8 twin-turbo Power: 562bhp Speed: 0-60mph 3.1 seconds Top Speed: 204mph Economy: 16.6mpg Price: £143,250

The brake feel and steering are remarkable, the chassis is astonishing in what it will allow the car to do on the move and the ride is superb. Its pace outshines the Porsche, Ferrari F12 and Mercedes AMG GT S. Ok, there is a whiff of turbo lag around 3000rpm but once it exceeds that, hang on for dear life. Pop it up to 8000rpm and the remarkable speed can take your breath away and any of the afore mentioned cars that just beat you away from the lights, will rapidly be shrinking in your rear view mirror. The carbon-ceramic brakes will ensure you stop on demand and if too eager, there might be some marks across your chest from the seatbelt.

The interior is no disappointment and l am pleased to see the gear selector confined to history as all we have here are three buttons, forward, back and neutral. The infotainment screen floats above the transmission tunnel and they have managed to make this relatively small car feel large on the inside. On its centre console, the Active Dynamics panel allows you to switch between drive modes that give the adaptive dampers firmer settings, and there are double wishbones all round and the retention of electrohydraulic rather than fully elec-

tric power steering. Overall, the interior has the feel of a fighter cockpit and if it were nor for the clever aerodynamics, it would most likely actually take off.

McLaren have taken on the task of designing its own infotainment system and here is the only slight disappointment as the satnav is tricky to get to grips with and the DAB tuner defeated me completely as simple mistakes send you off into an unknown universe.

Of course, you can learn these foibles but l am not sure one should have to put that much effort in. Ripping this thing around at high speed, who cares but sitting in traffic on the M23, it really matters if you can’t find BBC radio or get Bluetooth connectivity. Luggage space is somewhat restricted you might be shocked to hear but the nose-mounted ‘boot’ will carry a reasonable sized case and there are sufficient pockets inside.

We often hear that the UK has lost it manufacturing heritage and there are so very few UK manufacturers but right here in the South East, we have one of the finest supercar manufacturers in the world and if they keep churning out cars like this, they ain’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The interior has the feel of a fighter cockpit and if it were nor for the clever aerodynamics, it would most likely actually take off.

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Brighton Business Expo Date: Thursday 11th October Time: 10am-4pm Venue: Brighton Racecourse

awards

& expos

b2bexpos.co.uk

Sussex Business Awards

Adur & Worthing Business Awards

Date: Thursday 29th November Time: The Grand Brighton Price: £90

Date: Friday 16th November Time: Worthing Pavilion Price: £60

www.sbawards.org.uk

Sussex Business Women Excellence Award

awbawards.com

Meet the Buyers Date: Wednesday 21st November Time: Arora Hotel, Crawley

Date: Friday 30th November Time: The Hilton Brighton Metropole Price: £75

http://www.gatwickdiamondmeetthebuyers.com

http://businesswomenexcellenceawards.co.uk/

chambers

Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce

Brighton Summit – Look Up

Date: Friday 12th October Time: 8:30am-6pm Venue: The Clarendon Centre, 47 New England Street, Brighton Price: £95-£115 The Summit is for anyone in and around Brighton who wants to evolve and grow their business. It’s relevant for all kinds of enterprises: from SMEs to start-ups; from multinationals to social enterprises and charities - whether you’re a business owner, a CEO, a manager, an entrepreneur or an employee.

Bite-sized Learning: How to pitch and present like a pro Date: Wednesday 17th October Time: 9:30am-11:30am Venue: The 1st Central County Ground, Eaton Road, Hove In this workshop with Brighton Comedy Course, learn practical methods and techniques to enhance your confidence, get your message heard and change the way you present and pitch forever.

DISCOUNT CODE FOR PLATINUM MAGAZINE READERS: For £10 off your ticket, enter the code Platinum at the checkout

Spotlight Supper with Nikki Gatenby Date: Tuesday 23rd October Time: 6pm-8pm Venue: The New Club, 133-134 Kings Road, Brighton Nikki Gatenby is MD of Propellernet, a digital marketing agency that has been consistently ranked one of the top ten places to work in the UK and Europe since 2013. Hear how she made it happen.

The ‘Out of the ordinary’ Pop-up Breakfast

The ‘Out of the darkness’ Breakfast

Date: Thursday 18th October Time: 9am-11am Venue: Redroaster, 1D St James’s Street, Brighton

Date: Friday 26th October Time: 7:45am-9:30am Venue: Carluccio’s, 1 Jubilee Street, Brighton

Responsible Travel is far from ‘normal’ and that’s exactly how co-founder Justin Francis likes it. Come and hear about his business journey at our October pop-up.

Hear how Melanie Lawson’s lightbulb moment came about, kickstarting her journey towards launching Bare Biology – the UK’s top premium Omega 3 brand.

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Chichester Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Eastbourne Chamber of Commerce

Networking Chamber Monthly Meeting

Blooming late Breakfast

Date: Monday 8th October Time: 6pm-8:15pm Venue: Cobnor Activities Centre Trust, Cobnor Point, Chidham Price: Free

Date: Wednesday 10th October Time: 9am Venue: The Bloom Factory, 87 Seaside Road, Eastbourne Price: £10

Join us at our regular Networking Chamber Monthly meeting.

If you are not a fan of early mornings or you need to get the kids off to school, this breakfast has been specifically designed for you! This unique venue provides an informal environment for attendees to make new business connections or catch up with existing contacts.

Breakfast will include sausage or bacon rolls, pastries and fresh fruit.

The Chichester Business Breakfast in conjunction with Chichester College Date: Wednesday 10th October Time: 7.30am-9am Venue: Chichester College, Westgate Fields, Chichester Price: Members £12.00 | Non-members £13.50 This monthly breakfast provides a friendly, relaxed and informative environment for local businesses to network and improve their business profile locally, with a guest speaker (includes a full English breakfast).

Behind the Scenes - Waitrose Date: Wednesday 17th October Time: 9.30am-11.30am Venue: Waitrose, Via Ravenna, Chichester Price: Members only £10 Find out more about this large business in our city, with an opportunity to look around the offices and on-line business, as well as meeting the branch management team and the staff (known as Partners).

Coffee and croissants with our local MP, Gillian Keegan Date: Friday 19th October Time: 8am-9am Venue: Chichester College, Westgate Fields, Chichester Come along to Chichester College to enjoy a chat with our local MP, Gillian Keegan over a breakfast of coffee and croissants.

All places for events must be booked via the CCCI website. For more information visit www.chichestercci.org.uk

Members Evening - Devonshire West Big Local 5th Birthday Date: Wednesday 17th October Venue: Seaside Community Hub, 125 Seaside Road, Eastbourne Price: Free for chamber members Devonshire West Big Local (DWBL) is one of 150 areas nationally that have been given a million pounds to improve the area for the benefit of its residents in the sea-side area of Eastbourne. To celebrate their fifth birthday, they would love the opportunity to show our members some of the projects they have funded and supported during that time. Complimentary wine and nibbles will be provided as well as an opportunity for net-working.

Cyber Security Essentials Seminar Date: Friday 26th October Venue: Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club, 3 Harbour Quay, Eastbourne Price: Free for chamber members Brought to you by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit’s Cyber Crime Protect. The aim of this event is to raise awareness of cyber security issues within organisations and how to protect yourself from being a victim or victimised further.

Edeal First Friday business networking Date: Friday 2nd November Time: 12.30pm Venue: The Cavendish Hotel, 38 Grand Parade Price: Free to attend The First Friday Network is a monthly free to attend business networking event. An informal gathering in a welcoming environment where people feel relaxed and are free to present a 60 second elevator pitch.

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chambers

Sussex Chamber of Commerce

Business Networking Breakfast – The Place for Responsible Business Date: Tuesday 9th October Time: 8am-10:30am Venue: Random Hall, Slinfold Price: £18 Members I £25 Non-members (prices exclude VAT)

Worthing Chamber of Commerce

Chamber Hub Date: Friday 12th October Time: 12:30pm–2:30pm Venue: Impulse Leisure, Lancing Price: Free

Hear updates from Coast to Capital and Southern Coop and learn about the responsible business model.

Spend your lunchtime enjoying some informal networking with like-minded business people. Chamber Hub is a well-established, popular networking event which attracts a vast selection of local businesses.

Connect with Sussex Chamber

Cyber Security Wiseup2

Date: Tuesday 9th October Time: 9am-11am Venue: Sussex Chamber of Commerce, Burgess Hill Price: Free for non-members only

Date: Wednesday 17th October Time: 9:30am-12:30pm Price: £30

Explore the benefits of membership.

Cyber Security – Clicking, Phishing and Fooling – How easy it is to fool an employee?

Date: Tuesday 16th October Time: 8am-10?30am Venue: The White Swan, Arundel Price: £25 Members | £35 Non-members (prices exclude VAT) Stay on top of the information necessary to assess threats and mitigate risks.

Business Networking Lunch & AGM

Join us for a unique table top exercise which is designed to explore the decisions that people make, in order to protect their businesses from modern day threats, such as hacking and malware attacks, in addition to physical security and crime prevention.

Networking Breakfast with Trading Standards Date: Friday 19th October Time: 7:30am-9am Venue: The Windsor Hotel, Worthing Price: Members £14 +VAT I Non-members £19 +VAT When is a scam not a scam? How do you know you’re dealing with a reliable supplier? They just keep getting better at fooling us! Hear from the experts, what the current scams look like so you won’t get caught (includes a full English breakfast, tea, coffee and juice).

Date: Thursday 18th October Time: 12pm-2:30pm Venue: Sandman Signature Hotel, London Gatwick Price: £25 Members I £35 Non-members (prices exclude VAT)

A chance to ignite your business with informal networking

Francis Martin, President, British Chambers of Commerce, will provide an update on the current situation of Brexit together with other key policy updates.

Date: Wednesday 7th November Time: 5:30pm-7pm Venue: Aqua Italia, Worthing Price: Free

Connect with Sussex Chamber

Join us for a complimentary buffet and informal networking to ignite your business. We will share top tips that have helped others businesses shine above the rest. There will be a cash bar available.

Date: Tuesday 23rd October Time: 9am-11am Venue: The Sportsman, Brighton Price: Free for non-members only Explore the benefits of membership.

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R E G N A ANAGEMENT M

Wine wine everywhere nor any drop to drink. Not quite accurate but highly relevant at the moment.

By Maarten Hoffmann

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ith global warming, we are seeing the chalky South East soil become incredibly fertile for vines whilst the French soil takes a dip the other way. The French deal with this in two ways – firstly they are buying up swathes of Sussex & Kent land to plant their own vines such as Tattinger and Pommery and then they revert to type and start moaning, griping, cheating and generally throwing their toys out of the pram.

Last month, the head of the one of the grandest Bordeaux chateaux was given a suspended prison sentence after a court ruled that the vineyard illegally added sugar to it Margaux. Alexander

What is it with

van Beek, direct of Chateau Giscours, one of the top-ranked Margaux grands crus classes fraudulently added sugar to the 2016 vintage. The estate was fined £200,000 and were ordered to destroy 39,700 litres of seized wine, equivalent to 53,000 bottles, worth £2.3 million.

The procedure of adding sugar, known as ‘chaptalisation’, raises the alcohol level in fermentation and is permitted in France under strict conditions, when poor weather has lowered the natural sugar level in the grapes. Beek claimed it was an unfortunate error. The court ruled he lied through his teeth.

This unfortunate case follows quite a few recent cases. In February, the

THE FRENCH? 114

French authorities stated that at least 15% of the entire annual output of Cotes-du-Rhone appellation was counterfeit. My best mate is French and he has always stated that the French tend to export wine that they would not drink themselves and keep for internal consumption the wines they feel superior. He is forever putting a £4 bottle of stunning unknown wine in front of me and laughing.

They have been up their own backsides for centuries over their wine until the Aussies, Kiwis, Yanks and Brits have come along and beat them at their own game. In 2016, English sparkling wine toasted a spectacular victory over the French version – as an elite group of Parisian experts said it was better than champagne.

A team from Britain’s Wine and Spirit Trade Association travelled across the Channel and invited some of the biggest names in the Gallic restaurant and bar trade to a blind tasting. Many were convinced that some of the UK-produced fizz was from their own country, and in most cases, they preferred it to champagne.

In the first tasting of its kind in Paris, those taking part said the English sparkling wine was better in two out of three categories, and it drew with the champagne in the other.

Among the successes was a £40 bottle of 2009 Nyetimber sparkling wine produced in West Sussex. Nine members of the 14-member panel thought it was better than a £65 bottle of Billecart-Salmon Grand Cru champagne.

When a £37.99 bottle of 2011 Gusborne Rose went up against a NV Ayala, Rose

CHEATING is a choice, not a mistake Majeur from Champagne, nine preferred the Gusborne and five picked the champagne. Half the tasters thought the English wine was champagne.

tasting. “England’s increasingly warm climate and its chalk soils are ideal for producing bubbly, and now the French are starting to agree.”

"We couldn’t have expected the tasting to go so well,” said Matthew Jukes, the British wine expert and author who organised the historic event, at Juveniles restaurant in central Paris, in time for St George’s Day, on April 23rd. "In all my years writing about wine, I never would have believed that top French palates would take English sparkling wine for Champagne – it really is immensely exciting," Mr Jukes added after the

UK wines received a total of 365 awards in 2015, compared with 265 in 2014.

This figure included 46 gold medals, compared to 25 the year before. The production of English wine has seen record vintages in the last two years, seeing an average of around five million bottles per year. This is expected to grow to 10 million bottles by 2020.

Tamara Roberts, who runs the Ridgeview wine estate, said: "I am delighted but certainly not surprised that our Ridgeview Bloomsbury was so well received by the French. Our wines, like many other English sparkling wines, are of the highest quality and reflect the unique climate and geology in and around the South Downs National Park where most of our vineyards are situated."

So, that's their wine sorted, now leti's have a go at their cheese!

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INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS

The Leadership Vacuum U

ltimately, leadership is not about glorious crowning acts.

It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it, especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter. It is about laying the groundwork for others’ success, and then standing back and letting them shine.”

Does that quote from the inspirational astronaut Chris Hadfield remind you of any of the current crop of our national leaders? No, nor me. It does currently seem to be the case that those seeking and plotting for leadership are doing so for personal “glorious crowning acts” rather than any other reason.

I am not naive enough to think that personal ambition was never a factor in the rise to positions of power – of course it was. However, I suppose I am naive enough to think that it was not the only factor. If, as Warren Bennis described it, leadership is “the capacity to translate vision into reality” it seems to me that this presupposes both a vision and a degree of capacity.

Ultimately, does a vacuum “at the top” matter if our society is becoming more democratised by the internet? If the elite seemingly have less influence and people are able to access more information and express themselves directly with more freedom, and as global businesses render borders almost meaningless?

I would say yes it does. It is true that communication is indeed much easier and ideas and comments can spread around the world almost instantly. Global companies can be bigger economically and more influential over more people than many national governments. But there still needs to be a means somewhere for both the individual and the corporation to be held to account. What is more, if a little digging below the surface is done have the “elite” less influence, or is it simply less overt and apparent?

By Dean Orgill, Chair of Sussex IoD and Chairman of Mayo Wynne Baxter cles at the moment they are few and far between. It is hardly surprising to see people looking for leadership from celebrities, sporting heroes or “gurus” of various guises through social media – especially when they can apparently connect with those people so much more directly.

Our societies are still based upon the rule of law to keep people safe, to protect the vulnerable and maintain some accountability, for the wider benefit.

To my mind good leadership is essential to achieving that, to ensure that society as a whole carries out its function for everyone’s benefit not the personal glory of the “leader”. Former Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki neatly expressed that, “Leadership is a privilege to better the lives of others. It is not an opportunity to satisfy personal greed”.

It is currently difficult to see in many cases a vision beyond “me in power” or a capacity beyond “and I will say whatever it takes to achieve that, regardless of what I have said before or the facts”.

John C Maxwell described a leader as “one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way”. Now it is not impossible to find examples of such a person, but I would suggest that in political cir-

www.mayowynnebaxter.co.uk www.iod.com

Just a thought Does Cmdr Hadfield’s description apply to you?

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PLATINUM

SPORT SPORT NEWS

WHEN SPORT BECOMES NEWS HEALTH & WELLNESS

WHEN

‘COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF!’

PROFILE OF ALISTAIR COOK CBE

MEETS

SPORT

[ JAMES ROSS AD]

SPORT Athletics

A

news

mid all the success of medals at the European Championships in the Summer, last month, GB’s 2012 Olympic champion Greg Rutherford announced his retirement. Rutherford is one of only five British athletes who have won Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European gold medals, the other four being Linford Christie, Jonathan Edwards, Sally Gunnell and Daley Thompson.

“We had a good team on paper.

Unfortunately, the game was played on grass.”

Brian Clough

American Football

Formula One

A

L

mid all the controversy surrounding Nike using Colin Kaepernick as the face of their new advertising, it was reported that Super Bowl-winning linebacker Mychal Kendricks is facing up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of insider trading. He will be sentenced in December. Meanwhile September saw current Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles 18-12 winners over the Atlanta Falcons in the first game of the new season.

ewis Hamilton continues to lead the way in the Driver’s Championship after victory at Monza, Italy with his nearest rival Sebastian Vettel finishing down in 4th place. GB’s 18-yearold Lando Norris will be driving for McLaren next year and joins Carlos Sainz in an all-new line-up after Fernando Alonso announced he is leaving F1 at the end of the season.

Golf

T

he British Masters takes place at Walton Heath in Surrey from October 11-14 and will be hosted by former winner and Olympic gold medallist Justin Rose. Rose became the first Englishman in 33 years to win the US Open in 2013 and previous hosts have included Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and more recently Lee Westwood.

Snooker

Cricket

T

W

he English Open takes place at the K2 Crawley this month and will run from 15th-21st and will feature 128 of the world’s leading players, all battling for the famous Steve Davis Trophy. Last season’s winner was Ronnie O’Sullivan in a field which included Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Mark Williams and John Higgins. Tickets are available from only £15 at www.worldsnooker.com

omen’s T20 cricket saw Surrey Stars crowned as Champions at Hove after recording a victory over Loughborough Lightning by 66 runs to win the KIA Super League with a brilliant 104 off only 58 balls from Lizelle Lee. On the men’s side, Sussex maintained their push for promotion after a comfortable 274 runs win over Leicestershire ahead of the Sharks T20 Blast Finals Day at Edgbaston following their 5-wicket quarter final victory over Durham Jets.

“That awkward moment when you’re wearing Nike’s and you can’t do it.”

Unknown

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SPORT | PROFILE OF ALISTAIR COOK CBE “When it was tough I didn’t throw the towel in”

Following last month’s Test series victory over India and ahead of next month’s trip to Sri Lanka Laurence Elphick profiles a Cook who won’t be travelling with them.

‘COMPLIMENTS TO THE CHEF!’ I

was planning to write a piece on who is the greatest spin bowler of all time but with the news of record breaking England batsman Alistair Cook announcing his retirement from International duty at the age of 33, it made sense to me that Platinum Sport should recognise and honour a truly English sporting great.

Born on Christmas Day in 1984, Cook was reportedly very emotional as he told his England team-mates the news. He had been considering the decision for

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six months citing the reason that he had lost his ‘mental edge’.

“Over the last six months there have been signs in my mind this was going to happen,” said Cook, who is England’s highest Test run-scorer. “I had always been mentally tough and had that edge to everything I’ve done - and that edge had kind of gone.”

“Although it is a sad day, I can do so with a big smile on my face knowing I have given everything and there is nothing left

in the tank. I have achieved more than I could have ever imagined…the thought of not sharing the dressing room, again, with some of my teammates was the hardest part of my decision, but I know the timing is right.”

Cook made his Test debut against India in March 2006 and scored 12,472 runs spanning a 12-year career where he made 33 centuries in 161 Tests, all of which stand as England records today.

The highlights of his career were being named man of the series in Australia in

2010-11 after scoring 766 runs in England’s first Ashes win since the 1986-87 series, and three successive centuries helping England to win a series in India in 2012 for the first time in 27 years.

“I can look back and say I became the best player I could have become and that means a lot to me,” ‘Cookie’ as he’s known, said: “I was never the most talented cricketer, but I definitely got everything out of my ability.”

He said the fallout from Kevin Pietersen’s sacking in 2014 after the 5-0 Ashes defeat was among the lowest periods of his England career, where Pietersen later made allegations of a bullying culture in the England squad. This at a time when Cook was captain of the national team.

In 2015, when the ECB director of cricket Andrew Strauss announced Pietersen would not be considered for selection, Cook said. “I was involved in a decision without being the bloke who made the final decision. It could have been handled differently…it wasn’t great for English cricket.”

Cook was vilified for his role in Pietersen’s departure and he became a pantomime villain on social media, but the support of many cricket followers remained strong. Cook had struggled for form during that year and despite repeated calls for him to be replaced as captain he led England to a home Ashes win the following summer.

“When it was tough I didn’t throw the towel in,” Cook said. “I was the best man for the job.”

In 2016, whilst being featured on BBC’s Countryfile, Cook described how farming helped his cricket by taking his mind off the sport and giving him something else to focus on. It was a revealing glimpse into a life far removed from the cricket pitch as he allowed television cameras to film him, his wife Alice and their daughter Elsie getting “stuck in” during lambing season.

Cook said at the time that if he was able to combine the two careers on a longterm basis, it would be the “absolutely ideal” life for him.

“I think farming does help my cricket in the way that I’m not lying on my sofa thinking ‘what’s my technique doing here?’”

Mrs Cook revealed that the family believed Cook’s work on the farm, near Leighton Buzzard, was responsible for a return to form on the pitch. “Cookie was going through a very lean patch once but the farm’s brilliant,” she said.

“I’ve never let him live it down. Whenever he has a bit of a rough time that’s all he gets, you know, ‘get on the farm and you’ll be alright, forget batting practice.’”

But after quitting the captaincy in 2017, some would argue that his form had steadily dropped away. Apart from two double-centuries last year, against West Indies at Edgbaston in August and against Australia at Melbourne in December, Cook had appeared to struggle. In his last series against India, his highest score was only 29 and he averaged 15.6 before he bowed out in style in the fifth and his final test, with 71 in the first innings and a typically dominant 147 in his second to remind everyone that he is Test cricket’s most successful left-handed batsman.

England’s loss is Essex’s gain as Cook, who captained England in a record 59 Tests, announced that he will continue to play for his county after signing a new three-year deal. But his retirement from the Test side will bring to an end a

When Cook resigned, he ended a fiveyear tenure that had established him as one of the finest skippers of the age. His commitment to the cause earned enormous respect and gratitude and Strauss his predecessor as England captain com-

“He came and got completely stuck in, was tagging sheep, was up at 4.30am loading the lorry. He then went on to score 290 which I think my dad and all the local farmers took a huge amount of credit for.

“Over the last six months there have been signs in my mind this was going to happen” remarkable run of 161 Tests for the opening batsman, who whilst being England’s all-time leading run-scorer and the sixth most prolific batsman in Test history, averages just shy of 45.

Cook will be remembered as a formidable England batsman on his day, scoring a century on his Test debut in Nagpur in 2006 and producing mighty performances to help them clinch the series in Australia in 2010-11, and India in 2012. His highest score was 294 on August 12, 2011 after batting for almost 13 hours at Edgbaston as England achieved the third highest Test total in history with a declaration on 710 for 7.

mented that he “deserves to be looked upon as one of England’s great captains.”

In all his 291 innings combining ODI and Test, it says a lot about the man’s prowess that he only failed to score on 9 separate occasions.

Cook has always preferred the quiet life to being a celebrity and stepping away from the international arena will allow him to spend more time with his wife and family and to work on the family farm.

Who knows how long he will wish to continue with Essex, but irrespective of what happens next, he leaves the international stage as one of cricket’s true greats.

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SPORT | WOMEN’S FOOTBALL

JOIN US this season

For the first time in the club’s history, Brighton & Hove Albion’s first team, women’s team, under23s and under-18s will compete in the top flight of their respective league pyramids this season.

Brighton & Hove Albion compete in the FA Women’s Super League

A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

W

ith Brighton & Hove Albion joining the top flight of women’s football for the 2018/19 season, the FA Women’s Super League (WSL) and its growing audience offer access to a new demographic of football fans.

in the restructured WSL by the FA. Competing at the top level of the women’s game on a fully professional basis, the team will be welcoming the biggest teams and stars in the women’s game, including Chelsea and Manchester City.

With home matches played at Crawley Town’s Broadfield Stadium, in close proximity to Gatwick Airport, the venue offers superb facilities for supporters and local businesses.

Powell, a former England coach, has strength in the squad with players such as Ini Umotong, a prolific Nigerian striker who averaged a goal every other game last season; Ellie Brazil, daughter of Gary and newly arrived from Fiorentina; rising prospect Chloe Peplow; imposing defender Victoria Williams and Wales’s Kayleigh Green.

Hope Powell’s side finished runners up in the second tier last season and were awarded a top-flight licence

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With the game now high calibre, with household names playing and coaching, and England among the favourites to win next summer’s World Cup in France, the timing is right to support one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

Regular live broadcasts in both the UK and international markets mean match sponsorship packages reach an audience both locally and globally.

There are opportunities for your brand to be seen on press backdrops, pitch-side boards and support materials.

For opportunities to take hospitality or sponsor matches this season contact the commercial team directly on 01273 878 278, email: commercial@bhafc.co.uk or visit www.BrightonAndHoveAlbion.com/women

SPORT | FOOTBALL

C

hristopher William Gerard Hughton was born in Forest Gate, East London and played football at the highest level. In 1979 he became the first mixed race player to represent the Republic of Ireland. Born on December 11, 1958, husband to Cheryl and father of four, he is a former left-back who spent the majority of his professional playing career at Tottenham Hotspur between 1979 and 1990, winning the FA Cup twice as well as the UEFA Cup. He gained 53 caps for his country, spent two years at West Ham United and a further season with Brentford before he retired in 1993.

His coaching career began with former club Spurs from June 1993 to October 2007, where he served under ten different managers in a spell that included two caretaker manager roles. On February 22, 2008, Hughton was appointed first team coach under Kevin Keegan at Newcastle United and became caretaker manager in September following the former England manager’s departure. He returned to his coaching role during the 2008/09 season but found himself in the caretaker role again for the 2009/10 campaign following Newcastle’s relegation to the Championship.

The Magpies started that season well with only three defeats in his first twenty-four games where Hughton won the Manager of the Month award three months in a row resulting in his permanent appointment. Defeat was only tasted in four out of forty-six league matches when promotion back to the Premier League was secured in early April with the Geordies remaining unbeaten at St. James’ Park. However, it all went sour as Newcastle and Hughton parted in early December 2010, remarkably with the Magpies in 11th place!

Hughton then took charge of Birmingham City in 2011 where he guided the League Cup holders to the UEFA Europa League group stages and the Championship play-offs, before he

A profile of the Brighton boss

CHRIS HUGHTON moved to Norwich City, then in the Premier League. The Canaries ended the 2012/13 season in 11th place but Hughton left in April 2014 with Norwich one place and five points above the bottom three.

Hughton’s name was reportedly in the frame for the Brighton job after Gus Poyet’s acrimonious departure with the gig being given to former Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia. After the Finn was sacked following a poor season, Hughton’s appointment as Brighton manager was announced on December 31, 2014 where he guided the Seagulls to the Championship play-offs in his first full season.

The Seagulls didn’t have long to wait for their entry into the promised land as the next campaign saw Brighton reach the Premier League for the first time in the club’s history thanks to a second-place finish, ironically behind his former Club, Newcastle United.

Fortunately for the good people of Sussex, Chris will be the guest speaker at

The Seagulls didn’t have long to wait for their entry into the promised land. the Curry Club Lunch on November 15 at Memories of India, Brighton Marina, hosted by Sky Sports Pete Graves.

Sponsored by GAP Solutions, and in aid of Rockinghorse Children’s Charity this will be a highly sort after event and tickets are limited. Prices for this unmissable event start from £65 per person or £600 for a table of 10 together with VIP meet and greet packages as well as loads of amazing auction prizes.

To find out more and to book your tickets, go to www.thecurryclubuk.com

SPORT | MOTORSPORT

BTCC

BRITISH TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

British Saloon Car racing at its best

T

he British Touring Car Championship is a touring car race series that was established in 1958 to enable the racer without a Formula 1 budget to go racing. The championship was initially run with a mix of classes, divided according to engine capacity, racing simultaneously.

This often meant that a driver who chose the right class could win the overall championship without any chance of overall race wins, thereby devaluing the title for the spectators – for example, in the 1980s Chris Hodgetts won two overall titles in a small Toyota Corolla prepared by Hughes Of Beaconsfield, at that time a Mercedes-Benz/ Toyota main dealer when most of the race wins were going to much larger cars; and while the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500s were dominating at the front of the field, Frank Sytner took a title in a Class B BMW M3 and John Cleland’s first title was won in a small Class C Vauxhall Astra. In 1990, the BTCC introduced a class for

BTCC drivers take no prisoners on the track. cars with an engine displacement up to 2.0 litres which would later be adopted by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile and become the Super Touring regulations that were used in various championships in Europe and around the world. In their first year, these cars were run alongside a second class which continued to allow larger engines and was once again dominated by the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500, however from 1991 they became the only cars eligible to compete. The new one-class system was popular with manufacturers from the beginning with six manufacturer supported teams from BMW, Ford, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Vauxhall entered in the championship.

During the first seasons, the cars weren’t fitted with aerodynamic aids such as a front splitter or a rear wing which were allowed from 1995 after Alfa Romeo caused controversy a year earlier, when they entered the 155 fitted with a rear wing - an item that was delivered with the road-going version of the 155, however unfitted in its boot. The continuously high number of manufacturer-backed teams meant rapid development on the cars and quickly growing costs to compete which caused several manufacturers to withdraw from the championship until the 2000 season, when only Ford, Honda and Vauxhall remained in the championship.

To this day, the ‘super touring era’ during the 1990s is still looked at as the most successful period of the BTCC. The high number of manufacturer-backed teams provided very close competition, close and hard-fought racing on track and many spectators at the circuits.

BTCC drivers take no prisoners on the track and it can be a real rough and tumble. If you’re in the way of a faster car there is little compunction to shove you out of the way and this leads to some very exciting racing.

The series runs three races each Sunday with weight added to the fastest cars and a draw reverse grid for the last race of the day. ITV transmit the races on channel 120 every Sunday and if you haven’t seen it, take a look as it is great racing.

SPORT | NETWORKING August saw over 350 businesses attend five Network My Club events across Sussex, Hampshire and London!

T

he Network Albion Business Club networking breakfast is regularly attracting 120+ businesses to the Amex Stadium in Brighton and August’s event was no different, as attendees were also treated to a guest talk by Brighton & Hove Albion Executive Director, Martin Perry.

Network My Club’s newest group, Network My Club at Goodwood, continued to grow in its third month as it welcomed 50+ businesses to the world-famous Goodwood Motor Circuit! Guests met with like-minded businesses throughout Sussex and afar, and also had the opportunity to hear from Goodwood personnel regarding news and upcoming opportunities at the estate.

Due to increasing numbers, August’s Network Pompey Business Club networking breakfast was held in the larger Victory Lounge at Fratton Park, home of Portsmouth Football Club. The 70+ businesses in attendance took the opportunity to make new business contacts in the area, enjoy a buffet breakfast, and hear an intriguing talk from Head of Performance & Recruitment at Portsmouth FC, Dave Wright.

The first ever Network Hampshire Business Club match day networking lunch took place on at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. Similar to the Network Pompey event, due to increasing numbers, the event was moved to

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RECORD MONTH FOR

NETWORK MY CLUB the Hampshire Suite at the stadium, with 50+ guests enjoying an afternoon of networking, a buffet lunch, all to back drop of Hampshire’s County Championship match win against Nottinghamshire.

Finally, the Network Oval Business Club match day networking lunch took place on a gorgeous afternoon at the iconic Kia Oval in Kennington, London. In the same format as Network Hampshire, we welcomed 60+ businesses to enjoy an afternoon of networking, lunch, all to the back drop of Surrey’s match coincidently against Nottinghamshire too!

To find more information about Network My Club and see where they’re hosting events near you across the South and in London, visit: www.networkmyclub.co.uk.

October events: zz NETWORK ALBION BUSINESS CLUB Thursday October 4 – Brighton & Hove Albion FC zz NETWORK MY CLUB AT GOODWOOD Wednesday October 10 – Goodwood Motor Circuit zz PRE BRIGHTON BUSINESS EXPO BREAKFAST Thursday October 11 – Brighton Racecourse zz NETWORK HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS CLUB – Friday October 12 – The Ageas Bowl zz NETWORK POMPEY BUSINESS CLUB Thursday October 18 – Fratton Park zz NETWORK OVAL BUSINESS CLUB Thursday October 25 – The Kia Oval

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SPORT | WHEN SPORT BECOMES NEWS’ John Young John Young has been a reporter and presenter on BBC South East Today since it launched in 2001.

He also runs his own business, delivering his own adrenaline filled workshops to help staff develop business skills by giving them a roller-coaster, real-time experience of an afternoon in a TV Newsroom.

Y

ou are the overnight editor of a breakfast news programme.

You’ve come on shift at 4am, a bit bleary eyed because the previous night, England won their opening game in the World Cup, and you stayed up way beyond your bedtime to watch it.

Your job is to decide the running order of your news stories for when you go on air at 6am.

There’s plenty of other news competing to be the lead story. A senior MP has called for an overhaul of the cannabis laws. Commuters are bracing themselves for more chaos on the trains.

A minute’s silence is due to be held to mark the anniversary of the Finsbury Park terrorist attack.

Weighing all this up is a bit like running a business. You need to know your market (your audience.) What are people who watch breakfast TV news going to care about this morning? But you also need to consider your brand. What impression would it give to imply football is more important than the law, or terrorism?

And you have to make these decisions, and implement them, very quickly. In a newsroom, it can be within the hour.

That’s productivity under pressure.

Getting to grips with this is one of the games I play in my business skills workshops. I call this game Headline Deadline. I give the audience three minutes to select the running order for seven news stories. Just three minutes. We then debate what they came up with, and I reveal what a group of actual journalists did with the same material on the day.

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WHEN SPORT BECOMES

I had a big scoop about a school funding row at Cumbria County Council. My editor was going to lead with it. And then, at 3pm, it was announced that Kevin Keegan would be the new manager of Newcastle United. My editor wasn’t leading with my scoop now.

Should a sporting event take precedent over ‘real’ news, asks John Young

I learnt a lot about audiences — about knowing your market — that day. So I understood when the editor of that breakfast programme this summer chose to lead with the England win -and editors across the land continued to lead with football stories until Croatia came along in July.

NEWS As a workshop activity, it’s very versatile — a great ice-breaker at a conference or training day, or a longer team activity that compels a group to agree a decision, and be held accountable for it.

My views on this have changed over my thirty years as a broadcast journalist. In the early nineties, I’d certainly have put sport in its box at the foot of the running order. But then I took a job as a reporter at BBC Look North in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and was given a brisk reality check on news values.

She will have taken flack for it from some viewers, of course. In news broadcasting, you can’t please all the people all the time. But I reckon that’s another lesson in business. Editors have to lead, and stand by their decisions. I’m sure Gareth Southgate would agree with that.

You can find out more about John’s Den of Decisions and Deadlines at: www.johnyoungmedia.co.uk

SPORT | RUGBY

‘ONE CLUB..ONE HISTORY..ONE AIM!’

LEWES RUGBY CLUB

By Daniel Wade, Club Captain clubs over the years, it seems all the focus for them is their men’s 1st team with every other team playing second fiddle. This is something I am keen to avoid within our club.

S

o, this time of year of year is extremely exciting for me and everyone involved at Lewes Rugby Club as the new season is upon us. Coming into my 14th season as a first team player, I still get the feeling I am a kid starting his first day of school.

This season feels a little different at the club. We have made several changes to try and get back to our roots as a community club with a ‘one club’ approach. This means no team has priority over the others. The men’s teams, the ladies’ teams and the junior section all have equal status within the club. Playing against lots of different

Before we look at our plans for this season, I feel it’s important I explain a little bit about the background of Lewes Rugby Club as we are one of the oldest and most successful rugby clubs in Sussex. The club was founded in 1930 and played at Mountfield Road until Albert Turner presented land to the Borough of Lewes in 1937 in memory of his brother Stanley (hence the nameThe Stanley Turner Ground) We have some notable moments in the club’s history, none more so than in 1985 when Lewes RFC played Gloucester RFC, led by England Captain John Orwin, in the last 32 of the RFU Senior KO Cup losing by 24 points to 10.

The club today runs two senior men’s teams, a veteran’s team, 2 ladies teams,

an under 16’s girls team and Junior rugby from under 7s to under 18s.

We are proud to have produced some players that have gone on to play professional rugby at the highest level.

Current Lewes alumni include Ellen Small and Libby Fox (England Ladies), Rob Buchannan and Calum Waters (Harlequins), Tom Bowen (England 7’s), Piers O’Connor (Bristol) and Tom Pashley (Hartpury).

Looking forward, player development and enjoyment is the main focus for us.

Every team within the club is looking strong this year, so hopefully there will be some league titles and cups won, but in Rugby (at Lewes in particular), success isn’t always measured by winning trophies. It’s about enjoying the sport we all love and making lifelong friends.

www.lewesrugby.com

SPORT | WELLNESS IN THE WORKPLACE

FUSS WHAT’S ALL THE

“Wellness” has been creating a buzz for a while now.

But what does it even mean? Written by Liz Davies

T

here are many definitions and it can all get a bit confusing, but the Wellness Institute sums it up briefly as: “a conscious, self-directed and evolving process of achieving full potential.” Essentially, Wellness is about being our best self. Flourishing instead of coping. Thriving instead of surviving.

Why is Wellness important in the workplace and why should businesses take notice now?

Stress is now the leading cause of sickness absence at work. This costs UK businesses over £5 billion a year (based on HSE stats for 2016/2017). Work-related stress costs the UK economy up to £99 billion annually as it impacts performance, increasing presenteeism, absenteeism, not to mention a greater staff turnover and higher medical and insurance costs.

vironments that are creative, collaborative and innovative. Good employees are on the lookout for employers who are thoughtful and value their needs - employers who value inclusivity, diversity and positivity. The best employees want to work for companies that are innovative - and where teamwork, ethics and responsibility are valued. They want to work for companies that will encourage them to achieve their full potential.

resilience. Openness to change and flexibility are enhanced when wellness is optimised. Placing value on wellness creates healthy long-term profitability and a flourishing productive workforce.

But how do we do this...? If it seems like a minefield, don’t panic, there are things which can be implemented straight away which will make a difference: Workspaces: Provide workspaces that employees can engage with and feel comfortable in. Use a range of environments and furniture that will appeal to the senses. When our working environment sounds, looks, feels and smells great this not only creates more efficiency but is also morale-boosting.

Bring the outside inside: Indoor plants not only look lovely and brighten the place up, but behind the scenes they are absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen. It has also been shown that plants can increase our productivity by 15% by reducing stress and even blood pressure. Researchers have found that sickness rates fall more than 60% in offices with plants compared to those without.

If you want your employees to flourish and thrive, and be at their best, most creative and dynamic selves, then valuing wellness in your business is the key.

Food and mood: Sugar, salt, fat and chemicals all derail productivity with energy crashes and this also impacts employee health in the longer term. Try swapping biscuits and cakes for things like fresh fruit, nuts, edamame beans, carrot sticks and celery with hummus and guacamole dips.

Businesses with happy and healthy staff enjoy high levels of staff morale, retention and productivity - which leads to feelings of greater competence and

Not only do our brains function much better when we’re nourished and hydrated but also stress actually creates dehydration in the body. Supply tasty

As well as taking measures to enhance wellness now - and therefore reduce the risk of problems in the future, there is an increasing call for employers & work en-

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COGNITIVE BENEFITS OF REGULAR

improved CONCENTRATION

increased CREATIVITY

faster LEARNING

prolonged mental STAMINA

sharper MEMORY

Wellness in the workplace sponsored by The Float Spa 8 Third Ave Hove, East Sussex BN3 2PX

hello@thefloatspa.co.uk www.thefloatspa.co.uk 01273 933680

ductivity. Hand your employees some responsibility, create a culture of trust and you will reap the rewards.

herbal teas and naturally caffeine-free rooibos tea - or maybe pop some fruit in a water cooler, such as strawberry and melon, or orange. It looks much more appetising and tastes even better!

Encourage physical activity: Our bodies were not designed to be sedentary, yet we can spend nearly all our time sitting down! When we get moving not only is it better for our health, but also it shifts our energy and our perspective. This can help greatly if we’re feeling stressed or “stuck”. Moving around every 30 minutes is recommended. Encourage employees to move around more by setting on the hour “flash walks”, providing fitness trackers, maybe even provide rewards for people taking the most steps throughout the day.

Encourage gratitude: Mental wellness and gratitude are linked. A daily practice of gratitude has been shown to reduce depression, curb appetite and enhance sleep. Gratitude also turns into personal accountability. Create a shared document for team members to record one thing that they are grateful for each day.

Challenge them to do it every day for 3 weeks and then reflect on mood and productivity ratings.

Mindfulness and meditation: Both have been shown to reduce stress. Paying attention to the present moment, practicing calm and deliberate breathing, slowing down and being patient can do wonders for our productivity. Providing an in-house meditation or yoga class once a week will teach employees priceless skills, improve wellness, and help them to feel valued.

Laughter really is the best medicine: Laughter increases the immune function, improves our mood, relaxes our bodies and increases longevity. Offering employees the chance to attend a regular comedy night (maybe they would even like to put on their own?!) would be a great antidote to stress and increase team rapport. Offering improv comedy training for interested employees might sound like a strange idea but it has been shown to improve mindfulness, active listening, collaboration, risk taking, confidence, public speaking, conflict resolution and trust.

Plants offer oxygen and humidity to dry office air and can enhance creativity.

Intention setting: Encourage employees to spend 5 minutes at the start of each day setting their intentions for the day. The power of visualisation is now becoming strongly recognised, and setting intentions gives your brain a “go to” setting if it’s ever in doubt. You can even do this in the shower, or on your way to work.

Be flexible: Show your employees that they are trusted. They are much more likely to give their best if they feel valued and appreciated. Mistrust and a lack of autonomy does nothing for pro-

Provide support: Challenges at home, difficult team dynamics within an organisation, and a general increase in people’s (real and perceived) demands can all create extra stress. Leading & innovative companies that encourage their employees to look after their psychological wellbeing, and value this as a strength, create an environment where people can really flourish and be their best selves.

The most forward-thinking companies are already on board with wellness Google has created a People & Innovation Lab (PiLab) to conduct research and development within its People Operations (its version of HR) as they are extremely invested in finding unique ways to improve the health and wellness of their employees.

Future-proof your staff wellness by putting an effective “Wellness Strategy” in place. This process will involve reviewing current measures and ensuring that any new strategies can be tested for efficacy, as well as making sure the overall working environment is conducive to staff productivity and morale.

For help and further information about implementing a Corporate Wellness Strategy you can contact me via my website (lizdaviesmiraclecoach.com)

Liz Davies Miracle Coach www.lizdaviesmiraclecoach.com

Wellness in the workplace sponsored by The Float Spa 8 Third Ave Hove, East Sussex BN3 2PX

hello@thefloatspa.co.uk www.thefloatspa.co.uk 01273 933680

SPORT | WELL-BEING

COULD A DIGITAL DETOX MAKE YOU MORE

PRODUCTIVE? Written by Camille Pierson, Managing Director, The Float Spa

I

t sounds counter intuitive to say that spending less time on electronic devices could actually help you do more work even if you work on a computer but, according to a recent study, the average office worker is wasting a third of their day because of technology. Another study suggested that people check their phones an average of every 12 minutes. This is not good for concentration. Re-evaluating how we use technology at work could seriously improve our productivity and relieve stress too.

What is the Problem with Technology?

Computers, smart phones and tablets are pretty much essential kit for most businesses but it’s how we are using them that seems to be eroding our attention spans and productivity. Studies have shown that as the use of smart phones has risen, the length of the average attention span has decreased.

A constant stream of immediately accessible information has meant we don’t need to spend as much time stopping to

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think about things and work them out.

We have sped up our access to information but damaged our ability to process it. This inability to concentrate on anything for very long means we are constantly looking for distractions. But this isn’t the only way technology is damaging our productivity, it’s also stressing us out outside of work, so we don’t work as effectively when we’re at work. An ‘always on’ culture of being constantly contactable can lead to chronic stress and emotional exhaustion which isn’t good for anyone and leads to sick days and long-term health problems.

Why Detox?

Obviously, removing distractions will make it easier to get on with work but limiting screen time as much as possible has other benefits too. People are generally more productive in small bursts, so it’s a great idea to break your computer work up, to ensure you aren’t sitting still and staring at a screen for long periods. This will help your back as well as your brain. Although people use social media as a break from work, it’s actually contributing to their stress as comparing yourself to others or

reading worrying news feeds can be very stressful in themselves. Limiting screen time can give you more energy, better concentration and reduce stress.

Tips to Make Detoxing Easier Like any habit, reducing your screen time, or stopping it altogether isn’t easy but also like most habits, the best way to break it is by taking it a step at a time.

Start by turning off notifications for everything non-essential. Then put your device somewhere where you can hear it if it rings with something important, but you can’t see it. Set yourself realistic targets that you can add to as you go along like not checking Twitter until midday, moving on to staying off social media during office hours, for example.

Take time out each day to spend away from your computer, like your lunch break, and set a time you won’t check work emails after.

Workplace stress is rife and spending too much time looking at screens isn’t helping. Prioritise your wellbeing by trying to reduce it. If you need a little help to focus on your wellbeing, call us at The Float Spa on 01273 933680 to try floatation, yoga, infrared sauna sessions, massage and other therapies.

8 Third Avenue, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2PX www.thefloatspa.co.uk

SPORT | ACTIVE SUSSEX

A SUSSEX SPORTS AWARD

HOW WINNING

CAN PROPEL YOU ONTO EVEN BIGGER THINGS

The Sussex Sports Awards now in its 16th year, has seen young Sussex-based sports stars of the future step onto the award-winning stage before heading on to Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships, and many other elite level competitions across the world, with the Awards acting as a catalyst for progressing on to even bigger and better things.

A

fine example of this is 14-year old Jemimah Berkeley, winner of the 2017 Young Sports Personality of the Year Award, which this year, we are delighted to announce, is the category sponsored by Platinum Business Magazine.

Shortly before her Sussex Sports Awards success in November 2017, Jemimah, from Cripps Corner, won two silver medals at the British Summer Championships in the 13/14 years 50m and 100m breaststroke and smashed the south east record twice in both events. Breaststroke specialist Jemimah holds some of the fastest times ever achieved by a 14-year old and since her Sussex Sports Awards win, has gone onto to enjoy further success in the pool. She has enjoyed double glory at the British Summer Championships which were held in Sheffield

in July winning gold in both the women’s 100m breaststroke 13/14 yrs and the women’s 50m breaststroke 13/14 yrs. In addition, she also won silver in the women’s 200m breaststroke at the same event.

“The best advice I can give to those even younger then myself is to stay motivated, display a real gutsy determination, and to never give up,” comments Jemimah. “I am also very lucky to have good people around me, such as my coaches, who inspire me on a day to day basis. I believe that if you surround yourself with the right people, then only good things will happen.”

Jemimah’s dedication to becoming the very best continues as she commits to training over 16hrs per week, both before and after school in the pool and the gym.

“The Young Sports Personality of the Year is a category that we are simply extremely proud to sponsor,” comments Laurence Elphick, Head of Sport at Platinum Business Magazine. “The youngsters coming through hold the key to unlocking future Olympic and Paralympic success for Great Britain, so we are only delighted to help recognise their achievements throughout the past year and beyond.”

Now in its 16th year and hosted by Active Sussex, the Sussex Sports Awards is the chance to celebrate all the great and good that Sussex sport has to offer, and the achievements made by both the county’s elite athletes and those at grassroot levels. The event will be held at The Grand Hotel on Friday November 23rd.

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SPORT | WHEN BUSINESS MEETS SPORT

WHY I

LOVE

BOXING

Camille Pierson, the Managing Director at The Float Spa, is pleased as punch to tell us why she ‘floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee’

Watching matches is so exciting because of the pace of the action. You find yourself afraid to blink or you might miss something (because a punch is the speed of a blink according to Muhammad Ali!) and one well placed punch can end it all in a flash. The atmosphere at live matches is like nothing else. It’s absolutely electric and you find yourself jumping up and screaming in support of someone you’ve never met in your life.

There’s something satisfyingly primal about it all.

B

oxing is a sport that displays great skill and physical discipline while remaining unfussy and easy to understand. It’s just body versus body with no equipment or apparatus to complicate things.

Hitting stuff with your fists is also satisfying. There’s no two ways about it. I love boxing training for this primarily but there are lots of other reasons. Long slow sedate exercise for fitness just gets on my nerves. If I want to relax and slow things down, I’ll do yoga. If I want to get fit, I want a sport that involves savage bursts of energy to push me to my absolute limits of endurance.

If I get to the end of a session and my body doesn’t feel like a wet shammy or a balloon filled with jelly, I just don’t feel like I’ve exercised. All round, I find boxing training to be a great form of exercise that suits my personality and my body type.

As a highly competitive person, I also love that aspect of boxing training.

Sparring against someone else when it is just my skill and my body against theirs is a real rush for me. Although I enjoy some team sports, I can sometimes find being reliant on other team members to be frustrating in that it isn’t really me being put to the test in the same way as a one on one sport. I also really enjoy the adrenaline surge from knowing that if you are beaten in a match, it’s not just battered pride that you risk. It’s actually getting punched in the face, repeatedly, potentially, so the challenge feels much more immediate and real.

My only reservation about boxing in the past was when boxers were seriously injured but the new safety regulations seem to be working so it has regained its place as my favourite sport to watch and take part in.

Q&A WATCH OR TAKE PART I prefer to take part of course.

Where’s the fun in just watching and never getting stuck in?

BEST FIGHT It would have to be Chris Eubank (after all, he was a Brightonian) and Joe Calzaghe in 1997. A long hard slog but a great fight.

BEST BOXER Although I loved Ali for his showmanship, I think Floyd Mayweather must be the best skill wise, but watch out for Anthony Joshua as I feel he’s the newest legend in the making.

ALL-TIME SPORTING HERO Carl Lewis because he was a great athlete and famously used floatation to improve his performance!

NO PAIN, NO GAIN

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– TRUE OR FALSE? Correct! I’m a great believer that hard work pays off.

SPORT | WHEN BUSINESS MEETS SPORT

C

ricket is quite simply the most wonderful of sports. I have been fascinated by the game and always loved watching or playing it from a young age. Cricket is sport that, more than most, waxes and wanes in both directions and it’s rare that a match is simply one-way traffic from the start. The crowds are almost always universally polite and knowledgeable and it’s a grand day out. I can’t deny the fact that good weather being a prerequisite for a game certainly helps.

The hush and anticipation that fills the amphitheatre before the first ball is bowled of a test series is akin to the roar before the first race at the Cheltenham Festival and is an experience once savoured, never forgotten.

I take immense pleasure from playing cricket. I have always enjoyed sports but as the body ages, one by one, sports stop being played at a competitive level.

I played rugby in my teens and twenties and football till about 40 there eventually came a time when the boots had to be literally and metaphorically ‘hung up’.

WHY I

...as long as the body holds together you can play to a reasonable standard...

Those were sad days for me. However, cricket is a sport where, as long as the body holds together in a reasonable fashion you can play to a reasonable standard into your 50s.

The team I’m lucky enough to play league cricket for every Saturday in the summer in Somerset has players aged from 15 to 30 with me bringing up the rear some quarter of a century older.

The fact that I can still compete and deliver on a regular basis is testament to the fact that it’s not all about youth and power but rather skill and experience (and no doubt a little luck); although I have to say after each game I need three days of paracetamol and ibuprofen to walk normally again!

It’s uplifting to play sport with younger people and a rare opportunity to mix with team-mates from a variety of backgrounds as well as ages. I also get my fix of adrenaline and competition, as

LOVE

CRICKET… Mark Hallas, Chief Executive at Crimestoppers Trust, explains why village cricket is not just an excuse to drink ale

well as the inevitable pint of ale at some of the most picturesque grounds in the country: that’s what village cricket is all about really and why I love it.

Q&A BEST BOWLER: SHANE WARNE When he came to prominence, legspin was essentially a forgotten artform seen on blurry black and white images. He revolutionised the game and made cricket exciting again for a new generation: it wasn’t simply all about speed.

BEST BATSMAN: KUMAR SANGAKKARA I was lucky enough to see him bat a few times for Surrey and he was elegance personified. And he very rarely failed, no matter the situation.

EARLIEST CRICKETING MEMORY: Sadly, it’s watching the highlights of Australia thrashing England in the 74/75 Ashes series when Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson were in full flow.

T20 OR TEST? Whilst I still enjoy Tests, I have been seduced by the energy and brilliant atmosphere of T20 matches.

BEST BATTING AND BOWLING: My single century of 119 not out clearly wins and bowling it’s 5 for 19: both rather strangely achieved recently and the wrong side of 50 I’m happy to declare!

SPORT | WHITEHAWK FC

THE

PEOPLE’S CLUB…

Head of Commercial Kevin Miller reflects on the relationship in football between business and the community and asks, ‘What’s it all about...?’

S

o, what do I get for my money?”

One of the first questions that is always asked when speaking to potential clients. It’s a fair question, and although I cannot offer a global TV audience of billions, there is still quite a bit that I can offer.

Inclusiveness - being part of the Whitehawk FC ‘family’ — this might not bring instant rewards, but it’s a great way to ingratiate your company into the fabric of the club and therefore the area. I’ve introduced new clients to clubs in the past, and within six months they’ve not only re-connected with locals, they’ve

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gained new business and a lot of recognition. Affinity is alive and well and living in the non-league…

Affordability - You see, at this level, the value of a piece of inventory at the club is worth far more than those in the professional world. At our level, the client gets a bigger profile, gets far more prominence in the ground and on matchday, and an increased profile on the club’s website and via its social media channels. For the club, every pound is spent as soon as it arrives, and cash flow is extremely tight. A ground advertising board for example, will pay for repairs to the club house, or paint for the dressing room (the home one of course), or purchase some much needed replacement kit. In the Premier League, cash not only rules, it’s positively regal. (I know of a Premier League football club, no names, who employed a taxi firm to place two cabs permanently in the club’s car park on a continual meter, so if any Director/player/agent/senior member of staff was off to a meeting in town they could instantly access a cab. The fees at the end of every month ran into thousands!

Support – You may be a multi-million-pound brand, or a one-man phenom-

enon, but working with a non-league football club invites support from both sides.

Local employees benefit from recognition, fans benefit from potential discount, big brands gain kudos and small brands gain connectivity with its audience.

Community - Buying into non-league is buying into a community. Let’s face it, in 2018 there is a rapidly shrinking network of one-to one conversation, phones stuck to faces, people locked into increasingly bland music, the traditional pub is dying, so there are very few locations where hundreds of people are willing to congregate in one place, sharing a common belief, a ’goal’ if you like…

Young or old, a football club grows with its community, and the community helps it to grow, and business is the fuel that keeps it thriving; exciting, healthy and vibrant. So, what do they get for their money? People…

A true ‘People’s Club’ – Look forward to seeing you there @peoplesgame – kevin.miller@whitehawkfc.com

WALK IN WARDROBES

SPORT | VIEW FROM SOFA vak Djokovic have joined in and can be prominent vocalists on court. So, does it change personal performance?

During a recent University experiment, the impact of a grunt was investigated, and results showed hitting performance did in fact increase.

The case study asked university tennis players to hit the ball either while grunting or not. It was found that those who grunted hit with a 3.8% increase in groundstroke and had a 4.9% enhancement in velocity when serving.

ARE YOU A

GRUNTER OR A

MOANER?

asks Laurence Elphick

R

ecent data reveals nearly a third of people believe grunting helps boost sporting performance.

Additionally, nearly half admit to grunting while working out. So which side of the net do you stand?

Apparently grunting is thought to improve physical performance and nearly a third of us believe making noises results in a stronger workout. However, while 43% of us grunt during a workout, 71% find grunting distracting and more often than not, you’ll find those people moaning and complaining specifically during the tennis season, where it seems most prevalent.

Apparently grunting is thought to improve physical performance irony not lost on spectators, who jeered louder in response.

We already know that Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka are well known for it and at the Australian Open earlier in the year, it was reported that tennis had a new shrieker and grunter, who was so loud the crowd started imitating her.

But what does the research tell us?

When it comes to harnessing power, grunting is often used by athletes to focus during physical activity. This is apparently because grunting instead of regular breathing allows the body to gain momentum and drives power to the overall performance.

Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka’s screeching got so grating that the irritated centre court crowd began mocking the 19-year-old. It prompted the chair umpire to admonish them, with the

So how does it work? Grunting during sport, especially tennis, is a technique that is always talked about and over the years the problem appears to have got worse, even Rafael Nadal and No-

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Imagine if this became the norm when Bubba Watson struck his tee shot or Tiger Woods let one rip while he was putting for a birdie! Or perhaps when snooker’s top players let out an audible grunt whilst attempting the pink in to the top corner pocket! Extremely unlikely in this case as here it’s more about technique rather than power.

But is it distracting? Although grunting has been proven on many occasions to boost physical performance, it has been suggested that it can be distracting. The survey found a massive 71% of people find it knocks their concentration and even some professional players have said the same.

In 2014, Roger Federer made a public statement stating he found the noise during matches distracting - showing that even professional athletes can find it distracting too.

But c’mon, isn’t it funny watching two tennis players both grunting at ever increasing pitches the longer the rally ensues? It won’t be long before the purists go running for their noise cancelling headphones as the grunt turns to a scream! In some cases, it already has!

The question then is even though it seems grunting boosts sporting performance is it too distracting? I presume the answer is yes and while there is an opportunity to have one up on your opponent I think we can expect this to be part and parcel of the game long into the future and I for one definitely won’t be moaning about it!

Bang & Olufsen of Guildford 8a Tunsgate, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 3QT

Bang & Olufsen of Brighton & Hove 56 Church Road, Hove East Sussex, BN3 2FP

Tel: 01483 457900 Email: guildford@bang-olufsen.co.uk

Tel: 01273 205448 Email: brighton@bang-olufsen.co.uk