behind the boardroom

summer 22 behind the boardroom

Take a look behind our member’s boardrooms and discover what makes their businesses tick. In this issue, we chat with OGEL’s Gary Giles about his revolutionary recycled plastic building system…

What was the spark that inspired you to found OGEL? I can give you the exact date and time! It was Wednesday 4 February 2015, at 3.45pm. I’m a chartered accountant by trade and the company I was working for at the time had just bought a new machine that was for packaging renders and plasters into plastic bags. And my boss at the time said ‘if all else fails, we can always make reusable sandbags to stop floods’. And I thought, that’s a brilliant idea that! But then I thought, to make it water-tight, what you need is a wall to put them in. Which started a whole journey! Basically, once I figured out how to build a flood defence system with a straight wall, I figured out a way to put corners on it. Then when you put corners on a wall you can create an enclosure. And when you put a roof and a floor in you’ve built a room haven’t you. The way I’d sort of describe it is, you can’t reinvent the wheel but you can reinvent the wall. And the brick, the normal house brick or similar, the principle behind that is 10,000 years old. They found the first brick, in modern day Iraq, in around 8000 BC. And the only difference between that and the modern house brick is that it’s smaller because people had smaller hands back in those days. Everything else was the same, and I thought, hang on - you can’t reinvent the wheel, but now you have carbon fibre wheels. So, the wheel has evolved over time. But the brick is exactly the same, it’s never changed. Until now! How did you form your board after having that initial inspiration? The journey to build the boardroom is a relatively new one. With being an accountant I knew how businesses run, I knew the back office stuff. But I had absolutely zero knowledge of plastic, and no real knowledge of how to make this product that I had in my head. Our first real board member is Richard Parker (Development Director), who runs E3 Design in Tyneside. We were put in touch by mutual contact. I told him the idea I had and how it worked, and commissioned his company to come up with some original ideas, and from that original set of ideas came the final process. So there was a lot of getting the ideas together on paper. From there, we needed to get the funding together – I went to various innovation forums and things like that, and one of the guys I met there was James Robson MBE, Chairman of the Entrepreneurs' Forum. I met James in a social capacity and told him the idea. Long story short, we kept in touch for four or five years and after more talks he agreed to come on board and be Chairman. He gives me and the rest of the team a sounding board which is really important, as he’s an extra pair of eyes who has an engineering and business background. He’s got a slightly better skill set than I do, but there’s lots of overlap and it really helps to have that person there.

Who features in your boardroom currently? With our board we try to take all of our individual skills and pull them together so each person has a

The main advantage of going on Dragon's Den was always going to be the exposure which is huge.

Gary Giles

different discipline if you like. We have Patrick Connolly, who’s our plastics expert and he is also one of our largest investors, so he wears two hats. James Robson MBE is our all round expert in engineering and SMEs. Richard Parker is obviously our design expert. And we have a gentleman called Mike Dickinson, our construction guy who runs Kingfield Developments in Hartlepool, a large construction company who’s our building expert. People might recognise you from your successful appearance on Dragon’s Den in 2021 - how did that process impact the business? They did have some good input outside of the Den, but if I’m being quite candid, the main advantage of going on Dragon’s Den was always going to be the exposure which is huge. Getting grilled in the Den gives us affirmation that we were on the right track. What you see on TV is only the part of a much larger conversation that you have and the Dragons let us know that our product was something worth making, something that needed to be made.

After the Den appearance you launched a crowdfunding campaign, how did that go? It went really well. We raised just over £200,000 with over 700 investors. It really gave us the kickstart that we needed to go into 2022 on an upward trajectory.

Finally, what does 2022 look like for OGEL and the board? We’ve gone to market and got a number of jobs on the go around the

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country from people that have seen us on Dragon’s Den. We have patents that cover us for the UK, Europe, USA and China. But our principal market for the next 12 months is the UK garden rooms, garden offices, glamping pods, that sort of thing. We’ll also be using that time to iron out any flaws and establish ourselves more in the market. Finally, our new website and app launches in May, both of which will make it so much easier for our customers to get quotes for their buildings and assemble them. It’s an exciting time here at OGEL and you can feel that inspired atmosphere throughout the board.

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partner safeguarding your finances

This year is proving to be a challenging one for entrepreneurs as soaring costs and supply chain disruptions threaten to hold back business growth.

A recent survey of 1,200 small firms by the Federation of Small Businesses found that almost half thought the rising cost of doing business in the UK would stall growth this year. A record high 87% reported that operating costs had risen when compared with a year earlier. Gary Fawcett of Brewin Dolphin, one of the UK’s leading wealth managers, says that now, more than ever, entrepreneurs need to ensure they have a robust financial plan in place. “As an entrepreneur, your business and personal finances may be woven together more tightly than you realise,” he explains. “If, for example, you’re growing your business to create a more financially secure retirement, then in addition to looking for ways to save on costs or business growth opportunities, you should also be thinking about pension planning. Concentrating on your business at the expense of your personal finances could have unintended long term consequences.” One of the key factors to think about this year and next is the impact of inflation. In the UK, inflation has soared to a 30 year high and there are warnings it could rise even further. “Inflation not only means you could be paying more to buy materials and products, and pay staff; it can also affect your personal finances,” says Gary. “Unless your savings are keeping up with rising prices, the real value of your money will be eroded over time and you could fall short of your goals. In the current economic environment, it’s crucial to consider ways to help your money work harder. “While the stock market has experienced heightened volatility this year, history shows that over the long term it offers much better returns than cash, helping to mitigate the impact of inflation on your hard earned money.” With the economic outlook remaining uncertain, Gary says it’s even more important that entrepreneurs don’t keep all their eggs in one basket. “Some entrepreneurs see their company as their pension, but this is risky. It’s easy to assume you will sell your business when you want to retire and it will be your pension. The problem is your company may not prosper as well as you hoped. It might not be worth enough to fund your retirement or, worse, you could be left with no retirement savings at all.” Gary says small businesses must be built on solid financial foundations so they can grow to be a success. “Given what’s at stake, this is best left to the experts. A financial adviser will look at your business and personal financial situation as a whole, and then develop a comprehensive financial plan that helps you to achieve your goals, regardless of what’s happening in the wider economy.”

Gary Fawcett is a Divisional Director in the Investment Management team at Brewin Dolphin, one of the UK’s leading wealth managers. The North East team manages over £2bn of money for over 4,000 clients and attribute their success to the personal service which is central to everything they do. Whether you are looking to kick start your financial plan or make the most of the opportunities that wealth brings, they can support you at every stage of the journey.

For more information visit

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The value of investments, and any income from them, can fall and you may get back less than you invested. Information is provided only as an example and is not a recommendation to pursue a particular strategy. Brewin Dolphin Limited is a member of the London Stock Exchange. Brewin Dolphin Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Financial Services Register reference number 124444). Registered Office; 12 Smithfield Street, London, EC1A 9BD. Registered in England and Wales - company number: 2135876. Vat number: GB 690 8994 69. Brewin Dolphin Limited GIIN: 6J5L79.00000.LE.826.

partner why it pays to plan properly

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At particularly frantic times, research and development tax credit claims often becomes an afterthought - and this can negatively impact the amount that’s subsidised in the long run.

Joanne Warren and the team at LUMO are on a mission to prevent this; they’re determined to make R&D a straightforward process for all businesses by providing R&D guidance and support from day one. “By rethinking the approach to planning, entrepreneurs can help their business’s R&D become more strategic, purposeful and, ultimately, profitable. “Without dedicated time and structure in place to fully understand the Government’s eligibility criteria and any qualifying costs, businesses could find themselves entitled to less than originally expected. “Worse still, in some instances, businesses may not be entitled to any R&D tax credit funding at all. This can have particularly drastic financial consequences, especially if the research and development isn’t successful.” Taking the time to properly review planned R&D in line with eligibility criteria, on the other hand, pays dividends says Joanne. “There are eligibility rules surrounding both the company claiming and the activity they’re conducting, so entrepreneurs need to make sure they’ve considered both before proceeding with any R&D. “First, businesses must meet basic criteria to be eligible for tax credits. It must be a UK limited company that is eligible to pay Corporation Tax and it must have invested in qualifying research and development projects.” The Government’s definition of R&D is deliberately broad in order to be flexible across a diverse range of industries but as a rule of thumb, it’s activity that: aims to innovate a new product, operation or service or aims to innovate a modification to an existing product, operation or service. The costs that can be claimed include staff salaries, materials and consumables used throughout the project, software, clinical trials and subcontractors. This is where the Lumo team help – enabling you to master your record keeping when claiming R&D tax. “Formal record keeping isn’t a requirement of qualifying R&D claims. It just makes life that much easier for everyone involved! “A technical narrative is a necessity as businesses are expected to provide a detailed account of their projects. We would draft the narrative to save time, discussing all project ambitions with those involved. “Putting detailed planning in place before claiming R&D ensures all the right information is collected (at the right time) to maximise the tax credit claim.” R&D provides businesses of all sizes with the opportunity to evolve through innovation. At Lumo, their mission is to empower growth through innovation, with a vision of making the UK the best place for business. “R&D strategists must work meticulously to find an equilibrium between the abundance of R&D opportunities and the limited resource of their business, creating a plan that’s suitably optimised for a worthwhile risk-reward. “Of course, this strategic management needs detailed planning. At Lumo we support you to plan and execute an achievable yet ambitions roadmap by breaking down everything from budgets and costs to objectives and priorities, making R&D integral to your business strategy.” Joanne adds that the secret to maximising a R&D tax credit claim (regardless of the success of the project) lies in knowing exactly what HMRC are looking for. Lumo’s team of specialist advisors are able to provide trusted guidance on the finer details of R&D, from precise HMRC definitions to new rules around Covid support and R&D eligibility.

For more information visit