BQ2 West Midlands

In association with

SPECIAL REPORT: SME BREAKTHROUGH

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE Nuturing talent in education and business MARVELLOUS TALE Worldwide success from pink tissue SAVOURING SUCCESS How quiche found its niche

CONTENTS

CONTACTS

04 BREAKING THROUGH

ROOM501 LTD Bryan Hoare Managing Director e: bryan@bqlive.co.uk t: 0191 389 8468

Helping the region’s businesses change gear

06 THE CHALLENGER

EDITORIAL Steve Dyson e: steve.dysonmedia@gmail.com

A new offer

10 UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE

DESIGN & PRODUCTION room501 e: studio@bqlive.co.uk

Supporting enterprise

14 CASHING IN Funding growth

27 GLOBAL PLAYER The world is their oyster

34 GROWING PAINS Holding SME’s hands

38 TOP TIPS How to grow

40 SAVOURING SUCCESS How quiche found a niche

46 WORKING TOGETHER Collaborators counts

48 BEST BITTER Brewing success

MARVELLOUS TALE

30 SME BREAKTHROUGH

SPECIAL REPORT:

BREAKTHROUGH TO SUCCESS

WELCOME There’s a wide range of SMEs across the West Midlands – from manufacturing to professional services, and from car parts to food products.

But as they succeed and need to grow, not all those companies have the necessary knowledge, leadership and finance. That’s where banks like Santander step in, assisting fast growth, creating investment and jobs, and helping the SME sector to thrive. In this BQ2, we’ve taken time to understand the different ways that Santander can help. Yes, with finance, but also with a variety of experts, tools and programmes of support under its Knowledge, Talent, Connections and International pillars.

The experts at Santander explain exactly how they work. And we’ve also spoken to some of the bank’s leading clients to find out how this has helped them. From quiches to vacuum furnaces, and from cashback websites to beer, we describe how Santander’s clients have succeeded – often with a helping hand from the bank. I hope you find some inspiration, or a piece of advice that can help your company’s growth plans.

Steve Dyson Editor, BQ West Midlands

PHOTOGRAPHY KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.co.uk SALES Alan Dickinson Associate publisher e: alan@bqlive.co.uk t: 07917 733 047

room501 Publishing Ltd, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT www.bqlive.co.uk Business Quarter (BQ) is a leading business to business brand recognised for celebrating entrepreneurship and corporate success. The multi-platform brand currently reaches entrepreneurs and senior business executives across Scotland, the North East, Yorkshire and the West Midlands. BQ has established a UK wide regional approach to business engagement reaching a highly targeted audience of entrepreneurs and senior executives in high growth businesses both in-print, online and through branded events.

All contents copyright © 2015 room501 Ltd. All rights reserved.

While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All company profiles are paid for advertising.

All information is correct at time of going to print, August 2015.

room501 Publishing Ltd is part of BE Group, the UK’s market leading business improvement specialists. www.be-group.co.uk

In association with

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BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

OPENING COMMENT

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

SUMMER 15

04

SME BREAKTHROUGH

SUMMER 15

OPENING COMMENT

HELPING WEST MIDLANDS’ BUSINESSES BREAK THROUGH The West Midlands’ business landscape provides a rich and varied sector mix, with SMEs continuing to be the lifeblood of the economy. Running your own business is a tough job and we are passionate about helping ambitious businesses to succeed.

At the end of March we re-launched ‘Breakthrough’, a programme to do just that.

Over the past few years Breakthrough has already helped fast growth businesses see great results: helping to support growing their workforce, launching new products and entering new markets.

But we want to do more and we understand that not all ambitious businesses are necessarily fast growth. Ambitious businesses come in many guises, and we want Breakthrough to be available to help them to achieve their goals, whatever they might be. As part of a week-long Breakthrough Box festival hosted at the Molineux Stadium – the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC – we ran a number of sessions that might help support those goals. We introduced new elements of Breakthrough which can be categorised under the five pillars of Knowledge, Talent, International, Connections and Finance. The events run at our Breakthrough Box included finding the best talent for your business, co-hosted by Keele University, which has supported 450 SMEs over the last four years with internships.

And as more businesses look abroad to new

SME BREAKTHROUGH

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markets, we brought together SMEs with export ambitions to hear how Santander can support them. This included innovative tools such as the Trade Portal, our Trade Club and developing vital connections on trade missions to places like Spain, the USA and the UAE. We are continually working closely with SMEs, listening to their business challenges and looking at ways we can help them to be more successful. We understand that one of these challenges is finding the appropriate route for funding.

This was highlighted at our access to finance session at the Breakthrough Box, hosted by KPMG, which helped bring clarity to the vast variety of funding routes and grants available.

Also launched during the Breakthrough Box festival were details of access to a number of events, including SME summits, HR workshops and women in business networks.

We also highlighted our regularly run masterclasses, which provide great opportunities to learn from market-leading UK businesses, including Saatchi Masius, Google and Innocent Drinks.

I hope you enjoy reading all about the above and more in this BQ2 supplement. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me should you require additional information or would like to discuss your business. n Susan Davies, regional director, South and West Midlands

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

BREAKTHROUGH

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TAKING UP THE CHALLENGE Santander’s major recruitment drive for commercial bankers in the Midlands has attracted one of the UK’s most experienced commercial bankers. Ian Booth shares his plans with Steve Dyson

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Next year will mark Ian Booth’s 40th year in banking. But when I meet the regional director of corporate and commercial for Santander’s Central Midlands region, he’s still displaying a beguiling youthful enthusiasm for his role.

Ian, aged 55, was poached from a senior role in commercial banking at Lloyds Bank towards the end of last year, and started in his new job with Santander in January. Since then, he has recruited four new relationship directors, which equates to a 40% expansion of his team. He says: “That recruitment drive is a real statement of Santander’s intent to focus on the SME sector, signalling in particular to those manufacturers and businesses that trade internationally that we’re here to support their needs for growth finance.”

A quick run through Ian’s CV reveals his impressive experience of commercial banking: after starting as a 16-year-old school leaver at

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Lloyds Bank in Rubery, Birmingham, in 1976, he moved to the commercial side ten years later.

In 1988, he joined the old TSB bank’s commercial banking team as a lending inspector in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, becoming the regional manager for TSB’s commercial operations in South Wales four years later.

When Lloyds and TSB came together in 1995, Ian was made area director for the new group’s commercial banking in the Thames Valley area, and then took on the same role for Lloyds Bank in Wales in 2000.

It was during this period that he met Tim Pezzack, who is now divisional managing director at Santander Corporate Banking, and the man who approached Ian in November last year to ask him to take on his new role.

By that time, Ian was area director of Lloyds commercial banking for Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, a job he’d held since 2010, but he was immediately attracted by the offer of a new role with Santander.

Ian, who lives in North Worcestershire, and is a father of three grown up children, says: “I was asked to bring my commercial skills to Santander, which only started up in the commercial marketplace in 2009. This was a similar start-up in commercial banking for

SME BREAKTHROUGH

BREAKTHROUGH

Santander as it was for TSB back in late 1980s, which I’d also been involved with, and I was excited by the new opportunity.

“We’re a new entrant, a challenger bank to the established commercial banks, almost playing an insurgent role in the market. But what’s interesting is that while we provide all the services that the established banks provide, we also offer a very different approach.

“For a start, we’re serious about providing growth finance, which is non-traditional bank lending that companies would previously have had to go to a private equity house to access.

That’s a big differentiator from other banks because it allows a mix of traditional and growth capital, what you might call

mezzanine financing.

“That’s a great solution for ambitious, growing businesses that don’t want to give away too much equity. Some banks are reluctant to do ‘split’ banking, and often companies will initially have a ‘better the devil you know’ attitude and might be reluctant to change banks.

“But we’ve accepted our challenger position, with a view to demonstrating that we’re worthy of full banking. And we’ve got a very focused approach, because we’re trying to build a market share that’s realistic, building a successful, tenable relationship model with our target market customers – those ambitious SMEs.”

We’re being quite focused on ambitious businesses that we can support with their growth plans

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SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

BREAKTHROUGH

Ian explains that Santander is only targeting a 10% share of the SME market at this stage, which would mark a growth from what’s currently a 2% to 3% share. In his own Central Midlands area, this means a target of £108m worth of new lending by the end of 2015, and Ian says this plan is progressing well.

He says: “We’re being quite selective in our target market. Because we’re only looking to achieve a 10% market share, it means 90% is still out there. So we’re not saying we’re there for every SME. We’re being quite focused on ambitious businesses that we can support with their growth plans.

If it’s a profitable, viable company that we can lend to, or use growth capital, we’ll absolutely do it, when it’s right for the bank and for the customer.”

Ian’s Central Midlands sector basically includes anywhere with a Birmingham or Coventry postcode, working with businesses with

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We’ve not grown commercial banking from within. We’ve acquired corporate experts. We can line most of our teams up and they will have hundreds and hundreds of years of commercial banking experience between them. turnovers from £500k to £5m. Because of the geography, many businesses are related to the car industry, such as all the support and service sectors that have grown up around Jaguar Land Rover.

Ian has a team of 25 direct reports, and their make-up indicates just how much of a mixed financial product Santander is offering. There are 14 relationship directors – four recruited

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in the last six months, four relationship managers, two asset finance directors, two invoice finance directors, one business development director and one card services director.

What Ian likes about his staff is that they’re a “hand-picked team” that he feels are “some of the best bankers out there”. He adds: “We’ve not grown commercial banking from

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BREAKTHROUGH Breakthrough Business

within. We’ve acquired corporate experts.

We can line most of our teams up and they will have hundreds and hundreds of years of commercial banking experience between them.“But at the same time as bringing all that experience, we’re also adapting to a fresh approach to corporate and commercial banking, the ‘Santander way’.”

One example of this is how Ian’s team is able to call on Santander’s other specialists, such as credit partners, who traditionally never used to meet with customers directly.

Ian explains: “Companies often see a bank’s credit department as a bit faceless, people sitting in ivory towers deciding loans or setting stringent terms and conditions. But our credit partners take the time and effort to meet, understand and help shape customers’ finance requests.

“And we’re finding that our customers like the fact that a credit partner will come and work with the relationship director to influence

SME BREAKTHROUGH

a borrowing request, looking specifically at their needs.” Ian’s also proud of what he calls Santander’s “Breakthrough wrapper”, offering customers elements of the bank’s “overlapping pillars” of Talent, Knowledge, International, Connections and Finance.

He says: “We’re using Trade Clubs and round tables, connecting companies by bringing them together, always with the aim of helping to drive their expansion.

For example, companies that go on our subsidised Trade Missions abroad are coming back either with confirmed orders or with new business relationships they’ve established that will drive future orders.

“What we’re trying to achieve all the time is ways of helping ambitious businesses, people who need finance but in a different way, with value-added services.” n Lending is subject to status and lending criteria.

09

A prime example of a business Santander has assisted with ‘Breakthrough’ is the Shropshire-based AVF Group, a manufacturer of TV wall mounts, stands and support systems.

Earlier this year, Santander provided AVF with £2.68m of funding to help it expand into new export markets in South America, and to roll-out new products.

David Gallimore, AVF’s chief executive, says: “We are a relatively small but growing business with global intentions.

The support from Santander has been key to our plans for future growth.

The bank stood out from other banks by putting in place an excellent facility which will meet our needs. The funding will help us to secure key new customers and also provide more flexibility and headroom for the business.”

Debbie Partridge, Santander’s relationship director, adds: “AVF is a great UK business that already punches above its weight on a global level. We feel our partnership will help this to continue and form the foundations for an exciting future of expansion.”

Another example is a Santander funding package worth £4.5m for Offshore Stainless Supplies, a stockist and processor of cold drawn stainless steel bars and steel sheets based in Walsall.

This finance, agreed last summer, is helping the company to expand its business operations and improve delivery times.

Chris Joyce, managing director at Offshore Stainless Supplies, says: “We were looking to expand our operations with the ultimate aim of providing an improved service to our expanding client base. The cut to length line will allow us to offer a more flexible service and our new stock management system will improve efficiency.”

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

KNOWLEDGE

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KNOWLEDGE

A VISION FOR SUPPORT Santander Universities has donated more than £1bn to higher education, and is now driving its SME growth support Programme ‘Breakthrough’ Steve Dyson finds out more

SME BREAKTHROUGH

I’m a good listener and have a decent shorthand speed, so it’s not often that I have to ask an interviewee to repeat themselves.

But at the very beginning of my interview with Simon Bray, the managing director of Santander Universities and Breakthrough, I find myself stopping him to check: “How much did you say?” “£1.2bn,” confirms Simon. “That’s how much Santander Universities has invested in the shape of scholarships, mobility grants, support for special projects and academic and nonacademic awards in the last 20 years.”

That’s a phenomenal amount of money for any organisation to donate, let alone a bank, and I’m all ears as Simon explains how it began.

It was back in 1996 when the late Emilio Botín, the then chairman of Santander,

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decided that his bank should become more useful to the community. So he set up an agreement with the University of Cantabria, in Santander, to fund research, to see if there was a place for universities to work with businesses.

Simon says: “It went very well, and he quickly recognised that higher education was the right place to invest as far as the bank’s CSR [corporate social responsibility] was concerned, because of the significant and wide impact this could have, driving everything from social mobility to economic recovery.”

Once he was convinced that the higher education sector was the key to development and progress, Emilio established the Santander Universities division, and since then this has expanded into more than 20 countries >>

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KNOWLEDGE

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This gateway from universities to banking and business has become a massive programme

including Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Portugal and the UK. The huge donations it makes are not just simple sums of money, but are complex programmes run through registered ‘member universities’. In 2014 alone, Santander’s worldwide funding supported more than 4,000 academic, financial and technological projects, made up of 28,443 separate scholarships and grants.

Simon was asked to help the division spread its network to the UK in 2007, and is proud that since then Santander has spent more than £40m on a wide variety of initiatives in this country, working with 78 individual universities. He explains the different themes that Santander’s involved in: “There’s your basic academic support – that’s a mixture of scholarships, awards for students, researchers and teachers. Then there’s our ‘internationalisation’ projects, what we call ‘mobility’, that’s funding for staff and students to gain experience abroad, through collaboration with other universities.

“Enterprise is a growing area, where we look at ways we can support entrepreneurship at SMEs. For example, we have more than 2,000 internships a year in the UK. And we have the annual Enterprise Awards, where university vice-chancellors choose who they feel are their best students.”

Simon has a management team of 13 helping him to run Santander Universities division in the UK, but is keen to point out that they enlist the help of their colleagues from across the bank’s different sectors.

For example, if an academic in Nottingham wants someone from Santander to sit on a ‘Dragon’s Den’-style panel at their university,

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Simon or one of his managers will ask the local regional director to take part.

Another growing programme is technology, where a mobile banking app has been developed specifically for Santander’s student and graduate customers. And Simon’s proud of the new KiTTi app, essentially an online version of the old tin that students sharing a house might have chipped into to pay bills.

He says: “We run competitions for students to solve technical challenges for the banking industry, offering both financial rewards and the chance to implement their idea. It’s all about how we use this talent – helping to provide a career ladder.

“We also drive collaboration between universities and businesses, from setting up advisory boards to taking executives from banking to lectures at our partner universities.

And, of course, we offer finance, with products for staff, students and corporate facilities via our branches on campuses.

“All together, this gateway from universities to banking and business has become a massive programme, part of the very DNA of the Santander group.”

Simon, aged 42, lives in North Hertfordshire with his wife and two children, aged 12 and seven. He read economics at University of West of England before he worked in sports marketing for three years, and then moved to digital marketing until 2004.

It was then that he joined Santander, initially working on finance ‘change management’ before he was asked to help set up and then run the UK side of the bank’s Universities division. Eight years later, he’s still excited

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by the role, especially since he became responsible for the ‘Breakthrough’ at the beginning of this year.

Simon says: “Everything we do is about our customers’ journeys and life cycles, developing long-term relationships. The enterprise and entrepreneurship projects were already helping SME success, and so adding Breakthrough to the Universities division was the natural thing to happen.

“Take Breakthrough’s pillars of Knowledge, Talent and International: they all fit quite nicely and together use our support for both higher education and SMEs. Breakthrough has now been simplified into a more straightforward framework, making it more consistent.

“And that’s what really excites me, making Breakthough part of our DNA, just like Universities. It’s our vision for the way we support SMEs through a series of activities, bringing clarity to how we develop relationships.”

I ask for a specific example of how this works, and Simon recalls returning from a Santander Trade Mission to Poland earlier this year: “We’d just landed and already people were talking about doing deals. To know that it was the bank that was facilitating all that feedback and the individual stories I listened to, that was exciting.” He adds: “Breakthrough allows us to get people, wherever they are in Santander, to be consistent and clear about what we’re doing.

To have that permanently in your mind is exciting. Doing the right thing for our customers, driving relationships and driving companies to do better and achieve their goals.” n

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INSIGHT

SUMMER 15

CASHING IN TO DRIVE GROWTH Access to finance is crucial for the growth and success of an SME. Lucy Fairclough, associate director at KPMG, describes the different routes to finance In early July, KPMG Enterprise presented at Santander’s Red Box to 30 SMEs who all had one thing on their minds – access to finance.

And they’re not the only ones.

With the economy on the up, businesses are feeling confident about growth and looking for the funding they need to achieve it. However, with so many different finance options available it can be difficult to navigate

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

the market and find a solution that suits a business’s needs.

There are traditional finance sources, such as overdrafts, loans and asset-based lending, or equity finance by listing on AIM. And then there are the myriad alternatives in between: local, national or EU grants; HMRC tax reliefs based on innovation; working smarter with working capital; or even pursuing funding

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from venture capitalists. Here are just some of the options available.

GRANTS There are over 800 grant schemes funded by the Government or the EU, many of which are vastly under-subscribed. The key is choosing a grant that aligns with your business, which is where many SMEs need to seek specialist >>

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INSIGHT

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help. Establishing eligibility is one of the first hurdles: to be successful the links made between the application and the funding criteria need to be very clear. Once those links are made, the application is heading in the right direction, but there are still hurdles to get over like using jargon-free language and including the right supporting documentation.

However, despite the process, a grant can provide an effective, low cost route to finance that fits with an SME’s needs.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TAX INCENTIVES The Government wants the UK to be an attractive location for research and development (R&D) and has set aside £2bn to fund innovation projects.

R&D tax incentives can provide significant cash tax benefits for businesses’ investment in R&D activities, even for loss-making SMEs. R&D tax relief covers a broad range of activities and can include much more than is traditionally thought of as R&D. Where a company is developing new or improved products, processes, materials, devices or software solutions, which involve scientific or technological challenges, the company may be undertaking qualifying R&D activities. R&D tax advisers can help a company understand if their activity qualifies and if so, how to make a claim.

KPMG worked with a manufacturing company with £45m turnover which was developing innovative products to improve industry techniques. We identified £3m of qualifying expenditure, resulting in a tax saving to the company of £790,000.

Working capital maximisation As the old saying goes, sometimes the very thing you’re looking for is right under your nose: in the world of finance it could be sat on your company’s balance sheet.

Working capital maximisation is about improving the liquidity of a business and involves taking an all-encompassing view, looking at all elements of cash, as well as each element of the working capital cycle.

Specialists can work with an SME to

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KPMG worked with an agricultural goods and services supplier to obtain a £1.5m cash flow injection by bringing forward VAT recovery on invoices posted after the end of the VAT accounting period deliver sustainable reductions in working capital through knowledge transfer and implementation support programmes, providing better management and visibility of cash and working capital.

Case study: KPMG worked with a £50m turnover private equity-backed distributor and identified working capital improvements across receivables, payables and inventory amounting to between £2m and £5.5m, dependent on the level of action the client wanted to take.

The additional cash supported a refinancing of the business and helped to provide additional covenant headroom.

VAT VAT is usually one of the largest and most undermanaged cash flows in the business. This is largely because the true impact of VAT on a business’s cash position is not clearly visible in the statutory accounts.

At KPMG, our VAT Cash Optimisation Tool (VCOT) measures and provides visibility over VAT cash flows. This can identify both significant ‘quick’ and ‘strategic’ cash flow wins, which can be put in place with only minor changes to business processes.

By doing this, VAT cash balance can be maximised for key dates like covenant testing, interim and year-end balances, when cash is short elsewhere in the business, and can provide a one-off cash flow injection. VCOR can also analyse proposed supply chain or organisational change and assess the cash benefit or hit of each option.

KPMG worked with an agricultural goods and services supplier to obtain a £1.5m cash flow injection by bringing forward VAT recovery

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on invoices posted after the end of the VAT accounting period. This happened with full agreement from HMRC and secured an initial cash injection as well as on-going cash flow savings. Whatever the solution chosen, it is vital that SME owners approach conversations with funders armed with robust financial records and forecasts, to ensure they present their investment case in the best possible light.

This is another area where specialist advisers can help.

KPMG Enterprise was set up a year ago to be a trusted adviser to mid-market, privately owned businesses. The team is made up of individuals who are broad business advisers with a deep specialism, and who are focused exclusively on working with SMEs. Whether they trained as chartered accountants, management consultants or tax advisers, they have the full expertise of KPMG behind them and can be the point of contact for an SME across any business challenge.

The role of KPMG’s experts is to advise SMEs on how to become stronger, whether that’s through growth or through understanding their current business better. KPMG has strong relationships with like-minded professional organisations, such as Santander and Finance Birmingham.

To find out if you’re eligible for R&D tax credits, local, national or EU grants, or VAT cash flow release, register your company name at midlandsenterprise@kpmg.co.uk to access materials and support. Or to hear more broadly about KPMG Enterprise and understand how the team could help your business, email lucy.fairclough@kpmg.co.uk or call 0121 609 6182. n

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TALENT

SUMMER 15

HOW TO TAP INTO TOP TALENT

Keele University is one of Santander’s leading suppliers of internships to help growing SMEs. Kathy England, employer engagement officer at Keele University, explains how it works Since Keele University started working with Santander in 2010, more than 100 internships have been arranged for its graduates.

More than 70% of these have resulted in extended or permanent employment, with 65 companies receiving financial support towards internship wages, helping them grow their businesses.

Dr Mark Bacon, director of engagement and partnerships at Keele University, says: “Employability is extremely important for Keele, and the internship programme is now recognised and appreciated by the local and regional business community, as well as providing targeted support to our students and graduates. As a result, we’re looking to further strengthen our relationship with Santander in the coming months.”

So what are the internships all about? Today’s graduates are entering a world where the only constant is change. Change means challenges, and successful companies are usually those who take measures to retain and recruit appropriate skills and expertise in their workforce.

Larger companies have, for a long time, reaped the benefits of offering university graduates a ‘trial’ period of employment, allowing both sides to see if the person is suitable for a longer term position.

But now that universities have a stronger focus on student numbers and their employment destinies, the internship doors have been flung wide open to smaller companies. Graduate talent is there for the taking, with a recent survey reporting that around 67% of smaller

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

businesses have recruited graduates to permanent positions in the last twelve months.

For a small business, a graduate intern can be an injection of fresh thinking and get a specific project done. For the graduate, it’s a chance to apply knowledge learnt and see if their role is also their ideal career.

There are two rationales for an internship.

The first and the most usual approach is to use the internship as a less risky, less costly way of trying out a new employee. Internships can vary in length, but three months is long enough for the ‘honeymoon’ period to have worn off and know if there are enough mutual benefits to continue the relationship.

Another approach is to have a graduate intern tackle a specific, short-term project. Either way the benefits can be significant.

But how can a smaller business attract graduate talent? Larger companies tend to be more well-known and have an established brand and are able to afford a presence on campus, and therefore on the graduate radar.

But smaller businesses account for about a

third of the UK economy and provide up to half of all new jobs. One of the best ways for smaller businesses in and around Staffordshire to get their opportunities noticed is to work closely with a local university, such as Keele.

University internship schemes often include graduate recruitment advice, skills matching services, telephone screening, and often some funding towards wage costs, so it could be worthwhile developing a relationship.

How does a small business prepare for a successful internship? It can be a big deal taking on a new employee. So once you have identified either a project or graduate level role, spend some time on setting clear, realistic and measurable goals – a well written job description will be a worthwhile investment.

Universities will often help with the advert to attract the applicants. It’s true to say that there will be graduates available all year round, so start talking to your local university as soon as you have identified a new role.

Think about the skills required and the type of person. Does your role require a particular

For a small business, a graduate intern can be an injection of fresh thinking and get a specific project done. For the graduate, it’s a chance to apply knowledge learnt and see if their role is also their ideal career.

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TALENT

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type of degree? Up to two thirds of advertised graduate roles are not degree specific so are the soft skills more important than any particular discipline?

Will the graduate be able to learn from their manager, or will they be the only expertise in their area? And, how will you test for skills in the interview? Once you start receiving graduate CVs, try to make sure that you can act promptly – as in other recruitment scenarios, the best candidates will move fast.

During the internship itself, the student or graduate should in many ways be treated in the same way as any other employee.

So provide an appropriate induction, clear

reporting lines and support where needed.

Assigning a ‘mentor’ can also be an excellent way of assessing progress, but regular reviews are recommended to make sure things are on track – and to make your intern feel more valued. If you have recruited your graduate to get an injection of fresh thinking, then embrace it and welcome their input and allow them to challenge. Don’t forget graduates are transitioning from the education to the real world, so the ride may be a little bumpy.

What about the salary? It’s quite acceptable for the internship to be offered an entry level point salary, and be reviewed periodically.

Graduates doing internships who perform

well should and will expect salary reviews, and so they need to understand the progression routes within the role or the company.

Ideally, start addressing these expectations at advertising stage. Most universities will be able to give you some indication of appropriate salary levels. Over the last few years, various university schemes have included funding towards the internship, so it’s worthwhile finding out what is on offer to you.

What happens at the end of the internship?

Before the internship draws to a close, be clear about any possibilities of future permanent employment – the last thing you want to do is lose your valuable new recruit! Even if

If you have recruited your graduate to get an injection of fresh thinking, then embrace it and welcome their input and allow them to challenge.

Don’t forget graduates are transitioning from education to the real world, so the ride may be a little bumpy.

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a permanent role is not mutually attractive, both parties will still have benefited from the experience.

BRIDGING THE GAP FOR GRANT Grant Mantle graduated from Keele University with a Business Management and Marketing degree in July 2013.

Grant, now aged 25, worked at the Trentham Estate for 12 months as a marketing assistant, alongside Amanda Dawson, marketing and promotions manager. And things went so well, that he is now on a second year of internship.

Grant says: “The Keele-Santander scheme was brilliant – I was given application and interview advice which was very useful. They also kept me updated me on possible internships I would be interested in. The Trentham one came along and I thought it was perfect to progress a career in marketing as well as looking like a brilliant place to work.”

The Trentham Estate, owned by St. Modwen, is one of the country’s leisure destinations, attracting around three million visitors a year.

Comprising 725 acres, it is home to Trentham Gardens, Trentham Shopping Village, the Monkey Forest and Aerial Extreme.

Grant says: “The internship at Trentham has helped to bridge the gap between university and the marketing career I wish to pursue. I am learning a lot from Amanda, she has been a great role model for me as she has so much marketing experience and is always looking towards the future.”

Amanda adds: “Grant was an ideal fit for our graduate level vacancy for a marketing assistant. He knew Trentham well as a visitor, had theoretical marketing knowledge and showed obvious enthusiasm to learn. The creativity he demonstrated when submitting a tweet at the interview stage set him apart from other candidates.”

Grant’s role involves marketing communications to promote the Trentham Estate, which includes the Gardens and Shopping Village. Grant explains: “My day-to-day work takes in a wide range of marketing activities from briefing the design team, to creating content for the website and interacting with various stakeholders.”

The Trentham Estate hosts many events through the year including open air concerts, a

fireworks display and a Christmas lights event.

This involves creating a strategic campaign months in advance to make sure everything is in place to ensure the events are a success.

Grant adds: “To be involved in the promotion of events was brilliant. We had the added pressure of extra dates for the open air concerts this year but managed to sell out 50% of the gigs and attract more people to them than ever before.”

Grant says that he’s benefited from training and workshops during his internship at Trentham. “I have been lucky to attend workshops on digital marketing by some key names in this sector. I think I would prefer to go down the digital marketing route and the next steps are to hopefully get certificated in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and develop more experience working alongside other partners.”

Amanda adds: “It’s been a pleasure to work alongside Grant. It’s brought a new level of job satisfaction to me, sharing my experience and being in a mentoring role. Having a marketing assistant has been of real tangible benefit to the business, so much so that we’ve extended Grant’s contract for a further twelve months.”

TALENT

understanding our needs and identifying a top quality candidate. The intern was extremely conscientious and brought new skills into our organisation. I would definitely hire an intern again” Norman Tempest, managing director of Royal Stafford Ltd, Stoke-on-Trent, said: “Santander Universities met all our expectations and it was a well co-ordinated programme and professionally delivered. We were very pleased with the way the position was advertised and there was no time wasted with inappropriate candidates.” n Details of the Keele-Santander Internship scheme for SMEs can be found at www.keele. ac.uk/internships, or contact Kathy England on 01782 733403, internships@keele.ac.uk

IT WORKED FOR US Tony Altham, managing director of Adgifts Online Ltd, Newcastle-under-Lyme, said: “We’ve used the Santander Universities SME Internship Programme very successfully to recruit our two most recent employees.

We’re delighted with the service and strongly recommend other SMEs to consider this valuable opportunity to work with some very bright and capable individuals and enjoy the benefits that they bring to their business. For us it has become our preferred recruitment process for key new team members”.

Christine Purslow, head of medical affairs at Spectrum Thea Pharamaceuticals, Keele University Science and Business Park, said: “It’s wonderful to have such a close link with the university in this way, and it has allowed us to find local talented individuals who we can develop and grow along with our business.”

Nicola Randles, managing director at Andritz Ltd, Newcastle-under-Lyme, said: “The programme was surprisingly free of bureaucracy. The facilitators did a great job in

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CONNECTIONS

SUMMER 15

A RELATIONSHIP BUILT ON TRUST

TopCashback, one of the UK’s leading ‘reward’ websites, has worldwide expansion plans. Finance chief Peter Amison explains how Santander’s connections are helping business growth. Steve Dyson reports When Peter Amison joined TopCashback in January 2011, the company had 24 employees working out of an office above a kebab shop in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. Today there’s a staff of 147 working out of four offices in Stafford, Bolton, London and New Jersey, USA. The company’s last filed accounts showed turnover of around £40m for 2013, with profit margins of around 10%, and revenues are still growing at an annual rate of between 25% and 30%.

Peter, the company’s finance manager, says: “We’re a rapidly expanding business but we remain focused on getting the best deals for our members. We are the biggest cashback website in the country because we are peoplefocused. We’re all about getting the best rates for our members – that’s what’s helping us grow.”

Peter’s talking to me from TopCashback’s

new offices on Staffordshire Business Park in Stafford, where he and 93 colleagues run everything from finance to marketing, and from graphic design to customer service.

Explaining how the business works, he gives me the example of booking an average family holiday abroad, which might cost somewhere in the region of £2,000. He says: “Book that holiday through TopCashback and you’ll save money, with the right deals earning you anything between 2% and 4% cashback.

That’s a lot of money.

“With insurance or mobile phone deals, book your purchase through clicks on our website and we’ll save you anything from £50 to £100. Overall, we estimate that we can save members around 8% annually in cashback on all their shopping.”

TopCashback was originally founded by Oliver Ragg and Mike Tomkins in the summer of

They are willing to pay a lot of money to go on our website, as that’s where our 4.5 million members’ eyes are looking.

As a result, our members are collectively saving more than £35m every year – and that’s a growing figure SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

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2005. The pair had backgrounds in coding, working on websites for the travel industry, and they launched the business from Mike’s home. They are both still part of the company.

Now celebrating its ten-year anniversary, TopCashback has 4.5 million members – a figure that has more than doubled in the last two years alone. But no-one pays a membership fee for their savings – they simply book their deals and make their purchases through the company’s www.topcashback. co.uk website, earning money each time.

They can select from more than 4,300 online stores and businesses, buying anything from electronic goods to sports equipment, and from books, music and insurance to holidays.

Peter explains: “We get our money from companies advertising with us. They are willing to pay a lot of money to go on our website, as that’s where our 4.5 million members’ eyes are looking. As a result, our members are collectively saving more than £35m every year – and that’s a growing figure.

“And TopCashback’s ‘Plus’ members get even higher percentage savings, although for that we get the first £5 of their earnings. We basically try to get our members to transact more through us – and the more they do, the more money they earn in cashback.”

Peter’s quite proud of the fact that TopCashback’s growth is self-funded, with no

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bank facility needed to invest in its growth.

But while the cashflows are strong, the company has relied on a strong relationship with Santander to develop its banking connections. Peter, aged 44, who lives with his wife and two children in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, says: “We went to Santander for free business banking to start with. That’s a sign of how we’re always trying to get the best value for money! And our relationship has grown from there. We work with Santander’s relationship director Matthew Cliffe, and he really has helped us quite a lot, supporting every venture we go into.

“Take our new USA office: initially, we opened a bank account in America, but for various reasons that just didn’t work out and we had to do something. I approached Matthew and said: ‘What can you do for us in America?’

“He explained that Santander had recently taken over Sovereign Bank in the States and he made a couple of calls. And it was that

easy to set up. Now I have a really good relationship with that bank, speaking with them every day.

“Here’s another example: we’ve launched a new website in India, and Santander has a relationship with that country’s ICICI Bank.

Through Matthew, we’ll be working with them soon. And recently he sent me to a meeting about Brazil, which was really interesting.

“He’s even helped set up a charity bank account. Whatever I’ve asked, they’ve been able to deliver. I just can’t say enough for them. Even day-to-day issues – like a big money transfer recently from the USA to the UK – Matthew just put me in touch with the right people.”

Peter’s a certified accountant who started work at A. Wood & Co in Burslem, Staffordshire, before moving to Howsons, based in Stoke. It was then that he started working on a huge, six-month audit process for JCB, which became “a very interesting part

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CONNECTIONS

of my life” every year.

Once that contract ended, Peter didn’t want to return to dealing with small companies’ finances, and tried to find an alternative.

Howsons had picked up TopCashback as a client, and once Peter met them he knew he wanted to work for the expanding company, joining them just over four years ago.

Since then, TopCashback has been recognised for its growth three years running, being the 5th, 33rd and 98th fastest growing private company in ‘The Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100’, in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

And it’s because of that expansion that Peter continues to enjoy his relationship with Santander.

He adds: “It’s all about that personal touch.

That’s what Matthew’s created. I trust him and they trust us, which is the way it should be, because we’re a growing company and have got a lot of cash. So our reliance on Santander has been all about connections.” n

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INSIGHT

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INSIDE THE RED BOX Young entrepreneurs found inspiration and invaluable advice at Santander’s Breakthrough festival at Molineux, Wolverhampton, this summer

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INTERNATIONAL

A GLOBAL PLAYER Mark Collings, head of international sales at Santander, tells Steve Dyson how the bank helps companies become ‘export legends’

Santander is one of the world’s top ten biggest banks, according to the Forbes 2015 report.

And it’s no wonder why when you look at some of its statistics and awards. The bank has more than 117 million customers and 185,000 employees in ten main markets. This means it has more than 12,900 branches worldwide – more than any other international bank.

Santander is the world’s ‘number four’ financial brand, according to a Brand Finance report, and is ‘number 43’ on the Forbes Global 2000 Leading Companies list.

In the UK, Santander was voted the ‘Best International Solutions Bank’ and the ‘Best Innovation in SME Banking’ 2015 for its Trade Portal, by Business Moneyfacts.

Mark Collings, Santander’s head of international sales, says: “We’re helping companies to grow internationally by constantly asking clients what is most important to them in international business.”

He says that top questions from customers include: • How do we identify new markets?

• How do I get paid?

• Can we get access to cheap freight forwarders?

• How can you help us improve our

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supply chain?

• How can we source new and reliable trading partners?

• What shipping documents do I need for a new market and are there any barriers I should know about?

Mark says that these are the types of questions Santander strives to have answers for, making it as easy as possible for UK companies to trade abroad. He explains that Santander tells businesses that there are five key steps to help support international expansion.

The first is the bank’s award-winning Trade Portal, an online service that customers are given access to.

Mark says: “This is the first stage of helping a business to determine which export markets might be attractive by understanding the volume of potential trade for their product or service.

“After this, they can identify potential prospects and all the ‘must know’ facts about various export markets, such as countries’ various laws and regulations, and other practical tips.”

The second step is connecting companies to various markets abroad, helping them to form trading alliances and relationships. Step three is enabling customers to cope with growth, which might sometimes include discussing

The Trade Portal is an award winning tool that is free for all Santander customers. It demystifies the challenges of understanding trade opportunities, helping our customers understand which countries to trade with, and answers a lot of first-time trade questions

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INTERNATIONAL finance requirements.

With all that in hand, step four is when Santander helps companies to set up abroad, using its International Desk. And step five is where the bank acts as a global champion, for example, giving companies access to its Trade Clubs to further their expansion.

Mark says: “The Trade Portal is a tool that is free for all Santander customers. It demystifies the challenges of understanding trade opportunities, helping our customers understand which countries to trade with, and answers a lot of first-time trade questions.”

The Trade Portal contains 10,000 pages covering 185 countries, 40,000 trade shows by sector, 60,000 suppliers, 100,000 importers and one million public and private tender opportunities.

Mark says that Santander has corporate banking services in 14 countries, making it possible for them to directly support companies in all those markets. As well as the UK, these countries are Germany, Portugal, Poland and Spain in Europe. And in North and South America, they are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay and the USA. Mark says: “Santander’s footprint is more than a 10% market share in the majority of these countries.”

And as well as these direct banking services, Mark also highlighted that Santander has proven strategic banking alliances with leading banks including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in UAE and the Bank of Shanghai in China as well as other major markets.

These include the Raiffeisen Bank in Central Eastern Europe, the ICICI Bank in India, the Bank of Shanghai in China and the Mizuho Bank in Japan.

Others are the IBK Bank in South Korea, the NAB Bank in Australia and South East Asia, the UOB Bank in Singapore, the ACDB Bank in Abu Dhabi, the Standard Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Attijariwafa Bank in North Africa.

Mark also outlines the multilingual teams spread across 15 global markets that make up Santander’s International Desk.

He says: “We extend our reach via relationships with banks who provide a premium service to our clients investing or

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The bank has more than 117 million customers and 185,000 employees in ten main markets. This means it has more than 12,900 branches worldwide – more than any other international bank.

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INTERNATIONAL trading in other markets. The desks have expert knowledge on the ground and valuable insight into the local macroeconomic, financial, regulatory and business environment of the chosen market.

“This means they offer specific products and services for foreign investors, and simplify complex international processes. With our local information, and our banking products and services, we can connect with the key people.”

Mark also explains the principles behind the Santander Passport that he says represents the bank’s commitment to serve customers consistently in all its locations, wherever they are in the world.

He says: “By fostering and strengthening global relationships with key international clients, we provide a seamless transition into new markets.

“Real privileges for companies in other Santander countries include all their subsidiaries being supported by an account manager, preferably in their own language or in English.

“Then there are streamlined procedures for account opening and local credit assessment, and support from a Santander local specialist in any business trips to any of our geographies.

“We offer market intelligence services that include lists of importers and exporters, tenders, subsidies, and so on, with lots of other value-added local services.”

Santander also leads regular trade missions abroad, with the next two this year being to the Abu Dhabi and Dubai in October, and to Boston, USA in November. This is in addition to Mexico, Poland and Spain which have already taken place this year.

Mark adds: “We are focused on helping ambitious SME businesses achieves their goals. All of these services are just a part of what we see as our normal way of operating in our chosen markets, which in turn help to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, offering what we feel makes us the compelling bank of choice for businesses.” n

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Santander Trade Portal and Trade Club are available to Santander Corporate & Commercial customers.

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INTERNATIONAL

LEARNING THE HARD WAY Thirteen years ago, Joan Woulfe took on a small hardware store with no retail experience. She and her daughter, Katie Smith, developed Cooking Marvellous which now exports to 135 countries. Steve Dyson reports

When Joan Woulfe bought a property in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, back in 2002, it included a small hardware store on the ground floor which someone planned to run as a business.

Just days before the sale went through, the shop retailer pulled out, and Joan was left with a fully-stocked store and no staff, but needed to keep it running to pay the mortgage.

“I had no option but to give it a go,” she recalls. “I arrived in the shop on day one, with no retail experience. It was full of stock, mostly unpriced, with no invoices or supplier records, and I knew nothing about hardware.

“But I arrived with two things – a bunch of daffodils to brighten up the counter, and a ream of pink tissue paper to wrap the stock.

The customers arrived – a mixture of plumbers, builders and people doing DIY jobs at home – and I was so grateful for that pink tissue paper.

“Customers would ask for something I didn’t understand, like a ‘45 degree compression elbow’, and I’d hand them a pencil to draw the item on my tissue paper. I’d recognise it, find it and we’d have a discussion about the possible price.

“Over the next few weeks, suppliers started coming to see me, and I began finding out essential facts like retail mark up, and how to keep shop accounts.”

As Joan’s knowledge of hardware and business began to grow, she realised she needed a bit

of help on Saturdays, and got her then nineyear-old daughter, Katie Smith, to lend a hand.

Looking back, Katie, now aged 21, says: “Even at nine, I didn’t want to hand over my weekends for a pittance, so every Saturday morning Mum and I would negotiate my wage, which was always a percentage of takings for that day, based on the weather, time of year and even sporting fixtures.

“This unknowingly fantastic wage scheme led me to learn the value of the ‘added sale’ incredibly quickly. I became very proficient at making sure that if someone bought some silicone sealant, they also bought a gun, all the while standing on a stool, as I didn’t quite reach the till.”

The small hardware store was called Harrisons, and although it quickly taught Joan and Katie about business it struggled to pay for both their mortgage and family living expenses.

So in 2005, Joan sold up and moved to

Shrewsbury, buying an existing cook shop called The Complete Kitchen.

Joan, aged 53 and a mum-of-two, remembers: “It was an old fashioned shop, described by customers as a real ‘treasure trove’, full of nooks and crannies. Business had deteriorated in the three years before my purchase, which meant I could afford it.

“It was a risk, but I was convinced I could turn it around. We immediately renamed it Cooking Marvellous, and spent the first year learning the world of cookware, and getting to know the stock. After a year, we closed for a week, completely gutted the building, and reopened a week later with a well-lit, modern shop, with stock on display rather than tucked away.

Turnover doubled the moment we reopened, and we never looked back.”

As they became established, the natural progression would have been to open a second shop, but they were both aware of

I became very proficient at making sure that if someone bought some silicone sealant, they also bought a gun, all the while standing on a stool, as I didn’t quite reach the till

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INTERNATIONAL how quickly online sales were growing.

“We were excited by this and decided to give it a go,” says Katie. “We spent six months uploading products manually onto our website. We learned from scratch about image resizing, coding and SEO, and our website went live.

“Sales took off immediately, and then Amazon approached us in 2008 and we started selling through them too. At this point, we were still operating in the shop’s cellar – it took one person a full day to deal with 10 orders.

“Laura, my younger sister, and I used to come home from school and carry all the parcels to the Post Office. As the orders increased, it very quickly became disruptive to the shop. At this point we realised that the shop and online businesses had to be separate, with dedicated stock and staff. So we took a leap of faith, and moved the online business to a separate warehouse.”

Cooking Marvellous had always focused on cookware, but that all changed when Katie went off to university to study Economics, only to return home after a week. She’d decided that rather than spending three years studying she would prefer to go straight into the world of work – and she had a plan.

While working at the online warehouse she’d had an email conversation with a lady from Thailand who’d ordered some cake tins but was desperate for some Bisto gravy granules.

She’d asked if there was any chance that someone could pop to Tesco and put it in the parcel with her cake tins.

Katie did as she asked, and the customer probably never knew that she’d helped create the idea for ‘Tastes Marvellous’. Katie returned from university on a Thursday, and had her first order the following Monday for four jars of marmite for a customer in Massachusetts.

Joan explains: “Tastes Marvellous now runs alongside Cooking Marvellous, and today we’re just as likely to be sending dog food to Greece as we are jam funnels to Germany.

We’ve moved from a shop turning over £100,000 a year to an online retailer on track to turnover £3.6m this year.

“This growth’s been completely organic. Apart from one small loan about four years ago, we’ve never had loans, mortgages or even a bank overdraft. Katie and I are self-taught,

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This growth’s been completely organic.

Apart from one small loan about four years ago, we’ve never had loans, mortgages or even a bank overdraft

have worked hard and spent up to 80 hours a week working during the early years. But of course, if you enjoy it, and the results are exciting, it doesn’t feel like work.”

The business today is called The Marvellous Group, although it trades as Cooking Marvellous Ltd. Based in a warehouse in Battlefield, just outside Shrewsbury, 70% of its orders are now exports, it has more than 250,000 product listings in six languages, and sells in six different currencies to 135 countries.

Products range from Indian cooking kits for French customers, to jam-making kits for Germans; and from Bodum teapots for the Japanese market, to pots of Colman’s mint sauce for French Polynesia. There are celebrity customers too: TRESemmé shampoo for the Sultan of Brunei, and baby milk for Guy Ritchie on location in Italy.

Joan says: “My personal favourites are Curly Wurlys to Saudi Arabia, and 20 bottles of Soy sauce to Japan, of all places. The Cooking Marvellous team packs 1,000 or so orders daily – more during October to December. It’s a very process-driven operation and, as the business grows, our processes change to accommodate increased orders.”

Katie says she and her mum are “very proud” to have kept up to date with technology: “Only two years ago, we used to do our product uploads manually in front of EastEnders! But now everything’s automated, and we upload thousands of product listings at a time by CSV file. We have a small but concise IT team, and where we’d be without them hardly bears thinking about.”

Joan adds: “Accurate stock control is critical.

With so many products, if we didn’t have a fully integrated system that showed live stock

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across all sales channels we’d be in trouble selling stock that we didn’t have.

“We used to take advantage of supplier offers and bulk buys, however now we find it’s more profitable and space efficient to keep stock in suppliers’ warehouses, ordering on a ‘Just in Time’ basis up to three times a week from suppliers.

“Our stock’s kept in the warehouse in numbered bins and locations, so that pickers can easily find the items. Organisation is key.

We print orders in batches of 40, and the picker uses a list in location order, without having to retrace their steps. Efficient processes are key, and reduce the labour cost of each order.”

The business has a small packing team working to a benchmark of 37 orders per person, per hour – although the best packer can produce 68 an hour. Teams follow the Japanese principal of Kaizen, the process of continuous improvement.

Katie explains: “Did you know that if you move the Sellotape dispenser 5cm closer, you’ll save 0.2 seconds on every order, which is 4.5 hours saved per year, per packer! We dispatch the majority of orders with the very reliable Royal Mail.

“Each order is barcoded and scanned by our in house postman, triggering an automatic email to the customer in their own language telling them the order’s dispatched. We sort our parcels to the nearest airport, such as San Francisco, Adelaide or Dusseldorf, to name a few.

“This means they go directly to Heathrow, rather than to the local sorting office, which speeds delivery up. If a customer from New York has a craving on a Monday for Mr Kipling Angel cake, their craving will be satisfied by

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INTERNATIONAL Friday. You couldn’t ask for a happier customer.”

It’s this focus on customer service that Joan says is key: “We aim for dispatch on the day, or day after, the order’s placed. Customers mostly communicate by email, and our team aim to answer all emails within four hours. We communicate in the language of the originating order channel, so our team answers emails in French, German, Italian, Spanish and now Japanese.”

Katie also highlights the importance of strategy and planning, explaining how the family-owned firm’s team of 15 full-time staff sit down daily to discuss overnight orders, creating a daily plan. They also have weekly, monthly and annual strategy meetings.

She says: “We’ve always been aware that we could be swallowed up by doing things, so in our formative years, every Wednesday, we turned off the warehouse lights, shut the door, and only allowed ourselves to do things that would grow the business. This meant everyone was dedicating 20% of the working week to growing the business.

“There’s a popular misconception that online retail gives customers products at cheap prices. This is something we’ve stepped away from completely. We offer customers quality products, speedy delivery and good customer service – and they’re happy to pay the market value.

“We’re a bricks and mortar business with a warehouse full of stock and well-paid staff, so we have just as many overheads on the online side as we did in our shop.

We know exactly how much an average order costs to pack and dispatch, which is then reflected in P&P. There is no such thing as free postage. And we never, ever sell below full margin.”

Joan’s proudest moment came last year when Cooking Marvellous won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, and she and Katie went to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen.

Katie adds: “A lot has happened over the past 13 years, a lot of changes since the day that Mum went in to Harrisons with her daffodils and pink tissue paper. We’ve enjoyed our journey so far, and look forward to the challenges of the future.” n

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HELPING HUNDREDS OF BUSINESSES ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS Santander made a real difference to hundreds of SMEs who attended the bank’s week-long Breakthrough Box Festival at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton in July. Steve Dyson reports The sheer number of tasks to complete when SME companies are expanding can often overwhelm overworked bosses. For Santander the aim of Breakthrough is to introduce SMEs to its five pillars of ‘Knowledge’, ‘Talent’, ‘International’, ‘Connections’ and ‘Finance’ that can help them achieve their goals.

Susan Davies, Santander’s regional director for the South and West Midlands, said: “Our Breakthrough Box Festival in Wolverhampton in July did just that – helping ambitious businesses understand how we can assist them to grow their workforce, launch new products and enter new markets.

“We see ‘talent’ as a really important factor for companies entering a growth phase.

Because quite often the bosses are so busy actually running and funding their businesses, they simply don’t have the time, nor often the money, to spend on developing things like

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websites or other marketing projects.

“That’s where we can help, for example by providing skilled internships, with top graduates sent in to funded by the business with a contribution from Santander. We have a number of great university relationships across the country and work closely with Keele, Birmingham, Aston and Warwick in the Midlands.

“Working with us, they identify graduate interns who are best-suited for particular projects. This is a real, tangible way to demonstrate how we provide support to businesses that’s not financial, but may help to improve revenues by changing something specific.”

Susan’s just as enthusiastic about the other ‘pillars’ in Breakthrough.

She said: “A big focus for Santander is its huge global presence, with more branches

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worldwide than any other bank. We’ve developed the Trade Portal tool, accessible to our Corporate and Commercial customers.

“This helps businesses to identify top markets where they can sell their products across the globe. It not only lists countries but also specific business customers, opening a network of more than five million customers worldwide that can lead to new opportunities.

It also provides up-to-date rules and regulations for trading in those countries, all the ‘need to know’ information.”

Susan said this overlapping mix of the ‘International’, ‘Connections’ and ‘Knowledge’ pillars is then added to by the subsidised Trade Missions that Santander leads across the year.

In 2015, this includes taking customers to explore trade in Spain, Poland, the USA and the United Arab Emirates.

Within the UK, Santander pulls together a >>

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BREAKTHROUGH

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continuous programme of free masterclasses, inviting top firms like Saatchi Masius, Innocent Foods, McLaren, Experian and Autotrader to share ‘knowledge’ with its customers.

Susan said: “These events are about getting the right people together to share their expertise, learn from each other and make new contacts.”

Banking is ultimately about ‘finance’, of course, and another one of the Breakthrough pillars is Growth Capital. She explained “Santander has committed £200 million of funding to support high-growth SMEs that have advanced comfortably beyond startup stage into profitability. Growth Capital is debt finance which means you rarely have to sacrifice any equity in your business. You also don’t have to put further personal assets at risk. It is flexible too - you can use it to support your development to funding capital expenditure. Any business that qualifies for Breakthrough Growth Capital will find the due diligence process to be quicker and less expensive than for equity funding. What’s more, it comes with ongoing support in the form of Breakthrough’s training, mentoring and seminar programme. Our Growth Capital loan is an innovative way for you to obtain funding to invest in the growth of your business.” Susan said that Santander’s Breakthrough Box event at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton was itself another example of the Breakthrough’s ‘connections’ pillar. She said: “We connected with 250 businesses across the week, bringing them together and enabling them to meet with each other. That was a great way of showing how we can create opportunities to network, to find leads, and for businesses to promote themselves, letting businesses get their brand out there to a wider audience.

“But it’s not just a one week event for us.

Breakthrough is a day-to-day discipline – always focused around those five pillars with whatever we do. That’s how we differentiate ourselves, and we’re getting recognised in the market for doing that.” n Santander Trade Portal and Trade Club are available to Santander Corporate & Commercial customers. Lending is subject to status and lending criteria.

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

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SME BREAKTHROUGH

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BREAKTHROUGH We’re breaking through

We connected with 250 businesses across the week, bringing them together and enabling them to meet with each other. That was a great way of showing how we can create opportunities to network, to find leads, and for businesses to promote themselves

SME BREAKTHROUGH

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Shropshire-based Cranage EMC Testing Ltd is one of the businesses that has benefited directly from Santander’s ‘Breakthrough’. The company, which provides electrical product testing and certification solutions for manufacturers, is now purchasing new premises in Market Drayton and expanding abroad after a £540,000 finance package from Santander.

Pauline Richens, a joint founder of Cranage, says: “We’re working closely with UKTI and Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, as well as using Santander’s Trade Portal and other tools, to better understand trade opportunities and learn more about overseas markets. The funding and support from Santander has been invaluable and we are excited about this next phase of growth.” Matthew Smith, Santander’s relationship director, adds: “Cranage is an example of a family business which has been built completely from scratch by a dedicated, ambitious couple. A key future objective for the business is to remain as diverse as possible, ensuring regular income streams from a range of areas, and we’re confident the new headquarters, once complete, will provide plenty of room for growth and give the business scope to expand.” Another company benefiting from Breakthrough is the Chase Distillery, the Herefordshire-based producer of spirits, which is expanding in the UK and overseas with the help of a multi-million £ funding deal from Santander.

Established in 2008, Chase grows its own potatoes and apples on its farm in rural Herefordshire and produces super premium vodka, gin and liqueurs.

Customers include Waitrose, Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason, Selfridges, Claridges, Hedonism and many bars, restaurants and hotels all over the world. As well as Santander’s finance, Chase has utilised Santander’s trade portal and trade club to help source new overseas partners. Adrian Jones, managing director at Chase, says: “We have made incredible strides over the past six years. We have very ambitious plans and, with the support of Santander, our customers, our suppliers and our Chase employees, I’m wholly confident of our future success.” John Hyde, Santander’s relationship director, adds: “We’re delighted to be working with such a professional, exciting and high-profile company.

Santander is committed to helping UK businesses grow both at home and overseas, and with our considerable global strength and expertise, we are well placed to help businesses in the West Midlands with their international growth plans.” n

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EXPERT VIEW

SUMMER 15

REACHING BREAKTHROUGH Leading West Midlands entrepreneur and SME adviser Joel Blake gives his top tips on starting and growing your own business My mentor once said to me: “Entrepreneurship is not a fad, it’s a lifestyle choice.” Fifteen years after taking the plunge with my first ever venture, those poignant words are still etched in my memory.

Starting and growing your own business affects all aspects of your life – date nights with your partner, sports day with the children, and pints with your mates down your local.

They’re all affected by that decision to take your destiny into your own hands, and solve an issue by launching your own business.

But what about the ‘breakthrough’ moment – when you realise that you actually have something that could really scale? And that feeling of positive nervousness when all the numbers seem to make sense, you have customers who love what you offer, and you no longer feel you have to question the loyalty of staff, suppliers, and partners?

There are so many historical stories of companies who experience that special moment – companies like Dropbox, whose simple two minute, 18 second video took their users from 5,000 to 75,000 people overnight, or even when Birmingham-born Company Droplet knew they should open a second London office.

For our business, BizBritain Finance, our breakthrough came when we realised that 70% of our clients came from the Birmingham and Midlands region, that we had provided over nearly £2m of funding, and that our staff had tripled from three to nine people in under 18 months. But more importantly, how do you make that breakthrough? Here

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Be part of the ecosystem that you serve.

Modern day business is driven by the values, ethics and relationships you share with others. are some simple things that we have learned about SME growth. Treat your staff like family: your people are the lifeblood of your business.

Without them, you have no business. But like family, you will have to learn to laugh, cry and fight together. Strive to create a culture where everyone is expected to deliver, but also empowered to realise that the vision of the business is also key.

Be part of the ecosystem that you serve.

Modern day business is driven by the values, ethics and relationships you share with others.

It’s important to understand who the key stakeholders are within the ecosystem your company’s a part of. Then ensure that you’re adding value, not simply taking it away from that ecosystem.

Be proactive about embracing change.

Change is the only constant in life. The same goes for business. View change as a tool for innovation that you can use to identify new income streams, ways of working and better understanding about what you can achieve.

Otherwise you’ll become stagnant, and feel like you’re moving backwards as others move past you. Don’t build your house on

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quicksand. We all want to achieve growth.

But are you truly ready to grow? Strength and growth come from firm foundations, so before you run ahead, make sure you have the key processes, systems and measures in place that you need for your business. n

Joel Blake Joel Blake is an award-winning entrepreneur, business speaker and social impact consultant from Birmingham. He has more than 15 years of experience in developing small business owners, and in advising on talent management through diversity and CSR. Joel’s the founder of social impact consultancy www.cultiv8solutions.com, co-founder of BizBritain Finance Ltd, and co-founder of The Hot500, a peer-to-peer network and learning group for aspiring young entrepreneurs. Joel is also a regional ambassador for the national Start-Up Britain enterprise campaign. You can contact him via @joelblakeAGP on Twitter.

SME BREAKTHROUGH

SME BREAKTHROUGH

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SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

FINANCE

SUMMER 15

SAVOURING GROWTH SUCCESS SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

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SUMMER 15

FINANCE

Edgmond Foods is one of the UK’s leading producers of quiches.

Managing director Nigel Payne explains why he chose Santander to help the company’s latest expansion. Steve Dyson reports

If you want to know anything about quiches, ask Nigel Payne – he’s been making them for the last quarter of a century.

He launched Edgmond Foods in 1990 and tells me how the quiche was a pretty basic product back then: “They used to be mild cheddar and chopped onions in a bland egg custard, maybe with a bit of ham on top.”

Today his company, based in Newport, Shropshire, is making premium quiches for the higher end of the market, and he gives me a few examples: “We’re making maple bacon and Gruyère cheese quiches, and then there’s caramelised red onion and vintage cheddar.

“And how about this: smoked bacon, stilton, West Country Farmhouse mature and vintage cheddar cheese. Plus they’re all on creamy egg custard bases, using single cream, so they’re much richer and more refined.”

As you can tell, Nigel’s into his quiches: “I am, I love quiches – and I eat them nearly every day. You see, we have a daily quality review panel for our different products, so we’re always testing what we make.”

Before he launched Edgmond Foods, Nigel worked as a management accountant for what was then the J. England Group Plc, which grew, collected and sold vegetables, concentrating in potatoes and carrots. Nigel expressed an interest to get involved in >>

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I love quiches – and I eat them nearly every day. You see, we have a daily quality review panel for our different products, so we’re always testing what we make SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

FINANCE

SUMMER 15

general management, and he was soon helping the company develop added value products, such as potato salads and pizzas.

This experience got him thinking about “going alone”. He recalls: “I suppose it was the independent streak in me. I wanted to be the master of my own destiny, with nobody else to blame. It was scary stuff at the start – I had to take on a 25-year lease on some premises and buy a second-hand oven before we could gain any orders.”

Nigel lived in Edgmond, a village in Shropshire, and so he called the company Edgmond Foods. The Harper Adams University, specialising in agriculture, is based in the same village, and so the name was also well known in the food industry.

The start-up business was small, with just three or four staff, and it mainly produced large, 1.7kg slicing quiches for the delicatessen and catering trade. And there were only a handful of varieties – mainly based on the standard mild cheese and onion ingredients.

Twenty five years on, Edgmond Foods has a staff of 120, and churns out an ever-increasing number of quiches and savoury tarts, with up to 80 different products and sizes. They are produced and then chilled or frozen for both the retail and food service industry, with an impressive list of top customers.

Nigel names a few: Lidl, Aldi, Iceland, Nisa and Booker, usually in packaging that displays the customers’ own brands. But he’s also proud to supply Booths supermarkets, mainly based in the north of England, because that’s where the quiches and tarts bear Edgmond Foods’ own livery.

Nigel, now in his 60s, and whose daughter Zoe works as his supply chain manager, describes the growth of Edgmond Foods well: “Back in 1990, we started with no revenues.

Today, we’re turning over £15m.”

But how did he succeed? “Progress was the result of applying oneself. It’s been hard work and, I must admit, not every year’s been good.

We’ve had our scary moments. But as we’ve

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grown, people in our trade have got to know about us, and we’ve gained a reputation for doing what we say we do. We deliver, we meet our orders in full, and there’s quality in our product. Getting that right helped with success. Customer service levels, quality and our consistency.”

A couple of years ago, Nigel was looking to invest in what he describes as “quite a significant expansion”, and needed development capital to buy new ovens, chillers, and for internal building work to turn a warehouse into a manufacturing unit.

As well as talking to Edgmond Foods’ longstanding bankers, he also spoke to others, to see what financial options were out there.

And that’s when he came across Santander.

He says: “The people who came forward with the most positive attitude was Santander. They stuck out, and not just in one meeting. It was the way they reacted, their speed, and just how positive and personable they were.

“I started to feel comfortable with them, and the whole package they were offering was extremely competitive, both in terms of the rates and the mix of product. They were offering something really different to other banks. I don’t mind saying that dealing with Santander and then getting into bed with them, so to speak, was like a breath of fresh air. It really was like a leap out of the darkness.

“But to make the decision was huge. Our old

bank knew us, warts and all, and had been with us through the good and bad times. It was a huge decision to change banks, and I agonised over it, despite all the pluses. But eventually, I said ‘we’ll do it.’

“And 15 months on from switching, there’s nothing to tell me my decision was wrong – in fact, quite the opposite. Our growth in the last few years has more than doubled, and that wouldn’t have been possible without Santander’s financial support.”

Nigel shares the names of the individuals who impressed him at Santander. There’s Peter Burton, his main relationship director, and then there’s Chris Web, from the bank’s invoice discounting team. And he mentions their boss, Susan Davies, Santander’s regional director for the South and West Midlands.

Nigel adds: “Once the deal was done, Susan came around the factory and talked with me directly. Peter and all his colleagues – the team behind him really – they all sing from the same hymn sheet. I reckon that if I wanted to see someone at Santander tomorrow, I could, or by the next day at the very latest. You don’t get that willingness from many other banks.”

And with that, Nigel’s off, for a day of busy meetings with his production manager, suppliers and customers, and for that all important quality review panel, where he will indulge in yet another slice of the latest quiche. n

It was a huge decision to change banks, and I agonised over it, despite all the pluses. But eventually, I said we’ll do it.

“And 15 months on from switching, there’s nothing to tell me my decision was wrong – in fact, quite the opposite

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THE IP100 - RECOGNISING THE VALUE OF IP IN YOUR BUSINESS BQ Magazine is delighted to announce the launch of the Intellectual Property (“IP”) League Table and the IP100, compiled in association with Metis Partners, an award-winning IP solutions firm The IP League Table will profile and rank innovative companies within the UK’s private sector, highlighting those businesses which have significantly invested in their IP in the form of IP creation, IP management policies, R&D activities and IP commercialisation. The top-scoring companies will be published in the IP100, an annual ranking of companies that are considered to be the most effective at commercialising their IP assets. The ranking process involves an assessment of IP-specific data linked to the following IP asset classes: brands, software, patents, trade secrets and critical databases. A proprietary scorecard will be applied to calculate an IP score, and the IP100 team will rank companies based on the results.

The IP League Table will give companies the platform to get recognition for the value of their IP, whether using IP to: • Boost the exit valuation of a business • Improve access to new markets • Protect existing market share • Create new barriers to entry IP also has the ability to play an important role in transforming funding options available to businesses. The IP League Table will enable companies to showcase their investment in intellectual property and potentially leverage the associated value to raise finance and restructure debt.The IP League Table is open to all UK companies and is FREE TO ENTER.

ENTER THE IP100 NOW The IP100 is open to all UK companies to enter and details about the process as well as the information

Enter now at www.bqlive.co.uk/IP100

required can be found at www.bqlive.co.uk/IP100

FINANCE

SUMMER 15

SUPPORT FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW Santander’s flexible approach to finance was just what Charlie White needed when he bought a thriving Black Country engineering business. Steve Dyson finds out why As he concentrates on growth and international expansion, the last thing businessman Charlie White wants to be worrying about is investment finance.

And that’s why he was so impressed with the support offered by Santander Bank when he was planning to buy Vacuum Furnace Engineering (VFE), based in Halesowen, in the Black Country.

Charlie, now managing director at VFE, recalls the meetings he had just before the purchase in December 2014, when he was ‘out there’ looking for bank debt.

He says: “It was Santander who offered us the best package. They were just a bit different to other banks, and were more flexible in the way they approached things.

“Rather than the usual ‘computer says no’

The great flexibility from Santander allows us to concentrate on how the growth is going to work SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

response, they got more engaged in our business plan and growth strategy. But the really impressive aspect was how they not only helped us to fund the purchase of VFE, but were also willing to give us future access to their growth capital funds as we expanded.

“Although we didn’t need that money immediately, Santander were prepared to make that commitment up front, whereas other banks treated it separately. Santander packaged it all together and pre-approved it through their systems, basically telling us: ‘When you’re ready for growth, that package is already cleared.’”

Established in 1985, VFE is one of the UK’s leading specialists in the design, supply and repair of vacuum furnaces, which are used to heat and treat metals and ceramics at high temperatures without exposure to air. An impressive list of customers includes the likes of Rolls Royce, Siemens and Boeing. Until last year, VFE was owned by its four founders, but as they neared retirement there needed to be a change.

That change came through selling the business to Charlie’s management buy-in team, made up with both existing and new management. A joint finance package of £4.5m was provided by Santander and SEA Equity, a private equity firm. But the real ‘deal

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sweetener’ came when Santander also agreed to make up to £2m of growth capital available for VFE to draw down for expansion, as and when needed.

Charlie, aged 51, who lives in the New Forest in Hampshire, says VFE’s base will stay in Halesowen, where it has around 45 staff. But he says its service side will expand organically and through acquisitions, and by focusing on international growth.

He explains: “VFE is a great niche business, with good people and great customers, and a turnover of around £10m. But the entire business is based here in the UK, while the company has service contracts all over the world in places like the USA, Singapore and Thailand. It can be quite inefficient sending teams to Thailand for two weeks. “Our strategy is to establish regional locations to support customers. For example, we’ll look at opening an office somewhere like Bangkok, employing local engineers to service our Far East market. Employing local engineers. That’s the model.

“We’ll also be growing both organically and via acquisitions if we have the right opportunities, but we really want to improve our geography and expand our service to customers.

“Our furnaces end up in factories across many

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sectors like aerospace, medical science and nuclear component plants. There’s a number of support kit sitting around our furnaces, and we want to expand our service offering to those other bits of technology, such as industrial pumps. We want to be able say: ‘We can do that piece of kit as well,’ expanding our expertise to international standards.”

Charlie is someone you might describe as a ‘serial entrepreneur’, with an impressive record of buying, expanding and then selling electronic engineering businesses. He made his mark as an electronic engineer himself, working his way up the management tree in the corporate world at Penny & Giles, a Dorset-based company famous for pioneering black box technology for aircraft.

In 1997, Charlie headed a management buy-out of the company’s industrial division, which specialised in technology that recorded temperatures and pressures in places like steel plants and factories. That was his first experience of private equity.

Within three years, Penny & Giles was acquired

by US-based Honeywell, and in 2002 Charlie left and bought Cimex, the Dorset-based

SME BREAKTHROUGH

manufacturer of industrial floor cleaning machines. This time it was a self-funded purchase, and he quickly turned the business around before selling it in 2004.

He then headed a management buy-in of the Farnborough-based PIMS Group, once again working with private equity. PIMS designed and installed pumping systems and drains in new buildings such as supermarkets, also employing hundreds of staff in vans all over the country to meet service agreements.

Charlie spent the next few years turning PIMS’ business model around: it used to be 70% design and installations, 30% of service contracts. By the time he sold it to US-based Xylem in 2013, the model had changed to 25% design and install, 70% service.

Charlie, a married dad-of-three, was soon looking for another business to develop, and towards the end of last year he spotted the potential at VFE. He now believes he can make the Black Country business his next success – largely thanks to the flexible finance he has found with Santander.

Charlie adds: “The great flexibility from Santander allows us to concentrate on how

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FINANCE

the growth is going to work, rather than having to think about the finance. We are now fully concentrating on the business, its marketing, positioning and delivery, with the secure knowledge that when we need it we have the funds ready to invest in growth.”

Darren Hart, head of growth capital at Santander UK, adds: “Vacuum Furnace Engineering is a perfect example of what entrepreneurial vision, technical expertise and business acumen can achieve. We’re proud to able to support this established and successful business.” n Lending is subject to status and lending criteria

There’s a number of support kit sitting around our furnaces, and we want to expand our service offering SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

INSIGHT

SUMMER 15

WMG, at the University of Warwick, has developed an Innovation Business Leadership programme for SMEs to help companies sustain long term growth. Course director Dr Barry Winter reports There is a common problem among small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). It’s often said that they are the powerhouse of the economy, but their growth is constrained by a skills gap in business leadership and management.

Over recent years, I’ve been impressed by the number of dynamic SMEs in the UK who are reporting significant growth and investing in new capabilities. However, with this growth come new challenges.

Many of the leaders in these companies are concerned about how that growth is managed and how they should respond to growing demand and new market opportunities.

There are rafts of organisational issues that can develop when growing from 50 to 100 employees for example, and new customers often arrive with a string of operational demands that require changes in company culture. Throughout my career I’ve developed and analysed many business theories and models that have the potential to transform the productivity and performance of small businesses, but they rarely see the light of day in SME management practice. While there are some excellent UK support initiatives out there for SMEs, there hasn’t been anything on offer to these companies that combines both academic rigour with practical application.

Joining forces with key SME leaders, industry figures and Santander’s Breakthrough scheme last year, WMG launched the one year Innovation Business Leadership (IBL) programme. Santander was so confident of the programme benefits that it agreed to part fund the first cohort of 16 participants from 14 different SMEs and offered them the opportunity to attend Breakthrough

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

Throughout my career I’ve developed and analysed many business theories and models that have the potential to transform the productivity and performance of small businesses, but they rarely see the light of day in SME management practice masterclasses. IBL is a unique postgraduate education programme, delivered through five three-day modules. It covers: strategy and innovation; leading and managing talent; operational efficiency; financial and commercial awareness; and sales, marketing and reputation management.

However, it isn’t just about the classroom learning. What I’ve discovered, through a long career in professional education, is that participants on programmes like this benefit most from the ability to network with others. So alongside the Breakthrough master classes we have also developed networking events and online platforms to facilitate this. Participants also receive coaching from tutors between modules to help them embed learning into their companies for immediate impact.

I’ve found that encouraging businesses in different sectors to learn from each other reaps great results. Manufacturers can benefit from adopting marketing techniques used in

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the digital or service sectors for example. We have set the participants on IBL some testing assignments, encouraging them to look at how new technologies such as Internet of Things can offer a positive disruptive force in their organisations and how creative work space design can improve motivation in the workplace.

Theresa Williams, finance director at Birmingham-based C. Brandauer & Co Ltd, told me: “If you’d have asked me before the course, am I an innovative and creative person, I’d have said absolutely not. But by the end I was thinking: ‘Was that me, did I do that?’ It’s a fun environment to learn in. We’ve already had some good outputs, particularly around strategy. It’s been a really valuable experience.”

The IBL programme’s second year starts this October 2015, and applications are now open.

It costs £4,750 and results in a postgraduate award from the University of Warwick.

For more information email wmgptmasters@warwick.ac.uk n

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INSIGHT

WORKING TOGETHER WORKS BETTER SME BREAKTHROUGH

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SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

SUCCESS

SUMMER 15

Hobsons Brewery has enjoyed a 20year track record of success. Ian Halstead chatted with founder and managing director Nick Davis to discover the Shropshire-based firm’s secrets During the 1990s, any self-respecting business seemingly needed a platoon of MBA graduates, and a battalion of advisers, to guide their each and every step.

Many management teams felt unable to think independently, as case studies and the opinions of others were considered the route to corporate nirvana. Not so for Hobsons though. When Nick Davis needed time to reflect on his dream of setting up a business which married traditional brewing techniques to a very modern mind-set, he took himself to the other side of the world.

“I spent 18 months travelling through the Pacific, and Central and South America,” he recalls. “They brew some really great beers in Western Samoa, and even in the Pacific islands, I drank dark stouts.

“In some places, of course, they got their beers wrong, because they hadn’t got the right ingredients or the proper equipment, but it was very interesting to see how small breweries dealt with various challenges.

“When I returned I had a business model in my head. My parents were running a pub in Somerset, and I did think about setting up behind a pub, but decided the hours would just be too demanding.”

Nick already had a solid handle on the trade, having worked as a surveyor of licensed properties out of Bristol, operating across the country with both national and local breweries.

“It had always been in my blood, a desire to

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ROLLING OUT THE BARREL

run a brewery at some point,” he recalls. “I was inspired by Smiles, they had some great pubs and some very nice beers.

“I became quite a specialist in the pub trade, but I was clocking up 1,000 miles a week, and although you can do that for a while, there comes a point when it’s time to stop and that was when I went travelling.”

The subsequent travails of Bristol-based Smiles, which earned an excellent reputation, but was ultimately brought down after expanding its estate too quickly, also offered a timely lesson that brewing must always be seen as a business – not just as a means to create great beers. However, Nick’s model for Hobsons was rooted in a rare combination of logic and passion right from the start, when he began looking for a suitable location and the necessary plant and equipment.

The brewery launched in early 1993, on a farm outside the historic market town of Cleobury

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Mortimer, but only after months of diligent research.

“My favourite beers had always been quite ‘hoppy’, and we found great hops just seven miles away from here,” he says, with a nod to the rolling landscape under the Clee Hills.

“The right craft skills were also present which we would need for a brewery.

“I wanted the business to be as sustainable as possible, so finding local growers and suppliers was vital. I was also looking for a site close to a river crossing, so the logistics weren’t too difficult, and somewhere with room to expand, so we looked at sites near Tenbury and Ludlow, then decided here was ideal.”

Creating beers which were well received locally, and then further afield, didn’t prove too tricky. The major challenge was to dovetail output with projected demand, and then to maintain quality standards as production increased - issues which have been the

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downfall of many promising micro-breweries.

“We had to balance the amount of beer we produced against the time it would take to sell, so we began by turning out just 10 barrels a week, and offering only a limited range, so we could guarantee a good and consistent supply,” says Nick.

“The beers were popular, but once we’d established enough regular customers, we looked to grow our business by selling more beer to our existing pubs, rather than looking to always find new ones.”

Recognition from the real ale pressure group, CAMRA, came swiftly, when Hobsons Best won Bitter of the Year in 1997, and nine years later, the continued strength of the brewery’s brand was underlined when the same body judged Hobsons Mild the Champion Beer of Britain.

As the beer range has widened, production is now up 10-fold on those distant early

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days, with some beer even going overseas; to Spain, Italy, North America, Hong Kong, Germany and Poland, and more accolades have followed.

However, although Nick appreciates the plaudits, his focus on the business ‘behind’ the beer remains intense.

“We’ve always had a very strong team, so increasing production is never a problem, it’s more about the administration and the back office work,” he admits. “All our beers, the kegs, bottles and the casks are done on site, as is the marketing, and we also do all our own deliveries.”

The latter is certainly a challenge, as Hobsons now has some 3,500 casks on its books, but it’s one which Nick has astutely turned into a business opportunity.

In early 2014, the SME Group at the Warwick Manufacturing Group worked with Hobsons to develop radio-frequency identification (RFID)

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SUCCESS

tags for casks, a robust smartphone tag to withstand the rigours of delivery and storage, and a smartphone app linked to a cloud database.

The innovative tracking system, allowing the brewery to monitor every cask and its contents whether at the brewery, in transit or in a pub cellar, has since been successfully trialled inhouse and is now being tested with six customers.

“We’ve enhanced the basic app, and once everything is ready to go, we’ll launch it in early 2016 under the www.ispaniel. com brand,” says Nick. “It’s made our operations smoother and more efficient, and I’m sure it will do the same for other brewers.”

The same innovative approach will also see Hobsons unveil a range of one-off brews this autumn, via a different and yet to be decided brand. Surely though, Hobsons Choice must make the short-list. n

SPECIAL REPORT | SUMMER 15

EXPERT VIEW

SUMMER 15

A MAN WITH A PLAN Alan S Adams, a West Midlands-based business coach, trainer and author, gives BQ2 readers a summary of his five steps to building a dream business

Being a successful business owner is not just about being brilliant at what you do. It’s about developing a robust plan that you can follow effectively.

Learning new business skills and developing current ones is a frustrating necessity, and the more mundane tasks often can’t be avoided either. The variety of different ‘hats’ an entrepreneur has to wear can be overwhelming, and too often people can get wrapped up in the actual ‘doing’ – serving the customer, making the widget, processing the sale – and not working on growing the business.

Let’s face it, many business owners could work 20 hours a day, seven days a week and still feel like they’re not getting anywhere. Why? Because they lack the key ingredient … a plan. This really is the secret to success, and so here’s five key steps.

1. WHY? Why are you doing this? What’s in it for you? What lifestyle do you want? How many days a week do you want to work?

Where do you want to go on holiday? What sort of house do you want to live in? If you don’t know your end goal, you can end up anywhere – or maybe somewhere you don’t want to be.

2. AIMS. What are the ‘aims’ of your company,

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its business strategy, and how and when are you going to achieve the results you want?

Without aims in place, you’ll be ‘flying blind’.

Start with your profit and turnover, then different areas such as marketing, sales, premises, staff, target clients, and products.

Work back from where you want to be in five years’ time to the present day. How will each different area work with another? And write this all down – research says those who write down business plans are 39% more likely to achieve them.

3. HOW. Now you need a ‘plan of action’, to work out how to achieve your strategy.

Develop a list of things you need to do to get the business and lifestyle you want – and don’t hold back. How can you achieve these things? What do you need to make it happen?

It doesn’t all fall on you, and ensuring you have the right team – whether internal or outsourced – will ensure you’re free to work on growing the business whilst they do the ‘doing’.

4. IMPLEMENT. One huge risk is the ‘failure to implement’. So commit the first hour of each day to ‘work on’ your business, not ‘work in’ it. Don’t even open emails as they will distract you. Start working on the activity from your plan instead. Build a list of actions for the year, broken up into month-by-month tasks, looking at what needs to be done to hit your targets.

5. REVIEW. Regularly review your business plan to monitor whether you’re on target. Make sure your objectives are aligned with customer

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needs and the changing business landscape.

This ensures you know where you’re going and stops you veering off-track.

Having the right plan in place, and the right people to help you achieve it, can mean the difference between success and failure. n

Alan S Adams Alan S Adams is author of Survive to Thrive: Five Steps to Building Your Dream Business. He’s also the founder of Horizons Consultants, a Telford-based business consultancy, supporting West Midlands businesses. Visit www.alansadams.com, email hello@horizons-consultants.co.uk or call 0845 373 0046.

Let’s face it, many business owners could work 20 hours a day, seven days a week and still feel like they’re not getting anywhere. Why? SME BREAKTHROUGH