BQ West Midlands Issue 07

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ISSUE SEVEN: AUTUMN 2014

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN How a former model created a global skincare firm LITTLE, BIG PLAN The tiny mobile device with huge potential DESIGNS FOR LIFE Property guru’s unconventional career path REACHING FOR THE STARS Airport boss on a mission to transform city’s fortunes ISSUE SEVEN: AUTUMN 2014: WEST MIDLANDS EDITION

THE SURVIVOR He fled Dubai after threats from unpaid suppliers. Now Simon Ford is building a new life...and a business empire

BUSINESS NEWS: COMMERCE: FASHION: INTERVIEWS: MOTORS: EVENTS

WEST MIDLANDS EDITION

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Connected

Ambitious Prepared

What an international business should be

John Carroll Head of International, Santander UK

Helping Businesses go Further

“International trade can unlock significant growth but is often complex. So, whatever your sector, our Trade Portal has been developed to help you identify the largest markets, understand local regulations and connect with potential customers and suppliers on the ground.

And with access to Trade Club, an exclusive online community for international businesses, we could give you the best chance of success overseas.”

GET CONNECTED WITH

MORE THAN ANY OTHER INTERNATIONAL BANK

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To see how far your business could go, visit santandercb.co.uk/tradeportal email chris.hallam@santander.co.uk or call 0780 337 6981 Simple Personal Fair What a bank should be 5 million customer source: Santander Group internal data.

You need to be an online banking customer of Santander Corporate & Commercial to gain full access to the Trade Portal and Trade Club. Santander Trade Portal is provided and managed by Export Entreprises S.A. Santander provides access to its client companies but is totally unrelated to the database contents, which are the responsibility of Export Entreprises S.A.

Santander Corporate & Commercial is a brand name of Santander UK plc, Abbey National Treasury Services plc (which also uses the brand name Santander Global Banking and Markets) and Santander Asset Finance plc, all (with the exception of Santander Asset Finance plc) authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Our Financial Services Register numbers are 106054 and 146003 respectively. In Jersey, Santander UK plc is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission to carry on deposit-taking business under the Banking Business (Jersey) Law 1991. Registered offi ce: 2 Triton Square, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3AN. Company numbers: 2294747, 2338548 and 1533123 respectively. Registered in England. Santander and the flame logo are registered trademarks. Santander UK plc is a participant in the Jersey Banking Depositor Compensation Scheme. The Scheme offers protection for eligible deposits of up to £50,000. The maximum total amount of compensation is capped at £100,000,000 in any 5 year period. Full details of the Scheme and banking groups covered are available on the States of Jersey website (www.gov.je)or on request.

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WELCOME

BUSINESS QUARTER: AUTUMN 14: ISSUE SEVEN We focus on a diverse mix of entrepreneurs from across the West Midlands for the latest edition of BQ. Deborah Mitchell operates in the market town of Shifnal, in Shropshire, from where she has built a £20m a year business using bee venom to make her Heaven skincare products. The former beauty queen, whose creations are now favourites for celebrity stars and royalty, reveals how she’s about to expand into the huge Chinese market.

Professor Rick Hillum is working with fellow academics in BQ’s heartland of Birmingham on the design of new technology that could make mobile phones at least half the size of today’s units. Smart Antenna Technologies is definitely one to watch.

Still in Birmingham, we relax over coffee with Simon Ford, the owner of the trendy Yorks Bakery Cafe. Ford tells us how the collapse of his first business in Dubai led to him having to flee the Middle East amidst veiled threats. He’s now on a surer footing back in the West Midlands and explains how he’s about to launch the second and third of what he soon hopes will be a 32-branch business.

For this quarter’s Business Lunch, we dine with Sue Summers, the chief executive of Finance Birmingham, which between 2010 and next March will have delivered funding worth a total of £0.5bn. The strange but exciting thing about Summer’s unit is that it’s owned by Birmingham City Council, and yet provides loans, equity finance and grants to firms as far away as Redcar and Gillingham.

West Midlanders could be flying even further away this autumn from Birmingham

Airport, thanks to its 400m runway extension that allows it to reach China, South America and the West Coast of the USA. We speak to chief executive Paul Kehoe about the new opportunities for the airport – and how he’s dealt with being snubbed by the Airports Commission.

We also interview Neil Edginton, the creator of Birmingham’s Cube and other stand-out buildings, who’s now working on the ambitious School Yard project in leafy Harborne. And we talk to Keith Harrison, editor of Wolverhampton’s Express & Star newspaper, on how Black Country leaders sometimes need their heads banging together to represent the sub-region properly.

On that note, we host the words of leading radio DJ and media chief Ed James in BQ’s ‘As I see it’ essay, where he declares his love for Birmingham – and speaks of the need for the city and region to emulate Yorkshire’s ‘le grand depart’ moment.

All this – along with pages of news, events and Bill Borde’s tongue-in-cheek ‘Bit of a chat’ diary page – will provide you with hours of great reading, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

As always, let me have your feedback and any critiques via steve.dysonmedia@gmail.com and I’ll reply to you direct. Until then, happy reading.

Steve Dyson Editor, BQ West Midlands

CONTACTS ROOM501 LTD Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk EDITORIAL Steve Dyson Editor e: steve.dysonmedia@gmail.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com ADVERTISING Chancelle Bloe Business Development Manager e: chancelle@room501.co.uk t: 07786 070 772 Mike Moloney Business Development Manager e: mmmikemoloney@aol.com t: 07801 849367

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: AUTUMN 14 PROPERTY GURU’S DESIGNS FOR LIFE

Features

42 JUST ONE VOICE Newspaper editor Keith Harrison calls on Black Country leaders to work together

20 THE SURVIVOR Simon Ford fled Dubai amid threats from unpaid firms. Now he has a new venture

28 DESIGNS FOR LIFE Property developer Neil Edginton describes his quirky career path

34 LITTLE, BIG PLAN A tiny device could transform mobile phones...and prove extremely lucrative

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

54 SUMMERS REIGNS Sue Summers on her rise from humble begnnings to lead Finance Birmingham

58 STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN The former model who has become the head of a global skincare empire

74 REACH FOR THE STARS Airport boss Paul Kehoe on his mission to transform the second city’s fortunes

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28 TINY DEVICE WITH HUGE POTENTIAL

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TENTS WEST MIDLANDS EDITION

40 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

The deals shaping our skyline

CREATING HER OWN HEAVEN ON EARTH

62 WINE Guest reviewer Jackie Hendley takes a break from tax to try two summer treats

Regulars

64 MOTORING Andrew Whiting had great expectations for a new Merc – why the Dickens not!

68 FASHION How the look that defined the jazz era was born in a US side street store

06 THE BIG ISSUES We must prosper from within and not rely on hand-outs, writes John Duckers

08 NEWS Who’s done what, when, where and why here in the West Midlands

18 AS I SEE IT Broadcaster Ed James says the region’s key players don’t always work together

70 EQUIPMENT

58 WE MUST REACH FOR THE STARS

Ford car designer Martin Smith on how his boyhood dream became a reality

80 A BIT OF A CHAT With BQ’s backroom boy Bill Borde

82 EVENTS Gatherings, seminars and conferences that could boost your business

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74 BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

THE BIG ISSUES

AUTUMN 14

>> A critical eye, by John Duckers Like buses, Birmingham’s economy is a basket case for years and then things worth celebrating all arrive one after the other. Must be the hot weather.

An urban regeneration company is launched to redevelop the area around Curzon Street where Birmingham’s HS2 terminus will be built, we hope – still some way to the final go-ahead, especially with a General Election round the corner and NIMBYs fighting a rearguard action.

Fingers crossed it will deliver 14,000 jobs and a boost of up to £1.3 billion (more figures dreamed up in the bath) to the local economy … eventually.

Up to 1,500 highly paid jobs are en route to Birmingham after HS2 announced its construction headquarters would be housed in the city … eventually.

The new city base in Snow Hill will oversee the building of the £50 billion scheme. Hurrah.

Promises of local recruitment, but I wonder how many will commute?

And a new West Midlands authority to drive investment in transport projects is launched.

West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, made up of the political leaders of the West Midlands’ seven metropolitan councils, is responsible for transport strategy, budgets, scheme prioritisation and bids for funding.

And who thought we already had one – Centro? How silly of you!

Well at least it shows we don’t need one all-purpose authority like the Government is demanding – you can get together for things that make sense done jointly and otherwise retain autonomy.

Add falling unemployment to the good news and the continued success of Jaguar Land Rover. Plus New Street Station, John Lewis, Metro extensions and a new Paradise Circus round the corner. Gosh, things really are happening.

If only scandals like child protection, Taliban

BREAKFAS T

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I want us to prosper through the entities people identify with – not of some cobbled together artificial region that never existed and never will schools and Benefits Street wouldn’t keep inconveniently getting in the way. But that is the nub of the matter.

I want to see us move forward but recognise, admit to, and address our problems at the same time – the apologists would have the world believe there are no problems.

But life isn’t like that. I only mention it because, apparently, I am too negative.

HS2 jobs are welcome indeed but basically it boils down to a government hand-out rather than anything organic we have achieved ourselves.

I want us to grow and prosper through the entities on the ground which people identify with – Birmingham, the Black Country, Coventry and Warwickshire. Not some sort of cobbled together artificial region that has

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never existed and never will. All can loosely combine where sensible, for example as they just have done on transport.

And even more worrying siren voices would impose an elected mayor – rejected by voters twice already over the last decade or so.

Why does our awful leadership want to work against the grain, instead of with it?

Why does it all have to be so proscriptive and centralised?

I want a vibrant Birmingham, Black Country and Coventry and Warwickshire respecting each other.

And I want it built on giving manufacturing, high technology and innovation its head because that is what we are good at.

Is that being negative? No it isn’t. It is being positive – a genuine alternative. A blueprint for the future. Don’t allow the sycophants and apologists to let us down again.

What do you think? Let the editor know via steve.dysonmedia@gmail.com

AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

Mentoring: it’s not just for start-ups A new study shows that mentoring provides truly mutual benefits for the businesses involved Over the last nine years Professor Kiran Trehan and Professor Monder Ram, from Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham have established innovative models of Business support for small and medium size enterprises. The nationally recognised mentoring program called the 12/8 Group is based primarily on a peer-to-peer system of mentoring where paired businesses meet once a month to discuss issues and create action plans to follow through for the month ahead.

Professor Trehan explains that they have found the peer-to-peer intervention to be by far the most successful, which she thinks is due to how easy it makes it for people to become informed, critical friends. “Everybody wants their business to grow, but we often don’t stop to ask what that growth might mean,” says Professor Trehan. “It’s tough to really ask yourself if you are ready to take that next step, but any genuine mentor is in the perfect position to do just that.”

“It is very easy to think of mentoring as more commonly needed by start-ups, but the truth is that it is the businesses that are growing from small to medium, or medium to large which are in the greatest danger of making a decision which could cause them to fold. After all, scaling up a business can throw up all kinds of logistical issues which are unlikely to come to mind without previous experience of the situation.” Or to put it another way, “being involved in mentoring gives

Mentoring Benefits are Evident

Everybody wants their business to grow, but we often don’t stop to ask what that growth might mean all businesses a much more holistic overview of how things work – undeniably mitigating risk on the ground.”

And as far as the entrepreneurs involved so far in the 12/8 Group are concerned, the benefits are evident. Wade Lyn, MD of Cleone Foods, claims a 30% increase in listings in supermarkets.

He says that, “the biggest difference for [his] business has been [his] capacity to be more adventurous, and strategically plan and invest in the future.” And this is just one story of many;

every business in the initiative has reaped benefits from rubbing shoulders with businesses from other walks of life.

THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN ETHNIC MINORITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP Professor Ram heads up the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) Research at Birmingham Business School, which sits within the wider Entrepreneurship and Diversity Cluster.

CREME applies insights gained from high quality research into issues faced by minority businesses in terms of capital and finance, supplier diversity, wages, migration policies, technology and social inclusion and supports SME’s with their development.

Monder was named as one of the country’s most influential Asians by the Institute of Asian Professionals and was awarded an OBE in the 2004 New Year Honours List for his services to black and ethnic minority businesses.

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If you would like to find out more about Mentoring Support, the 12/8 group and how CREME at Birmingham Business School can help your business to thrive, please contact: Mr Andrew Newnham, Business Engagement Partner for Social Sciences, University of Birmingham. T: 0121 414 8635

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

NEWS

AUTUMN 14

Region’s growth plans get £500m boost, salaries on the rise, lady lucks take charge at three casinos, take-off for £30m aerospace centre, Austin Martin gears up for change, red letter day as Chinese fly in

>> Facing a bright future Mask-arade, the Warwickshire-based personalised masks company, has been shortlisted for the Santander Small to Medium Sized Business of the Year category in the 2014 National Business Awards.

Stephen Dury, director of strategy and market development at Santander, said: “Since filling a gap in the market six years ago, Mask-arade has established itself as the world’s leading provider of personalised, celebrity and character masks.

The winner will be revealed at the National Business Awards gala dinner held on 11 November at Park Lane’s Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

>> ART loans hit new high The Aston Reinvestment Trust (ART), a local Community Development Finance Institution, had a record year in 2013/14 with its total loans reaching £1.75m.

businessteam@bham.ac.uk www.birmingham.ac.uk/partners

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

ART, which provides loans between £10,000 and £100,000 across the West Midlands, now has funding in place to lend up to £2.4m in 2014/15 – the highest amount in its 18 year history. Meanwhile, Graham Donaldson has joined the lending team at ART to support future growth plans.

Steve Walker, chief executive of ART, said: “There’s strong evidence of a large gap in the market for what are considered to be ‘smaller’ business loans of up to £100,000.

“The trend for ‘packages’ of finance is continuing to grow, with many businesses finding that the money they need can come from a range of providers such as ART, the banks and a number of alternative funding sources working together.”

>> Fast buses just the ticket A £15m new breed of fast buses will start running across Birmingham’s prime business districts by 2016.

The ‘Sprint’ service, a bus-based rapid transit system that looks and operates like a tram but without tracks or overhead cables, will provide a fast service from the city centre to Quinton, serving Broad Street and then along the Hagley Road.

Gary Taylor, executive director at Altitude Real Estate, said: “This is great news and is in direct support of Broad Street BID’s plans for better connectivity for the Broad Street area.”

>> A great response

>> £500m boost for region

Specialist training from a Coventry recruitment agency has helped 40 jobseekers into work with LG Electronics. eResponse Recruitment, which has its branch and training centre on Greyfriars Road, provided the fully trained staff for LG’s logistics arm, Hi-Logistics, on the city’s ProLogis Park.

The site on the former Peugeot plant is LG’s biggest distribution centre in the country, supplying audio visual equipment and kitchen appliances to major retailers including John Lewis, Argos and Currys.

The company needed a wide range of skills from the Coventry area including forklift truck drivers, general operatives and office staff to take on administrative roles. All the new recruits were previously unemployed.

As well as training, eResponse, which opened its Coventry branch in March, provided courses in health and safety, warehousing and customer services. They are now the sole personnel supplier to Hi-Logistics in Coventry.

Government funds of nearly £500m are to be spent improving transport and creating jobs in the West Midlands over the next three years as part of a £6bn ‘growth deal’ across the UK. Birmingham City Council Leader Sir Albert Bore said the government funding would help “kick start a range of projects”. included in the plans are improved links for Birmingham’s Curzon Street station, the new terminal for the HS2 high-speed rail line; the extension of the Midlands Metro tram network to Edgbaston, Curzon Street and Digbeth enterprise zone; the redevelopment of Wolverhampton railway station; a new construction training centre in Dudley; facilities at Birmingham’s South and City College, training local people for HS2 jobs; a new engineering centre at the same college to help train SME automotive suppliers; and better rail and road links at the former Longbridge factory, now being redeveloped as a residential and business centre.

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AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

The West Midlands would benefit from UK manufacturing manifesto, says EY A targeted strategy has the potential to generate up to €4.6bn for UK economy The West Midlands could be one of the main winners from the UK introducing a ‘tool kit of tax measures’ to create a better system for attracting inward investment in the manufacturing sector, which is proposed in a new report from EY. While the UK is punching below its weight when it comes to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) from the manufacturing sector, which made up just 12% of FDI secured by the country in 2013, the sector contributed 68% of overseas investment in the West Midlands region last year.

EY’s Building a Tax Manifesto report says that by capitalising on the global trend of companies re-shoring manufacturing activity closer to home markets, the UK could bring manufacturing FDI into line with other sectors. This could generate up to €4.6bn for the country’s economy according to EY, with the West Midlands standing to benefit as one of the most attractive investment destinations for manufacturing businesses.

With the election fast approaching, EY is calling on the political parties to develop a clear and targeted approach to manufacturing – including a structured tax manifesto – which it says also has the potential to generate highly skilled jobs, create further opportunities in supply chains, drive innovation and create ‘cluster effects’ around research and development, and skills.

LEARNING THE LESSONS FROM UK’S SERVICE SECTOR SUCCESS Graeme Crawford, EY’s Head of Midlands Tax, comments: “With rising overheads in what were once low-cost destinations, we are seeing the beginnings of a re-shoring revolution with many companies deciding to locate their manufacturing activities closer to the home markets.

“This in itself creates a compelling opportunity for the West Midlands, where manufacturing is already the top sector for FDI, but even more so if UK tax policy were to be tailored to capitalise on the reshoring trend.

manufacturing and is already one of the most attractive regions to manufacturers. We’ve seen significant investments by Jaguar Land Rover over the past year to demonstrate the importance of manufacturing to the region, showing potential for the West Midlands to become one of the main beneficiaries of the potential €4.6bn economic boost the manifesto could deliver.”

Graeme Crawford, EY’s Head of Midlands Tax

We’ve seen significant investments by Jaguar Land Rover over the past year to demonstrate the importance of manufacturing to the region, showing potential for the West Midlands to become one of the main beneficiaries of the potential €4.6bn economic boost the manifesto could deliver “While tax clearly isn’t the only factor companies look at when deciding where to invest, other more important criteria such as proximity to customers, access to skills, and political stability can quickly become hygiene factors once they have been met.

“The UK’s current policy mix has so far delivered a thriving, predominantly services-based, investment culture. Whereas manufacturing as a share of output has declined by over 20% since the 1970’s and we are also starting to fall behind some of our major competitors, such as Germany, on FDI. By adjusting the focus of Government policy to manufacturing, the UK has a real opportunity to help bridge the gap.

“The West Midlands has a history rooted in

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EY’S MANUFACTURING MANIFESTO The report argues that no individual policy measure would be sufficient to change the opinion of manufacturing companies. Instead EY proposes bringing together a coherent range of tax measures to address four key areas: people and skills, premises and assets, financing and investment, and location. Crawford concludes: “Our ambition for manufacturing should be to deliver a similar level of transformation, building on the UK’s existing advantages around communication infrastructure, R&D networks and skilled workforces to create centres of innovation and growth.

“There’s certainly a case for focusing one or more of these clusters in the West Midlands, given our strong history and ongoing investment in the manufacturing sector. However, it’s going to take a significant investment to attract the best to the UK - this is unlikely to be a revenue neutral package.

“The challenge for Government will be to identify the balance of changes that will be sufficient to attract organisations to our shores, while also maintaining economic stability.”

Graeme Crawford, EY’s Head of Midlands Tax 0121 535 2976

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

NEWS

AUTUMN 14

>> Foreign investment rises The Birmingham area attracted more foreign direct investment (FDI) projects than any other English region, new data has revealed. The number of FDI projects in the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP area rose by 57% to 77 and created a total of 4,841 jobs. The data is revealed in a UKTI report.

>> Average pay tops £30,000 The average salary in the West Midlands is now more than £30,000, according to new research. The figure rose by 3.1% to £30,363 compared to 2013, according to the latest UK Job Market Report from recruitment website Adzuna.co.uk.

The top sectors in the West Midlands are IT, where the average salary is £41,213, followed by healthcare and nursing (£36,701), engineering (£34,996) and

accounting and finance (£31,038).

The average salary among graduates in the West Midlands is £25,051.

The report added that, across the UK, average salary growth doubled, suggesting the labour market recovery is picking up speed, while advertised salaries climbed year-on-year in 10 out of 12 UK regions.

>> Lady lucks take charge A casino group has staked its faith in women managers with all three of its Birmingham venues run by women for the first time. Julie Eden has been appointed general manager at Genting Casino Chinatown, while Nikki Vinter heads its casino in Star City.

Meanwhile, Carol Summers has held the top job at Edgbaston since January 2012. Jason Kirsch, director of operations for Genting in the Midlands, said: “The appeal of our industry has changed. Women are increasingly playing an important role and we believe in recognising and nurturing that talent.”

>> Turkish delight Turkish Airlines, which operates daily flights from Birmingham to Istanbul, has been named the Best Airline in Europe for the fourth consecutive year. The airline was also named Best Airline in Southern Europe, Best Business Class Onboard Catering and Best Business Class Lounge Dining in the 2014 Skytrax World Airline Awards.

>> Birmingham base for HS2 The headquarters of HS2 Ltd, the company responsible for building the high speed rail line between London and the West Midlands, is to be based in Birmingham. The new city centre offices in St Phillips Place will house up to 1,500 staff including engineers and designers responsible for track, signalling and station plans, as well as support staff. Some jobs will move from London, although the company said there will also be many new roles.

David Higgins, chairman of HS2 Ltd, said he expected the first staff to move into the new premises in April or May 2015.

He said the fact HS2 had chosen to base its construction HQ in Birmingham rather than London showed the firm’s “long-term commitment” to the city.

>> Best fleet forward in Oz >> Plans for £30m aerospace research centre take off Work has started on a £30m Aerospace Research Centre next to the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. The centre, on the MTC’s Ansty Park site, will see engineers working with experts from major aerospace companies on aerospace technology for the future.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills is providing £15.2m funding for the new facility through the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and the Technology Strategy Board, an investment matched by industry cash.

MTC chief executive Dr Clive Hickman said: “This will provide a world-class environment to develop and demonstrate new technologies and manufacturing processes on an industrial scale in partnership with industry, academia and Government.”

businessteam@bham.ac.uk www.birmingham.ac.uk/partners

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

TR Fleet, the Coventry-based independent fleet management specialist, has expanded overseas with the launch of TR Fleet Australia. The move will help companies throughout Australia and New Zealand to maximise safety, efficiency and cost savings in procuring and managing their employees’ vehicles.

TR Fleet will offer its ‘DriveSecure’ risk management tool to employers to enable them to comply with new Workplace Health and Safety regulations.

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AUTUMN 14

>> Casino backs a winner

>> Funding aids expansion

A local licensing law specialist has helped bring a multi-million pound casino development to Wolverhampton with the possibility of 133 new jobs. QualitySolicitors Talbots’ Peter Adkins acted on behalf of Casino 36 Ltd during the two-year process that has seen the company awarded one of just eight small casino licences in the UK. Adkins, head of licensing and dispute resolution, drafted and submitted the application, dealt with challenges and objections and provided ongoing legal advice to ensure entrepreneur Adrian Ballard’s bid was successful. The agreement by Wolverhampton City Council paves the way for the existing Rubicon Casino in Temple Street to be extended into the former Dorchester nightclub next door, creating one of the biggest venues of its type in the West Midlands.

Offshore Stainless Supplies, a Walsall-based stockist and processor of stainless steel bars and steel sheets, is set to expand thanks to a £4.5m funding package.

The company, which employs 34 staff and has an annual turnover of £12m, supplies the oil and gas, marine, transportation, automotive and construction sectors.

The new funding deal from Santander Corporate & Commercial will improve processing times from 21 days to 3-to-4 days from order to shipping.

Chris Joyce, managing director, said: “This will allow us to offer a more flexible service and our new stock management system will improve efficiency.”

Debbie Partridge, relationship director at Santander, said: “We are delighted to be involved in a true Midlands success story.”

NEWS

>> Gearing up for change Luxury car firm Aston Martin has created 250 jobs in the West Midlands with a multi-million pound expansion.

The roles will be at the firm’s new chassis and pilot unit, new offices, and an extension of the parts and logistics storage area at its Gaydon plant, due to be completed in 2015.

Hanno Kirner, chief financial officer, said: “The investment in our Gaydon HQ forms part of our long-term strategy which is focused around being the number one British luxury sports car brand.”

The news comes as Aston Martin gears up for its next generation of new sports cars, with strong rumours that it will bring back its Lagonda.

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

NEWS

AUTUMN 14

>> Airport’s red letter day Birmingham Airport has welcomed the UK’s first direct flight from China into a non-London airport, thanks to its newly extended runway.

The Beijing China Southern charter flight, operated by one of China’s leading tour operators, Caissa Travel Management Co Ltd, arrived at Birmingham on 22 July with 248 tourists for organised package tours.

“Never before has a commercial airliner touched down on a runway outside the Capital from China and we are proud to be the first to make this happen,” said Paul Kehoe, the airport’s chief executive.

Tourism minister Helen Grant said: “This is great news for tourism businesses in the Midlands, making it easier and more attractive for Chinese visitors to explore all the fantastic attractions in the Midlands such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, Warwick Castle and Birmingham itself.”

>> Project reaches milestone Innovation Birmingham has celebrated the 100th technology start-up to enrol onto its Entrepreneurs for the Future programme.

Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the project has seen startups secure over £4m since November 2009, creating 170 jobs.

The programme, which is about providing a

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

supportive environment for tech start-ups to grow and develop their businesses, includes dedicated one-to-one mentoring with an assigned Entrepreneur in Residence, events and workshops, access to finance, free coworking space, meeting rooms, telephone and wifi. The total package has a monetary value of £10,000, but is free for qualifying innovative tech start-ups.

Nick Holzherr, serial entrepreneur and founder of Whisk.com, said: “I was the first to enrol onto the Entrepreneurs for the Future programme, with a tech business that continues to run today.

“Had it not been for the support I received, I think I may have left Birmingham and opted for a career in banking.

“Birmingham has been brilliant for us – we’ve been able to afford and attract a technically highly skilled team to build a product that we’re offering to markets around the world.”

>> Inspiring team awarded West Midlands employment and training specialist Pertemps People Development Group has won a national youth employment award.

The ERSA Employability Award recognised the company’s dedicated team who seek to engage young people through sport, music and the arts.

Chief executive Steve King said: “Young people are our future and as a society we have a responsibility to ensure they are equipped with the skills needed in today’s commercial and industrial workplaces.”

>> Firm secures funding Accountancy firm Crowe Clark Whitehill has helped a Black Country manufacturing company gain funding for a £760,000 expansion that will create and safeguard jobs.

Steelway Fensecure, based at Wolverhampton and West Bromwich, has purchased a second

laser cutting machine which will increase its capacity of security products to the water, oil and gas, data and telecom industries.

This will enable the company to generate 11 new jobs on top of the current 153.

Johnathan Dudley, Midlands managing partner, worked with Lloyds Bank to secure a Green Bridge Fund grant.

He said: “The new laser cutting machine and IT system will reduce staff travel between the firm’s two sites, cutting carbon emissions.”

>> A shining example Heritage Collection, a Birminghambased luxury silver and tableware manufacturer, has signed a new partnership deal worth at least £1m with china manufacturer Wedgwood.

The deal means that Heritage, a family-run business in Small Heath, will produce a new range of exclusive silverware called Helix for Wedgwood’s hospitality division, designed by Nathalie McDonagh.

As well as supplying Wedgwood top clients, including Emirates Airlines, Royal palaces and the world’s top hotels, the range will be available in Wedgwood’s catalogue alongside world brands such as Vera Wang and Jasper Conran.

Heritage chairman Martin McDonagh said the partnership would secure jobs at their factory for years to come, and may result in more being created.

>> Flybe: ich bin ein Berliner Flybe has announced a new flight from Birmingham to Berlin as part of its 2014-15 winter schedule. The new route will operate five-times a week from 26 October 2014, with seats costing from £44.99 one way.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive at Birmingham Airport, said: “This strengthens Flybe’s commitment to the West Midlands and will undoubtedly prove popular.”

Putting world-class expertise to work in your business

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INNOVATIONS IN HEALTHCARE

Working towards prevention of longer term issues Advancements in medicine are increasingly helping to prevent the onset of more serious conditions. Callum McBryde, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon from Spire Little Aston Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, explains how innovation in surgery is aiding his field of medicine “Orthopaedic surgery is becoming increasingly specialist with many surgeons opting to focus on a particular area of the body. This specialist knowledge is allowing us to push the boundaries of current medical knowledge and explore new methods of treatment – some of which are also unearthing new conditions.

“My focus is on joints and in particular, hips.

While many people associate hip replacement with an older demographic the reality is, the damage being caused to the hip joint is happening earlier in their lifetime and so, our attention is becoming increasingly focused upon prevention.

“In particular, one of the common activity related complaints is groin pain. While many would treat this type of pain with a period of rest, pain management and sometimes physio, we are seeing some sufferers for whom this does not lead to an improvement.

“This is where our advancing knowledge and surgical capabilities are causing the most excitement.

“Recent advancements in the treatment of patients experiencing prolonged groin pain that gets worse with activity – often within the 16-50 year old age bracket – have led us to identify another cause for this pain in some sufferers; an abnormal hip joint.

“If the shape of the hip joint is abnormal and the

Callum McBryde, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Spire Little Aston Hospital

joint in its current configuration continues to be used, then this could lead to long-term damage.

“Imagine a car tyre; a fully inflated tyre causes no issues, but if that tyre becomes flat, you might not notice it and continue to drive. This not only alters how comfortable you are, but it also has the potential to cause long-term damage to the tyre and the car too.

As medical professionals, our increased specialisation is leading to greater insight into areas of the body and leading to a greater emphasis on prevention rather than treatment after the damage has been discovered

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“The hip joint works on the same principle. Both the socket and the ball joint must be shaped to allow them both to work together without causing pain or potential damage.

“Typically if this type of damage is occurring during the individual’s 30s and 40s, it could potentially lead to arthritis and possibly the need for a hip replacement in their 50s and 60s.

“The surgical techniques we now have available to us mean we can perform corrections, such as those needed to ensure the joint is working correctly, through minimally invasive procedures. A hip arthroscopy (or keyhole surgery) is now an option for this type of procedure and offers a much faster recovery timeframe for the patient.

“By inserting a camera through a small incision in the groin, we are able to examine the exact movement of an individual’s hip and where needed, we can smooth away the bone that is catching, as well as removing or securing any torn or damaged areas of cartilage.

“As medical professionals, our increased specialisation is leading to greater insight into areas of the body and leading to a greater emphasis on prevention rather than treatment after the damage has been discovered.”

Callum McBryde is a consultant hip surgeon at Spire Little Aston Hospital in Sutton Coldfield.

For further information please contact 0121 353 2444 or visit www.spirehealthcare.com/ littleaston The content of this article is provided for general information only, and should not be treated as a substitute for the professional medical advice of your doctor or other health care professional.

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MOVERS AND SHAKERS

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the Chamber of Commerce, Centro and Birmingham City Council in helping to develop a strategic iconic landscape vision for High Speed 2, in the West Midlands.

>> Louise wins promotion

>> Staff rewarded for helping firm build on its success Civil and structural engineering consultancy CWA Ltd has promoted three of its engineers to associates as its order book continues to expand.

The Birmingham-based consultancy has promoted senior structural engineers Matthew Endacott and Tom Hender, and civil engineer James Welch to associate status.

CWA, based in the Jewellery Quarter, is celebrating record-breaking growth and expansion and has just undergone a major rebranding exercise.

>> Paul’s an early riser Lodders Solicitors has appointed a new equity partner in recognition of his contribution to the Stratford-upon-Avon law firm’s growth.Paul Mourton has been promoted at the age of 36, one of the youngest of eight equity partners ever appointed by the firm. Lodders saw double digit growth in its latest financial year to July 2014.

>> Honorary degree for boss East End Foods director Jason Wouhra has been given an Honorary Doctor of Sciences degree from Aston University.

Mr Wouhra, who is also the Institute of Directors’ regional chairman, received the award for his contribution to regional and national business, entrepreneurship and to his extensive charity and community work.

>> New partner appointed Law firm SGH Martineau has appointed Andrew Brennan as a new partner in its intellectual property and technology team in Birmingham.

Brennan advises on both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property and

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technology-related matters within the retail and manufacturing sectors. He also has significant experience in the education sector and represents universities on the funding, development and commercialisation of their technologies through sale, franchising, spinouts, collaboration and joint ventures.

>> Keith to lead the team Barclays Bank has confirmed Keith Ross as corporate director for Leicestershire and Warwickshire, leading a team of relationship directors across the area.

Ross has been acting corporate director in the area for the last 12 months, as well as managing a portfolio of clients. His team manage relationships with corporate businesses with turnover over £5m.

>> Kathryn’s presidential role Kathryn Moore, professor of landscape architecture at Birmingham City University, has been elected as the next world president of the International Federation for Landscape Architects (IFLA).

Professor Moore is currently leading the project HS2 Landscape Vision, where she is working with various organisations including

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Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce has appointed Louise Wall as group commercial director.

Wall, a previous head of sustainable communities at Warwickshire County Council, will work alongside chief executive Louise Bennett, deputy chief executive Howard Anderson and Sally Lucas, executive director of the Chamber’s training division CWT. The promotion follows her work as the West Midlands co-ordinator of the growth vouchers scheme, which will remain a key responsibility. She will also oversee the events, networks, conferencing, policy, patrons, marketing and social media.

>> Beverley lands top job Birmingham City University has appointed Beverley Nielsen as its director of corporate affairs.

Nielson, who has previously served as director of CBI West Midlands and chief executive of the Heart of England Tourist Board, will build on strong existing links with organisations such as Jaguar Land Rover, AGA Rangemaster and the HS2 consortium.

Nielson is also founder of the Birmingham Made Me Design Expo which promotes the city’s manufacturing products, and organised Birmingham’s Jobs Fair in 2014.

>> Ben appointed MD FleetMilne Property promoted Ben Evans to managing director in a move which sees founder, Nicola Fleet-Milne, take on the role of commercial director after 10 years at the helm of the Birmingham firm.

Evans joined FleetMilne Property from Wolfs in 2006 to take on the role of lettings manager at the rapidly expanding firm, set up in 2004.

He quickly became established as Nicola’s ‘second in command’, rising up the ranks to operations director in 2009.

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GIVING SOMETHING BACK

>> Sports stars on the ball Rugby star Mike Tindall and Paralympic and Olympic stars Lee Pearson, Zac Purchase, Jane Sixsmith, David Stone and Ryan Cockbill helped to raised £80,000 at the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity Ball.

The star-studded black tie evening at Edgbaston cricket stadium, sponsored by jewellers TH Baker, was the charity’s most successful fundraising event to date.

>> Legal eagles get on their bikes for leukaemia cause Law firm Pinsent Masons raised close to £3,000 for Birmingham-based blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia with their annual charity bike ride through the Warwickshire countryside.

Over 60 cyclists took part on the 60-mile circuit from the Durham Ox pub in Shrewley, including Cure Leukaemia trustee and Pinsent Masons’ Birmingham head of office Greg Lowson.

>> A holiday to remember Twenty inner-city children enjoyed laser quest, face painting and craft workshops on an adventure holiday, thanks to Birmingham business Pertemps People Development Group.

The Edgbaston-based company has sponsored several activities through its payroll giving scheme, ensuring a lively holiday for 11-13-year-old children from inner city areas. It’s the third consecutive year the company has offered its support.

>> Support at the double Law firm Lodders has marked the fifth year of its backing for Stratford-upon-Avon’s Big 10k race by doubling its financial commitment.

Around 1,500 runners are expected to sign up for the event on Sunday, 14 September, which has Shakespeare Hospice as its charity partner.

Steven Baker, partner, will again be leading the Lodders’ team – 12 members of staff took part last year and the target is to top that this time.

for patients with breast cancer. The event takes place on Tuesday 30 September at Aston Villa Football Club and will welcome guests from across the business sector to talk about creating and maintaining success, with all proceeds going to the QEHB Charity’s £1m Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer appeal.

Tickets cost £60 and include a welcome drink, a three course lunch and a chance to tour Villa Park. www.ladiesfightingbreastcancer.org.uk

>> Pedal power aids charity The head of a Midlands signs and graphics company took part in an 808mile bike ride to help improve the lives of cancer patients across the West Midlands.

Tim Andrews, managing director of Birmingham-based Hollywood Monster, was part of a 12-strong team of cyclists.

The group tackled the gruelling Coast2Coast bike ride, cycling to seven coastlines in seven days to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust and The Stephen Staunton Foundation.

>> Guru backs cancer cause

>> Cash windfall for libraries

Business guru Lord Digby Jones is joining athletes Colin Jackson and Denise Lewis for a Business Sporting Lunch to raise money

The Wolfson Foundation has granted a £250,000 windfall to five Birmingham libraries to boost child literacy.

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The cash will be used to buy iPads, ebook readers, projectors and 3D printers for Balsall Heath, Druids Heath, Kings Norton, Kingstanding and Small Heath libraries.

>> Pink Panters raise £1,000 A team of ladies from Birmingham-based building services provider J S Wright raised more than £1,000 for Cancer Research UK by taking part in Sutton Coldfield’s Race for Life.

The ‘Pink Panters’ – including Karen Lloyd, Angie Swann, Stephanie Coffey, Sandra Holmes, Ruth Holmes and Ruth’s daughter Mischa – pounded their way around the 5km course in Sutton Park.

>> Fighting cancer together The University of Birmingham and Birmingham blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia have combined to launch the ‘Birmingham. Let’s cure leukaemia’ campaign.

The project seeks to find a cure for blood cancer in the next 30 years by raising funds to support University of Birmingham researcher Professor Charlie Craddock, based at the Centre for Clinical Haematology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Craddock is also co-founder of Cure Leukaemia.

The university is helpng Cure Leukaemia to recruit 1,000 runners to raise £250,000 at the BUPA Great Birmingham Run on 19 October.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

EMERGING ENTREPRENEUR

WEST MIDLANDS EMERGING ENTREPRENEUR DINNER 2014 Region’s rising stars of business now set to compete on the national stage Three of the West Midlands’ hottest business prospects were recognised at the inaugural BQ Emerging Entrepreneur awards.

The BQ Emerging Entrepreneur Dinner at The Great Hall, University of Birmingham, brought together around 150 entrepreneurs from across the region for a celebration of enterprise and to recognise some of the rising stars.

Cliff Dennett, of Soshi Games, which offers music games on Facebook and mobile, and Amrit Chandan and Scott Hardman, of Blue Vine Consultants, which provide marketing for sustainable companies, were named as the regional winners of the BQ Emerging Entrepreneur awards. They will now compete nationally for the BQ Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year title later this year.

As well as the three winners, all shortlisted entrepreneurs shared their stories at the dinner on 25 June, with a roomful of investors, angels and potential mentors. They joined the BBC’s Ben Thompson on stage after entrepreneur Nick Holzherr – who starred on TV’s The Apprentice – delivered his keynote speech on the secrets of his success.

BQ had identified more than a dozen up-and-

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Winners: Cliff Dennett, Scott Hardman and Amrit Chandan with judges David Hardman, left, Simon Collinson, right. coming West Midlands entrepreneurs from reader nominations, and the winners were chosen by a judging panel which included Nick Holzherr, who now runs Whisk, Steve Dyson, editor of BQ West Midlands, Julie Summerell, boss of TR Fleet, and Jodie Cook, who runs JC Social Media.

Shortlisted entrepreneurs provided a written submission, which judges tested against various criteria linked to what are considered the essential aspects of entrepreneurial success.

Dyson, who chaired the judging panel, said: “Judges had a difficult choice to make as ‘emerging entrepreneurs’ sometimes means that visionary ideas have not yet brought in any revenue. But they did feel there were several contenders who had made a real business impact and, after some careful debate, agreed unanimously on the winners.”

On Cliff Dennett, of Soshi Games, the judges said: “Cliff should be celebrated as a brilliant winner. He has done some really cool things in an industry that seems really difficult to get into. He has shown a lot of entrepreneurial spirit, vision, leadership and heaps and heaps of resilience.”

And on Amrit Chandan and Scott Hardman, of Blue Vine Consultants, the judges said: “Amrit and Scott have demonstrated key traits of emerging entrepreneurs. Going through a PhD is a time of great complexity, and the fact that they have launched their business at this time is impressive. Judges were convinced

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that they both displayed a dynamic tenacity, passion and vision that will result in entrepreneurial success.”

Nicki Clark, chief operating officer of BE Group, which organised the awards, said: “The BQ Emerging Entrepreneurs Dinner was the last of four regional dinners and was quite simply inspiring. The Great Hall at Birmingham University is a fantastic venue and set the tone for the evening perfectly. The combination of great food and ambitious people with great stories left me, and I think all, really proud to be part of the Entrepreneurial community in the Midlands.”

The two winners will be among eight finalists from around the country who will be invited to attend the MADE 2014 Festival Gala Dinner on September 25 in Sheffield – part of a weeklong festival of inspiring entrepreneurship expected to attract 3,000 delegates from all over the UK. One of the eight entrepreneurs will then be recognised as the BQ Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.

Speakers at MADE 2014 include internationally renowned business experts and entrepreneurs such as Levi Roots, Doug Richards and Paul McKenna. n MADE, The Entrepreneur Festival is at Sheffield City Hall on September 24 and 25. Tickets are £48 (£24 concessions).

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AS I SEE IT

AUTUMN 14

LET’S STICK TOGETHER

His breakfast radio show starts at 6am every weekday, he’s chairman of Birmingham Press Club, and he runs his own PR company. Sony Gold award winner Ed James describes being the ‘talk of the town’ If there is any topic in the world that I could talk about for hours on end, it would be Birmingham. I have been here for just over 12 years and in that time have grown to love this city as much as anyone who was born and raised here.

I consider myself an ‘adopted Brummie’, which I feel speaks volumes about this city. If you want to come here, get involved and embrace all Brum has to offer, you’re welcomed with open arms.

It’s a truly remarkable place.

Working as breakfast presenter on Heart FM, I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many fascinating people, from members of the public to senior business leaders, and from political figures to visiting celebrities. Everyone who comes to Birmingham is positive and excited by the city’s potential.

I knew from quite early on that I wanted to do more than just broadcast to Birmingham

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and the West Midlands. I wanted to really get under its skin, to get involved with it, find out what really makes it tick, and then to help promote it – and help those within the city to shout a little louder about what they do.

And so in 2012, it was an honour to be elected chairman of Birmingham Press Club, the oldest of its kind in the world. We’ll be celebrating our 150th anniversary next year and are planning some stunning events to mark this occasion and spread the name of the city where we were founded. It’s a great privilege to support the work of our region’s writers and journalists, and the annual Midlands Media Awards continue to recognise the talents of those working across radio, TV, the blogosphere and, of course, the press.

Talking is a skill that I rely on for my day-today work on the radio, but as the managing director of a PR agency, I also have to translate those words into actions.

The feeling of excitement and accomplishment that comes from making a conversation become a tangible product – whether that be an event, press coverage or a new business partnership – is addictive and drives me to find ways in which we can deliver strong

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support to our clients and to the city.

I feel that Birmingham has some incredible ideas and potential to move forward, but what we really need is to find those who are willing to give support in turning their ideas into reality and give Birmingham something to really talk about.

In founding the Ed James Group in 2011, one of the aims was to help Birmingham spread the word about what it has achieved and has still to accomplish, in all sectors and industries.

There is some world-class talent here doing amazing things, we should be proud of that and, what’s more, we have a duty to tell

There is strength in numbers but I feel as a city we work against each other more than we work with each other the world about the incredible stuff that’s happening here every single day.

For this to really work though we need to work together much more than we do. There really is strength in numbers but I do feel as a city we work against each other more than we work with each other.

We sometimes act like children, fighting over our toys. We’re so scared of losing a few bricks to another child in the class that we fail to notice that other classes are organised, have put all their bricks together and made an impressive tower that everyone wants to come and have a look at!

We need more co-operation in Birmingham.

This is not a new opinion but one which I wholeheartedly endorse. I’m totally behind the work of Andy Street, Michael Heseltine and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP. Here we have some very serious players standing up for our city and making some noise. We need to fall in line and support them.

I think we can also learn some lessons from

AS I SEE IT

Yorkshire. You can’t have failed to notice that for a week in July the beautiful scenery of Yorkshire was beamed all over the world when ‘le grand depart’ of the Tour de France came to the self-proclaimed ‘God’s own county’.

The man widely credited for this is Gary Verity, the head of Yorkshire tourism.

He was sick of the constant comparisons to Manchester – sound familiar?

He noticed that Manchester had a certain swagger, a ‘can-do’ attitude that Yorkshire – and indeed many other places including Birmingham – lacked. He points to the tipping point being Manchester’s hosting of the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

After this, Manchester had such confidence and believed there was nothing they couldn’t do. He wanted to give Yorkshire its own ‘Commonwealth Games moment’ and he set about the huge task of basing one of the world biggest sporting events in his home county.

The long lasting effect has still to be seen but I think we all noticed the crowds, the flags and huge outpouring of pride from the people of Yorkshire. It’s a great example of what can be achieved with some vision, tenacity and, ultimately, by working together.

My question is, what will Birmingham’s ‘Tour de France moment’ be? Brum needs a tipping point too. Something to inspire, unite and galvanise the amazing people of this great city.

With the skills, talents and drive of the Brummies here, there is no doubt that we can make anything a reality. And when we do, there really will be no stopping us. n Ed James is on Heart FM 100.7FM. The Ed James Group is at www.edjamesgroup.com

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XXXXXXXX

FRO TO M D PER EJE FEC CTI O TIO N N

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ENTREPRENEUR

From running Next fashion stores to launching his own business; and from economic ruin to a new multi-million pound café chain. Steve Dyson reports on Simon Ford’s changing fortunes The chilling threat from an unpaid Arab supplier came on Thursday 18 June 2009: “I know where your children are at school – and they won’t like what’s going to happen to you.”

Businessman Simon Ford knew he had to react quickly: within 48 hours, he’d packed his bags and was flying home to the UK from Dubai with his wife and three young children.

Ford later heard that “certain individuals” had arrived at their home just after they’d left, which for him confirmed that the threats could have become “very real”.

Such dramatic events would have seemed madness to Ford when he launched Blue Banana in 2005. The luxury events and alternative gifts company in Dubai – specialising in racing car drives, balloon trips, desert safaris and similar jaunts – was turning over $4m a year and employing 20 staff. But then came the recession in 2009.

Ford, born and brought up in Solihull, recalls: “In Dubai, the economy felt like an invincible bubble, but it burst. Dubai itself was in debt and the bank started laying people off. We lost 70% of revenue in three months, and quickly fell behind with suppliers’ payments. People out there had never really seen this before, and the way they dealt with it was through personal threats.

“There were some bizarre laws, like jail terms for bounced cheques. And there was no infrastructure for if things went wrong – everything was personal liability. Once the threats came I put my family first. I took out

all the cash that was left in the bank, paid what I could to employees – so at least they had something – and returned to the UK with nothing. And I can never set foot back in Dubai.”

Ford’s career had started far more conventionally when he graduated in business management at Birmingham University in 1997. He joined Next on a management training programme, and spent four years learning the ropes at various branches before becoming the fashion store chain’s youngest manager at Oxford Circus, London.

He was sent to the Middle East to successfully open Next stores in Qatar and Bahrain, before being poached to run the Debenhams’ franchise in Dubai. Debenhams asked Ford to explore a luxury gifts product idea, but after red tape frustrations he decided to leave and set up his own business, Blue Banana.

Fast-forward through four years of growth and you arrive at the economic crash in Dubai in 2009, when violent threats saw a cashless Ford fleeing back to the West Midlands. He tells me it was a case of: “Right, I’d better plunge myself back into the business community to earn a living,” and before long he was running a consultancy, mentoring start-up businesses at Aston Science Park.

This was a good stopgap, but 39-year-old Ford says: “It was all about other people’s businesses, and I really missed having something myself, something tangible, watching it grow, creating value. I wanted that again.”

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As he sat in coffee shops discussing other people’s businesses, Ford started asking himself: “Why can’t Birmingham get this right?

Places were either doing great coffee and bad food, or great food and bad coffee – one or the other was poor. I know to do one thing very, very well is a business concept, but you can’t get away with that in this industry. If you only do coffee well, people go elsewhere if they want food or other drinks.”

This philosophy became Ford’s new business: “I decided we’ve got to do coffee, tea, hot chocolate and food. And I insisted that we had to be the best at all these products.”

The result was Yorks Bakery Cafe in Newhall Street, Birmingham, launched in August 2012, with 20% equity funding from Nicola Fleet-Milne, founder and owner of Birmingham-based FleetMilne Residential, and an unexpected £20,000 bank loan.

“People say ‘banks don’t lend’ in the recession,” says Ford, whose unusual middle name of ‘York’ provided the café’s moniker.

“They’re wrong. They do if you have a good plan, but they don’t if it’s a crap plan. I only wanted a £5,000 overdraft, and I presented a business plan with intricate data: footfall, competition, what people were buying in that area, building up a detailed picture.

“If we captured just 3% of organic footfall, I said, we had a business. HSBC came back and said they didn’t want to give us a £5,000 overdraft, they wanted to lend us £20,000 instead – ‘because we like your business’.”

Yorks’ annual turnover is now £700,000, >>

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ENTREPRENEUR

with 18 staff. How, from a standing start, did it make such an impact in just two years?

Despite Ford’s commitment to other products – like the 20 loose-leaf teas sourced directly from China – he admits it “all centres around coffee”, and tells me about his painstaking search for the right supplier. He settled with Caravan, a gourmet producer of ‘single origin’ coffee, which means higher quality than most coffee shops’ blends. But great coffee beans mean nothing without the right machine, and Yorks became one of the first cafés outside London to use La Marzocco.

“In London,” Ford says, “good roasters won’t supply if you don’t have a La Marzocco. It’s solidly built and, crucially, has twin boilers, not one like most high street cafés. If you have water at the same temperature as steam, you can burn the coffee. But two boilers means you control temperatures, make more consistent expresso and still have steam for milk.” But even the right beans and machine can make terrible coffee without skilled baristas: “With single origin coffee there’s a really narrow window to get it right and

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baristas have to be tuned in. They constantly adjust the grain and timing, watching the colour of the coffee as it comes through. Each expresso might be a slightly different size but tastes the same. It takes three months of practice to get this consistency – and milk’s a whole other skillset.”

Ford admits that this perfection can lead to baristas getting a bit precious, and laughs: “Some baristas can have an ego, but I tell mine: ‘Look, we’re a coffee shop, let’s not be dickheads about it! Yes, be passionate and make the best coffee. But most people drink coffee and most people know how they like it.

“I don’t mind tact, as coffee can be an educational experience. When people ask for sugar, we might politely suggest: ‘Just try it without,’ because we steam and texturise our milk in a different way which makes it sweet enough. But it depends on the person: someone in a rush doesn’t need that.”

It’s this care that matters, says Ford: “The coffee could be 20% or 30% less quality and we’d still have a business. But take away the people and it’s not what customers would be

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into. It’s important to recruit shared values.

In applications, we ask people two or three questions, like: ‘What’s the funniest thing you’ve done this year?’ Or: ‘Who inspires your passion for food and drink?’

“When opening, we had 500 applications and only 50 answered the questions. We invited 40 to interview – only 28 turned up. Only 10 were any good. It’s amazing what you find out in that process. We recruit for values and

I want people to stand on the step as they leave and think ‘Wow, that was a great experience’

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personality – because we can train for skills, but not for interaction with customers.

“Applicants only have a short interview, and CVs are largely irrelevant. I want that default smile. If you have to think about smiling, you’re not right. Then they get a trial fourhour shift, and that’s how we judge: their work pace; the spring in their step; are they confident talking to people?”

Yorks’ relaxed atmosphere is enhanced by what Ford describes as its “authentic, honest, back to basics” décor: fabrics and materials; concrete, wood and bare metal; reclaimed furniture, exposed pipes and wires connecting gigantic light bulbs costing £18 each; and walls filled with local artists’ works.

There are regular Monday jazz nights involving members of the Birmingham Conservatoire and sometimes, Ford says, “the occasional bass player from New York” who just happens to be in town and fancies a gig. “The key word is ‘memorable’,” he says. “I want people to stand on the step as they leave and think: ‘Wow, that was a great experience.’”

Yorks’ diverse menu helps. As well as expresso, latte and cappuccino products, customers can have coffee via four different types of wonderfully-shaped filter contraptions: the Chemex, the V60, the AeroPress and, of course, the good old French press.

And there are no packaged sandwiches or cakes stuffed with preservatives. Instead, everything’s freshly made in Yorks’ own kitchen: from locally-sourced bacon sandwiches to the creamiest eggs benedict dish I’d ever tasted; and from exotically-filled flatbreads to gigantic chocolate brownies.

But despite this ‘independence’, Ford craves growth: “We had someone trying to sign us up to an ‘independent business’ discount card.

Independents already lack economies of scale, and here they were asking us to lower prices even more. I’m just not interested.

“To me, it can be the sign of a depressed, failing business to say: ‘We’re independent –

ENTREPRENEUR

support us’. Why? If you’ve got great products, fine, but if not, no. And while we might be ‘independent’, we do want to scale up, and we want people judging us on products and service – not on the fact we’re just one shop.”

This theme introduces Ford’s new business partner Rui Caetano, from the family who own the giant Portuguese Burger Ranch chain.

Caetano has bought Fleet-Milne’s original 20% shareholding and 30% of Ford’s, creating a 50:50 ownership structure and, importantly, finance for expansion. A second Yorks opens in Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade this August. Ford – who now lives in Wilmcote, near Stratford-upon-Avon, with wife Mandy, 40, and daughters Myah, nine, and Darci, six,

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and sons Jaicob, seven, and Eli, two – muses on his plans.

“We’re a nice, independent coffee shop, and we want to maintain this feeling but also aspire to grow. It would be easy to bulk buy, stripping back our personality and the real reason people come here. We won’t do that.

The new Great Western Arcade branch will test our systems, using [Newhall Street] as a central kitchen to serve both branches.”

A third Yorks is planned for early 2015, with growth targets of up to 32 branches and £28m turnover by 2019. Ford adds: “Can we grow the brand and maintain a soul in the business? That’s our challenge, and we will do it.” n

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

AUTUMN 14

Becoming a confident professional manager Management has often been described as a “T-shaped” career. Stepping into a management role for the first time, you will shift your thinking from the depth of the “vertical” knowledge of your individual specialism to the breadth of the “horizontal” organisational-wide role, which may at first seem bewilderingly new.

To develop your management confidence and capability there are a number of key management disciplines you must learn, understand and be prepared to apply – disciplines such as business strategy, operations management, financial management, people management and project management. Confident application is also vital in helping you accelerate your career and expand your professional horizons.

Communication rapidly becomes one of your central concerns – talking, listening and engaging with people’s ideas – a capability that cuts across all of your other areas of day to day management practice. Being able to “talk up” to senior managers is vital, in order to communicate issues and risks that need an executive decision. Equally important is listening to incoming information from all sources in the organisation, whether it’s the senior team or the shop floor.

Managing is also about decision making assessing the risks of a variety of possible options in order to arrive at the right decision. As a manager your job is to deliver results, in line with the aims of the organisation, which will contribute to achieving the strategic goals of the business. You will need to understand this

Terry Hodgetts, Director of the Centre for Executive Development, Aston Business School

strategy, and be able to chart a course aligned to it, monitoring results as you go - managing the day to day in a way that is informed by the longterm strategic goals.

These strategic goals may often need to be adapted as issues arise. As a manager you must be able to influence and modify the expectations of stakeholders, as changes, compliance with legislation and other risks and issues impact on your projects. In this case, you’ll need change management capability to adapt plans so that they continue to meet the needs of the organisation.

In order to manage your task, team, budget,

The confident application of key management disciplines is vital in helping you accelerate your career and expand your professional horizons

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brief and requirements, you must be able to understand the bigger picture, to stand any chance of achieving the objectives of all stakeholders. Familiarity with all aspects of the organisation helps you break down processes, manage issues, and deliver results that lead to a sustainable business.

An understanding of finance gives you a clearer picture of the financial implications of any decision you need to make. Finance is usually the thread that runs through many project delivery issues - if your resolution of an issue doesn’t make sense to the business bottom line, you won’t be able to deliver the project.

People management takes centre stage when building a high performance team. To help deliver the strategy, you as a manager need to ensure that individual team members’ performance is not only good, but perhaps even more importantly is consistent over the length of the project.

Managing team performance has to strike a balance between autonomy and direction – you shouldn’t need to performance manage team members on a daily basis. Nevertheless, everyone’s role should be able to be measured – to make sure they meet your measure of success.

As a professional manager you need to develop this breadth of competencies, as well as the confidence to apply them day in, day out.

To find out more about how our Aston Professional Managers’ Award can help you gain the skills and knowledge to develop this confidence, email us on abs_exec_dev@aston. ac.uk, telephone us on +44(0)121 204 3160 or visit www.aston.ac.uk/prof-mgr-award.

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COMPANY PROFILE

IHN - Win win win

Developing our people, whilst supporting our community through raising vital funds, provides a winning combination Creating a culture that allows people to flourish and forge strong working relationships is vital to IHN. Insurance is a people business and MD Liz Foster is extremely proud of the company’s charity work. “I am Chairman of the West Midlands Development Committee of The Prince’s Trust, a charity committed to improving the lives of disadvantaged young people. In support of this work, members of IHN staff have undertaken several overseas challenges to Namibia, Borneo and the Arctic; trekking, abseiling and cycling have done wonders not only for our team spirit but also for the personal development of individuals, whilst at the same time raising vital funds. Perhaps more important than raising money, is the opportunity provided to young people to experience our business; we have done this in the past and are committed to doing so in the future.”

IHN held its 3rd charity Golf Day in aid of The Prince’s Trust on Thursday 16th July at Shirley Golf Club. Amongst the 60 invited guests who came along to support the event, were insurers, clients, partners and friends of IHN. In the searing heat of a beautiful sunny West Midlands day, the golfing foursomes and threesomes enjoyed a wonderful day’s play on a superbly manicured and beautiful course. There were prizes for: nearest the pin, the longest drive and the winning teams

The one that got away!

Tee Time at Shirley Golf Club

Every one of our staff really enjoys giving something back to the community and the feeling that we are making a difference which, this year, were Merito Financial Services (fourball) and Willis Commercial Network with Paul Foster (threeball). After the friendly rivalry on the course, a superb dinner was enjoyed by all the golfers and guests. During dinner a young ambassador from The Prince’s Trust, Diallo Elhadj Oumar, spoke of his experiences and how The Trust has helped turn his life around. This was followed by various draws for such prizes as a day’s golf at the Belfry and a big bucket full of bottles! A magnificent total of over £6,000 was raised this year and IHN would like to thank everyone who helped reach that figure. The next IHN Golf Day is to be held on Thursday 23rd June 2016, so put the date in your diary!

If you would like further information on how to get involved with The Prince’s Trust, please contact Katie Westwood on 01384 375555 or email Katie at westwoodk@ihnsure.co.uk Along with many other firms, IHN supports Macmillan and Children in Need annually but the company also holds a ‘Dress Down Day’

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every Friday. Charities benefitting from this are nominated by the staff and the total amount raised during the year is then matched by the company and split between the 2 charities.

Last year Little Princess Trust and RNLI Rock were chosen whilst this year it is the turn of Wolverhampton MS Therapy Centre and Mary Steven’s Hospice in Stourbridge.

“Every one of our staff really enjoys giving something back to the community and the feeling that we are making a difference” says Liz.

For further advice or information please contact IHN on 01384 375555 or visit our website at www.ihnsure.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

AUTUMN 14

How to maximise the value of your business post-death Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP, continues the series of articles which aim to offer help and guidance to business owners and those who run businesses Many business owners understandably concentrate on the day-to-day running of their business and its medium-term strategy; and do not give a great deal of thought to what happens after their death or how to maximise the value of their business for the family that they leave behind. This is a subject, however, that’s worth taking time over as the right action can make a significant difference to the tax that might otherwise be payable to HMRC. BUSINESS PROPERTY RELIEF: TOO VALUABLE TO IGNORE Most business people will be aware that at present there are valuable reliefs from Inheritance Tax (IHT) available for business assets. Broadly an interest in a business, unquoted shares or quoted shares which give their owner control of the business will qualify for 100% relief from IHT whilst land, buildings, plant and machinery used wholly or mainly for the purpose of the owner’s business will qualify for 50% relief. In both cases the business must be a trading one (rather than an investment company) and the business assets need to be owned for a minimum of two years prior to the transfer giving rise to the IHT charge.

These are self-evidently valuable reliefs and it is essential to ensure that the business is structured in such a way as to maximise them. Care should always be taken when setting up the company that its documents of incorporation are drafted to maximise reliefs and to facilitate future IHT planning.

For example, it would be advantageous to ensure that the transfer of company shares to trusts is permitted both during lifetime and on death. In addition, some provisions could be fatal to Business Property Relief, such as providing for business interests to pass to personal representatives who are obliged to sell them to the surviving

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

Business property reliefs are too valuable to ignore and it is essential to ensure business structures are in place in order to maximise them partners, who are also obliged to buy them. Such an arrangement is viewed by HMRC as a binding contract for sale and will mean complete denial of relief.

ONGOING VIGILANCE IS REQUIRED Once the company is set up in the best form to ensure maximum use of the reliefs, then care is needed on an ongoing basis to ensure that the

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company does not fall into some of the traps for the unwary that lurk within the relevant legislation.

Common pitfalls include: • Diversifying the business activities from trading ones to those regarded by HMRC as investment activities (for example, the letting of commercial property) to the extent that the business becomes mainly an investment company and Business Property Relief is denied on a transfer of value

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• Maintaining cash balances in the business which are not required for its normal operation, perhaps out of a wish to minimise personal taxation; such cash balances will not qualify for relief • Ownership of business premises outside of the business; whilst this may be desirable for other reasons, the rate of relief is reduced by half to 50% PLANNING FOR MAXIMISING VALUE POST-DEATH Once a company is set up in the best way, then thought should be given to what happens in the longer term. The most important tool in achieving this objective is a well-drafted, tax-efficient Will*; a document that should be regarded as essential for anyone with business assets.

The first point to bear in mind when structuring a Will is that business assets should qualify for 100% relief from IHT and, as such, a gift of these to a surviving spouse or registered civil partner is a waste of that relief as these gifts are exempt in any case. The preferable course of action is to leave the business assets to a discretionary trust* in the owner’s Will. No IHT will be payable on the business owner’s death before his or her spouse because of the availability of spouse relief and Business Property Relief. However, the shares are outside of the surviving spouse’s estate which could be very advantageous should the law change to make the relief less generous by the time of the second death or if relief is no longer available because, by that point, the business has been sold.

For example, Derek dies leaving his company shares worth £300,000 to a discretionary will trust and the rest of his estate to his wife Carol. Carol can still receive dividend income from the shares at the trustees’ discretion. The business is sold three years after Derek’s death and Carol dies five years later. The cash proceeds of the shares are outside of Carol’s estate in the trust and do not suffer IHT in Carol’s estate, saving IHT of up to £120,000 on current rates.

A DOUBLE DOSE OF RELIEF If it is intended that a business should remain trading indefinitely, perhaps because the second generation intends to carry it on, then it is possible with planning to achieve a double helping

COMPANY PROFILE

E-BRIEFING SERVICE We, at Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP, offer a range of e-briefings and articles to keep you up to date on the markets and legislation to help guide business owners and those who run businesses.

To register for our e-briefings service, register your interest for one of our upcoming free events or to find out more information visit: web: www.AndrewWhiting.co.uk email: Andrew.Whiting@sjpp.co.uk tel: 0121 215 0926 In summary taking advice, getting the right business structure, remaining vigilant of the dangers and having a will that makes maximum use of reliefs may help to maximise business value post-death of Business Property Relief, minimising IHT significantly and perhaps adding to the business’s future viability.

This can be achieved by the surviving partner buying the shares left to the discretionary trust.

So in the example above, following Derek’s death, Carol continues running the business with their son Andrew. Carol buys the company shares from the trustees of Derek’s discretionary will trust for £300,000. On Carol’s death she owns the shares, which have 100% relief from IHT, and the money that she has paid for them sits outside of her estate in the discretionary trust. Effectively £600,000 worth of assets are outside of the IHT net, with relief claimed on both Derek’s and Carol’s death.

This delivers an IHT saving of up to £240,000 – a significant sum of money.

ESSENTIAL POINTS FOR ALL BUSINESS OWNERS In summary: • Take advice • Make sure incorporation documents are structured in the right way •Remain vigilant against the dangers of prejudicing the availability of relief • Make a Will and ensure that it makes maximum use of reliefs and mitigates IHT as much as possible * The writing of a Will and aspects of succession planning involve the referral to a service that is separate and distinct to those offered by St. James’s Place. Wills and Trusts are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Conduct Authority

web: www.AndrewWhiting.co.uk email: Andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk tel: 0121 215 0926

The Partner Practice represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products. The title ‘Partner’ and ‘Partner Practice’ are marketing terms used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

SUCCESS STORY

AUTUMN 14

NURTURING A DESIRE TO CREATE BEAUTY Celebrated property developer Neil Edginton describes his quirky career path, recalls the day he cried at work, and reveals the charitable side to his nature.

Ian Halstead reports It’s more than 140 years since the celebrated Victorian polymath, Francis Galton, coined the phrase ‘nature or nurture’ to neatly précis the ferocious debate about the relative influence of genes and upbringing.

It remains a classic conundrum, which comes strongly to mind as Neil Edginton settles down to explain the intriguing route by which he became a significant influence upon Birmingham’s fast-changing skyline during the last decade.

Like all Quakers, Birmingham-born Galton loved nothing better than a good debate, but even he couldn’t have denied nurture’s influence on the young Edginton, growing up in Solihull.

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“Dad was a civil engineer, who worked for Severn Trent, and when the National Rivers Authority was set up, he was asked to run it,” recalls Edginton. “My earliest memory of weekends was being dragged round a multitude of sites, weirs and dams.

“I had two brothers, and was the youngest, so there was always a very competitive atmosphere, although I think my parents went through all the hassle with my brothers, so I probably had a bit of an easier ride.”

Regardless of upbringing, signs of entrepreneurial nous are usually seen early in life. One of the Midlands’ richest folk, Lord Edmiston, admits his first moneymaking wheeze was to ‘borrow’ plants from >>

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SUCCESS STORY

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

SUCCESS STORY roundabouts near his home, selling them on the same estate. His venture went painfully awry when he knocked on the door of his father’s chum, but Edginton’s first ‘business’ performed rather better.

“I was 12 when I set up a car-washing round and employed two kids,” he says. “Eventually we had a massive number of customers, and we did it every weekend for quite a while, but then I got distracted by other things.”

For the moment, his fledgling entrepreneurial instincts were sublimated, but that pesky ‘nurture’ was at it again, when the teenager came to study A-levels.

“I did maths, history and economics, but my parents really influenced those choices. I enjoyed economics, but not the others. The things I enjoy academically are those I can relate to in the outside world.”

Edginton’s later decision between university and work was a close-run thing, and he was on the cusp of joining his dad’s employer, Severn Trent, before taking a degree in town planning at what is now Birmingham City University.

“Like a lot of youngsters, at first you only know what you don’t want to do. Gradually though, I realised I wanted to do something which would be tangible in the outside world,” he says.

At which point, the ‘nurture’ lobby encounter a serious challenge. For sure, taking a child in their formative years to see dams, weirs and other impressive structures might have a lasting influence, but although the three Edginton lads had the same upbringing, there were different outcomes.

“My middle brother is now a finance director for BT. I’m sure he enjoys what he does, but it wouldn’t be for me,” concedes Edginton. “I like to take something I can see and feel, and do something with it. Town planning appealed at first, because it provided an interesting background to everything which happened in the built environment.

“It gradually became apparent though that the work was about enforcement and I wanted to work at the sharp-end of property and construction.”

The shift began when Edginton joined the surveyors, Silk & Frazier [now Faithful+Gould], and was underpinned by ‘conversion’ classes

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in Wolverhampton every Wednesday evening.

This meant a wearisome trek from Solihull, but his flagging spirits were swiftly restored when he discovered that his choice of employer had been hugely opportune.

For all the ‘nature-nurture’ debate, there is nothing to beat a big slice of luck: “Project management was a brand-new concept then, and Silk & Frazier only employed one person to set up and run their project team.

“It was exactly the job I’d been dreaming of, so one night I went to the bloke who did it, and said I wanted to work with him. He agreed, and from that point. I knew what I was going to do. I went back to uni to do a Master’s in construction project management

a chance to build something amazing from the ground up,” he recalls. “It wasn’t just a job though, it was a lifestyle and you lived it seven days a week. It was a great time to be in the property market, and even though I played only a small part, it was a tremendous experience and a great learning curve.”

Three years later, Edginton was invited onto the board of Birmingham Mailbox Ltd, and then headed its joint venture with Urban Splash to transform Fort Dunlop from a derelict, long-abandoned industrial eyesore to another spectacular element of the city’s renaissance.

“It was a crazy building, it really was, and we had to get consent for the residential phase.

Like a lot of youngsters, at first you only know what you don’t want to do.

Gradually though, I realised I wanted to do something which would be tangible in the outside world part-time. It was a case of ‘right place, right time’, and I was getting great experience being involved in major projects.”

However, his next move came via an unexpected weekend call: “The phone rang, and it was Alan Chatham, who was a client at Silk & Frazier. I thought it must be a workrelated issue, but he said: ‘I hear you’re on the transfer list. Have a chat with your boss, you’re coming to work with us on Monday.’”

Chatham, and his business partner Mark Billingham, had bought the old Royal Mail sorting office two years earlier, and were starting to create what ultimately became the most spectacular symbol of Birmingham’s renaissance – the Mailbox.

They needed an in-house project manager, and the ever-confident Chatham decided Edginton was coming on board. It was a stunning opportunity, and the nature-nurture debate immediately lost its relevance. From that day, Edginton’s achievements have been about talent underpinned by tenacity and, as always, the occasional lucky break.

“They’d only started on site in 1999, so it was

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I thought it would be amazing to have huge triple-glazed apartments within sight of the M6, but when Splash took it on board, they chopped out the resi,” he recalls.

“Fair play, they did a great job, especially as it had been empty for 22 years, but I’d still have liked to have seen those penthouses.”

For a moment, you see a gleam in Edginton’s eyes, and it’s clear that even a decade on, the lost opportunity still irks just a little.

Then though, the Fort was swiftly forgotten, as Chatham and Billingham created their Birmingham Development Ltd in 2004, with Edginton on board as co-founder, director and shareholder, to bring forward the Cube.

Its long and fraught journey from ambitious concept through to successful completion, bedecked with awards along the way, and with high-profile tenants to satisfy any developer, has been oft-told, but it’s still interesting to hear Edginton’s thoughts on the highs and lows.

“I still love Ken Shuttleworth’s design. He had an awesome team, but what stood out was his ability to identify potential snags ahead

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of everyone. He was always doodling, always thinking, always problem-solving.

“We never wanted to build it ourselves, but when the likely contractor demanded a risk premium of £16m – having agreed £2m several months earlier – we couldn’t make the building work so we set up BuildAbility.

“At its peak, we employed 500 people directly, and were turning over £1m a week. Despite all the challenges, we still brought the £75m building in on time and £750k under budget.

“When Lloyds TSB called in the administrators though, it was the worst – and the best – time of my life. PwC came in at the end of March, and it was the only time I’ve shed a tear at work, but then my daughter was born in April.”

The bank, which had previously funded the Mailbox, feared the Cube’s complex design was sending the project over-budget, and had concerns that Chatham and Billingham weren’t focusing as intently on the scheme as was required.

However, Edginton swiftly built up a solid relationship with the bank, and as his role morphed from developer to asset manager, the challenging task began of shifting 500,000 sq ft of new Grade A space in the depth of recession.

The Cube’s first tenant, the Highways Agency, arrived in May 2010, and lettings for the final 17,500 sq ft are now going through the legal process.

“It has been a difficult journey, but when you see the Cube now, it’s a building which has really found its own soul,” says Edington.

In parallel with the Cube lettings, he also set up his own development venture, EDG Property, which focused initially on delivering a £5.5m mixed-use scheme called The School Yard, built around Harborne’s Grade II-listed Clock Tower. Contracts have just been signed for its 54-week build phase, so Edginton’s attention is turning to two mixed-use projects elsewhere in Birmingham – due to be announced this autumn – while he continues to advise the funders of a major development scheme in Northampton.

However, as the months slip by, ever more of his time is being taken up on work for which the only reward is a sense of personal satisfaction, and a deeper understanding of

SUCCESS STORY

the fickleness of life, raising funds for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Edginton is a trustee of the Steelhouse Lane hospital’s charity, which helps treat some 250,000 youngsters from across the UK each year. He currently chairs the fund-raising committee, and at the year-end will also chair the charity itself.

“It’s a sobering experience visiting the hospital and seeing the children. You see how brave they are, and how they are suffering in ways which would be incredibly tough, even for an

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adult, and you want to make a difference,” he says – his usual effervescent chirpiness replaced by calm introspection.

“We raised £6m last year to pay for equipment and make amazing spaces in the hospital for them.

“Now we’re trying to raise an extra £4m for a new cancer centre. The fund-raising is taking up a lot more time than I thought it would, but it’s so worthwhile, and it makes you appreciate your good fortune and everything which has gone right for you and your family.” n

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

AUTUMN 14

Life after a business sale: why you need to start planning now Investing time in planning, building a strong network and talking to those who have sold up are key to a happy and fulfilled life after selling a business For every entrepreneur who embarks on the journey of building a business of their own, a successful business exit represents a high point in their career.

While this is rightly a cause for celebration, it also represents a step into the unknown. Although there is plenty written about the growth stories of entrepreneurs who build up new businesses and great fanfare for those who successfully sell up and exit, very little is written about life after they leave their businesses.

So just what do entrepreneurs do when they have sold a business? Is it easy to build a new career? And is life after exit as satisfying as many would imagine?

To throw light on this important matter, these are the questions we asked over 180 entrepreneurs for our report “Life After Exit – What Happens Next?”.

What we learned is that although many entrepreneurs find the transition into this new phase in their lives a straightforward one, others find the combination of wealth and long-awaited freedom far harder than they imagined.

Most tellingly of all, both groups find it harder and that it takes substantially longer than they expect to find activities which put their time and wealth into play in a way which keeps them fulfilled.

Looking at our research, three important lessons emerge for any entrepreneur contemplating life after a business sale.

The first of these is the importance of planning.

Many argue that in the quest for growth, success and ultimately a business sale, there is little time

Miles Plumb, Director for Birmingham

to think about life after the business is sold. But the experience of those who have sold up is the opposite. Their advice is to plan for exit before you sell so you have the right options open to you when the time comes. This includes financial

The last lesson is to accept the need to experiment. The majority of entrepreneurs build up portfolio careers after exit but part of that is understanding that experimentation will not always lead to success or satisfaction. It takes time and patience to find the right opportunities which will work for you and your new lifestyle BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

planning. It will have the biggest bearing on your ability to achieve the lifestyle you want yet many choose to ignore this until after the sale.

The second lesson is to invest in your network.

The unanimous view of entrepreneurs we spoke to was that once out of their business, the quality of people you know are as important as the time and money you have available. Your network is the place you will find opportunities to advise, invest and get involved with new ventures – the common interests for entrepreneurs who have sold a business.

The last lesson is to accept the need to experiment. The majority of entrepreneurs build up portfolio careers after exit but part of that is understanding that experimentation will not always lead to success or satisfaction. It takes time and patience to find the right opportunities which will work for you and your new lifestyle.

Entrepreneurs may even experience more failure in their new career than when they were running their first business.

There is no doubt that those who see a business exit as the opportunity to exercise choice and freedom are right. But even with money and time on your hands, successfully carving out a new career requires planning and no small amount of hard work.

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For more information about becoming a Coutts client, contact Miles Plumb, Director for Birmingham on 0121 607 8486 or miles. plumb@coutts.com. Calls may be recorded.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Getting down to business! venuebirmingham is a professional events service, offering a year-round, comprehensive portfolio of conference and hospitality venues, at the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston Our portfolio includes over thirty different venues – from the stunning grandeur of the Great Hall, to the quiet and serene environment of Winterbourne House and Gardens - venuebirmingham can accommodate anything from a lunch for two, up to a conference for 1,000 people; all set within 250 acres of lawns and mature trees. venuebirmingham have an enviable reputation for quality, efficiency and value for money. Your delegates are sure to be impressed and you can be safe in the knowledge that your event will be held in the grandeur of the University setting, but at an affordable cost.

CATERING FOR YOUR NEEDS A dedicated catering team is on site to provide everything you need, from simple refreshments to light lunches and exquisite dinners. Our awardwinning chefs blend the finest local ingredients to create a fusion of traditional and contemporary dishes. Whether you are organising a conference, meeting, dinner, drinks reception, buffet or a private celebration we have a range of menus to choose from. Or if you prefer a more personal approach we are happy to discuss your ideas with you then create something really special tailored to your theme or tastes. We are justly proud of the Fairtrade status of the University which shows our commitment to social responsibility. All our menus promote local, organic and Fairtrade products wherever possible.

A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP Whether travelling for business or pleasure, you are guaranteed a friendly and warm stay at our Conference Park bed and breakfast accommodation. Located just five minutes from the main campus in Edgbaston, we offer 106 ensuite bedrooms with all the facilities you would need for a restful stay. We are also able to offer bed and breakfast accommodation in some of our first class student residences during the summer vacation (from July to September).

venuebirmingham has a range of stunning facilities

venuebirmingham can accommodate anything from a lunch for two, up to a conference for 1,000 people; all set within 250 acres of lawns and mature trees UNFORGETTABLE OCCASIONS DEMAND A UNIQUE VENUE We are the ultimate choice for special occasions and celebrations, whether it’s an awards ceremony or magnificent silver service banquet for your organisation that requires the grandeur of The Great Hall, a celebratory concert in the Bramall Music Building, or a Christmas party for your team in the contemporary setting of the Noble Room.

You can even have your wedding celebrations with us. Our versatile wedding venue facilities offer catering options from the smaller wedding breakfast at Hornton Grange, to large sit-down meals for up to 430 guests as well as approved premises for civil marriages and civil partnerships.

TEAM WORK In the past, venuebirmingham have hosted high profile events such as the 2010 General Election Leaders Debate, BBC Question Time and most notably, the 2012 Jamaican track and field team during their pre-Olympic training camp.

Our dedicated and experienced team have extensive experience in supporting clients in the

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delivery of their events. We provide professional support planning events on any scale and can always create a package to suit your specific event needs.

MAKE YOUR FESTIVE SEASON SPARKLE! If you’re looking for a stylish Christmas Party location this year, then look no further than venuebirmingham. From Christmas lunches and dinners, through to fine dining or party nights - we will take the stress out of your Christmas plans.

Prices start from just £15.95 per person, to include a three course dinner with coffee or tea, Christmas crackers and novelties.

If you need a suitable venue for your event with helpful, experienced staff, then we are the best place to call first.

Phone: 0121 415 8400 Email: enquiries@venuebirmingham.com www.venuebirmingham.com

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

ENTREPRENEUR

AUTUMN 14

Professor Rick Hillum has been running university spin-out companies for a quarter of a century, but his latest is the most exciting and potentially lucrative yet. Ros Dodd reports

LITTLE DEVICE COULD BE BIG Professor Rick Hillum has developed a product that could soon find its way into every next-generation cellular handset and mobile device sold across the world. Although it only launched in August 2013, his company, Smart Antenna Technologies (SAT), is already in ‘active closing discussions’ to license the technology to a household name customer.

It has also opened a silicon design centre in Bath, almost doubled its staff, from 13 to 23, and has won, or been shortlisted for, a clutch of awards.

So what is this groundbreaking technology?

At the moment, mobile handsets need a separate antenna to support each communication technology – Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, GSM and 3G/4G. When 4G phones hit the market, they’re expected to have up to six narrow-band antennae operating on individual band segments, which, explains Hillum, is “highly inefficient in terms of cost and space occupied in the device”.

SAT provides a single antenna solution – using

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a novel foil or printable antenna and control chip to produce a compact multi-frequency antenna. And instead of costing up to $18 per antenna, this foil or printable antenna costs less than $1, thus potentially saving the industry billions of dollars.

SAT uses software-reconfigurable hardware that enables manufacturers to produce one device for all territories, reduce costs and streamline manufacturing and logistics.

“So you can see why the company has more potential customers than staff and why we’re having to hold customers off,” says Hillum.

“The reason customers are biting our hands off is that the technology is protected by patents – we have a significant number of applications either filed or in process – and we are adding even more functionality into the antenna to take us into the future.”

If all goes to plan, we won’t have to wait too long for the technology to hit the high street. “By the end of 2015, this will be in a customer’s product in volume production,”>>

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ENTREPRENEUR

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

ENTREPRENEUR

is Hillum’s confident prediction. SAT, based at Birmingham Research Park, is a shining example of what can happen when the inventive brilliance of university academics is harnessed to the nous of a canny businessman.

Hillum, who is chief executive of SAT, recognised the potential of cutting-edge research being carried out by Professors Peter Hall and Peter Gardner and Dr Sampson Hu, leading experts in radio antenna technology at the University of Birmingham, and knew he had a likely global hit on his hands.

Although not an academic, Hillum is a visiting professor at the Universities of Bath and Bristol, as well as an honorary senior fellow at the University of Birmingham. His experience, both in new technology development and company start-ups, is wide-ranging. After studying at university, Hillum worked for Securicor in London, where he became chief technical officer, moving to Bath in 1990. “Securicor was prepared to invest in forward-looking technologies and it undertook a lot of research

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with Bath and Bristol universities,” he recalls.

After 18 years with Securicor, Hillum went on to hold chief executive and chief technical officer roles in communications industry companies in Europe and the US and got involved with start-ups, especially those built on university technologies.

“I’ve worked with universities for most of my career – across the UK and many around the world – and have been involved with university spin-outs for 25 years,” he explains. “All the spin-outs have been science-based, such as digital architectures and technologies.

“I knew quite a lot about the work going on at the University of Birmingham’s School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering, in particular the work of Professor Peter Hall – who’s now retired from the university – who had a good reputation in industry for coming up with great ideas.

“I had worked with the university to commercialise a much earlier version of the technology SAT is using, so about three years

ago I came to see how they were getting on.”

At that stage, the mobile device necessary to incorporate a single antenna was still much bigger than a current handset – but Hillum could see the potential was there.

So he put Peter Hall and Sampson Hu in front of real customers, including Blackberry, Sony

Academics are visionaries, but it’s important that a company also runs like a business and Samsung, and asked them what they wanted. “They told us their requirements and we used those to drive the technology we were developing.”

Once he was confident the technological >>

Andrew whiting weAlth ConsultAnCy llP Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management tel: 0121 215 0926 Email: andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk Web: www.andrewwhiting.co.uk

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6 r y t. ll 92 nta en Ca 15 0 ime gem 2 pl na 21 om ma 01 ur c lth o ea ry w fo e t o id gu

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ANDREW WHITING WEALTH CONSULTANCY LLP Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management

Tel: 0121 215 0926 Email: andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk Web: www.andrewwhiting.co.uk

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The Partner Practice represents only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products.

The title ‘Partner Practice’ is the marketing term used to describe St. James’s Place representatives.

ENTREPRENEUR side was working well, Hillum turned his attention to ensure SAT operated professionally.

“Academics are visionaries, but it’s important that a company also runs like a business. Early on I brought in Paul Moon, who I’ve worked with for 25 years, as operations director. He’s a project manager, helping companies to perform like companies rather than university start-up enterprises, which is very important if you want customers to take you seriously.”

His hard work paid off: SAT is one of the youngest companies to be awarded the ISO 9001 quality management standard certificate.

For many start-ups, the big stumbling block is investment. That hasn’t been the case for SAT. In February, it secured a “substantial” investment from Mercia Fund Management and has since had a £329,000 cash injection from the West of England Growth Fund, which is managed by the West of England LEP and supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. The SAT management team – including non-exec chairman Dr Colin Tucker, founder of 3 UK, the first 3G mobile operator in the UK, and Professors Hall and Gardner as consultants – has also invested in the company.

SAT is an ambitious venture on several levels – one being that technology is constantly, and quickly, evolving.

“We have had to grow the team quite quickly in order to deliver to the market,” explains Hillum. “So the technology is moving at a phenomenal pace. We need to stay ahead of customer need and our competitors.

“There will be others trying to come up with a solution to the problems our technology is designed to eliminate, but to our knowledge, no one in the world has anything like this.

“We’ve taken a big step outside the box from how antennae would normally work, what they look like and the costs involved,” says Hillum. “But no one has said that what we’ve done isn’t the right thing to do. At the end of the day, it’s going to mean smaller phones, more functions and better battery life. And that’s what everyone wants.” n

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Helping fledgling businesses thrive Smart Antenna Technologies is just one of many companies to have been ‘spun out’ from the University of Birmingham. There are now about 30 businesses founded on world-class research carried out at the university.

Spin-out enterprises are set up by Alta Innovations, the university’s wholly owned technology transfer company.

“We don’t see the value in setting up companies just for the sake of it,” explains David Coleman, head of enterprise acceleration. “Starting and growing a company is hard work and usually high-risk, and we want to give ours the best chance we can to create big impact from our research.

“In order to increase our chances of success through critical mass, the University of Birmingham and Alta Innovations have been working hard to create a thriving community that can help not just our own spin-outs, but start-ups from across the West Midlands. Our incubator, BizzInn, is based at the Birmingham Research Park, adjacent to the university.”

It is, says Coleman, a “fantastic location” in which to launch a business: as well as desk space and offices services, fledgling companies can get hands-on support from both university staff and professional services providers.

“We have regular clinics, seminars and networking events to really help companies make the most of the opportunities available,” says Coleman BizzInn is a key part of the new £6.8m Biomedical Innovation Hub, due for completion in September, which has been part-funded by the European Development Fund.

“As a consequence of this funding, the BizzInn can provide eligible enterprises with free support,” says Coleman. “For those with potential in the life sciences or engaged in biotechnology, the BIH can provide affordable laboratory facilities, equipment and support.”

Andrew whiting weAlth ConsultAnCy llP Senior Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management tel: 0121 215 0926 Email: andrew.whiting@sjpp.co.uk Web: www.andrewwhiting.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

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COMPANY PROFILE

The University Of Birmingham and Cure Leukaemia combine to launch “Birmingham, Let’s cure leukaemia” campaign The University of Birmingham and Birmingham blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia have collaborated to launch the “Birmingham, Let’s cure leukaemia” campaign which aims to help the city find a cure for blood cancer in the next 30 years This collaboration will raise funds to support University of Birmingham researcher and co-founder of Cure Leukaemia, Professor Charlie Craddock and his teams based in the Centre for Clinical Haematology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and across the West Midlands, to continue their work to deliver ground-breaking new therapies to leukaemia patients across the region.

The aim by 2024 is to double the number of patients treated, double the capacity for clinical trials on offer, whilst looking to potentially leverage in excess of £100 million of free drugs for patients battling blood cancer. This will consolidate the Centre’s position as a worldleading centre for the treatment of blood cancer.

Dr. Ram Malladi, Cure Leukaemia Trustee and Senior Clinical Lecturer said, “Patients are potentially missing out on life-saving treatment as we simply do not have enough specialist nurses to deliver enough clinical trials.

It is deeply frustrating that patients are being turned away and miss out on these important and potentially curative drugs.”

To help towards this aim, the University of Birmingham is joining Cure Leukaemia in their quest to recruit 1000 runners to help fundraise £250,000 for the BUPA Great Birmingham Run on Sunday October 19th. This would double the participation and fundraising total of £125,000 from 450 runners in the 2013 event.

The focus will see two leading forces in research and treatment of leukaemia joining together to encourage the local community, University staff, students and alumni to run for Cure Leukaemia and the University of Birmingham and raise funds in aid of leukaemia research for the BUPA Great Birmingham Run. Professor Charlie Craddock, the co-founder of Cure

Centre - Professor Charlie Craddock, leukaemia patient Brooke Evans and Cure Leukaemia Trustee and Michelinstarred Chef Glynn Purnell with staff from the University of Birmingham, Cure Leukaemia and doctors and nurses from the Centre for Clinical Haematology

It is the most exciting time to be in cancer research right now – there has never been a time like this. We are the first generation that has the ability and the capacity to control this disease Leukaemia and Professor of Haemato-oncology at the University of Birmingham said, “I am thrilled that the University of Birmingham and Cure Leukaemia are combining their efforts for this year’s BUPA Great Birmingham Run. The University’s facilities, research and infrastructure are integral to all the work we do at the Centre for Clinical Haematology so their collaboration with Cure Leukaemia to help increase fundraising too is fantastic. It will allow us to continue to treat and save the lives of leukaemia patients all over the region, and help Birmingham find a cure for this terrible disease in the next 30 years.”

The West Midlands region, with a population of 5.5 million has the most ethnically diverse catchment area in Europe and, as a result, offers

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access to the broadest possible data pool for drug trials. Combined with a hub of leading medical research at the University of Birmingham, this makes Birmingham a centre of excellence in this field, offering hope to the 30,000 people who are diagnosed with blood cancer in the UK each year.

Head of the School of Cancer Sciences at the University of Birmingham Professor Paul Moss said, “It is the most exciting time to be in cancer research right now – there has never been a time like this. We are the first generation that has the ability and the capacity to control this disease.”

If you or your business would like to run for Cure Leukaemia in the Bupa Great Birmingham Run on Sunday October 19th please email Joe White at joe@cureleukaemia.co.uk.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

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Sales top £10m at auction, lettings team land silver award, survey reveals industrial property shortage, Barberry Group in £15m spending spree, 132-unit student accommodation gets go-ahead >> REI empire expands Real Estate Investors plc (REI), the Birmingham-based property group, has spent £7.25m on buying a 56,608 sq ft retail and office venue in Warwick.

Westgate House, on Market Street in Warwick town centre, produces rental incomes of £631,000 per annum from tenants including Boots, Marks and Spencer, and NHS Property Services.

REI chief executive Paul Bassi said: “Westgate House is an excellent addition to our portfolio, offering to add further income from letting void space and re-gearing existing leases, which will provide us with capital growth and strong running yield.”

The purchase is the latest in an expansion that has seen REI spend almost £16m this year. And it follows news that REI has sold Cathedral Place in Birmingham to Canada Life for £4.6m.

The 12,933 sq ft Cathedral Place is home to REI’s head office, recruitment consultants Greenwell Gleason and Key Personnel, and the Shaw Trust charity.

>> Dynamic duo reunited Big property planners Richard Brown and Gary Cardin have been reunited at CBRE in the Midlands.

Brown, who has 18 years’ experience in both the private and public sectors, has been appointed as an associate director within CBRE’s national planning team.

He joins former Deloitte Real Estate colleague Gary Cardin, who joined CBRE as senior director and head of the planning team in the Midlands earlier this year.

Cardin said: “Having worked together for more than 12 years it’s great to have Richard as part of the team at CBRE. This is an exciting time to be working in planning, given the increase in development activity and the opportunities that it presents.

Richard’s appointment could not have come too soon.”

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From left, Julia Williams, Dani James, Matt Sleep, Fiona Osborne, Andy Lloyd and Kay Taylor

>> Letting their talents shine A Worcester lettings agency is celebrating after scooping two respected property industry awards.

Premier Places has claimed the Silver award in the Best Midlands Lettings Agency (Single Office) category as part of the Lettings Agency of the Year Awards 2014.

The Foregate Street based agency, which employs 13 staff and manages over 500 properties, also won a national Silver award in the Best Student Lettings Agency category at the London ceremony where nearly 6,000 letting agencies were vying for the top awards.

Dani James, chief executive, said: “To be recognised for the service we provide our tenants and landlords is fantastic. The whole team is buzzing that our work has been acknowledged on a national scale. Both are perfect rewards for the team who have gone from strength to strength.”

>> £10.3m under the hammer CPBigwood brought in £10.3m in its largest ever auction of 141 property lots held at Villa Park, Birmingham.

A 68% success rate included a standout sale of 1059-1069 Kingsbury Road, Castle Vale, Birmingham, a freehold modern unit let as a Riley’s Snooker Club and Sports Bar, which had a reserve of £140,000 but sold for £420,000. Two former training centres, both Birmingham City Council lots, at 17 Camp Lane, Handsworth, and 151 All Saints Street, Hockley, sold for £250,000 and £280,000 respectively.

And a chance to buy a piece of TV’s Benefits Street – land at the rear of 74 James Turner Street, Winson Green – was picked up at the second time of asking at a price of £9,000.

Walsall’s former Highgate Brewery, on Sandy

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Mount Road – a grade II-listed complex – had a guide of £850,000-plus but went unsold when the bidding stopped at £840,000.

>> Development fully let An industrial equipment agent is moving into new offices on Bromsgrove Technology Park in a deal transacted by leading Midland independent property consultancy GJS Dillon.

LBC Technologies Ltd, an agent for the sale of machinery, industrial equipment, aircraft and ships, has taken over the last remaining offices in Aston Court on the technology park. The modern courtyard office development of 15 self-contained office buildings is now fully let.

Toby Fellows of GJS Dillon said: “The park is very well located just two miles from Bromsgrove town centre with excellent links to the Midlands’ motorway and rail networks.”

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>> Property in short supply Cushman & Wakefield’s new survey has revealed a fall in the take-up of industrial property in the Midlands in the first half of 2014 because of a lack of available stock.

The real estate company said there had been 13 deals involving industrial/warehouse properties of 100,000 sq ft or larger across the East and West Midlands in the first six months of the year, totalling 2.39 million sq ft.

This compares to 15 deals last year, but with a huge drop in the floor space involved, down from 4.06 million sq ft in the same period in 2013.

David Binks, industrial partner at Cushman & Wakefield in Birmingham, said: “We are now experiencing a lack of stock across all grades, including grade ‘B’ and grade ‘C’, which is having an effect on the number of transactions and the amount of floor space.

“Looking to the future, we predict supply shortages will continue to dampen take-up figures, but this lower level of take-up will be countered by a continuing increase in the design and build market.”

>> Balti capital’s newcomer The UK’s seventh EastZEast restaurant opened its doors on Broad Street, Birmingham over the summer.

Owner Kabir Rayman said: “Birmingham is not only the capital of the Midlands, but is also the UK’s capital of the great British balti. Birmingham is also a hub of vibrant new economic activity, so it was the obvious place by far to open the doors to our newest home of our multi-award winning Punjabi Cuisine.”

>> Go-ahead for hotel plans Work is finally under way to increase bedrooms by 50% at the historic Nailcote Hall in Berkswell, Solihull. Proprietor Rick Cressman, who rescued the hotel from receivership in 1991, always planned to add 10 guest bedrooms to the 20 he built to turn the business around, but it’s taken him 16 years to get there. Cressman said: “My original plan was turned down at appeal, and it has been a very long wait to get to this point. It

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

means we can generate enough income to ensure my legacy will be a strong, profitable business, with a fabulous reputation and a great golf course.” Solihull builders Greswolde are working on the bedrooms, and building a clubhouse for the 17th Century hotel’s golf course, recently played on by Sir Alex Ferguson and Peter Schmeichel.

>> Student digs approved Kensington Central – a subsidiary of Birmingham Properties Group – has obtained planning consent to convert a Birmingham office building into a 132-studio unit for students.

Kensington House, on Suffolk Street Queensway, will provide a city centre location with easy access to campuses and the city’s bars and restaurants.

John Tebbutt, managing director of Birmingham Properties, said: “There’s increasing demand from both overseas and UK students for quality spacious accommodation in well located areas.”

Kensington House, a 52,000 sq ft sevenstorey office building, is near major retail and leisure facilities at The Mailbox and New Street Station, and close to the new John Lewis store due to open in 2015.

>> Barberry’s spending spree Property developers Barberry Group has invested more than £15 million in more than 100 apartment blocks across the country.

The Worcestershire-based group purchased properties in Harborne in Birmingham, Bristol, Coventry and Wolverhampton.

It has also completed a development of 27 apartments at Rocksborough House, Solihull, where it convert derelict offices into high quality homes.

The company is now pursuing more opportunities in the residential market south of Manchester and north of the M4 corridor.

Director Alex Watson said: “We see great potential in our strategy of investing in blocks of apartments with an attractive yield. We’re in the market for rented developments being sold by landlords, developers or receivers in the range of £1m to £20m.”

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>> Car firm drives expansion Car parts distributor Automotive Brands has announced 10 new jobs and a major expansion after moving from Evesham to a larger headquarters in Bidford-on-Avon.

The company is taking a 7,206 sq ft unit at 30 Waterloo Road on the Bidavon Trading Estate in a deal organised by Redditch property agents John Truslove.

The premises, bought as part of a six-figure investment, includes offices and warehousing.

The firm’s leading brands are Steel Seal, head gasket repair, Power MaXed, vehicle cleaning products, and J-B Weld, adhesives. It has a turnover approaching £2m.

Adam Weaver, who heads the business, said: “The new building is exactly right for us and offers the possibility of taking further space on the same estate in the years ahead.”

>> Sunroof firm modernises Car sunroof suppliers Webasto is having a £1.2 million extension of its industrial unit in Birmingham in a bid to modernise deliveries and reduce noise levels.

Centurion Properties and Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Property Trust, the owner of the unit at Kingsbury Business Park, Minworth, agreed the project after signing new leases with Webasto and receiving planning consent.

Alex Carr, director and head of industrial agency at Lambert Smith Hampton in Birmingham, the lettings agent for Centurion and Scottish Widows, said the project was due to be complete in 2014.

Webasto’s new lease runs to June 2025.

>> £1.2m deal clinched West Bromwich property agents Bond Wolfe has clinched a £1.2m redevelopment deal for Perry Barr. The re development of Livingston House, 50 Livingston Road, will accommodate both students and high end apartment dwellers.

The one acre site, renamed Grand Square, has been sold to Aronex Developments, a London real estate company planning to include a swimming pool, gym, games room, cinema, library and media room for the apartments.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

INTERVIEW

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WE MUST SPEAK WITH ONE, UNIFIED VOICE

Black Country business leaders should be loud, proud and less parochial about their area, according to the editor of Britain’s biggest regional daily newspaper. Steve Dyson reports “Did you know there’s not a plane flying anywhere in the world without a component made in or around Wolverhampton?” It’s a rhetorical question, but one that Keith Harrison, editor of the daily Express & Star newspaper, enjoys asking to make his point about the region’s industrial strength.

“Wolverhampton is a wonderful aerospace corridor, and then there’s the precision engineering, the manufacturing centres. The old image of the Black Country is grimy, dirty, oily workshops, but if you go round businesses now, it’s like touring a hi-tech laboratory – spotless and modernised.

“One of the biggest frustrations for me is that there’s been so many envious eyes cast towards Birmingham – and all the investment and regeneration that city’s had, especially before the recession – that the Black Country ended up hiding its own light under a bushel.”

In short, Harrison feels the Black Country, made up of the four boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton, has failed until recently to speak with a unified voice.

“We can’t carry on being seen as four distinct boroughs,” Harrison says. “But the good news is there now seems to be a will to get over that – and to think on a wider Black Country scale.

“And I think it’s crucial for everyone to realise that wider strength exists and the unity is needed to achieve the future investment and infrastructure that’s needed. There’s strength in unity, and it’s becoming a recognised and new way of thinking for the Black Country.

“The four boroughs have got some really forward-thinking administrations taking huge decisions, and paper’s like ours – serving the whole of the Black Country – can be a real

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flag waver, business champion and unifying force.” The Express & Star, owned by the Midland News Association (MNA), has faced its own business challenges in recent times.

The paper still has a daily sale of nearly 80,000 copies – the UK’s largest among regionals – but this is around half of what it sold just 10 years ago. It’s a similar story at the group’s other papers, which include the Shropshire Star and a string of weeklies. With sales and commercial revenues plummeting, and publishers grappling with an ever-changing digital world, any interview with an editor leads to the same question. How can your titles continue to publish quality news, profitably, in an online world where content is free, and where businesses will only pay pennies for advertising, as opposed to the pounds they used to pay in print? Harrison, 46, pauses, changes his sitting position and visibly searches for the right reply. “Now, if I only knew that…!” he laughs, buying a few seconds, before changing tack: “We went to the USA in 2013 to view the New York Times, the Star and Tribune in Minnesota and the Deseret News, a Mormon paper in Salt Lake City. What they’re finding is that subscription works very well, and we’re now looking at various subscription models.”

I ask him to confirm what he means: “My personal view is that a metered paywall is likely to be the most successful model.” A metered paywall means that a website is free for a certain number of views, but that readers then have to pay to continue accessing content.

Harrison plays with the idea: the right number of free stories is important for metered paywalls, so as not to frighten readers away, and setting the price is critical. He imagines

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a news website with a million unique users: “If you say it’s £1 a week and 98% say ‘I’m not paying’ once the meter starts, that’s still £20,000 a week, thank you very much.”

Perhaps more will pay higher or lower charges, but Harrison’s message is clear: “There’s merit in a metered paywall. But to do that, we’ve got to have a digital offering that’s indispensable, and an audience consistent enough to pay for it. Critical is bringing people on board, and getting them hooked to pay something.”

MNA employs more than 500 staff across the Midlands, but its annual turnover has reduced to around £40m, resulting in a restructuring project this year that’s seen the loss of more than 70 jobs. It’s been a painful change – especially for departing staff – but Harrison reminds me that it’s a “transitional” period for the newspaper industry.

“In the past, we prided ourselves on being a live news, multi-edition paper – if it happened at 12.30pm it’d be in the paper by 1pm and on the streets by 2pm. But however quick we are in print, we’re not going to beat digital – Twitter, the web and whatever’s next off the block. This has changed our thinking.

We’ve got a big digital audience, so let’s >>

Digital devices are going in one direction – we have to adapt to serve readers in a way they want

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INTERVIEW

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

INTERVIEW

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serve them with breaking news online, using the paper for more detailed analysis, a leanback read.”

That digital audience, Harrison says, is running at some 1.5 million unique visitors a month – they recorded 98 million page views last year, and are on track for 150 million page views in 2014. “Digital devices are going in one direction and we have to adapt the business model to serve readers in the way they want.”

When Harrison became editor at the Express & Star, he was also made editorial director for all MNA’s products, with a brief to modernise.

He says: “The workflow had become so convoluted and complicated, resulting in inefficient gaps. For example, at no point did any one individual have full sight of words, pictures, video, tweets and web comments – it was all different individuals and relying on them talking to each other.

“We stepped back – if we were starting a business tomorrow, how would we do it?

The result is a simplified workflow, with more emphasis on reporters getting all the information at the outset – pictures, videos, comments, Facebook pages and whatever else, as well as the story.

“We’ve re-christened them ‘multiplatform journalists’ and they get it – particularly the young ones who come with mobiles almost moulded onto their hands. For them, after A-levels, university courses, post-graduate diplomas and everything, to start at the biggest UK evening paper and be told ‘here’s a notepad, get on with it’, they’d look at you as if you were mad. It’s incumbent on us to give

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them a vehicle worthy of their talents.”

But hold on a minute: there’s more to do – all those online tasks as well as the paper – but fewer journalists. How does that work?

Harrison says: “We need to be as efficient as we can internally, deciding which jobs to cover, allowing time to investigate the right stories.

A double page spread, with unique content, holds readers interest for more than just one day – it can carry them into the next week.

“In the past, we changed editions for the sake of it. A great story in the Staffordshire edition would be taken out for a run-of-the-mill story in the Dudley edition. Now a great story will be carried through editions because it’s still a great story, just 20 miles down the road.”

This mirrors the cross-regional approach that Harrison is calling on businesses and councils to establish: “The entire Express & Star audience figures combined – the daily paper, the weeklies and online – is a massive local audience and can present a great national profile saying: ‘We’re open for business, and the Black Country is at the forefront of that.’”

Harrison is also keen on the Express & Star carrying more business depth and analysis, with industrial insight provided by people “who know exactly what they’re talking about”.

He adds: “The Express & Star carries a certain cachet and prestige. We want to wave the flag high for the Black Country, but it needs to carry on shaking off its old image across the country and presenting itself as a bit more professional. We’ve got a part to play in that.

We’re on the side of local businesses.” ■

Lancashire lad turned rejection into success Born in Preston, Lancashire, in 1968, Keith Harrison left school at 16 to work on power cables as an apprentice overhead linesman.

“I got the push,” he recalls, “as they didn’t think I’d pass the exams. Three weeks later, I passed them all, and somewhere in my attic is a City & Guilds Certificate, Electrical Engineering, Stage One!” Not one to dwell on rejection, Harrison became a trainee reporter down the road at the now defunct Chorley Trader in 1985. “The office had one typewriter. We had to write stories longhand first and, if passed by the editor, you’d get a turn on the typewriter, then pass this to a pool of three women who re-typed it into the computer!”

After Chorley, he moved to the Garstang Courier for three years, joining the Staffordshire Newsletter in 1989 before his career overlapped mine for a few months when we were both Sunday Mercury reporters in Birmingham in 1992.

Harrison left for the Express & Star in 1993, serving as reporter, chief reporter, deputy news editor and sub-editor, before stints at the Shropshire Star as sports editor, chief sub and assistant editor between 1998 and 2002.

He yo-yoed back to the Express & Star to build a formidable reputation as deputy editor, returning to the Shropshire Star as editor in 2011, then back as editor of the Express & Star in April 2013. He lives in Stafford and is dad to two teenagers who are both at Stafford Grammar School. He’s determinedly enthusiastic about an online future: “The editor before last never had to answer an email in his life. Now digital is a huge part of our time and resource.

“It’s a challenge, but I see it as an opportunity. We want to tell stories as quickly as possible to as many people as possible. Digital allows that more than ever before.”

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SPECIAL FEATURE

OVERVIEW

AUTUMN 14

FAMILY BUSINESSES AT THE HEART OF THE UK ECONOMY

Dani Saveker CEO of Families in Business which supports family businesses and their advisers through membership, consultancy and services across the UK shares her views on the family and owner managed business sector in the West Midlands “Family businesses account for two in every three private enterprises in the UK, together they employ over nine million people, and with a combined turnover in excess of £1.1 trillion, contribute almost a quarter of all GDP to the UK economy. Over 250,000 of the UK’s three million family businesses are based in the West Midlands, the headquarters for Families in Business Ltd (FiB), the national organisation dedicated to providing support to family businesses. I believe the family business sector is the bedrock of the UK economy.

“I know first-hand how special and challenging it is to be part of your family’s business. I became a fourth generation CEO – and the first female family member - in the metal-bashing business founded in 1903 in Birmingham by my great grandfather.

“The family firm survived both World Wars, during which time it diversified from architectural metalwork and shopfittings, to producing parts for Spitfires. Its incredible history made me proud to lead the business, and as CEO I spearheaded a major management and shareholder restructure, carried out an MBO, acquired businesses and managed multiple sites. Devastatingly, in 2009, the dire economic conditions placed me in the desperate position of having to close the doors on the 106 year old family business for the last time.

“My experiences highlighted the lack of understanding and support that exists to help family owned businesses which play such a critical role in the UK and global economy.

My mission became clear - I had to use my experience to build a network for both family businesses and their advisers.

“Families in Business was created to provide

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

Dani Saveker CEO of Families in Business

FiB is proud to have its roots in the West Midlands

membership, diagnostics, consultancy and peer groups for individuals, boards and family members of family and owner managed businesses, in a neutral and highly confidential environment. Equally we provide focus for outstanding advisers, develop their approach and skills, and enable them to have tools and resources that strategically help family businesses to be successful. The FiB community also includes a team of successful family business leaders who are our Ambassadors and Champions.

“FiB is proud to have its roots in the West Midlands; it is still the most industrialised region in Great Britain, and many of its flagship sectors are dominated by family businesses, such as Wing Yip, Big Johns, East End Foods, Aston

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Manor Brewery, JCB, Rigby Group, 2 Sisters Food, Pertemps, Bloor Homes, Listers Motor Group, Lee Longlands, and many more.

“We believe it has never been more important to educate and raise the awareness of the contribution family businesses make to the UK economy. And we strive to support family businesses to remain relevant, have suitable protection in place for the family, individuals and business early on, create solid contingency plans, ensure succession is on the agenda, and remain committed to communication, one of the most fundamental areas that can make or break even the most successful family businesses.

“It’s important that FiB, an organisation specialising in supporting family businesses, itself advocates these values. Our annual survey is critical to us ‘getting under the skin’ of the UK’s family businesses, and the findings of our 2014 research give us the insight to continue providing relevant, practical advice on the challenges they face. The main findings are reported later in this supplement.

“Family business leader and FiB Champion John Timpson, recently said: ‘Well run family businesses are perfectly placed to take advantage of the economic upturn during the next few years. Compared with most other companies, they are more flexible, plan further ahead, and unfettered by the stranglehold of institutional shareholders.’

“The role of family businesses must continue to grow, they truly are at the heart of the economy.” n For more information, visit: www.fibcommunity.com, and follow @fibcommunity on Twitter.

AUTUMN 14 AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE COMPANY PROFILE

Protect businesswith witha a Protectyour your family family business shareholders shareholders agreement agreement

Birmingham-based Elseexplain explainwhy whyshareholder shareholder agreements Birmingham-basedcommercial commercialsolicitors solicitors Else agreements cancan save family businesses conflictsand andcomplicated complicated financial issues save family businessesfrom frompotential potential conflicts financial issues Are you intointo business with oneone Aregoing you going business with or more family members?

Or have youyou or more family members?

Or have started already?

It’s It’s an exciting time, started already? an exciting time, full offull positive energy.

We wouldn’t want to put a a of positive energy.

We wouldn’t want to put dampener on that. dampener on that.

However, a shareholder agreement a must when However, a shareholder agreement is aismust when going into business with other people, even with going into business with other people, even with your family.

Shareholder agreements sound very your family.

Shareholder agreements sound very official don’t they? You’re probably thinking you official don’t they? You’re probably thinking you will tackle this issue later and maybe jump that will tackle this issue later and maybe jump that fence when we get to it… fence when we get to it…

However, when you do finally come to jump this However, when you do finally come to jump this fence, you might find it an awful lot bigger than fence,expected. you mightIt find it even an awful lot bigger than might be insurmountable! expected.

It might even be insurmountable!

Many companies begin thinking about shareholder Many companies thinking about agreements begin because something hasshareholder forced the agreements because something has forced the issue. Usually a dispute. you’re in that situation you will have to issue. Once Usually a dispute. negotiate between two oryou more aggrieved Once you’re in that situation will have to family members and you haveaggrieved any contract to turn negotiate between twowon’t or more family to for guidance. members and you won’t have any contract to turn shareholder agreement conveys how to resolve to for Aguidance. the issue and what to do if a resolution cannot be A shareholder agreement conveys how to resolve found. Creating a shareholder agreement is much the issue and what to do if a resolution cannot be more difficult and costly when it is an exercise in found. Creating a shareholder agreement is much conflict resolution. Most family businesses believe more difficult costly it is an exercise in that theyand won’t havewhen any disputes, this is your conflict resolution.

Most family businesses believe family after all. Your fellow shareholders are all that they have any disputes, this your nice,won’t reasonable, people and you seeiseye-to-eye familyabout after the all.future Your fellow are all of the shareholders business. nice, reasonable, people you see eye-to-eye Everyone thinks thatand at the beginning.

As a develops and people can about business the future of the circumstances business. change.

Some start wanting more, others Everyone thinks that at the beginning.

As a can decide to backcircumstances away. People may to have business develops andbegin people can different ideas about the direction of the business. change. Some start wanting more, others can This is why the early days are the ideal time to decide to back away. People may begin to have step back and ask some serious questions. “What different ideas about the direction of the business. happens if we don’t agree? There are only two of This is why the early days are the ideal time to us and we own the shares 50/50 so how can we step back and ask some serious questions. “What resolve a dispute?” happens if we don’t agree? There are only two of us and we own the shares 50/50 so how can we resolve a dispute?”

Jonathan Tyson

Jonathan Tyson

If you do not have an

Ifagreement you do not have anbe left you could agreement you could left with a shareholder whobedoes with a shareholder who does not have the best interests of thehave business heart not the at best interests of the business at heart Another common issue that many family businesses encounter is that of death or incapacity.

Another common issue that many family businesses Without an agreement to the contrary, shares encounter is that of death or incapacity. may automatically transfer to the spouse of a Without an the contrary, shares shareholderagreement upon theirto death. may automatically transfer to the spouse a A shareholders agreement can provide for aofright shareholder upon their death. shareholder(s). of first refusal for the remaining A All shareholders agreement provideWills for a right parties should also havecan up-to-date alongside mirror the shareholders ofthat firstwork refusal for theand remaining shareholder(s). and articles of association of the Allagreement parties should also have up-to-date Wills company.

Without a and shareholders agreement in that work alongside mirror the shareholders place, the question of “who gets my shares if I agreement and articles of association of the die or cannot work” may not be an easy one to answer, company. Without a shareholders agreement in or the answer may cause conflict. place, the question of “who gets my shares if I die Another frequent issue is shareholder divorce, or cannot work” may not be an easy one to answer, which is a particularly delicate subject for family or the answer may cause conflict. businesses. With around 40% of marriages ending Another frequent issue is shareholder divorce, which is a particularly delicate subject for family businesses. With around 40% of marriages ending

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in divorce, is likely that at least in divorce, it is it likely that at least one ofone yourof your shareholders’ relationships will end. shareholders’ relationships will end.

A good shareholder agreement will stipulate if A good shareholder agreement will stipulate if ex-spouse of a shareholder is entitled thethe ex-spouse of a shareholder is entitled to holdto hold shares.

If you do not an agreement you could shares.

If you dohave not have an agreement you could be left withwith a shareholder who does have be left a shareholder who not does notthe have the bestbest interests of the at heart. interests ofbusiness the business at heart.

It isItalso important to have a shareholder is also important to have a shareholder agreement in case someone wants to sell their agreement in case someone wants to sell their shares. Without a shareholders agreement in shares. Without a shareholders agreement in place, a shareholder may be able sell their shares place, a shareholder may be able sell their shares to anyone, even a competitor. A shareholders to anyone, even a competitor. A shareholders agreement can give shareholders the right of first agreement can give shareholders right of first refusal should anyone wish to sell their the shares. refusal should anyone wish to sell their If nobody takes up this right, the shares can beshares.

If nobody takes up this right, thewho shares offered to third parties, but only ones are can be offered to third parties, but only ones who are approved by the shareholders.

A formula for working out the sale price for shares approved by the shareholders. canAalso be included in a shareholders formula for working out the saleagreement. price for shares Thiscan could another areainfor potential conflict alsobebe included a shareholders agreement. andThis can could be easily a valuation formula be resolved another ifarea for potential conflict exists. agreement also andThe canshareholders be easily resolved if a valuation formula stipulates who has the authority to spend or exists. The shareholders agreement also borrow money and who can enter into contracts stipulates who has the authority to spend or on behalf of the company. borrow money and who can enter into contracts If you do not have a shareholders agreement of the andon arebehalf thinking of orcompany. have recently started a If you do not have a shareholders family business then speak to Jonathanagreement Tyson and are thinking of or have recently started a and the Corporate and Commercial law team at business then speak to Jonathan Tyson Elsefamily Solicitors and the Corporate and Commercial law team at Else Solicitors

Jonathan Tyson Associate - Head of Corporate & Commercial T: 0121 212 6560 Jonathan Tyson E: jonathan.tyson@elselaw.co.uk

Associate - Head of Corporate & Commercial T: 0121 212 6560 E: jonathan.tyson@elselaw.co.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

SECTOR PROFILE

AUTUMN 14

ANNUAL SURVEY FINDS OPEN COMMUNICATION A MAJOR CHALLENGE FOR FAMILY BUSINESSES Open and trusted communication within the families working in a family business is a major challenge for over half of the UK’s family run or owned companies, according to a recent survey. Conducted by Families in Business (FiB), the 2014 Annual Survey identifies the main professional and personal issues affecting the individuals working in a family business.

Open and a trusted communication is a major challenge for 58 percent of family businesses, and specifically tackling issues such as succession and shareholder agreements with family colleagues are regarded with trepidation for 69 percent of those asked.

According to the survey, only 16 percent of family businesses have a full and protected shareholders agreement, and 30 percent believe they don’t need one at all. Over 70 percent of family businesses have no formal succession plans, with just 5 percent having a formal plan in place, and 22 percent admitting they don’t believe one is necessary.

Achieving a work life balance is also a major issue for family businesses, with 76 percent stating their ability to achieve it is a significant source of stress, worry or ill health.

The survey also sought to establish if family businesses are mirroring the changes in society in areas such as ‘blended families’ – those with step families, in second marriages, or with adopted children – and the growing numbers of women focusing on their careers first and having children much later in life. The survey found that whilst many more women are entering their family’s business, the dominant

leader remains male at 84 percent, versus just 16 percent having a female as their most senior executive. The survey also revealed that 43 percent of family businesses only have family members on the Board, and confess that this is preferable. Incentivising non-family executives in the business continues to be a hurdle for the majority of family businesses, and the survey highlights that 92 percent of shares are held by the family, with just 8 percent by non-family members. The survey also explored how family firms view their professional advisers – an integral element of the FiB community which has a growing network of family business focused advisers. Family businesses were asked to rate the level of satisfaction, and the majority ranked accountants as the best performing professional advisers, but are least satisfied with wealth managers or IFAs. When asked about the management of business finances, 45 percent of respondents stated that a family member acts as finance director with 22 percent not having a FD function of any type.

“It has never been more important to educate

FiB places great value on providing family businesses with the very best, relevant guidance and practical advice to secure the future of all family businesses BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

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and raise awareness within family businesses on the importance of remaining relevant, putting suitable protection in place for the family, individuals and business, creating solid contingency plans and ensuring succession is on the agenda,” comments FiB CEO Dani Saveker. “Family businesses have certainly demonstrated exceptional resilience during the challenging economic conditions, are now more positive about the future than their non family counterparts, but our survey confirms that many continue to experience the same issues and hurdles of past generations of family businesses.”

“FiB places great value on providing family businesses with the very best, relevant guidance and practical advice to secure the future of all family businesses,” Dani continues, “and the 2014 survey has formed the basis for our 2014-2015 Annual Guide that is designed to achieve this. It provides sound, focused, easy to follow information, that allows the reader to consider points that are important for many individuals in the business or family.

“When CEO of our own family’s business I was often asked how we had tackled an MBO, dealt with shareholders, restructures and acquisitions, but time and again my peers said their family business didn’t need formal documents because the family all got on really well. My view is that if this is the case, there is no better time to be responsible and deal with things like succession and shareholders’ agreements. After all, you don’t write a Will thinking you’ll die today.” n The FiB Annual Guide covers the survey’s finding in five core areas for family businesses, along with practical advice from FiB and its advisers. FiB members receive a complimentary copy of the Guide and family businesses can request a copy - for information visit: www.fibcommunity.com.

AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

The business of succession planning for a family business For most family businesses, planning for succession is one of the most critical yet toughest challenges they face. It is also something which is often “put off until tomorrow” in place of tasks which are considered more critical and which do not bring the same level of challenge amongst family members. With the planning process having the potential to exacerbate the special stresses of running a family business, it is no wonder that les s than 30% of family businesses have a succession plan in place.

As reluctant as many families may be to tackle this issue, succession planning is the perfect opportunity to create a multi-generational business that embodies the founder’s mission and values whilst ensuring the business delivers lasting value to the family.

During the planning process, the business, family and professional advisors need to consider technical components of succession such as wealth management, tax minimization and family trusts, whilst also paying attention to the family members, expectations, competencies, and what is best for both the business and the family. Difficult decisions may need to be made, for example: when is the best time for the current generation to retire (often they want to remain in the business whilst the next generation want to take it over). Another example is what to do if the next generation either doesn’t have either the desire or the skills to take the business forward.

MAKE SUCCESSION PLANNING LESS PAINFUL 1) Start early – the longer you spend on your family succession plan, the smoother the transition will be.

2) Involve the family – for many family businesses,

plan is the plan itself. However, for family businesses, there is another significant added benefit – the process of planning forces family members to identify and deal with many emotional issues which may have otherwise been ignored.

In identifying and resolving these issues, family businesses are able to preserve both family and business harmony.

Jackie Hendley, Smith Cooper

the family is the primary emphasis during succession planning. Having an open dialogue with family members and discussing goals and ambitions will make the process a lot easier.

3) Be realistic – you may want a certain family member to take a specific role – but is there another family member who is more capable?

Take a close and realistic look at the skills, characteristics and ambitions of all possible successors as objectively as possible.

4) Work with your successor – train and work with your successor before you hand over the reins.

5) Ensure early consideration is given to the tax consequences.. For example availability of key tax reliefs such as entrepreneurs relief or business property relief.

KICK-START THE PROCESS Start by engaging a qualified and professional advisor who is experienced in dealing with both succession planning and family businesses. By involving a non family member / adviser this can help to provide an independent challenge and remove some of the emotional strains;. A specialist advisor can help match your objectives with a tailored plan to get the job done and help you to achieve your goals in the most tax efficient way. Open discussion amongst the family members and with their advisers, together with pulling together a family charter / constitution can provide a good starting point to kick start succession planning.

If you want to ensure your business continues to thrive in the hands of the next generation, putting off business succession planning is the worst thing you can do.

Smith Cooper sponsor the Midlands Family Business Awards and are exclusive service providers for Families in Business. We have considerable expertise in this area, understanding the interaction between families and their businesses.

THE DESIRED OUTCOME The best outcome of creating a viable succession

Succession planning is the perfect opportunity to create a multigenerational business that embodies the founder’s mission and values whilst ensuring the business delivers lasting value to the family

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For further advice please contact Jackie Hendley (Jackie.hendley@smithcooper.co.uk)

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

AUTUMN 14

The art of business finance If you are looking for business finance and the banks have been unable to help, you need to know about ART (Aston Reinvestment Trust) Andy Savery, www. m6motorbodies.co.uk

MARC KIRSTEN

Set up originally to fill a gap in access to finance left by the banks closing branches in Inner City Birmingham, ART has grown significantly and now lends to businesses across the West Midlands, often alongside the banks as part of a package of finance.

Steve Walker, Chief Executive of ART, explains: “The banks are unable to meet all the needs of businesses, especially with smaller loan sizes up to £100,000. Since the credit crunch of 2008/2009 we have seen an increase in the number of businesses needing our support and packages of finance, which spread the risk for all the funders, have become increasingly common.”

ART was the first Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) in the UK, designed to raise and invest public and private sector funding in a specific area, with the aim of helping borrowers with a viable proposition to access finance to safeguard or create jobs. Since then the model has been replicated around the UK and a plethora of additional and alternative lenders to the banks have entered the market. “The options for business funding are changing so rapidly it is hard for FDs and business owner-managers to keep abreast of what is most relevant to meet their needs,” says Steve. “ART offers loans of between £10,000 and £100,000 to businesses operating in the West Midlands in any sector, for any business purpose. Our team has extensive and up-to-date knowledge of business finance and can signpost, if appropriate, to other lenders and support. We also include information on our website about what is available and where to turn for help.”

M6 MOTOR BODIES A loan from ART in 2013 enabled Andy Savery to acquire a commercial truck body building business, after it ran into financial difficulties, rename it M6 Motor Bodies and add it to his burgeoning group of related businesses.

When he started Central England Municipals Ltd in 2000, Andy had no thoughts beyond owning his own garage and running it until he retired. However, taking advantage of relevant opportunities as they arose has put him in the position today of owning a group of four very successful businesses, employing over 30 staff including two of his own children.

The group’s Financial Director, Bill Douthwaite, has sourced money from a variety of funders over the years, including the banks. He became aware of ART having met one of its Loans Managers at a networking event. “When the banks have lent all they can, it’s good to know that ART is there,” he says.

“Without ART’s support we would not have been able to grow as quickly as we have.”

FIVE THINGS EVERY BUSINESS OWNER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FINDING FINANCE If the banks are unable to help, there are plenty of other options available – so it is worth taking time to do some research or employing a financial intermediary to do it for you. Lenders like to be treated as business partners – if you are open and honest with them they can give you the most appropriate advice. Being able to articulate clearly and succinctly what you want the money for and how it will benefit your business is important when approaching a funder. Funders also like to see your enthusiasm and belief in what you are doing - and that you are prepared to ‘risk’ investing some of your own money. Asking for too little money is as bad as asking for too much – it shows you have an unrealistic understanding of your business.

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To find out more about ART, or apply for a loan, see www.artbusinessloans.co.uk or contact ART on 0121 359 2444.

AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

Who is the Cave man in your organisation?

Equally it could be a cave woman With a long and successful career implementing effective operational strategies, Bob Smith founder of Verus Partum Ltd shares his experience identifying and overcoming some of the challenges and objections to change We all know this person! It could be anyone in your organisation, a member of your senior management team, even a family member. Truth is, you may have a few of them…and it may even be you! In my experience, CAVE people exist in every organisation; I can confirm that I have met at least one in every company I have ever worked with, so let’s be clear who they are.

The CAVE person is “Citizens Against Virtually Everything” Now you know who it is.

You have probably put up with them for a long time. Have you ever heard yourself saying “its only Bob, its just the way he is,” or “if you want to do that, you will need to get Bob on side,” or even “can’t wait to see how Bob reacts, I bet he says it can’t be done”?

Typical expressions used by a CAVE person: “we tried that once and it did not work”, “just too busy, can’t possibly do anything else and anyway why do we need to do that?” and “it’s always been a problem and there is nothing we can do about it”.

I’m sure you have a few examples of your own.

Part of the problem is that sometimes it’s a family member that becomes a CAVE person. You know how it goes; you are working hard to grow and be successful and you have that great idea, or decide to invest in something, or break into a new market, and you get the “Don’t think we should do that, it’s too risky” response, or even worse – people actively work to undermine a project. So why do people become CAVE people? Usually because they are worried about how change will impact on them, maybe they have agreed to something

previously and it’s gone badly wrong and they were emotionally hurt or had their pride dented. CAVE people are often unclear of the consequences of change and how it affects the way things work.

In every organisation you have three types of people. First, the Yes Man and second, the employee who will understand the implications of what you are attempting to do and may even identify unintended consequences and, by listening to their input, you have a better chance of success.

The third type is the CAVE person, who just consumes time and effort, sows seeds of discontent in the company and sucks the life out of the organisation…if you let them!

What is often found, particularly in family owned businesses, is that the lack of a clearly articulated strategy, along with clear goals, actions and key performance indicators, means that seemingly appropriate ideas are labelled ‘flavour of the month,’ also initiative overload

You are working hard to grow and be successful and you have that great idea, ...and you get the “Don’t think we should do that, it’s too risky” response, or even worse – people actively work to undermine a project

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can lead to the creation of CAVE people.

Ignore CAVE people at your peril, because then they can become terrorists! Whilst we should not spend an excessive amount of time pandering to their view, having a clear direction and creating an expectation of change puts things on the agenda early, ensuring that everyone, is ‘on the bus, in the right seat and facing in the right direction’.

The CAVE person…well sometimes you have to ask them to leave. Not always possible if it’s a family member, …or you look in the mirror and its You! So having a plan at the very least can help agreement on boundaries. If you would like to understand more about how to implement strategy and change we are happy to discuss it with you, it may be worth an hour of your time!

Verus Partum logo paths_Layout 1 01/12/2012 09:47 Page 1

If Verus Partum can help your business grow, contact Bob Smith via email bobsmith@ veruspartum.com or phone 07774 474053 www.veruspartum.com

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

COMPANY CASE STUDY

AUTUMN 14

Life in the fast lane…

Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti are marques to quicken any car enthusiast’s pulse.

Add Formula 1, MotoGP and NASCAR and excitement accelerates. But it’s all in a day’s work for Shropshire-based Grainger & Worrall, a world-class castings provider to the automotive, motorsport, aerospace and defence sectors Formed in 1946 by brothers-in-law Vernon Grainger and Charles Worrall, award-winning Grainger & Worrall is now in the capable hands of Vernon’s grandsons James, Matthew and Edward. With over 550 employees across sites in Bridgnorth and Telford, the company has grown rapidly over recent years to current annual revenues of around £40m. So what drives G&W’s success? Speak to owners of fast-track businesses and they often highlight the value of having a team of objective advisers they can rely on to give robust business counsel; people who aren’t afraid to tell it like it is and challenge current thinking. G&W’s relationship with Grant Thornton’s Birmingham team began in 2011 when manufacturing specialist Neil Barrell advised the company on a capital investment programme.

Following a competitive tender process Grant Thornton was appointed as auditors and tax advisers and since then each member of the team has spent time getting to know and understand G&W’s world. An essential element of the two businesses’ strategic partnership is a quarterly meeting in which Neil Barrell, Grant Thornton regional managing partner Dave Munton and audit director Becky Eagle sit down with G&W directors to discuss strategies for growth.

Dave Munton explains: “The first couple of meetings were an invaluable source of information for us to develop a deeper and richer understanding of G&W. Subsequent meetings have focussed on how the business can maximise value today and achieve its objectives tomorrow. The range of topics debated is vast: exports, customers, succession, competitive positioning. These meetings enable us to bring fresh insight, continue our learning and, most importantly, become a trusted business adviser.”

Becky Eagle adds: “This is exactly why I enjoy working at Grant Thornton: helping to challenge the thinking of growing entrepreneurial businesses and share success strategies. We are currently

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

Members of Grant Thornton’s Birmingham team: (Back row, l-r) Dave Munton, Neil Barrell with Edward, Matthew and James Grainger, Becky Eagle, Dan Hartland. Front row: Amy Collins, James Hemphill, Geoff Davies, John Foskett

working on making sure that G&W’s financial processes and structures are best in class to support its ambitious growth plan.”

One quarterly discussion led Dan Hartland, head of Grant Thornton’s Entrepreneurial Private Client team, to work with the directors to ensure the company structure is in good shape for the future - there’s already a fourth generation apprenticed to the business. The firm has also implemented taxefficient employee benefits, VAT advice, corporate finance projects and is exploring new ventures using Grant Thornton’s international network.

Innovation is a primary focus at G&W, building on 68 years’ know-how, world-class technical skills and foresight to ensure clients retain their leading edge. As the world demands ever-lighter, ever more efficient means of propulsion G&W is helping to drive that trend. And by using the latest manufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, the company continues to push engineering boundaries. But to innovate you have to invest.

Following an early meeting John Foskett, corporate tax associate director at Grant Thornton, embarked on a detailed R&D tax relief project. The work

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involved a series of in-depth interviews including discussions with the chief engineer, head of machining and head of motorsport and resulted in a six-figure rebate, enabling further investment in technological advances.

Edward Grainger concludes: “The family has always run the business employing high moral standards and the Grant Thornton team understands that ethos completely. They recognise that we are not interested in pursuing growth at any cost, but growth that can be sustained long into the future without risk to shareholders, employees, customers or suppliers.

“Grant Thornton is doing an excellent job as auditors and we also benefit from their strength in depth for all aspects of our business. We work very closely together and they are seen very much as part of G&W with the added value of the Grant Thornton perspective.”

For more information contact Dave Munton, david.munton@uk.gt.com www.grant-thornton.co.uk

AUTUMN 14

COMPANY PROFILE

How does divorce affect my business?

Nicola Walker head of Irwin Mitchell’s family law team in Birmingham offers an insight into how divorce can impact on the family business The treatment of private companies within divorce proceedings has attracted much attention in recent years. In 2013 the high profile Supreme Court case of Petrodel v Prest decided that assets owned by a company on trust for a spouse could be used as part of a divorce settlement.

The courts had originally told Mr Prest, a Nigerian oil tycoon to transfer 14 properties to his ex-wife as part of a £17.5m divorce settlement. He successfully appealed this saying the properties were owned by his business Petrodel Resources Ltd. But Mrs Prest took the case to the Supreme Court which ruled in her favour. The general principle, now, is that if someone is the sole owner of a company, then if the court is satisfied that assets owned by the company are held on trust for that person, they can be used as part of the divorce. The lead judge did make it clear that in this particular case the assets, whilst legally held by the company, are in fact owned by the Husband or Wife. In certain cases, it potentially protects a successful claim being made against assets owned by companies where it cannot be established they are held on trust for the Husband or Wife. The decision is not only relevant in the context of a multi-million pound divorce, but has bearing on the divorce of anyone who owns and runs a private company.

JUDGES DISCRETION The legal framework in England and Wales allows significant judicial discretion and Judges can take into account all of the circumstances of the case in order to achieve “fairness”.

The court must consider the value of any assets and income that either person has. This includes shares in private companies and income, dividends or any other sort of remuneration received from those companies. This process involves two stages: 1) working out what assets there are and 2) how to divide them up.

DISCLOSURE AND VALUATION Each party to the divorce must complete a disclosure document known as Form E.

Irwin Mitchell’s Birmingham Family team (l to r) Mark Hands, Gemma Whitchurch, Nicola Walker and Sarah Balfour

We have worked on behalf of many successful business owners to help them through the divorce process as quickly and smoothly as possible This includes disclosing the detail of any business interest they hold together with an estimated value. Details of income, dividends and other benefits received from the business must also be set out. The estimated share value included will often be prepared by the company accountant.

In many cases that value will be accepted but if not, the court will appoint a forensic accountant to report.

The valuer must consider not only the theoretical worth of the business interest but liquidity and tax. It can be all too easy to be swayed by a paper valuation, when the court should acknowledge the commercial reality of business.

DISTRIBUTION OF ASSETS When the court has agreed what assets and income

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exist, it will then consider how these should be distributed. The court can make a variety of orders to include the payment of a lump sum, the transfer of property, and/or the payment of maintenance.

The court can rule that a company be sold and proceeds divided between husband and wife, but it will, in most cases, want to avoid this. The court will instead consider whether a lump sum can be raised from the business or if there are other assets that can be off set against the business (with one party retaining the business and the other retaining a greater share of the family home for example). The court will also want an assessment of future sustainable income from the business.

The discretion awarded to Judges allows them to consider each case on its own merits and to reach bespoke, tailored solutions. The greatest disadvantage is that with this flexibility comes a high degree of uncertainty. Although case law has established principles, there is a great deal of variation in how these are applied.

For business owners, the instruction of a court valuer can be an anxious time. The process can feel uncertain and invasive. There is also, understandably at times, an overriding sense of unfairness about the prospect of a successful business, built up over years of hard work and long sleepless nights, being invaded by the matrimonial courts.

We have worked on behalf of many successful business owners to help them through the divorce process as quickly and smoothly as possible. With specialist and careful legal advice the process can be made a great deal more straightforward and the risks on both sides can be minimised.

If you have a family law issue, please contact a member of our family law team - Imperial House 31 Temple Street Birmingham B2 5DB T: 0121 214 5423 E: nicola.walker@irwinmitchell.com

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

BUSINESS LUNCH

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

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AUTUMN 14

BUSINESS LUNCH

SUMMERS’ WARMTH BELIES DRIVEN NATURE

Sue Summers is the woman behind £0.5bn of funding to SMEs across England through Finance Birmingham, the city council-owned venture capital company. Steve Dyson takes her to lunch In what can be a cut-throat world of high finance, there’s something friendly and reassuring about Sue Summers.

As chief executive of Finance Birmingham since 2010, she will soon have delivered a colossal £0.5bn of loans, equity finance and grants to hundreds of companies. And yet she’s quietly spoken, almost coming across as shy and – something endearing for a person with such power – she’s helpful.

“I’m actually not that hungry,” she confides, “but I don’t want to offend the restaurant and so I’m going to order two starters instead of missing a course.” Then, as photographer Kevin Gibson frames her, she asks: “Do you want me like this?” (fork positioned halfway to mouth) “Or shall I place them like that?” (knife and fork diagonally meeting on plate).

They then discuss the North East (Kevin’s from Newcastle, and she has family near Teesside).

And later, when I confess that I need to apply some journalese to her roll call of various chunks of Finance Birmingham funds, she readily agrees that £10m, £25m, £25m, £90m, £245m and the still to come £100m will add up to £0.5bn, give or take a few million.

But I’m rushing ahead, and we need to start back on the 29 September 1961, when newborn Sue, née Rotherham, was brought home from Marston Green Hospital to a flat above a carpet shop on Ladypool Road, Sparkbrook,

Birmingham. This inner city beginning soon developed into a leafier family life on Tennal Lane, Harborne, from where a young Sue went to Woodhouse Primary and then Lordswood Girls School.

She passed 10 O-levels, but “could not wait to get out into the world” and so left school at 17 to join the Five Ways branch of what was then the Midland Bank as a trainee cashier.

“I had a sharp memory,” recalls Summers, eyes in mid-distance as she travels back to 1978, “and had always been a very driven person.

Patience is something I’ve developed over time, but back then, on average, I changed jobs every few years, mostly through people talking to me – nearly always me being approached.”

Summers moved to BUPA in 1980, in telesales, which she found frustrating as she yearned to complete deals face-to-face. She remembers asking: “Why can’t I get out there on the road?” By the mid-1980s, she was working for React Managed Services, her “first step into business development”, selling technical solutions to the financial services sector.

“I was out on the road, and really liked the independence and making decisions. But I was also always looking at senior management, board directors, thinking: ‘How good have you got to be to sit around that table?’ And: ‘How long would it take for me to be there?’”

By the late 1980s, Summers was developing

her knowledge of financial systems with banking software specialist MISYS, in Worcestershire, learning how technical advances could benefit the sector, and ensuring customers invested in her solution.

“I was always the person who wanted the most sales. I put a lot of time into building relationships, gaining trust and building growth. But I call it business development, not sales, as it requires huge attention to detail and you had to know your subject very well. Sales undersells it. Business development is at the heart of what makes a business grow.”

By the early 1990s, Summers had taken her expertise to Fame Computers, at what’s now Aston Science Park, and was using her ‘business development’ with the likes of Commercial Union and Norwich Union – both now part of Aviva. She worked on multi-million pound technical developments, helping to create new ways of selling insurance products online. It was a period when Summers’ knowledge of financial products, regulation and governance “really took off”.

By the mid-1990s she’d been poached by Intuitive Systems in Stevenage, and suddenly found herself developing financial IT solutions for the bosses of companies like Standard Life: “I really had to be very credible, engaging with senior boardroom management. My confidence grew, and all the time I was >>

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BUSINESS LUNCH wanting to be one of those decision-makers, to have real influence on the business.”

Summers didn’t have to wait long: by the late 1990s she was asked to set up a UK office for the Dublin-based All Finanz group, working on technical systems to make online applications smoother for insurance companies and customers. “It was one of those moves where you don’t quite know how it’s going to shape out, and what you get out of it is what you put in,” she remembers.

Summers was soon jetting to Canada and the US for the company, ending up with the role – if not the title – of global sales director, which wasn’t bad for someone with a fear of flying.

“I had to focus my mind to overcome my issues,” says Summers, “and because I knew what was at the other end, it was worth it.

The difference in culture between doing business in Ireland and America, the privilege of working across the globe and furthering my skillsets, and enabling the company to grow in different markets.

“It was really interesting to switch – like a chameleon – and to be comfortable with different people, adapting to different processes. It could be a bit lonely, especially in remote US hotels where I didn’t know the area.

But it tested my resilience, and I kept my head, becoming self-sufficient.”

By the turn of millennium, she was poached again, this time by a main competitor called Crisp Computing, who asked her to work for a common trading platform for insurance investment products that had gone through troubled times.

The Exchange was where Summers became managing director, the first taste of heading her own business, and she quickly rebuilt relationships and trust: “I put it back on the map, and this took me to a different level.

I was its first woman managing director, and I was listened to, and started to get the influence I needed to be able to contribute.”

Her success led to being poached yet again, this time to set up a regional stock exchange in Birmingham for Advantage West Midlands, the former regional development agency. InvestBX helped provide liquidity for SMEs through stock exchange-style investment, but its short life ended when the new government dismantled Advantage West Midlands in 2010.

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Faced with deep recession, Birmingham City Council launched Finance Birmingham to support local businesses, with Summers as chief executive. This strange beast is almost too good to be true: it’s publicly owned, but acts as a private sector company, making commercial profits from loans which are recycled to help other businesses.

“This was a big step that Birmingham was taking with an initial fund of just £10m,” says Summers. “It’s a mixture of investments, lending and grants, managing the risk across a portfolio, with the aim of bringing a return for public money. We make provision for some losses, but across the portfolio the fund has been profitable since its launch in 2010.”

The success of that first £10m led to another £25m from the city council for the Birmingham footprint, followed by £25m from the Growing Places Fund for the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP area, and then £90m for the wider Midlands from the Regional Growth Fund.

Finance Birmingham proved such an efficient deliverer that central government decided it could administrate a huge £245m pot from its advanced manufacturing supply chain initiative

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– otherwise known as the AMSCI Fund – to companies across England. In June this year, Finance Birmingham was given another £100m of AMSCI cash to distribute by March next year, which is when the money Summers has delivered will tally up to that shuddering £0.5bn total.

“A Birmingham City Council-owned company is now responsible for delivering finance to companies across the nation,” says Summers.

“And so we report to BIS [Department for Business, Innovation & Skills] on how that’s been loaned or granted to companies with all the rigour you would expect.”

This is where Summers believes her background in business development has come to fruition, along with the skills of Finance Birmingham’s 22 staff, most of whom have either private equity or senior banking backgrounds.

“One of the things we pride ourselves with is that we provide more than just money. Many [companies’] ideas are great, but some of the business planning is poor. We help by bringing in the skills needed: perhaps a part-time finance director to work out the numbers, or a chairman to help scale. It’s not one size fits all.

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But most of us [at Finance Birmingham] have been through those challenges ourselves [and have] a wealth of business experience.”

Since 2010, Summers reckons Finance Birmingham has already helped up to 150 companies to create or “safeguard” nearly 3,500 jobs. She wants that to be 9,000 jobs by the end of the 2017/18 tax year.

“I don’t think there’s an entity like us anywhere in England,” she says. “The nearest is Finance Wales, funded by the Welsh Assembly. Being a private sector company that’s wholly owned by the public is a hybrid culture, and when we first started it was quite an education, quite a meeting of minds. We’re looking for a financial return, but we’re also conscious of a social return and jobs creation.”

Most of Finance Birmingham’s loans are unsecured, placed with companies who cannot access enough funds from traditional banks. “We work very closely with banks,” says Summers. “These are often ‘blended solutions’. The days of single source funding are gone. What we want to know is whether they will deliver their plan. What’s their track record? Are they viable?

“The enthusiasm, drive and innovation behind what’s been attempted is entirely down to the foresight of Birmingham City Council saying: ‘We’re going to have a go at this.’ Stephen Hughes [Birmingham’s former chief executive] pressed the button, and the money is now being used across Birmingham, the Black Country, Solihull, and England. For a short time, Finance Birmingham was a best kept secret. Our job now is increasing the awareness to SMEs that we can help.”

Summers is married to Mark, who is head of insurance at Co Computer Sciences Corporation, and they have three children, aged 9, 10 and 11. After years living in Solihull, the family is now looking forward to a move to Worcestershire.

But after a career of moving jobs every few years, Summers insists no-one’s going to poach

BUSINESS LUNCH

her again professionally: “I’m not going this time,” she confirms. “I feel that what I do now is what I was always destined to do.

“I’m only part of the delivery, and I’m no single crusader. But someone’s got to lead, to set the principles. I don’t rely on others’ knowledge. I don’t know everything but I’m confident in the subject. I like a sense of humility, because I don’t think anyone’s bigger than an opportunity. I like our feet to be on the ground. But I do like the team to feel proud of what they’re delivering.”

She sums up Finance Birmingham’s work across the nation with the words from one of her staff facing a 650-mile round journey within 24 hours: “He said: ‘It’s Redcar one day, Gillingham the next!’

“As long as the demand is there, Finance Birmingham can grow – not instead of other sources of finance, but as well as. It’s got to be controlled, but with Birmingham’s help as the accountable body, we’re here to help SMEs grow. And geography is not our major focus: it doesn’t matter where they are.”

Summers adds: “It’s all about having credibility.

We wouldn’t have got to where we are now if we’d not succeeded with that first £10m.

We’re only four years into it. Who knows what else we can achieve? One of the rewarding things as a team is to play a part in that managed growth. We can be part of the recovery.” ■

I’m only part of the delivery, and I’m no single crusader.

But someone’s got to lead, to set the principles

Sensational seafood It was a stifling day, and Sue Summers and I were grateful for the cool, spacious interior of Metro Bar & Grill.

Summers loves crab so she was pleased to start with cantaloupe melon, crayfish and crab salad, with a spicy lime and chilli dressing (£8.95).

Meanwhile, I enjoyed the daily special starter of line-caught Cornish sardines, piled onto toasted focaccia, and served in a warm tomato and tarragon sauce. (£7.95).

Summers chose a second starter – prawn and salmon fishcakes, with pea shoots and watercress mayonnaise. (£7.50). I preferred a real main course, choosing sea bass, stuffed with Asian vegetables and spices, and mingled with a mango and coriander salsa. (£16.50). This was a fruit juice treat, with heaps of white fish meat.

After a glass of house white each and plenty of water, we were ready for good coffee, and Metro’s flat whites hit the spot.

Metro Bar & Grill, 73 Cornwall Street, Birmingham, B3 2DF. Call 0121 200 1911, email birmingham@ metrobarandgrill.co.uk or visit www.metrobarandgrill.co.uk

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XXXXXXXX ENTREPRENEUR AUTUMN 14

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ENTREPRENEUR

HOW I CLIMBED THE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN Ian Halstead meets Heaven founder Deborah Mitchell to learn about her remarkable rise from teenage model in Shropshire to head of a global skincare empire

History’s first noted use of cosmetics came when Cleopatra decided that a hint of henna on her nails, a splash of red ochre lipstick, and a smudge of black kohl around her eyes would enhance her natural beauty, as she prepared to seduce Caesar and Mark Antony. Even then, the techniques for creating powders, lotions and pastes from rocks, minerals and plants had been around for millennia.

More recently, there’ve been times when only an affluent elite could afford beauty products, and when they were used solely by courtesans and harlots; but today, they’re for everyone.

Euromonitor International reckons the global beauty industry was worth £260bn during 2013, and its fastest-growing segment was skincare, driven by ever-increasing demand for anti-ageing products.

It seems logical that the only players in such a market – where product launches cost millions, and annual advertising budgets match the GDP of a small country – must be plcs, backed by significant external finance and led by management teams awash with MBAs. So it’s both startling, and hugely impressive, to see one of the world’s fastest-growing organic skincare brands run out of a small market town in Shropshire, funded purely by cashflow, and

headed by a dyslexic with just four O-levels.

A glance at glossy lifestyle magazines reveals Heaven’s products are much favoured by the rich and famous, including: Victoria Beckham, Dannii Minogue, Gwyneth Paltrow, the Duchess of Cornwall and Kate Middleton.

Its founder and driving force, Deborah Mitchell, is understandably proud that such high-profile customers happily admit they love their bee venom facials, moisturisers and suchlike.

Celebrity endorsements, and the support of other customers via blogs and social media, are critical to her success, as Heaven has never used advertising to promote its products.

“Everything we’ve achieved has been by word of mouth. My first celebrity client was Tracey Taylor, the wife of Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor. He bought Beckbury Hall in Shropshire,

and we met when I was just starting up as a beautician,” recalls Deborah.

“Tracey introduced me to the band, I met people in their circle, then I met other celebrities. Years later, I took space in London’s Hale Clinic, which is an amazing place for every type of treatment from acupuncture to yoga, and more celebrities got to know about Heaven’s products.”

Deborah’s connection to the Royal household also began via the Hale, shortly after she created an organic alternative to Botox, which used honey, bee pollen and other organic ingredients to relax facial muscles in a natural fashion.

“It was eight or nine years ago, an envoy from the Palace came in and asked if I could do a treatment at Clarence House. I went along, >>

I’d been visiting Clarence House for about a year... I was so proud, but was so nervous about anyone finding out that I hadn’t even told my mother

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BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

ENTREPRENEUR but there was only one couch in the room and Prince Charles was using it, so I had to bring another one from the clinic. Camilla arrived, she loved her facial, and I kept going back there.”

Since then, Deborah has become so accepted by the Royal couple that she regularly treats Camilla, at Highgrove House and her Scottish residence, but she recalls with passion the day she thought she’d never see her Royal client again.

“I’d been visiting Clarence House for about a year, but although I was so proud, I was so nervous about anyone else finding out I hadn’t even told my mother,” says Deborah.

“Then The Sun came out, with a huge story saying I was giving HRH this treatment. I was horrified. I couldn’t repeat the headline even now, and I really wondered what would happen to my reputation and the business.

“Journalist after journalist started ringing. I said nothing, but then the Daily Mail rang, pretending they were only concerned about the plight of the bees, so I talked to them.”

The incident taught Deborah two great lessons; the duplicity of the tabloid media, and the unswerving loyalty of her clients, because her relationship with the Royal household moved serenely along.

However, the idea that she might somehow one day make contact with the Royal family wasn’t even a distant fantasy when Deborah first dabbled in the esoteric world of cosmetics and skincare.

“Dad left us when I was very young, but I still used to visit him. There wasn’t much to play with, so one day I started trying to make perfume from rose petals. I knew I needed a liquid, but everything I tried, including milk, went off.

“Then I found some vodka, and it worked.

Then I tried other ingredients, grew my own little herb patch, and made all sorts of concoctions.”

Four O-levels didn’t offer an evident career path, so Deborah began using her looks, and an impressive mane of blonde hair, to earn money from modelling, becoming Miss Shropshire, before taking a runner’s up slot at the Miss Great Britain contest in 1988.

At the same time, training as a beautician at the nearby Telford College of Art & Technology

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

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As someone who suffered from acne, I wanted to help other people look better and younger. It wasn’t about the money increased her knowledge of the cosmetics industry, and her natural flair for creating products surfaced once more.

“I suffered from acne, so the stuff they gave us helped, but not very much. We were taught to apply a face-mask, but the side effect was that it made your face red. I didn’t want to go home looking like that, so I mixed in camomile, which took the redness away.”

The solution appealed to other trainees, and led Deborah to her first full-time job, working for a hairdresser, where she had the freedom to continue experimenting, then to work as a beauty therapist, and finally to the world of self-employment running her own salon.

Along the way, the shy teenager blossomed into a genuine entrepreneur, realising that her talents lay in her hands and her mind, allied to a strong sense of self-belief.

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“As someone who suffered from acne, I just wanted to help other people look better, look younger and overcome whatever conditions they had. It wasn’t about the money, I just adored my work and when I first started making creams, I used to give them away.

“I knew some people suffered allergies, and could have severe reactions, so even though no-one talked about ‘organic’ products then, I thought using natural ingredients made sense.

“I wasn’t making much money, so I needed to work nights and weekends. I remember my first pack of nail extensions cost £10, and the customer paid £10, plus a £1 tip. Slowly, I built the business, but was never tempted to take out a loan from the bank.

“I’ve always believed that if you have the money, you can think you need to do something with it, but if you don’t, you will

AUTUMN 14

stop and think carefully about what you really need.” The tipping point came when Deborah was invited to work from Telford’s Holiday Inn, and customers came flocking.

“In less than two months, I had three beauticians working for me, and very soon, I had eight. We were taking around £12,000 a month, and I called the business ‘Heaven’,” she says. It was a notably ambitious brand then – not least as the Holiday Inn expected Deborah to work out of a disabled toilet, as they had no other space – but has proved a wise choice. There’ve been some interesting moments since then though.

“I gave all my formulas to a Cardiff firm, for research, products and new jars – and they stole them,” says Deborah, still midway between anger and disbelief. “I just sat here for three or four days, not knowing what to do. Then I decided to make all my stuff again – and better than before.”

“I met Theo Paphitis, when he’d just bought Millwall FC and owned La Senza. He offered £150,000 for a stake. I agreed, but thought about it overnight, and changed my mind. He could have helped me with the packaging, and the profile, but I decided it was better to keep my independence.”

“Beatties asked me to work out of their stores.

It went great, I was in 16 stores, and turning over £10,000 a week, but then House of Fraser bought them, and changed how everything worked. Eventually, they owed me £90,000 so I sued them, but I never got back the final £50,000.”

“I was invited to Hong Kong for a huge launch, but on the way, the old Heaven bottles (which were handmade) started to leak. Only pinhead-size, but they were useless. I call that my George Clooney moment, to remember that success doesn’t have to come your way when you’re still young.”

“Everyone said China would be the next big market for premium skincare, but a company from there offered an order of just £38,000.

ENTREPRENEUR

Fact Box • • • • •

Heaven by Deborah Mitchell Ltd was founded in 1993.

Its head office is in Shifnal, Shropshire.

The estimated turnover for 2014 is £20m.

Heaven now operates in 36 countries.

Its 150 products are all made in Europe, to formulations created by Deborah.

I wanted to be cautious, so I accepted it, and met them. The relationship developed and we signed a long-term partnership which will be worth £100m.”

There’s also much ahead for Heaven and its effervescent founder. A BBC documentary will next year reveal how Deborah tackled the China market, and Channel 4 has filmed ‘The Best in Town’, showing her vetting beauty salons across the UK. In September, her range will be relaunched as ‘Heaven by Deborah Mitchell’, with a chunky £2.5m spend purely for the new packaging, and talks are advanced about a £250,000 deal for Heaven to become a sponsor of McClaren’s F1 team next season.

Deborah, in her late 40s, is the mother of two teenagers, Ella Jane and Christopher. Her daughter has also launched a range of wipes, moisturisers and lip balm, after a long-running domestic debate.

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“When Ella Jane was 13, she asked if she could use wipes, but I said: ‘No’, because some companies use chlorine in them, and others mess around with the pH values,” says Deborah.

“Ella asked me again and again. Finally, when she was 15, she created her own wipes. Katy Perry is a big fan of them, so we’ll probably support her UK tour next year, and Waitrose have an offer on the table, which we’re considering at the moment.”

It all sounds like a breath-taking burden for one individual, so might Heaven be considering a flotation, and a strengthening of the executive team?

“I’ve thought about it occasionally over the years,” admits Deborah. “I’d have to meet the right people, and even then it might not happen, but it’s not something I’ve ruled out.” ■

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

HENDLEY ON WINE

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award-winning wineries: “the value of a great wine is intimately linked to the land and its people.” This is where wine production shares common values with many other businesses including professional services. We pride ourselves on the quality of our people, our locality to our clients and the provision of detailed quality advice.

MY TAXING DAY AT THE OFFICE! Jackie Hendley, business advisory partner and head of tax for Smith Cooper, samples a Spanish Rose and an Italian Red Wine Well this was certainly a different day in the office – a change from the normal role of advising SMEs and family businesses and helping clients to deal with the many challenges presented by the UK tax system and HMRC! Although I’m sure there must be some similarities. Having been approached to sample two wines, I was presented with a bottle of Artazuri Garnacha 2012 Rose wine and a Baccaria Frappato Terre Siciliane Red wine. Neither of these were wines I had previously drunk and, as a regular red wine drinker, I was very much looking forward to sampling the Baccaria.

Although what better time to try the Artazuri Garnacha Rose than a nice hot summers’ day!

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

ARTAZURI GARNACHA 2012 This Spanish wine is light, refreshing and easy to drink on a hot summer’s day. It is light strawberry in colour with a fresh nose which contains delicate aromas of acidic fruit such as redcurrant, raspberry and strawberry together with touches of acacia and almond. Perfect to drink as an accompaniment to Salmon.

Owner Juan Carlos Lopez de la Calle has been surrounded by old vines and great wines since early childhood when he used to accompany his grandfather during harvest time in Rioja. Dedication and hard work is something he learned at an early age, and these are governing principles for his

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BACCARIA FRAPPATO TERRE SILICIANE At 12% volume this wine has a light fruity taste and is perfect as a summer wine. It offers and aroma of ripe raspberries, strawberries and plums balanced by mild mineral notes.

Ideal to drink with poultry, veal, pork or risotto and best serviced at 65-68% F. Frappato is a light bodied red grape grown on the southeastern coast of Sicily. The grape is of great historical importance, both for its wines and its legislative influence. In 2005, the Cerausuolo di Vittoria region became Sicily’s first and only DOCG region, which represents the highest classification for Italian wines. It denotes controlled (controllata) production methods and guaranteed (garantita) wine quality. There are strict rules governing the production of DOCG wines, most obviously the permitted grape varieties, yield limits, grape ripeness, winemaking procedures and barrel/bottle maturation. Every DOCG wine is subject to official tasting procedures. It seems rules and regulations apply to all areas of business (not just tax!). The key is making sure advisers demonstrate skills appropriate to their customers and sector. Although I didn’t follow the official tasting procedures, I’ll definitely add this wine to my preferred list. n Artazuri Garnacha 2012 - £7.96 per bottle. Baccaria Frappato Terre Siliciane - £7.66 per bottle. Wines were kindly donated by Connolly’s Wine Merchants and can be brought from stores: Dovehouse, Connolly’s Wine Merchants Ltd, 379 – 381 Warwick Road, Olton, Solihull, B91 1BQ Tel: 0121 709 3734 Connolly’s Wine Merchants Ltd, Birmingham Livery Street, Birmingham, B3 1EU Tel: 0121 236 3837 www.connollyswine.co.uk

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AUTUMN 14

GREAT EXPECTATIONS MATCHED BY STYLE

Andrew Whiting, of Andrew Whiting Wealth Consultancy LLP, asks a lot of a new Mercedes aimed at the business market...and it doesn’t disappoint

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

The ferocious eyes and grill at the front of this sleek machine were surrounded by the suave, slim line curves of the solid chassis.

With the chrome grill and Mercedes iconic, classic insignia running along the front spoiler, first impressions of this car were that it had dynamic style and statement. Test driving this car as a businessman, it is certainly a vehicle that lives up to expectations, with fine handling and relaxing journeys to and from business meetings. It is everything that a business professional would need.

Upon receiving the car, I was to road test

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it during a 130 mile return trip to get an understanding of the Mercedes’ performance, handling and comfort. I wanted a car that could offer effortless cruising on motorways, get me to any destination in swift time and reduce the stresses of regular business travel.

It needed to be able to adapt to any driving environment, whether through country lanes, rush-hour traffic or quaint villages and offer something special for weekend adventures.

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Remarkable efficiency. The new C-Class Saloon combines all these and more to provide an exceptional driving experience.

The exterior styling is muscular and powerful, while the interior features a wealth of high-end materials and finishes to create a refined driving environment. Once you’re behind the wheel, you won’t want the journey to end.

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OPENING HOURS Sales

Service

Mon-Fri: 8am-6:30pm Sat: 9am-5pm Sun: 10am-4pm

Mon-Fri: 8am-6:30pm Sat: 8am-2pm Sun: Closed

Official government fuel consumption figures in mpg (litres per 100km) for the new C-Class range: urban 38.7(7.3)-58.9(4.8), extra urban 60.1(4.7)83.1(3.4), combined 49.6(5.7)-70.6(4.0). CO2 emissions 132-103 g/km.

Model shown is the new C 220 BlueTEC Sport Saloon at £379 per month.*Business users only. Finance offer based on a new C 200 SE on a business user contract at 10,000 miles per annum over 35 months. All quotations are subject to approval and vehicles must be ordered between 01.07.2014 and 30.09.2014 and registered before 31.12.2014, subject to availability. Excess mileage charges apply. Finance available from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services UK Ltd, MK15 8BA. Model images shown for demonstration purposes only. Finance subject to status. Guarantees and indemnities may be required.

MOTORING

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packed with modern equipment, using touch pad technology to operate some of the car’s functions, visible via an Ipad-esque screen. This was positioned on the centre of the console so that it is easy to use with your left hand but still keep your eyes directly on the road.

It controlled the majority of the systems for the running of the car, including navigation audio, synching music stored within personal devices, heating and hands free phone systems. The screen also displayed the usual expected features such as live traffic updates and journey points of interest. For those of us who aren’t computer savvy, there were normal buttons within the centre console to aid with manually controlling the ventilation system or satellite navigation, for example. One of the quirky features that I thought was useful was the touch pad’s ability to recognise drawn commands and letters and automatically control relevant parts of your smart phone directory or navigation system.

The C220 diesel, aimed at the business market, included all the normal cruise controls and distance warning signals. Although it was a diesel engine I felt that it was hardly noticeable and gone are the days of feeling like you’re driving a tractor.

One further feature available on this model was the ability to change gear via paddles placed at the centre on the steering wheel and although, not being able to utilise this facility fully, the small number of times I used the paddle gears it gave the car a more immediate reaction, which in a sporting environment would be extremely responsive. However, it is debatable whether it’s practical to maximise this feature for everyday driving.

With the slick sports steering wheel, it gave instant response and a comfortable feel when driving. Once on the motorway, I had a smooth and effortless cruise at 70mph. This seemed to undersell just what the car could offer and the abilities it had, but it made for a very easy drive accompanied by a quality sound system.

There was only one minor panic during my business trip, with an engine diagnostic light coming on. But after pulling over and making a quick call to the dealership technicians, I was reassured that it was probably only a minor adjustment that was required and that I was perfectly fine to continue with my planned trip.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

On the return journey an accident on the motorway had meant that the satnav took me through country lanes and through many charming villages. This allowed me to explore the car’s ability to be driven rather than just cruising. The first thing that struck me was very hard suspension which over rough lanes seemed slightly harsh. However, it did not detract from the car’s ability to handle the winding lanes or stop-start traffic through the towns. Again the sports steering wheel and ease of handling made it a pleasurable drive.

The eco-friendly driving system, which switches the car off automatically when you come to halt, can be over ridden manually so as not to have the frustration of the engine restarting just as you’re trying to accelerate away.

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In summary it’s a car that lived up to my expectations and does everything, I feel, that a business driver requires. The question is would I buy it? I had a comfortable and composed business trip in a car that offered a handsome interior, a sense of luxury and terrific handling.

Therefore if the structure of the financial package from the dealership was right then this car may be worth the business investment. n The car Andrew drove was the Mercedes C220 BlueTEC AMG Line Saloon with an on the road price of £30,810.40. The car was kindly supplied by MercedesBenz of Wolverhampton, 46 Penn Road, Wolverhampton. WV2 4HD 07834 867978 / 01902 427897

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COMPANY PROFILE

Wind powers Staffordshire manufacturer’s growth plans New investment and new jobs as Mec Com targets the offshore wind sector A precision sheet metal specialist is exploiting the growth in offshore wind after it secured £8m of new contracts for two of the world’s largest manufacturing names. Mec Com, which employs 120 people at its Hixon base, has beat off international competition to deliver assembly and testing for Siemens and a large manufacturing package for ALSTOM Grid.

Supported by strategic and financial assistance from the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS), the company has used the influx in new business to drive a £1m investment into a second facility, new CNC machining and welding capabilities.

Richard Bunce, Managing Director, explained: “Over the last six months we have enjoyed a rise in demand for new products, including machining and fabrication work for the offshore wind sector and orders from customers in power generation and food processing.

“Our ability to offer total manufacturing solutions has played a major role. More and more clients are looking to reduce their supplier base and overall procurement costs by placing more of their bill of material requirements with us…we’re only too happy to help.”

He continued: “As part of the growth, we’ve taken on ten new people in customer support, purchasing, assembly and in engineering.”

MAS has been assisting Mec Com for some time, working with the management team to fine tune its business development strategy so that it can appeal to OEMs looking to outsource non-core manufacturing activities.

It has also helped with supply chain issues and introducing continuous improvement experts, who have advised on leadership structures and decisionmaking processes.

Richard concluded: “The external help is very welcome and we are currently looking at making the most of GROW:OffshoreWind as we anticipate significant growth in this sector.

“If things go well, we expect to turnover £16m by

Richard Bunce

Over 200 companies have already benefited from this support and are beginning to win new work.

The good news is we have nearly £8m of support still left for manufacturers in England 2017 and increase the workforce to 150.”

Mec Com is part of the Midlands Assembly Network (MAN), a ten-strong group of world class manufacturers who work together to win work at home and abroad.

Sheffield University. It has been developed to create a thriving supply chain to a UK sector that is expected to create 30,000 jobs over the next eight year withs more than 40 projects – at an estimated investment value of £80-£100bn – currently being discussed. Major names such as DONG Energy, Statoil, Vattenfall, E.On and Galloper are all currently briefing the market about current build activities and this represents a major opportunity for manufacturing firms that are either already supplying the industry or looking to enter it for the first time.

“This is where GROW:OffshoreWind can come into its own,” explained David Terry, who is helping deliver the service in the West Midlands.

“Shaped by industry leaders, we are offering SMEs direct access to market experts, technological know-how and insights into sector intelligence on new projects and the breakdown of parts needed, not to mention what firms must do to be in with a chance of supplying them.”

He went on to add: “We also have significant funding available for upfront investment in capital equipment, R&D and even relocation to new facilities.

“Over 200 companies have already benefited from this support and are beginning to win new work.

The good news is we have nearly £8m of support still left for manufacturers in England.”

The collective comprises Advanced Chemical Etching, Alucast, Barkley, Plastics, Brandauer, FW Cables, Grove Design, PP Electrical Systems, SMT Developments and Westley Engineering.

INTRODUCING GROW:OFFSHOREWIND GROW:OffshoreWind is a national service supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund and delivered by Grant Thornton and partner organisations, including MAS, RenewableUK and

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For further information, visit www.mec-com. co.uk. More details on GROW:Offshorewind can be found at www.growoffshorewind.com or by following @grow_osw on twitter.

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

FASHION BIRTH OF THE COOL The laid-back and effortlessly stylish look pioneered by the jazz greats began life in a side-street store, writes Josh Sims

Duke Ellington

Gerry Mulligan

Chet Baker

Wynton Marsalis

He is adjusting the collar on a shirt – navy or maybe black, with white buttons. More unexpectedly, he is wearing an Alpine-style hat, high, narrow-brimmed, with badges. What would look comical on anyone else looks effortlessly right on him. But then this 1956 black and white photo is of saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, looking into a dressing-room mirror. He’s a cool dude in a cool era. What is perhaps stranger is where that dressing room is: not in one of the high fashion hubs of London or Paris, not Milan or even New York – but in a small, sidestreet store in Cambridge. And that’s Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Here was found Charlie Davidson’s The Andover Shop. It was here where Ivy League style took hold, where the WASPish under-graduates of Harvard, Princeton or Columbia developed a none too formal, nor too casual style of dress that would arguably become the lynchpin for western male sartorial standards for the next half century and more: crisp white button-down Oxford shirts and army surplus khakis, saddle shoes and penny loafers, hopsack blazers and flannel trousers, knit and rep ties and shawl-collar cardigans. It was, defiantly, the look of good grooming, privilege and money. It was defiantly white. That worked for Mulligan. But then what would fellow jazz maestro Miles Davis also be doing there, in everything – background, race, culture – an outsider? Or John Coltrane? They were, in the words of Roy Haynes, also a visitor, just picking up the “slickest shit out”.

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Jazz has long been associated with ideas of cool, and a cool that is not just this week’s fashion, but which comes from the core, that grows out of living apart from the mainstream – it’s the cool of a James Dean, Steve McQueen or Cary Grant, sometimes imagined, sometimes projected (“Everybody wants to be Cary Grant,” noted Cary Grant.

“Even I want to be Cary Grant”) but often innate. Certainly, the great players of jazz from the 1950s to 1960s – chiming with post-war prosperity, the birth of the teenager, the civil rights movement and the spread of TV – effectively invented the modern idea of cool. .

It was Capitol Records that, in the year before Mulligan’s snap, helped popularise the term with its album ‘Classics in Jazz: Cool and Quiet’, Davis underscoring the ineffable definition of this ever-so-desirable state of being with his seminal ‘Birth of the Cool’ compilation in 1957. By association with its performers, and their performances – in smoky, ill-lit, intimate late night venues, immortalised in evocative monochrome photography – ‘cool’ came to be associated with the idea of a nonchalant manner and effortless style. More than any record label before or since, the visual style of Blue Note in particular – boldly typographic, modernistic and perhaps the first to match the artfulness of sleeve design to that of the music – drove this home. Its most striking aspect, its colour-wash, stained glass effect appropriately gave its subjects the power of saint-like iconography.

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FASHION But the clothes had to match, in part to sell the complexity of the music. And what better way for a sound that was radical than duds that also cut against the grain – by appropriating the uniform of the conservative, by undercutting the US national power-broking tribe much as Teddy Boys were doing in the UK, taking the style of one’s betters and, well, making it better? The result was more than a gravitational pull for pioneering jazzmen to the east coast caucasian enclave, and this one little shop of collars, cuffs and clubhouse rules.

It was the meeting of dissonant notes, of the establishment and the experimental, the square and the hip, to create as much a new aesthetic of style as of sound.

Yes, the style-seeking jazzmen were building on the shoulders of swing and bebop giants – Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington were none too sloppy with their wardrobes either.

Billy Eckstine - whose big band extraordinarily hot-housed the talents of Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis among others – even designed and wore his own collar shape, the ‘Mr. B’, a high-roll collar that (with some imagination) formed a ‘B’ shape over a Windsorknot. But the simplicity of the newlyadopted and twisted Ivy style perhaps only made the post-trad music feel all the more avant-garde.

And the music came first. Far from being unpracticed, unnatural wonders with their instruments, the likes of Davis and Coltrane, Mulligan and Haynes, as well as Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, J.J. Johnson, Paul Desmond and other dedicated musicians of the period, had given recitals since childhood – and for these they were expected to dress presentably, which back then meant like their parents, as adults-before-their-time, in scaled down takes on the era’s wide-shouldered, peak-collared suiting. It was a habit that stuck, as visits to The Andover Shop – or the likes of J.Press, as favoured by Ahmet Ertegun, the co-founder of Atlantic Records – would refine. What these jazz masters wore, often as signatures, consequently attained an unexpected hispster credibility: Dizzy Gillespie’s double-breasted pinstripes, goatee, black horn-rimmed glasses and beret; Stan Getz’s dark Italian suits and skinny ties; Lester Young’s tilted pork-pie hat; Thelonius Monk, with his outsized specs and beret too... Oh how they loved a hat, belonging to a period when any self-respecting man about town would risk social opprobrium to go about without one, even if in not so studiedly unstudied a way.

Then there was Miles Davis. It was Davis – searching for a look to announce his cleaned-up comeback – who made the clarion call to this definitive, artsy, neo-con jazz dress when, in 1954, the aptlynamed jazz promoter Charles Bourgeois took him to the Cambridge haberdasher to find what he would call Davis’ “costume”.

The trumpet player left having put the I back into Ivy, with his distinctive blend of soft-shouldered, narrow-lapeled tweeds and madras jackets, blindingly-white button-downs, flannels and Bass Weejuns.

The following year, playing the Newport Jazz Festival, he took to the stage in a custom-made, side-vented seersucker sack coat, clubcollared shirt and a bow-tie. Described thus, he could have looked like a pre-war door-to-door salesman, stiff and falsely smiling. He looked anything but. He looked like a man of tomorrow. Six years later, in Miles Davis fact, he was being hailed by ‘Esquire’ as a model of style for his bespoke suits, made by Emsley in New York and costing him a whopping $185 a pop. Bourgeois similarly overhauled Chet Baker - who, as the promoter would put it, “arrived from California dressed like a ragamuffin”, also in 1954 – and again at the same store.

In 1958 the cover of ‘Chet Baker in New York’ – note the title, pointedly east coast, against the bohemian and badly-dressed west coast – had him in rep tie, white button-down and navy blazer, his hair slicked back. We’re decidedly not in Baker’s hometown of Yale, Oklahoma anymore – more Yale, Connecticut, home of the elite training ground of American bluebloods. Later Baker would adopt a trademark minimalistic dark suit and white t-shirt, instead of a more conventional shirt and tie.

Like all moments in style this great era of jazz cool was, of course, set to pass – not least because the jazzmen’s way with a button-hole, tie-pin or pleat, just so, would enter the dress vernacular. It would become, superficially at least, the norm. They moved with fashion too, so that by the 1960s Davis, for one – how the great had fallen preferred kick flares and fey neck-scarves. And, naturally enough, they got older and their outlook changed. Maybe, as the world grew ever more obsessed with image, at the expense of content, these maestros felt less and less like dressing the part.

The legacy lingered, with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, who in the 1980s rocked 40s elegance when everyone else was rolling their jacket sleeves and forgetting to put on socks. And, as the fashion business has acknowledged, it lingers in jazzland even today: among the notables, David Sanchez – who’s modelled for Banana Republic, Joshua Redman – who’s modelled for Donna Karan, and Greg Osby – who chiefly just models his own vintage fedora but, like Mulligan with that Bavarian number, just looks straight-from-the-fridge dad. But, music aside, the greatest legacy goes beyond jazz. Jazz’s re-energising of Ivy style gave men a model of cool that is timeless. It is for less welldressed men to, as Charles Mingus had it, look to its golden era of style and “sing their praises while stealing their phrases”. n

Jazz has long been associated with ideas of cool – a cool that is not just this week’s fashion

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EQUIPMENT GRAND DESIGNS

Car manufacturer Ford’s executive design director Martin Smith talks about the challenges and rewards of turning his boyhood dream into a lifelong career

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Martin Smith counts many objects in his repertoire of things that inspire him: his vintage Omega watches, an original Bertone car model which he keeps on his desk, a couple of massive handguns (“it often raises eyebrows when I say that, but where I live in Germany sport shooting is quite common”) and his bespoke loafers, which he designed himself. “But they only took 10 minutes to design, even though it’s nice to have anything to your own specification,” he notes.

Of the objects, it is the Bertone model that is perhaps most revealing – because Smith himself is a car designer, more specifically the executive design director of Ford, for Europe and Asia Pacific, where this year he celebrates his tenth year at the car giant. Indeed, not just any car designer, Smith can claim to be the designer of the world’s best-selling car – the Focus. That also happens to be the best-selling car in the world’s fastest-growing new car market – China.

“Some boys are into planes or trains. For me it was always cars.

I always wanted to be a car designer,” says the man who, still in short trousers, wrote to the Mini maestro Alec Issigonis requesting some tips on how to get into the job. “But it’s certainly gratifying when you can work at your hobby, especially when someone else is prepared to put up $1bn to put your design into production and you can then actually drive it around.”

Not that Smith’s success comes through simply doing what he wants – and this despite his greatest hits including the likes of the Audi Quattro and Audi TT. One thing he has learned over his career – which began with Porsche just over 40 years ago, before heading both the external and then the interior design studios for Audi, and then overseeing design for Opel and Vauxhall before being lured away by Ford – is exactly what his job is.

“And that isn’t necessarily to design something I like but something that is right for the company,” says the Sheffieldborn Briton, who is credited with giving Ford its so-called ‘kinetic design’ philosophy – one that helped, through introducing a more complex surface architecture, transform a maker of often rather dull cars into one of much more dynamic, energised ones.

“I think cars just happen to be the most complex piece of industrial design there is – as well as the necessities to be safe and functional, it has to look good too,” he adds. “The fact is that people subconsciously expect aspects of a car design, like safety, to be there. What they really respond to is the sense of the driving experience being reflected in the way it looks. You have to express to them the car’s capabilities in those looks.

Today any car has to exude that it is a quality piece of work. The customer wants gorgeousness. Well, at least some people do. Of course some people buy a car like they buy a refrigerator. I buy a refrigerator as I would a car – I assume it will keep things cold, but I want it to look good.”

Smith says, smiling, that he just happens to like all the cars he has designed. But getting that balancing of style and functionality is, he admits, no easy trick. Car design has become an ever more

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EQUIPMENT

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EQUIPMENT

complex business too. While, when he began his career, cars were developed using sketchpads and clay modelling, now to these have been added the tools of computer-aided design and illustration – “not that this doesn’t mean car design cannot still be artistic,” he adds. “People often tend to think you press a button and a car design is produced, which definitely isn’t the case.”

Technology has also changed what cars actually are: and, Smith says, the advent of new technologies, from the voice control systems already on the market to the retina controls to come, from changes in power plants and materials that will allow vehicles to be lighter, tougher, more efficient, “will radically change the way the typical car looks, both for its interior and the exterior. But I’ve no idea what exactly that look will be. Not yet.”

Presumably two of Smith’s latest designs – the Edge concept, an upscale, more sleek take on the SUV, and the first-of-itskind C-Max Solar Energi concept, with a solar panel roof with a concentrator lens that provides 30km of sun-powered driving a day – at least hint at the future. If, that is, customers buy into the ideas. Certainly customer higher expectations have transformed the market during Smith’s time in the business too, whether that be for the way super-cars are built and sold, or volume producers like Ford. Customers, in fact, are what drive the market. And the customer is ever more vocal, with an opinion that needs to be taken into consideration with each new iteration of a model.

“The latest Focus, for example, responded to a lot of points raised by consumers about the design - that the front end was too busy, or the lights too large,” Smith says. “People get very emotional about car design, which is good because we’re always trying to add more emotion into a car design. People actually write in to

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tell us what they want. Of course, we don’t just listen to one guy in the street who tells you he thinks your car is ugly. But we do have to listen to a groundswell of opinion over several years.”

Indeed, those changing demands have affected the way the industry operates at all levels: witness Ford pushing on with its Vignale concept, essentially an upgrading of the materials, presentation and sales environment of its cars that aims to put it more on a par with much more expensive vehicles.

Some people buy a car like they buy a refrigerator. I buy a refrigerator as I would a car. I assume it will keep things cold – but I want it to look good “The difference is that in my work we still have to work within a budget that allows us to produce cars in major plants, that sell all over the world and do so at a good price,” says Smith. “They don’t have quite the same problems at Rolls Royce. But I don’t mind. In fact, I love the challenge of designing mass production cars. In my job even a commercial vehicle gets a lot of attention even that has to look good.” n

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INTERVIEW

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

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INSIGHT

SECOND CITY WITH A FIRST CLASS ATTITUDE Birmingham Airport boss Paul Kehoe is not feeling defeated – despite the Airports Commission effectively snubbing his expansion plans.

Steve Dyson reports

I’ve hardly sat down in his office overlooking Birmingham Airport’s runway and Paul Kehoe’s already banging the drum for the city.

“Critics say we ought to accept the crumbs from London’s table, and I violently reject that,” says the man who’s been Birmingham Airport’s chief executive since 2008.

“I don’t think people shout loudly enough about how good the city is. ‘London always wins,’ they say. No, Birmingham wins, and the greater Birmingham region. We have the quality of people, infrastructure, innovation, manufacturing and quality of life: it all equals the greatness of the city, and some people would die to have that.”

It’s hardly surprising that Kehoe is also chairman of Marketing Birmingham, the city’s strategic marketing partnership: “I’m a Scouser, what they call a ‘blow in’, but I’d be proud to call Birmingham my home. It has phenomenal assets. If only we could pull

everything in the same direction.”

And it’s that “if only” that Kehoe has to deal with. He invested substantial time and resources lobbying the Airports Commission to include Birmingham’s plans for a second runway in its advice to government on how to cope with the UK’s burgeoning aviation demands. But in his interim report, commission chairman Sir Howard Davies effectively dismissed major expansion by Birmingham in the near future, instead pointing towards controversial options at

Heathrow or Gatwick. As the dust settles from that rejection, Kehoe is unapologetic.

“This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we could’ve just have whispered: ‘We’ll have a go’. But we decided we had nothing to lose, and said: ‘Let’s put the best thing we could possibly do together.’”

A £7bn second runway would have enabled Birmingham to cope with up to 70m passengers a year – nearly eight times what it currently serves – but this ambitious plan has now been filed until at least 2050. >>

So we lost a bit of face – so what? We created a lot of noise which got us noticed. Since then, we’ve had all sorts of VIP visits, including the Prime Minister

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INSIGHT

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“So we lost a bit of face – so what? We created a lot of noise which got us noticed.

Since then, we’ve had all sorts of VIP visits, including the Prime Minister. And we were a spoiler really, because we don’t want them [Heathrow] to have a third runway.

“If they do get it, imagine the outcry from environmentalists. And the completely new roads and new rail networks that will be needed. It would take 10 to 15 years anyway, so I say: ‘Let’s make hay.’ We’ve got our extended runway, let’s fill it [the recent 400m extension cost £33m].

“Forget London: Birmingham competes with Berlin, Barcelona, Biarritz, Berne – and that’s just the Bs. Ryanair can fly from anywhere.

What airlines are seeking, apart from a runway, terminal and radar, is the opportunity to make money from a city’s catchment, if that area’s doing well, and if passengers use the airport.

“And Birmingham and the region are doing well economically. But if passengers continue to go elsewhere as they do now, we’ll struggle. It’s a market share game. If we get the airlines in, if we get passengers to use us, that will equal more flights, and more economic growth, and that then drives the airport: processing passengers, duty free spend, car parking fees, all building a future that makes sense for us all.”

Kehoe, aged 55, married with two grown up children, pauses for breath and a sip of tea before he’s off again on Birmingham’s passenger numbers: “We’re back up to 9m, back to where we were when I turned up, and that’s after the worst recession ever.

“Passengers are growing, but there are 27 airports in the 300km between Leeds and Southampton vying for 195m passengers.

Consumers have the ultimate choice and there are too many airports – and Heathrow has the lion’s share. We’re 30 years behind Manchester, and we need to close that gap and go beyond. The nation’s second city needs a first class airport.

“Every three months we’re at the regional airports’ conference, and we’ll be at the annual conference, which will be three days of 20-minute ‘speed dating’ with airlines, telling them of the region’s economic success: Cadbury, Deutsch Bank, JLR, and explaining

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

[how they can] pick up the traffic.”

This can be hard: a recent Lufthansa route from Birmingham to Berlin had packed seats because of commercial bookings from BMW and Rolls Royce. But when Lufthansa – in a wider strategy – gave this flight to Germanwings, its sister budget operator,

major companies stopped booking, causing a 40% drop in tickets before the route closed in July.

“We can now fly to the west coast of the USA, Rio de Janeiro and Beijing, but just because we’ve got a longer runway doesn’t mean they’re going to come. And if airlines

Paul was determined to reach for the stars Paul Kehoe was born in Smithdown Road Hospital, formerly the ‘Old Workhouse’, in Toxteth, Liverpool, the eldest of three boys whose dad was a docker and mum a cleaner.

Now with homes in Solihull, London and Surrey, Kehoe acknowledges his success: “The one reason I’m not working class was the 11-plus, which got me into West Park Grammar School in St Helens [now part of the De La Salle School]. “Both my parents were incredibly bright. Dad passed the 11-plus but his parents did not send him there. Mum went to work at 14 – her dad died in 1932 from First World War gassing injuries, leaving her mum bringing up four. They were humble beginnings, which is why I say: ‘Reach for the stars,’ not wait for the crumbs from the table.”

After A-levels, the RAF sponsored Kehoe’s geography degree at Leicester University, which he repaid with five years in air traffic control, including six months in the Falklands from September 1984 – two years after the Falklands War. Despite a ‘summer’ of snow and a shared bedroom crammed into a container, Kehoe has a book’s worth of fun tales including 3p-a-shot brandy in the officers’ mess, short supplies that meant a week of lentil suppers, and the day they shot a brace of geese to swap for a crate of badlyneeded tonic with hungry colleagues on Ascension Island.

But he also remembers learning how to lead: “I was a Flight Lieutenant and was told airmen should salute me with respect, and not to mix. Yet I was absolutely reliant on the chap sat next to me to keep me away from making mistakes. If you treat them badly they’ll drop you in it. Treat them properly you get much more out of them.

“We became a team, pals, on first name terms, only ‘Sir’ when there’s someone else standing around. I used to get told off for this, was seen as an iconoclast and told that few of these get to the top. So I left.”

After a spell as a sales consultant for a psychometric testing company, Kehoe studied for an MBA at Warwick University, writing a thesis on airport operating costs after a placement at the British Airports Authority.

This led to a job as business development manager with British Aerospace, which included Liverpool Airport and airfields at Hatfield, Chester and Filton. He cut his teeth reducing operating costs – and was then offered a job with Serco, one of the outsourcing companies he had used.

By 1994 he was managing director an embarked on three years of hectic globetrotting on major projects in Canada, the USA and Australia. He returned to Britain in 1997 to work for TBI plc, soon becoming managing director of Belfast International Airport.

After a stint heading the company’s European division and another sorting out problems in Australia, Kehoe became managing director of Luton Airport from 2000 to 2004.

“It was a basket case of an airport. It meant a management change programme and I wasn’t Mr Popular, but I rebuilt relationships, built new facilities and introduced a target to overtake Birmingham – a strategy that’s still working now.”

A spell as chief executive of DX plc followed – a document exchange company – but after a buyout Kehoe left and, in 2007, became chief executive at Bristol Airport, before leaving for Birmingham 18 months later.

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don’t want to there’s nothing we can do. The market will decide. We’ve got to present cases continually and work hard.

“We’re a regional asset for a national integrated transport strategy, especially with HS2. But we need to make the longer runway work, to change the behaviour of passengers who use Manchester or Heathrow: it might cost a few pounds more from Birmingham, but think of the time, fuel and parking you’ll save, and the airport jobs your patronage provides.”

When Kehoe arrived at Birmingham Airport in October 2008, he faced immediate challenges – including the recession and long-overdue improvements.

“There were some horrible decisions to take – sacking people, bringing in staff discipline, and sorting out how the airport had all the right things but not in the right order. We needed a proper control tower, a runway extension and rationalisation. We culled 130 to 140 people, and only the good survived.”

Today, with no huge expansion coming from the Airports Commission, Kehoe is “doing

it again”, with a new change programme to improve airport finances. He calls it ‘Project Re’, and rolls off various ‘re’ words: “Rejuvenate, reinvigorate, rejoicing, or, for some, redundancy.”

Kehoe won’t say how many jobs might be lost, but he’s already halved executive directors from eight to four, with voluntary departures including public affairs director John Morris, who led the airport’s rejected bid for expansion.

“We’re recreating a business around a concept

INSIGHT

called IDS, which stands for intelligence, delivery and support. The aim is to break down silos, not saying ‘that’s finance’ or ‘that’s IT’, but to apply IDS, a team working together with the customer at the centre.”

Kehoe admits management change programmes are always “nerve-wracking” for staff, but insists that “we can’t carry passengers”, and adds: “We’re taking the business in a different direction, and need people stepping up to challenges we now face.” n

Landmark year for ambitious airport BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT: • Opened in 1939, it’s celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

• It’s the UK’s seventh biggest airport, carrying just over 9m passengers a year.

• It handled 85,000 flights in 2013, with 50 airlines operating 143 direct routes.

• These include daily flights to New York, Istanbul, Dubai and major European hubs.

• It directly employs 500 staff, with another 6,000 working for 140 companies on site.

• It’s a public-private partnership – 49% owned by the seven West Midlands metropolitan councils, the rest by Airport Group Investments Ltd, itself mainly owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Australia’s Victorian Funds Management Corporation.

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PRINCE’S TRUST

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BUSINESSES IN THE MIDLANDS URGED TO TACKLE SKILLS SHORTAGE with John O’Reilly regional director of The Prince’s Trust in Central England As the West Midlands emerges from the recession, and is on the road to economic recovery, only now are we beginning to see real growth in our local industries.

To stay ahead we must act and ensure that we harness the full potential of our region’s unemployed young people.

The reality is that while the crisis that rocked the UK and the region’s economy has abated and the region’s businesses are reporting heightened demand for their services, local employers tell us they are increasingly concerned by skills shortages developing as a consequence of this accelerated growth.

Within The Skills Crunch, a new report from The Prince’s Trust and HSBC, business leaders highlights the damage that skills gaps could do, not only to staff morale but to company survival rates. They also raise concerns about how they will struggle to grow in the future as their ageing workforces retire. In fact, more than half (61 per cent) of Midlands businesses are already struggling to fill vacancies. Two thirds fear skills shortages will slam the brakes on the UK’s economic recovery (69 per cent); while more than a third fear it would cause businesses to fold (38 per cent).

It is therefore, deeply concerning when we have thousands of unemployed young people in the West Midlands who are still desperate for work. Indeed there are more than one in five (22 per cent) young people currently

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

struggling to find a job in the region.

The decisions we make today will have longterm consequences that must protect the local economy and our young people. We believe that now is the time for employers, government and charities – such as The Prince’s Trust – to work together to tackle the region’s impending skills crunch and up-skill the workforce of the future.

We know that unemployed young people want to work and that employers have vacancies they want to fill. In fact, our report

More than half of Midlands businesses are struggling to fill vacancies, and two thirds fear skills shortages will slam the brakes on economic recovery highlights that 72 per cent of UK business leaders see the recruitment of young people as vital to averting a skills crisis.

Prince’s Trust programmes in the West Midlands are already helping employers to fill skills gaps with young people who are dedicated, passionate and grateful to have been given a chance – sometimes for the first time in their life.

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Our employability schemes are run in partnership with employers in sectors which have identified skills shortages such as construction, retail and logistics. We help to break down the barriers between unemployed young people, who often have little hope for the future, and employers, resulting in real jobs with companies in the West Midlands such as HSBC, M&S and The Alton Towers Resort.

Luke Hall, 19, from Birmingham struggled to find a job after leaving sixth form.

“Being unemployed was horrible,” he says. “It was frustrating as I knew I had the potential to get a job but I didn’t have the training or experience required. It was disheartening applying for job after job only to be told I didn’t have the appropriate qualifications.”

Luke heard about the Traineeship Programme run by HSBC in partnership with The Prince’s Trust. It gave him the chance to prove his capabilities and gain some much needed experience.

He was quickly offered a customer services job with HSBC and now works full-time in the Birmingham New Street branch.

The Prince’s Trust worked with more than 6,151 disadvantaged young people in the West Midlands last year, but with more support from the public and private sector we could help many more.

Only by working together to invest in the next generation will we be able to avoid a skills vacuum in the future.

To download The Skills Crunch report and find out how your business can get involved with The Prince’s Trust please visit: www.princes-trust.org.uk/skillscrunch.

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BIT OF A CHAT

AUTUMN 14

>> Pudsey’s tax breaks

with Bill Borde >> Anyone for a selfie?

Pesto, the new Italian restaurant on Hollyfield Road South, Sutton Coldfield, has been running a competition for diners who take the best ‘selfie’.

The contest has gone down a storm with customers, which include former Olympic hockey medal-winner Jane Sixsmith and Aston Villa defender Ciaran Clark.

If one of these sporting stars wins, I wonder who they’ll be sharing the top prize of a free night out for four people, including dinner and wine, with?

>> We’ve all been on a summer holiday!

Regional airline Flybe delighted a bunch of West Midlands business leaders with a free mini-break to celebrate its new flight from Birmingham to Porto.

Among those who enjoyed the threeday ‘fact-finding’ trip to Portugal – with complimentary travel, drinks, meals and accommodation – were Peter Mathews, managing director of Black Country Metals, Paul Noon, regional director of West Midlands UK Trade & Industry, and Jason Wouhra, director of East End Foods and regional chairman of West Midlands Institute of Directors.

Paul Willoughby, Flybe’s regional sales manager, said: “I think everyone agrees that it was a hugely successful and worthwhile trip for all concerned.”

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

Michael Ford of Infinite Wisdom Studios (left) and Steve Lomas of E R Grove & Co., with Pudsey.

>> Alcolocks controls alcopops Drink drivers will never be able to get behind the wheel at work again, thanks to a clever invention by a Black Country manufacturer. Keytracker Ltd, based in Rowley Regis, has designed an integrated key cabinet and breathalyser device that will only release a vehicle’s keys once workers have proved they are sober. The Alcolock has been successfully tested at a nearby forklift company’s premises, and is now on the open market, leading to new jobs at Keytracker.

Business development manager Ryan Slaney said: “It obviously increases safety, and it will also help companies and managers who are legally responsible for the fitness and suitability of their vehicles and the people who drive them.”

>> Homer’s tax rows Lin Homer, the former chief executive of Birmingham City Council, has landed in

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Pudsey, the canine winner of Britain’s Got Talent, made it to the big screen thanks to a firm of Black Country accountants and their engineering clients.

E R Grove & Co. paved the way for Pudsey the Dog: The Movie to get financial support from local companies by introducing little-known tax relief advantages. Businesses can get tax relief of 30% on their investments through the Government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme, or 50% for through the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, which can also be off-set against capital gains tax.

Partner Steve Lomas said: “It’s good that established traditional engineering entrepreneurs can see the financial and artistic benefits of supporting these new industries.”

The story of a heroic hound who saves the day is co-produced by Birmingham based Infinite Wisdom Studios, in association with Vertigo Films and Simon Cowell’s Syco.

hot water with local experts over government plans to sell off personal tax details.

Homer is now chief executive of HMRC, and is therefore the target of warnings that such a move would jeopardise the principle of tax payer confidentiality.

Henry Briggs, senior partner of the Birmingham office of accountants Haines Watts, said: “There has always been an understanding that the confidentiality of tax payers will remain and it is totally wrong for HMRC – or indeed any other government department – to benefit from the data which is collected for personal and sound governance reasons.”

Nearly 280,000 have now signed an online petition against the proposals which could become law as part of the Finance Bill, with personal financial data being sold to private firms. Mr Briggs said that Homer would effectively “remove any trust that might exist between the taxpayer and HMRC”.

SIGN UP TO YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION OF BQ BREAKFAST. DELIVERING YOU INSIGHT, NEWS AND ANALYSIS TO HELP GROW YOUR BUSINESS

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EVENTS

AUTUMN 14

BQ’s business events diary gives you lots of time to forward plan. If you wish to add your event to the list send it to steve.dysonmedia@gmail. com, with ‘BQ events page’ in the email subject heading

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

3 IoD Herefordshire and Worcestershire, team-building visit to Worcester Rowing Club, 6-8.30pm, Worcester, WR1 3EJ. £25 members, £30 non-members.

0121 643 1868, sue.hurrell@iod.com

7 GBCC, How to make the most of your membership, 9.30-11.30am, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, 75 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3DH. Free for members, £10 non-members. 0121 607 1772, events@birmingham-chamber.com

4 GBCC Future Faces social gathering, 5.30-8pm, Metro Bar and Grill, 73 Cornwall Street, Birmingham, B3 2DF. 0121 607 1836, k.evans@birmingham-chamber.com

9 CBI, Manufacturing our future – solutions for success, 9am-2pm, JCB, Rocester, Staffordshire, ST14 5JP. anne.cullom@cbi.org.uk

5 CBI, ‘What the new European Parliament means for business’, 8.30-10am, Warwickshire College, Leamington Spa, CV32 5JE. julia.fox@cbi.org.uk

14 GBCC, Staffordshire Business Club with Chase Chamber, 7.45-9.15am, The Bridge House Hotel, Stone Cross, Penkridge, Staffordshire, WS11 0DQ. £10.

08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

10 GBCC Chase Chamber Business Breakfast, 7.30-9am, Ramada Birmingham North, Watling Street, Cannock, Staffordshire, WS11 0DQ. £12 members, £15 non-members. 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

14 IoD West Midlands: networking drinks, 5.30-8pm, The Swan Hotel, 46 Greengate St, Stafford, ST16 2JA. Free. 0121 643 1868, sue.hurrell@iod.com

12 GBCC Professional Networking Lunch – Talking Business, 12-2pm, St Johns House Hotel, St. Johns Street, Lichfield , WS13 6PB. £18. 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

16 GBCC, Burton & District Chamber Breakfast, 7.30-9am, Newton Park Hotel, Newton Solney, Staffordshire, DE15 0SS. £15 members, £12 non-members.

01283 535640, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

12-13 IoD West Midlands: Leadership Training with the British Army, 9am-4pm, Marlborough Barracks, Southam, CV47 2UL. £150. 0121 643 7801, john.phillips@iod.com

17 GBCC Lichfield Rugby Business Connect Breakfast, 7-9.30am, Lichfield Rugby Club, Cooke Fields, Tamworth Road, Lichfield, WS14 9JE. £10. 0121 607 1772, events@birmingham-chamber.com

16 Solihull Chamber, Research and Innovation…Industry & Academia Working Together, 7.30-9.30am, Arden Hotel & Leisure Club, Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull, B92 0EH. Free. 0121 781 7384, solevents@solihull-chamber.com

19 Bupa Great Birmingham Run, www.greatrun.org/events For details on running for ‘Team Cure Leukaemia’ visit www.cureleukaemia.co.uk or contact 0121 236 9202, joe@cureleukaemia.co.uk

16 GBCC Staffordshire Business Club with Chase Chamber, 7.45-9.15am, The Bridge House Hotel, Stone Cross, Penkridge, Stafford, ST19 5AS. £10. 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

23 IoD West Midlands: Evening with James Sproule, IoD chief economist and director of policy, 6-8.30pm, Hilton Hotel, Junction 15, M40, A429, Stratford Rd, Warwick, CV34 6RE. £25 members, £35 non-members. 0121 643 1868, sue.hurrell@iod.com

17 Solihull Chamber, Breakfast with Business, 7.30-9am, Devere Village Urban Resort Solihull, The Green Business Park, Shirley, Solihull, B90 4GW. £5.83 members, £8.33 non-members. 0121 781 7384, solevents@solihull-chamber.com

28 Lunar Society, Boulton and Watt Commemoration Lecture, speaker: Professor George Feiger, executive dean, Aston Business School, 6.30pm, Sumpter Lecture Hall, University of Aston, Birmingham, B4 7ET. Free. www.lunarsociety.org.uk

18 GBCC Burton & District Chamber Breakfast: Protecting Your Business: The Loss of a Director, 7.30-9am, National Brewery Centre, Horninglow Street, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 1NG. £10 members, £12.50 non-members.

01283 535640, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

29 GBCC Chase Chamber Business Breakfast, 7.30-9am, Ramada Birmingham North, Watling Street, Cannock, Staffordshire, WS11 0DQ. £12 members, £15 non-members. 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

18 GBCC Chamber Speed Networking, 8.30-10.30am, Chamber House, 75 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3DH. £10 members, £15 non-members. 0121 607 1772, events@birmingham-chamber.com 19 GBCC Lichfield Rugby Business Connect Breakfast, 7-9.30am, Lichfield Rugby Club, Cooke Fields, Tamworth Road, Lichfield, WS14 9JE. £10. 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com 19 Solihull Chamber, Enterprising Women, 12-2.30pm, Holiday Inn Solihull, 61 Homer Road, Solihull, B91 3QD. £20 members, £33.33 members. 0121 781 7384, solevents@solihull-chamber.com 23 IoD West Midlands: Breakfast, speaker Malcolm Boswell of ACAS, 7.30-9am, Higgs & Sons, 3 Waterfront Business Park, Brierley Hill, West Midlands, DY5 1LX. Free. 0121 643 1868, sue.hurrell@iod.com 24 CBI, Financial planning for growth – CBI West Midlands M-Club, 8-10am, venue tbc. Julia Fox at julia.fox@cbi.org.uk 24 IoD West Midlands: Celebrate Mutuals, The Business of Being the Stafford Railway Building Society, 7.30-8.45am, Staffordshire University, Beaconside, Stafford, ST18 0AD. £10 members, £15 non-members. 0121 643 1868, sue.hurrell@iod.com 24-25 MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival: Sheffield, Sheffield City Hall, Barker’s Pool, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S1 2JA. £48, £24 concessions. www.madefestival.com 25 IoD West Midlands: Theft, Fraud and Dishonest Employees, 7.30-9am, Lanyon Bowdler Solicitors, Chapter House North, Shrewsbury, SY2 5DE. Free.

0121 643 1868, sue.hurrell@iod.com 25 GBCC Mock Tribunal, Unfair Dismissal?, 3.30-7pm, Mills & Reeve, 78-84 Colmore Row, Birmingham, B3 2AD. Free. 0121 607 1836, m.ibrar@birmingham-chamber.com

BUSINESS QUARTER | AUTUMN 14

31 Cure Leukaemia Annual Dinner with Glyn Purnell, Villa Park, Trinity Rd, Birmingham, B6 6HE. 0121 236 9202, jackie@cureleukaemia.co.uk

NOVEMBER 6 GBCC Chamber Business Showcase Breakfast, 8-10.30am, Chamber House, 75 Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3DH. £15 members, £22.50 non-members. 0121 607 1772, events@birmingham-chamber.com 11 GBCC Staffordshire Business Club with Chase Chamber, 7.45-9.15am, The Bridge House Hotel, Stone Cross, Penkridge, Stafford, ST19 5AS. £10. 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com 11-12 Aluminium Federation, Auto conference to address aluminium demand, Thinktank Science Museum, Millennium Point, Curzon St, Birmingham, West Midlands, B4 7XG. www.alfed.org.uk 14 GBCC Lichfield Rugby Business Connect Breakfast, 7-9.30am, Lichfield Rugby Club, Cooke Fields, Tamworth Road, Lichfield, WS14 9JE. £10. 08450 710 191, c.plant@chase-chamber.com

The diary is updated daily online at www.bq-magazine.co.uk Please check with contacts beforehand that arrangements have not changed. Event organisers are also asked to notify us at the above email address of any changes or cancellations as soon as they are known.

KEY: CBI, Confederation of British Industry. GBCC, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.

IoD, Institute of Directors.

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