BQ North East Issue 24 by We Are UMi

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ISSUE TWENTY FOUR: WINTER 2014

A GEM OF AN IDEA Laboratory-made diamonds shake up the industry REV-OLUTIONARY Mobile app for motorcyclists is a life-saver A SHINING EXAMPLE Businesswoman’s Skills to Shine company transforms lives SETTING GOALS FOR 2015 NGI boss on the opportunities the Rugby World Cup will bring ISSUE TWENTY FOUR: WINTER 2014: NORTH EAST EDITION

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Businessman helps rising stars fulfil their potential BUSINESS NEWS: COMMERCE: FASHION: INTERVIEWS: MOTORS: EVENTS

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BUSINESS QUARTER: WINTER 14: ISSUE TWENTY FOUR Whether you’re after tips to take your business onward, or you just want to enjoy sharing in some others’ success stories, we think you may find pleasure and value from reading the pages that follow this. Among the entrepreneurs we feature Alastair Waite, now with a portfolio of 30 business interests. He explains how an outsider’s flick of a switch can be enough to turn a hesitant company around. And Valda Goodfellow who, as Valda Morris the “sausage queen”, turned Mr Lazenby’s gourmet products into a stonking sales and business success, tells how she and her husband Paul now kit some of our top TV chefs through their successful young venture called Goodfellows. Zoe Farrington and Andrew Richardson, too, look likely to take the world by storm with their recently launched app, a global first in road safety. Brian Manning, chief executive of Esh Group, a construction company with a difference, tells readers how at last one hurdle has been lowered on the difficult handicap course holding back the North East’s construction and civil engineering sector. Something for the tourism industry to look forward to as well – perhaps 8,000 New Zealanders and goodness knows how many equally enthusiastic South Africans descending on the North East. Sarah Stewart at the head of NewcastleGateshead Initiative tells of the plans already under way to welcome them, as our region looks forward to hosting the pick of the playing groups at the start of rugby’s World Cup. Some good news too, perhaps, for the many firms particularly in manufacturing that worry about the suitability of school leavers as potential employees. There are enterprises working hard to get children work-aware much sooner now on their journey through early education, working hard to ensure also that ones who perhaps couldn’t keep up in literacy at a junior level can still be coached to cope with their more advanced subjects at senior level. Katy Parkinson’s Sound Training leads a catch-up campaign to the delight of Alastair

Waite who’s involved in the venture. And Lindsey Dunn’s Skills to Shine company is instilling business awareness and practices into young minds. Lindsey’s is a particularly inspiring story since she was in effect written off academically at school because of her dyslexia, yet went on to gain her Masters degree and now runs her own company. As unpredictable weather continues to wreak havoc – and snow is yet to come - we have Ian Wade from DTZ and David Nichol from Nichol Associates advising how to avoid unnecessary costs and personal danger by building safeguards into the company “housekeeping”. And if your business exports, or is thinking of doing so, are you really aware of the expertise that’s available now to ensure maximum gains? Our Live Debate, hosted at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland, by the University of Sunderland’s faculty of business and law, has provided food for thought. Finally, some really good news indeed. Nick Swales who heads Rathbones, a recent entry to the wealth investment management sector in our region, expects to see many more very rich people here before long. Cross fingers and keep slogging! Brian Nicholls, Editor

CONTACTS ROOM501 LTD Christopher March Managing Director e: chris@room501.co.uk Bryan Hoare Director e: bryan@room501.co.uk EDITORIAL Brian Nicholls Editor e: b.g.nicholls@btinternet.com DESIGN & PRODUCTION room501 e: studio@room501.co.uk PHOTOGRAPHY KG Photography e: info@kgphotography.co.uk Chris Auld e: chris@chrisauldphotography.com SALES Heather Spacey Business Development Manager e: heather@room501.co.uk Richard Binney Business Development Manager e: richard@room501.co.uk or call 0191 426 6300

room501 Publishing Ltd, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT www.room501.co.uk room501 was formed from a partnership of directors who, combined, have many years of experience in contract publishing, print, marketing, sales and advertising and distribution. We are a passionate, dedicated company that strives to help you to meet your overall business needs and requirements. All contents copyright © 2014 room501 Ltd. All rights reserved. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All information is correct at time of going to print, February 2014. room501 Publishing Ltd is part of BE Group, the UK’s market leading business improvement specialists. www.be-group.co.uk

THE LIFE AND SOUL OF BUSINESS

BQ Magazine is published quarterly by room501 Ltd.

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

CONTE BUSINESS QUARTER: WINTER 14 buIlDIng a future

44 A TASTE OF SUCCESS The north East entrepreneur who keeps TV’s celebrity chefs all tooled up

50 BUSINESS LUNCH

Features

BQ talks to wealth expert nick Swales about the growth in millionaires

62 BRING ON THE WORLD nGI boss Sarah Stewart is on the ball ahead of the Rugby World Cup in 2015

24 BRIGHT IDEAS Businessman alastair Waite reveals how he helps others to shine

30 BUILDING A FUTURE Esh Group boss Brian Manning on the construction industry’s challenges

34 LIVE DEBATE Does export advice go unnoticed in the north East?

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

78 REV-OLUTIONARY an innovative app has the potential to save the lives of motorcyclists worldwide

84 A SHINING EXAMPLE Lindsey Dunn’s Skills to Shine company is transforming young people’s lives

68 A GEM OF AN IDEA Lab-grown diamonds could revolutionise the industry, says north businessman

30 a taste of suCCess

TENTS NORTH EAST EDITION

40 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Behind the region’s biggest new deals

MIllIonaIres are MultIplyIng

56 WINE quiaturitas aruptat enihica borios nos adiam a ende molorep erferum

Regulars

58 MOTORS on the road with a ‘land-bound rocket ship’

68 EQUIPMENT Diamonds are still forever but in greater number

06 ON THE RECORD How small firms are fighting back against the scourge of computer crime

10 NEWS Who’s doing what, when, where and why here in the north East

22 AS WE SEE IT Don’t let nature ruin what you’ve nurtured, warns a senior surveyor

72 FASHION

50 brIng on the WorlD

The world’s most bespoke tie maker on why £150 for neckwear is good value

96 BIT OF A CHAT With BQ’s backroom boy Frank Tock

98 EVENTS Key business events for your diary happening across the north East

62 BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

ON THE RECORD

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As a survey reveals almost nine in 10 small firms have fallen victim to computer crime, businesses hit back against the hackers and cyber squatters. Meanwhile, Nissan’s ‘green’ taxi aims to rival black cabs

Andrew Carter: Squatter fighter

>> Blotters and squatters attacked new safeguards are being raised to counter the high cost of computer crime inflicted on companies big and small. Email encryption software to protect the small and medium size firms has been introduced in the wake of a survey indicating that more than 87% of small businesses have fallen victim to cyber crime at some point. Simon Freeman, chief executive of Fresh Skies, which is behind the new product Mkryptor Lite, believes simple encryption will reduce much of the risk. Elsewhere, technology provider Stack Group warns that threats from cyber attacks known as DDoS are growing. an example of the chaos that can bring was seen recently when natWest bank customers were blocked from accessing online accounts. Hackers used distributed denial of service (DDoS) to freeze the system. Jeff orr, chief executive of Stack Group, warns that DDoS attacks are now a

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commercial operation, and can be bought by internet users to bring down business websites and online operations. The criminals use Trojans to infect PCs with non damaging Bots. The latter do not harm the PC but do enable criminals to create a network of thousands - even millions of PCs - which can then be used to create havoc. The Bots instigate all the PCs to send traffic towards a specific target, bombarding it with connection requests until the overwhelmed website crashes. orr says company websites find it difficult to differentiate between malicious connections and genuine ones. Yet a survey suggests 86% of FTSE 350 firms are ignoring cyber threats. In the north East, Zebra Internet Services has introduced a division helping organisations to protect their internet presence and digital assets. The newcastle firm’s new domain portfolio management division is responding to growing alarm among business owners at the increasing number of companies that have lost vital web domain names to cyber squatters. The division’s manager andrew Carter says: “Businesses whose operations depend on their online presence face the greatest risk. Yet many business owners do not know who their domain names are registered with, when renewal is due or even if the registration details are correct. “If renewal is overlooked, or registration details are incorrect, it can be snapped up by cyber squatters as with apples iPad.com registration, or simply cause websites and email accounts to disappear as happened with Clydesdale Bank last august.”

>> Nissan challenges black cabs nissan, whose Sunderland plant is the first uK site ever to produce more than 1m cars in two years, plans to challenge the traditional black cab’s dominance in London and other

major uK cities. It may have a new “cleaner” taxi on the streets by next year, electrically powered. nissan, which now employs 7,000 at Sunderland and has just launched a new model of the Qashqai, has not said where the taxi would be built. But it already supplies taxis to new York, Tokyo and Barcelona.

>> Mark’s the manager Mark alderson (above), who has had 14 years in the hotel industry, is now general manager of Eshott Hall, the northumbrian boutique country house.

>> New LEP faces Professor Peter Fidler, vice-chancellor and chief executive of university of Sunderland, is succeeding Professor Chris Brink on the board of the north East Local Enterprise Partnership as the representative from the north East LEP area’s four universities. He’s a town planner by profession. nigel Perry, chief executive of the Centre for Process Innovation, has joined the leadership board of Tees Valley unlimited. Perry, who has 30 years’ experience in the global process industry, was with ICI for more than 20 years.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Design Council partnership propels North East companies to success 2014 is shaping up to be an excellent year for the Design Council whose partnership with Design Network North (DNN) is going from strength to strength as they deliver their design-led business support programme to North East SMEs Working alongside DNN is Nick Devitt, one of the Design Council’s design experts. Nick is based at the Design Council’s Office at the Northern Design Centre a couple of days a week and on hand to speak to any businesses in the region who want to know more about the Design Council’s business support programme and how it can be of use to their company.With a track record in helping SMEs achieve their goals, from strengthening their position in the marketplace to diversifying their offer, the Design Council have welcomed three new North East companies on to its Design Leadership Programme: Aide Memoire Ltd, First Contract Clinical and Cell Pack Solutions Ltd. Recently the Design Council’s Chief Executive, John Mathers, visited the North East to meet with the Design Leadership Programme’s former clients. Abigail Wilson, from Newcastle- based ‘Let’s Live Here’ spoke positively about the difference the Design Council made to her organisation; “Design really helped to grow our business. After working with the Design Council, our new name and the look and feel of the office really helped us stand out and we became a talking point.” Design expert, Nick Devitt, is confident of the difference the Design Council makes to keep local businesses growing and innovating: “This year we’re expecting to engage with even more businesses in the area. We have plans to work alongside Gateshead Council, which will put us right at the very heart of the community and ready to provide design support.” And it’s not just SMEs the Design Council works with – the programme also offers support to

Nick Devitt, Design Associate

public services. South Tyneside Council and Northumberland County Council have both enrolled on the programme. Through the tried and tested method of pairing public sector organisations with one of the Design Council’s Design Associates, they work together through a process which introduces the organisation to the strategic value of design and helps identify opportunities for projects which will result in increased levels of customer and staff satisfaction, developed policy, transformed staff processes and training, improved risk management and created dramatic efficiency savings.

Design really helped to grow our business. After working with the Design Council, our new name and the look and feel of the office really helped us stand out and we became a talking point

If you’re a business or public sector organisation, and you’re interested in finding out what the Design Council’s business support programme can do for you , then contact Nick Devitt at the Northern Design Centre on 0191 499 8373 or directly on 07714 294 242. Alternatively email nick.devitt@designcouncil.org.uk

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

ON THE RECORD >> Where starters thrive Businesses launched in Redcar and Cleveland have a three year survival rate of 61.4% compared to a national average of 57.9pc. The achievement shows up in figures from the office for national Statistics. an enterprise team in the area gives free advice and support. Business coaches have helped hundreds of start-ups over the last three years and also help established firms to strengthen.

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to gather views on challenges and opportunities facing the city. “I want to make sure the BID gives businesses a real voice and influences key decisions about what happens in our city centre,” he added. Businesses voted to set up the BID last July. It is being funded by a 1.5% levy on business rates that will help pay for improvements and initiatives.

title of north East Entrepreneur of the Year. and high profile speakers are being lined up for the annual Together We Can Take on the World conference on 11 May, at the Baltic, Gateshead. www.entrepreneursforum.net.

>> Top tier briefing for business bosses

Ken Dunbar: Gathering views

>> City’s BID gears up Ken Dunbar is the first chief executive of the new Sunderland Business Improvement District (BID) company, which will invest at least £3.4m towards boosting the city centre’s attractions over five years. The transformation to make the area cleaner, brighter, safer – and with more events, marketing and promotion to create a more vibrant evening economy - will begin from april. Dunbar was previously chief executive of Castle Morpeth Council, where he led the £40m improvement of Morpeth’s town centre. originally from Kirkcaldy, he was earlier chief executive of aberlour Scotland’s largest children’s charity – and has managed festivals and events in Brighton and Dudley. andy Bradley, chairman of the Interim BID steering board and centre director of the Bridges Shopping Centre, says: “We aim to build on the BID’s existing five-year funding of £3.4m to attract even more investment in the city centre.” Dunbar’s first aim, he says, is to meet with traders, businesses and organisations

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Entrepreneurs are sharing their inspirational stories from the food, sport, property and renewable energy sectors as the Entrepreneurs’ Forum gets a fresh calendar of events under way for north East business owners. Tools to grow business such as market research, trend forecasting, social media and investment will also be explored during the next six months of forum events. The programme has already got under way with a return visit to the region by Formula one team boss Graeme Lowdon, speaking at the annual chairman’s dinner in Jesmond Dene House Hotel, in newcastle. The forum, now more than 10 years old, provides a platform for entrepreneurs to meet and hear from like-minded peers, to share their experiences and connections, to be mentored by an established entrepreneur or to be a mentor to emerging talent. Its events include two major annual conferences, intimate dinners, open events which non-members can attend and on-site visits. First of the latter recently was at Ringtons, in newcastle. Further events will be hosted by Stephen Bell, of Changing Lives (formerly The Cyrenians), Stephen Waddington, incoming president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and global marketing company Ketchum, sustainability entrepreneur Mark Shorrock, investment specialist Jonathan Gold, of Rivers Capital. on 11 February a joint event was being held with Trend Bible and Explain Market Research. Restaurateur Terry Laybourne will host a focus dinner at his Café 21 in newcastle, in March followed in May by Meenu Malhotra, of the Malhotra Group, last year’s runner up for the

Well done: Malcolm Mayes of Nifco receives the sword of honour from Linda Armstrong of the British Safety Council

>> Achievers nifco uK has received a sword of honour from the British Safety Council. It is one of only 68 organisations worldwide to achieve the award, which recognises companies of excellence in managing health and safety. The plastics manufacturing specialist in automotive parts employs 400 workers. The Eaglescliffe company scored a 100% assessment, one of only two companies nationally and four internationally to do so. Dr Arnab Basu, chief executive of x-ray specialist Kromek at Sedgefield, and a board member of the north East Local Enterprise Partnership, has been made MBE in the latest Honours List. Lorna Moran, founder and chairman of recruitment group nRG, has been made oBE. Mike Parker, former director general of transport operator nexus, has been made oBE. Lindsey Whiterod, chief executive of South Tyneside College, has been made an oBE. Peter Barron, editor of The northern Echo, has been awarded an MBE.

194

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NEWS

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Landmark deal for fund managers, Durham University leads the way with new innovation centre, bakery giant acts to counter sales slump, US market opens up for pharmaceutical firm, college’s worth assessed In 2012 amec relocated from Yarm Road Industrial Estate to Darlington’s Lingfield Point business park, where it now has 450 mainly backroom staff. It also has an engineering centre of excellence where about 160 engineers operate. Their number may grow to more than 200.

>> Greggs looks to franchising

Deal done: (From left) Chris Parker of NEL, Michael Fitzpatrick (Activ), Amy Wanless (Muckle LLP), Mark Simpson (UNW) and Ian Gillespie (Activ), see following news of Activ’s successful bid

>> Growth ambitions soar nEL Fund Managers has completed the single most valuable day of investments in its 23 years, with four investments of total value £1.35m, made from the Finance For Business north East Growth Fund that it manages. The deals include a £400,000 investment in the Sunderland contract cleaning and facilities management business Maxim Facilities Management, and a six-figure investment in business technology provider activ, to help it double its workforce and turnover this year. Tyneside based activ plans to double workforce and turnover within a year. activ, which already employs 29 staff, worked with business advisors unW and law firm Muckle LLP. nEL has invested £15m from the growth fund since its launch in 2010, with average investments of £200,000. It has many more opportunities in place too. The fund is a general investment facility for businesses at a development and growth stage in the north East. Its end goal is: 1,500 new jobs created in the region, and 1,300 more safeguarded. Recently nEL was awarded a further £3m for the fund by north East Finance, the holding fund manager with overall responsibility for the £125m Finance For Business north East initiative. It was also allowed to increase amounts it can invest in any deal from £400,000 to £750,000. Barrie Hensby, nEL’s chief executive, says: “While we know just how much demand there has been for Growth Fund investments since 2010, even we were surprised by how much immediate interest has been created now.”

>> Amec wins in Kuwait amec’s engineering and project management operation in Darlington, has secured a renewed contract with the Kuwait oil Company to provide

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project management consultancy for major upstream projects. The £255m contract, reaffirmed in a competitive tender, follows amec’s successful delivery of two previous five-year contracts.

Greggs now has 25 franchised shops in motorway service stations. During Q4 of 2013 the giant north East plc – the uK’s largest bakery chain - had like-for-like sales growth of 2.6%. But it plans more than 400 job cuts to counter an underlying sales fall of 0.8% during the year. It is dropping plans for cafes and is moving away from traditional bakery to refocus on its core ‘food on the go’. Most of its 1,671 shops are supplied from its regional bakery network. But at 79 sites where it still operates in-store bakeries 300 jobs are likely to go as the sites are brought into line with the rest of the business. Restructuring of management and support teams could cost another 110 jobs, chief executive Roger Whiteside says. During last year 68 shops closed but 68 opened, 15 of these franchised.

>> Start-up for 30 firms about 60 permanent jobs may be created through northumbria university’s launch of a £1.1m project to support the start of 30 new businesses, and to provide graduate interns for more than 50 small businesses. The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) has awarded the university over half a million pounds to support the graduates into business, and this is being matched by the university and other funding providers.

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Only the best: Durham Gate’s Helen Attley (left) enjoys award-winning service from Fox Cub manager Helen Weddle

>> Newsmakers Tait Walker, through its corporate finance team, has topped the north East’s financial advisor league with 21 deals in 2013, of which 13 were included in the annual independent national survey by financial information provider Experian Corpfin. KPMG was placed second. Ward Hadaway was the most active dealmaking law firm. Rockliffe Hall has again been named as one of the uK’s best luxury hotels - and the only one in the north of England - by Tripadvisor website. Darlington’s five star venue is ranked the eighth most luxurious hotel in an online poll, and 11th best hotel overall. The Fox Cub, the Durham Gate pub and restaurant, has won an award for best year on year profit growth from its brewery, Marston’s. Its 70% profit growth led its 169-strong competition. Parkers Executive Chauffeurs of newcastle, under managing director Brian Rudd, has been named a Chauffeur Company of the Year by Professional Driver magazine. Nortech Solutions the Wynyard project design and engineering firm, founded by managing director Bryan Bunn, has been acclaimed as the most promising new business in British Chambers of Commerce awards. The Activity Travel Company of Stannington, northumberland, founded by alistair McLean in 2002, won three national titles in the British Travel awards.

>> Jobs saved in building crisis administrators have saved more than 140 jobs at two north East building firms despite the parlous state of the industry within the region. Both firms had called in administrators. J Hughes Construction had collapsed with cash flow problems. But within days all 114 employees facing redundancy instead were transferred to a newly-formed firm. The second firm, Holystone Ltd at Blaydon, had struggled for over a year. The business – part of Holystone Group – has operated in earthworks, roads and sewer construction, demolition, waste reclamation stations

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and plant and skip hire. It was the waste processing and disposal activity, run from Wallsend and Callerton, which hit difficulties. In both cases Baker Tilly was called in. Its administrators re-organised affairs at J Hughes Construction, a Middlesbrough firm with offices also elsewhere in the north East, and in Leeds and other parts of Yorkshire. It mainly sub-contracted to homebuilders Persimmon, Keepmoat, Strata and Redrow, but had also worked on Gateshead International Stadium and Blaydon Leisure Centre, and schools across the region. Founded 20 years earlier by John Hughes, it had been sold 18 months before the crisis to John Hughes’ cousin Donal, who led a

management buyout. The administrators got the firm’s 114 employees transferred to a new Stockton firm, applebridge Construction. The same administrators, Ian Kings and Steven Ross, also found re-employment for most of 40 staff facing redundancy at Holystone. The 2012 accounts showed sales down 20% with activity in domestic waste contracts losing increasingly. The management had disposed of the Wallsend site and its loss-making waste and skip hire business, and six months later entered a company voluntary arrangement with its creditors. But cash flow became a stumbling block when suppliers insisted on payment up front. Most employees affected have been re-employed within the group, however, through a switch to Holystone Civil Engineering which continues normally.

Administrators got the 114 employees transferred to a ﬁrm in Stockton

>> Daniel’s dinners impress Sunday dinners are a growing doorstep delivery business for Daniel Wilkinson. He and a team of three prepare the meals in refurbished kitchens at Lazenby Village Hall on Teesside, using locally sourced, organic meat and seasonal vegetables to stay at home customers in Redcar, Eston, Middlesbrough and Marske. a £6.50 dinner offers options of extra helpings, ice creams and drinks. Daniel says his mum audrey’s Sunday dinners inspired him. So impressed is uK Steel Enterprise with Sunday Delivery Ltd, that the business support subsidiary of Tata Steel has lent the 26-year-old £3,500 to add a weekday service. In nine months, clientele has grown through individual customers, clubs and care centres. The china plated meals are boxed for microwave heating later.

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2011-12 - representing roughly 8,908 average wage jobs. For every £1 learners pay for their education there, £3.40 will be gained in lifetime higher earnings – an annual return on investment of 11.1%. Society will receive £2.20 for every £1 invested in the college – an average annual return on investment of 8.9%. and taxpayers see an annual return of 7.6% on their investment in the college. The study was undertaken by Economic Modelling Specialists International (EMSI).

For every £1 learners pay, they recoup £3.40 in higher earnings

>> Extending his reach Stuart Cameron (above), previously managing director of Maersk Training in newcastle, is now uK managing director and oversees both uK training centres in aberdeen and newcastle leading provider of advanced simulation technologies, design expertise and consulting services for gearbox and driveline systems. Maersk Training coaches in the oil & gas, maritime and offshore wind sectors. Cameron joined from Romax Technology, where he headed global sales and marketing.

>> College counts its value a study of newcastle College’s economic impact says its contribution to the city’s business community is £234.8m yearly. In addition: The accumulated contribution of former college learners who are currently part of the regional workforce gives £187.5m in added income for the city’s economy each year. Total added income created by the college and its learners was about equal to 1.2% of newcastle’s total economic output in

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>> Hitachi partner Main contractor Shepherd Construction has awarded a family run north East steel company a multi-million pound contract in the building of Hitachi Rail Europe’s new factory coming up at amazon Business Park, newton aycliffe. Finley Structures, based within a mile of the building site, will build the steel frame of the main factory. Meanwhile, Hitachi has preferred Lincolnshire based Eminox as partner to provide exhausts for the new East Coast and Great Western Main Line Class 800 series trains to be assembled.

>> Camerons country Camerons Brewery has added to its pub operations with a purchase of the Head of Steam group, that includes in newcastle the Head of Steam opposite Central Station, The Cluny in ouseburn and Tilleys on Westgate Road. It also includes the Head of Steam in Durham and Huddersfield, and Central in Half Moon Lane, Gateshead. The Hartlepool brewery in a five year growth strategy now has more than 75 pubs throughout the north of England, towards a target of 200. Watson Burton law firm and business advisers and chartered accountants unW advised Camerons. Sintons law firm represented Head of Steam group.

>> Paints under pressure Cost-cutting paint and coatings giant akzonobel, whose uK headquarters is now in ashington, has sold its Primary amides business to uS group PMC. The Dutch group found trading in Q4 2013 aligning with previous trends, and says the economic environment remains challenging.

Clive Owen: has seen his firm reach 30 years

>> Accountants 30 years accountants Clive owen & Co LLP on the firm’s 30th birthday is taking on 10 more staff. Senior partner Clive owen started the firm at Cockerton, Darlington, with two staff. now the firm has offices in Durham, Darlington and York, and a client list ranging from manufacturers to educationists. a Clive owen Technology Services operation was recently launched.

>> France buys British a French global manufacturer has bought Tynetec, the designer and manufacturer of telecare solutions set up at Blyth 30 years ago. Legrand, which has a presence in 70 countries, has said it will continue its commitment to uK manufacturing.

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>> Stamps of success Four north East post office branches are each receiving up to £10,000 to support local people and businesses, and to ease isolation among the elderly. The four – in allendale, alnwick, amble and Port Clarence - are among 25 nationally whose proposals have won a Community Enterprise Fund competition.

>> Sailing success Two successful years of cruising from Port of Tyne have prompted Cruise and Maritime Voyages to return in 2014 with their flagship Marco Polo. CMV has five cruises with varied itineraries departing in June and July. Previously the company operated from Tyneside with the vessel Discovery.

properties, and the entire consideration includes £300,000 for goodwill. Vertu chief executive Robert Forrester, who earlier visited Hyundai in South Korea, says: “Vertu is well placed to be part of Hyundai’s continued success in the uK.” Vertu is listed fifth in the north East Top 200 Companies, Benfield 14th.

Vertu is well placed to be part of Hyundai’s success in the UK

>> The music goes on >> Big two motor groups extend their reach The north East’s two biggest motor dealers are moving up several gears during 2014. Vertu Motors of Gateshead has taken its nationwide portfolio to 101 sales outlets with the purchase for £700,000 in all of two Hyundai dealerships in Edinburgh. and Benfield Motor Group of newcastle recently added the first of three major new openings to its existing network of 34 franchised dealerships across the north. Following its January launch of a Ford outlet in Sunderland, it will open for audi in both newcastle (in July) and Sunderland again (2015). Vertu’s acquisitions, from Phoenix Car Company and archers of Edinburgh, make it now Hyundai’s largest uK partner and further develop the group’s Macklin Motors brand in Scotland. Job creating Benfield, a family business founded in 1957, is now one of the uK’s largest privately owned motor retailers. It is being backed with a £40m funding package led by Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate & Institutional Banking and supported by Barclays Bank. Its entry into Sunderland fulfils a long held ambition. With Vertu’s deal came two leasehold

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The Sage Gateshead now manages Gateshead old Town Hall as a complementary culture venue.

>> Big win for Duco newcastle based Duco Ltd has won a significant share in a £250m contract with Chevron north Sea to provide a 28km steel umbilical for a north Sea project. The firm recently increased its workforce by 100 to 600 in total.

>> Posting success up to 40 more jobs could result from an acquisition by Encore Envelopes of Washington, the uK’s largest privately owned printed envelope manufacturer. It has bought the uK arm of Templa Envelopes of Spain, the third largest envelope manufacturer in Europe.

>> Firm in a million The Gosforth based TSG technology services group, owned by Sage plc co-founder Graham Wylie, has amassed contracts worth £1m.

Best connected: Teesport

>> Teesport well fed PD Ports’ Teesport has become the first feeder port to be served by the recently opened London Gateway. With more than 20 vessel calls a week connecting the port to major hub ports of Europe, it is now the uK’s best connected feeder port.

For details and availability call Peter Taylor on: peter@uksteelenterprise.co.uk

FOR PRACTICAL ADVICE IN RELATION TO: • PATENTS • DESIGN RIGHT • TRADE MARKS • COPYRIGHT • KNOW-HOW OR RELATED MATTERS For more information Please contact Dominic Elsworth: T: 0191 269 5477 E: office@heip.co.uk W: www.heip.co.uk A: Cooper’s Studios, 14-18 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 3NN

NEWS

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In at the start: (from left) Professor Chris Higgins, vice-chancellor of Durham University; Paul Varley of the North East LEP’s investment panel; Dr Tim Hammond of Durham University; and Paul Woolston, chairman of the North East LEP

>> Major new research centre for the region a multi-million pound world-class innovation centre, promoting collaborative working between university and industry, is to be set up at Durham university. Industry and university partners working together will find innovative solutions to commercial research needs using cross- and multidisciplinary teams. The Centre for Innovation and Growth (CIG) will initially support research arising from a long relationship between Durham university and the health and beauty consumer giant Procter and Gamble (P&G). north East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has approved a £10m investment from its north East Investment Fund, including £8m from its Regional Growth Fund allocation, to go towards the first phase. LEP chairman Paul Woolston said the centre fits the open innovation brand the LEP wants to ensure the north East, its universities and institutions, are known for. P&G is a world leader in open innovation. In three later phases the university will work with various non-competitive industrial partners. Work currently under way between P&G and the university, such as developing products to wash clothes at lower temperatures, will be applicable to other industries worldwide. Professor Roy Sandbach, who leads strategic innovation for the LEP, says: “our regional profile as a destination for inward innovation investment will be greatly enhanced.”

>> Airport plan backed The north East Chamber of Commerce has backed the proposals made by Peel Holdings to secure the future of the presently lossmaking Durham Tees Valley airport by reducing it in size, and building houses and industrial units on part of the land there.

>> Fit for US markets SCM Pharma’s pharmaceutical contract manufacturing facility at Prudhoe has been approved at the first attempt by the uS

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Food and Drug administration (FDa), which regulates and suprervises pharmaceuticals in the uSa. Managing director Dianne Sharp says: “This potentially opens up huge opportunities. Previously we were limited to making drugs for the clinical trial market.” SCM Pharma is moving into its 10th year of business. Its 110 staff specialise in the sterile production of products for clinical trials and the supply of licensed drugs in niche commercial markets. It recently opened a new

£6m site at newburn, which complements its now FDa-approved clinical manufacturing facility nearby.

>> Insurance winner Bond Dickinson law firm has been appointed to handle the high-volume contract work of international insurance group aIG. It won the contract against four other law firms’ bids, and will now update and modernise hundreds of medium risk and highvolume contracts with aIG’s providers.

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NEWS

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>> Labour votes Aspire The Labour Party has hired Gateshead IT solutions provider aspire to equip the party for the next General Election. under a four-year contract, aspire will provide new computers for Labour’s two head offices in Westminster and newcastle, also for offices in Scotland, Wales and across the uK. “Competition was uK-wide,” says Graham Stafford, the party’s head of procurement.

Linda Farish: praises staff role

>> Engineering jobs saved all but 29 jobs have been saved after a buyer was found within the north East for Tanfield Group’s Engineering Systems division, which had been put into administration. Tinsley Special Products, operating at Eaglescliffe and Peterlee, is retaining 68 of the 97-strong workforce whose jobs were in doubt at Tanfield Lea, Stanley, after Tanfield directors placed the business in administration last november with losses of £732,000. RMT accountants & Business advisors succeeded in trading the business, protecting its substantial debtor book, marketing and trying to sell it as a going concern. Tinsley, a heavy transport industry manufacturer, emerged successful from several potential buyers. a Tinsley spokesperson said the fit was excellent. Linda Farish, RMT’s head of recovery and insolvency, said Tanfield Engineering staff made a crucial contribution to the successful outcome. The purchased firm’s origins go back to 1949.

>> Sealing the deal Finnish firm Peikko Group used north East lawyers to guide their purchase of a Devon based business. Peikko, which has offices in 30 countries, called upon BHP Law to guide their deal to acquire industrial flooring specialist Metalscreed uK.

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>> Fine advance in chemicals Managing director Craig Morgan has completed a second management buyout of Fine Industries, the Teesside chemicals manufacturer focussed on crop protection, pharmaceutical and speciality chemicals. Fine Industries, employing 270 and turning over £40m, has an international blue chip client base, and exports to Switzerland, Germany, uSa, Brazil and Ireland. Morgan led the original MBo from a large multinational in 2008. now a similar deal to follow five years’ growth has been signed, bringing £25.5m of investment from private equity provider northEdge Capital. It is northEdge’s fourth transaction from its maiden fund, which closed at £225m last March.

HSBC, whose head of leveraged finance for Yorkshire and the north East, Tom Green, worked with Morgan on the deal, has committed further funding to speed the capital spend that will step up capacity and support Fine Industries’ growth ambitions. Yorkshire Bank has also provided debt facilities. Fine Industries, originally begun at Peterlee in 1977, expanded onto its current Seal Sands, Middlesbrough site in 1984. Morgan says: “We can now move our business to the next level.” KPMG advised northEdge and PwC the company. Legal advice was provided by addleshaw Goddard for northEdge and Bond Dickinson for the company.

>> Hair of the Dog appeals Scotland’s largest independent brewery BrewDog, one of whose English bars is in newcastle, closed its latest Equity for Punks crowdfunding scheme early having reached its £4.25m target a month before the deadline. Without recourse to banks BrewDog has so far raised over £7m through over 12,000 ‘fanvestors’ buying shares at three opportunities.

>> QUOTE OF THE QUARTER

Transport spending continues to be skewed towards London and the South East... London and the South East will have three quarters of all transport infrastructure in England in the years ahead... There is a further regional disparity concerning progress. Nearly four out of ﬁve of all of London’s projects are ’active programmes’ or ‘in construction’... This compares with just a quarter of projects in the North East. Ed Cox, director of the think tank IPPR North. ONLINE: Get the latest North East business news delivered to your desk every morning by subscribing to our daily alert, BQ Breakfast. www.bq-magazine.co.uk

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29/01/2014 12:55

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DON’T LET NATURE It’s now you must take preventive action to avoid a financial thunderbolt from flooding – perhaps on two fronts. First check your building insurances, says Ian Wade. Then check for asbestos danger, says David Nichol When did you last check your building insurance and property protection? The urgency has seldom been greater than now, when the country is being battered by extreme winds, torrential downpours and, who knows, blizzards before long, writes Ian Wade. You’ve seen some of the chaos on television news. Hundreds of businesses and home owners are devastated. Bills they face now run

to thousands of pounds if they’re to get their properties back to normal. Even if you’re lucky and have escaped this time, take precautions against the lottery of nature’s fate next time. The importance of appropriate building insurance and property protection before another storm or high tide strikes – as strike they will – should be obvious now. Landlords and tenants alike should ensure and maintain

Recent estimates from insurance groups suggest 77% of buildings are undervalued for insurance purposes

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adequate insurance for the cost of building reinstatement in the event of a major incident. Recent estimates from insurance groups suggest 77% of buildings are undervalued for insurance purposes. Many landlords and owners may not in those circumstances fully recoup full costs of a building’s reinstatement. That’ll leave them exposed and facing a funding gap. Businesses should also ensure their contents and stock are also adequately insured. Making sure your business incident plan is reviewed and implemented, besides protecting your property, may also limit disruption to your business’s activities during and after the main crisis. Recent events and the proximity to watercourses, railway lines, adjacent buildings and their uses, together with location and any site constraints, can all carry significant cost implications if not included on the reinstatement assessment. The type and level of insurance required can all be affected.

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RUIN YOU While landlords understandably have to drive down ‘unnecessary’ expenditure in cost of assessments and associated insurance premium leaps, the sheer scale of fire and flooding highlights the importance of regular insurance assessments, in line with recommendations by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. These regular assessments are driven by the volatility of the construction market coupled with wider macro and micro-economic influences, and presently significant regional variations. The factors combine and impact upon local build costs, making construction pricing difficult. So regular reassessments using appropriately qualified personnel are needed, rather than simply uplifting existing figures by rough percentages. Indeed, it’s generally accepted best practice to embark on a full scale remeasure or survey every three years, together with annual desktop reviews. With most commercial leases allowing the landlord to recover costs of a surveyor’s fees in providing Building Reinstatement Cost Assessments (BRCAs), the above advice – if followed - forms part of the good and effective management of a property portfolio. n Ian Wade is senior surveyor, project & building consultancy at DTZ, Newcastle.

Ensuring your incident plan is reviewed and implemented may limit disruption to your business after the main crisis

AS WE SEE IT

Beware asbestos too While the North East has largely been spared the recent floods, the Tyne bursting its banks earlier should remind us of risks from asbestos exposure that floods and other natural disasters can also threaten, writes David Nichol. While asbestos left undisturbed is not usually harmful, flooding can damage the integrity of buildings, exposing asbestos contaminated flooring, walls and ceilings, breaking down any asbestos present into fine fibres and bringing this dangerous material to the surface. Some of the fibres are waterproof, and can sit on the surface of water. They then risk being inhaled once they dry out, posing a serious health hazard. So homeowners of damaged properties should take care as they clean or search through debris. If asbestos is suspected, take no chances. Call in a professional contractor trained and qualified to remove asbestos safely. Asbestos related disease, for which there is no cure, can develop over 20 years. More than 4,500 people die yearly from it, and it’s the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK. Buildings can be rebuilt and repaired. Victims of asbestos have no such options. David Nichol is managing director of Nichol Associates, a Hebburn based award winning firm specialising in asbestos removal. He is also vicechairman of the United Kingdom Asbestos Training Association.

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ENTREPRENEUR

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in association with

The light switcher Judges for the Institute of Directors who considered Alastair Waite for this year’s North East Director of the Year title will have been busy indeed. He has a 30 strong portfolio of business interests, built over two or three years, and requiring close consideration to understand fully his attainments. He imparts immense expertise and guidance to speed progress for young companies and their creators. A prime example of his catalytic quality is MicroDat, a brewery equipment firm in Leeds whose latest board meeting he’d attended the day before meeting BQ. When he’d first invested in the firm, its order book stood at about £250,000. Now, only nine months later, it’s around £7.4m. “It was a turnaround opportunity,” he explains. “They’d got stuck...had a pretty bad year. They had cash flow issues. Businesses with cash flow difficulties spend more time managing the cash than managing the business. “When you unlock that – my investment was alongside that of a capital investment business – and when you’ve said ‘we’re not going to get here again, what went wrong, and what do we need to do?’ – and when you see the light go on, you also see management teams realise they’ve a potentially valuable business. “The company now is flying. It’s relocating to much larger premises. You raise some funds. You show the way. That then has a momentum of its own. Often the need may have been someone to bounce ideas off. Someone to instil confidence... Discussing issues or problems, and developing strategies, is what I really enjoy.” And look at his range of portfolio. About a score of investments are small high-tech digital

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Alastair Waite, who has the experience, tells Brian Nicholls how switching on the light with an entrepreneurial flick can be just what’s needed to turn a hesitant company around

start-ups. Others are longer established, like the Bowburn, Durham, engineering firm Altec, which his father set up 30 years ago and in which Alastair is major shareholder now. As he talked about this, news was emerging elsewhere of a £600k-plus investment in new machinery and £800k to expand premises. The other businesses range through IT, project planning solutions, call centre analytical software, book publishing, literacy training, and a social media website (You Gossip) involving reality star Katie Price and former footballer Ian Wright - “all different business models, run by people I love to spend time with,” says Waite. In addition Waite, a board member of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, has for some years mentored there. “With these businesses I probably spend more time saying ‘no, don’t do that. I think you should just look at that’. A little grey matter helps at times,” he suggests. “I’ve heard Clive Woodward the former England rugby coach speak on mastering a skill. If you dedicate 10,000 hours to a particular sport or discipline, he said, you’ll become really good at it. After my 35 years in business – 2,000 hours a year, say, and the fact I work more than a 40 hour week - I think businesses I work with get the benefit of about 100,000

hours of expertise and many examples of how NOT to do things.” Little wonder aspirants often approach him directly. Remarkably, Waite’s a mentor who at 52 is inspired by ongoing mentoring himself. “I’ve been fortunate throughout to have some great mentors. At 19, I had a role requiring me to review around 126 profit and loss accounts every month. The person who taught me to read P&L accounts, understand ratios, numbers and bring everything alive was then a 68-yearold retired gentleman, Jack Johnson. He was patient, methodical - had a keen eye for detail. I’ll always be grateful he saw something in me, and invested his time to help me in my first job. “I’ve had many mentors since and still have a mentor, Peter van den Haspel. He’s a Dutch guy living in south east Netherlands. I see him about three times a year. He forces me to stop and think about what I’m doing, to focus my energies in the right areas. He challenges my thinking on personal and work areas. It’s exhausting but hugely beneficial. I understand the value of mentoring, which is why I do so much of it now for others. It’s also why I chair the mentoring sub-committee at the Forum.” Remarkably, given his input barely covered above, his IoD nomination he’d just been >>

I get a kick on engineering visits going to goods outward and seeing the quality of parts – the very smell if they have a bit of oil on them

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR told about was his first ever award nomination. “Quite a surprise,” he says. “It’s a nice feeling knowing someone appreciates what you do.” His manner and conversation, for someone with so many commitments, is relaxed. It’s evident why he’d be welcomed as a boardroom colleague and a mentor. outstanding to date has been his contribution over 13 years to onyx Group, the Stockton based specialist in data centres, business continuity and systems disaster recovery. Its erstwhile parent Trade Zone made Waite managing director, impressed by his financial and development acumen. But within six months that parent hit financial buffers. onyx was sold to a uS business that 15 months further on went bust. unperturbed, Waite led a management buyout at the worst possible time, when money had to be raised over Christmas. But more than half the staff backed him by investing in the company - one that eventually paid off for all employees. Today onyx, in which Waite remains the largest individual shareholder, has six data centres across the uK including one at Gateshead. Clients include Tesco, Sky and other majors for which reliable IT is essential. onyx attracted private equity and a deal worth £42m in 2011. Today the business is still growing strongly. Five years ago, determined to grow the company faster, he stood down as chief executive, making time to effect several acquisitions and major projects. He then stepped down as a director in november but retains his stake. Many of us need a daily workplace ritual, however many bobs we’ve stashed away. Bowing out ahead of any new commitment could be scary. But for Waite, albeit dedicated to work, this is his third respite from routine. He says: “My approach wouldn’t work for everyone. I’m a glass half-full person, but everyone’s different. Some people seem to have a permanent cloud over their head, like Eeyore the donkey in Winnie the Pooh.” So here he sat, in the gloaming of the lowly lit lounge at Jesmond Dene House Hotel in newcastle, already with ‘one or two really interesting opportunities’ to ponder, and an earlier meeting that had thrown up a north East business that, to him, looks ‘really interesting’. He’s now lunching on coffee and two biscuits that he kindly offers to share as he

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tells how involvements in manufacturing and service please him equally. “In both it’s nice to be able to grow a successful business. But one frustration,” he admits, “is that in services you can’t see what you produce. It’s all in the internet or the cloud. I get a kick on engineering visits going to goodsoutward and seeing the quality of parts – the very smell if they have a bit of oil on them. Then going home at night and getting the iron filings out of your shoes before they get into the carpet...” He’s proud, though, to be part of Katy

Parkinson’s literacy training firm, Sound Training. She started it after 16 years of delivering literacy in schools for Middlesbrough Council. He’d heard how she developed a broader concept for secondary pupils who mightn’t have grasped rules of grammar in primary school and who, consequently felt handicapped trying to learn subject matter later. “Because secondary schools haven’t time to go back to basics, such youngsters don’t grasp the information they’re getting,” Waite elaborates. “In a group session of six weeks for one hour a week, Katy’s programme delivers a two year

A knack with numbers Hard work has made alastair Waite. He attended three different primary schools and three different secondary schools in Spennymoor, Willington and Chester le Street, always fighting to catch up. at 18 he ‘blagged’ his way to an interview with Safeway, convincing them that while they wanted someone with a level maths they really needed his o level maths. His ensuing job disappeared a year later with 60 others. But two weeks on, he was put in charge of reviewing and analysing - with pencil, paper and calculator - profit and loss accounts for 126 Lipton stores monthly. He reported on an area covering the north East and Cumbria. He was adept with numbers, percentages, ratios, trends – had a knack of spotting perhaps the only incorrect figure in many pages of accounts. When his boss fell ill he presented a budget report to the main board of directors in London. asked if he was chartered or certified, he replied: “Chartered or certified what..?” He was advised to study accountancy and appointed to the firm’s small team in London looking after 650 stores – three years after starting his first job. In the final year of his six years’ study he returned north to switch to day release at newcastle Polytechnic. “Trying to do it all by correspondence had been like trying to get a first class honours while spending three hours a day commuting and holding down a responsible job. It got a bit too much. When I decided to quit my job the reception was icy at first. Dad didn’t speak to me for a fortnight because I’d given up a well paid job. I think he’s ok with it now – just!” Then Dad asked if alastair could look after the business accounts. Shortly after, Bede plc, also at Durham, asked him likewise. When he’d qualified, he joined Bede, a semi-conductor instruments business full time. He was part of a small team which subsequently brought in three rounds of venture capital funding, helped grow the business to 100 staff and win several Queen’s awards. “When I left Bede I‘d been nine years its finance director and company secretary, and also looking after quality and manufacturing. We’d prepared the company for sale. We didn’t get an exit but I’d done all the tidying up necessary and thought it a good time to turn to something else. For the second time I decided to quit a well paid job without anything lined up. Within three weeks someone told me there was an interesting business in Middlesbrough, an internet service provider. I said I knew nothing about technology. They said ‘well actually they just want a managing director with knowledge of business.’ So there I was with onyx.” His inspirations throughout? “Mum and dad are really hard workers.” His father set up two companies, one while he still worked full time at Durham university. His parents also ran a pub at Tow Law and had mobile catering facilities they took to motorcycle scrambles. Dad has built a replica 1935 Bugatti and now, at 76, visits the gym four times a week.

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COMPANY PROFILE

North East leading UK region for electric vehicles Plug-in Fleet initiative offers free business fleet analysis The North East is leading the way in electric vehicles, with official figures showing more per head than anywhere in the UK. Over the past two years, the North East has installed 1,163 charge points making it the largest regional network of electric vehicle chargers in the UK. Energy Saving Trust’s detailed business fleet analysis has revealed potential fuel savings of 75 per cent to organisations and businesses through going electric, with organisations in the North East already realising these benefits. In recognition of the North East’s success and commitment to electric vehicles, the Energy Saving Trust and Zero Carbon Futures are encouraging businesses to sign up to the national Plug-in Fleet Initiative which could see businesses saving money on fuel and reducing emissions. Ian Featherstone, Knowledge Manager, Energy Saving Trust, says: “There is a strong business case for the adoption of electric vehicles and this has been shown through our free analysis of business fleets. The financial benefits through going electric are clear and relevant to all businesses, whether you’re in the private or public sector or an SME or a larger organisation. “We would encourage any businesses that are interested in finding out how they could benefit

There is a strong business case for the adoption of electric vehicles and this has been shown through Energy Saving Trust’s free analysis of business fleets

Businesses in the region check out the latest BMW i-series as part of a recent Plugged in Fleet initiative event from going electric to register for a free analysis and review of their fleets through the Plugged-in Fleets Initiative.” Dr Colin Herron, Managing Director, Zero Carbon Futures, says: “There are many examples in the North East of companies that have seen

Tesla Model S Exclusive One of the most advanced, luxury electric cars is being showcased to business leaders in the region this month. On Thursday 27 February, the Tesla Model S will be coming to Gateshead for an exclusive test drive opportunity. Find out more about the vehicle and how you could be one of the first Model S drivers in the UK through Fleetdrive Electric’s business lease offer. The 7 seat luxury saloon is 100% electric and has a 310 mile range and offers premium performance. Register your interest in attending the event which will be held at the Bridge Gallery at Gateshead College, by emailing: sales@fleetdrive-electric.com specifying which session you would like to attend: 10am – 12pm or 2 – 4pm.

real financial benefits as a result of switching to electric. Phoenix Taxis in Northumberland is just one great example of a company which has seen significant cost savings by running electric vehicles and I think that if it can work with a company so heavily reliant on their vehicles, then electric vehicles can work in many other workplaces.” Several North East organisations have already signed-up to free electric vehicle analysis including Your Homes Newcastle, Durham County Council, Sunderland City Council and Darlington Borough Council. 61 per cent of the organisations that the Energy Saving Trust worked with last year have stated they have or intend to acquire plug-in vehicles. The Plugged-in Fleets Initiative 100, funded by the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), offers 100 organisations in England the opportunity to receive free analysis and guidance on how plug-in vehicles could work for them. Energy Saving Trust is working in partnership with EDF Energy and Route Monkey to deliver analysis which includes advice on electric vehicle infrastructure and optimising electric vehicles use.

To register an interest in taking part, email pifi@est.org.uk or call 020 7227 0312. More information can be found on the website www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/pifi

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A man knows his place What if alastair, husband and father of four, won the lottery? “Tracey my wife’s resigned to the fact I’ll never retire.” Indeed he’s confessed in Teesside university’s R&B publication there’s no way Tracey wants him working from home and under her feet all day. “She’s chief executive in our house, and I know my place,” he laughs. “My wife, two daughters and five pets are all female – I know my place.” Really the womenfolk’s fear is that he’ll take to DIY. It stands for Destroy It Yourself when he reaches for the toolbox. “If I mention DIY the kids are on the phone to Jim my brother-in-law saying ‘come round quick - Dad’s thinking of doing some DIY.’” With all his responsibilities – and his fundraising work for The Prince’s Trust, Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation, and on Tyneside Changing Lives (formerly the Cyrenians), plus his governorship of Yarm School - how does he stay as fresh faced as an England cricketer? The Waites live at osmotherley and most mornings he’s up by 5.30 to walk the dog on Hambleton Hills, by torchlight even. Says alastair: “That time of morning’s beautiful and quiet. The back of the house is nearly all glass. Every morning I walk across the landing and think I’m on holiday. When the gates close behind me at night, that’s my sanctuary.” He’s also just accepted a governor’s position at Teesside university – “not bad,” he suggests, “for someone who didn’t go from school to university, preferring the university of Life, and gaining first class honours in Hindsight.”

plus improvement to a literacy age. That’s >> maintained throughout the secondary school and can be life changing for the individual.“ In her first year Katy won Tees Valley new Business award, and last year’s profit was £100,000. Working down the East Coast, she now has about 150 schools. She has a staff of eight plus teaching consultants, retirees and teachers who have gone part-time. Waite’s digital investments have been made through schemes at newcastle and Teesside.

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on Teesside he founded Searchcamp Ltd - a partnership with fellow entrepreneurs andy Preston and Bobby Paterson, and Teesside university represented by Professor Cliff Hardcastle, deputy vice-chancellor (research & business engagement). Waite earlier helped Mark Elliott establish DigitalCity at the university, following a coaching network called First Wednesday. Helped by regional development agency one north East, Elliott got Digital City

operating as an incubator. Searchcamp, a 12 week programme, then began last year for handpicked start-ups needing an accelerator programme, and help with developing a wide range of business. Participants fine-tune their business plan and pitch their projects to venture capitalists and ‘angel’ investors. While the entrepreneurs and others mentored, the university gave accommodation, facilities and some of the funding. Each company received up to £15,000 of seed capital and Searchcamp got up to 10% stake in the business. The successful businesses had a prospect of follow-on funding - up to £150,000 - and a place within Searchcamp’s incubator in Middlesbrough’s Boho zone. among the eight companies selected out of 100 entries, four were foreign - from South Korea, Romania, Spain and Italy. Two parties merged, one dropped out and six new companies resulted. “You’ll be able to put a value on that in years to come,” says Waite. n

Serious about growing your business? offering inspiration and a helping hand, the Entrepreneurs’ Forum brings entrepreneurs and leaders together to help businesses grow and make the north East stronger. There’s no network quite like it and this unique group of like-minded people come together through a mentoring programme and a series of inspirational events to share best practice, create valuable connections and grow their business. as the legitimate voice of entrepreneurs in the north East, the Forum’s vision is to make it the number one region in the uK for entrepreneurship. We’re stronger together. To join the Entrepreneurs’ Forum call 0191 500 7780 or visit www.entrepreneursforum.net.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Fast-growing agency spreads its reach From its vantage on the south bank of the Tyne, r//evolution marketing has recently emerged as a national player in the toughest of sectors, as BQ reports. When stakeholders on the island of Arran sought a partner to market their misty destination to the world, it wasn’t to some creative hub in Glasgow or Edinburgh that they headed. Instead, hearing word of a rising marketing force from the North East of England, they enlisted the services of r//evolution marketing. The Gateshead agency’s recent contract win with Visit Arran marks the latest stage in the blossoming of a regional outfit into a truly national player with an increasingly weighty client list. It’s now over ten years since r//evolution’s inception as a one-woman band based in Hexham and founder Gill Burgess has carefully managed growth and diversification since. Gill, who moved her enterprise into the Northern Design Centre in 2012 to facilitate further expansion, says: “The recession took its toll on a lot of North East agencies but what got us through was the quality of our work, our ability to be continually innovative and responsive and also our talent retention. I’ve got members of my team that have been with me from the start. “We’ve got such a breadth of experience to draw on and so when we talk to potential clients we can do it with confidence. Lots of firms promise to deliver this and that but we can actually prove what we’ve delivered. “We deliver accountable returns on investment for our customers which is so important postrecession. Clients really need to understand what we are delivering and how we’re going to give them the best possible value.” This approach certainly looks to have paid off, with the agency registering a 25% increase in turnover - with substantially enhanced profitability in 2013 – and gearing up for a similar rise this year. In the early days, r//evolution chiselled out destination marketing as its niche, starting with a branding project for Hadrian’s Wall Heritage. Today this remains a core area of the business, with Beamish, Hadrian’s Wall Trust and Visit County Durham all listed among its clients.

Gill Burgess, managing director, r//evolution

We deliver accountable returns on investment for our customers which is so important post-recession. Outside the North East, the agency was also instrumental in helping Visit Bradford win the hotly contested ‘Curry Capital of the UK’ title last September through a successful PR and social media campaign. While many other areas of expertise are now covered by the company, it is this year hopeful of winning its first overseas destination marketing contract, potentially in Australia. “We’re also looking at emerging countries which are looking to market themselves within the UK, such as parts of Eastern Europe,” Gill says. As well as a number of major corporations like Arriva and International Marine Coatings, r//evolution also has a range of SME’s and startups on its books. Gill says: “We work with some really interesting SMEs across the North East. We know there’s a lot of great work done in that sector and it’s really important for the regional

economy.Where we are particularly strong is working with high growth organisations that are focused on innovation. Forward looking firms are a really good fit for us.” Such forward thinkers include Radfan – the North Tyneside-based firm behind a revolutionary product that helps radiators to heat rooms up faster. Fellow North East innovator Accapi Group, of County Durham, also enlists r//evolution for various profile-boosting and marketing activities. Accapi is a world leader in outdoor gear for dogs with adventurous owners. Gill says: “We’ve worked with the business since the beginning to build its brand and it’s grown phenomenally in that time.” In r//evolution’s own growth story, meanwhile, technology-led innovation has become an intrinsic part of its client work. When the Lumiere Festival bathed Durham in its magical glow last year, the app r//evolution created in the backdrop of the event became a global phenomenon in just two hours. Users were able to pick images to project onto a 3D render of Durham Cathedral, add a soundtrack and create a short film of their work. Of other recent technology-driven projects, Gill says: “We also design and build fully responsive websites and have innovative partnerships with a range of e-commerce operators in a variety of sectors. We excel in helping our customers optimise the value of mobile income generation.” With demand for such services continually growing, and a number of digitally-minded North East graduates set to join the r//evolution team this year, the firm looks well placed for another year of growth in 2014.

For more information on r//evolution marketing, which offers digital, design, branding, marketing consultancy, PR and social media services, visit www.r-evolution.co.uk.

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onE HuRDLE LoWERED

Despite talk of construction revival, the industry in the North East still suffers for a number of reasons. But on one aspect at least some progress appears to have been made. Brian Manning, chief executive of Esh Group, explains to BQ readers the background and the progress bQ - there’s a lot of ControVersy about proCureMent In your InDustry. hoW IMportant Is It? Brian Manning - Procurement is the lifeblood for construction companies. It’s first on our business agenda, and success in this field will make the difference between growing the business and shrinking it. But procurement, particularly in the public sector has become a minefield. This threatens the very existence of long established companies and stunts the ability of many SMEs to grow. What’s the threat It poses? Looking back, many household names of today had to start somewhere to grow. But they didn’t face the barriers that public procurement presents today. Times

change, and we recognise the public sector is under pressure to procure both efficiently and to avoid challenge. This drives the process. But there are concerns that with reduced spend and lowest common denominator procurement, the wider impact is missed. What Does proCureMent InVolVe? Six steps basically... 1. The client advertising a contract or now, more likely, a framework which covers a number of projects over a period that could be up to five years, then allow extensions beyond that. 2. Companies express interest and request a PQQ (prequalification questionnaire) and marking criteria.

Lucky for eight The north East Procurement organisation (nEPo) has at last named eight contractors for its £1bn regional building framework over the next four years. It had to abandon previous bids after legal advice warned its award process was vulnerable to challenges from failed bidders. Prequal submissions from more than 80 firms were received in april 2011 with around 40 moving to the more detailed evaluation and award process. But big variations in pricing schedules submitted by contractors made evaluation difficult, despite many endeavours to clarify bids. The categories have now been divided between construction-only and design and build capability, instead of by regions as attempted before. Lots are also divided between projects valued above or below £4m. For larger packages Graham Construction will not cover design and build, while Miller is on the panel for only design and build.

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3. Companies set to work answering the questions which invariably involve, financials, health & safety, past experience, references, cvs of staff, response to innovation and sustainability, socio-economic factors, company policies in environmental, equality and diversity, and quality assurance. 4. PQQs are marked by the client and, for example, there may be over 50 PQQs returned with around six asked to move forward to tender stage. This will involve more detailed analysis of projects and commercial aspects such as price. Bear in mind, with frameworks much of pricing is against a model, and individual projects awarded under the framework may differ widely from the model. 5. This could be followed by interview by panel, reality checks on projects ongoing, constructive dialogue, value engineering if the project is known before final award. 6. The award could involve a number of successful companies or one company. Is thIs outrageous? It’s easy to be critical of the long winded process to be followed. We think it far more constructive to concentrate on detail of the process, and try to create a level playing field for all companies, rather than play to strengths of large nationals that invariably benefit from how the process is structured, and the questions asked.

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SUCCESS STORY Can you elaborate? Examples of this would be: • Large £billion frameworks giving national coverage that automatically rules out regionals by virtue of minimum turnover stipulations and geography. • Single source frameworks such as Scape, which take food out of the mouths of regionals, allowing one company to take all. • Questions that ask for previous experience over and above what’s actually required, allowing national contractors to draw on experience across the country. For example, if you are asked to give previous experience of building a police headquarters, then regionals may struggle, since how many police headquarters have been built over the last three or five years in the North East? The question is: what’s the nature of the police headquarters, could similar experience be suitable? Suppose the question is: how do you grow and gain the experience if you’re not going to be given the opportunity to build something, unless you can demonstrate you’ve built it before? The answer is: look at overall competence and ability to innovate.

How do you grow and gain experience if you’re not given the opportunity to build something, unless you can demonstrate that you have built it before?

Is there a solution? North East Chamber of Commerce, working with Bond Dickinson law firm, have put a lot of work into this and come up with a document - Unlocking the Barriers - which aims to highlight good practice and create a level playing field. We’ve a practical example of this at Esh. We teamed up with Surgo and Tolent to bid for a large £multibillion education framework. We formed a joint venture company to bid, but were informed we’d still need to fill in the PQQ as individuals, and it would be marked on the lowest score. We thought it was logical to bring together the strengths of different organisations and that’s what we’d set it up to do. No points for innovation here and trying to keep work in the regions. Is there prospect of change? To be fair to the EFA, they’ve now put together regional frameworks and, along with our partners, we’re bidding for the North East and North West areas which >>

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SUCCESS STORY

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Two up: The Gateway Rehabilitation Centre at Middlehaven, Middlesbrough, and Britain’s Energy Coast Construction Skills Centre at Workington, two projects for which Esh was main contractor

could be worth around £1.375bn over the next four years. For areas like the north East, Yorkshire and Cumbria this could be massive for regional contractors. and can you imagine the effect if this was replicated in areas such as government ministries? Where Do you go froM here? Local authorities in the north East have a spend of around £1.6bn. To be fair again, they’re trying to spend this locally. But this seems addressed more towards smaller value works of under £50k. They have, as well as procuring locally via each local authority, a stake in nEPo (north East Procurement organisation) which we would describe as regional procurement. Both ourselves at Esh and nECC via its Buy north East Group have been pushing for this regional procurement vehicle to be used more to avoid local authorities using national vehicles such as Scape when they need to procure in a hurry. It may be worth explaining that clients can sometimes jump onto frameworks that have been set up to cater for speedy procurement and avoid the bid process. This again favours nationals as invariably they are national frameworks. Why not a subContraCt? Some procurers view locals/regionals as ‘tier 2’

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and suggest they talk to the nationals about working as subcontractors. But companies such as Esh, Surgo, Tolent and many others would view themselves as competitors. It’s very much horses for courses and it’s obvious that on large projects such as Tyne Tunnel, national contractor experience will be needed. But it’s so important to get regionals to the top tier to improve; • Numbers of private businesses with decision makers in regions. • Impact on competition. If same view nationals compete for every contract, what happens to long-term value for taxpayers? • Payments to supply chain. What Makes thIngs Worse? What makes it worse is that in the regions where Esh and many of our regional competitors work we are heavily involved in the community, looking to recruit across the breadth and depth of the skills available, from site operatives to graduates. If procurement continues to fail us and we have to resort to working for nationals, then the skills base we will require no doubt will be lower. What of the profits, where do they go? Esh has recently made bonus payments approaching £1m to its directors and staff for 2013 performance. We will also be making dividend payments of around £1.5m to shareholders who include

our staff. This money will find its way into the areas in which we work across the north and will not be shipped south to London. This same point was made in a recent survey by High Pay Centre so it’s not just us saying it. so hoW Do you WIn through? It’s only because at Esh we have such a diverse range of construction expertise across sectors both public and private that we can ride the waves and come up with some regional successes in terms of frameworks and projects. We also recognise that we work with very enlightened clients in the private sector such as northumbrian Water and Yorkshire Water, which do not get unintended consequences from the bid process. The same can be said for many of the housebuilders we work for. Their processes are not as long and tedious, yet they get best value - and relationships go back decades. as we write this we are delighted to hear we’ve succeeded in securing a position on all four nEPo construction frameworks. This is tinged slightly when we see we’re the only regional company to make it. never mind, we now have a vehicle to try and grow the business if we can get regional procurers to use nEPo. The battle continues... n

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Supporting acts going unnoticed The issue: Exporting to new markets is vital for North East businesses to prosper, but are the region’s companies utilising, or even aware of, the vast array of expertise at their disposal that can offer them support? Professor Callaghan opened saying that while the North East’s export figures were high they were incredibly dependent on Nissan’s performance: “If we take Nissan out, are we really good at exporting?” Caroline Theobald pointed out that export figures had been falling, so businesses weren’t accessing all the support available. Ken Dunbar has travelled extensively abroad. Cycling through South America for a year, he’d met a woman doctor, fed up with working in a “chaotic” hospital in Buenos Aires, who’d chosen to knit. “She now has amazing social media to drive this,” he said. Large parts of South America had been transformed through new thinking on trade. Dunbar added: “I’d like us to learn from the wider international dimension. I’d hope to see something develop that rebuilds Sunderland’s tradition of makers as an important dimension within the city centre, a showcase displaying the city’s uniqueness.” There’s huge potential for the city

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to have a showcase of its uniqueness.” Gillian Marshall said a survey by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum suggested about 35% of members were exporters. “They are not Nissan but do have companies turning over on average £1m-£10m,” she said. “They’re the key to a next generation of exporters. We talk about growth. Opportunities lie locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Our members sometimes just get out and do it – look at the market, do their research. Sometimes they don’t even do the research and make mistakes. But the Forum is all about sharing stories and helping each other. We recently heard a panel of three exporters, one of whom pointed out that if you don’t make mistakes you don’t move forward.” Dr Hamid Seddighi believes universities have a key role to play in encouraging and promoting exporting in businesses. But rather than helping at the end, when a product or service has become available, it would be

Taking part Gillian Marshall, business development manager, The Entrepreneurs’ Forum Paul McEldon, chief executive, North East Business and Innovation Centre Catherine Auld, international manager, Sunderland City Council David Dunn, chief executive, Sunderland Software City Gillian Hall, senior partner, Watson Burton Law Firm Nigel King, founder and head, Quest UAV Darren Williams, internet entrepreneur, Daz.co.uk Frankie Francis, Frankie and the Heartstrings Dr Hamid Seddighi, leader of the enterprise research cluster, University of Sunderland Faculty of Business and Law Ken Dunbar, chief executive, Sunderland Business Improvement District Stephen Levett, associate dean, University of Sunderland, Faculty of Business and Law Louise Hope, cluster general manager, Whitbread Professor Bernie Callaghan, dean, University of Sunderland, Faculty of Business and Law Mick Thurlbeck, visiting fellow in enterprise, University of Sunderland In the chair: Caroline Theobald Also present: Brian Nicholls (BQ) Venue: Private dining room at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland.

BQ is highly regarded as a leading independent commentator on business issues, many of which have a bearing on the current and future success of the region’s business economy. BQ Live is a series of informative debates designed to further contribute to the success and prosperity of our regional economy through the debate, discussion and feedback of a range of key business topics and issues.

better to work together from the point of creation – bringing “core creative” value from the design stage. “We have experts in design, marketing, advertising and other aspects. There could be benefits for both sides from joint working at design stage.” David Dunn: “Businesses need to be aware to be able to benefit from export services. Businesses may not be aware for three reasons. They’ve never heard about it - a marketing issue, simple to address. Or they may be aware but don’t know why they should use it. That’s

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I panicked about packing my bags to Nigeria for two weeks to do business, not knowing the country but knowing of the threats around current events there partly an aspiration thing and a North East issue – ‘I’m happy trading in the UK so why use export services?’ We must get people aspirational - wanting to go. The last issue is the most difficult. They know about it, are aware of what it does but don’t trust it. Why? Perhaps because they’ve never been there and done it before. Or they may have had a bad experience with other public services. That means persuading them to try again, this time to achieve something quickly. Let’s get awareness right before talking about benefit.” Nigel King: “We’ve only been going a couple of years but are doubling in size every six

months or so. Two years ago our exports were £60,000, last year £260,000. I panicked about packing my bags to Nigeria for two weeks to do business, not knowing the country but knowing of the threats around current events there. It was terrifying, first day. Then I fell in love with Nigeria, didn’t want to come home. I did a lot of business. Would it have happened without the help of UKTI, universities or others around? I think No. It gave me a support network and confidence. We now have 12 different countries banging on our door. We were terrified of China, sensing our product might be sucked up then we’d see a

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replica. But, having talked with UKTI, we’re about to take on a new staff member who’s Chinese. The concept is, if you do it correctly, and China’s getting more reliable, there is tremendous potential. One key to success is: stay with your fear, work with risks and manage them, then dive off the cliff hoping for some good. Two out of three times something good will come. The other time’s just part of moving forward.” Frankie Francis (entrepreneur and musical artist) said up to 10 North East bands enjoy international recognition. Over a decade or so they’ve probably sold over 1m records. “About eight months ago as our second record was coming out we were made aware HMV was going bust. We opened our own record shop in Sunderland. It was meant to run for two weeks. Now it’s more than a record shop. It’s a statement of intent – a coffee shop, an arts location, a community centre. We have 14 and 15-year-olds coming in, saying they’re starting a band and asking if we’ll sell their CD if they make one. We’re persuading people to be creative in our home city. We also get big bands to play. We’ve got our own label too, on which we distribute North East and other artists. People come for advice on how to get into the business. When we visit Australia or Japan we find their perception of North East music unbelievable. They think this is some kind of Left Bank. I’m asked: ‘What’s Sunderland like? It must be amazing.’ I try to paint Sunderland in the best light. We’re on the ground floor of a derelict six-floor building. We’d love all the levels full with seminar and workshop rooms and performing areas – as we see in Berlin where we play. Sunderland could be known worldwide in this way.” Catherine Auld manages Sunderland’s international partnerships – with Washington USA for example. “We have very much a partnership approach,” she said. “We work closely with the city events team, the university, the football club, the College and the Chamber of Commerce. That brings together partners all over the city, and anyone interested in engaging internationally. Economic development’s a key driver long term when we go into schools and university. It’s also about bringing forward people with aspirations and skills to benefit the city. We shouldn’t >>

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underestimate Nissan’s value but try to grow success like that in other areas. We’re talking to businesses to find out what they need to export more effectively. We’ve worked with the UKTI to take trade missions to Washington. Most recently we promoted the software and creative industries. People working in glass and ceramics here exhibited. But do we know where our businesses are scoring export achievement? Do we have that collective intelligence? How do we build it up? And how do we harness the international student community that’s here, on Sunderland’s London campus and its campuses overseas to help us create growth?” Gillian Hall, whose firm works with exporters, believes a credibility gap exists, with many people not knowing what’s overseas. She told representatives of the university: “It strikes me from reading reports how important our universities are. You have all these international students. You have gone out there and done it. And you’re used to teaching people. The

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challenge to me in exporting, it appears, is to persuade many companies in the region to get out there and do it. We talk about exporters. We also must start thinking about importers and matching services to the customer.” Stephen Levett quoted Nigel’s business as a case study. “We were asked whether we might have any students able to talk to a business about exporting to Nigeria and Africa. We had five PhD students from there who were happy to chat with Nigel in the faculty. They talked about the different business cultures, and had one or two contacts as well. It was a good little microcosm of the sort of resource we have. When I first joined the university I was struck by how vast that resource is. Among a couple of hundred students who joined the faculty in January are some of the most politically connected and economically successful students in the world. Rumour has it, a year ago we had the son of the 10th richest man in China on our business course. What an opportunity that sort of thing provides. Also,

we sometimes forget how much business the North East can do with London and the South East. Reportedly 80% of the UK’s new private sector jobs have been grown in the South East. That’s a reminder of how business is about increasing growth within this country as well. (“It’s like another country there anyway,” another participant declared). Louise Hope said her firm, with a new site opening in Sunderland, has introduced a graduate scheme for new managers. “I didn’t realise how much resource I could pull from the university,” she said. “We’re a service and if business falls so do we. So we’ve a vested interest to ensure we have a relationship with the university, with the Nissans and with everybody else.” Mick Thurlbeck: “I come from a project bias and background. Nothing speaks louder than hard evidence, I’ve found. My main paid work was for a company in Darlington called Stapleton International. I’m not aware of any body – local, national or regional – with a clue what Stapleton does, its turnover, or the percentage of that from exports. In gathering statistics there’s a big conflict, I think. I served my time on this spot when it was a shipyard’s drawing office long before it became the Glass Centre. In 1979 I left the shipyards and I’ve been working internationally since. Working abroad on exports, I’ve probably contributed into Sunderland about £8m. It didn’t all come to me, of course! Exporting isn’t entirely about goods and manufacturing.” In whichever country he’s worked he has found founts of knowledge in the shape of fellow countrymen fixing local problems. He’s presently working in China and Singapore, with an opening due soon of a national university of Singapore. “They’re desperate for expertise we have in the North East,” he says. One outcome may be an intern scheme whereby expertise from Sunderland could be called in. He queried Brazil’s position as an emerging market. “I talked to people who’ve recently been there. It’s an absolute shambles. With all their construction and infrastructure projects, their massive oil and gas projects there, this and that... they haven’t a clue what to do. Our locals can put it right. But we need to get in there first. If we’ve got some case studies from the like of people here, or if we can contact

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people like some of us here who’ve been to a particular place we don’t need anyone to read to us from a glossy manual.” He added that a company he had in partnership with the university had put a management system in for a firm putting bridges over a Formula 1 race track. “No-one has ever asked me how we did it, how much the turnover and the contribution to exports, apart from during a session held by NOF Energy. A guy who’d come up for it told me I’d been talking bonkers and it would never work. I said: ‘Hold on. We’ve done it.’ But those statistics aren’t entered. Nobody reports to them.” Darren Williams, who has sold his hair extensions business after nine years, said it had sold about 30,000 products online. It sent out about 10,000 a month and probably exported about 3,000 of those. “I’d echo Mick’s comments about where export figures come from because about £400,000 of our turnover was exported.” He has since been consulting, helping firms to grow online. He added: “I’ve been working with a company in Peterlee. They’ve managed to get their Amazon sales up to about 40,000 a month – pretty impressive in such a short time. About 30% of it is exported. With consumer business, Amazon can tap into a gigantic market place especially in Europe – it gets tens of millions of people every month – and it has a service called FBA (fulfilment by Amazon). You send your inventory to fulfilment centres around Europe. They fulfil the order, do the customs service, language, and all you need worry about is restocking. You can start with a very small amount of stock, test the risk then scale up. You can order market reviews, look at your competitors’ products and see what sells. Looking at reviews, good and bad, help you make your product better. Internet moves so fast it’s difficult to stay ahead, so there’s an opportunity for a road show round

the North East. Professor Callaghan said most businesses went through a process thinking exporting was scary but easy trading in familiar areas had been blown out of the water by the internet. “Now you can wake and think: ‘Where’s my business’? Answer: anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse - without need of a trade mission.” Ken Dunbar: “The city centre has to change too.” Paul McEldon said the North East BIC was

I’ve been working with a company who’ve managed to get their Amazon sales up to about 40,000 a month in a short time. About 30% is exported

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bringing on entrepreneurialism but getting SMEs to export was often hard because of mindsets. “UKTI have a lot of good stuff out there, some great road shows and great trade missions,” he felt. People often think only big companies export, but he cited a successful lifestyle business, run by a taxidermist who’d only ever previously traded in Sunderland area. He eventually proved to have the most successful lifestyle business the BIC has supported, selling to Saudi princes and others around the world. Of the businesses situated at BIC, 38% export. Now the BIC runs an Erasmus programme. “We have six businesses under a year old. One’s going to Italy, two to Spain, one to Turkey, all to other businesses. We get money to pay them – €1,000 or whatever - to go for two or three months. The businesses abroad hopefully get something because they usually hope to export to the UK. But it works both ways. People don’t know things like that are available. We need to get >>

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better at exposing it.” All agreed exporting is vital – with a proviso that could also mean to other parts of this country. Were firms using all the expertise >> at their disposal? The feeling was No. Dr Seddighi (who recalled having been able to help Nigel because they’d chatted at a previous BQ debate) observed: “That was a chance thing. We want to remove that chance. The university can come in, but in a structured fashion, at core creation. That need not be expensive. We get in return from business information to use in teaching. Professor Callaghan said the university had five international strands – an internationalised curriculum, international students, an international faculty (“which we have a little bit but not really”), active overseas delivery – “and the bit I think we and all UK universities miss, the alumni.” He and David on a visit to

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China had discovered 125 of the most senior people in a major city of China were actually Sunderland University graduates. “Nobody knew about it,” he said. “That’s criminal - just not getting the offer right.” Ken Dunbar: “It seems foreign students come here, study then go. How do you get spin-off and people deciding to stay and start a business here?” Professor Callaghan: “Our faculty has this year gone 51% international. Every one of those students has brought lots of money and spends it in our city. But how do we get them more inclusive and the business district more inclusive? Getting foreign currency to come in is exporting.” Frankie Francis said they had tried to integrate Chinese students and wanted them to be a regular part of things but had not been successful. Mick Thurlbeck suggested:

“They’ll go back to China, and the better their experience in Sunderland, when they become rich business people that’s when there’ll be possibilities.” David Dunn said the first essential was not to make firms aware of public support services but of market opportunities. “UKTI offers a broad brushstroke and market opportunity. But depth comes when you engage with them and talk about giving some money to do some research. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But a lot more should be done on a very broad level towards awareness, then engagement, then success. We should be meeting with people who’ve been abroad and done it. How you formalise that is difficult.” Mick Thurlbeck said that if someone was happy with relations they’d had with companies in a certain country they could help others get an introduction. Gillian Marshall

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Actually managing social media can invade creative space. Keeping the balance between using social media yourself and managing to create space... felt that while UKTI was good for some things contacts like that were the icing on the cake. Gillian Hall said her firm would be running seminars in Newcastle and Leeds shortly, and getting conversations going that would pass on hints would move people forward. Gillian Marshall: “One could ring people in the region here and ask if they’ve contacts in certain places because I bet they have. You never know who you may be sitting next to at a function or what their networks are.” Stephen Levett: “Often students in a strange and different environment don’t naturally network. But they have incredible social networks. I don’t think we as an educational institution quite understand. I think it’s an untapped resource.” Frankie Francis: “The social network is important for a lot of businesses now. We have 40,000 followers around the world. Because of that, opportunities arise.” Caroline Theobald observed that while knowledge is usually transferred from older to younger people, there’s opportunity now for really successful young people to explain how to use the new way of working, derisking it for others. Frankie Francis said if you didn’t talk to anyone on the internet there was no point in being there. Ken Dunbar told of someone who had crowdfunded an album. He warned: “Actually managing social media can invade creative space. Keeping the balance between using social media yourself and managing to create space... how do you sell yourself and at the same time manage the core product? That probably won’t come naturally to everyone wishing to grow their business.” Mick Thurlbeck: “Get someone on your staff to do it.”

Ken Dunbar: “I accept that. But part of the personality of that business is being online. A lot of thinking is needed to develop and innovate in the right way.” Darren Williams: “Things can be taught in business studies.” Ken Dunbar: “What sort of programme development a budding entrepreneur needs to manage a balance within something global seems scary to me.” Dr Seddighi: “It’s important to focus on what you can really do well. If you’re good at creating and managing, things like marketing and advertising can be done elsewhere. The university can help there, but at the design stage – in software for example. You’re using the internet – good. But you could have asked about market issues.” David Dunn: “Only if the university doesn’t charge – otherwise it’s taking the commercial sector out.” Dr Seddighi: “Nigel was able to lead a session about innovation for my students in exchange for knowledge he received.”

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Louise Hope: “I work with visitors to the region. If nothing’s coming into the region I will struggle. But also, how do I build relationships with my local community?” Stephen Levett said If in providing education universities could support businesses, that would be brilliant because universities can learn so much too. But it should be clear what can and can’t be done. Gillian Hall stressed the importance of avoiding damage to marketing as a business. Nigel King pointed out also that business needed fast results. Invited to suggest how businesses could be made aware of expertise available, participants said: Sending out emails isn’t enough. Free road shows for people on limited budgets. Make seminars topical and specifically relevant to firms represented. Regular networking among the debate participants would enable them to spread details of contacts and other topically helpful information to potential exporters. Talk up Sunderland and its surrounding area. Tackling parochialism is about “if I can do it you can.” A lot of successful businesses in Sunderland don’t have a presence in the heart of the city. Something to show off this success is needed. BQ might run a series by exporters in the region, explaining how they made the breakthrough. More businesses could work together on exporting without fear of competition. n

Alumni connections Getting a business or law degree from the University of Sunderland is only the start. On graduation our students become part of a network of over 100,000 alumni throughout the world. Our Alumni Association provides access to on-line and face-to-face networks not only within the North East and London but also internationally. Its aim is to encourage professional networking and ongoing involvement in the life of the university. Many of our students are industry and business leaders and in a recent survey over 90% of our alumni said they were proud to have a Sunderland degree. The Association is committed to supporting recent graduates in the early stages of their career and enables those graduates who are established in their career to give back their time and advice to support the next generation. It is a great way to stay connected to your subject of study, your class mates and make new life changing connections. Stephen Levett, Associate Dean (Recruitment and Development) Faculty of Business and Law, University of Sunderland. www.sunderland.ac.uk/alumni

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

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Entrepreneurs breathe new life into hotel, £30m leisure plan will transform former bus station, relocations galore hint at business revival, Lakes Distillery set for summer launch, pub reclaims its name Regent Centre: Health staff to relocate

Park in Washington it has been instructed to sell 90,000sq ft of industrial space. It has also acquired more than 150,000sq ft of new office instructions since appointing new office agency head, Simon Taylor. He joined last October from Jones Lang LaSalle where he had been associate director in office agency for eight years until the Newcastle office closed.

>> Deal of the year has health staff on the move The largest disposal or acquisition in Newcastle during 2013 has been the sale of the 99,899sq ft Regent Point office building, Regent Centre, to Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust. It was a sale by Gavin Black & Partners acting jointly with DTZ for T Perkin & T Webb, joint fixed charge receivers at CBRE. The trust was represented by GVA. The fully glazed entrance building with four open plan floors of some 25,000sq ft each has parking for 184 vehicles. Chris Pearson at Gavin Black & Partners, says: “Grade A space within greater Newcastle is now critically low.” Tony Wordsworth, head of offices, GVA says the trust can now centralise a number of functions and free up space for future clinical redevelopment at various hospital sites. The price was undisclosed.

>> Office work grows Naylors Chartered Surveyors has recently taken on new industrial agency instructions of more than 600,000 sq ft of warehouse and factory space in an area between Middlesbrough and Blyth. At Monument

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>> Family group grows Father and son entrepreneurs Mike and Neel Chawla have bought the 154-bedroom Holiday Inn at Seaton Burn and are investing £2m to have it specialise as a wedding venue. They already own the Mercure Newcastle, George Washington in Washington and the Quality Hotel in Boldon, plus others in Yorkshire and the North West. Neel Chawla’s Ailantus chain of £12m turnover has hotels in Cheshire, Oldham, Yorkshire and Manchester. Newcastle Law Firm Mincoffs advised on the multi-million pound deal. It is hoped to swell the Holiday Inn’s £3m revenues by 25% over the next two years.

>> Student market grows

How the new Crowne Plaza Hotel could look

>> Hotel under way After almost six months on site, awardwinning mechanical and electrical engineers Desco expressed delight at progress on the £200m Stephenson Quarter development in Newcastle City Centre, in which it has been involved for nine years. The Sunderland firm has provided the M&E designs for the £200m development on 10 acres behind Newcastle Central Station. First phase construction includes a 251 bed four-star+ Crowne Plaza Hotel and conference centre, also a combined 357 space multi-storey car park and 35,000sq ft of Grade A office space. Developers are Silverlink, the builders Miller Construction. Funding is by way of Newcastle City Council, RBS, Aviva and the NE LEP. Desco director George Gifford says: It’s great to start to see progress.”

Work is under way on a £3m extension of Middlesbrough College, where student numbers will double from next August.

>> Now showing Building starts this summer on a £30m leisure scheme sure to reinvigorate Darlington’s town centre. The Feethams Leisure project will transform the town’s 1.9 acre former bus station into a cinema, hotel and restaurant complex. A nine screen multiplex Vue cinema will anchor the scheme, which includes an 80 bed Premier Inn Hotel, restaurants, bars and shops. Lettings for the development expected to be completed by autumn 2015 have already been secured to national operators Nandos and Prezzo. Two further restaurant units are under offer to other national brands. The project is one of several leisure developments that Terrace Hill plans around the country. Chief executive Philip Leech says: “Leisure is seeing strong occupier demand. With regional economies now improving we foresee increasing opportunities for us in this area.”

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Bigger and bigger: GT chairman Geoff Turnbull expects 35% growth in turnover as he expands the manufacturing space

>> Firms in bloom are eating up the space across the North Like first crocuses of spring, a flurry of extension and relocations is usually an early hint of business flowering after a difficult spell – and the signs are now widely evident in the North East of England. Outstandingly at Peterlee, GT engineering group has doubled the size of its site – taking premises next to its advanced manufacturing plant at Whitehouse Business Park. Chairman Geoff Turnbull’s group, a specialist in emission reduction products for industrial vehicles, exports to 60 countries now. Those sales, bringing 80% of turnover, grew by 25% over the past year. Floor space has been increased by 50,000sq ft to cope with 35% growth in turnover expected in 2014. At Blaydon, Owen Pugh Group has opened a new £900k depot to expand its civil engineering. This arm, Owen Pugh GDC, works on drainage, environment, flood alleviation, coastal and river works and urban regeneration for councils and utility companies. Now it will operate from a three acre site on Factory Road. The acquisition, backed by a £750,000 finance package from HSBC’s North East corporate team, follows growth in the division showing turnover up from £4m in 2008/2009 to £13m likely in this financial year. Chairman John Dickson says: “An extension and refurbishment of existing facilities would

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

not have been a satisfying long-term solution. Now there will be more space for organising and servicing vehicles and their crews, more room for plant and equipment and for expanding the range and quantity of parts and materials held in stock. Additional office space will facilitate growth in engineering and project management teams.” The riverfront site - 15,800sq ft of office and storage space plus parking - will also give HCS Drain Services, the group’s drainage arm based in Stockton, a northern hub. Later the premises, formerly owned by civil engineering and building materials supplier Burdens, will also be home to Owen Pugh’s construction business now at the group’s Dudley headquarters. Meanwhile BW Medical Accountants, which opened in Newcastle last July, has relocated to 6,000sq ft BW House at Gosforth Business Park, the new head office also for sister company Blackett Walker. Following an investment of over £1m by Blackett Walker Ltd to launch BW Medical and buy the new head office, the company now has more than 180 medical clients across the UK. It estimates that fewer than half of GP practices are currently supported by specialist medical accountants. In Sunderland, BMS Electrical Services has taken a second unit at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC), five years after moving onto the Wearfield site. The company designs, manufactures, installs and commissions electrical process systems for industries ranging from power and water to food and drink. Its North East clients include Greggs and Port of Tyne Authority. The £1.4m turnover firm plans to add more staff to its 10 existing, and credits support from Sunderland City Council. In the south of the region, new homes have been found for two businesses on Middlesbrough’s Riverside Park. The deals, for Gullwing Fund 2, owner of the buildings on Mickleton Road, bring in Steve Brettle Fabrications and Restore plc. Steve Brettle Fabrications (SBF), a long established Middlesbrough firm, was previously in Bowes Road. The company has bought a 11,116sq ft unit, doubling its floor space. It specialises in pipe supports, tank repairs, access platforms, safety gates, stairways and ladders.

Restore, a London-based office support service with presence across the UK, has signed a 10 year lease on a 12,086sq ft unit. This augments its existing base at Stockton. Sanderson Weatherall were the chartered surveyors behind the deal. Joint agent is Storeys ES. At Newton Aycliffe , marine engineers Tekmar Energy will have a second factory from June – only yards from its existing home. It is switching some production to a former Tetley Tea warehouse, hoping to create more jobs too. Further down the A1, at Richmond, family run welding machine manufacturer Lamba Welding Systems has relocated to premises five times bigger (20,000sq ft) within Gallowfields Estate, as it celebrates a £1m contract win. The firm supplies businesses making temporary fencing worldwide for sporting and entertainment events. Its £1m order is from a North-East industrial flooring manufacturer serving the energy and offshore sector. Lamba earlier supplied for the London Olympics.

>> New home owners Grainger plc, the UK’s largest sharequoted home owner and manager, has sold a portfolio of properties for £87.6m to Clifden Holdings. The Newcastle firm has parted with 1,203 homes.

>> THIRTEEN lucky for SMEs Newcastle-based sales performance specialists Durhamlane have recently opened a new office space in the city centre. The newly refurbished 1920s terraced building, named Thirteen, is a blend of old and new. It has been restored, interior designed and technically equipped to provide workspace for start-up and SMEs.Thirteen, based at 13 Windsor Terrace, will house some of the region’s fast growing businesses. Building features include 10/100Mb/s fibre connection with super fast connectivity, managed service with state of the art telephony, large rooms and a boardroom available to hire.

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY >> Offices to open soon The 6.6m Washington Business Centre under construction in Sunderland has reached a key milestone with exterior works now completed at the building, at the entrance to Turbine Business Park. Preletting opportunities are now being offered to regional and national businesses. The building will act as a hub for up to 30 growing businesses, with high specification offices, workshops and hybrid units just off the A19 and A1231. It will create or sustain more than 200 jobs. The 5,200sq metre centre is being developed by Barmston Developments, a joint venture between Wilton Developments and Clugston Estates, for Sunderland City Council. The contractor is GMI Construction. It includes 24 office spaces, seven hybrid units which include office and workshop space, and 13 workshops. There are two meeting rooms and 102 free on-site parking spaces. The design includes a central atrium, with breakout and refreshment points, as well as shower and changing facilities for tenants.

Cheers and welcome: A visitor centre at the new Lakes Distillery near Bassenthwaite will be open this summer

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more than 100 years, will also launch the first of its drinks then - gin. The visitor centre will have an interactive information area, guided distillery tours and, of course, a tasting room. Its bar and bistro will exhibit Cumbrian produce, and there will be a shop also. A board room will host private tastings and dinners.Last year the company created a new concept in blended whiskies, The One, which is claimed as the first blend of whiskies from around the British Isles. It also opened membership to its Founders’ Club, whose subscribers get a collection of the first bottles of The Lakes Malt to be produced. Eventually the clean pure air, rugged mountains and fast flowing rivers there will give rise to malt whisky, gin and vodka. The Lakes Malt will be available after maturing from 2019. Meanwhile this summer The Lakes Gin will be available – Cumbria’s only native gin. All the products will have a North East connection. Nigel Mills, the Whitley Bay entrepreneur and chairman of the Entrepreneurs Forum, has a financial stake in the business. And RSM Solutions, a family business opened at Eaglescliffe in 2008, will be bottling. RSM was started by Richard Marsden, who took over the Lion’s Den brew and bottle operation of Cameron’s Brewery at Hartlepool. Paul Currie, managing director of The Lakes Distillery, founded the awardwinning Isle of Arran distillery.

>> Confidence climbs as doors re-open >> Spirited haunt for visitors A visitor centre at the new Lakes Distillery is predicted to become a popular attraction among the Lake District’s 38m visitors a year when it opens near Bassenthwaite this summer. Housed in former Victorian model farm buildings with spectacular views of the Cumbrian fells, the Lakes Distillery, Lakeland’s first new whisky distillery for

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Confidence was high across the main property sectors as agencies re-opened following the winter break. Tim Evans, head of Knight Frank’s Newcastle office, says: “Quality space in the city centre is diminishing quickly. Flagship space is commanding interest. Wellbar Central has only 40,000sq ft remaining.” The refurbished 40,000sq ft block The Pearl could spur the city centre market. And The Rocket, one of the few speculative office developments in the UK regions at Stephenson

Quarter, is expected to draw interest. Quorum Business Park edging on the city has talks ongoing for some of the 400,000sq ft available there. G9, the collective voice for commercial property agents, hopes to be working more closely with the public sector, in particular the NE LEP and the LA7 - if this proposed cluster of councils actually comes about. Simon Haggie, partner, Knight Frank industrial agency, says that against demand for space there is an issue over supply of development land. “There are traditional hotspots such as Washington and Boldon - specifically the A19 corridor, A1M and A194 triangle where a large new business park has been promoted previously but was rejected by the planning system in favour of existing brownfield sites,” he adds. “I think ambitions were too grand both in scale and in the fact that a more traditional industrial estate, rather than a business park, is the market’s preference.” On Team Valley, UK Land Estates continues to redevelop older properties, on Dukesway Central for example. Cramlington’s pivotal location beside the A19/A1 attracts strong demand, but the stock of industrial property coming forward is not of sufficient quality or quantity, says Haggie. It’s now some 75 years since Team Valley Trading Estate, today one of Europe’s largest employment areas, started to take shape. Today it comprises 700 acres of which UK Land Estates owns 650 freehold. There are some 700 business units there - from large industrial units to incubator space. More than 20,000 people work there. Older properties are continually being upgraded, at Earls Park North and the former Huwood building for example, now suited to mixed use. At Gosforth, recent arrivals into Regent Centre’s serviced office facility, Grainger Suite, include Checked & Vetted and Compusolve IT Solutions. Tony Hordon, Head of DTZ’s Newcastle office, expects 2013 will have shownNewcastle city centre take-up level exceed the five year average take-up of 150,000sq ft, thanks partly to PwC and Barclays Bank, which have acquired 23,000sq ft and 35,000sq ft respectively.

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Outside the city he expects both Enterprise Zone business parks Quorum and Cobalt to perform. In the industrial market, DTZ’s head of North East industrials and logistics says that of the larger deals in 2013 around half were sales, highlighting a welcome increase in bank lending to owner occupiers. He sees only four large Grade A buildings available in the North East equating to about 700,000sq ft. One building is under offer, with interest in the other three ‘serious’. He also expects pockets of ‘build to suit’ development of larger sheds centred around key locations such as the A1 (M) and A19 corridors near Washington and Gateshead, the new Hitachi Rail plant at Merchant Park, Newton Aycliffe, and possibly the north banks of the River Tyne. Gordon Hewling, director of the building

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

consultancy team at GVA’s Newcastle, says: “Over the last six months or so construction activity has intensified, particularly in the housing sector.”

>> £6.6m for pub with a view The popular Pitcher and Piano pub on Newcastle’s Quayside is for sale at £6.6m. One of Marston Group’s 20 UK pubs of the same name, its annual rental charge is around £350,000. Marston, the Wolverhampton brewer and pub operator, wants to generate more cash to expand across its UK sites. Commissioned in 1995 by Tyne and Wear Development Corporation and Amec Developments, the two storey pub with attractive glass frontage giving views up and down the Tyne is leased to Marston’s, whose agreement will be renewed for 35 years more. The building of 10,433sq ft (plus a seating

>> The first lady Northumberlandia, the female landform developed by regional property and energy firm Banks Group and the Blagdon Estate – and claimed to be the world’s largest human earth sculpture of its kind – has won best landscape architecture category in the ‘world’s best’ final of the 2013 International Property Awards. It was chosen ahead of other shortlisted candidates from Turkey, Malaysia and Mexico.

area outside of 2,000sq ft) benefits from its proximity to the Baltic and Sage, several hotels and a major office surround, and had a £350,000 refurbishment last year. A Los Angeles property firm, CBRE, is handling the deal, with £6.625m equalling a net initial yield of 5%. Elsewhere in the Quayside area the former Fever bar, sold through Newcastle agents Christie & Co, now trades as the Bridge Inn. And a budget hotel of 104 rooms is being prepared at Proctor House, an Edwardian office building partly occupied before by the Kublai Khan Mongolian restaurant, and partly used also as warehousing. Hotel chain Tune, which has hotels in Malaysia, Indonesia, London (4) and Edinburgh (1), is spending £8.3m on restoration. Tune Newcastle will be the eighth hotel to open in the city since 2011, and five more are planned.

Development Opportunity For Sale

Former Petrol Filling Station Stanley Terrace, Morpeth NE61 1PA

In the making: A computer generated image of how industrial units may look at Whitworth Road, Washington

• Superb town centre location • Potential to develop for a variety of uses • 0.13 Ha (0.34 acres)

>> Facelift for units Silverstone Building Consultancy has been instructed to project manage the refurbishment of a portfolio of 22 industrial units on Whitworth Road in Washington. The vacant units, previously part of Valad’s portfolio, have been acquired by IO Asset Management, which is out to attract new occupiers. The units, part of Armstrong Industrial Estate, range from 2,900sq ft to 12,472sq ft. They are expected to be ready within three months.

Contact:

Carl O’Brien, Storeys Edward Symmons carl.o’brien@es-group.com

0191 232 6291 es-group.com

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ENTREPRENEUR

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ENTREPRENEUR

in association with

VaLDa uPS THE HEaT FoR TV CHEFS Valda Goodfellow tells Brian Nicholls how she and her husband Paul are adding sizzle to the new season of screened cookery battles being beamed into our homes >>

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Big drive to satisfaction They may not realise it, but it’s a fair chip that world class golfers of Europe and the uSa, between rounds of vying for the Ryder Cup for the 40th time at Gleneagles next September, will have had a Goodfellows contribution to their five star dining at the famous hotel there. “Gleneagles are fabulous to deal with,” Valda confirms. “We’ve known them a long time. and we know you must have the product they want at any given time.” They’ve also been called in by the new Chester Hotel aspiring to five stars in aberdeen. Their London client list includes the Ritz, the Dorchester and the Gordon Ramsey Group. and in the north East they do business with Close House, Seaham Hall, Jesmond Dene House, the much praised young Michelin-starred Raby Hunt restaurant at Summerhouse near Darlington, and The Star at Harome, north Yorkshire a recent customer has also been Britain’s Best Dish chef Simon McKenzie, for whom they helped equip the new urban Kitchen restaurant in Guernsey. Paul, who’s from Sunderland, was Simon’s mentor at catering college in the north East. “Paul was an obvious choice for advice when I was tasked with equipping a new restaurant from scratch,”

as we sit through another year of TV cookery competition that programmers swear is meat and drink to millions of us, none will be more delighted, besides chefs involved, than Valda and Paul Goodfellow. They, though offscreen, will have figured in some of the shows, especially BBC’s Great British Menu, where eminent chefs jostle for

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the chance to prepare a four course banquet for the famous. Some kitchen tools used when the new series starts in May or June will have been provided, even created, through the Goodfellows’ young company while it has been enjoying a £2m maiden turnover. “TV’s cookery affects us massively,” Valda says. “Quite a lot of chefs are using our products

increasingly on shows. We’ve achieved profile very quickly. Chefs looking for something different in presentation have been coming to us. and public interest in the programmes is amazing. People like to see others create things, even if they’re not going to do it themselves.” Managing director Valda, 54, used to be managing director of Mr Lazenby’s, of sausage fame, which she steered through the BSE outbreak, turning the Thornaby firm into a £10m business. She’s also former managing director of Continental Chef Supplies, and in a previous generation of business support chaired Tees Valley Manufacturing Challenge and was director of Business Link Tees Valley (as Valda Morris). She and husband Paul, 55, owned Continental Chef Supplies until selling it to Bunzl plc international distribution group in 2010. Their Goodfellow & Goodfellow now perceives more opportunity at the higher end of the market, putting emphasis on quality, innovation and customer service. Their service to luxury hotels, restaurants and sports venues in quality tableware and innovative kitchen equipment is meeting demand at home and abroad after 18 months’ trading. Is it the ethical innuendo of the company name, hinting at honesty and reliability like, say, noble Brothers or Fortune & Co?

Loyalty in this very competitive industry only takes you so far. You must also have something really relevant, new and exciting continually. And availability is critical

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Valda, still happy to be nicknamed “the Sausage Queen”, laughs vivaciously and doesn’t rule it out. She admits: “We had thought of something like unique Service Providers – uSP, unique selling point, quality being ours. a friend who’s also a chef said, ‘why don’t you use your name? Everybody knows who you are’. I’m glad we were persuaded.” So Goodfellow & Goodfellow - G&G for short - are selling as far away as australia, with 15 staff in total at head office and warehouse in Peterlee and at a showroom in Baker Street, London, which customers from Scotland and Ireland don t need Sherlock Homes to guide them to since they shop there regularly. Top chefs are changing. They once tended to work in isolation. now they have a professional network in which the Goodfellows are known and liked. Paul, who trained as a chef on leaving school, has worked extensively in Britain and also in Switzerland, Germany and the Caribbean. Many existing chefs and aspirants he knew, while chef himself at the Royal Garden Hotel in London, are executive chefs now. The present executive at the Ritz trained with Paul at college. “That network of contacts built up over 20 or more years, you can’t buy,” Valda points out. “Paul has done their job. He knows what they go through during a day, what product they’ll use and what product they’ll respond to. They know in turn they’ll get very personal service. Some we’ve known for more than 20 years. But loyalty in this very competitive industry only takes you so far. You must also have something really relevant, new and exciting continually. and availability is critical.” There are trends in presentation. “Cooking’s a bit like fashion,” she says. Chefs hunger for new ideas to set them apart. They know what they can achieve with their food. We suggest how to combine products that create new presentations.” Good news, this, for small craft producers of the north East who work in wood, silver, pewter, stone – any material appropriate to food presentation. For while the Goodfellows trade off exclusive ties with manufacturers of tableware, equipment and chefs’ clothing, and import certain items such as bone china >>

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From ‘dropout’ to MD Valda at 18 fancied manufacturing as she left King James I Grammar School at Bishop auckland. It led to her abandoning a university education at Leeds after one day. She recalls: “I’d noticed manufacturing everywhere. I loved the idea of an environment where people create things.” Yet her two brothers and sisters are artistic – like their Latvian father, who was otherwise a big influence on Valda too. He’d been detained at Windlestone Hall, the 19th Century family home and birthplace of prime minster anthony Eden, while it served as a prisoner of war camp during World War II. He stayed on after the war and married Valda’s mum. So, in part, sentimental attachment to the area prompted the Goodfellows to buy their present home five years ago. Rejection of university meant, in her words, she started her career as a dropout. But her ideal was soon realised. She found a job, trainee production controller at Rediffusion, making television sets at St Helens, Bishop auckland, near her birthplace at Westerton. “a factory full of women can outdo a factory full of men any day in many things,” she laughs. “It broadened my vocabulary and a lot of other aspects of my education.” She wrote a project during studies for her works manager’s certificate at Darlington College. She had noted how people were starting to use computers in offices, using punch cards and tapes for accounting. as a production controller, she worked out how material requirements planning could be computerised, a ‘just in time’ stab at stock control. So impressed, Rediffusion let her install it. “I had a set of manuals and two weeks’ training to do the whole system. and I found it easy because I’ve a logical mind... love the way programmes work, even though I couldn’t programme anything.” Later she did other computer installations for Dufay Paints at Shildon, then MTM chemicals group at Hutton Rudby. By then Valda wanted to run a business. She moved from advising on computers to advising on business. She says, there’s no black magic – “you have to do the basics well”. She later got into management consultancy and became an early personal business advisor for Business Link at Tees Valley - one of only a few women from hundreds of other applicants. Valda convinced a panel of 12 interviewers from the public sector she was up to the job. Later, while advising Mr Lazenby, she accepted the post of operations director, raising her expertise to a new level, and within a year she was managing director. She guesses with that she became the only female managing director of a meat plant. “I’d never set out to run a sausage factory, never before run any other kind of food production. and I don’t think I’ve eaten sausage since eating sausage every day for six years.” But she remained managing director for five years – “Mr Lazenby was an amazing personality, a complete one-off”. and she showed her knack of turning challenge into opportunity, come the outbreak of BSE. “I’ve never seen an industry in such mass panic,” she remembers. “now we know more because it has happened a few times. We were lucky at that time because the proportion of our products affected by beef or beef components was very small. We met and saw it as a market opportunity since we did mainly pork products. I said we had to get noticed.” Recognising that many store buyers were in the 24-25 age range “and usually enthused by very few things”, she sent out a fax to them headed: ‘Do you practice safe sex? If so buy safe products’. The fax went on to explain how Lazenby’s products were of pork, not beef. “Everybody read it. It was a high risk strategy but why not?” It worked. Business boomed. Then Lazenby in 1998 sold out to Cranswick. Valda, having guided the firm successfully through BSE and the sale, stayed for two more years. But by the time production had switched from Thornaby to Hull the magic for her had gone. She did consultancy work for about a year with one of Mr Lazenby’s former partners called Michael Maddison, then with Chipchase nelson accountants and business advisors at Bishop auckland. It was he who introduced Paul to Valda. and the rest, now, you know.

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In any market there are always people outside the trade who’d like to attain almost semiprofessional standards, and I love to encourage this and steel knives from Japan, they also plan, design, customise and produce for themselves. Valda champions manufacturing in the region and hopes Goodfellows will regularly contribute to its revival. “Creating many products distinguishes us from competition,” she points out. “We’ll come up with an idea for something a chef hasn’t even asked for, and perhaps fill a gap in the market. Leading chefs don’t want mass produced items. So I’m trying to find crafts people that I can help develop a channel to market.” “I love manufacturing. I’m pleased it’s picking up after nearly 20 years. There are manufacturers with maybe only one or two employees producing beautiful products.” Valda moves between Peterlee and London fortnightly, Paul once a week, and we’re talking to Valda in the comfort of Park House, their expansive and elegantly furnished country home, which partly dates back to 1650 at Windlestone Park in rural Durham. Forget those foreigners’ jokes about British cooking. British chefs are now rated among the world’s best, she points out. “They travel the world in search of fresh ideas. They look for unusual products. And as they have little time to visit the manufacturer, we do that for them, and simultaneously offer innovation.” Thus the Goodfellows are into the controversial market of molecular gastronomy, as per Heston Blumenthal. Valda explains: “We discovered a guy in Barcelona who creates

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mad inventions, amazing things all the time in this vein. We’re now his UK distributor. Lots of the more adventurous cookery is being done now by chefs in Northern Spain. They’ll use lab equipment like the rotary evaporator. Water baths and suchlike are becoming mainstream.” France remains in many chefs’ hearts because they may have trained under French chefs or worked there. But some of the new techniques aren’t part of classical French cooking. The Goodfellows recently brought two chefs over

from Northern Spain to demonstrate cooking with liquid nitrogen, carbon dioxide and the like. Altogether 200 chefs turned up to spectate at the event put on at London East End’s trendy Brick Lane. It was accompanied by a food market and a display of ceramic barbecues and other in-style items. Says Valda: “In Britain, unlike Spain, we’ve gone back into our shell a little in recession. We looked for comfort food. That trend shows no sign of fading. But we’re probably the leading distributor in this country for molecular gastronomy, and as the economy improves I think people’s tastes will regain a sense of adventure.” While Goodfellows’ products aren’t necessarily geared for the non-professional, they’re readily affordable. Valda explains: “In any market there are always people outside the trade who’d like to attain almost semi-professional standards, and I love to encourage this. People like that are popping up on our website.” While the website, Valda admits, is not outstanding technically, orders are being received from Sweden, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as Australia. “If we can reach £2m turnover from virtually a standing start, who knows what the next two years will bring?” she wonders. n

Tourism students are really going places Apart from offering a comprehensive range of business and law programmes at both undergraduate and post graduate level, the Faculty of Business and Law at the University of Sunderland also has one of the best Tourism and Events Management departments in the country. In this year’s National Student Survey results the department came top in the country in five out of seven categories and it was rated Best in the UK for Student Satisfaction in the Sunday Times University Guide 2014. This success in part reflects the close relationship the team has built up with the tourism and hospitality sectors. For example students on Events Management courses frequently get the opportunity to work on some of the country’s biggest events in stadia like the Stadium of Light; or tourism students can take part in field trips across the region but also to look at the tourist industry in places like New York, Prague or Barcelona. By working closely with industry students can be sure that not only are they learning the very latest in best current practice in the sector but also that their knowledge and skills are perfectly attuned to the future needs of the sector. For more information about the courses on offer contact The Faculty of Business and Law by telephone: 0191 515 3341 or by email: emrteam@sunderland.ac.uk

BUSINESS LUNCH

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Millionaires are multiplying

Nick Swales, a wealth insider, tells Brian Nicholls why he expects before long to see many more extremely rich people in the North East There’s a rich crop of millionaires and near millionaires about to spring up in the North East of England. That’s the informed view of Nick Swales, recently handpicked to win or sustain their trust, as he heads the region’s newest firm of wealth investment managers towards the end of its first year here. His finger on the region’s financial pulse is guided not only by one year’s experience of heading Rathbones but 26 earlier years also spent in the region with other major firms of the sector. His ebullience suggests Rathbones’ inaugural year in Newcastle has proved financially satisfying, and reflecting perhaps something of the group’s achievement in entirety of having grown funds during the past year to £21bn. So how many millionaires and multimillionaires are in the region already? Why expect yet more? Swales, admitting he may sound like a politician in avoiding to reply with a number, answers instead: “There are more than sufficient millionaires in the North East to sustain the current financial services market here. Rathbones wouldn’t have moved in had it not believed there was a market to exploit. “There’s plenty of business in the £100,000 to £1m bracket and beyond. I’ve spent a lot of my career tracking growing businesses of the region. I’ve helped people over many years

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before they’ve cashed in, made their money and got there. “Amid the recession, the opportunity to sell has been lacking, or people may have felt valuations of their businesses were too low. However, the economy has improved. Valuations are improving also. Buyers are emerging again.

“If you put off selling a business for retirement five or six years ago, you’re now five or six years older also and five or six years more likely to want the sale. We think over the next three or four years there’ll be a big acceleration in liquidations.” He points to the region’s five universities bringing in thousands of graduands yearly

from all over. “Bright, intelligent - traditionally they’ve come, had a fab party then gone home. We want to retain them for the region. That’s a key to growing the region’s economy too: develop the younger generation. “The electric car at Nissan and its spin-offs... Science City also will be fabulous. So we’re thinking also about moneymakers of the next 10 to 30 years. We’ve young people in my office who’ll be delivering the sort of service I do now in up to 40 years’ time. So we look for the next big thing, prepared to invest in helping people grow their businesses and, hopefully, remembering us when they cash in.” The Regional Development Funds, Jeremie and so on, are a factor. “I’m convinced a number of very wealthy people will be created through help they got there initially,” Swales adds. “They’ll have money to invest in the region. We know from experience they’ll want to invest back into the local market and help others do the same. “Also, many become philanthropic and want to put something back into that. Our charity arm can help them there. So you can see a full service over 20 years. I’ve seen people fail unfortunately, but many also dust themselves down and have another go. I’ve seen other entrepreneurs sell up then do it all again >>

Regional Development Funds are a factor - Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m convinced a number of very wealthy people will be created through help they got there initially

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BUSINESS LUNCH and again. They have the magic touch. “We spend up to six years fiddling round the edges of clients’ financial requirements, helping them to secure a meaningful pot. Then we’re there to help them further.” Competition? “There’s skirmishing around the edges where we’ll take a little bit from each other. But for me big opportunities lie in this substantial widening of the North East market. We’re there to fill that gap and grow business that way.” His team is eight strong plus two shared with another office of the group. Everyone has a specialism to pool - charity, pensions personal and corporate, and private clients for example – and back-up from a central organisation whose Greenbank arm was one of the UK’s first bespoke ethical and sustainable investment services. Rathbones’ arrival advertisement asked North East investors, ‘locked out by your investment manager?’ It listed scenarios such as an investment manager moving on, portfolio thresholds leaving one in the cold, obligation to accept model portfolios, change of name for wealth manager, and not getting value for money. Are these grievances circulating in the North East? “People do move jobs as in any industry, and the customer gets someone new. Getting used to someone new is just like getting someone new somewhere else. So a client doesn’t necessarily put up with the new person at the existing firm. Why not look around? What else might be available? That’s the personality bit. “Portfolio thresholds leaving you in the cold? A number of our major competitors have recently announced they’re not prepared to do certain types of business below certain thresholds – perhaps a million, a half million, £250,000. Ours is £100,000 - a figure viable for us and the client. “Now, being forced also into a model of investment is a different way of looking at things, very common at the moment. In the changed market, some believe a centralised model-driven system is how to deliver. But people don’t always want to be told they must go entirely this way or that. Rathbones still believes in a highly personalised portfolio delivered to the client’s required recipe. That’s our USP.”

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BUSINESS LUNCH

Philanthropy and charitable work remains in the DNA. Everyone at Rathbones is encouraged to be involved with charities and philanthropic ventures And not getting value for money? “Well, we’re not cheap, not expensive but very good value for money. Our strapline is ‘£100,000 to £100m’.” Rathbones, a FTSE 250 listed company of 14 offices and more than 830 staff (more than 90% of them shareholders). Of the £21bn It manages, £2.7bn is charities’ investments. Its creditable history dates to at least 1742. The Rathbone family were Liverpudlian Quakers, initially timber importers and traders. Notable philanthropists, they founded a hospital supported by Florence Nightingale. One of them also backed William Wilberforce in the abolition of slavery. They donated buildings and land to help create Liverpool University in 1881. “Philanthropy and charitable work remains in the DNA,” says Swales, who’s 49. “Everyone at Rathbones is encouraged to be involved with charities and philanthropic ventures.”

He himself sits on three charity boards, including the Percy Hedley Foundation (which he chairs), and Newcastle University Development Trust. He’s a trustee of the university’s Retirement Benefit Fund. “Rules on charities differ from those covering private clients. So you need people with the understanding. If you’ve been a trustee yourself it’s easier to help other people.” The business remained North West orientated until the turn of the 20th Century when it moved into financial management. Then it opened a London office between the world wars. So why did a company active since 1742 wait until 2013 to come to Newcastle? “During the 1980s and the Big Bang, opportunity arose to merge and become a national business. Since then a network of 14 offices including Jersey has been created. We’d been trying many years to come to the North East. But, to quote the boss, they needed the

right people. “People parachuted in struggle. The aim instead was to have people with roots in the area, who know the local turf. Competition’s strong here. But we like healthy competition and I go back to our differentiator, our ability to build bespoke portfolios.” In Middlesbrough-born Nick Swales they got as North East head someone whose 27 year career has been spent in the region, and who had working knowledge of the competition, besides being widely experienced in managing private client, trust, offshore, pension fund and charity portfolios. On graduating from Newcastle University in politics and economics, he’d been taken in as a trainee at Newcastle in 1986 by Wise Speke (as Brewin Dolphin was then). Unenthusiastic about any move to stockbroking in the City, and disappointed by the “faceless” phone and computer rituals surrounding research with City based institutions, he found his ideal working with private clients. In 1998 he joined Merrill Lynch the US investment bank, which for four years trawled from the Quayside at Newcastle, motivated by the dotcom boom. He caught the flavour of Wall Street ways. But when Merrill Lynch abandoned Newcastle, Swales had already resolved to stay put. His next 10 years in total were spent with Laing & Cruickshank and >>

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BUSINESS LUNCH UBS, still in Newcastle. The former was acquired after two years by UBS, and at UBS Swales became an executive director and office head. Did he feel betrayed - let down by Merrill Lynch? “Not in the circumstances. After 9/11 the Americans as a society pulled in their horns, and basically decided – though Newcastle had been very successful – to close in Europe all but their capital offices. A gang of us jumped first. Many who worked for other US firms had similar experiences - a ‘too hot to handle’ reaction.” He’d found, though, that in working for a foreign owned institution a lot of the culture imposed could sometimes be restrictive. “You learn a lot seeing different ways to do things. But sometimes it was difficult working within the full space you’d have otherwise. So there are positives and negatives. “Rathbones has a Jersey office to deal with offshore business and we basically look after UK people - a system built to cope with matters like tax. Today, ‘bizarrely’, apart from local competition, rivals from London visit, hoping to win the expanding wealth of a new self-made class in the country. “Bagmen, we call them. They come from London institutions to persuade investors here that the bright lights do better. Instead, we often end up looking after some of those investors later, which is how we know the bagmen exist.” Many of those dissatisfied clients, he says, tire of paying £300 rail return for a consultation when Newcastle costs as little as a parking fee or a bus ride. “They see no difference in terms of the service. They realise traditional bespoke management is what they really like.” Rathbones, which occupies buildings of character, operates from Grey Street, where it also gives back to communities. Having successfully launched apprenticeships in Liverpool last year, it’s enlarging the scheme for school leavers with three good A levels via channels qualified to administer the Government’s apprenticeship scheme. They get any additional education needed, professional exams paid for by the firm, and can look towards a career in finance, progressing right. “Anyone capable and willing should go to university,” says

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A place for business whispers The Living Room, Newcastle Sometimes in business we’re looking so far ahead we miss pleasures on our doorstep. That’s why Nick Swales was delighted to lunch at The Living Room, only a few hundred yards down Newcastle’s gracious Grey Street from his company’s offices. It was his first time there. The cool, comfortably styled restaurant, despite 120 covers, offers intimate retreats suitable for the exchange of business confidences. Service is prompt, friendly and efficient. No request considered a chore. Menu? You’re spoiled for choice. The 14 starters and 12 main courses include tastebud-tempting offers as diverse as Gressingham duck (that scrumptious cross of Mallard and Pekin) and Glamorgan sausages. Steaks are listed in addition. Amid this and the sides, grills, burgers and salads there are specialities below 500 calories if you must. We started with a coriander and carrot soup and scallops with parmesan and pancetta. The main choices were a rich seafood linguini and a Goan chicken curry mounted by a devilish whole red chilli. Both were greatly enjoyed. There was only one to try the wine – an acceptable house white, at that – because Swales, though an enthusiastic wine imbiber and investor (‘I grew up on Chablis’) surprisingly forewent the pleasure this time, ahead of a bigger meeting ‘I can’t screw up’. Over our two pots of breakfast tea wrapping up, he enthused: “My discernment towards wine for investment is the same as I apply towards financial instruments. You need diversification, different years, different varieties as in a portfolio of different stocks and potential outcomes over time.” He happily admits, though: “I can’t give advice on wine! I do it for fun. The great thing about a wine portfolio is that if it goes wrong you can drink it. You can’t do that with shares that are going down in value!” A consoling thought to his table companion.

Swales. “But opportunity should exist for anyone with the necessary potential, whatever their background.” Rathbones also now teaches school and college students financial literacy. It recently piloted a programme for 35 sixth formers and undergraduates at Newcastle Theatre Royal and is now running one at Seaton Burn School - the first of perhaps four programmes a year. Swales himself, married to Fiona and living in

Gosforth, has a son and a daughter aged 17 and 14, and believes helping young people to understand finance and how to handle money may also in time help bridge the gap in public confidence resulting from recent misdeeds by banks and other financial quarters. He’s a strong initiator on this, both through Rathbones and through the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, of which he’s a chartered fellow, board member and chairman of its education committee. ■

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TAYLOR ON WINE

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TAYLOR ON WINE

SuMMER In a GLaSS Kathryn Taylor, managing partner at law firm Gordon Brown, is pleasantly surprised by a French take on an Argentine favourite and dreams of sunny days after sampling a sumptuous Sauvingnan Blanc For the first time our marketing manager Wendy Peffers didn’t ask me first before putting me forward to write this article. Generally I’m asked to write about the law and the property market, so to get to sample wines and write about them was a very welcome change. l’Instant truffIer MalbeC 2012 It was a bleak, cold, wet and windy Saturday in January. Feeling the need for something hearty and comforting, I decided to slow cook some lamb shanks bought from the butcher near our office in Chester le Street. I seriously doubt you could find a better accompaniment for a rich hearty meat dish than L’instant Truffier Malbec 2012. This dark plum coloured wine has aromas of black cherry and is gently spiced with a hint of star anise, which perfectly complemented the richness of the meat and the sauce. This Malbec is full bodied, very smooth and similar in character to an argentinean Malbec. all in all an excellent wine for a cold winter’s day and I will definitely buy it again. rustenberg sauVIgnon blanC 2011 Western Cape Sauvignon Blanc is my favourite white wine and nine times out of 10 I usually find myself relaxing on a Friday night drinking a new Zealand Sauvignon. as the saying goes ‘a change is as good as a rest’ so I was delighted to try this Western Cape South african Sauvignon, which is blended with a dash of Semillon. I was surprised to learn that Rustenberg Farm has a wine making history dating back to 1692 with all of their grapes still being hand picked early in the mornings to ensure they are cool and in perfect condition. The Rustenberg is a crisp dry medium bodied white and went perfectly with the fillet of sea bass I had for supper. My partner Geoff and I agreed that during the summer months this sauvignon would be the ideal accompaniment to a fresh crisp leaf salad on a hot sunny day whilst relaxing in the garden. This delightful wine left us dreaming of summer and heading to Majestic to stock up. now, let’s hope the north East weather doesn’t let us down later on this year! n The wines Kathryn tasted were L’Instant Truffier Malbec 2012, £9.99, Buy two bottles save a third = £6.66 4 February - 3 March. Rustenberg Sauvignon Blanc 2011, £12.99, Buy two bottles save a third = £8.66 4 February 31 March. Wine supplied by Majestic Wine Warehouse, Gosforth.

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MOTORING

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RELIVInG THE GLoRY DaYS

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Daring to go topless in the midst of winter, Philip Murray, commercial director of accountants Harlands, takes Bentley’s GT Speed Convertible for a spin Usually when people think of Bentley, they think of the passengers pampered in the backseat, whilst a hired chauffeur takes the wheel. But now Bentley wants to bring back the

glory days of the late 1920s, when its cars conquered the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and it has decided to build the Continental GT Speed Convertible. I was lucky enough to be the one to test drive it for 24 hours across the North East of England and it was simply epic. With a starting price of £160K this is still a luxurious car: it has massage seats and even neck warmers. But don’t be fooled as it’s also fantastically built for performance, and the driver’s seat is far better than the back. Whoever’s in control gets to play with more than 600 horsepower and a sport mode that makes it a so much fun to use! So if you want the performance along with the luxury and you have the cash, open your wallet and put on your driving shoes. First things first: the stats for all those that are interested. A twin-turbo 6.0-litre engine sits under the bonnet sending 616 Horse Power to

MOTORING

all four wheels. The top speed is 202 mph (I didn’t know how fast I was going officer), and despite the weight, the GT Speed Convertible will hit 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. It is formidable and the noise it makes is enough to send you weak at the knees. I found myself trying to find tunnels so I could hear the engine one last time. It is of course a fuel guzzler with an average of 15 mpg. But who cares about that if you can afford a car upwards of £160K? What none of this tells you is how exceptional the Continental GT Speed Convertible is in the real world. Where roads can be wide-open and straight, curvy and potholed, or even treacherously snowy and icy, the GT Speed Convertible is simply unflustered. You don’t just feel like you command the road and the environment behind the wheel of this machine – you actually do. >>

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MOTORING

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control. It was simply stunning. But why let the eight-speed automatic handle the gear changes? There are paddles like many sports cars but they’re a bit distant from the wheel, mounted on the steering column, and they’re not very engaging or instantaneous even when you do find them. Better to click up a couple of notches of the variable sport mode and let the electronics do the work in my opinion. Everyday companion Unlike the vast majority of the high range sports cars I have been lucky enough to watch on Top Gear or be a passenger of, the GT Speed Convertible is actually, well, very useful and is ultimately, a very, very fast daily driver. The interior, though beautifully turned out and phenomenally well-made, is functional and straightforward, for the most part. Epic in the truest, least-overused sense of the word After 175 plus miles and one epic day of travel behind the wheel of the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible, I found myself surprised that it’s not just lavish, capable, and gorgeous, but truly functional. The combination is inebriating. It’s enough to make even a mere mortal consider trading a home mortgage for a garage space and a sleeping bag. Anyone have a spare sleeping bag? n Amazing foul-weather capability Being from the North East it is important we can get around in all types of weather. With Bentley’s windscreen in place over the rear seats, the seat heating vents wide open, and the seat heaters turned on, even freezing temperatures are tolerable with the top down, at speed. Imagine the looks I got driving through rural Derwentside on a cold January day. I did decide to pack some gloves though in the afternoon, as the steering wheel wasn’t heated (Yep, I am being that picky because it’s such an amazing car). For most of the time and when driving with my wife, we decided to skip the cold-weather preparation, however, and just enjoyed the quiet and comfort of the coupe. I was also made aware of the Bentley’s fantastic ability to brave the County Durham snow

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thanks to a YouTube video and how I wish it had snowed to try out the all-wheel drive system. By all accounts the proven all-wheel drive system and a sensible use of the throttle and brake can master any of the treacherous weather that can be found on a sunny day in Consett and that was a big surprise and tick of the box. Fair-weather fun The minute I left the showroom, all I really wanted to do was line up the wheel, slam the accelerator down, and let the eight-speed automatic gearbox do the rest. The GT Speed Convertible has been described as “an actual land-bound rocket ship” in America and I don’t disagree with that statement. You can imagine the smile on my face as I was held back into the drivers’ seat whilst the GT took

The car Philip drove was the GT Speed Convertible. It is finished in Onyx with Linen Main hide with Beluga secondary hide, 21 dark tint speed alloys, two-tone leather hide with two-tone, three-spoke steering wheel, rear camera, power boot opening and closing and red brake callipers. It costs £181,850 OTR. Bentley Newcastle, Silverlink, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, NE28 9ND.

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SUCCESS STORY

WINTER 14

Happiness is an oval ball Sarah Stewart tells Brian Nicholls some of the many ways in which our region’s tourism sector is countering the recent trend of London-centric funding and decision making Sarah Stewart points out landmarks from the panoramic window of her ninth floor offices in Gateshead’s tower block Baltic Place East. The bridges, the law courts, the Sage, the Baltic – a rich blend of diverse and striking architecture and engineering on both sides of the River Tyne, and a view she loves to show first-time visitors to the North East. “We call this our shop window,” she says proudly, knowing how much it can impress as she and her staff promote the region’s tourism. She hopes the entire experience down at ground level will win the hearts of up to 8,000 New Zealanders before long. That’s how many may descend on Britain to see the All Blacks contest rugby’s World Cup in October 2015. “It’s the estimate we got from New Zealand travel agents we’ve already had here,” says the chief executive of NewcastleGateshead Initiative. “We spent a day and a half in Newcastle and Gateshead with them, then some more time in the wider region.”

We still have hooks to haul in the crowds. Our football clubs are hosting major stadium concerts BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

“We’re now working with them as they seek to bring over the supporters. They’ll come for two or three weeks and we want them to spend as much of their time here as possible. We’ve got New Zealand, South Africa, Samoa, Tonga and Scotland playing in the North East. Brilliant – the best line-up of all in the group stages, we think. We’re confident this will be a sellout.” She wants, as ever, to hit every foreign visitor with the North East’s greatest asset – its element of surprise. Even as she spoke, her team at the destination management and marketing body were preparing for a similar visit by tour operators who’ll marshal supporters of the other Southern Hemisphere Titans, South Africa. “We’ll do a lot of work with our neighbours in Scotland too,” Stewart adds. Goals off the pitch will include securing a maximum return - NGI’s recognition that tourism bodies must think differently now. “It reflects the disappearance of the regional development agencies,” she explains. “One North East was a key player both in organising and funding tourism. We can’t put the clocks back or hang on another year expecting the level of public sector support that came before. “We’ve been identifying new and additional sources of funding. We’ve been working with VisitEngland to get Regional Growth Funding, and to identify other potential sources of central government support. There’s ERDF too – European – funding. We’ve been >>

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SUCCESS STORY

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SUCCESS STORY

identifying how to benefit from that. For all this you require match funding - very often from the private sector.” nGI now works with over 170 private sector partners to find additional revenue streams that will back ongoing promotion and development of the visitor economy, whether in cash or kind. are any partners there out of the goodness of their heart? “absolutely not,” she asserts. “our role is much wider than tourism and includes a wide range of organisations. We’ve key players like hotels, airports, ports and nexus, also northumberland and newcastle universities, newcastle and Gateshead’s further education colleges, major firms of lawyers and architects. “all have a stake in promoting everything great about newcastle, Gateshead and the wider north East. You know, 30% of our partners are from the wider north East outside newcastle and Gateshead. alnwick Castle and Garden in the north and Rockcliffe Hall in the south, for example. “We’re probably the only organisation that can count newcastle united and Sunderland football clubs as partners. other Sunderland partners include Sunderland university, the Empire theatre and the Glass Centre. It’s a much broader partnership than the name might suggest - I think because everyone recognises this is about changing images and perceptions. “Getting a greater proportion of uK population and the world to think more

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positively about this region will give a much firmer base for ongoing economic development. The best way to change people’s thoughts and views? Get them to visit. “universities, colleges, law firms, solicitors and recruitment firms all have a vested interest in getting more people to come... to visit northumberland’s coast or gaze at Durham Cathedral, and say: “oh, I never thought it

Cash pile mounts Established in 2000, nGI is instrumental in raising around £1.3bn revenue annually via visitors from elsewhere in the uK and abroad – a 5% (£60m) growth since 2003. Indirectly, the industry is estimated to generate £3.6bn and support 54,600 jobs.

was like this.” Scales fall from people’s eyes. This new awareness benefits more than tourism alone. Through the Regional Growth Fund, VisitEngland the nation’s national tourist board recently secured around £19m to support destinations round the country over three years. about £1.5m came to the north East, fuelling nGI and its partners Visit County Durham and northumberland

Tourism. Matching private funding has doubled the resource. So nGI’s budget is £3.5 to £4m a year, to cover tourism, inward investment, festivals and other events. and north East tourism has continued to grow over the past three years - partly through the popularity of staycation during harsher times, but also because of a trend, even pre-recession, towards city breaks. Some wonder why television adverts stress Scotland, Wales, Ireland and even Yorkshire but no longer the region of “passionate people, passionate places.” VisitEngland largely does TV campaigns for England now, and is promoting a “holiday at home” theme. But, Stewart adds: “We also promote heavily on our own website and get more than 1m unique visitors a year. The Sunday Times last year named it one of the world’s 10 coolest travel websites. We were alongside India, australia and new York. a lot of activity is digitally based now. Scotland, Ireland and Wales still get significant central government funding. That’s interesting but perhaps a topic for another day...” This year big events include the Sage’s 10th anniversary. The millionth runner in the history of the Great north Run will also be identified. “It will be the first mass participation run in the world to have achieved a millionth runner,” she points out. “We’re going to beat new York’s marathon to it.” The Body Worlds globally touring exhibition, at the International Centre for Life (May-

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November) is another big coup, she suggests, admitting: “It’s not everyone’s cup of tea – let’s put it that way. Imagine your body shown in all its glory and the workings. But it fits the Centre for Life’s remit and public education in science. It will attract many visitors.” Maker Faire, an inspirational inventors’ show, also returns to the same venue in April, drawing big crowds and highlighting the North East. Newcastle was recently voted one of the five favourite UK destinations for holidays by Guardian readers. “Ensuring we continue to feature in important media coverage helps get those responses,” Stewart says. Other attractions like Eat Food Festival, the Juice Festival, the Winter Festival embracing the enchanted parks at Saltwell Park in Gateshead, and the carnival and two firework displays on New Year’s Eve all contribute. “The Eat Food Festival,” she adds, “proves we’re not just about stotties and sausage rolls. Our quality of produce and restaurants is great.” To an observation that, compared with Scotland and Germany, potential inward investors may not always be greeted on arrival, Stewart wonders how many people turn up unexpectedly with an inward investment in their pocket. A lot of work would have gone on beforehand, she reckons. “For example, we’ve a team proactively pursuing at the moment 86 inward investment enquiries. It’s not a matter of waiting for someone to turn up on the doorstep. The

SUCCESS STORY

We’re probably the only organisation that can count Newcastle United and Sunderland football clubs as partners

vast majority, we’ve generated. “We’ve an extensive programme of visits, contacts, and soft landings. In India now we’re generating interest in life sciences. We’ve an agent there targeting sectors, visiting exhibitions, approaching companies. An NGI rep spent three weeks there meeting firms. When there’s sufficient interest we’ll put a visit together.” In terms of regional coverage, North and South Tyneside’s and Sunderland’s local authorities have their own tourism teams, and Sunderland events, including its international air show - Europe’s biggest freebie of its kind - are organised by Sunderland Live, a Sunderland council spinout. But NGI promotes the like of the air show on its website too. Stewart explains: “With the demise of One North East tourism organisations across the region agreed we shouldn’t lose regional co-ordination. So we work together in a Northern Tourism Alliance – not a consumerfacing body, but one working collectively behind the scenes.” It includes the like of Visit Durham,

Northumbria Tourism, Hadrian’s Wall Trust, the North East Hotels Association, and representatives of councils that don’t have their own tourist bodies. What, no Teesside, with its Mima gallery of modern art, Captain Cook’s heritage and Saltburn’s renaissance as a resort? Stewart clarifies: “Until recently we’ve had visitors from Tees Valley. Sadly, while Visit Tees Valley did exist, tourism isn’t a priority now in Tees Valley Unlimited’s programme as a LEP. We think it a great shame. But funding can only be stretched so many ways, and we do tend to keep contact with places that might wish, like Darlington and Hartlepool. And we continue to invite representatives from Tees Valley to participate in the alliance.” Sarah Stewart sits on both the main board of VisitEngland and the northern area council of Arts Council England. Does the Arts Council’s current favouring of London over the regions in financial support harm arts and culture standards vital to a North East appeal? “The Arts Council debate is part of a wider debate as to how much of our country is Londoncentric in decision making and >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

SUCCESS STORY The best way to change people’s thoughts and views? Get them to visit funding allocations,” she replies. “I don’t think anyone can deny London does get clearly a large proportion of arts Council funding. It partly reflects arts and cultural bodies being largely based in London, and how the sector is organised, so attracting lots of funding. “But I think the arts Council also recognises the argument being put. In the allocation of arts Council funding through lottery moneys it has, the split has been much more favourable to the regions than to London. also newcastle and Gateshead, and some other parts of the north East, have done extremely well out of council funding within the past decade – through the Sage, the Baltic and other key cultural institutions. “Funding for other purposes continues. But we’re keen to maintain pressure for equitable allocation of funding, while ensuring we also have quality projects and investments for the arts Council to support.” Meanwhile some regular patrons of the Sage consider top artists and performers have been scarcer there. Stewart says: “arguments around the London olympics sucking in funding have been well rehearsed. We’re now entering an era where lottery type funding will be more freely distributed among the other sectors - something we’ll actually promote in support. “our arts and cultural offer across the north East has been vital towards changing perceptions of the region. It’s important to the quality of life for residents and potential residents, and for students who come to study and, ideally, stay afterwards. It gives visitors reason to come. “and we still have hooks to haul in the crowds. our football clubs are hosting major stadium concerts – Sunderland, for example, whose shows are always sellouts boosting the visitor economy, and newcastle united,

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holding a concert for the first time in many years – Kings of Leon in May.” Despite disappointment that a major extension of the Sage to permit the largest of national conferences will not now happen for the foreseeable future, Sarah Stewart insists it’s important to focus on what does exist. Last year there were 14 international conferences at the Sage and also at newcastle and northumbria universities. Hotels are hosting many major events, and the drive is on to attract major conferences up to 2018. Information for a visitor survey presently being finalised suggests positive responses: about elements of pleasant surprise, warmth of

the welcome, variety in things to do, beauty of the landscape. The lack of urban multilingual signage – which would otherwise put foreign visitors immediately at ease – doesn’t seem to evoke criticism. Maybe those warm responses on the street to any tourist’s query make up for that. When attendees at national conferences are asked how likely it is they may revisit the area with friends and family, positive response is up to 80% against an average elsewhere of 50 to 60%. nearly 90% say: “I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen.” Those unsuspecting Kiwis and Springboks could be in for a surprise. n

Sarah Stewart in person Sarah Stewart has brought expertise in private sector marketing to nGI. Educated at Bristol and Cambridge university (history and law), she came to the north East in 1981 as a trainee brand manager of Procter & Gamble. She became Price Waterhouse’s head of marketing consultancy for the north of England and Scotland in 1987. She served as a director of Sage plc for two years, before becoming an independent marketing consultant to Bank of Scotland, Greggs, newcastle Building Society and Shell International. She has had non-executive roles with the International Centre for Life, Beamish Museum Development Trust, Port of Tyne authority, northern Investors Company plc and newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals nHS Foundation Trust. Her other business associations and commitments past or present: Tedco, Work Wise, Science City, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Durham university Business School, newcastle Cathedral Council, and Richard Granger Wines. She was appointed nGI’s chief executive in 2011 after 10 months as interim chief executive, following andrew Dixon’s departure to be chief executive of Creative Scotland.

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WINTER 14

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BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14 07/06/2013 10:30

EQUIPMENT

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

EQUIPMENT WHAT A GEM OF AN IDEA

Diamonds may be forever, but they’re not so rare now that that scientists have discovered how to ‘grow’ them in a laboratory >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

EQUIPMENT

This isn’t fiction. A retired American army officer visits Moscow to buy a security device, but while he’s there a scientist, Dr. Boris Feigelson, takes him aside to show him blueprints for something else, something developed for the Soviet space programme: a tumble-dryer-sized device that makes diamonds. General Carter Clarke cannot believe his eyes, and buys three, ships them to America and founds Gemesis Cultured Diamonds. The process was deceptively simple: take a seed, a slither of carbon material and put it into a chamber; add varying amounts of gases, including a carbon source, into the chamber; heat to a very high temperature to produce a plasma, in which the gases break down and carbon molecules attach themselves to the seed, causing it to grow; let your CVD, or Chemical Vapour

Deposition, simmer for a few days to a few weeks; remove gases; remove the now larger seed from the chamber and crack it open. There lies a diamond, chemically identical to diamonds out of the ground, as court cases have had to underline. That initial process had a problem though: as a consequence of the nitrogen content of the gases used, it could only produce Coloured diamonds - canary yellows, sometimes lavenders and pinks. If that could be called a problem - after all, in nature coloured diamonds are rarer than the white variety. But now that has been overcome. Last year Gemesis made a leap forward, by producing the largest, whitest, lab-created emerald-cut diamond to date. Washington Diamonds, another leading ‘diamond grower’, has recently produced a white,

Every lab-made diamond has one characteristic lauded in mined diamonds - each is flawless. Unsurprisingly, the powerful companies that make their money from mined diamonds have been less than supportive of the idea

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

EQUIPMENT carat-sized stone too and claims to be months away from two carat stones. “And that makes it a milestone,” says Clive Hill, Washington Diamonds’ CEO. “A lot of people in the diamond industry have been keen to view such lab-grown diamonds as marginal. But this stone cannot be ignored.” More than that, every lab-made diamond has one characteristic lauded in mined diamonds: each is flawless. Furthermore, each is around 25% the cost of mined equivalents. Lab-made diamonds have none of the environmental impact of mined diamonds, nor are associated with devastating African wars, and, unsurprisingly, the powerful companies that make their money from mined diamonds have been less than supportive of the idea. Indeed, might that be it for the aura with which we have imbued a substance which, bar a small twist of chemistry - carbon atoms connecting in super-strong, ultra-hard 3d bonds rather than in layers - is little different from the soft graphite in your pencil? Neil Duttson, of ethical diamond dealers Duttson Rocks, says: “Despite some fear in the industry that lab-made diamonds will somehow take over, they are just different - a different product for a different customer,” says Duttson. Over time, there is likely to be increased acceptance of the labmade variety: there was similar resistance to cultured pearls when they were first created, and now they, not deep-dive pearls, account for the vast majority of all pearls sold. Coloured gemstones have long been lab-made by similar processes as those now being turned on diamonds; in fact, so extremely rare are large emeralds, for example, that they would be too expensive to sell - most sold have come out of the lab. In the short term, the diamond market is expected to divide:

between shoppers for whom increasingly influential greenthinking or price is a leading consideration, and those for whom the emotional content of a mined diamond - the fact that it has been created by awe-inspiring natural forces over countless eons - remains important. “The whole market is touchy about lab-made diamonds,” says Tom Chatham, of diamond makers Chatham. “Stores don’t buy lab-made ones because they don’t have to - yet. There is good supply of diamonds - for the moment. But [unless some yetto-be-devised technology makes the finding of and access to undiscovered diamond pipes feasible] we could be out of mined diamonds within 40 years. But the debate over lab-made diamonds may be missing the point. What may prove of greater significance could be the application of diamonds in technology. According to Chatham, some billions of carats of softer, lower grade diamonds are already made each year for industrial purposes, their special properties making them ideal for cutting in particular. But, upgraded to the quality now feasible, white diamonds could also be used more readily in semi-conductors, optical devices, water purification systems, high-powered lasers and other electronics of tomorrow. Never mind the radical change to the world wrought by the silicon chip. The diamond chip could be key to making quantum computing a reality, with machines operating at speeds exponentially faster than currently. Clive Hill says: “The potential for lab-made diamonds in applications are extremely exciting. I’d say that within a decade diamond products will be part of many of the technologies we use everyday. In fact, the very idea of what lab-grown diamonds’ use in technology could do gives me goose bumps. They could really change the world.” n

The whole market is touchy about lab-made diamonds. Stores don’t buy them because they don’t have to - yet. There is a good supply, for the moment, but we could be out of mined diamonds within 40 years

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FASHION

D In

B T a H

T S

E I T BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

lon e b ar nce e i w ck es Pr e y n d aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inclu nned l l e rin that F. Ke a p n .M f E grou Joh o d s rer elite s an a We to an harle C

FASHION Maurizio Marinella may have good cause to bemoan the decline in tie wearing and the devastation wrought to those colourful if functionless strips of silk that has come about through the casualisation of the male wardrobe. He is no fan of dress-down Fridays either. “It’s true that there are more occasions for men not to wear a tie but there are still those occasions when a man should wear a tie to show respect,” he argues. “That might be for an important meeting or going to the theatre. Ultimately the tie isn’t just about dressing up - it’s a statement of respect.” Marinella has spent a lot of time thinking about ties. After all, he is the owner of E. Marinella, the company established by his grandfather Eugenio in Naples - it celebrates its centenary next year - and widely regarded as makers of the world’s best neckwear. Wearers become members of a kind of unspoken fraternity of

It seems that since the 1970s, our ties have been favoured by politicians in particular. I think they sit around talking to each about about ties at G8 summits

power-players with a shared taste in a fine tie. The Agnelli family - Italian industrialist owners of the Fiat Group - wore Marinelli. The Duke of Windsor and John F. Kennedy wore its ties. More recently, so have Chirac, Gorbachev, Clinton, Sarkozy and Prince Charles, men of such renown that they don’t need first names. “Of course, just the fact that they wear our ties is good credibility for the company - you may not like your prime minister, but if he chooses your ties that is some testament,” says Marinella. “We’ve been making ties for a long time but it seems that ever since the 1970s they have been favoured by politicians in particular - I think they sit around talking to each other about their ties at the G8 summits.” Indeed, a lucky break saw the organisers of the G7 in Naples in 1994 present each head of state with a box of six madeto-measure Marinella ties, kickstarting the association. Certainly, what is perhaps more remarkable is that the company’s profile has grown through almost no effort on its own part. The Naples shop - where the company started out, only in recent years opening in Milan, Tokyo (where it was alone in offering shorter ties for smaller necks), Lugano and London - is just 20 sqm, but draws enough of the great and good to sell some $8m >>

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FASHION of a merchandise a year. It has never offered any kind of mail or internet ordering service. You want a tie? You go to one of its shops. Indeed, its high quality and tradition has, as Marinella points out, been a touchstone of pride for the city of Naples through some tough times. “It’s a small company and has stayed small because my grandfather always wanted to devote his attention to just a few clients,” says Marinella. “We’ve always preferred face to face

sales, which is more intimate and personal. He always opened the shop at 6.30am every day in person and I’ve followed that tradition. The customer becomes part of the family.” But what exactly does such a customer get for his £150 or more? And that’s for one tie, by the way. Marinella stresses that the family firm’s ties are all hand-made in Naples using English fabrics, folded seven times towards the inner to provide a luxurious density and lined by artisanal makers that require special >>

It’s a small company, and has stayed small. We have always preferred face to face sales, which is more intimate and personal. The customer becomes part of the family

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

Business interests across the North East Scotland, West Midlands and Yorkshire?

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A GEM OF AN IDEA

Laboratory-made diamonds shake up the industry

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REV-OLUTIONARY Mobile app for motorcyclists is a life-saver A SHINING EXAMPLE Businesswoman’s Skills to Shine company transforms lives SETTING GOALS FOR 2015 NGI boss on the opportunities the Rugby World Cup will bring

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FASHION Only four ties are ever made of any one design. People often don’t understand the workmanship that goes into making what can seem a very simple item training. only four ties are ever made of any one design, so each is effectively unique to the customer. “People often don’t understand the level of workmanship that goes into making what can seem to be a very simple item,” Marinella suggests. “But the way it’s made is what gives the elegance in the end. You can tell a good tie from a less good one by looking at the knot. That’s where the balance of the tie is. It supports the whole tie. It’s its heart. a good knot is a product of good silk, good linings and structure in making.” For the man who does wear a tie, Marinella recommends a wardrobe of at least five key ties: one self-coloured dark blue, one with blue background and small white motif, one in regimental stripes (with dark blue as the main colour), one in lighter pastel hues, and one bright showy tie. Eugenio’s rule of thumb: light ties should be worn in the morning, dark ties in the evening. The company is not all ties, however. It has since turned the same attention to detail in making other accessories, including shirts, shoes, small leathergoods, bags and fragrances. But the heart of the company remains in ties. as Marinella puts it, “the ties eat all the other items”. It is also why, for all that he worries about the lack of respect, he is not so worried that some men are putting their ties away. “We also make more and more great scarves too now, for men and women,” he says. “They bring the same kind of colour and decoration to formal dressing. Perhaps scarves may become the new ties one day.” n

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ENTREPRENEURS

onE FoR THE RoaD Safety conscious Zoe Farrington tells Brian Nicholls how she and Andrew Richardson are on a big lifesaving push this year to have their acclaimed and innovative app, a global first, taken up by half a million UK bikers There’s a motor-cycling fatality almost daily in the uK. But if this dreadful toll shows signs of diminishing this year that may reflect in part on the website and safety app that Zoe Farrington and andrew Richardson have developed in the north East of England – the only app worldwide that connects a user directly to emergency services. This is the year of big growth planned for the REaLRIDER® app with its potentially lifesaving REaLsafe® communication about to be rolled out nationally, only 11 months since its first major public demonstration. More than 12,000 motorcyclists already have the app installed in their smartphones, knowing that by turning on the REaLsafe® part of the app before riding off, they would in any accident be automatically connected by their phone to an ambulance service for

response. an ultimate uK membership of half a million is expected. Cynics who sometimes suggest motor-cyclists invite danger upon themselves might consider that as a fatal accident can cost up to £1m or so to investigate, REaLsafe® carries both a lifesaving and a financial value. With funding secured in July 2012, Farrington and Richardson got their initial launches underway from last February, firstly at the London Motorcycle Show then last november at the Motorcycle Live Show in Birmingham, with other motorcycle events visited in between. a new community of bikers grows bigger by the week. and as Farrington points out: “So far we’ve really only taken REaLRIDER® to market on a proof of concept basis. We wanted to show its capability while continuing to develop the

app and the platform. We haven’t done a lot of publicity and marketing yet. So 2014 is our planned year of big growth, and I think our shareholders are very pleased with the outcome to date.” adding authority to the concept, a Home office working party on which the Realrider company serves is considering how apps like REaLRIDER® can be further developed for other emergency situations. Realrider, with agreements on the 999 and 111 Government Liaison Committee, can now be accepted into the telematic system, following its successful pilot, and be included instead in the basic 999 emergency system, thus becoming truly national, with signals gathered from the strongest service provider in any given area of an incident – so assisting any ambulance service in the country. >>

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ENTREPRENEURS

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The successful pilot was run through the north East ambulance Service, allowing for refinements and tolerance settings to be adjusted within the app at the same time. John Rowland, control systems manager for the north East ambulance Service, has never doubted the value of REaLRIDER® - “a brilliant application, with potential to save bikers’ lives by helping us get medical attention to their accidents much faster,” he says. REaLsafe® has been endorsed by motorcycle manufacturers too, including Honda and Triumph, and a prospect has been raised by Yamaha of a REaLRIDER® app being given

The motorcycling community’s appetite is proving as great as we’d imagined free with every new bike sold. a contract with the RaC is also likely soon, as accolades grow: from the Institute of advanced Motorcyclists, BMS, the British Motorcycle Federation, Motorcycle Industry association and the Highways agency. For a region where innovation is being loudly championed, REaLRIDER® can be seen as a notable endeavour. Richardson has always lived in the region, and Farrington has done so since coming to study at northumbria university 20 years ago. In their matchfunded venture, they themselves have invested £40,000, and £400,000 has been invested to date by the newcastle based entrepreneurs’ fund manager Rivers Capital Partners. The north East entrepreneur Hossain Rezaie, chairman and chief executive of The You Company (which mentors and fosters other businesses besides its own start-ups) is chairman of the business, and the leading private individual investor. He’s obviously bullish about the company’s growth potential and valued by the business creators. Business back-up and guidance has been provided also by RMT the newcastle based business advisors and accountants, and by newcastle Science City. So it’s a fully >>

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

Meaning business: (from left) Stephen Slater (RMT) and Natalia Blagburn (Rivers Capital Partners) with Andrew and Zoe

How it works The app’s accident technology uses complex algorithms connected to a smartphone’s GPS and motion and tilt sensors determine when a crash has occurred. The motion sensors detect the crash automatically, and instantly alert the rider’s phone. If not cancelled, the device goes on to contact the ambulance service giving location and medical details of the rider (otherwise protected by data law). Members also have access to an emergency location finding service that uses GPS and WiFi technology to help any riders in difficulties. There’s a social side to REaLRIDER® too. Its web and mobile network enables riders to meet each other, share spectacular routes and points of interest along the way through images and chat in real-time and by location. The app records routes and synchronises with www.realrider.com where subscribers see, edit and share the favoured rides. Hazard warnings can be circulated too. They have their own online ‘garage’ on the website. There they can add their current bike or a timeline of bikes they’ve owned. REaLRIDER® then adds manufacturers’ product information, images, videos and instruction manuals. So a collection of nostalgic memorabilia or simply useful bike-related information is built up. an annual subscription to REaLsafe® is £25 on ioS and android phones. at the time of writing no life or death emergencies had been recorded. But the technology had been triggered 18 times and there have been what’s described as ‘a few close calls’. It was thought originally that any spread abroad would start in Europe. But enquiries about the service to date have come from australia and the uSa, and talks have been held with a party in Dubai that sounded quite committed to operating under licence in the arabian Gulf region and africa. Meanwhile, andrew and Zoe hope to find time soon to become bikers themselves.

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ENTREPRENEURS regional enterprise. Farrington and Richardson had already worked for more than a decade alongside the public sector turning out education, training and publicity resources targeting bikers. Their endeavours to engage with riders, reduce the accident toll and promote skills earned them Prince Michael International Road Safety awards. They’d originally met at an advertising agency in newcastle, where Richardson’s remit was to grow the public sector client base. Farrington was brought in to support. a couple of years on, the agency offered to sell them that part of the business. They set up Fused, a public sector marketing consultancy at River Green in Durham, and in their first year, 2005, turned over £1m through various national contracts. They developed links with many of the emergency services, all of whom offered ideas on making motorcycling safer. a major concern was that while a crashed bike was usually easy to locate, a thrown rider was not, and every second spent in a search could mean a second lost in the fight to save a life. Farrington and Richardson put their heads together on this, and REaLRIDER® app was the outcome. They created their Realrider start-up and worked closely for more than a year with Stephen Slater, director at RMT, refining the business model. once Rivers Capital Partners got involved, finance from the £7.5m Finance For Business north East

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Members let us know quickly which parts of the app’s services they ﬁnd most useful, and what else they’d like to see introduced

How the Angels sing natalia Blagburn, investment executive at Rivers Capital Partners, believes the app will become a “must have” for all keen motorcyclists. The angel Fund is part of the wider Finance for Business north East Fund. Managed by north East Finance, it’s injecting £125m of investment capital into the region through the European Investment Bank, the European Regional Development Fund 2007-13 over a five year period. Regional development agency one north East was involved during its existence. The ERDF 2007-13 programme has been bringing more than £300m into north East England in support of innovation, enterprise and business support such as REaLRIDER® represents. Its purpose is to help create and safeguard 28,000 new jobs, start 3,000 new businesses and raise the region’s productivity by £1.1bn a year. Rivers Capital Partners - founded by John White, Jonathan Gold and Peter Hiscocks – is an independent venture capital management firm. Its venture capital offers focus on entrepreneurs, and it does so with practical experience. all the founders have set up and managed their own businesses, so have seen the other side of the fence. Rivers Capital Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct authority.

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

angel Fund emerged. Then newcastle Science City stepped in. Dave Stevens, business support manager there, considers the product “truly innovative - a successful testament to innovation and research and development going on in the north East now.” and, says Farrington: “With that support we were able to carry out necessary market research that has since led to 12,000 subscribers thinking the app as vital as putting on their helmets. “The motorcycling community’s appetite is proving as great as we’d imagined,” she adds. “our first aim was to create the industry’s most comprehensive and interactive community, and we’ve certainly got a very receptive and involved user base. Members let us know quickly which parts of the app’s services they find most useful, and what else they’d like to see introduced.” Stephen Slater at RMT, says: “The business plan has been carried out impressively and precisely by Zoe, andrew and their team. Their success in securing financial backing shows how much investor confidence exists, both in them and their services.” They’ve done it with three full-time employees, an intern and some part-time help. Initially the two business builders lacked vital technical expertise. But a shareholder introduced them to Dave Sharp, who became technical officer. “an absolutely fabulous find,” say Farrington. He brought with him a background in games development, and experience of working with the like of Virgin and Viacom. n

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SUCCESS STORY

LITTLE MInDS, BRIGHT FuTuRES Business says there’s a scarcity of suitable young people to fill skills gaps. Schools are weighed down with assessments and other admin at a time when the youngsters might benefit from seeing what a real job is all about. Lindsey Dunn tells Brian Nicholls how she bridges the gap Equipping young people to narrow the skills gap impeding our industry and commerce looks a challenge likely to intensify in 2014. Businesses point out that many school leavers applying for jobs needing urgently to be filled still show little realisation of what paid work is, and insufficient competence often to tackle it properly from day one. on the other hand school heads and their teaching staffs, often blamed for this, are themselves weighed down increasingly by time consuming tests, examinations and assessments deemed necessary to raise basic education standards. Lindsey Dunn is one of a growing force working to narrow the gap. Her Skills to Shine company, active since May 2010, expects this year to put at least 1,000 younger people through summer schools, mainly in the north East, to get better understanding and motivation towards finding a suitable career. It also expects to lead 100 or so 11 to 16-year-olds at risk of exclusion out of disengagement from learning towards, instead, an apprenticeship. Her Monkseaton, north Tyneside, company – with support from business - takes enterprise learning to schools and gives children there and in workplaces the knowledge, confidence and understanding, better equipping them to choose a suitable career. Lindsey, a mother of two (soon to be three, to

the Dunns’ delight), created her unconventional teaching model after working at 35 schools over four years for northumberland County Council. She was an enterprise learning coordinator for Skill Wansbeck, a small education team advising on behalf of Go Wansbeck enterprise agency - “a fantastic project with some great outcomes for young people,” she reflects. When the present government scrapped the agency initiated by the previous government Lindsey, 31, was advised to bide her time until a new initiative arose. But, convinced she and her colleagues had benefited both education and the children, she decided otherwise. “I didn’t see myself as a slave to the next government initiative,” she says. “Maybe I was young and naive but I thought ‘no chance.’” During maternity leave she emailed 10 people she thought might be supportive. Replies

included one from the Edge Foundation, the independent education charity raising the status of technical, practical and vocational learning. The foundation recognised what had been achieved at Wansbeck and pledged £75,000 to get Skills to Shine up and running while she established a trading side. Visiting schools personally, she found a number now with their new financial freedoms willing to pay for projects like hers. So for two years now, Skills to Shine has run fortnight-long summer schools around the world of work for recipients of free school meals. Last year another £270,000 came in from the national Lottery towards a four year programme. This has enabled Lindsey to employ two full time staff, and a casual corps of 27 business people, actors, teachers and youth workers to imbue young people with skills equipping them to manage a career and cope with life. >>

This way they’re learning about work all the time, instead of at 14 when they’re offered work experience but don’t know what they want to do or where to go

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SUCCESS STORY Companies such as Dicksons the Tyneside butcher and takeaway food chain, Dunelm Homes and housebuilder Frank Haslam Milan (and now Keepmoat Homes) have been supportive. Lindsey explains how schoolchildren as young as five are made work aware. a child at five can be taken through the story of Three Little Pigs then onto a building site to see joiners at their job, materials used and where they come from, then be told how a house is built that can’t be blown down. Says Lindsey: “ask a joiner what he did at school and he may say he didn’t get on very well there. But maths he did learn has proved essential. He may have to use dimensions, pi... It’s part of the livelihood. Youngsters see it applied, even if they don’t like studying it in school. Making their learning real and relevant makes it inspiring too. You learn to get a job.” Youngsters studying India perhaps will visit an Indian restaurant to learn about catering, preparing menus and pricing items. They might work alongside a chef, preparing curry

The presentations of these kids who had little conﬁdence and, it was thought, little ability were unbelievable to sell through their parents. or they might try something in a recycling plant. Different introductions all the time... Says Lindsey: “This way they’re learning about work all the time, instead of at 14 when they’re offered work experience but don’t know what they want to do or where to go. I’ve worked in some of the most deprived wards in the country with third-generation unemployed. never mind becoming an engineer - they don’t know what an engineer is, or many other jobs either. If they don’t know what an engineer does, how can they make an informed decision?” Last year seven schools had summer ventures.

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The spur of rejection Lindsey, who reports to a board quarterly in her guaranteed company, serves on a working party at newcastle university. She hopes to amass data confirming methods like hers can raise young persons’ attainments, since no such research is available that she knows of. Businesses she has surveyed have all rated Skills to Shine summer school good or excellent; 98% of the teachers have rated the programme likewise; and all participants felt they’d developed their confidence, motivation, sense of teamwork and learning. She’s made two bids for grants to research further. She concedes: “I don’t think we can get this beyond just another initiative unless we can connect it with attainment and achievement levels. That’s what the Government is bothered about - a child having better maths and better literacy skills.” However, she sees what many do: a lack of communication between the Education and Business Departments of government on this: “Michael Gove the Education Secretary wants children sitting in a classroom learning times tables and alphabets. But you also need kids for work as Vince Cable the Business Secretary acknowledges. Proving our way works could mainstream us into schools.” Lindsey’s passionate about opportunity in education, having herself almost been rejected. Born in Lincoln and raised in Whitley Bay from the age of two, she was found to be dyslexic. a teacher told her parents she hadn’t the ability to study a level history as she wished since she couldn’t read enough and her reading standards weren’t what they should be. alternative methods of learning that exist were never suggested. “Because I didn’t fit into the box I was told I couldn’t do what I wanted. I left school at 17 and didn’t go to university until I was 21. I took several jobs meanwhile.” She learned coping strategies - has written her own successful application for a Lottery grant, for example – having earlier got her history degree from northumbria university, and an Ma later at university of Sunderland. While a student she worked with young people in care who had social and emotional problems, and special education needs. “I saw them over three years struggling. The education system was failing them.” as a youth worker also during holidays, she saw people who were encouraged to do things differently could learn more easily.” While an education officer at Tyne and Wear Museums, she found what they did for education so creative and different; experimental, hands on, practical. at that point she did her Masters, pulling together all she was seeing and learning. “Then at Wansbeck I was given three years to test out my theories as we worked for school improvements.” Husband Shaun has an internet company and his own building firm, Endeavour Developments, which has recently completed 14 homes at north Shields and three at Monkseaton, one of which the couple have recently moved into with their son Stanley, three and a half, and nancy, 20 months. Lindsey now plans a drive for government tenders, more business sponsorship, and a portal to put lesson plans and business support on. She also wants to develop a certificate of enterprise and skills – not as a qualification to tick a box, but to accredit what the young are achieving. “You know,” she adds, “so many entrepreneurs admit they didn’t do well at school, but they are doing well at work.”

“This year we’ve already nine signed up and hope to make it 14,” she says. “The schools range throughout the north East and one is in Birmingham, where we got known by word of mouth. I’ve now piloted a model to

roll out nationally.” one group on a literacy course had to write a 10 sentence story. They were first taken on an open-top bus tour for inspiration, then a museum visit where they were told to find >>

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SUCCESS STORY their own story idea from there on and write it up. That, they were also told, was work. Later an author mentored them in unclassroom-like fashion. a printer, illustrator and cartoonist weighed in. Besides the written and illustrated word, the group also made a studio recording

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of their work to sharpen their listening and learning skills, and finally were tested on presentation. Says Lindsey: “The presentations of these kids who had little confidence and, it was thought, little ability were unbelievable. one

A growing trend More than a third of employers now engage with local schools and colleges, a survey of 1,000 uK employers suggests. CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development which ran the survey, urges firms to work through established programmes. Inspiring the Future initiative, for example, has 70% of state secondary schools in England pledged to work with businesses. other linking partnerships exist, also the education charity Young Enterprise. among employers offering apprenticeships, over half have increased the number over 12 months. But despite the increased access routes, too few applications are coming from 16 to 24-year-olds. almost a third of firms had no applications from young people over a year. The Edge Foundation encouraging Skills to Shine is also behind the university technical colleges now being established to take students at 14 down specific industry routes. Lindsey says: “They’re already doing a fantastic job for future workforces at the like of Rolls-Royce, which sponsors such a college for their apprentices, and JCB. national Rail has written a maths curriculum. “Someone at 14 still does GCEs and a levels but also the project based learning as if working for a business – learning hands-on. It goes back a little towards traditional technical colleges but young people come out at a much higher level.” The idea has met resistance from schools and local authorities in the north East. one proposed for newcastle didn’t come off. But one might emerge in Middlesbrough. Local Enterprise Partnerships are raising the colours, and a strong commitment by major firms of the region might hasten their coming. “I am sure our region will have university technical colleges at some point,” says Lindsey, who sees her sort of venture as complementary. next term aviation will feature, entailing science and mathematics. Lindsey hopes the Education Department will pick up on this kind of thing. “It works,” she promises. “We just need to get it adopted more. So open it to every young person.”

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did a puppet show. another a film drama. They learned in literacy during two weeks what might have taken a full term at school.” on numeracy courses youngsters are briefed on how to develop and market a project, get a budget of £10 perhaps and have to set their margins and show a profit. Two lads who sold their chocolates from a pop-up shop at Blyth for six and a half hours hadn’t realised how strenuous earning a living is. “When my mother gets home now and whinges I’ll know why,” said one. The chocolates were made following visits to John Lewis and Fenwick, and a sharing of expertise by two local artisan confectioners and chocolatiers, Gareth James at Tynemouth and Kenspeckle at Morpeth. an experienced designer had mentored, in school, on branding and marketing. Projects are sponsored by schools or businesses, with businesses ever at the heart. The north East Chamber of Commerce, for example, is supportive. “You’d be surprised how willingly firms give time, effort, resources and people. our feedback is that businesses want to help schools more. The gap in the middle is what we’re helping to bridge. We find out what schools do and need, then offer a project to meet everyone’s outcomes and ensure young people learn about work.” Lindsey insists she’s the planner. “I’m not here to make money but to make it work for young people,” she tells schools. Mostly she’s well received, but getting acceptance is still a hurdle sometimes. “They have to hit grades, levels, and are sometimes wary of diversifying,” she accepts. “However, some heads and teachers are very forward thinking. at one school with problems some teachers didn’t want me there. I was just another ‘initiative’ to them. I split the staff room into those for and those against and said ‘fight it out’. “They sat and argued. one teacher asked: ‘Why should a bus driver come to my classroom to tell me how to teach?’ I asked how many children there wanted to be a teacher. You need a bus driver to explain what a bus driver does and so help youngsters make an informed choice. Maybe some would want to drive a bus. We need bus drivers. The teachers came round to my way of thinking.” n

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BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14 17/1/14 16:01:01

IN ANOTHER LIFE

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James Gill has a knack of finding jobs for others but the job he himself might have had was lost by a quirk of fate

A farewell to arms James Gill is a recruitment expert who’s been more than 15 years in the employment industry. In 2012 he set up First Class Technical Recruitment in the North East, which supports the sourcing of skilled technical and engineering personnel for industries that include the chemical, oil & gas, renewables and utility sectors. In the business’s first year he has overseen agreements with six national clients, created employment throughout the region and now aims to build upon this initial success by doubling his firm’s workforce for a sector whose demand is growing. Previously he harboured ambitions of dedicating his working life to the Armed Forces. “Growing up, I always admired my grandfather. He served in the military,” he says. “This led me to aspire to one day join the Armed Forces myself. Since the age of 10 I was set upon a career in the Army. “I passed the Regular Commissions Board Examination at 17, and following Newcastle University went on to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst with a commission in the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment ahead of me. However, an accident on a training exercise resulted in me being medically discharged. “Until that fateful day there had been no doubt in my mind that I would spend my entire working days serving in the Armed Forces. In another life, this would have been so. “Apart from my family ties, the military appealed to me for a number of reasons. The nature of the job was something I was well suited for. I enjoyed the outdoor life,

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and the physical demands were challenges I looked forward to conquering. I also saw it as an admirable path to take in life. To serve your country provides a great sense of pride and satisfaction. “After gaining a regular commission I would have been able to serve for 35 years, enabling me to follow my regiment around the globe on various operations. I can’t say with absolute clarity where I would have ended up due to the unpredictable nature of the job. But I would have liked to have taken an attachment to the Royal Signals had an opportunity arisen. “I also believe that as time passed, and I became more experienced, I would have been well suited for a training position. Sharing the invaluable knowledge I would have gained while touring, and from potential posts in communications, was something I could have seen myself excelling in. It would have been a very rewarding role. “Although my time was cut short, the time I did spend training in the Armed Forces provided me with some very useful training and life experiences. I forged a high level of discipline, determination and, most importantly I became very resilient. This has

served me very well going forward, as the employment industry is not for individuals afraid of rejection. “After being discharged, I met a group of fellow ex-officers in the early ‘90s that had recently completed short commissions. They themselves were starting out in the recruitment industry and encouraged me to do the same. From then on in I haven’t looked back. I have now been successfully operating within the industry for more than a decade.” n

Until that fateful day there had been no doubt I would have spent my entire working days in the Armed Forces

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COMPANY PROFILE

Celebrating Sunderland Intern success The University of Sunderland has a proud track record of providing employers with key skills and up to date knowledge via the recruitment of graduate interns. Our Graduate Internship Schemes are closely aligned to the needs of employers seeking to inject new ideas and talent into their business. Since 2009 the University has placed over 250 interns with employers in the North East Region. Graduates with a passion to learn, provide businesses with invaluable ideas, and develop practical work based skills were recently honoured at Sunderland’s first prestigious Intern of the Year Awards Ceremony. Held at the National Glass Centre, the Ceremony was hosted by Metro Radio presenter Karen Wight and the University of Sunderland’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Julie Mennell. Recent graduate Michael Simpson was named as Intern of the Year after creating a highly successful Software App for marketing company 4th Aspect Ltd. The showcase event saw business leaders from all over the North East celebrate the work of interns across the region within small to medium sized businesses. Michael, who is now working as a Junior Developer and Database Administrator at 4th Aspect, initially developed his own iOS app for Apple products to help companies check their website ratings. The app has now been downloaded by more than 1,000 users in five months and received great reviews via the Apple store. Not only did he design and build the app, Michael contributed to the main cloud-based application and cleansing of the 4th Aspect database. After impressing so much during his internship with his work and enthusiasm, Michael has now continued his employment at the company full time. Dave Glynn, Founder Director, 4th Aspect Ltd, said: “We could not be happier with Michael’s performance and he is a credit to the University, 4th Aspect and the North East’s software industry as a whole.”

Internship Awards runners up, Michelle Oliver and Nathan Lawson, and winner Michael Simpson

Michael is now going to deliver the new version of the app using HTML 5 so that it can be made available across Android, Blackberry and Windows mobile devices. Michael said: “Winning the award feels great. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe how I feel. It was such a surprise to be nominated. Thank you to the team for nominating me and to the University of Sunderland for this opportunity.” Sunderland graduates Nathan Lawson, who undertook an internship at Consult and Design Website Company and Michelle Oliver at water and wastewater treatment company, Biochemica UK, were named as Runners-Up at the inaugural Awards. It is the first year the Awards have taken place since the launch of the University of Sunderland’s successful Graduate Internship Scheme. Nickola Gray said: “The night has been a fantastic evening which has been dedicated to recognising the talented graduate Interns who have worked so hard to develop their skills, as well as the region’s host organisations, who have committed to developing and enhancing the graduate’s talent.

We could not be happier with Michael’s performance and he is a credit to the University

We have enjoyed two excellent presentations from Jonathan Well’s, Director of Guroo and Michelle Oliver, former graduate Intern and now Marketing and Business Development Officer at Biochemica, as well as presenting the ‘Intern of the Year Award’ to worthy winner, Michael Simpson from 4th Aspect. It’s been a really special evening and judging by the outstanding feedback the Internship Team have received, everyone attending has really enjoyed it.”

For more information on the Graduate Internship Scheme please go to www.sunderland.ac.uk/ business/recruitagraduateintern or telephone 0191 515 3315

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PRINCE’S TRUST

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>> Katrina never gave up

with John Wall

£600K To THE YounG PEoPLE’S GooD We can change another life as well as our own during 2014, John Wall suggests. as we look forward to a fulfilling 2014, I thank members of the north East development committee for The Prince’s Trust – John Marshall of Bond Dickinson, David Simpson of Coutts, John Holland of JR Holland, Dave Meldrum of Meldrum Construction, and nigel McMinn for his incredible work too on behalf of Benfield Motors before taking up his new post for Lookers PLC. Each made 2013 such a success for the trust, passionate as we all are about giving disadvantaged young people in the north East the chance to succeed. Important to the development committee is the north East leadership group. Since its launch in 2012, it has raised more than £120,000. This will support some of the most vulnerable into work or enterprise. With match funding from the European Development Fund (ERDF) the figure rises to more than £240,000. The leadership group also contributed to the trust raising more than £600,000 for the north East last year - the largest amount yet. During 2014 we aim to raise even more. over a year the leadership group has grown

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Katrina Daniel: her story inspires

to 41 members, and we’ve welcomed some great additions, including Port of Tyne, Tharsus Engineering, Gateshead College, adderstone Group, Fenwick, Sage Wealth and Hamilton Portfolio. also Professor Roy Sandbach, David Goldman visiting professor of innovation & enterprise at newcastle university Business School, has kindly agreed to chair the leadership group now. Roy brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and has already made a huge impact chairing the north East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) innovation project. He will drive our leadership group’s expansion into Teesside and Durham. Every year, The Prince’s Trust Macquarie Youth Index measures the wellbeing of our nation’s young people. The latest edition indicates more than one in five young people in the

Katrina Daniel’s story inspires. Katrina, from Bishop auckland, left sixth form in summer 2011, excited about her future but with no clear direction. She’d wanted to attend university but home circumstances prevented that. Katrina struggled to find a job for almost two years, applying for over 200 positions with no luck. Her mental wellbeing spiralled and she suffered depression, anxiety and insomnia. needing to do something, she looked into selfemployment as an alternative. She contacted The Prince’s Trust and attended its Enterprise Programme, where she learned about basics of self-employment. Katrina then set up her own bakery, The up ‘n’ under Pie Company. It did well. Then, last year, she joined the Prince’s Trust full time, working directly with young people to help them find work. The Prince’s Trust runs a variety of programmes that help young people rebuild their self-esteem and move into jobs. www.princes-trust.org.uk

north East (21%) may have experienced symptoms of mental illness through unemployment. It’s even worse for those who’ve been out of work for six months or more. We’ve found the long-term unemployed are more than twice as likely as their peers to believe they’ve nothing to live for. Many tell me their life wasn’t worth living before they received support from The Prince’s Trust. With 8,970 young people in the north East facing long-term unemployment, it’s frightening to think about the young lives that could be wasted if we fail to support them. If you’d like to get involved with the Prince’s Trust and help make a difference to disadvantaged young people, please call me on 0780 291 7615. To take part in any events please call Sarah Clark on 0191 497 3227.

More than one in ﬁve young people in the North East have felt symptoms of mental illness as a direct result of unemployment

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COMPANY PROFILE

SME’s securing funding for growth In the North East, the Investment for Growth fund has a small team of advisors making a big difference for SMEs in the region. The ERDF funded project is dedicated to ensuring that b2b SMEs across a wide range of industries can access the funding to stimulate growth and create and safeguard jobs The Investment for Growth fund has a small team of advisors that make a big difference to small businesses across the North East. The ERDF funded project is dedicated to ensuring that SMEs across a wide range of industries can access funding to stimulate growth and create and safeguard jobs. In particular it is young SMEs for whom securing funding for growth projects can be the difference between great success and simply treading water to stay afloat. Pinpointing firms at this critical stage in their development is a top priority for the fund, as senior project manager Paul Whitecross explains with the example of HoseTech North East, a hydraulic specialist that started trading in 2011. “ Within the first few months of trading, HoseTech could see the potential to substantially upscale their business, but needed a comprehensive sales and marketing strategy and suite of marketing materials to achieve this. “After three months of completion of the project, the owner/operator business had created three full-time positions and increased the range of services offered. In the second full year of trading the firm showed an increase in turnover of £150,000 and is on target to double that in year three.” The figures stack up to show that last year was a considerable success for the fund, which is managed by the BE Group. It awarded a total of £1,160,352 to 373 small and mediumsized businesses in the region and of these, approximately 20% were younger businesses. With an average award per business of £3,111 this has

L-r, Kate Ward, Paul Whitecross, Dianne Barkas of Investment for Growth

a direct effect on further growth, the longevity of the business and also on employment; with 652 jobs created and 776 safeguarded, according to forecasts. Several firms have also secured funding to become greener such as Barclay Roofing in Teesside, which used its funding to achieve ISO environmental accreditation – landing two contracts worth £1.7m and creating and safeguarding 26 jobs As a result. Any B2B SME can apply for up to 40% of funding for a project provided it meets the basic criteria that it will stimulate growth and create or safeguard jobs. Businesses entering the scheme will benefit from a dedicated adviser to support them, such as Karen Jones, who is passionate about her role; “I meet approximately six to ten new SMEs a week, who can be a million miles apart in terms of what their

I meet approximately six to ten new SMEs a week, who can be a million miles apart in terms of what their business products or services are. It’s so rewarding to see a business invest time and money into bringing expertise into the business with support from I4G and then reap the rewards

business products or services are. It’s so rewarding to see a business invest time and money into bringing expertise into the business with support from I4G and then reap the rewards.” After receiving further funding and a contract extension in autumn last year, there is £620,000 still available through Investment for Growth for 2014, which manager Paul is confident will be fully committed by July, well ahead of target; “We’re so pleased with how successful the fund’s been; we’re urging any businesses wishing to access funding to apply quickly while funds are still available.”

To find out about Investment for Growth call 0191 426 6408 or email enquiries@investment4growth.co.uk

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MEDIA BRIEFS

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The Scrutator >> A small price for courage John Lightfoot, whose success in business is built on the sea, is determined that a hero of the sea will not be forgotten. He was dismayed at how neglected the memorial gravestone is of Joseph Bell, senior chief engineer of The Titanic. Many were the heroes among the 679 crew who perished in 1912 when an iceberg drove the cruise liner down to its watery grave in one of modern history’s deadliest peacetime disasters at sea. But probably none among the crew’s victims experienced horror, or endured conditions worse than Bell and his 34 engineers, as they stayed at their posts in the bowels of the ship - and ultimately perished there. By doing so they kept the lights working to save as many lives as possible before the ship sank. You get some idea on computer of their ordeal by keying into education.nationalgeographic. co.uk/education/media/heroes_titanic/. There you see the conditions suffered as naval scientists re-enact the tragedy. Hands frozen, icy water submerging their entire bodies as they worked in the dark until consumed. More than the 1,517 who died out of 2,000 aboard would have been lost but for the engineers’ commitment to duty, their acceptance that by remaining where they worked they’d plunge two miles down to the seabed. Today a memorial of granite – firm as their bravery – stands to their memory at St nicholas Place, Pier Head, Liverpool, a city – like Belfast – strongly associated with the illfated liner and indeed whose name, as port of registry, appeared alongside that of Titanic on

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Ann Freer shows John Lightfoot the deteriorating lettering on Joseph Bell’s memorial headstone, desperately in need of restoring the stern of the ship. There’s also a memorial dedicated to the engineers at Southampton. But John Lightfoot, chairman of Solar Solve Marine, the South Shields manufacturer whose sunshades fitted to ships worldwide make navigation safer and more comfortable, is dismayed that Bell’s memorial headstone is in a poor state and concealed in an overgrown part of St. Thomas-a-Becket churchyard at Farlam, Cumbria. Says John: “While the headstone does pay tribute to Joseph’s bravery there’s absolutely nothing to indicate where the headstone is, and you’ll be lucky to just stumble upon it.” Lightfoot and his family firm are enthusiastic towards maritime causes in giving back to the community, but he only found out on reading by chance how admirers planning to refurbish Bell's gravestone are having difficulty raising money to get the required work done. So John, besides his own involvement with

the Joseph Bell Memorial appeal, hopes others will join in tribute. He’s also promoting Tarn to Titanic, Life and Times of Joseph Bell – a new biography about Bell, his career with White Star Line, his brave marine engineers, and the history of the Bell family’s farm at Farlam. Jointly written by Barrie Bell Hodgson and ann Freer, its sale will add to the fund. Lightfoot feels there are many people in the north East associated with marine engineering and the marine industry generally who’d like to reflect on a man and his team who added immeasurably to the long record of courage and selflessness so strong a feature of seafaring history. The appeal’s aim is to refurbish Bell’s headstone, install an information point at the cemetery, and clear a path to the memorial. Some funding would be held in reserve to cover grass cutting and other regular maintenance.

Copies of Tarn to Titanic (£10 plus post & packing) are available by credit card from Books Cumbria. www.bookscumbria.com and bookscumbria@aol.com. Tel: 1228 529 067. Donations by cheque, payable to The Joseph Bell Memorial Appeal, can be sent to Barrie Bell Hodgson, 17 Sandringham Close, Winsford, Cheshire, CW7 2RT. Or bank transfer (email: tarntotitanic@gmail.com) for details.

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COMPANY PROFILE

The Finance for Business Funds – Four years on As phase one of the £125m Jeremie Fund enters its final year, North East Finance’s Andrew Mitchell assesses its impact on the region so far In January 2010 the Finance for Business Fund was launched with the objective of investing in some of the North East’s most ambitious young businesses. The £125m venture capital programme (also known as the JEREMIE fund) was the first of its kind in England, funded by European and UK Government investment as well as through a £62.5m commitment from the European Investment Bank. With seven sub funds, managed by six experienced venture capital management teams, the programme aimed to invest in around 800 businesses across the region, creating and safeguarding thousands of jobs and reinforcing the region’s drive into new growth sectors such as software, life sciences, renewables and advanced manufacturing. So, as we move into the final year of the programme, this is a good time to reflect on the progress we have made. First of all, I am delighted to say that the programme is meeting its targets. As at the end of 2013, we have invested over £90m in almost 600 businesses. The programme has secured an additional £100m of private sector investment for regional businesses, from a wide range of business sectors and from every corner of the region. Whilst challenges remain, we have helped to provide finance for SMEs at a time when investment has been hard to come by and economic conditions have remained uncertain. Since the programme was launched, of course,

We have helped to provide finance for SMEs at a time when investment has been hard to come by and economic conditions have remained uncertain

Andrew Mitchell, chief executive, North East Finance

the political and economic landscape has changed dramatically. The General Election of 2010 led to the abolition of ONE North East, the emergence of two new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and cuts in a wide range of business support programmes targeted at SMEs in the region. We have been through the worst recession since the 1930s, with the major banks increasingly reluctant to lend to small companies in general and early stage technology firms in particular. Only last month, one of our portfolio businesses was floated on the AIM market, securing a valuation well in excess of its launch price. Applied Graphene Materials plc, based on the Wilton site in Teesside, is developing revolutionary new technology based on research undertaken at Durham University. Elsewhere businesses in sectors as diverse as mobile communications, computer games, supply chain services and industrial coatings have been able to achieve their

growth ambitions with the help of investment from the programme. The original programme was scheduled to close for new investment at the end of 2014; however, thanks to the commitment of regional partners – in particular the North East and Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partners (LEPs) – we have been able to extend the programme to the end of 2015 with some £20m of additional funding. Looking further into the future, we are now increasingly confident that we will be able to deliver a succession programme (JEREMIE 2), which will aim to invest as much as £160m into regional businesses, through to the end of 2020. Challenges remain, of course, and we should not be complacent. Effective business support programmes which providing mentoring and investment readiness training for young businesses are an essential part of the finance landscape. Investment in skills and infrastructure are also vital elements of the growth story. Nevertheless, with the economy recovering at last, entrepreneurial businesses in the North East have a real opportunity to establish themselves on the national and international stage. Our fund managers continue to seek out the most innovative firms and the most ambitious entrepreneurs in our region. Many of these businesses will create the jobs and wealth of the future. The momentum we have built up since 2010 must be maintained if we are to help those businesses to find the investment they need to succeed.

1 St James’ Blvd, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 4AD 0191 211 2300

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

BIT OF A CHAT

WINTER 14

>> No race to the kitchen

with Frank Tock >> Put to the vote There’s no sign yet of nick Swales hankering for a parliamentary career after 27 years in financial services. He is, after all, still getting into his stride as regional director of Rathbones in newcastle. But has he ever aspired, we wondered, to be an MP – a chancellor of the exchequer even? His background is sound. His degree from newcastle university was in politics and economics. american politics in particular fascinate him. He’s personable and very well known in business circles throughout the north East of course. He has strong views on education and is deeply immersed in charity work, which no doubt sharpens his sense of social responsibility. Besides, he thinks it a reasonable question to ask too. “When I was younger a number of friends asked had I thought about it? I was certainly very interested in politics then. one of my heroes is Ronnie Reagan, a fascinating and much maligned gentleman. I learned a lot about monetarist economics while he was in power because that was the flavour, especially with Maggie Thatcher in power here too. “also, I admired how he used the skills he had to best effect. I don’t want to avoid your

We must bring on the best, but they must remember those less fortunate

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

Who does the cooking, we wondered, when Paul and Valda Goodfellow return home to Windlestone, County Durham, after a hard day’s work equipping some of the top British chefs with tools of their trade? Valda’s quite frank: “Paul does all the cooking. If he’s not here I don’t eat. I have to do something to keep slim, after all. If I ate restaurant style food every night I’d be a bit bigger than I am now. He’s a really good chef.” and of course he is, having himself previously pleased paying diners, not only in London and various parts of the uK but also Switzerland, Germany and the Caribbean. It must be added, too, that Valda is already very slim, as it happens. and she does make a lovely cup of tea.

question like a politician. I think when I was younger I realised that to enter politics would make family life very difficult, and I wasn’t prepared to compromise that. “So it wasn’t going to be a career for me, though it does remain fascinating. There are many aspects of jobs I do outside my day job that are small ‘p’ political. So I shall stay doing what I do, and doing my charitable work, which is immensely important to me.” His particular thing about education? “I feel we must bring on the brightest and best. But then we must teach them a responsibility to use their acquired knowledge and skills to the good of more than just themselves. Yes, they can get a good job. But then they must remember those less fortunate.” as a member of three charity boards including the Percy Hedley Foundation which he chairs, he regrets to see very few younger people volunteering to serve on such bodies. True, he concedes, being a charitable trustee now is very onerous because of legislation involved - but also partly because younger people are either less willing, or are less able to get time off from their day job to become involved. “That’s a real shame,” he says. “all my

employers, but Rathbones in particular, have been very encouraging and supportive of us doing outside things. They come back to a company with fresh ideas, fresh thinking. They’ve learned something.” as pressures on staffing costs start to ease?

>> In a manner of speaking... Pity us poor listeners. Less than 10% of senior managers understand what they actually mean when they use corporate buzzwords in presentations, meetings, reports, emails, and face-to-face conversations. Yet they continue to use five a day on average. a survey of almost 1,000 executives by Financial Times Publishing has found terms such as “future-proofing”, “core competency” and “leverage” stumped all but a quarter of respondents. and less than half knew what a “paradigm shift” is - or the difference between “strategy” and “tactics” in a commercial or managerial context. Perhaps they just need to take things less seriously. They should ask their board to provide the latest in corporate furniture a boardroom table that converts to a world class standard ping pong table.

Northampton Saints

Sunday 23rd February 2014 Kick Off 3.00pm

Leicester Tigers

Sunday 2nd March 2014 Kick Off 2.00pm

Call the ticket hotline on 0871 226 60 60 for match tickets For Hospitality call the Commercial team on 0191 214 2892 Visit our website www.newcastlefalcons.co.uk

EVENTS

WINTER 14

BQ’s business events diary gives you lots of time to forward plan. It also helps event organisers to avoid clashing dates. To add your event to the list send details to b.g.nicholls@btinternet.com. The diary is updated daily online at www.bq-magazine.co.uk

FEBRUARY

MARCH

12 Handling Enquiries, Planning and Implementing Communication, Newbiggin Maritime Centre (8.45am). enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk, 0845 05 05 054

1 to 8 UKTI Indian Trade Visit, enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk, 0845 05 05 054

13 Entrepreneurs’ Forum, exchange programme programme launch, open event, www.entrepreneursforum.net 0191 500 7780 13 NECC Exchange, Thistle Hotel, Middlesbrough (11am) 0300 303 6322

3 NECC course, Import Procedures and Documentation (NECC Durham 9.30am) jacqui.tulip@necc.co.uk 0300 303 6322 3 Bmi Regional starts its new jet service between Newcastle and Brussels. 4 ICE annual competition, Cooling Prize, Durham University. www.ice.org.uk

14 Dr Athanasios Vamvakidis, director and head of FX strategy Europe for the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in London, on Trading FX in Uncharted Territories (Newcastle University Business School 9.30am) www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs

4 Entrepreneurs’ Forum, focus dinner, Terry Laybourne on My Life in Hospitality. www.entrepreneursforum.net 0191 500 7780 14 CBI NE M Club with GE Capital, Embedding Innovation (Newcastle University 8am) clara.stenning@cbi.org.uk

14 Closing date for NatWest Trade Promotion Competition. www.natwestevents.com/tmc

19 Handling Enquiries, Planning and Implementing Communication, The Copthorne, Newcastle, (8.45am). enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk, 0845 05 05 054

17 to 21 UKTI Australian Trade Visit. enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk, 0845 05 05 054 18 ICAEW, Auto Enrolment is Happening: business management and finance, Newcastle (8.30am). www.icaew.com/events#result 18 Professor John Goddard (Newcastle University) on The Civic University and the City (university 5.30pm) 19 Global English, Translation and Interpreting Needs, The Copthorne, Newcastle (8.45am). enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk, 0845 05 05 054 19 Dr Rob Wilson on The Total Social Organisation of Labour in the Context of Telecare, Newcastle University Business School event (business school 3.40pm) www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs 20 NECC presentation event, Stand Up and Be Counted (Derwent Manor Hotel, Allensford DH8 9BB 2.30pm) jacqui.tulip@necc.co.uk 0300 303 6322 21 Mussel Club, Phat Friday @ Evans Easyspace (Newton Aycliffe 8am). 21 to 23 Traverse Events’ Travel Bloggers Conference, Sage, Gateshead. Delegates include bloggers, PRs, tourist boards and travel companies. 22 to 26 UKTI Dubai Trade Visit. enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk, 0845 050 5054 24 NOF Energy, high level market visit to Malaysia. business@nofenergy.co.uk 0191 384 6464 24 to 26 Teesside University masterclasses for process and pharmaceutical sectors, Introduction to Practical HPLC, Middlesbrough campus, fiona.smith@tees.ac.uk 01642 738 025 26 Durham Speaker Series, Secrets of a Successful Workforce, Durham Business School event, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (6pm) www.dur.ac.uk/business/news

19 NECC Northumberland Review of 2013 and agm, Kirkley Hall, Ponteland (11.30am) 26 CAEW, Basic Book-keeping, Durham 1.30pm. www.icaew.com/events#result 26 NECC Tyne and Wear Review of 2013 and agm, Copthorne Hotel, Newcastle (11.30am) 27 NECC Durham and Wearside Annual Dinner (Stadium of Light, Sunderland 6.30pm). www.necc.co.uk/events-and-news 27 Entrepreneurs’ Forum focus dinner, Jonathan Gold on How to Spot Opportunities and Become an Angle. www.entrepreneursforum.net 0191 500 7780 31 to Apr 1 - Teesside University masterclasses for process and pharmaceutical sectors, HPLC Method Validation, two evening sessions, Darlington campus, fiona. smith@tees.ac.uk 01642 738 025

APRIL 1 ICAEW, Payroll Update, Durham (1.30pm). www.icaew.com/events#result 2 China Networking Club, Conor McDonald, lecturer in international business, Leeds University, on Recruitment, Employment Law and Retaining People, Holiday Inn, Washington (noon). www.nepic.co.uk/ukti/China_Networking 4 Entrepreneurs’ Forum, Share This and Share That, Stephen Waddington on Twittering, open event. www.entrepreneursforum.net 0191 500 7780 7 to 11 – Access Russian Markets Visit: Moscow and St Petersburg, gemma. bainbridge@necc.co.uk 08450 076 8330

26 NECC event, Contact Marketing for Customer Engagement and Inbound Marketing, (NECC Durham 9.15am) jacqui.tulip@necc.co.uk 0300 303 6322 27 IoD North East Business Leaders’ Dinner, Steph McGovern and Graeme Leech, Radisson Blu, Durham (7pm) 27 NECC course, Export Procedure and Documentation (NECC Durham 9.30) jacqui.tulip@necc.co.uk 0300 303 6322 27 ICE seminar, Transport Opportunities, Funding the Future, St James’s Park, Newcastle www.ice.org.uk 28 CBI North East M Club, Embedding Invitation, (invitation only, NCFE, Q6, Quorum Business Park, Newcastle 8am) clara.stenning@cbi.org.uk 28 ICAEW Redworth 2014: Financial Reporting www.icaew.com/events#result 28 NECC Exchange, networking lunch (Village Hotel, Silverlink, North Tyneside 11am) jacqui.tulip@necc.co.uk 0300 303 6322

BUSINESS QUARTER | WINTER 14

The diary is updated daily online at www.bq-magazine.co.uk Please check with contacts beforehand that arrangements have not changed. Events organisers are also asked to notify us at the above email address of any changes or cancellations as soon as they are known. KEY: Acas: Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service, CIM: Chartered Institute of Marketing, CECA (NE): Civil Engineering Contractors Association (North-East), HMRC: Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, ICAEW: Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, ICE: Institution of Civil Engineers, IoD: Institute of Directors, NEA2F: North East Access to Finance, NECC: North-East Chamber of Commerce, NSCA: Northern Society of Chartered Accountants, FSB: Federation of Small Business, Tba: to be arranged, Tbc: to be confirmed, Tbf: to be finalised.

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