AJBN MAgazine 001 APRIL 2021

AJBN

Magazine APRIL 2021

You’re hired!

The Apprentice’s Linda Plant on the post-Covid job market

Taking stock Alpesh Patel’s tips for shares with potential to soar

End of 9 till 5?

Why flexible working will outlast the pandemic

Innovation nations Israeli ambassador’s high hopes for ties with UK

Building a new London

Our Brexit boost

Deputy mayor Agrawal writes

Alex Brummer on Britain’s reboot

Take-off for bleisure Travel for pleasure, stay to work

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Onwards

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he sun has got his hat on and the scientists appear to have turned the tide on coronavirus in the UK with unparalleled speed so we look ahead, cautiously but optimistically, to better days.

This first edition of the Asian-Jewish Business Network’s magazine explores possible post-pandemic work patterns as well as the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Amid the work-from-home revolution the founder of flexible workspace provider SpaceMade, Jonny Rosenblatt, paints a picture of ‘office version 2021’, and we speak to expert commentators on the prospects for commercial and residential property. Apprentice star Linda Plant offers her tips for job seekers in an increasingly competitive market now that candidates can work anywhere.

Luxury travel consultant Rebecca Masri examines the expected rise in ‘bleisure’ trips alongisde reflections from, among others, Rajesh Agrawal, London’s Deputy Mayor for business, and Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely.

The 500 days since we last met in person at the AJBN’s launch have felt like a lifetime

but AJBN pivoted quicker than you could say ‘you’re on mute’. Our monthly Zoom meetings hosted high-profile speakers and membership more than doubled with 75 companies from law, finance, PR, property and insurance now represented. We have launched a Club for Manchester and our online-only Women’s Inspired Network for female CEOs. None of this could have been achieved without our headline sponsor Axiom Stone and managing partner Pragnesh Modhwadia, who has given unflinching support We couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of kickstarting our in-person Club events this summer and returning to Lord’s Cricket Ground for another full day of networking in November.

Since our launch at Lord’s in November 2019 we’ve experienced a health and economic crisis like no other. We salute the medics, scientists and other keyworkers who went above and beyond while we stayed at home and we look forward to life returning to some sort of normal, however that might look.

Founders, Russell Bahar & Justin Cohen

Contents Welcome Rajesh Agrawal Linda Plant Tips for top stocks H.E. Tzipi Hotovely Alex Brummer Flexible working Office version 2021 Focus on mental health Budget bonanza How to thrive Q&A Lord’s launch in pics Business travel Grant Thornton Property predictions Philanthropic future State Bank of India Social media tips Our hopes for 2021 Less is more online

3 4 7 11 14 17 21 24 26 28 29 30 32 34 37 40 44 47 50 54

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A brighter future We must seize this opportunity to reimagine London as a city that is fairer, greener and more resilient than it was before the pandemic, Rajesh Agrawal writes

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would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone involved with the AsianJewish Business Network and to congratulate them on the first issue of their magazine.

I really value the close links and relationships which have been forged through the network and I know the organisation will go from strength to strength.

For an organisation less than two years old, the impact it has already had is truly impressive. Our two communities have much in common and I look forward to seeing them thrive together.

The Covid-19 pandemic has without a doubt had a massive impact on every sector of our economy, from the smallest start-ups to the biggest global players.

The Mayor is committed to doing all he can to support London’s business through these most challenging of times.

Last year he launched Pay It Forward London – an innovative scheme through which Londoners can support their favourite local businesses – in exchange for rewards delivered later. So far, tens of thousands of Londoners have shown how much they value their favourite shops, restaurants, pubs, fitness studios and other businesses, to the tune of more than £2 million, with more people joining the scheme all the time.

What’s more, through his Back to Business Fund the Mayor has also allocated more than £700,000 in matchfunding to further support traders to help them expand their operation online, invest in their future and adapt to safe, socially distant trading.

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The Mayor has also massively expanded the package of advice and guidance on offer through his London Business Hub to help business overcome the challenges.

Businesses are an important part of their local communities and therefore the impact of these tumultuous times is social as much as financial. Some high streets and local businesses have seen benefits with many Londoners now working from home – but, of course, the lockdowns and restrictions introduced to reduce the spread of coronavirus have meant too many have been heavily affected.

Whilst some of the short-term support from government for the capital’s economy is certainly welcome and necessary, businesses are still facing many challenges in the coming months and government must ensure all businesses get the help they need to make it through. The Mayor and I will continue to be the voice for London business with government.

Despite the challenges we face as a result of the pandemic and Brexit, London’s long-term proposition remains strong – and I am optimistic about the future.

The Mayor and I are determined to do everything we can to help our great city recover as quickly as possible from this appalling pandemic. Crucial to that will be the safe reopening of central London and attracting Londoners and domestic visitors back to our amazing restaurants, pubs, cultural venues – as well as our major shopping districts like Oxford Street, Regent Street and Covent Garden.

The Mayor recently announced proposals to invest £5 million to support the eventual reopening

of central London, including a brandnew drive to attract visitors – including Londoners and tourists from the rest of the UK – back to our hard-hit retail, hospitality and cultural venues.

The Mayor and I are also confident that London will continue to be a world-leading centre for business and entrepreneurship.

The capital will continue to be a centre for excellence in research and development, and its pool of talent – in addition to its strategic position for access to legislators and decision-makers – is unparalleled anywhere in the world.

As the vaccine roll-out continues across London and the UK, we can see light at the end of the tunnel after the darkness and difficulties of the last year. The fact that a vaccine was developed so quickly and effectively is testament to the value of hard work and global co-operation.

Despite all the upheaval and uncertainty of the past year, I am sure that through hard work, determination and co-operation London will emerge from this historic period stronger and can look forward to better and brighter times ahead.

Together, we can use our recovery from Covid-19 to reimagine our city as a place with a better long-term future for Londoners. One which is fairer, greener and more resilient than it was before.

I hope all members of the AsianJewish Business Network can look forward to a prosperous and successful 2021.

Rajesh Agrawal Deputy Mayor of London for Business

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Selling yourself Apprentice interviewer Linda Plant tells Candice Krieger how to succeed in a job market where global competition will accelerate

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f the pandemic has taught us anything when it comes to business it’s that the job market and way we work has changed forever. The enforced switch to working from home has now become the norm for most people. But such a trend, coupled with millions of people losing their jobs and looking for new roles, means the job market is becoming more competitive than ever. Job seekers will face global competition for a role – home working has proved that you can work from anywhere.

“

I want to help people with the pivoting and transferring of skills which may be needed post-pandemic

The Apprentice interviewer Linda Plant says: “Global competition will continue to accelerate, as in an increasing number of industries, and people can work from anywhere.

“What’s more, the job market will become very competitive as after furlough we may see record levels of unemployment, resulting in increased numbers of applications for roles. And with the profile of the high street changing, with many closures in retail and I suspect hospitality, this may result in a large number of people looking to move into new sectors. Lockdown and tiers have also highlighted to companies that many jobs can be done efficiently remotely, with significant cost savings, so location will become less important.”

So how can a candidate stand out?

Plant says those seeking a job during such competitive times should start with the basics of refining their CVs. And as one of Lord Sugar’s trusted advisers on

The Apprentice, Plant has seen a fair few. Known on the show as ‘the Queen of Mean’, the Leeds-born businesswoman has made a name for herself for the nononsense way she grills candidates on their business proposals. Off screen, she runs her eponymous business academy to support the next generation of entrepreneurs and help people land their next role (more on this later).

She says: “Your CV is typically the first

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thing that a potential employer will read about you. It’s very important, which is why I offer a CV critique service in my academy, to help people present the best possible version of their career.”

She advises: “Make sure that your CV is up to date, is written professionally and

“

I am an advocate of ‘collaboration is creation’ and believe that people need people, bouncing ideas off each other, discussions and socialising after work is no more than three pages long. Always include a cover letter which is specifically tailored to the job that you are applying for and thoroughly research the company and role that you are going after.

Preparation, preparation, preparation! It is also crucial that job seekers use their network to source new opportunities and build relationships and use sites like LinkedIn to do the same.”

According to Forbes, a typical online job advert receives about 250 resumes, but major companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook can get well over 1,000 applications per opportunity. What’s more, many interviews are now conducted online, often making it harder for employers to decide between candidates, so they are adding more interviews.

Plant, who has survived three financial crises, knows how hard it is to compete in tough job markets.

“And I was trading in the mid-80s when the pound dropped drastically against the US dollar, and then the 2008 financial crisis. We are in challenging times and I think I am a good person to help.”

Her business academy blueprint courses include

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feedback on your business idea, a business plan template, a critique of your CV and a critique of your business plan.

“Very often the values we learn in business are the values which carry you through life. Whatever your age or background, I want to help provide a platform for the future, and help people with the pivoting and transferring of skills which may be needed post-pandemic.”

She adds: “I felt that I could write a business course for everybody – not people that want graphs, charts and jargon – but the true grit of business. I can speak from authentic experiences.”

Leaving school at 16 without any qualifications, Plant built her career from humble beginnings. She progressed from selling fashion from a Leeds market stall to launching her international knitwear brand, Honeysuckle, when she met Lord Sugar; they would see each other in the Far East for business and have known each other for more than 25 years.

Honeysuckle later floated on the London Stock Exchange. Today the former Northern Businesswoman of the Year runs a successful property development and interior design business.

Plant herself is having to adapt to working digitally. “Whilst my personal preference is to interview and meet people in person, I have had to adjust to doing so online. There are key elements when one is being interviewed for a job such as body language, good eye contact, dressing appropriately and researching the company, that are exactly the same whether the interview is being conducted remotely or in person. And your skills, qualifications and attributes still apply.

“But check your laptop placement and your frame on the screen before the interview starts and make sure there is nothing embarrassing in the background!

Additionally, make sure that any external distractions or noises such as mobile phones or emails are switched off and, one that I have personally learnt, is try to keep barking dogs out of the room!”

Covid prevented production of the Apprentice in 2020 but is due to air later this year. It will be Plant’s 6th Apprentice series after Lord Sugar brought her into his inner circle of advisers alongside

Linda’s top CV tips 1 Don’t make it too long.

2 List your key skills and attributes early on.

3 Make it well-tailored to the job you are seeking.

4 Clear, concise presentation.

5 Demonstrate that you have transferable skills.

fellow Jewish business figures Claude Littner and Claudine Collins.

“I think Lord Sugar probably wants advisers that can relate to him and interviewers with various qualifications who can recognise what he is looking for.”

When it comes to her ‘Queen of Mean’ persona, she says: “My brief from Lord Sugar was that he wanted someone to dig deep, expose the weaknesses and look at the business plan side.

“The show is edited so it looks like I might not give anyone a chance to answer. But what people have to understand is when I come across as the ‘Queen of Mean’, yes I am ‘mean’ with Lord Sugar’s money. There’s £250,000 going into an idea and a business so we have to make sure the investment is as safe as it can be.

“I don’t like waffle and I don’t like bullsh*t. Let’s get to the facts and the main nitty gritty.”

A regular agony aunt on the BBC’s Your Money and Your Life, Plant has been vocal about her views on the benefits of returning to offices.

“I am an advocate of ‘collaboration is creation’ and believe that in many cases, people need people; bouncing ideas off each other, roundtable discussions and socialising after work, which can stimulate great ideas and bond teams.

Forging relationships is important in many areas of business and I also think about the mental health impacts of working in a more isolated environment. All of these factors need to be taken into account in a home working environment.”

She predicts a hybrid system going forward where some people will be able to work part-time from home and some full-time, with companies who have seen the benefits of WFH transitioning more.

Of course, for some industries this is not feasible but many will pivot to incorporate at least an element of home working.”

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Brexit BOUNCE BACK Alpesh Patel OBE Founding CEO, Praefinium Partners

The EU deal and vaccine successes pave the way for key stocks to grow in 2021

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fter a 2020 in which the FTSE 100 shedded 14.3% of its value – its worst year since the 2008 financial crisis – an initially bright start to 2021 gave way to some pessimism. Many in the market are mindful that the stock market rebound was primarily powered by the co-ordinated government fiscal and monetary policies and that the index still contains too many companies that are feeling the effects of the Covid-19 disruptions.

The burning question for those wondering how to invest in 2021 is

how much is left of this rebound? The market is slowly recovering, and several promising signs have laid the groundwork for a brighter year. After years of uncertainty, Brexit has finally happened.

Governments have rolled out vaccines without too many issues. And President Joe Biden’s US stimulus package should have an overall positive effect.

What is the sentiment among hedge fund managers and banks for the UK stock market in 2021?

Nick Nelson of UBS predicts that the UKEU trade deal will bring some stability to the market, which he expects will close at around 7,200 points by year-end. While not a full recovery to pre-Covid levels, this climb would be a welcome sign for those investing.

While there are hints of cautious optimism for the FTSE 100, it’s hard to shake the feeling that 2021 will be a year that favours stockpickers. I myself have shared several stocks that I feel could be strong performers this year.

While the majority are based overseas, I have included two UK stocks in my list: the corporate foreign exchange specialist Alpha FX and Marshalls plc, a manufacturer of natural stone and landscaping products.

Analysts at the UK investment bank Peel Hunt released a list of 41 stocks they felt had potential this year. Many of

their picks centre on industries that have suffered the most due to coronavirus lockdowns, namely construction and the travel and leisure sectors. This is a clear indication of their belief that the vaccine should power a market recovery throughout 2021, resulting in business as usual. Peel Hunt’s stock predictions last year yielded a 6 percent return against a FTSE All-share drop of 12 percent, meaning their findings are worthwhile for anyone considering stocks to buy in 2021.

Which sectors and stocks will do well in 2021?

CONSTRUCTION With the UK construction output growing steadily during last year, many analysts expect that, despite predictions of a slight decline in house prices over 2021 – due to the end of the government’s stamp duty holiday – the demand for homes will sustain this growth.

Balfour Beatty and Barrett Developments are both worth some attention for 2021. Balfour Beatty had a great 2021 with a price increase of 20 percent and, with profits expected to grow by 94 percent this year, its peak may be yet to come. By contrast, Barratt had a fairly miserable 2020 which could leave room for recovery throughout

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2021 because of the company’s healthy financial situation and position as the largest housebuilder in the country. The housing market is relatively volatile at the moment, but with Brexit uncertainty subsiding, it could be an exciting year for those looking to speculate.

RETAIL Retail is looking interesting this year as further trends towards remote working increase home deliveries. With restaurants and bars closed for months and still unable to offer indoor service as the country awaits a full vaccine roll-out, food delivery companies such as Ocado have flourished. Berenberg Bank, Peel Hunt, Bank of America and Citigroup are all big on this stock for 2021, with price targets of between 2,430p and 2,900p.

Pets at Home is another retailer that has been mostly unaffected by Covid.

A healthy 2020 has led to forecasts of more gains in 2021 as spending on pets increases among the public.

BANKING Lloyds had a strong end to 2020 as hopes about an EU trade deal grew. Now that a deal has been secured, the housing market boost and a return to work owing to a vaccine roll-out should see the

clearing bank recover some of the ground it lost since 2018. HSBC had a pretty disastrous 2020, with prices falling by 37 percent. However, like Lloyds, the EU deal should see some sort of rebound, making it one to watch for 2021. Additionally, a recent trading update suggested a shift “from interest rate-sensitive business lines towards fee-generating businesses, and further reducing our operating costs”, which is encouraging.

ENERGY BP is another stock that has been slow to recover from significant losses in 2020. With oil prices on the rise throughout 2021, a rebound is expected.

Additionally, further investment in green energy in the private and public sectors should help the supermajor claw back some of its recent losses.

BP’s green energy deal with Amazon and its $5 billion (£3.6 billion) a year investment in renewable energy bode well for the future. Its current share prices are down to levels that haven’t been seen since the mid-90s, suggesting that there is plenty of room to grow and recover to pre-Covid levels.

regulatory uncertainty combined with a global recession led to a challenging 2020 for the FTSE 100. While many companies in the 100 are still facing issues in 2021, overall, the green shoots of recovery seen throughout the end of 2020 should continue.

Brexit is out of the way, which should give investors some more clarity about the market. It will by no means be a comfortable ride, however. Business investment has stagnated in the years since the leave vote in the EU referendum. With more clarity – and an abundance of stimulus money sloshing around the market – there are signs that the UK could follow the US market and increase its share prices considerably.

Schroders has suggested that the UK stockmarket “looks cheap” compared with its peers, noting that some shares were trading at a 30 percent discount.

According to the Bank of America investor sentiment survey, recent years of underperformance have led to many investors being “light” on UK shares. With vaccine rollout and an EU deal, this could be about to change, leading the FTSE 100 to a bright 2021.

Is the FTSE 100 overvalued?

Investors’ classic aversion to political and

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A brilliant match Israeli ambition and UK experience often make for excellent partnerships

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ne simply has to look at the vast array of sectors represented in the Asian-Jewish Business Network to find evidence of the impact these communities have had on the UK. There can be no doubt that the AJBN is well positioned to take part in expanding the growing economic cooperation between Israel and the UK. The UK is a hub of connectivity and provides the perfect background for business relations to flourish between the Asian and Jewish communities.

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Bilateral trade has grown, with exports from Israel to the UK tripling in the last decade alone

It is also the ideal place to expand these relations and to embrace new partnerships with Israeli companies. The potential is endless and as Israeli relations with Asian countries deepen, so too do the partnerships that can be formed here.

I have personally borne witness to the growth of Israeli and Asian relations over the years. In 2017, I took part in the first visit of an Indian prime minister to Israel.

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Tzipi Hotovely Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom

During my time as deputy foreign minister, I visited many Asian countries, working to strengthen our diplomatic and economic ties and developing personal relationships with people from across the continent The vibrant nature of the Israeli economy adds a certain ease to achieving these aims. We boast a diverse startup scene, with enterprising individuals pushing creativity to the fore. These companies prove an attractive proposition for more established businesses and we often find that UK experience and Israeli ambition make for excellent partnerships.

But our businesses also share similarities, as well as complementary differences, and as our economies grow closer so too do our politics, our cultures and our peoples. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on a trip to Israel in 2015, recognised its “free society with a thriving and innovative economy”. He went on to describe the British-Israeli partnership as one linked by this “innovation” and made “possible because of our shared values”.

This is well highlighted by London and Tel Aviv, both having bustling markets with a host of businesses spanning different sectors. London is renowned for its fintech scene whilst Tel Aviv is now a hub for tech start-ups that cut across numerous sectors, from IT to banking to manufacturing.

Looking at the potential of many of the more established Israeli companies, UK leaders began to market the London Stock Exchange for our companies to list in. Bilateral trade grew, now amounting to more than $9 billion (£6.5 billion) a year, with exports from Israel to the UK tripling

in the last decade alone.

Now, more than 300 Israeli companies, spanning numerous sectors and specialisations, operate across Britain. The Israeli manufacturer Orbotech acquired a UK technology company in 2014, harnessing its expertise in creating equipment for the microelectronics industry. In 2020, ten Israeli health-tech start-ups travelled to London to meet with some of the UK’s largest healthcare stakeholders.

Many Israeli companies have now become well-established in the UK, such as eToro, Plus500 and Fiverr.

Nevertheless, the embassy still works to promote ties between British and Israeli companies and would like to see more Israeli companies become a mainstay of the British economy and an integral part of society. Our trade mission conducts regular B2B events in order to help British businesses to find partners in Israel.

The power of Diaspora groups to reconnect and build ties with their countries of origin is strong, and the Asian-Jewish Business Network is well placed to help promote ties between the UK, Israel and Asia. For Israel, Britain will always remain one of our closest and most well-regarded friends. When I look to the future of British-Israeli relations, I am distinctly optimistic.

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Great British Reboot A

fter more than a year of almost never-ending Covid and Brexit gloom there is room for optimism. International trade secretary Liz Truss has been quietly going about her business and concluded dozens of new trade deals around the globe. This includes an Enhanced Trade Partnership with India, offering the UK the opportunity to reach deeper into the sub-continent, which is one of the fastest-growing regions of the world.

The emergence of effective vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and others has finally begun to lift hope on global financial markets. For as long as lives were in danger and concern lingered about the threat of ‘no deal’ trade arrangements with the EU, business and consumer confidence was at a low ebb.

It is worth recording that it is only 15 months ago (December 2019) that Boris Johnson’s government won a resounding 80-seat majority on the back of Brexit

Alex Brummer City Editor, Daily Mail

optimism and the belief that with the right policies the resilience of the UK economy could again be unleashed.

Admittedly, the task is harder now. The pandemic wiped 10 percent off national output in 2020. And the coronavirus has left a toxic legacy in the shape of public borrowing in excess of £400 billion in the year ending 5 April 2021. The national debt has soared above £2 trillion, or the same amount as the UK’s gross domestic product.

Yet as I outline in my new book, The Great British Reboot, there is no reason to be pessimistic. It is fashionable to mock the concept of ‘global Britain’, which was at the heart of the UK’s debate about leaving the EU. But there has been an enormous shift in the international landscape, with 57 percent of global output moving to the Asia-Pacific region.

The rapidly growing and modernising economy of India is predicted by the authoritative City think-tank the CEBR

to displace the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy by 2035.

The Covid pandemic may have started in China and Asia but it has been a case of first in and first out. That’s why Britain, with its rich heritage of global trading, has a real opportunity to make new links to the just formed Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Since Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1975, the nation’s whole focus has been aligning our economy with our closest neighbours.

But that laser focus, while it has delivered prosperity and higher living standards, has pre-occupied policymakers and parts of business.

The reality is that the UK’s best global companies recognised long ago that the single currency had rendered the EU sclerotic and they have chosen to reach well beyond the Continent to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.

Companies such as the food and beauty giant Unilever, pharmaceutical pioneers AstraZeneca and drinks producer Diageo went global long before Brexit.

There is a terrible tendency to underestimate Britain’s brilliance in fields ranging from gaming to movie production and design. The UK is largely a services economy but that does not just mean haircuts, coffee shops and gyms as you might deduce from some of the headlines.

The dynamism of the UK’s financial

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services sector, directly employing more than 1.3 million people, accounts for upwards of 7 percent of GDP and earning trade surpluses of £60 billion a year, is unparalleled. It is fashionable to argue that without the European ‘passport’ – the ability of UK-based banks and financial firms to carry on business in the EU unhindered – the City of London’s role as an international financial centre will be greatly undermined.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The City’s resilience as a financial sector stems from its skill in adapting. It is no accident that trading in the Chinese currency, the renminbi, already exceeds that of the euro in London. It is also important to note that the UK, deploying the software skills emanating from our great research universities, already employs 25,000 technicians and engineers in fast-developing financial technology companies such as Monzo, Revolut, Atom and Starling banks.

Indeed, the UK is

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home to four of the world’s top 20 research universities Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL, all of which along with others, such as Southampton, have played a leading role in combating the pandemic. The Oxford Jenner Institute worked alongside AstraZeneca on a vaccine that is scheduled to deliver up to 200 million doses in 2021.

Scientists at UCL designed a lighter, kinder ventilator mid-pandemic and scientists from Southampton came up with smart therapeutics which have saved lives in the second and third waves of the virus.

The UK’s scientific endowment is also seen in companies such as the smart chip champion Arm Holdings, which is an outgrowth of Cambridge, and in the UK’s aerospace sector.

Buyers are still lining up for the Tornado Eurofighter, assembled by BAE and propelled by RollsRoyce engines. And work is under way on its stealth successor, the Tempest, a tribute to the Second World War fighter bomber of the same name.

Creativity is not confined to science labs, aerospace and the City. The UK has a world leading creative sector. The most obvious exponents of this are writers such as JK Rowling – a oneperson global phenomenon – and musical artists such as Adele, Ed Sheeran and Stormzy. They are just the tip of a creative sector that accounts for up to 8 percent of GDP and embraces architecture and design.

Backed by the right levels of technical training and more generous research and development budgets, the UK has the opportunity to regain the kind of global reach it had in Victorian times and reignite relationships with the sub-continent. But it must do so recognising the very different value systems of the 21st century. Policies of diversity, tolerance and social equality must be embraced at all levels of society.

With application, willpower, vision and creativity, all is possible.

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Our flexible futures Karen Mattison is keen on ensuring hybrid and part-time models work.

By Candice Krieger

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hat a difference a decade makes. When social enterprise entrepreneur Karen Mattison MBE started campaigning for flexible working 15 years ago it was seen as a risky idea that would never catch on. Part-time work came with a stigma and senior part-timers in particular were sitting in the shadows.

Fast forward to now and the picture couldn’t be more different. Covid-19 has thrust us all into flexible working. Some 13 million people across the UK are intending to ask for permanent flexible working postpandemic, and half of staff say they would consider quitting if their request for flexible working after Covid-19 is denied. For 2021 looks set to be the year we finally take the ‘just’ out of part-time, says Mattison, co-founder of flexible working consultancy Timewise. Mattison has been a key player in the pre-coronavirus evolution of the

workplace from a 9-5 environment into its more flexible form. She says: “For so long we have seen an apology before the term part-time: ‘I’m just part time,’ ‘I’m only part-time.’ We now know the vast majority of people in the UK see no reason for part-time workers to be held back from progressing in their careers.

“In the year that proved people can work differently, this is taking ‘different’ to the next level. Now it is time for employers to reflect this shift, in how they design and advertise jobs.”

According to Timewise research, nearly three in four people believe part-time workers should have equal opportunity to progress at work – a shift from nine years ago, when the same proportion of the UK public believed it ‘wasn’t possible’ to work a senior career on a part-time basis.

“While many business leaders and managers had already accepted that people could work from different locations, many more had not accepted that senior jobs could be done part-time,” says Mattison. Pre-corona, one million senior-level workers were part-time; now, people at all levels in business may have reduced hours, be it for budget constraints, or personal commitments. “They have adapted and continue to deliver for their organisations.”

She adds: “Although there have been huge changes in the way we work over the past decade, none of us could have predicted how centre-stage flexible working would become for everyone as it is now,” says Mattison. “When we look back, this period will be seen as the tipping point.

Work has changed forever as a result.”

Oxford University graduate and mum of three Mattison co-founded Timewise in

Karen Mattison (right) Co-Founder, Timewise with co-founder Emma Stewart MBE

2012, and its predecessor Women Like Us, to champion the concept of flexible working after she struggled to find a senior role with flexibility.

Nine years ago, Timewise launched its Power Lists, to challenge the misconception that part-time roles only suit those with little responsibility.

The Power List celebrates people who achieve success in their senior jobs on four days a week or less. This year’s winners, announced last month, include: Michèle Dix, managing director of the £30bn Crossrail 2 project, who has worked part-time for 33 years; Laura Scott, a GP running the Tollgate Medical Centre, an East London practice with more than 18,000 patients; and Gunnar Peters, the CEO of a car insurance start-up that has seen significant growth in lockdown. The 2021 awards were backed by EY, Diageo, Lloyds Banking Group and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).

Yet despite the clear shift to flexible working, the ratio of new job vacancies has hardly moved. Just eight percent of job vacancies in the UK offer part-time options.

Four in five make no reference to flexible working options. “Flexible workers face an especially stark situation. 78 percent of jobs being advertised in the UK make no reference to any type of flexible working options, whatsoever.”

Why the gap? “I think it’s partly to do with the financial business model in recruitment,” says Mattison. “Typically, a recruitment agency gets paid a percentage

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of first-year salary, so if a role is part-time, this will be less. We need to look at the financial model of recruitment. But it’s also due to a lack of imagination and creativity in how we hire, defaulting every role to the five--day week. Recruitment is a client-led sector and the more the client demands flexibility at point of hire, the industry will follow.”

If it doesn’t, Mattison warns that a widening gap between working reality and what job vacancies offer means rising inequalities will be compounded.

She says: “The outlook for all jobseekers is stark but for those needing to work flexibly it is even worse. Women, carers, older workers and those with health concerns are currently at the greatest risk of becoming ‘flexcluded’ from work, as new ways of working fail to be reflected in employers’ recruitment advertising.

“We are calling on employers to adopt the same approach for job seekers as they are currently taking with employees.

Whether offering remote working, or part-time hours or staggered start and finish times. We have a real opportunity as we rebuild the economy to finally create a level playing field for the millions for whom flex is now both a necessity and an expectation.”

Through its consultancy arm, Timewise helps leading companies to create and implement flexible working strategies. They include Google, the NHS, Linklaters and Tesco. Unsurprisingly, Timewise has seen a big increase in companies approaching it during Covid: they need to make permanent flexible working arrangements work. And, when it comes to the strategic priorities of 2021, ‘hybrid working’ is top of the agenda.

Hybrid working is typically where an individual, team or organisation works part

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of their time at the workplace and part remotely. “Hybrid will be the model going forward,” says Mattison. “It’s been a huge experiment and I don’t see it going back.

According to reports, two thirds of workers wanted to switch to a combination of home and office working when it was safe to do so. Mattison points out that hybrid working offers pluses for all. “If a hybrid pattern makes employees feel happier, healthier, more productive, less stressed and more in control of their lives, they’re more likely to deliver.” What’s more, fewer people in the office means less space is needed – cutting down on real estate, utility bills and other costs.

The pandemic has proved that it is possible to attend meetings even if you are working remotely, thanks to technology. “But you have to put time and thought into how it’s going to work,” says Mattison. “Will you be able to offer a hybrid

arrangement to everyone in your team or organisation? If you don’t think you can, what will the impact be? Unevenly implemented hybrid working can lead to an influence gap between an office-based ‘in-crowd’ and their more remote-based peers. This could have a knock-on effect on diversity and inclusion with more women or carers or people with health issues or introverts opting to work from home. How will you make sure their voices are heard?”

Collaboration and innovation can also suffer, she says. “Sometimes new ideas pop up from an impromptu conversation around the coffee machine. How will you facilitate formal and informal collaboration if people aren’t in the office together?”

There is also the question of inequality.

“Not everyone has space for a home office or super-fast broadband.” For these people, homeworking might not be productive at all.

The benefits of flexible working are welldocumented: better staff retention and recruitment, improved gender pay gap and lower overheads through remote working.

Working flexibly has enabled Mattison to set up a second social enterprise, Cook for Good, with fellow Jewish entrepreneur Robinne Collie, to bring people together through cooking. They plan to open a teaching kitchen in May in King’s Cross.

“When restrictions lift, we will take corporate teams into shelters and other community sites to cook together. We will have a soup and bread kitchen and a community shop.” In the meantime, they are offering online cooking classes for businesses as a way of helping their teams stay engaged at home. www.timewise.co.uk www.cookforgood.uk

Karen’s top tips for flexible working 1

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Remember that all this is new for your managers too. They need to know how to design and manage flexible teams – whether parttime, remote, or a combination of the two. Invest in the right kind of training. Timewise’s Flex Positive programme covers this and more.

Consider how you will use the office now. What should coming into your office be for? Create spaces to match.

Talk to your teams about how they’d like to work in future. You may find younger workers want to be in the office more – to learn

and socialise. There may not be a ‘one size fits all’ answer so understand what people want.

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Think about fairness. Can you offer flexibility fairly and equitably across all job types? If you have roles that are in-person only, can you find another way to offer a choice of working patterns and improve work life balance?

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Lead from the top – once you have a clear approach make sure it’s role-modelled visibly by leaders. Your people will need to see that this goes right to your very core.

Are you ready for a Digital Transformation in the Post-Pandemic economy?

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Breathing SPACE

One entrepreneur says flexibility is what businesses will want in a post-pandemic world, writes Candice Krieger

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s the government tries to work out when and how to get people back into offices after 21 June, employers will need to do the same. Some workers will be itching to get back. Many will prefer to carry on working from home while a majority, it seems, will want a mix of both. Either way, the rise of remote working necessitated by the pandemic will have a revolutionary impact on the future of the office. Spacemade, a flexible workspace provider, recently raised £1 million from investors to fund the opening of new office spaces in the UK. “The way we consume, design and engage with space is going to change enormously”, says Jonny Rosenblatt, a cofounder of Spacemade. “That’s where the revolution happens.”

Workplaces will have to adapt to accommodate employee preferences while maintaining productivity, innovation and creativity. Spacemade works alongside building owners to help them deliver a

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flexible workspace product. It sits as an extension to a landlord’s team and delivers the entire suite of services to them: branding, marketing, sales, tech and finance, and operates the space on their behalf.

So what can we expect from offices in the post-pandemic world? “We won’t see banks of individual desks anymore,” says Rosenblatt. “The tasks that people will be doing in the office will change and therefore the layout, design and consumption of space will change.

Anything you can do from home, you might as well do at home or a local workspace, rather than commuting an hour and a half each way.” People won’t come into the office to sit at a desk and send emails, but to collaborate with team mates, be inspired and learn from conversations. “Offices will be a combination of work stations and collaborative spaces.”

And the term on everyone’s lips is flexibility. “We will see more of a focus on space on demand,” Rosenblatt says. Office

space is almost becoming ‘hotelified’, where you pay for what you use when you need it rather than paying for the privilege of having people in at any given time.

“Can you grow or contract freely within an existing building? Can you double or reduce that space depending on how many people you have in?” Rosenblatt asks. “It will be about creating that flexibility around the end user’s need that is the crucial point, as well as contract flexibility.”

He predicts that most companies will integrate some element of flexible office space into their office strategy over the coming months.

“It is a conversation going on in every company right now.”

According to research by the Financial Times, many of the UK’s largest employers anticipate introducing hybrid models of working, where workers split their time between the office and home. NatWest will have an element of home working when staff return, while Deutsche Bank said plans were being developed towards the implementation of a hybrid working model. The online bank Revolut is to move most of its staff to “permanent flexible working” and convert much of its space into “collaboration spaces”. And with a shift to hybrid working comes the need for less office space. Both HSBC and Lloyds are planning to reduce their office space while BT is reducing its UK offices from 300 to 30. But the office is not dead. It’s just changing. As indeed is what workers want.

Spacemade found that nearly half of people it surveyed would want to spend at least some time in a local office. The most popular option was doing two-three days a week from a local workspace and twothree days from a central HQ, with only 15 percent wishing to work remotely full-time.

Rosenblatt, 36, and co-founder Dan Silverman, 37, said that at the start of 2021

they expected a rise in the ‘work near home’ model to occur over the next five years but it’s happened in a few months.

This shift towards a ‘hub and spoke model’ – where rather than operate from a single larger office in the city, a business allows employees to work from either their city hub or a dedicated, ‘spoke’ location, including more regional workspaces – is likely to be a key product of the pandemic.

“We are seeing a lot of growth in neighbourhood markets and have been focusing on these ‘closerto-home’ sites, where people can avoid the commute into town,” Rosenblatt says.

This year, Spacemade launched offices in Queens

Jonny Rosenblatt Co-founder, Spacemade

Park, which are almost at capacity, and at London Fields, and are eyeing other sites.

Founded in 2019, Spacemade has more than 100,000 sq ft of flexible office space under operation in London, Leeds and Bristol. Rosenblatt previously founded the Headspace Group, a portfolio of flexible shared office space, which he sold in 2017.

He then teamed with Silverman, a former investment director at Blue Coast Capital and BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Rosenblatt believes that central London will “inevitably come back and the demand for the right space will be crucial. We will see a bit of a flight to quality in those locations where people want the right amenities to attract their team who want to come together two or three days a week and you will need to have the amenities to support that within your offices.”

Design will be key.

“The office needs to be a destination more than ever. People want nice office spaces that are worth coming to.”

How can employers best prepare for a return to office working?

Rosenblatt says they should be listening to their employees and getting a full picture of what they want. Business leaders will need to prioritise employee well-being and have a better understanding of what keeps their team happy, he adds. “They will need to think about how they best use space and make use of that hub-and-spoke model.”

He acknowledges that it is challenging.

“Every business has a very different set of requirements. Many will want people back in the office five days a week because that’s how they work best, but accepting what an employee needs to feel valued and happy is incredibly important and something employers should now be taking note of.”

He says that while there has been a shift in employee priorities, there are issues around ‘presentee-ism’: if you have two people in similar roles and one is in the office five days a week and one is not, will their manager look on one more favourably than the other? It might be hard not to.

“You need to slightly level out the playing field but also ensure that employees are in the office, working together. We are social creatures and you can’t replace that contact time that you have with your team, employees and employers.” www.spacemade.co

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Wellness at work D

avid’s organisation has a wellbeing policy. Management are on it: they have mental health champions, an employee assistance programme and a whole section on the intranet about ‘sleep hygiene’, healthy eating, the office choir and cycling to work.

But is it all just window-dressing? Are they just papering over the cracks?

That same organisation wants David to do the job that three people used to do.

He has deadlines coming out of his ears and with the current situation of remote working his colleagues can’t see that he’s struggling. He wouldn’t dream of telling anyone. He’s had that ‘managing stress in the workplace’ workshop so if he can’t cope, the organisation has done its bit!

David would love to follow the ‘top ten tips for work–life balance’ splashed all over the wellbeing page but the demands of the job means that he never sees his young family. His wife doesn’t much care for the ‘We develop our people’ plaque on the reception wall; saying you care is one thing… meaning and showing it is another.

So, yes, your number one priority for your workplace this year is to truly take care of the mental health of your staff.

Employees should be at the very heart of what an organisation does. The best companies in the world understand that by creating a culture of engagement and involving their people, especially in

“

Consider how you can best support the millennial generation and what may be important to them

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challenging times, they get the best from them.

So, how do you talk about mental health in an inclusive way, and support a member of staff who is struggling?

First of all, it’s important to recognise that we all have mental health, and our mental wellbeing can change from day to day, depending on our life circumstances at any given time.

However, there are widespread mental health issues related to work, and there are trends across different age groups too.

Stress is currently the leading cause of physical illness and, as a result, the most common reason for working days lost in the UK. People of different generations bring different approaches to their work, so consider how you can best support the millennial generation (ages 23-38), alongside your multi-generational teams and what may be important to them.

It is worth implementing a mental health strategy that views each person individually alongside diverse initiatives to meet the needs of all staff. This combination can enable everyone to do their very best at work (and outside work too).

To start, consider adopting these three motivational theories: 1. Build rapport and trust through recognition Business success is more than just the bottom line: staff morale plays a big part in enabling business success in the long term. All humans share similar basic needs: safety, security, social acceptance, etc.

At work, you can enable your team to feel understood, valued and appreciated by building rapport and trust through recognition of their efforts, meeting that social acceptance need. Consider how you can show that appreciation – saying thank you goes a long way, but team initiatives such as a sharing session at the start of

Zoe Sinclair explains how a mental health strategy can keep staff inspired and engaged

each meeting, to congratulate each person on their personal wins, can boost this.

2. Make the time to talk It’s easy to observe someone’s behaviour and create a judgment or assumption, before knowing the bigger picture they are experiencing. Put time aside each month to connect personally with those you manage.

If you notice a change in a behaviour, a spontaneous 1-2-1 can reassure them that you are there to support them at work.

With that in mind, as a manager, ensure you also have a strong support network to share any struggles you experience.

3. Encourage flexible working Studies show that offering staff a flexible approach to working hours can reduce stress, lower the number of sick days and improve staff retention. The message you give is ‘however you work best, I trust you to get the work done’. Alongside clear communication before setting tasks, and reviews after tasks are complete, this can skyrocket productivity and morale.

These are vital starting points for fostering a culture of openness and ease in relation to talking about mental health.

Meaningful change in your workplace can start with just one person, and a group of people committed to making a difference can set something truly special in motion.

What choice will you make today?

Zoe Sinclair is founder of This Can Happen, empowering workplace mental health www.thiscanhappenglobal.com

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Budget boost for property The Chancellor’s three measures for home buyers will ensure the market stays busy

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he Spring 2021 Budget has come as welcome news to all in the property sector and for those looking to buy. Chancellor Rishi Sunak had previously said the raising of the nil rate stamp duty bar for residential property from £125,000 to £500,000 would end on 31 March 2021. This meant that many prospective property buyers were benefiting from significant savings and, as a result, the property market has been and is booming.

So, what were the Budget announcements?

Stamp duty holiday As many were expecting, the stamp duty holiday is being extended until 30 June 2021. This announcement has provided extra security for all those buyers who were hoping to make the March deadline.

From 1 July to 30 September 2021, a staged withdrawal of the holiday will mean that the nil rate band will be £250,000 for all transactions during this period, again allowing for many more

buyers to benefit from the upfront savings, Stamp duty rates will, therefore, not return to normal until 1 October 2021.

Mortgage guarantee scheme From 1 April 2021, a 95 percent mortgage will also become available and any lender that provides a mortgage based on a 5 percent deposit will be guaranteed by the government.

This scheme will apply to properties up to £600,000 only and will be available for new mortgages until 31 December 2022.

This scheme will allow for many more buyers to get on to the property ladder, as well as provide more security to lenders who might have previously been hesitant to loan.

Help to Buy Scheme The Government’s Help to Buy Scheme offers buyers a 20 percent to 40 percent interest-free loan for five years, depending on location, and has been vital in allowing people to continue to buy new homes.

While the old scheme came to an end in December 2020, the government has extended the deadline for the completion of existing applications to May 2021.

This will allow for and accommodate all those buyers and developers with their applications already under way.

The new Help to Buy scheme will run until 31 March 2023 but will

only be applicable to first-time buyers purchasing a new-build property and will be subject to regional price caps.

The existing scheme was available to all buyers so long as they did not own another home.

What is next for the property market?

It is anticipated that the property market will continue to be busy for at least most of 2021, and we are likely to see many prospective buyers and investors take advantage of the stamp duty extension.

The property market is growing and bouncing back to pre-pandemic times, despite the lockdowns and trading restrictions. There is a lot more certainty and confidence in the market and this will only be further heightened by the extension to the stamp duty holiday, the mortgage guarantee scheme and the new Help To Buy schemes This is all positive news for the market and its road to recovery.

Our Real Estate team at Axiom Stone are currently dealing with a variety of transactions across a range of different sectors including (but not limited to): freehold and leasehold acquisitions and disposals, refinancing, acquisition of investment properties; commercial and residential property matters including auction sales and purchases, landlord and tenant matters, as well as business sales and purchases.

We pride ourselves on continuing to provide guidance in an efficient manner to our clientele in any transaction that we undertake regardless of the circumstances in the property market.

If you would like to take advantage of the extension of the stamp duty holiday and the mortgage guarantee scheme, please get in touch with Safia Daud, a solicitor in Axiom Stone Solicitors’ Real Estate department: 020 8951 6938 or email SFD@axiomstone.co.uk

How to thrive Q&A As the current coronavirus lockdown starts to ease, Pragnesh Modhwadia, managing partner at Axiom Stone Solicitors, tackles key questions on the prospects for 2021

days until we were back up and running on our servers.

We were still able to meet deadlines and service our clients. Technology allows us to be efficient and save costs which in turn helps us to grow and concentrate on the things which are important to us, in and outside of work.

How do you see 2021 for the business?

Whilst in January 2021 we saw a dip in GDP of 2.9 percent, the markets definitely seem to be picking up. With the various schemes offered by the government and with the recent vaccinations, businesses are getting back to some form of normality, slowly but surely! The March Budget was encouraging and, with the staged lifting of restrictions, light can now be seen at the end of the tunnel.

Of course, there are many uncertainties surrounding this and whether, in fact, restrictions will be completely lifted by July but I remain positive.

For us, we expect to see more of the same. The real estate industry continues to produce and the signs look positive.

We have seen an increased number of instructions, especially since the chancellor announced the stamp duty holiday. Our China and India desks have also seen an influx of foreign investors taking advantage of the uncertainties in the market.

We have seen growth within our litigation, corporate, employment and private client departments.

For those who are willing and who have the right guidance the opportunities are endless and I do expect to see a strong recovery for the UK economy.

Where do you see the best growth areas?

As previously stated, the real estate market is doing particularly well at the moment and I expect it to continue and improve.

Residential investment seems to be the outperformer during the pandemic.

Investment levels have been sustained and the market seems to have maintained its value. Low inflation and interest rates will encourage spending and investment opportunities which will provide an attractive risk-adjusted reward in the longer term.

Meanwhile a move away from the town and suburbs has brought about a boom in country and coastal residential property.

I would also expect to see a rebound in commercial/office investment. The easing of restrictions, especially travel, should facilitate activity in the market – and many people are eager to get back to the office. I would expect that the majority of demand, especially in central London, will come from overseas investors.

I see a focus, too, on property litigation and employment. We are also looking to be busy in private client, powers of attorney and wills.

Has the pandemic underlined the need to network more and raise our profile?

Raising profile has always been important. I don’t believe that the pandemic has highlighted the need for more networking and profile-raising but it has definitely increased our need to promote online

and via different methods, such as podcasts and remote events.

Regular events such as those organised by the AJBN have helped to bring people together and have been very beneficial to us in raising our profile and seeing new faces.

I am sure many of us are ‘Zoomed out’ and, much like myself, are looking forward to networking face-to-face with a cold beverage in our hand.

How has the use of and need for technology changed since the pandemic started?

It amazes me how technology has developed and changed our lives, mostly for the better.

In business, technology is essential.

To really understand our business, the trends and how to plan growth we need the correct tools. During the pandemic, we needed the technology to enable us to transport our business efficiently to working from home, to continue networking and to maintain our level of service. Whilst the technology is not new (Zoom was released in 2012) the need for it has changed.

During this pandemic, our reliance on the technology has been second to none.

In December 2020 we experienced a slight blip with technology in that our servers went down and we had no access to our electronic files and emails for a few days: disaster! But it was with the help of alternative online platforms that we were able to get through the few

Pragnesh Modhwadia Managing partner, Axiom Stone Solicitors

What would your advice be for those starting a new business in these pandemic times?

Ensure you have a business plan that allows you to be adaptable. No one saw this pandemic coming. Unfortunately, many businesses did not have a plan B or were unable to change elements within their business to survive.

You need to take the time to understand and invest in the technology that will help you survive and be efficient. Surrounding yourself with the right people and having the right advisers is equally important.

We are able to assist and guide our clients through all aspects of their business and take the time to understand their requirements and needs.

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Liftoff at Lord’s

More than 400 people descended on Lord’s Cricket Ground for the launch of the Asian-Jewish Business Network in November 2019. The full-day of networking also included speeches from then business Secretary Alok Sharma, Deputy London Mayor Rajesh Agrawal, Sir Lloyd Dorfman, Lord Bilimoria and Faisal Islam

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Photographs: Leivi Saltman, Leivi Saltman Photography

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Take-off for bleisure

Little Emperors founder Rebecca Masri expects 2021 to be the hotel club’s best year yet, writes Candice Krieger

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he past year has been bleak for the hotel industry. For many, ‘travelling for work’ has meant a few steps to the kitchen table or makeshift home office.

Even with the successful vaccine roll-out, as international travel resumes from next month and hotels welcome clients back, it is likely to take roughly three years for demand to return to 2019 levels, according to some commentators.

But as hotels do begin to reopen, a techtransformed and agile hospitality sector will emerge. New trends will revolutionise the future of travel. Among them, the birth of ‘bleisure’ – travelling for leisure and working from there. Luxury travel expert Rebecca Masri MBE says: “The growth opportunities lie with leisure. We have already seen the average length of stay increase, as offices remain closed, there is more remote working, and people are not necessarily restricted to holiday days.”

Masri, founder of Little Emperors, a private members’ hotel club, says: “The pandemic has shown us that people can work from anywhere and we have seen some very appealing offers from hotels that want to encourage longer stays.”

Little Emperors’ average length of stay has increased from five to nine nights, and 70 percent of bookings made in recent months have been extended after checkin. “’Workations’ amongst our members are

The Norman, Tel Aviv

popular, and I imagine this will continue to lead the return of leisure travel,” she says. According to the Global Business Travel Association, one in three business travellers will add a leisure component in at least one of their business trips a year.

But Masri is aware of the challenges the hotel and hospitality industry faces in 2021. Travel has been hit harder than almost any other industry. International tourism travel was expected to be down as much as 80 percent for 2020 and the pandemic reportedly cost the industry The Four Seasons, Hampshire

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£680 billion in revenue worldwide in the first 10 months of 2020 alone.

Masri predicts that business travel will take the longest to recover as people have adjusted to remote working. The vaccine roll-out and consumer confidence will determine the speed of market recovery. According to research by Deloitte, there will be far fewer overseas holidays in 2021 but no big change in the type of holiday, no great switch to the outdoors or away from luxury hotels, and no shift from all-inclusive.

“The intermediate period between now and then will require living in the reality of the pandemic: mask wearing, avoidance of crowded places and working from home or remotely,” says Masri.

“People love to travel and there is a tremendous supply of airline, hotel, car rental, cruise and attraction inventory waiting to be enjoyed.”

Little Emperors offers its 30,000plus members preferential rates and

guaranteed leisure and corporate benefits at the most exclusive hotels around the globe: it has a portfolio of 4,000 hotels including Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Shangri-La. Little Emperors’ bookings were in fact up in 2020 at more than 10,000, and the company, which recently won the Four Seasons Preferred Partner Advisor Awards, predicts 2021 will be its best year yet as members have more desire than ever to get away.

Masri said: “This is a true reflection of the dedication of my team, creativity of our hotel partners, our continued investment in technology, and of course, our loyal members referring other members, and still travelling! Let’s hope quarantines and travel bans become a bad memory, and the skies open soon for us to roam free again!”

Masri was inspired to set up Little Emperors in 2008. She was working at Goldman Sachs in London at the time.

“The market took a tumble and the world headed into a global recession. I saw that the approved hotel list from the corporate travel programme at Goldman Sachs had also, in turn, changed significantly, with most luxury hotels being removed.

Coupled with the rise is SMEs who did not have their own volumes for rate negotiation as people were laid off from larger firms, I identified an opportunity,

Baccarat Hotel, New York

and together with some university friends created Little Emperors.”

With both a web and app-based presence, the enterprise has become more of a ‘tech’ company: cuttingedge technology saves members time and money. Bookings can be made in four clicks. And it’s tech, coupled with consumer preferences, that will shape travel going forward – trends that have been accelerated by the pandemic. Masri says: “Hotels are definitely investing in their own apps – keyless entry, checking in and out on your app, in-app chats, inroom dining and restaurant menus.”

She says the pandemic has led to an emphasis on wellness and mindful travel. “Wellness travel gives people the opportunity to detox, detach, and take time for themselves, working on their personal health goals, and I can see hotels offering more wellness programmes.”

Outdoor experiences are more in demand, as well as culinary ones.

Pre-pandemic, there was a shift towards new destination discovery but Masri says this has not followed through. “People may feel safer where they have been before.

We have been forced to think about things like hospitals in places that are not home, proximity to home and local familiarity.”

Finally, there’s the trend for flexible cancellation policies: “Hotels that have flexible polices are definitely preferred,” she says.

In 2015, Masri was awarded an MBE for services to charity. Her philanthropy and fundraising has included work through the network Afikim, which helped almost 150 impoverished children in a small Israeli town, and the Tree of Life, a non-profit she founded to support selected charities. www.littleemperors.com

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2021 Budget’s big changes Grant Thornton guides you through the newest measures, from rate freezes to business support

T

he Chancellor’s 2021 Budget was ambitious. Pledging to do “whatever it takes”, he announced a further £65 billion, across a range of measures, to support businesses through what we all hope will be the final few months of major economic restrictions.

Alongside these were initiatives designed to help kick-start the economy.

Recognising that the government’s response to coronavirus has not come cheap, costing upwards of £400 billion, Rishi Sunak made clear that the job of rebuilding public finances will be long and slow. Tax rises will not come immediately, though significant changes are being brought in over the course of this parliament, including a six-point rise in the corporation tax rate.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the announcement: More support for businesses and individuals With the UK still very much on a war footing in response to the pandemic, and the easing of lockdown far from set in stone, the Chancellor has little choice but to continue to offer support. Businesses in industries most affected by restrictions will welcome the news.

The Budget announced: • a new restart grant worth £5 billion, to help businesses in non-essential retail, hospitality and leisure to reopen • a new recovery loan scheme for businesses of all sizes, as the Bounce Back Loan Scheme and Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme programmes come to an end • extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to the end of September • extension of the business rates holiday

34

for retail, hospitality and leisure to the end of June, with continued support at a lower level for the following nine months • extension of the reduced five percent VAT rate for hospitality and tourism to 30 September, after which it will revert for six months to an interim rate of 12.5 percent.

The extensions and new measures offer some short-term certainty for those most impacted, and remove cliff-edges in support that were coming into view.

Tax increases with the potential for more to come The Chancellor had to begin to take steps to balance record public spending. In this sense, rises were inevitable, though he did manage to keep his promise not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance.

The headline corporation tax rate will rise to 25 percent from April 2023. There will be some exemptions and tapering, however, with a small profits rate to be charged at the current rate of 19 percent. Pushing the rise to 2023 may make it a little easier to swallow but it’s still a large relative increase.

Personal tax thresholds will be frozen until 2026. The tax-free allowance will rise to £12,570 next year until 2026; the higherrate level goes to £50,270, then freezes.

The measures announced in the Budget will bring the tax burden in 2025/26 to its highest level since the 1960s.

Super-deduction and first-year allowances Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2023, companies investing in qualifying, brandnew plant and machinery will benefit from a new 130 percent first-year capital allowance. They will also benefit from a 50 percent first-year allowance for qualifying special-rate assets.

A boost to housing The housing market received another boost, with the extension of the stamp duty rate cut to 30 June and the introduction of a mortgage guarantee scheme. This will run from April 2021 to December 2022 for people with deposits of five percent on homes valued at up to £600,000.

The stamp duty nil-rate band will fall from £500,000 to £250,000 from 30 June until the end of September, before returning to its usual level of £125,000 from 1 October.

This will provide a soft landing to the market, and prevent people getting caught out by a cliff-edge return to previous rates.

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Still in love with property T

he property market has so far proven immune to the pandemic, with sales soaring off the back of a stamp duty holiday and demand for more living space amid national shutdowns.

Here is how housing has remained unlocked while much of the UK has been locked down.

The coronavirus pandemic has altered whole industries with staff switching to remote working and many businesses closed or at lower capacity for much of the past year. Property sales initially looked as if they were heading the same way when the government first introduced lockdown restrictions in March 2020. Property viewings were banned and sales could only complete in “exceptional circumstances”.

But the market was reopened in May 2020 – with rules on Covid-safe and socially distant viewings.

Estate agents have had to alter their routines as only serious and proceedable buyers are now meant to be allowed to view a property. This has shifted agents towards virtual viewings to weed out time-wasters from serious buyers.

“The way we transact is different

now,” says Steven Wayne, founder of estate agency Benjamin Stevens.

“We are doing a lot of Facebook Live viewings and people are spending a bit more time thinking about a property rather than going to see 20 because they are bored.

“Viewing levels may be down but transactions are up.”

The stamp duty holiday, introduced in July 2020, removed the property tax on the first £500,000 of a purchase.

Wayne says it has made the market busier but adds: “The stamp duty holiday has pushed up prices – where maybe something would have sold for £500,000, it has sold for £535,000 or £540,000.

“Where people have lost in one direction, they have made it in another.”

Wayne says there is plenty of demand as a lot of people had already waited for Brexit to pass before moving and would be more interested amid the vaccine rollout. There are signs that some of that pent up demand is being released.

UK residential property sales were up 24.1 percent annually by January this year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The stamp duty holiday was extended

Steven Wayne tells Marc Shoffman how the pandemic has affected buyers and sellers, and why transactions are up in the Spring Budget and will now end in June before the threshold is lowered to £250,000 until the end of September.

Simon Gerrard, managing director of Martyn Gerrard estate agents, says the extension might provide relief for the coming months but only “delays the inevitable”.

“We will be right back where we were with buyers coming back to negotiate on price, and disruption, delays and the loss of agreed sales – harmful to the property market and wider economy,” he adds.

“For both stability and long-term prosperity, the government should instead be pursuing more permanent reform to stamp duty.”

Some new-build developers are going further for buyers.

Galliard Homes is offering a stamp duty holiday on properties in London up until October, using the £500,000 threshold.

This gives buyers a discount equivalent to the amount owed to HMRC on their purchase.

“The stamp duty holiday has been really big for us but because we build large developments, some may not be completed for two years,” says Jonathan Bloom, public affairs manager for Galliard.

He says buyers may prefer new-builds as they are more energy-efficient, there is no chain and it is an opportunity to put your own stamp on a property.

But property tax is just one cost to buying a home and for many the biggest barrier is a mortgage deposit.

Lending criteria have got tougher

37

during the pandemic as banks worry about jobs and the economic climate impacting whether a borrower can meet their repayments.

Bob Singh, of Chess Mortgages, says these concerns have made the low-deposit mortgage market “basically extinct”.

“Given the lockdown and economic uncertainty, any plans by lenders to launch products at 95 percent loan-tovalue (LTV) would have been postponed,” says Singh. He says lending criteria have shifted towards caution, especially for borrowers who have taken mortgage payment holidays during the pandemic.

These were pushed by financial regulators and

Steven Wayne Founder, Benjamin Stevens

lenders to help people save on their bills if their finances had been hit by the pandemic and borrowers.

Singh adds: “The confusion over mortgage payment holidays was regrettable and many people took them only to find out that banks were declining applications when the credit file was supposedly unaffected. This has eased now and as long as payments have resumed banks are willing to lend.”

He also says the self-employed are finding it harder to get loans as banks are being tougher on income requirements.

The same restrictive attitude is being applied to workers who have been furloughed during the pandemic. “Banks initially lent based on 80 percent of the gross wage up to a maximum of £30,000, Singh says. “Then it was altered to ‘no lending until the employer gave a return to work date’ and now it’s ‘one month’s wage slip required after returning to work’.”

A government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme, announced in the

latest Budget, could address some of the deposit barriers. It will operate from April for lenders who offer mortgages to buyers with a deposit of 5 percent on homes with a value of up to £600,000.

Under the scheme, available up to 31 December 2022, all buyers will have the opportunity to fix their initial mortgage rate for at least five years. Lloyds and NatWest have already signed up.

“The 95 percent mortgage guarantee scheme will create more liquidity in the market,” says Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients.

“While Help to Buy has been a great help in assisting buyers on to the housing ladder, it has not created liquidity because only new-build homes sold by developers qualified and you could not buy from another homeowner.”

He adds that the real test will be what rates the banks charge for mortgages.

Looking ahead, Bloom forecasts that demand will keep sales moving and Singh predicts that house prices will remain positive due to the nation’s love affair with their homes. Property transactions will always be needed, whether through marriage, divorce or death, and it seems that whatever else is going on, the government wants to keep that relationship going.

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A hub for giving W

hen you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.

That’s what this storm’s all about.” These are the words of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, and they seem apt when considering how business and philanthropy will be affected by Covid-19.

In the years after the EU referendum in June 2016, UK business operated against the backdrop of Brexit. It is a measure of the seismic impact Covid-19 has had that it has put Brexit in the shade.

The pandemic has changed pretty much every facet of life, including business and philanthropy. Last year saw the biggest fall in output for 300 years. Many philanthropists have also had to cut back their giving. For the UK’s 166,000 charities, particularly those reliant on events such as gala dinners and those with a network of shops, this past year has been a struggle.

Looking at the commercial and charitable landscape, what have been some of the big trends?

First, those business that have behaved well to customers and employees have won plaudits. The public has a new-found respect for supermarkets, which have shown how important they are, and companies that pivoted their business models to supply PPE. The converse is also true: businesses that have been seen to behave selfishly or badly towards customers or staff have received sharp criticism. Sports Direct received a lot of flack last March, when it tried to argue that its shops should stay open during the first lockdown because the retailer was performing an essential role. Owner Mike Ashley ate humble pie and apologised.

In parallel to the response of businesses to the pandemic, some donors have stepped up, including a number in the Indian and Jewish communities. Wellknown philanthropic families such as the Sainsburys, Wolfsons, Westons have

40

been at the forefront of such efforts. The Indian–Jewish Reubens brothers announced an £80 billion donation to Oxford University last June for a new college, the first in 30 years.

Some foundations have increased their giving or released funds earlier. Others have found that they have less money to give.

However, the overall response to the pandemic has been extraordinary, with philanthropic giving at the tip of a pyramid, which shows broad-based public giving and volunteering. Figures like the footballer Marcus Rashford have campaigned not only to give money but to change government policy on free school meals.

At this time of national emergency, responsible businesses and philanthropists have recognised the need and responded.

At first, health and medical causes dominated but over time education and employment issues have gained attention.

Another trend affecting the commercial and charity sectors has been the rise of digital. Sales made online have accelerated through Covid; in addition, some philanthropists have encouraged charities to engage in digital fundraising. The Jewish cancer charity Chai raised more than £3 million (almost its annual budget) in 36 hours. Most of the donations, 82 percent, were for £100 or less. Digital fundraising lends itself to community charities, where there are personal connections to the cause.

Zaki Cooper Co-founder of Integra Group

Business, philanthropists and charities have adapted in the most extraordinary way, says Zaki Cooper

As the UK looks to reinforce itself as a hub for business – and it looks set to remain an important financial centre – it may also see itself as an important philanthropic centre. A report in February by the Beacon Collaborative showed an £180 billion global opportunity for the UK to become the leading centre for international philanthropy and social investment (full disclosure: I am a co-author of the report).

If the UK attracts overseas HNWs (high net worth individuals) from India and elsewhere to invest in our economy, the flip-side of the coin is enticing more of them to give to our educational, cultural and other charities.

Covid has led to job losses and business closures along with turbulence and disruption. The charity sector faces an estimated £10 billion shortfall. These are tough times, but if ever the rhetoric around the need for responsible business and philanthropy matched the reality, it is now.

Zaki Cooper is co-founder of Integra Group (www.integragroup.co.uk) and co-chair of the British Indian Jewish Association (www.bija. org.uk)

Consult DMCC

mackrell.com

UK post-Brexit relations with India and Israel – Creating a hub in the Middle East The UK took the momentous step at the end of 2020 to finally fully separate from the EU. Since then, it has been signing new trade deals and partnerships with nations around the world, through its new position as an independent trading nation.

These deals are essential to rekindling trading relationships with overseas partners, as the UK looks to build on its position as one of the leading global hubs for commerce.

Two key pillars in its future trading network are India and Israel. Both nations have a long and close association with the UK, containing many complementary industries to the UK’s service-rich economy.

However, to access both markets freely, businesses must have local support and experts that understand each region, which is why Dubai is increasingly becoming a hub between nations in the Middle East and Asia and the UK.

India

Dubai – The solution

The UK Government has already set out a path to a potential future free trade agreement with India.

Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have acted as a gateway between Great Britain, the Middle East and Asia for many decades. However, its current role in international trade and development has never been more important.

Following recent talks, the UK secured significant deals on investment and jobs in the UK, with Tata Consultancy Services and Wockhardt confirming new jobs in Britain through new investment.

India is predicted to be one of the world’s fastest-growing economies in 2021, with longstanding connections to the UK and a potential new market for many industries, the opportunity for increased trade relations is one that the Government is keen to capitalise on.

Trade between the UK and India was worth £23 billion in 2019, playing a key role in sectors such as technology and life sciences.

Pharmaceutical exports to India also grew by more than 20 per cent in 2019, to £96.75 million, with further growth expected in the sector.

Israel The UK has already signed a trade and partnership agreement with Israel and the two nations have discussed further steps that can be taken to strengthen their relationship.

This trade and partnership agreement includes provisions on trade in goods – including provisions on preferential tariffs, tariff-rate quotas and rules of origin, intellectual property and government procurement.

Every year, thousands of deals are struck up and managed via this important international hub, which is why it has become a popular destination for businesses based in India, the UK and Israel, as well as many other nations.

If UK businesses are looking to exploit new opportunities in the Middle East and Asia then Dubai is a great place to have a base – and vice versa. However, Dubai operates in a very unique way, which is why it is useful to have local expertise that understands the needs of international businesses.

One such local expert is Aymen Elbilly, a dedicated Middle East Consultant at Mackrell Consult DMCC based in Dubai.

This consultancy group is closely tied to one of the UK’s leading independent legal firms, Mackrell.Solicitors, who together with Mackrell.Consult supports multiple clients in the UAE. To find out more about Mackrell.Consult and how it can help you make the most of new trade opportunities in Dubai, the UK and elsewhere in the world, please contact Aymen by emailing Aymen.Elbilly@mackrell.com or calling +971 56 757 1871

Israel continues to be an important economic and diplomatic partner for the UK in the Middle East. This is clear in the latest data from the Department for International Trade, which shows that total trade in goods and services between the UK and Israel was £4.9 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q3 2020 – a small increase of 0.7 per cent or £34 million from the four quarters to the end of Q3 2019.

Israel enjoys many imports from the UK, including cars, medical and pharmaceutical supplies and manufacturing machinery. However, it’s the UK service industry which is the main supplier to Israel, with the Financial Services industry alone responsible for £131 million of exports.

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Making online count O

ver the past year our way of living has been completely transformed. All sectors had to adapt to the – in many cases – non-existent footfall into buildings, and the banking sector was not exempt.

The lockdown provided some challenges that were easily sorted out and others that required a more long-term, strategic effort in order to make banking fit for the future.

With the economy essentially shutting down and with most banks closing their offices and asking staff to work from home, there was a real sense that business would grind to a halt. This was not the case.

If we take a look at mortgages, for example, the Financial Conduct Authority’s latest findings show that the value of all residential mortgages loans at the end of 2020 was £1,541.4 billion, a 2.9 percent increase on the year before. There was a 24.2 percent increase in the value of new mortgage commitments from 2019 to 2020; this was the highest level since 2007.

Although the shift towards digital banking has been gaining traction, especially over the past few years, it was exacerbated by the lockdown as people were confined to their own homes. Finder reported that from their survey, 80 percent of their demographic use some form of online banking. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that in January and February 2020, 76 percent of adults used internet banking. This removes limitations on

44

people’s banking by making it accessible 24/7 with a few clicks of a button.

However, there are dangers lurking in the move to a fully mobile and online banking system.

The 2019 Consumer Digital Index shows that there are 11.9 million people – or 22 percent of the population – who still do not have the digital skills needed for everyday life in the UK. The ONS 2020 study shows that 2.7 million UK residents do not have access to the internet. This emphasises the exclusive nature of mobile and online banking.

Furthermore, with the move towards a digital platform for banking, there is a new level of risk for the consumer.

From text messages saying a BACS payment has bounced back to phishing emails saying that someone’s online banking details have been compromised, there has been a surge in fraud cases reported. In June 2019, the ONS reported 740,845 offences of fraud.

In 2019, Statista reported that £111.8 million was lost to online banking fraud.

The pandemic kept people at home, especially back-office staff in banking.

Whilst at first it was challenging for banks to adapt to not having certain staff members in the office and not having their full workforce physically present, the banking system adapted and the business ran smoothly (or

Moving from branch to web has many risks, such as excluding those who lack digital skills

as smoothly as any business does).

This now changes the way employers will look at the number of staff they have coming into the office, or indeed whether those staff come into the office at all. Whilst this may get rid of that pesky commute and those awful winter mornings defrosting your car, it might have a negative effect on the number of people employed. If we adapt to a model where there is little to no need for someone to be on the shop floor of the bank, is there a need to hire them at all?

Overall, it is clear that while banking has been able to adapt to the new challenges that have been brought due to Covid-19, serious thought needs to be put into the long-term effects of the measures we have put in.

By Kalvinderjit Singh Nahal, area branch manager, Wolverhampton Branch, SBI UK Ltd

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How to create a strategy for your social media Right now is an excellent time to set out your goals, says Renée Wallen – and here’s how to achieve them

T

he end of lockdown is in sight, finally! You can now stop treading water and get ready to burst back into the marketplace, full of beans and ready to do business.

Over the past year you may have increased the time you spend on social media to improve your online visibility.

Perhaps you refreshed your LinkedIn profile or opened a Facebook shop, created an Instagram account or carefully targeted your tweets – or you may have done zilch. And that’s okay – a lot of people haven’t had the enthusiasm, health or mindset for marketing; but it’s time to change that.

Rather than overwhelm yourself with unachievable marketing targets, why not begin with a simple social media strategy?

It can be created to fit in with your time and budget, and is something you can do from home until the world rights itself again.

Let’s take a quick look at some key factors to consider in setting out a new strategy, followed by some tips for making the most of LinkedIn and Instagram.

• Be realistic about how long you can spend on social media each day – over-investing your time on marketing may impact your energy for actually running your business.

• Allow a financial outlay – think about whether you’ll be advertising on Facebook, boosting posts on Instagram, upgrading your LinkedIn account, paying a content writer, using third-party posting platforms, engaging a social media manager… You may not need to do any of these things, but allow for them in your strategy in case you do.

Plan what to post • Think about how often you’ll share interesting and relevant content with your audience. Will you write your own content and create fabulous images yourself, outsource your blogs and articles, or share directly from the press and industry pieces?

• Don’t be shy! Share testimonials, celebrations, news about new contracts – anything positive is fantastic to tell the world!

• Don’t forget about keywords, SEO-friendliness and calls to action.

Review your profiles • Keep all your social media profiles up to date and in line with your website.

• Be consistent with your imagery: your profile pics, logos and cover image graphics should reflect you and your business well across all platforms.

What is a social media marketing strategy?

• Your strategy should be part of your overall marketing plan.

• It must set out clearly what you hope to achieve: your objective.

• It should contain smart goals – ones that you can actually measure.

What should you consider when creating your strategy?

• Think about your audience – who are you targeting?

• Which social media platforms is your target audience likely to be using?

• Are you clear on the demographics of your potential clients – age, gender, location, things they like, things they need?

What’s your investment?

• Social media marketing is a double-pronged investment; it takes time and/or a budget.

47

• Keep your descriptions simple, and remember to make it clear what you’re offering.

Which platforms are right for you?

Where should you be making yourself visible? These tips should help you re-focus on a couple of the most popular platforms.

LINKEDIN • If you haven’t updated your LinkedIn profile in a while, now is an excellent time to review it. Complete as many sections as you can and don’t skimp on keywords – it’s the way potential new clients will find you in a LinkedIn search.

• Wish people happy birthday! If you don’t remember who three-quarters of your contacts are, chances are they don’t remember you either. A quick, simple happy birthday message will remind them that you exist and encourage them to check out your profile as a reminder. This can lead to fresh conversations and potential business and, even if it doesn’t, it’s nice to be nice.

• Don’t be shy! Ask people you’ve done business with to write you a recommendation. LinkedIn testimonials are fantastic, as everyone can see that they’re genuine. And as a bonus, the more recommendations you have that use your keywords, the better you’ll rank when anyone does a LinkedIn search for someone with your expertise.

Renée Wallen Director, Imaginative Training

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INSTAGRAM • Many businesses stay clear of Instagram, believing it to be lightweight and fun rather than a professional platform – that’s not the case.

• Develop an identity that complements your brand. It’s a brilliant opportunity to showcase your products or services to their best advantage.

• You can use up to 30 hashtags in an Instagram post, so make the most of these. Use your keywords as hashtags, locations, if relevant, and enduring terms – such as #quoteoftheday, #photographersofinstagram or #TBT (throwback Thursday).

Many people follow hashtags and might see your posts even if they’re not yet following you.

So there you have it – a few steps to a manageable social media strategy and some tips to help you along your way. Remember: stay true to your brand values, stick to your plan and leave yourself enough time to actually run your business!

Renée runs a social media and business consultancy in London, handling social media for businesses that are too busy to do it themselves. She is a published author and poet and has won an inspirational woman award.

She was named as London CEO of the Year (2017) by Corporate Vision and awarded UK independent business honours for excellence in training, coaching and instruction. www.weekendwitchsocialmedia.co.uk renee@imaginativetraining.com

Women Inspired

Online

Grow your network while meeting like-minded women For more information and how to be involved, please email bianca@springadconsultancy.co.uk or call 07810 203 762 AJBN headline sponsor

Success beckons

“

For my UK immigration and notarial practice, I would hope to continue to provide an excellent service to my clients, and for the immigration clients, maximise the chances of their applications being successful, to continue to build a stream of good-quality work from my network of contacts both within and outside of AJBN, and to continue to enjoy my meetings with my contacts, clients and introducers. Hopefully face to face rather than on Zoom or Teams.

Mark Barnett

Head of immigration and notary public, Statham Gill Davies

“

The effects of the pandemic have no doubt hit us individually on some level. One of the positives though: a rise in the public seeking holistic financial advice, a result of having more time on their hands. Berkeley Square Associates aims to continue providing its exceptionally high level of service through its independence, market leading returns, technology and holistic financial planning. Wise planning, with integrity.

Louis-Rhys Harvey

CEO, Berkeley Square Associates

“

Against the odds, 2020 was a great year for startups and in London alone companies raised more than $10.5 billion. We hope that the trends in innovation will increase and that more small businesses will more actively adopt technology and more innovators will unlock new value propositions. The world is changing but many businesses are still stuck in the past. We urge businesses of all sizes to learn about new technologies and evaluate how they can help their business.

Bhairav Patel

Managing director, Atom Ventures

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“

Senior executives and business owners explain their goals and expectations as the UK emerges from lockdown and enters a period of greater certainty

Whilst ‘normal’ may be some months away, we are entering a period of far greater certainty. Against the backdrop of improving economic conditions and a more positive geopolitical outlook, we observe meaningful opportunities for specialist bridge lenders like ourselves.

For Whitehall this has been a period of change and expansion, and we find ourselves at an important juncture, with many exciting initiatives coming on stream. As such we have continued to invest heavily in both our technology and the quality of our team – and with a newly appointed COO coming on board this month, we are well resourced to capitalise on a period of sustained growth and we are positive of mind as we look to move the business forward.

Anthony Bodenstein

Founder & managing director, Whitehall Capital

“

We would like to see much-needed simplification of taxes in the UK, because they are far too complicated. Businesses know that tax is a commercial cost but the burden of understanding the complex tax system has increased, unabated, for many years. We want to see businesses flourish and their entrepreneurial owners to be freed to grow their businesses and not suffer as a result of them enjoying success; HMRC can knock on the door at the worst times!

Amit Puri

Tax director, Lancaster Knox

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My hope for 2021/22 is to make Chess a household name nationally.

Bob Singh

Director, Chess Mortgages

WHISKY IS THE LANGUAGE OF CONNECTION.

MAKE SURE YOURS IS

Really Good!

reallygooodwhisky.com

“

As a boutique construction company, 2021/22 holds so much potential for our business. We have continued to help clients transform their homes throughout the pandemic... if you can’t leave your house, you might as well make it the best it can be! We hope to continue creating dream homes for our clients in 2021/22; from project management to construction to the finishing touches, our team has the experience and expertise to manage your build from start to finish. Its been a hard year, but we managed to come out the other end with high hopes and smiles. We hope for OE Consultancy Ltd to thrive in 2021/22 alongside all of our fellow business owners, as our lives begin to resume some sense of normality. Good luck to all fellow AJBN members for the year ahead.

Philip Pomerance

Director, OE Consultancy Ltd

“

So far, surprisingly to be honest, we have had a successful start to 2021 in commercial and residential lettings. We are confident that despite the storm surrounding the pandemic, demand for sales and lettings will continue to be high. The most challenging area for us – and with unemployment unfortunately set to rise even higher, the situation will continue – is the arrears department. Mediating rent affordability between tenant and landlord during this pandemic has taught us a lot, particularly about how landlords, tenants and agents, in these times, have to think not only logically and with their business hat but also witih sympathy and empathy towards each other. As long as our team and our customers continue to be conscious of this requirement at the moment I’m confident that, together, we will be able to weather the storm!

Ashok Sodha

Director, BTC Group

“

We long for international borders to reopen and to reinvigorate business. Forward planning has been affected but the desire to travel internationally has not been lost. Health, safety and security have created a need for regulatory legal compliances, and we are well placed to provide personalised services to comply with the new rulings.

Seeking new careers and lifestyles worldwide, wherever an individual or company wishes to be, understanding the new UK immigration rulings, unravelling the complexities of Brexit, our wish for 2021 would be to help those determined to embrace and enjoy the future.

Ian Macmillan

Vice-president, sales & business development, Hudson McKenzie

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“

The outlook for business in 2021/22 is largely positive following a turbulent 2020, with economic growth estimated to accelerate throughout the year at the fastest rate since official records began. The success of vaccine rollouts will breathe life back into hard-hit industries such as retail and hospitality, whilst the chancellor’s injection of fresh financial stimulus of £59 billion for 2021/22 should kickstart a long-term recovery. This fiscal support will be bolstered by the temporary tax break for business investment and commitment to highest levels of public infrastructure spending in a generation, to the benefit of businesses across the nation.

Lord Leigh of Hurley

Senior Partner, Cavendish Corporate Finance

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Founded Phillip Leigh & Partners in Redbridge in 1970.

Partnered Legal & General Insurance in forming Land & Company in the mid-80s sold out to them in 1990s. Still active as an independent agent and consultant in Essex and East London. Started We Xibit Media group’s Pop Up Property 2018 working with developers large and small advertising and marketing their developments within major Shopping Centres around the M25. Currently seeking active partners, preferably with exhibition and marketing experience to take this exciting business nationwide.

Phillip Leigh

Director, Pop Up Property

“

The end of lockdown is steadily approaching – soon to be behind us along with winter’s crumbly leaves. As the first buds of ‘normality’ are poised to bloom, I hope that all the business owners I know will be in a strong position to continue flourishing!

For my own business, I intend making up for opportunities missed while I was recovering from two bouts of Covid. This begins right here, networking with a superb cohort of people within the Asian-Jewish Business Network. I’ve increased capacity to take on three new social media management clients and look forward to building enduring relationships.

Renée Wallen

Director, Imaginative Training & Development Ltd

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We hope that now we are starting to open our doors we can open our minds to new business, to new markets and new opportunities in this new world.

Neil Sloam

Managing director, sales, Winkworth St John’s Wood

“

The ability to network is an incredibly important driver for business. The last 12 months have made this difficult. As lockdown eases and the 2021/22 financial year gets under way, we look forward to reconnecting face to face with our clients, our colleagues and friends of the firm. Research shows that clients rate us more highly for our incredibly personal approach than other law firms they use. It is why we have a reputation for delivering agile, clever and enterprising legal solutions.

Strong relationships are key to our success: we therefore hope to be networking with you all very soon.

Pavinder Boparai

Legal Assistant, Fladgate LLP

“

We have raced into 2021 building our network and visibility in both North America and Canada with further wins in southern Europe. Our plans are to continue our accelerated expansion and positive media coverage. We aim to double our teams by 2022, staying on course with our consistent growth trajectory working with governments, city tourism departments, charities, and SMEs around the world.

We also plan to invest in expanding our illustration, research and technology departments to deliver even more creative solutions for our clients. We’ll continue to break barriers and build bridges for businesses across the globe.

Johnny Pawlik

Founder & CEO, Mantra Media

“

2021/22 is our year and at Amram Finance we lend against the open market value (valued by a registered RICS surveyor from our panel), not against the 180- or 90-day rule, meaning: • We can help raise capital when there is a tight deadline.

• We will accept a retype of an existing valuation, saving your client money and time.

• We are here to help: 68 percent LTV on second-charge bridging loans across the UK. • 70 percent LTV on first-charge bridging loans.

• An experienced team of BDMs and underwriters.

• A simple process – no application forms, and paperless until completion.

• Loans for various types of people, including limited companies, ex-pats, self-employed, people with credit blips and more.

• Open market value lending (for first and second charge purposes), not against the 180- or 90-day rule.

“

Sterling’s hope for 2021- 2022 is to achieve with the business community, property investors and developers a perspective in what we now know as a ‘different normal’, following the pandemic. We wish to ensure, alongside the health of our family & friends, we get the ‘financial health’ of the economy moving at a pace that enables us to deliver the services we are in business to do. For Sterling this means providing financial solutions in a world of change… Business cashflow for growth and keeping afloat, funding for property investment along with bridging and development. More importantly resuming face to face networking via AJBN!

Sanjay C Rughani

Senior consultant & founder, Sterling Professional Finance Ltd

Jasspal Talwar

CEO, Amram Finance

“

Our aim has always been to make sure our service guarantees compliance with payroll legislation and statutory requirements. This is still our ethos today and, as an employer, you have a duty to ensure that your employees are paid accurately and on time.

At AS Robins, our aim is to support businesses, new or established, who require payroll services. We know the valuable boost to efficiency and development that can arise when a company focuses on its core strengths: building their business. Therefore, rest assured that your payroll is in good hands.

Liz Robins MCIPP

Managing partner, AS Robins

“

Our membership with AJBN means looking beyond insurance to ways we can help fellow members grow and thrive. That is why we seek to introduce our clients to one another, to build relationships and synergies.

This year, our commitment remains the same: to deepen our client relationships and forge new ones through our insurance expertise. At Churchill, we are insurance specialists who focus on what we know, and we do it well. So if you need guidance with your property, professional indemnity or commercial insurances, you are in safe hands.

Please get in touch for a new business or renewal quotation.

Chirag Shah, ACII

Director, Churchill Insurance Consultants Ltd

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Less is more in web design Johnny Pawlik extols the importance of a strong, streamlined and stylish online presence

F

rom start to finish, there’s a lot of preparation to building a bespoke website, and that’s where innovative website design comes in. For any aspiring developers, designers, or any creative minds who are looking for a new route to take their craft, we’re here to enlighten you on the top tips when it comes to website design.

Ensuring a seamless user journey Whether it’s a banner or a click through the navigation bar, it must be second nature to users to know where to head once they’re on the landing page of a website. This is because of the website design itself; the framework to any build. Unfortunately, however, there are some websites out there that use no CSS on their pages, with no understanding of their users’ journeys.

The user journey is the experience of exploring a site and should always be simple, smooth, engaging and informative. Once someone has clicked through on to your website, you want to keep them there! Your site design should seamlessly lead users towards their desired destination, and this goes hand in hand with your own objectives.

Engaging visual elements and graphics and the impactful use of typography all add to the user’s experience as they navigate their way through your website. These interesting and intriguing elements to your website

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should all ultimately point your users to a call to action, encouraging them to engage with your website and with your brand.

Why consistency is key Branding elements are key to leading the direction of your website design. If a business has got it right, it’s got an established and recognisable brand.

Design elements of your brand need to feature throughout your website. Colours, typography and the shape and distinctive iconographic features of the branding will all create a strong and streamlined online presence for your business. When you’re designing a website, always have some form of branding guidelines to inform each visual element to your design. Users will relate these first impressions to how a business operates and that is why design is extremely important: you want the first impression to be truly remarkable.

Keep content to a minimum Finally, keep written content to a minimum as this will allow for more interesting and

engaging design choices to help the site flow and overall aesthetics. Many users spend an incredibly short amount of time on each page, so grabbing their attention immediately is key.

Users often scan website pages to find the information they’re looking for.

In website design, the written content is there to give people exactly what they want to know: who, what, where and how. People will scan read until they find the information they want and need, so it’s essential that your copy is clear and concise, as well as easy to understand.

Bitesize, informative display works best.

This can be done by utilising more visual elements to represent information such as infographics, illustrations, and even shortform animations.

Easing the consumption of information for site users in this way allows for more information to be digested quickly and efficiently. This, in turn, will encourage users to stay on and explore the site further, reducing bounce rates and increasing conversions.

So, do you have a winning website design? Following these tips will ensure your users enjoy an engaging and seamless journey through your website, ultimately encouraging them to take action by following your calls to action. Website design and development are two entirely different tasks, but they go hand in hand to make a brilliantly designed, bespoke build.

Here at Mantra, our design team are experts in their craft of website design and development.

Get in touch with us through any of our social media channels or email hello@ mantrahq.com for a website design that’ll work wonders for your business!

By Johnny Pawlik, managing director, Mantra Media

Advertorial

How Information, Communication and Mobility Have Changed the Way We Do Business DROR WAYNE

According to parliamentary research, 381,000 new businesses were founded in 2018, whilst 336,000 businesses “died”1. That’s not including businesses which aren’t VAT registered and have no employees – we can safely assume that there are many businesses which barely get off the ground.

Three factors which have come into play over the past decades have shifted the balance of power from suppliers to consumers. As a result, many businesses, new and old, are unable to generate enough revenue and die – despite having an excellent product or service. Whilst there are other factors that have always impacted on a business’s chance of success, the businesses that know how to attract customers, drive sales and generate revenue are those that thrive.

The bottom line is no one needs your business anymore. Find me a business and I’ll find you an alternative solution, using those three factors – information, communication and mobility.

INFORMATION

There’s a reason your computer support team is called IT – Information Technology. Access to information is one of the greatest gifts that we have been granted by the internet. The most visited website in the world by far is Google, with an estimated 60 billion visits per month2, a site that aggregates and presents the world’s information to us in a way we can digest.

Customers evaluate our businesses based on the information they have available. They no longer start from a point of trust – a new business is neutrally ranked in a customer’s mind and the information we present them with will influence their evaluation, positively or negatively. If a prospect sees a well-designed website, that provides the essential information about the Rhodes, C. and Ward, M., 2020, Business Statistics, Briefing Paper No. 06152, House of Commons Library 2 Routley, N., 2019, Ranking the top 100 websites in the world, Visual Capitalist 1

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company and creates trust – using social proof, using the company’s history and using real imagery – they are more likely to buy. If a customer can’t find key information – whether something quantifiable such as opening hours or subjective such as enough reason to trust the business – they will look elsewhere.

As one Deloitte review puts it, “businesses need to develop content creation and management capabilities focussing on informing and educating consumers rather than just selling to them. Arming consumers with the right information helps them move independently through the shopping journey, creates trust and increases their loyalty”.3

COMMUNICATION

Centuries ago, a craftsman or merchant could con dozens of people in a village, ride on horseback for a couple of days and set up in a new village, where no one knew them. That’s no longer the case.

Prospective customers can learn from the experiences of previous customers – positive and negative. No longer do we rely on our neighbours’ gossip – we ask for recommendations on social media. No longer do we flip through the yellow pages – we look on Google for suppliers with the highest reviews.

Communication has resulted in accountability – our customers review us all the time, whether in private to friends and family or online, for the world to see.

According to a 2020 study, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses; 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations and the average consumer reads 10 online reviews before deciding whether to buy4.

Perkins, B. and Fenech, C., 2014, The Deloitte Consumer Review: The Growing Power of Consumers, Deloitte LLP 4 Murphy, R., 2020, Local Consumer Review Survey, Bright Local 3

MOBILITY

It’s not just knowing about the businesses – now we can reach more of them. We’ll happily drive to our preferred supermarkets, rather than walking to a local corner shop – hardly surprising, with the increased range and better prices on offer. For a nice evening out, I tend to take the tube into town, rather than look for a local pub. Your competition is no longer limited to walking distance – it’s worldwide.

THE BOTTOM LINE? BUSINESS DOESN’T GROW ON TREES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dror Wayne is a 2X Founder who consults on growth and commercialisation for a variety of businesses.

His new book, Business Doesn’t Grow On Trees, is available for purchase worldwide via Amazon and Book Depository and has been described as “the marketing handbook for our time… wonderfully readable… a roadmap with clear signposts and explanations for you to plan your marketing in a practical way”. Visit drorwayne.com/book to learn more.

We assess businesses before we engage with them; we compare alternatives; we collect opinions from our social circles and we have a huge variety from which to make our choices.

Customers don’t just come to us – in the age of information, communication and mobility, we have to go out and get them.

That’s why now more than ever, the way to generate revenue is through marketing. It’s marketing that attracts customers and drive sales – no matter what your profession is.

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LET US HELP GROW YOUR BUSINESS

For more information please email russell@springadconsultancy.co.uk or call 07889 726 848

REIM Capital www.reimcapital.com

UK Property Finance & Investment WHO WE ARE A specialist lender offering bridging finance & development finance to property developers & investors across the UK.

WHAT WE DO We offer a range of 1st charge bridging loans secured against UK real estate assets.

WHY US? At REIM we put big importance on our client relationships and focus on delivering results.

Email: info@reimcapital.com | Phone: + 44 (0) 203 488 4913

Property-backed financing Confirmed terms in 24 hours Closing within 1 week We are a specialist bridge finance, short-term finance, auction finance and development finance provider with over a decade in the market.

LTV up to 70%

Self-funded.

Providing certainty of execution

5-7 days on closing

24 hours on decision

Efficiency and speedy turnarounds

Loan amount

Interest from

Term length

£100,000 to £20m

0.70% per month

3-12 months

Providing residential and commercial loans

Flexible pricing

Cooperative and transparent relationship with customers

If you are looking for a dynamic bridge finance partner, please do contact Whitehall Capital today to see what we can offer.

+44 (0) 203 026 7437 info@whitehalllending.com 4 Hill Street, Mayfair, W1J 5NE, London, United Kingdom www.whitehalllending.com

Part of Amram Capital UK LLP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with FRN 744928