EF News Member Magazine - July 2016

Entrepreneurs’ Forum

July 2016

Together we can take on the world The Scale-up Challenge

Managing growth in the North East

Together we’re stronger

Peer-to-peer mentoring benefits all

Creating a great place to work Improving team performance

Inspiring Entrepreneurs

Interview with Kari Owers, O PR

What’s on

Dates for your autumn diary

ENTREPRENEURS’ FORUM Together we can take on the world.

www.entrepreneursforum.net

www.entrepreneursforum.net

Together we can take on the world.

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By Nigel Mills.

Our annual spring entrepreneurs’ conference.

The Scale-up challenge.

A round table discussion on scaling-up.

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SUPPORTING SMES

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ENTREPRENEWS

The innovation potential of tech clusters in the north.

How corporate companies are helping entrepreneurs.

News and views from our entrepreneurial members.

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WHEN ARE WE GOING TO LEARN TO FISH?

CREATING A CULTURE OF TEAM PERFORMANCE Five features of effective teams.

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RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS Why we should be doing good as we do well.

TOGETHER WE CAN TAKE ON THE WORLD

DIGITAL POWERHOUSE

MENTORING IMPACT John Savage meets with David Cliff.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO GROWTH

AN INTERVIEW WITH KARI OWERS

How entrepreneurship can break the cycle of reoffending.

Founder of O PR.

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The entrepreneurs behind the Forum.

Five great business books to read this summer.

Inspirational events not to be missed.

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RECOMMENDED BOOKS

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FROM INMATES TO ENTREPRENEURS

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BOARD UPDATE

BUSINESS GROWTH

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Welcome to EF News The latest edition of our bi-annual member magazine.

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e’re more than half-way through what has become a defining year for the North East, the UK and Europe.

Much of the impact following our decision to leave the EU will be determined in the coming months but, while this was not the result the majority of business owners hoped for, the Entrepreneurs’ Forum remains firm in our ambition to make this region the best place to build and grow a business.

We are confident the UK will find a way to trade positively in the global marketplace and the ingenuity and drive of our region’s entrepreneurial businesses will be able to overcome any obstacles Brexit may cause.

Whichever way you voted, now is the time to look forward, calmly, and come together to support one another through what will be an inevitable period of uncertainty.

In the North East the devolved powers agenda and the Mayoral elections scheduled for May 2017 are more important than ever; as is our active participation in the Northern Powerhouse. This should be our renewed focus, while we hold the Government to account until it sets out a timetable for global trade negotiations and confirms the continuation of all business support and investment the region currently receives from the EU. Sharing knowledge, building leadership skills and making valuable new connections is what the Forum is all about, so we’re delighted to announce the strengthening of already solid relationships with some of the region’s other vital business support organisations.

That’s why we’re working in partnership with the North East and Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnerships, UKTI and North East Finance to make sure we continue to offer you the best and easiest way possible to access all of the support you need when scaling your business.

The North East is a rare place where creativity, innovation and a collaborative spirit run through the people and our businesses, and these are the things that drive us forward. It should therefore come as no great surprise that the entrepreneurs featured throughout this magazine all run locally based, high-growth enterprises; and as someone on their own quest, we hope you get a shot of inspiration from the accomplishments and achievements in these pages.

TOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER. I look forward to seeing you at one of our events very soon.

Best wishes,

Gillian Marshall, Chief Executive.

Supporting the North East’s most aspirational business owners, we see similar challenges emerging as companies strive to scale up. Skills, accessing new customers and markets and finding the right type and level of finance to match the needs of a growing business often make high growth difficult.

www.entrepreneursforum.net

When are we going to learn to fish?

By Nigel Mills,

Chairman of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum.

As someone born and bred in the North East, it pains me to say we are lagging behind the rest of the UK. When you compare our region to the nation as a whole, you might notice that unemployment here is higher than anywhere else, especially among young people; levels of business ownership are the lowest, and that life expectance is lower than average.

This paints a grim picture; but it does not have to be this way. We have the potential for success; it just needs to be unleashed.

While unemployment fell rapidly in the rest of the UK since the economic recovery started, it actually increased in the North East throughout much of 2015. It is not

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the cause of many of the region’s social problems, like the exodus of university graduates, but it is a symptom of a lack of entrepreneurial aspiration and a historic reliance on central government to solve our problems.

In the North East there are now 629 businesses for every 10,000 people, compared to 701 last year, and 1,028 on average in the UK today. This is partly due to the closure of many of the region’s personal service companies as self-employed consultants, who had previously been made redundant

during the recession, have returned to full-time employment.

What these figures don’t tell you is that there has been a 2% increase in the number of entrepreneurial businesses employing less than 50 people. This shows the potential we need is there, as does the decline in the number of ‘zombie companies’, those only able service the interest on their debts rather than pay them off.

The North East has for a long time been a net recipient of government spending, depending upon other regions to make up the shortfall in what we contribute. It does not have to be like this, if we move towards a more pro-business culture, and have the right leadership.

When the leaders of the North East are telling people why we are such a great region, they need to be able to identify opportunities and sell the area based on its strengths, rather than merely call on central government to solve our problems.

We need people to believe what we already know about the North East, that we are an enterprising region, full of positivity and innovation which is willing to collaborate and support new and growing businesses. Why else would Nissan continue to invest heavily in the region, or Hitachi develop an £82m factory here, or Atom Bank set up the UK’s first digital bank in County Durham.

Our region’s local authorities have now signed the devolution deals they agreed with the Government, and in doing so, created mayors for the North East and the Tees Valley.

This gives us the opportunity to choose leaders for the

north and south of the region who will focus their efforts on creating more jobs, by supporting enterprise and entrepreneurship, and who will show our region can fend for itself.

Before it was disbanded in 2012, One North East, used the tagline “Passionate People, Passionate Places”, a phrase that sums up our region perfectly. The North East’s future leaders, whether in business or politics, must demonstrate the passion that the people of our region have, a passion that manifests itself in an unbeatable work ethic, the work ethic that fuelled the industrial revolution and brought the UK into a position of global primacy.

A proverb that has always inspired me, since I first saw it on the common room wall as a sixth former, is “Give a man a loaf of bread and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” In the context of our region and its economy, the question we need to ask is, when are we going to learn to fish?

“In the North East there are now 629 businesses for every 10,000 people, compared to 701 last year, and 1,028 on average in the UK today.”

www.entrepreneursforum.net

Together we can take on the world

Annual Entrepreneurs’ Conference With our biggest attendance in years, 300 entrepreneurs and business leaders packed into Newcastle’s Crowne Plaza hotel to hear from some of the UK’s leading business owners at our spring conference, Together We Can Take on the World.

Held on 12th May, the entrepreneurial gathering was sponsored by SGP Technology Group, hosted by comedian and presenter Alfie Joey, and focussed on helping businesses overcome the issues that prevent them from scaling-up.

support scale-up businesses: “As a nation we’ve had incredible success in starting up businesses, even compared to nations like

Nigel Mills, chairman of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum opened the conference by quoting Abraham Lincoln: “The best way to predict the future is to create it… and by working together we can do just that, together we really can take on the world. While SMEs make up just 35% of GDP, they account for over 60% of the workforce, so winning the scale-up challenge would be a huge positive for North East economy.”

Irene Graham, CEO of the Scale-up Institute, an organisation that works to boost the UK economy by helping companies to scale-up, encouraged the region’s business owners to ‘lean-in’ and

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it has to be collaboration. It’s about getting entrepreneurs, the Government, large corporates and educators to come together to help businesses scale-up.”

James Lambert, founder of R+R Ice Cream, the second largest ice cream business in the world, talked of the need for growing companies to increase their customer-base: “We started off with 60% of our business with one customer, so we went out and found more customers. That original firm now makes up 3%.”

He also noted the importance of focus to any business looking to scale-up: “It’s not about running in every direction. The ‘will-nots’ are more important than the ‘wills’; get rid of the things that won’t scale if you are serious about growth.”

Entrepreneurs should use a ‘lightening rod’ mentor to support their growth, according to motor dealer operator, Peter Vardy.

Peter, who is the son of Sir Peter Vardy, says speaking to his father every day to discuss issues and experiences helps with the development of his business.

the USA, but we’re not as good at growing them. In 2015 scaling businesses created 4,500 new jobs every week, but no one funder or entity can support the system,

Sir Peter, who spoke alongside his son, said he believes his entrepreneurial attitude and aptitude is making his social action activities a success. He told a captivated audience that: “Entrepreneurs have the ability to solve some of the

Missed out?

On Thursday 17th November, at Redworth Hall in County Durham, we will be hosting the North East’s Global Entrepreneurship Week conference, Fortune Favours the Brave.

Simply visit www.entrepreneursforum.net/events to book your place.

biggest problems Government can’t fix.

Businesses with a social conscience, with entrepreneurial leadership, can improve society and play a role in areas where Government cannot always succeed.”

Giving a different perspective on scaleup, John Alderson of Informed Solutions shared his approach: “We’re not a big company and have no desire to be; we’re a mid-tier SME. We scale through third

parties, through contracts, through business alliances.”

A UKTI export champion, he also gave attendees some advice on finding new markets: “When you export, you have to think of the customer. Why would someone in Australia want to buy from someone 12,000 miles away? You have to be able to demonstrate you are better than the local products.”

Olympic high jumper Steve Smith, an entrepreneur in his own right since an Achilles injury forced him to retire ranked number one in the world and aged only 26, urged attendees: “As in sport, to improve in business you need to concentrate on the factors you can change; to control the controllables. We all lead stressful lives, we can get bogged down by the things we can’t impact on, but in truth we can all only influence the quality of our own deliverables.”

www.entrepreneursforum.net

Overcoming the barriers to growth

By Irene Graham, CEO of the Scale-up Institute

“Competitive advantage doesn’t go to the nations that focus on creating companies, it goes to nations that focus on scaling companies.”

Sherry Coutu, Entrepreneur and Scale-up Report author.

Our future economic prosperity and social well-being are critically dependent upon our being a world-leading environment in which companies thrive after they have been started, enabling opportunity for reach and scale and contributing positive impact for generations to come.

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Though the UK boasts many scale-up companies - that are rapidly and successfully expanding - we are way behind the US and other leading economies in this respect and, if we want to remain at the forefront of the international market place, we must address this ‘gap in the market’.

Start-ups are a vital fabric to the economy and provide immense opportunity to all, however they do not create long-term sustainable competitive advantage for a nation unless they are able to grow and scale. The UK needs to adapt from being an excellent start-up nation to a scale-up nation which presents great opportunities and also new challenges.

This is what the Scale-up Institute – borne out of the Scale-up Report – is seeking to do.

The Scale-up Report In November 2014, the Scale-up Report on UK economic growth was published setting out a vision to overcome the barriers to business growth and ‘make Britain brilliant’ at scale-ups.

The plan centres on using data already collected by government to provide a platform that enables public and private sector organisations to work together to improve the community of which they are a part, setting out a number of recommendations:

• The Evidence Gap: public and private sector organisations identify, target and evaluate their support to scale-up companies • The Skills Gap: improve the ecosystem so scale-ups can find employees to hire who have the skills they need • The Leadership Capacity Gap: building leadership capability • The Export Gap: accessing customers in other markets / home market • The Finance Gap: accessing the right combination of finance • The Infrastructure Gap: navigating infrastructure The report concluded that through the release of up-to-date data held, a focus on skills and support to building leadership capacity, along with some minor adjustments to policy to further support exports, infrastructure and finance, it was possible to close the scale-up gap and therefore secure the competitive advantage of the UK for generations to come.

But if the UK is to capitalise on its long history as a trading nation and vibrant entrepreneurial spirit, it now needs to determinedly focus on how it ‘leans in’ to support its growing firms to scale.

What is the Scale-up Institute doing to help SME’s Scale-up?

The Institute is working to close the scale-up gap through a number of means, these include giving policy makers, the private sector and educationalists easy access to the very latest information and analysis, keeping scale-ups and their issues at the top of the UK agenda and working collaboratively with other organisations and associations focussed on UK business growth issues. The Institute has a series of work linked to each of the scale-up gaps.

With the support of the Goldman Sachs Foundation and 10,000 Small Businesses UK, the Scale-up Institute held its inaugural certified education programme on Driving Economic Growth through Scale-up Businesses and Ecosystems in Birmingham in May. This course took place during Growth Hub Week, which marked the fact that 100 per cent of England’s 4.7 million businesses are now covered by the Growth Hub network.

It highlighted the support that can be given to local business leaders in order to stimulate scale-up growth. 19 LEP and Growth Hub regions were represented on the course, which equated to 50 per cent of England’s LEP and Growth Hub network. Three areas – the Northern Powerhouse, the Midlands Engine and M25 corridor – were prominent, and there was also a strong contingent from Scotland.

Each region presented their plan of action for scale-ups on the final day and saw the value in focusing more closely on scale-ups and developing their support, which can only be a good thing for our UK growth businesses. As Anna Soubry, Minister for Small Business Industry and Enterprise commented on the launch of the programme, the next session of which will be in Manchester: “Partnerships like this can help drive our economy, boost productivity and accelerate local growth across the country.”

A digital platform is also being set up by the Scale-up Institute through which it will share its methodology and ideas.

This will be an effective resource for other organisations and individuals to help businesses scale-up on a global stage.

What’s clear from the Scale-up Report is that if the UK takes action now to focus on ‘scale-ups’, it will secure significant growth in jobs, taxes and wealth, and the competitive advantage of Britain for generations to come.

It is also clear that the scale-up mission is one that the whole ecosystem from lawyers, to accountants, to financiers, to corporations, educators, business groups, media and public authorities need to engage on and lean in to support.

Leadership Capability

The innovative programme was run by Professor Daniel Isenberg of Babson College, who first developed the course in the US and was based around the core challenges facing UK scale-ups.

Peer to peer mentoring, shared knowledge and inspiration New Customers and Markets

Through interactive lectures, exercises, case discussions, and participant application groups and projects, it brought together LEPs and Growth Hubs to focus on the growth and scale-up challenges affecting their specific area.

ale-up Sc

Skilled Workforce

Apprenticeships and graduates

Infrastructure Challenges

The North East Scale-up Challenge

Access to Finance

S ta r t- up

The Scale-up Institute borne from the Scale-up Report and the desire by the private sector to create an entity to champion the scale-up agenda and take the policy and research work forward. If you want to learn more and get involved, please contact: info@scaleupinstitute.org.uk or visit www.scaleupreport.org.

www.entrepreneursforum.net

Business growth & scale-up

Round table discussion

Scaling up and managing growth are challenges that face businesses of all sizes, where external factors are as likely as internal ones to become a bottleneck.

At our recent round table event, North East entrepreneurs discussed the challenges of scaling up, sharing best practice and their own experiences.

twelve relationships. As a business scales up things get exponentially more complex with everything you add. The question is how

The event was hosted by PwC at their offices in Newcastle, where tax director Richard Podd welcomed Gillian Marshall and Michael Dixon from the Entrepreneurs’ Forum team, who chaired the sessions.

IK: There is a mathematical problem of scaling up, which means we can only scale up if our skills scale up. For example, if there are two people in the business there are two relationships, if a third person joins there are now six relationships, a fourth person means

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EP: You think about the point when your decisions are instinctive and when the growth is planned more strategically. Up to a point it’s a combination of opportunity and gut feel.

IG: You have to decide what you want when it comes to ambition; whether to grow and move something beyond a lifestyle business.

DL talked about the challenges of sales when growing a business: Having the best sales process is better than having the best salesperson. If your sales process is right the sales will come and you can monitor it.

Participants included Ian Kinnery, Team Massive Results (IK), Pete Wilkinson, petewilkinson.com (PW), Ean Parsons, Parsons Containers (EP), Ian Gilthorpe, Square One Law (IG), David Lewis, Collectables (DL), Craig Matthews, Eemit Communications (CM), Joanna Wake, Raw Digital (JW), Charlie Dunn, SGP Technology Group (CD), James Pennington, Viral Effect (JP), Andy Trafford, MacDonald Martin (AT), John Duns, Brewin Dolphin (JD), Karen Winterhalter, Onyx Health (KW), Victoria Phillips, Apheya Animal Nutrition (VP) and Richard Podd, PwC (RP).

The discussion began with entrepreneurs considering the barriers to growth and sharing their experience of scaling up:

challenges created by the complexity of growing. When a team as a whole doesn’t reflect your level of passion and motivation it can be frustrating.

Recruitment and finding people who fit with an organisation’s culture were the next area of discussion.

does the person at the top learn to deal with the increased complexity?

PW: I ran a retail business for several years and one of the limiting factors was the calibre of people we employed. When we employed people who weren’t exceptional it made it very hard work, adding to the

CM: From an HR perspective, you name it we’ve been through it! We used to recruit based on the CVs we received and half-hour interviews, learning the hard way that the people we hired didn’t always fit.

Now we have a much more robust recruitment process, where we have three or four different meetings with the applicants.

The big thing for us is values, if they don’t share your values and vison then it’s like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

“You have to decide what you want when it comes to ambition; whether to grow and move something beyond a lifestyle business.”

JW: We want the training sessions we deliver to have a consistent user experience, whether they’re in the Outer Hebrides or in Southampton. To do this we’ve made some changes to our recruitment process, so we’re not just recruiting based on knowledge, but getting people who have the right personality and fit our brand. Knowledge is now one of ten important factors we consider when hiring, it is something we can teach whereas attitude isn’t.

CD: We give our developers £500 for recruitment referrals, this not only saves money on recruitment, it means we get someone who has an existing relationship with the team and shares our values.

JP noted an innovative approach they have introduced to ensure the right people want to stay with the business: We offer people money to leave. After a few months in the job we offer them some money and they can take it and go. Luckily no-one has taken us up on the offer yet.

The discussion then moved to organisational culture, with staffing remaining an underlying theme.

AT: When you’re scaling up there’s a risk you can get carried away, you have to be careful when taking on big new contracts not to ignore your existing customers, the grass roots of your business.

KW: A company I worked for had lots of regional offices, in addition to the national office in London. Each had its own culture, different from city to city. As a leader you’ve got to let this happen. As entrepreneurs we can’t copy what the corporates are doing, where they’re very heavily process driven.

had two groups of entrepreneurs having a passionate debate about the challenges of growth and it was gratifying to see so many of our members learning from each other’s experiences. Indeed some have gone on to meet up again afterwards to continue conversations and share ideas.

IG added: When you’re looking at growth through acquisition, culture is so important.

“The common themes that came out were around people – particularly in terms of accountability; sales, culture and having a clear strategy and processes. The over-riding feeling was that there is still a tremendous appetite for further growth within both groups. For some the challenge isn’t creating the demand, but in coping with it and managing that growth, whilst others have taken on larger premises with a view to pushing their business to the next level.”

RP: The look and feel of dealing with PwC anywhere in the world is pretty much uniform, we have our core values, but how this is achieved is up to each regional management team.

JD: As people progress in your business it is usually the natural progression that if they do well in their job they become a manager.

This is often something they want because of the extra prestige and money, but it can mean your best people aren’t doing what they’re best at.

VP: I let my staff work flexibly as much as I can, if they have a Friday deadline to complete a big report, but they work late to complete it early, I don’t mind them taking the Friday off.

Following the debate, Forum chief executive Gillian Marshall commented: “Our round table debates have become so popular we’re now running multiple groups each time to satisfy the demand. This time around we

“It was noted by some that as the company grows, the people involved sometimes need to change to cope with a different size and scale of business. The person running a function in a small business isn’t necessarily the right one to take it forward as the company gets larger and they take on more employees.”

“Interestingly, access to finance as a barrier to growth wasn’t raised significantly within either group, which I was a little surprised at, having read Sherry Coutu’s Scale-up Report on UK Economic Growth, which cited difficulty in obtaining funding as a potential obstacle.”

Join the conversation We host regular round table discussions on a wide range of business topics, stimulating debate and shared learning between members. For a full list of events simply visit

www.entrepreneursforum.net/events www.entrepreneursforum.net

Creating a culture of team performance As the complexity of the workplace grows, most organisations are becoming increasingly reliant upon teams in order to remain successful in a competitive market place, but how effective are yours?

Although there are many factors which can impact upon team performance, there are some key attributes which will allow your teams to perform to their full potential.

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Five features of effective teams.

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Team efficacy

Your team needs to believe in their own and each other’s abilities. Without this confidence most will feel overburdened and stressed by the tasks they have been set. It’s important that you, as a manager, set direction and support the team when needed. Setting clear, challenging but attainable goals as well as providing frequent, specific and accurate feedback will allow your teams to know when they have done a good job. Once they know they can do a good job, their confidence grows!

Conflict resolution

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Conflict within teams has consistently been associated with poorer team performance. Conflicts are likely to arise when there are personality differences within the team. Having a member of the team who thinks they are above everyone else often causes conflict, so it’s therefore important that your teams are well equipped to deal with this. They need to treat each other as equals, listen to each other’s opinions and be able to reach a compromise where possible. A tough challenge, but when done well, can lead to much improved team performance.

Cohesion

Situational awareness

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It’s important that team members communicate well and often.

They need to keep each other up to date so that everyone knows what everyone else is doing. This awareness of the situation around them will allow teams to coordinate themselves and tasks effectively. Without this, teams tend to be highly disorganised and work tends be duplicated or worse, not done at all.

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Having team members who are close and stick together through the tough times is really important. Having high levels of cohesion between team members has repeatedly been linked to higher levels of team performance. When team members have good social relationships they become afraid of letting each other down and are always there to support one another when needed. Getting along from a professional as well as a social perspective can enable a team to work much better together.

Transformational leadership

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A key part of any one team is its leader.

Some leaders like to control their team and give them very little space to think and act for themselves. Feeling controlled tends to indicate a lack of trust from your leader and so your tem start to feel incapable and demotivated.

Transformational leaders are charismatic, energising, encouraging and motivation.

They really make their team feel good about themselves and each other, rendering a much improved team performance.

Effective teams are becoming increasingly important. To be most effective teams need to believe in themselves and each other. They need to communicate well so that everyone knows what is going on. They need to be able to resolve conflicts well and stick together through the tough times. They also need a leader to inspire and motivate them. All of these features render much better team performance, so they are worth bearing in mind! www.entrepreneursforum.net

Digital powerhouse The innovation potential of tech clusters in the north The Northern tech sector is booming and a new report commissioned by Tech North and published by the RSA in partnership with the Impact Hub, shows just how much potential there is.

The report highlights several existing examples of local collaboration. In manufacturing, Manchester-based tech company 2M Automation worked with the Nissan car plant in Sunderland to improve operations on its machine conveying system.

While in the field of health, Yorkshire-based company Immedicare created a telecare service that links care homes in Airedale with clinicians in the nearby hospital.

Jobs in Northern tech are increasing 10 times faster than jobs in nondigital sectors, and the productivity of digital workers is 53% higher than the productivity of non-digital workers; and yet there’s much more that can be done.

How can this be achieved?

Unlocking the North’s potential Raising productivity to the national average for tech workers would result in a £5.7 billion increase in GVA (gross value added) for the Northern economy. And increasing the rate of digital self-employment to the national average would give rise to over 9,700 more tech founders.

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While improvements to the talent pipeline, infrastructure, finance and culture are all being addressed by industry and the government, The Digital Powerhouse report argues that better collaboration with local businesses and public services is another essential factor for unlocking the full potential of the Northern tech sector.

Local industries in the region – including retail, logistics and manufacturing – constitute lucrative untapped markets for tech firms, as do the health, education and local government sectors. The report suggests that the North’s tech companies can play a vital role in helping the region cope with an oncoming wave of ‘digitisation’, where more industries are likely to face the same fate as the media and publishing sectors.

The report suggests numerous ways in which this can be achieved: Introduce Tech Taster vouchers: The introduction of vouchers should be considered as a way of allowing businesses to get a taste of what tech could do for their operations.

Establish a Digital Powerhouse Contract Portal: A portal could be created that collates private and public sector contracts in one place, establishing a Northern hub of commercial opportunities.

“Raising productivity to the national average for tech workers would result in a £5.7 billion increase in GVA for the Northern economy.”

Champion the tech co-operative model: Tech co-operatives should be promoted in the North as a means of helping tech firms band together and achieve economies of scale.

Kickstart new corporate-backed accelerators: Northern tech groups, together with Tech North, should consider identifying corporates that may be interested in backing tech start-up accelerators.

Make the North a testbed for experimental tech: Northern tech clusters should look at ways they could become proving grounds for experimental technologies (e.g. the use of robotics in social care or blockchain technology in the welfare system).

Establish digital immersion events: Public service teams should consider organising events with nearby tech communities in order to share procurement knowledge and better understand local needs and strengths.

Move towards ‘problem-based’ commissioning: Public sector commissioners should consider the benefits of problem-based procurement, which does not define solutions from the outset.

Open up data on KPIs and procurement results: Local authorities and public services should consider releasing their data on procurement history and key performance indicators (KPIs), so as to help tech communities understand the opportunities available.

Create a ‘Procurement Powerhouse’ social enterprise: Northern entrepreneurs should consider creating a social enterprise to link public sector buyers with tech businesses in the region, providing a sustainable solution to matchmaking.

Encourage the use of open source software: Partners in the North should champion the use of open source software to enable collaborative innovation, opening software markets up to more local competition.

Organise a ‘600 that Share’ movement: The region’s 600 very large businesses could be encouraged to pledge to do more to support their local tech community.

Pool the resources of university outreach teams: The outreach teams of Northern universities should consider joining forces to present a single unified offer to local tech businesses.

Consider a ‘what works’ review of tech business support: A ‘what works’ review could be undertaken to better understand how the region’s business support offer might be improved for tech businesses.

Tech North shines a light on the thriving digital tech scene in the North of England, making sure our Northern tech communities have the information, networks, support and inspiration they need to further the growth and success we’ve seen in recent years.

You can view the full Digital Powerhouse Report at www.technorthhq.com

Establish a ‘Founder of Founders’ award: A ‘Founder of Founders’ award could be given to business owners who do the most to support their fellow entrepreneurs.

www.entrepreneursforum.net

Supporting SMEs

How our corporate partners are helping entrepreneurs

The Entrepreneurs’ Forum is proud to be partnered by a host of corporate organisations who are experts in their own field and keen to support SMEs and entrepreneurial businesses.

As sector exclusive relationships, we work with our partners closely to raise their profile among the North East’s entrepreneurial community and ensure they experience the enormous advantages of joining forces with the Forum.

SOLUTIONS RECRUITMENT GROUP has recently joined our prestigious list of corporate partners.

A leading provider of built-to-measure recruitment services, with clients in a wide range of business sectors, Solutions’ expertise ranges from placing high-volume temporary workforces to permanent executives and non-executive directors.

Founded in Newcastle in 1984, it has offices in Newcastle, Sunderland, South Shields, Teesside, Birmingham and Leicester to service local, national and international clients.

Solutions joins existing corporate partners Barclays, PwC, Northumbrian Water, Teesside University, Gateshead College, The Lakes Distillery, Utilitywise, Port of Tyne, Ward Hadaway, Brewin Dolphin, Crowne Plaza, Elanders UK , Onyx Group, Hedley McEwan and Newcastle United Football Club.

Becoming an Entrepreneurs’ Forum corporate partner demonstrates the commitment of Solutions Recruitment to support the North East’s business community, while raising its profile through exclusive access to events and advertising opportunities.

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Bespoke training shifts CPS Drivelink into top gear.

A tailored engineering skills training programme has enhanced the skills base at Team Valley-based CPS Drivelink, helping the company to win more work and offer customers extra services.

The supplier and manufacturer of commercial motor vehicle and motorsport drivelines, steering and breaking products turned to Gateshead College when they needed a specialist one-off welding skills course to upskill employees, enabling the completion of new contracts.

Gateshead College’s team of engineering training experts developed a bespoke course which was delivered on-site to minimise production down-time while providing high-quality and intensive training in welding techniques. Being on-site also meant that apprentices were trained with the tools and machinery used in their everyday jobs so they could hit the ground running on live customer projects.

The investment in training has significantly benefited CPS, making the company even more competitive and equipped to secure a wider range of contracts.

Paul Sowerby, engineering director at CPS Drivelink Ltd, said: “Gateshead College was highly reactive to our request for a bespoke training course that would train and upskill a few of our employees in welding skills.

“It was as simple as telling them what was needed and they came back to us with a solution that meant we were able to get our staff trained up quickly without impacting on daily operations. We’ve now significantly developed our business, increased sales and met customers’ requirements through this professional training.”

PwC see the challenge for many growing businesses is not just how to grow, but how to grow sustainably, profitably and manageably.

Those that do it best rely on a combination of instinct and really high quality, accurate management information, which is why they offer an accounting service called MyFinancePartner. Providing SMEs with big company accounting support adapted to suit the needs of a growing business, MyFinancePartner combines cloud accounting software with face-to-face accounting and business support from one of PwC’s dedicated FinancePartners.

BARCLAYS have supported Entrepreneurs’ Forum member Sara Davies and her company Crafter’s Companion since 2007, in which time the company has gone on to grow year on year, developing its product range, winning numerous awards in both the crafting industry and in the business world.

Since the launch of the Enveloper the business has gone from strength to strength which prompted Crafter’s Companion to talk to their local Relationship Director about funding solutions. To support the transaction, Barclays provided a working capital facility to cover the end to end funding requirements, support which Simon Davies, managing director of Crafter’s believes allowed them to move quickly to the next stage of their accelerated expansion strategy.

UTILITYWISE has announced that a “high calibre external candidate” has been identified to replace company founder Geoff Thompson, who will move into the role of executive chairman, allowing him to concentrate more on strategy.

The changes are part of an ongoing process that began around a year-and-a-half ago and has seen the group strengthen its senior management team as it seeks to expand further. The new chief executive officer will lead an already robust executive team, which has been strengthened with the recent appointments of Brin Sheridan as chief operating officer and Adrienne McFarland as people operations director, and will focus on driving growth and maximising opportunities in order to realise the ambitions of the company, taking it to the next level of success.

Already used by a number of Entrepreneurs’ Forum members, they are supporting existing finance functions, or doing the whole thing, giving business owners back the precious time they need to focus on growth.

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NORTHUMBRIAN WATER has launched a new system for reading and monitoring utility meters which will help businesses to cut bills by identifying and acting upon opportunities to reduce usage of water, gas and electricity.

Their new Automated Meter Reading (AMR) utilises market-leading technology provided by specialist contract partner Zeco Energy to give organisations better control over their utility spending. Using wireless technology, the small, compact data logger installed at the utility meter allows remote communication with NWG’s secure online portal.

Organisations involved in trialling the system included Redcar & Cleveland Council and North Tyneside Council, who want to reduce water usage in order to make savings on their bills. AMR equipment was installed at key locations throughout the authority’s estate to help understand out of hour’s water usage, with a number of rewarding discoveries.

Pulsant announces acquisition of Onyx and appoints Mike Tobin as chairman.

Pulsant, the cloud computing, managed hosting and colocation expert, has announced the acquisition of Onyx Group as part of a strategy to enhance capabilities and strengthen its market position.

The acquisition will benefit both existing and potential customers, with the combined business having almost 400 staff, revenues of £75m and over 4,000 customers in a variety of industries.

Its operations are underpinned by a network of 15 owned and operated datacentres across in the UK, and leading-edge private, multi-tenanted and public cloud platforms.

The acquisition will add to Pulsant’s capabilities as a provider of hybrid IT services — particularly in the areas of applications management, remote and on-site managed services, workplace recovery and security — and expand its reach in the UK to deliver more options for resiliency and a stronger portfolio of solutions to customers.

If you’re looking to raise the profile of your organisation amongst the region’s most aspirational entrepreneurs and want a partnership that aligns you with success, then simply call Gillian Marshall on (0191) 500 7780 or contact our team at info@entrepreneursforum.net

Proud to be partnered by:

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Entrepre

NEWS

News and views from the North East entrepreneurial community

Hyperdrive Innovation Stephen Irish Fresh investment follows high-profile contract wins for the UK’s leading independent developer of lithium-ion energy storage technologies.

The Pen Shop

Ahead of launching two new innovative modular battery systems later this year, Hyperdrive has secured investment of a total of £3.2 million from venture capital firms Hamilton Capital Partners and Rivers Capital alongside R&D grant funding from InnovateUK and the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC).

Europe’s largest luxury pens and gift specialist has opened its 20th shop in St Pancras International railway station.

Hyperdrive designs and manufactures on a single site and supports developers of electric vehicles and stationary energy storage, to bring new products to market by delivering superior system performance. Hyperdrive’s batteries incorporate patented battery management technology which can be adapted for use with different cell chemistries to provide electric power.

The company will use the funding to further develop its product range and make significant productivity improvements in battery pack manufacture.

Managing director and co-founder, Stephen Irish, said: “The diverse nature of projects we are involved in demonstrates that we are able to act as a partner for any OEM that needs to introduce cutting-edge battery technology and management systems to electrify its products.

“The future of low carbon transportation globally depends on companies such as ours working with vehicle manufacturers on innovative low carbon powertrains. We expect this year to bring a further step change as Hyperdrive Innovation continues to accelerate electrification in the low-carbon vehicle sector and the continued development of more sophisticated energy storage systems.”

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Colin McClymont

Set within one of the most famous Victorian buildings in London, the flagship store is intended to provide a convenient way for shoppers and commuters to browse products and collect orders reserved online.

The shop will stock a full range of luxury brands including Montblanc, Chopard, Caran d’Ache and Faber-Castell and premium brands Parker, Waterman, Cross, Lamy and The Pen Shop’s own brand, Kingsley. Situated alongside Fortnum & Mason and Jo Malone, customers can reserve products online and pick them up on their way home from work the same day. The retailer also hopes to appeal to tourists and holiday-makers using the Eurostar. The shop opens almost a year to the day The Pen Shop underwent a management buyout after three directors purchased the group and its retail outlets in May 2015 from the Allan family for an undisclosed amount.

The Pen Shop managing director, Colin McClymont, says: “It has been an exciting year for The Pen Shop and the opening of the new St Pancras shop firmly marks the beginning of the next stage in The Pen Shop’s history.”

Raw Digital

Altec Engineering

Joanna Wake

David Steel & Andrew Esson

The digital skills training specialists are celebrating achieving national recognition on becoming a finalist of the prestigious Digital Leaders 100, within the Digital Inclusion and Skills Initiative of the Year category.

Altec Hydraulics, the North Shields-based specialist hydraulic engineering company, has announced a deal to acquire the assets and trade of Hydrofit Alliance.

RAW are one of three North East businesses to be included in the list, alongside widely recognised brands such as Argos, Channel 4 and PayPal. Digital Leaders 100 recognises organisations from all sectors who ‘demonstrate a pioneering and sustainable approach to digital transformation across the public, private and non-profit sectors.’

Recognised for delivering an impact within the private and public sector, RAW have delivered digital skills training to more than 3,000 learners to all industries and roles throughout the UK in order to help bridge the digital skills gap.

MD Joanna Wake commented “We’ve worked seriously hard to be able to provide the cutting edge digital skills training to businesses and young people in our short time of operating, and we have been recognised in the ultimate way.”

Established in 2012, Newton Aycliffe-based Hydrofit Alliance had suffered recent challenges, particularly due to the market downturn in the Oil and Gas sector, leading the directors to place the business into administration. Alastair Waite, CEO of Altec Engineering, said: ‘Having acquired Quick Hydraulics last October, this was an excellent opportunity to do something really transformational within the hydraulics sector.

“Quick Hydraulics and Hydrofit both have excellent reputations and their strengths are highly complementary to each other, and to the wider Altec Group. The expanded Altec hydraulics division immediately becomes the largest specialist hydraulic engineering business within Yorkshire and the North East.”

Quick Hydraulics managing director Andrew Esson, who leads the Altec hydraulics division, said: ‘The recent challenges in the Oil and Gas sector have created tough trading conditions across the UK hydraulics sector. However, this challenge also creates a fantastic opportunity to do something really exciting within the industry.

“The team at Hydrofit have a fantastic reputation and pedigree in the design and delivery of complex hydraulic systems, which complements Quick Hydraulics’ expertise in projects, engineering service, distribution and hydraulic training. “

Cairn Group

Harvey & Hugo

Naveen Handa

Charlotte Nichols

The North East headquartered hotel and bar operators have successfully refinanced £101m and will use £50m of the total pot for acquisition and development to strengthen its portfolio, which already includes 26 hotels and more than 30 bars and restaurants as well as care homes across the UK.

Darlington-based Harvey & Hugo has employed Mike Renton, an experienced PR professional who has worked in and with the media for more than six years.

Over the past five years, the Group has spent over £40m acquiring and improving assets and doubled employee numbers in that period, establishing it as a leading player in the privately owned hotel owner and operator market.

The news follows the latest acquisitions of the Ramada Glasgow Airport Hotel in November 2015 and 17th century Buckinghamshire country house Stoke Place Hotel.

Recent developments have seen renowned chef Theo Randall open his first Theo’s Simple Italian restaurant in the Group’s Hotel Indigo Kensington and a rebrand of the Bellhouse Hotel in Beaconsfield to Crowne Plaza Gerrards Cross.

Richard Warren, Cairn Group’s finance director said: “Our ethos as a company is to engage with local communities and invest in our dedicated workforce to be able to offer exceptional service to customers. It’s extremely rewarding to secure jobs, as well as establish new employment opportunities and search for rising stars in the industry.

The forward thinking agency, which offers flexible social media, blogging and press release options, is making a real name for itself as one of the few agencies to offer bespoke digital PR services. This key appointment comes at a significant time for Harvey & Hugo, which, in its seventh year, continues to evolve and expand its client base and services.

Having studied Film and Television Production at university, Mike is a qualified journalist who has worked as a reporter for the York Press, a press officer for Parliament and then settled in public relations two years ago. Referring to his recent move, Mike said: “I am looking forward to joining the pack and meeting the CEO (Harvey) and Chairman (Hugo) and of course, getting stuck into my new role.

“I know the company has a fantastic reputation across the North East and the team thrive on celebrating the success of businesses, which is what I’m looking forward to being a part of.

“It is exciting to see the company expand its already strong, enthusiastic team and I feel really privileged to be a part of that.”

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Northstar Ventures

North East Finance

Ian Richards & Alasdair Greig

Dawn Dunn

The venture capital firm is looking to invest £6million in North East businesses in 2016 from the Finance for Business North East Accelerator and Proof of Concept Funds.

With offices in Newcastle and Darlington, the team at Northstar would like to speak to start-ups and SMEs located in, or with significant operations in, the North East. Companies that are willing to locate to the region are also invited to get in touch.

Ian Richards, Director at Northstar Ventures, said: “We have been partnering with North East SMEs for over a decade, and are pleased to be able to continue to do so with the £6m extension funds we have to invest.

“Whether you are a small team with ambitions to build disruptive tech solutions, or an established company that needs support to scale your operations, our team is able to provide both financial and business support.”

One of the companies Northstar Ventures has supported in the past was digital agency Orange Bus, which was recently acquired

by Capita PLC. The company received £150k investment from the Accelerator Fund in 2012.

The Finance for Business North East (FBNE) fund - also known as the JEREMIE programme - has secured a £17m top up to enable it to continue investing in the region’s fastest growing businesses through to the end of this year.

The programme, established by North East Finance in 2010, anticipates investing the new money in well over 100 of the region’s most ambitious SMEs during the next nine months.

Sources of funding include a £4.5m contribution from the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and returns from earlier funds in the region; this has been matched by the European Investment Bank, with a further loan of £8.5m, on top of the £60m + committed to the programme so far.

Of this additional funding, £9m will be invested exclusively within the seven local authority districts covered by the North East LEP, and the remainder will be available to companies across the North East including the Tees Valley region.

Since its launch, FBNE has provided vital investment to 850 North East companies - safeguarding or creating more than 6,000 jobs and securing a further £185m of investment into the region from business angels and venture investors across the UK and globally.

Visualsoft Dean Benson Visualsoft has been shortlisted for the Bupa Wellbeing at Work Award at the BITC (Business in the Community) Responsible Business Awards 2016.

The news came as the nation marked Responsible Business Week - a national event which aims to demonstrate the many ways that businesses can work together to turn ambition into positive action for a fairer society and a more sustainable future.

Visualsoft, which offers a range of digital solutions for online retailers and has offices in London, Manchester, Newcastle and Stockton, has been shortlisted for the Wellbeing at Work Award, sponsored by Bupa - an award that aims to recognise businesses that are creating the conditions for employees to flourish by investing in their wellbeing and engagement.

The agency has been named as a finalist against 10 other UK companies including Barclays, Marks and Spencer and Royal Mail.

The BITC Responsible Business Awards are deemed to be the most prestigious and respected of their kind in the UK and abroad, and are championed by The Prince of Wales. The Awards demonstrate how businesses of any size, sector or scale are creating innovative and sustainable solutions to the most pressing challenges, inspiring thousands to make a lasting difference.

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Flame Heating Spares

Lane 7

John Savage

Tim Wilks

A leading North East trade supplies firm has revived the career of an experienced former SSI UK employee, as it looks to strengthen its position in the region.

Flame Heating Spares, which recently opened its first branch in the Tees Valley, on Boathouse Lane, Stockton, has hired Daniel Pape as branch supervisor, to support branch manager Stuart Lavelle, following the company’s latest expansion. Daniel, from Redcar, worked at SSI UK’s Redcar steelworks for eight years, before its collapse in October last year. Prior to this, he spent seven years working for a national plumbing merchant with Stuart, who put him in touch with John Savage, Flame’s managing director.

Mr Pape, 33, said: “Obviously it has been a very difficult period, not just for me, but for many of my former colleagues and their families as a result of SSI’s closure, and I am delighted to have been given this opportunity. I have worked in the industry before and possess a good knowledge of the local market, so the role offers a good fit for my experience.

“It is great to be working with Stuart again as I embark on my career at Flame and I am excited to be part of the company’s ambitious future.”

Large scale car racing games and permanent indoor mini golf will feature in a six figure upgrade of one of Newcastle’s most popular leisure venues.

Lane7, who opened the North East’s first boutique bowling concept less than three years ago, will be unveiling two new firsts in the coming weeks. They will be the ever first venue to permanently install what they’re calling The Racing Rig. The enormous ten-player indoor racetrack offers punters the chance to sit behind real steering wheels and race pedals as competitors race their chosen cars around a live indoor track. So big is the installation, that any other uses of the facility are more commonly temporary installations.

Lane7’s Racing Rig is due to be fitted on the top floor of the St James’ Boulevard venue in early June. And in a double boost for fans of the venue, it will also be installing a permanent mini golf course in its basement, a version of which was last seen as a six week pop up at the venue two weeks ago.

The double installation marks a long-term investment in Lane7s Newcastle operations while bosses there continue to search for suitable additional venues in other UK cities.

To read these stories in full, and many more, visit

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Ryder Architecture Mark Thompson A dynamic private sector led partnership in the North East is working with education to develop a completely new way of attracting talented young people into the construction sector.

The innovative skills and careers programme, a first for the UK, is set to shake up the traditional way that people are recruited and trained in a sector that ultimately shapes towns, cities and communities.

A powerful partnership of designers, builders, and project managers who operate in the ‘built environment’ have come together to campaign for change, addressing the skills gap while also creating more flexible employees through a new architectural engineering and management programme.

PlanBEE was launched by internationally renowned Ryder Architecture in 2013 and the campaign now also includes the support of Arup, Cundall, Desco, Esh, FaulknerBrowns, Napper Architects, Sir Robert McAlpine, Summers Inman, Surgo, Turner and Townsend, Xcite, 3eConsult, NELEP, RICS, CIOB and ICE. Further partners are joining.

They have joined forces with the region’s leading further education organisation, Gateshead College, to help devise a completely new way of recruiting and training young people through a programme that will give them a broader set of skills to ensure greater inter disciplinary working in the construction industry.

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What do you do that really matters?

By Stephen Howard,

CEO of Business in the Community

Entrepreneurs in the north can be a beacon for responsible business Making money and doing the right thing for society are frequently seen as opposing outcomes in business, particularly when companies are small and profits are squeezed. As a small company, being asked to do more can seem like an ask too far.

In the North East, Visualsoft, a digital agency with offices in Newcastle and Middlesbrough give their staff completely flexible working hours, as long as they hit their targets, as well as unlimited paid holidays and free breakfasts.

In the North East we have our own set of challenges, but also huge opportunities to do more. From thinking about the ageing workforce, to responding to the environment, volunteering in the community or helping long-term unemployed people into work, responsible businesses are those integrating doing the right thing into the fabric of how they operate and how their people behave, at all levels, and regardless of their turnover or head count.

Dean Benson, CEO of Visualsoft says it’s all about trust. “We introduced this innovative new way of working to give our staff the flexibility they deserve - whether they’re working from home, answering emails from a cafe or calling clients on the go, as long as they get the job done, we’re happy for them to do as they please!”

At Business in the Community, we see again and again that when purpose holds the same value as profits, businesses are more likely to thrive, whatever their size or location in the country.

We’ve just announced the finalists for the Responsible Business Awards, a key moment for businesses to demonstrate that they are developing innovative responses to the issues we face as a society, and inspiring others to make a lasting difference by adding value back to their own business.

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Making employees happier has led to a boost in turnover and has meant that Visualsoft have hired new staff.

Elsewhere, Stoke on Trent ceramics firm, Steelite International was finding that with an ageing workforce it was losing valuable knowledge, skills and experience as their employees retired, so it focused on building skills between generations, enabling skilled older workers to train apprentices.

It also started to look at flexible working, phased retirement and occupational health.

With a package of support the company now has a workforce with an average age of 45, with its youngest worker 17 and its oldest is 69.

The company is now experiencing its fifth year of record sales; success which the company attributes to the commitment and passion of its workforce and the transfer of skills through intergenerational working.

These businesses recognise the case underpinning responsible behaviour with benefits ranging from unlocking innovation to attracting the best employees, to demonstrable impact on the bottom line.

No one organisation can solve intractable issues such as climate change or social mobility, but by bringing companies together to share successes, and by showcasing the best of what others are doing, we create a case for business to keep doing more.

There’s still a long way to go, but increasingly the businesses we work with are asking us about what they can do next to embed responsibility at the heart of how they operate.

Stephen Howard Chief Executive, Business in the Community The award winners will be announced on 11 July at the O2 in London. To find out who the winners are please go to www.bitc.org.uk

Business in the Community offer a number of practical ways for businesses to work together and take action to help tackle some of the key issues facing society. They provide a range of services, practical guidance and creative solutions that help businesses review, improve, measure and report. To find out more, visit www.bitc.org.uk

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s i g n i r o t n e M t u b g n i h t y an m r e t t r o h s John Savage meets with David Cliff Mentoring is an ongoing process, which could The Mentor David Cliff is a highly experienced senior mean anything from a few meetings over a manager, with 30 years’ experience in few months to continued support over years coaching, counselling, organisational support, and development. He launched Gedanken in 2006 to provide personal and even decades.

Long-term, ongoing mentoring is certainly the case for John Savage of Flame Heating Spares and David Cliff of Gedanken, who have been working together for two years now.

When John launched his heating and plumbing supplies company he was ambitious about expansion. So, knowing the benefits of mentoring he contacted David, an experienced mentor and business coach.

Here they discuss the benefits that mentoring has brought to John and his business, and how the relationship developed.

The Mentee Having started out as a warehouse assistant and working his way up to become an area manager for a national plumbing merchant, John Savage then went it alone – a decision which has paid dividends. Launched in 2011, with a single branch in Gateshead, Flame Heating Spares now operates from five, with strong growth forecasts ahead and further launches throughout the region.

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“I had a solid career at a national firm, with a good wage, but I just felt the time was right to go out on my own. Together with Gary Riseborough, who at one time was my boss, we established Flame Heating Spares and although a daunting prospect at first, it has turned out to be one of my finest accomplishments.

“We both possess many years’ experience and knowledge of the market and industry, but the difficulty at first was raising finance and putting together a solid business plan – which I had done in the past, but on the other side of the fence and not with my with own investment.

“I came across David Cliff, a renowned business mentor and coach in the region, and his support has been invaluable, which has helped grow the business. David even helped identify an area for one of our outlets, in South Shields, and has refined the ways in which we operate and tailored my five year plan for Flame.

“His ongoing advice and guidance has been instrumental in shaping the way in which we do business and, on a personal level, he has helped with my own development. David is not only my mentor, but a friend too.”

development, business and executive coaching, staff counselling, mediation and management consultancy skills.

“When I first met John, Flame had only one branch, but he was keen to expand. It was clear from the start that he had the potential and drive to go far, so as a mentor is was a case of giving him the right advice for his business and him as an individual that fitted the growth of his company, but also him as a leader and manager.

“John’s philosophy for customer service is based on the personal touch, so it was vital that as he scaled up this was not lost. It was also important to bring in both skills and investment at the right time. The Investor Director model allowed him to do both of these in the early stages of the business; later the challenge was to help him find sources of funding that would fuel growth without relinquishing too much equity.

“His attitude towards mentoring is perhaps why it has worked so well for him. You only get out of things what you put in to them, and John was positive about the whole process from the start. Long term relationships between mentors and mentees only work when they both take it seriously.

Access to mentoring services is part of Entrepreneurs’ Forum membership and includes confidential one to one connections, round table discussions and mentoring drop in surgeries.

To find out more, visit www. entrepreneursforum.net/mentoring

“Another important thing for mentors to remember is that they need to establish how much their mentee wants to achieve.

A general idea that their business needs to get bigger just isn’t enough, achievable and specific goals are essential.

“When growth starts to happen it is inevitable that a business becomes a target for larger competitors, who can employ quite heavy-handed tactics to defend their own market share. Mentors need to establish how their mentees are equipped to deal with this and advise them accordingly. Growth is definitely happening for Flame, they could become huge over the next three years.”

“None of us got to where we are today by ourselves. We all need mentors, friends and advisors to achieve success and we all continue to learn as we continue to grow.” www.entrepreneursforum.net

From inmates to Entrepreneurs How entrepreneurship can break the cycle of reoffending

by Matt Smith, Centre for Entrepreneurs.

In the UK and elsewhere, identifying how to successfully reintegrate ex-prisoners and prevent them from re-offending is a major challenge.

The prison system in England and Wales performs poorly in this regard, with 45% of all released prisoners reoffending within a year.

Beyond simply being a proof of the failures of our prison system, the estimated cost of these offences is up to £4.5 billion annually, a bill largely footed by the taxpayer.

Successful reintegration into society and the economy depends on ex-prisoners securing a good job. Employment provides stability, autonomy and income. But despite schemes to improve the employability of prisoners and practical training offered by prisons to achieve this, in most prisoners are without work upon release. This goes some way towards explaining the high reoffending rate, as without the stable income a job provides, many ex-prisoners find it easy to return to a life of crime.

In a recent report, the Centre for Entrepreneurs investigated the potential of supporting ex-prisoners into entrepreneurship in order to reduce reoffending. Unlike traditional employment, entrepreneurship does not discriminate on the basis of a criminal record, enabling ex-prisoners to pursue the opportunities best suited to their skillsets, attributes and interests while offering them a more flexible environment in which to reintegrate with society.

The report reviews what has already been achieved in this space, including notable initiatives such as the Prison Entrepreneurship Program in Texas and the Leonhard programme in Germany, and Startup and Enterprise Exchange in the UK. The results argue that if the government is serious about tackling reoffending, the presence of entrepreneurship programmes across Britain’s prisons must be greatly increased.

The Centre for Entrepreneurs promotes the role of entrepreneurs in creating economic growth and social well-being. It is also home to national enterprise campaign, StartUp Britain.

To find out more and read the full report, visit www.centreforentrepreneurs.org

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Key recommendations include: Recognition: Self-employment should be recognised as an effective pathway towards rehabilitation and reduced reoffending for many ex-prisoners. This recognition should be reflected in the resource allocation, priorities and official statistics and performance measures of the prison and probation systems.

Public prison entrepreneurship fund: The government should create a ringfenced fund for prison entrepreneurship programmes, with the aim of making them available to all of the 75,000 people leaving prison every year. Philanthropy has a role to play, but ultimately, stable, ongoing public funding for programmes is required.

“Unlike traditional employment, entrepreneurship does not discriminate on the basis of a criminal record.”

CDFI loan fund: Post-release, there should be tailored access to loans for a small subset of ex-offender businesses with genuine growth potential. In order to pool resources and share best practices on lending to this demographic, we recommend that several community development financial institutions (CDFIs) join together with relevant partners (probation services, credit unions, Start-Up Loans Company and charities / businesses) to create a ring-fenced loan fund for ex-offender businesses.

Mentoring: The creation of a mentoring scheme connecting prisoners and ex-offenders with successful entrepreneurs and business professionals is needed. In a survey of

entrepreneurs, almost 90% expressed interest in mentoring an ex-offender entrepreneur, while over 80% said they would consider speaking at a prison. The scheme would connect potential mentors with the charities, prisons and probation services training prisoners and ex-offenders in starting a business. The platform would be similar in structure to “Founders 4 Schools” - a platform.

Of course, not every prisoner is a born entrepreneur. But among those that are interested and capable of working for themselves, ensuring they get the support they need is a sure route to reducing reoffending.

It can also help address ex-prisoner unemployment and welfare dependency, as well as create further employment opportunities and generate tax income. Most importantly, however, it will give ex-prisoners the fresh start they desperately need and surely deserve.

The current emphasis on keeping prisoners in an environment wholly removed from the real world, and hoping they will find a job and support themselves once out, results in great human and financial waste.

In an era where self-employment and entrepreneurship are transforming the nature of work, ex-prisoners disadvantaged through conventional employment have much to gain.

The economic case £4.5bn

£131k

Each reoffender costs the government and wider society £131,000

Reoffending by ex-prisoners costs £4.5 billion per year

£82m

11k

An entrepreneurship programme made available to every pre-release prisoner would cost approximately £82 million per year

Almost 11,000 new businesses could be started every year

£1.4bn

Total savings could amount to £1.4 billion per year

14%

We estimate a 14% recidivism rate among graduates from our chosen model of prison entrepreneurship programme, compared to 46% nationally

www.entrepreneursforum.net

“Our original business plan was written before Twitter even existed, so you can imagine it’s changed a bit.”

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Entrepreneur interview With Kari Owers, O PR

Winner of North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012, Kari has been a PR consultant for 20 years, working on campaigns for hundreds of organisations large and small, private and public, start up or multi-generational.

She founded O in 2005 and is also a non-executive director at Northumberland Tourism and development agency for the commercial creative sector, Generator, as well as sitting on the steering committee for Northern Design Festival.

So Kari, tell us a bit about your background.

I grew up in Northern Ireland and come from several generations of journalists.

I left Northern Ireland in the early 90s to begin my studies in Newcastle - not journalism though – after studying art and design my degree was in fashion design.

After graduating, I started a job in consumer PR, at an ambitious firm. I’d recommend anyone starting their career joins a young entrepreneurial company, as it allows you to develop quickly and learn the ropes in business close up.

Some years later I moved to a one-man-band, where we became the first agency offering Pay As You Go PR in the North East. This was a really interesting time; it was during the first Dot Com Boom, which made it a really exciting time to be in media relations. Then, in 2005, shortly after my second child was born I started my own business.

When you started out, what was your first business premises?

As you might expect, it was at a desk in the loft. We soon moved into a space in a client’s office on the Quayside and we stayed there for a couple of years, before moving to Woods Pottery in Ouseburn, where we’re still based today. There were only a few of us in the company then, so it felt a bit weird having a small team rattling around in a big office but we have filled it and we love the area.

I really like Ouseburn, it hasn’t gentrified and lost its roots. There’s a strong creative community and it has a really vibrant music and cultural scene. In the early days, before we had a boardroom, we had meetings in The Cluny - we still do sometimes!

How has O grown over the years?

We grew really fast in the early years then the recession hit, so we tread water for a while, but after the country came out of the downturn we started growing again.

In fact, last year was our tenth year in business and it was a record year for growth.

For us our growth has often come from a game-changing client. We did a store launch for Dr. Martens in Newcastle, this lead to us helping to promote all of their stores across the North, and now we handle all the owned and operated UK store PR.

www.entrepreneursforum.net

Did the recession affect how you do business?

The recession changed our direction of travel in terms of services but not our approach to our clients. We shouldn’t pretend it was an easy time as each day was unpredictable, but some of the decisions we’d made before it hit helped us. We had, and still have, a broad portfolio of clients, which spread the risk across a number of sectors.

and Instagrammers across the world on campaigns – they create and share unique content for us and it makes for really exciting campaigns.

Our location also plays a huge part. Newcastle is the ideal place for our business, we have clients located across the country, from Belfast to Brighton, so we think being in the North East puts us in the centre of all of them.

How do you keep your people motivated?

To fully understand our business at this time, you have to understand it against the backdrop of the rise of digital media. At the same time as the economy crashed, things like Facebook and Twitter became huge.

A lot of our clients are very entrepreneurial businesses who saw the recession as an opportunity as much as a threat, which allowed us to explore new avenues for them.

They trusted us to embrace new digital communication trends, and social media became a significant area of growth for the age.

How has the market changed since you started?

Our original business plan was written before Twitter even existed, so you can imagine it’s changed a bit. Things have changed dramatically and for the better. Some people think that PR is just about sending out press releases, but it’s about so much more, and social media has brought our skills in relationship-building and reputation management to a whole new platform.

We now create content for a multi-channel world, which makes for a completely new environment for a comms professional in which to operate.

What would you say your Unique Selling Points are?

All PR agencies would say their connections in the media, and that’s a big part of it, but our network of digital influencers is also something that stands us apart. We set up the North East Blogger Awards to recognise the excellent work people are doing in this field and now we work with bloggers

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We work hard at this and we’ve been recognised as such. We were recently named in PR Week ‘Best Places to Work’ awards as one of the top three small agencies in the UK to work for.

Developing our team’s careers is a huge part of everyone’s motivation too. We have Opprentices, which is a voluntary work placement scheme for final year students, many of whom come to work for us. We have the Graduate Ocademy, which is a 12-month fast-track programme that brings graduates into the world of communications, and our wider Ocademy programme provides continuous professional development for our whole team.

How does your motivation now compare with that when you started the firm?

My motivation still comes from being able to surround myself with great people each day. Whether that’s working with talented colleagues or with great clients. When you work with a client who trusts you, and is willing to take a leap of faith with you, it’s really inspiring.

How would you describe your business structure?

My husband is my co-director, I’m mostly the face of the business and, as well as running our creative content studio, he looks after everything behind the scenes. We’re not a hugely hierarchical company so anyone has the potential to shape their career and I’m working on developing the future leaders in the business. We recently promoted one of our team to Head of Client Services as a part of our planning for growth.

Mentors are a huge part of what the Entrepreneurs’ Forum do, how has it helped you?

We’re a fun place to work, and factor in plenty of time for creativity and conversation, which is always a good motivator. Something we do that’s a bit different is the Pat on the Back Award, which is a peer-nominated recognition that comes with a personalised gift.

I’ve been a member of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum since day one, and I’ve had a number of mentors through it. Sometimes it has just been the case of meeting them once for a coffee to get advice on a specific issue, but I have had mentors on a more long-term basis, who have gone on to become good friends.

Every year we have an Oway Day together, these are never the same, one year we went to a music festival, another year we went to my roots and visited the city of Belfast.

We also have lots of staff nights out and a charity fundraising programme, which are always popular.

I’m happy to mentor other people in business, it’s nice to meet people and chat with them about what they’re trying to achieve. Within O, I mentor each of my senior team every month, but it’s not limited to that, my door is open to anyone looking to get into or get on in the industry.

Keeping your team motivated starts by having the right people and in our case that means interesting and enthusiastic people. Someone can have the skills you’re looking for but not be the right fit, but when someone is the right personality fit with the culture of your company then it motivates everyone around them.

I also mentor young entrepreneurs here and there. It’s always great to see their passion and drive and maybe help them with some strategic thinking or advice.

Got any big plans for the future?

The way people interact with the media has changed massively over the past decade.

We, as a PR agency are changing with it, and this means taking our clients further into the digital world.

We have recently helped a client with a new digital communications platform - effectively an online magazine - where we are creating daily written, visual or video content - that’s the beauty of PR, it is constantly changing and we see its relevance as a discipline growing even more in the coming years.

You have had some recognition of your own recently.

As well as the PR Week Best Places to Work awards in February, in March I was shortlisted in the final 36 for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) Women of Tomorrow Awards. The best thing was being nominated by one of my own employees that’s the recognition every entrepreneur seeks I think, to inspire the next generation.

www.entrepreneursforum.net

Board update Meet the entrepreneurs behind the Forum

The Entrepreneurs’ Forum has announced the appointment of three prominent entrepreneurs to its board.

Wessington Cryogenics director and former North East LEP board member Gill Southern MBE, media consultant and multiple radio station founder John Myers, and serial entrepreneur and management coach James Robson MBE have all joined our board, helping to set the agenda to inspire and support the North East’s business owners to come together, share knowledge, make new connections and grow their businesses.

While welcoming the new appointees, we are also celebrating the contribution of Lorna Moran OBE, who has stepped down after 14 years on the board. Lorna, who founded the Forum with Sir Peter Vardy in 2002, has been honoured twice by the Queen, receiving the MBE in 2001 for services to employment creation and the OBE in 2014 for services to enterprise promotion.

Gill, John and James join existing board members Nigel Mills (chairman), Paul Walker, Brian Jobling, Alastair Waite, Graham Robb, Fiona Raglan, Yvonne Bell, Brendon Hayward and Pamela Petty.

Nigel Mills, chairman

Paul Walker

Brian Jobling

Founder of Mills Group, which comprised retail, leisure and property interests, Nigel is now the co-founder of The Lakes Distillery.

CEO of business software specialists Sage Plc from 1994 to 2010, Paul is now a professional director based in Newcastle.

Founder of international independent video game developers Eutechnyx Group and chairman of the Great North Air Ambulance.

“The Entrepreneurs’ Forum is an integral part of the North-East business community but is in no way typical of a business support organisation. It’s so important for the future of our region that we continue to foster entrepreneurship, encourage people to start and develop businesses and to retain our best talent - that is what the Forum aims to achieve.”

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Alastair Waite

Graham Robb

Fiona Raglan

Group CEO of Altec Engineering, the fastest growing precision engineering company in the North East, Alastair is formerly Strategic Development / M&A Director of Onyx Group and is founder of Altrelli Limited.

Director of the North East IoD and founder of Recognition PR.

Co-founder and director of Dipsticks Research, a market research agency that specialises in media and marketing communications research.

Yvonne Bell

Brendon Hayward

Pamela Petty

Director of Bell Truck and Van franchise, Yvonne is a shareholder in the family business with a focus on new and existing clients.

Co-founder, shareholder and director of sub-sea engineering and off-shore technology company OSBIT Ltd.

Former MD of watercooler and household appliance producers Ebac and daughter of founder John Elliott MBE.

Gill Southern

John Myers

James Robson

Director of family-owned Wessington Cryogenics, a world-leading cryogenic tank manufacturer.

John launched over 20 radio stations before founding Myers Media. Recently he also raised ÂŁ20m for a new business TEAM ROCK.

Founder and director of Exwold, James has more recently changed to supporting North East businesses through his consultancy business Alexander Jewitt & Co.

The Entrepreneurs’ Forum is an organisation of like-minded peers, supported by a strong board that is here to help you. To find out why each board member is so passionate about supporting the Forum, visit www.entreprenuersforum.net/board. www.entrepreneursforum.net

Recommended reading

5 great books business books to read this summer

Great leaders love to learn. The ability to expand your mind and have a lust for life-long learning is one of the key traits of the most successful entrepreneurs.

There are many ways to go about it, but sitting down with an insightful book is never a bad idea; so here are five great books to get you inspired this summer.

By Dr Steve Peters Regularly recommended by sporting speakers like Steve Cram, Steve Smith and Ben Hunt-Davis, The Chimp Paradox will help you get the best out of yourself and others. A bible for British sport, it reveals tips and advice about how you can breed confidence, success and happiness by managing your mind and learning how to control ‘the Chimp’.

Legacy

The Yes Book

By James Kerr

By Clive Rich

During an Exchange event best-selling author James Kerr spoke of how “Exceptional success requires exceptional circumstance”. That’s only one of the 15 powerful and practical lessons in leadership and business he shares in his book Legacy, the result of time spent working with the world’s most successful sporting team, the legendary All Blacks.

It’s believed that the average UK company could improve profits by 7% a year through better negotiation.

If that’s the case, every North East business leader should read The Yes Book, by friend of the Forum and billion dollar negotiator Clive Rich.

In it, Clive shares his negotiating framework and the secrets of holding all the bargaining power aces when you’re closing a deal.

Halftime

First, break all the rules

By Bob Burford A favourite of BITC chief executive Stephen Howard, Halftime focuses on the important transition when a person moves beyond the first half of the game of life. According to Bob Burford, midlife is no longer a crisis, but a growing awareness, and his book provides encouragement and insight to propel your life on a new course away from mere success to true significance and the best years of your life.

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The Chimp Paradox

By Gallup Recommended to Forum members

by Jeff Turner, head of learning and development at Facebook, this long-time management bestseller presents the remarkable findings of Gallup’s massive in-depth study of great managers, lifting the lid on what separates them from all the rest.

Raise your profile The last 12 months have seen more than 1,500 business leaders come together at our inspirational events.

There really is no network quite like it, and your business can become part of it, raising your profile with 300 of the North East’s most aspirational and influential entrepreneurs. As event sponsor at one of our most popular and well attended events, your business will not only be aligned with entrepreneurship and helping businesses to grow, but will receive unrivalled exposure amongst North East entrepreneurs and business leaders.

NORTH EAST FORTUNE FAVOURS CHAIRMAN’S ENTREPRENEURIAL THE BRAVE DINNER (GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARDS ‐ 26th January 2017 WEEK CONFERENCE)

‐ 7th October 2016 ‐ Crowne Plaza, Newcastle ‐ 300x business leaders

‐ 17th November 2016 ‐ Redworth Hall, County Durham

‐ Newcastle ‐ 100x entrepreneurs

‐ 200x entrepreneurs

TOGETHER WE CAN TAKE ON THE WORLD

(SPRING CONFERENCE) ‐ 11th May 2017 ‐ Crowne Plaza, Newcastle ‐ 300x entrepreneurs

Be a part of it Support our inspirational events The four highlights of our annual events programme are the most high profile business gatherings in the region.

What’s in it for you?

Benefits of event sponsorship We will work with you to develop a programme of promotional activity that works for you, to ensure you receive the maximum benefit possible from our partnership.

Benefits will include: • Guest places at the event • Inclusion in all pre and post media activity • Event branding and profile • Exhibition opportunities

PACKAGES FROM

£500 +VAT

• Company profile in printed programme

To find out more about sponsorship packages at our awards celebration, entrepreneurs’ conferences and Chairman’s Dinner, simply contact the Forum team on (0191) 500 7780 or info@entrepreneursforum.net.

Proud to be partnered by:

We’re stronger together:

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www.entrepreneursforum.net

Dates for your diary...

Upcoming events and key dates We host a year-round, wide-ranging programme of inspirational events, bringing together the most aspirational North East entrepreneurs to create opportunity, make new connections and help businesses in the region grow stronger.

Our events come in all shapes and sizes, including in the coming months:

FOCUS DINNER

WITH HELEN McARDLE, HELEN McARDLE CARE Tuesday, 6th September 6.30pm - 10pm Biscuit Factory, Newcastle £75 +VAT

MEMBER EVENT

FOCUS DINNER

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER TBC

EXCHANGE EVENT: MANAGING CHANGE

ONSITE VISIT TO ELANDERS

Tuesday, 27th September 6.30pm - 10pm Wynyard Hall, Wynyard £75 +VAT

Thursday, 13th October 8.30am - 11.30am Sage Gateshead FREE

Tuesday, 1st November 8.30am – 11.30am New York Industrial Park, North Tyneside FREE

MEMBER EVENT

MEMBER EVENT

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER TBC

WITH KEVIN ROBERTS, SAATCHI & SAATCHI

Thursday, 15th September 6pm – 8.30pm The Forge, Darlington Campus, Teesside University FREE

Wednesday, 5th October 8am – 10am Crowne Plaza Newcastle, Boiler Shop FREE

MENTORING DROP-IN SURGERY

NORTH EAST ENTREPRENEURIAL AWARDS

Tuesday, 20th September 1.30pm – 4.30pm PwC, Central Square South, Newcastle FREE

ROUND TABLE: RAISING FINANCE FOR GROWTH Thursday, 22nd September 2pm – 4.30pm Brewin Dolphin, Newcastle FREE

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Friday, 7th October 7pm until late Crowne Plaza Newcastle, Boiler Shop £99 +VAT or £990 +VAT (table of 10)

MENTORING DROP-IN SURGERY Tuesday, 11th October 1.30pm – 4.30pm Onyx House, Stockton FREE

WITH JULIAN LEIGHTON, ORANGE BUS Tuesday, 18th October 6pm – 8.30pm Ramside Hall, Durham FREE

ONSITE VISIT TO FACEBOOK Thursday, 20th October 12noon – 3pm Facebook HQ, London FREE

ROUND TABLE: BUSINESS SUPPORT Tuesday, 25th October 2pm – 4.30pm Durham CCC, Chester-le-street FREE

FOCUS DINNER

WITH ANDY PRESTON, GREEN LANE CAPITAL Tuesday, 8th November 6.30pm – 10pm Acklam Hall, Teesside £75 +VAT

FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK CONFERENCE Thursday, 17th November 8am – 5pm Redworth Hall, County Durham £99 +VAT

FOCUS DINNER

WITH JOHN WATERWORTH, PARKDEAN RESORTS Monday, 21st November 6.30pm - 10pm Jesmond Dene House, Newcastle £75 +VAT

ONSITE VISIT TO BARBOUR

MENTORING DROP-IN SURGERY

Thursday, 24th November 2pm – 5.30pm South Shields FREE

Tuesday, 6th December 1.30pm – 4.30pm PwC, Central Square South, Newcastle FREE

MEMBER EVENT

WITH CHARLIE HOULT, HOULT’S YARD Wednesday, 30th November 6pm – 8.30pm Hoult’s Yard, Byker FREE

CHRISTMAS DRINKS Thursday, 8th December 4.30pm – 7.30pm Baltimore House, Gateshead FREE

Why not take some time out of your business to work on it with us. Listen to insights from your peers. Meet with people you didn’t know you needed to meet. Who knows where it might lead.

Events are continuously being added to our calendar. For a full and up to date programme of events and to book your place, visit www.entrepreneursforum.net/events To download our event app for iOS and Android search for Entrepreneurs’ Forum

EXCHANGE ROUND TABLE: MANAGING CHANGE Friday, 2nd December 2pm – 4.30pm UK Land Estates, Team Valley FREE

www.entrepreneursforum.net

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS

ENTREPRENEURS’ FORUM Together we can take on the world.

WELCOME TO ALL OF THE NEW MEMBERS WHO HAVE JOINED US RECENTLY...

ENTREPRENEURS: Holly Hutchinson Hollathans Group Andrew Pickersgill Sandler Training NE Helen James J2 Profit Jeff Breen Cornerstone Fundraising & Development Stephen Prior Forest Carbon David Holmes CMC North East James Pennington Viral Effect Karl Smith Urban Surfer Ian Moore I Am VIP Paul Card Paul Card Recruitment John Savage Flame Heating Spares Kash Malik City Laundry Victoria Phillips Apheya Animal Nutrition Ian Hughes Storck Raddar UK Andrew Esson Quick Hydraulics David Pickersgill Howarth Litchfield Laura Weaving Duo Global Consulting Charlton Ndlovu Social Agenda Jamie Cliffe SMTS Paul Lofthouse Waymark IT David Brophy Waymark IT Steve McKenzie Papercraft Ian Kinnery Team Massive Results Gary Rodgers Diamond Group Tony Wilson Smart IT Emma Seheult Vivid Promotional Marketing Peter Mallon North East Times Ian Richards Northstar Ventures Alasdair Greig Northstar Ventures John Hartley QAIC Packaging Andrew Frank Opentree

We’d love to hear from you...

We’re here to help you, however we can, so why not get in touch and let us know what you’re up to:

Maureen Lindberg Professional People Management Victoria Brunton Hospitality Guaranteed Raman Sehgal ramarketing Dale Jefferies Webahead Internet Steven Parker Digital Allies Alice Hall Pink Boutique Guy Letts CustomerSure Helen Short Absolute Quality Consultancy & Training Julie Blackie Pink Boutique James Blackwell Ronald James Lilian Hughes

Retox Digital Tim Ward Bid and Research Development Derrick Hutchinson JFS Torbitt Mike O’Brien Opencast Software Marcus Welch FuturePlumb Chris Reay Epicurus Events Steven Rawlingson Samuel Knight International Kirsty Lawrenson EYPS Ltd Stephen Lawrenson EYPS Ltd Christopher Hawley The Northern Path Gary Forrest The High Street Group of Companies Spencer Davey Storm Fitness Joel Marks Cheviot Insured Sanjeev Sanghera Bavava Restaurants Gavin Sewell Spinney Consultants

EXCHANGE MEMBERS:

SGP Technology Group

CORPORATE PARTNERS:

Solutions Recruitment Group

Pop into see us at: Baltimore House, Baltic Business Quarter, Gateshead NE8 3DF Give us a call on: 0191 500 7780

Find out more:

Send us an email at: info@entrepreneursforum.net

Join the conversation:

0191 500 7780

info@entrepreneursforum.net Proud to be partnered by:

40 Issue 5, July 2016

We’re stronger together:

creative communication

another creative communication by Hedley McEwan