AMBITIOUS GLOUCESTERSHIRE BUSINESSES BARE ALL AT SCALE-UP LIVE

Held in collaboration with The Growth Hub in Gloucester and sponsored by Hazlewoods and BPE Solicitors, Matt Cleevely of Cleevely Electric Vehicles, Lucy Beresford of SLG Brands and Arthur Hindmarch of Commercial Group told their stories of ambition, adversity, determination and success.

Matt set up Cleevely Electric Vehicles two years ago. The sister business of 55-yearold Cheltenham-based Cleevely Motors, it advises on, sells and services the new generation of electric vehicles.

Lucy Beresford is Chief Commercial Officer at SLG Brands, one of the UK’s fastest-growing beauty and male grooming brand companies. Born in Gloucester in 1985, SLG Brands is now was inspiring evening and our guest speakers were generous with their stories, revealing the successes of their businesses, and the challenges they face” a multi-million pound turnover global beauty brand company with a whollyowned subsidiary in Shanghai.

Arthur Hindmarch is Chairman of Commercial, the Cheltenham-based business services group offering office supplies, IT services, managed print services and outsourced print as well as interiors. The Group is now turning over around £100 million annually.

Each speaker shared their business growth stories, revealing some of their biggest challenges to date, and took questions from the audience.

Cleevely Electric Vehicles helping to drive electric vehicle ownership into the mainstream

The registration of new cars in the UK continues to decline, but there is one bright ray of hope. In November, electric vehicle registrations almost tripled, up more than 150 per cent to 3,162 units.

This number could be even higher if more people better understood the benefits of EV cars, according to Matt Cleevely, who set up Cleevely Electric Vehicles to provide electric vehicle and hybrid advice, servicing and maintenance for drivers and fleet owners.

The interest in electric cars is immense. Scale-Up Live guests questioned Matt on every aspect of buying and owning an electric car. But the servicing and repair required on a car powered by a battery is low. How can Matt scale up his business?

He is currently researching the potential of manufacturing spare parts.

He is also offering a vastly superior sales and service support. “Some well known electric car companies, such as Tesla only offer online support. Those who have spent thousands on a car won’t be happy engaging with an app. That’s where we can offer a more personal customer service.”

Driving success is a beauty must-have for SLG Brands

SLG Brands is aiming to double its turnover every five years and achieve a £75 million turnover by 2024. Lucy Beresford described how the company is driving growth through its wholly-owned brand portfolio and scaling sales internationally.

Family bonds and friendship take business services company from crisis to Commercial success

Commercial Group is now a hugely successful business services company, but it was born out of necessity and hard graft.

Arthur Hindmarch’s father ran a successful office equipment company which provided his family with a good income to support a happy home life and education for his children. But in the late 1980s, as the business was expanding, recession hit.

On graduation from Durham University, Arthur had joined his father’s company but in 1991 it collapsed and Arthur found himself thrust into the business spotlight.

“All of a sudden dad’s company was in crisis and I was responsible for my whole family’s future,” said Arthur. “I felt fear and responsibility. Our future depended on how well I could do.”

Arthur threw himself at the problem. Holidays were out for four years, but from adversity, Commercial was born.

What sustained Arthur during the toughest years was the support of his sister, Simone, an international swimmer and

Commonwealth Games medal winner, and Alastair, a great friend from university days working alongside him.

Thanks to Arthur’s business savvy, Simone’s tenacity honed by years of gruelling training regimes and Alastair’s staunch support, the company now turns over £75 million and is on course for £100 million.

Along the way the company became an early pioneer of ethical business, establishing a raft of sustainable initiatives, including becoming one of the country’s first carbon-neutral businesses. This has given the company a distinct personality in a sector where it can be difficult to differentiate one from another.

Commercial remains ambitious.

“We were ahead of the pack in embracing ethical business practices and we continue to apply that progressive thinking across the business,” added Arthur. “It’s an approach that has been instrumental in our success story.”

Last year the business relocated to 25,000 sq ft offices in Cheltenham, a funky and inspiring space that cements its creative and progressive culture. This investment is helping attract skilled employees to boost its growth ambitions. SLG Brands’ key priority is to build a profitable and scalable business that makes the most of the return on its considerable investments and resources.

“Making brave decisions to deprioritise short-term sales in lieu of long-range scalable and lucrative plans is essential to successful scale up,” said Lucy.

And managing the transition takes courage. “There is comfort in seizing opportunities there for the taking. Rejecting them can feel counter intuitive, but without focusing on scale, you will reach a ceiling to your ambition. If we invest in our capabilities and skills that allow us to trade a brand globally, if we control elements of our proposition that truly differentiate us, and create products and marketing skills that make our product relevant to a global audience, we will succeed,” she said.

SLG Brands is creating brands that speak to a global consumer which can be taken to multiple retailers worldwide. Lucy added: “In the last six months of 2019, we secured more than 10,000 stores in America for a brand launch. It’s great to see our plans come to fruition.”