01 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
Annual Review 2018–2019
02 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
Our Values We’re supporting your dreams
Every day we enable someone to realise their business dreams We share your dreams by collaborating, listening and responding with the best business advice possible
We’re ambitious
To maximise opportunities to help grow your business To challenge ourselves to learn, to innovate and to adapt; realising even more dreams
We’re passionate, energetic and committed
Always driven to go the extra mile for clients and each other We have fun celebrating clients and our successes
It’s a beautiful place to help businesses to grow and prosper. Cllr Kate Anolue Enfield Mayor
Contents Our Values
02
Our Chair’s Annual Review and Directors’ Report
03
Our Impact in 2019… and 36 Years of Heritage
04
Wenta Spotlight: Tony Bond
06
Financial Report
07
Thank You
08
03 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
Our Chair’s Annual Review and Directors’ Report Two years of simplification and client focus Over the last two financial years, Wenta has simplified its business model and reshaped its services with one thing in mind, improving the client journey. This year we are pleased to see the acceleration of these improvements for clients across all of the Wenta business support activities. This is particularly pleasing when viewed against the backdrop of independent data from the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), which indicates starting and maintaining an early start business has got a whole lot tougher over the last two years.
Partnerships During the year, through our South East Midlands Start-up Programme (SEMSUP), we worked even more closely with the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP). This also involved our wider partners, The University of Northampton and The University of Bedfordshire. The benefit of this collaboration was significant growth; on business starts, jobs created, workshops delivered and free service hours provided across the area. To support this work, we embarked on an exciting new partnership and programme with the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce. The Beds Productivity and Growth Programme is funded by Wenta and supported by a collaboration with socially minded businesses in the Bedfordshire area. In year one, we have supported a number of businesses with growth challenges across a spectrum of specialist advice areas: Marketing, IP, Finance and Legal. Wenta has been present in Hertfordshire for thirty-six years and is a valuable asset to a broad range of communities. In Hertfordshire, Wenta leads the partnership programme with the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (Hertfordshire LEP), St Albans Enterprise Agency (STANTA) and Dacorum Borough Council to deliver the Herts-wide business start-up and growth programme.
Since commencing this business support programme in Hertfordshire, we have delivered 24,982 hours of support, created 402 jobs, delivered 566 business starts and paid out £157,750 in grants to new businesses. Across our other services, nationally, Wenta delivered just short of 5,000 individual advice sessions online, on our business support live chat service. Elsewhere digitally, we have partnered with organisations such as ‘Startuploans.co.uk’, ‘Ask If’ and ‘Finpoint’ to support our existing grant giving activities and to extend the opportunity for small businesses to access finance.
The staff and Board of Wenta are rightly proud of the year passed. The staff team have responded to the strategic challenge to adapt our services, creating a more productive and efficient model.
In our business centres we have invested in our buildings and upgraded our incubator services with two new Collaboration Stations.
Zoe Hancock Wenta Chair
When these services and partnerships are combined, we see a growing and changing picture of the impact that Wenta has delivered:
15,979 hours of support provided up from 15,277 in 2017-18
264 jobs created up from 190 in 2017-18
373 business starts up from 290 in 2017-18
Digitalisation and innovation Wenta continues to develop its services digitally. Improvements to all our digital channels have provided more choice to clients about how, when and where they want their service to be delivered. All free to the client and all provided by a not-forprofit social enterprise. Our outstanding partnership with Stevenage Borough Council was secured again towards the end of our financial year. Together we will collaborate for another five years to deliver a range of inclusive services to the wider community. The staff and Board of Wenta are rightly proud of the year passed. The staff team have responded to the strategic challenge to adapt our services, creating a more productive and efficient model. Our Board members, past and present have provided continuity and focus on supporting the delivery of our strategy and kept Wenta true to its mission.
Investment Our confidence and independent values are further supported by our prudent approach to managing our precious resources. In the year ahead we will use our step change in performance to set out a range of investment funds to support our strategy and investment in the Enterprise sector; our new business centre investment acquisition fund of £1,100,000, our service innovation investment fund of £300,000 and our cyclical repair investment fund of £300,000. We will be accelerating investment in technology-based solutions for clients and to better equip our staff to deliver more effectively. We intend to further embed our organisational values as an underpinning of everything that we do to deliver even more services, with more innovation in a sustainable manner.
04 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
Our Impact in 2019... and 36 Years of Heritage Across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and North London we are proud to have delivered:
15,979 hours of business advice and support delivered
373
264
total business starts
total jobs created
A great environment – one of collaboration, encouragement and willingness to help each other.
£89,250 of grants given to small businesses
Graham Bunting Trust Business Partners
Totalling
41+ businesses based in our incubation spaces
£240,000 over the past 3 years
4,927 live chats delivered by Wenta Business Advisors with a total of 2,161 hours of online support
270+ businesses supported across our 5 business centres
10,192 93% satisfaction rate from delegates attending Wenta training workshops
small businesses supported across all of Wenta’s services
9,876 hours of training workshops delivered across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and North London
05 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
SEMSUP’s impact Teevan Consulting Independent Review of The South East Midlands Start-up Programme (SEMSUP):
Enterprise start-ups
Individual employability
Business performance
396 business starts created by SEMSUP* (target: 141)
535 gross jobs created (target: 58)
£13.1 million reported turnover in Year 1
National impact 14.744 million users can reach us through our online advice service: Wenta Hertfordshire
1.195 million
Wenta South East Midlands 1.616 million MiV Broxtowe
113 thousand
MiV Calderdale
210 thousand
We can conclude that the support is making a significant contribution towards achieving the outcomes and impact in the logic model. One of the factors in SEMSUP that creates particularly high added value is that it is the only comprehensive start-up/early stage business support service in the sub-region. Paul Teevan Teevan Consulting
Total 14.744 million
MiV City Business Library 8.965 million MiV Eastleigh
131 thousand
MiV Kent
1.565 million
MiV Manchester
553 thousand
MiV Spelthorne
99 thousand
MiV PNE
297 thousand
Wenta have helped us massively with growing our business. They have helped us gain grant funding for our website as well as many key sources and contacts for our business success. We now have an amazing website (www.moodpants.co.uk) and SEO knowledge to increase traffic to the website. This will help Mood Pants to grow exponentially over the next year. Luke Charnley and Zoe Bath Founders of Mood Pants
*SEMSUP refers to The South East Midlands Start-up Programme, funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
The problem was I was busy with the business but not running the business. I was lost. I booked onto a business advice session with Wenta and it was one of the best business decisions of 2019! Kieran Feetham Stevenage Injury Clinic
06 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
Wenta Spotlight Tony Bond
Tony Bond meeting HRH Prince Charles at the opening of Wenta’s first business centre in Watford in 1986.
36 years of service, history and heritage
It’s not every day that you meet one of the original founding members of any organisation and we feel extremely lucky to have had Tony Bond, one of Wenta’s original team back in the 1980s, on our Board of Directors over the past years until March 2020. With so much history and heritage, we caught up with him for a Q and A session.
Being involved with Wenta has been the most rewarding part of my business career. I look forward to watching from the sidelines as Ed and his team move the business on. Tony Bond
How and why did you first get involved with Wenta?
What have been your biggest highlights?
“I went to a public meeting in, I think, 1983 arranged by Peter Burton, the founder of Wenta. I was, at the time, working for Arthur Andersen and they encouraged managers to get involved in what we now call CSR. It was a chance for me to get involved locally, as all my professional clients were in London. Once I met Peter and talked to him about the aims and ambitions for the enterprise agency I was hooked. It became something I wanted to be involved in personally regardless of my professional career.”
“Being involved in establishing Wenta and designing an effective structure for it. Investing in our Potters Bar business centre and riding out the interest rate crisis that was running at the time. I think the Stevenage contract embodies everything we do best and remains an exemplar of what Wenta can do in a local area. Acquiring and turning around Wenta’s Enfield centre confirmed to us that we really did understand how to run business centres. Seeing the business thriving currently and my wish list of the things I thought needed to be done finally being implemented.”
What changes have you seen at Wenta since it started? “How long have you got…? We bought the Watford site early on and the feel of Wenta in those early days was more of a cottage industry. It was a new concept so we were literally making it up as we went along. Ken Hards, our first CEO, brought together a pretty disparate group of volunteers who made up our first advisory group. When Chris Pichon took over, we began a gradual process of professionalising the business. We began to employ advisors rather than rely on volunteers. We had acquired Potters Bar and that meant a management structure on the business centre side. By the time we acquired Enfield, Wenta had been transformed into a professional operation capable of bidding for, and winning, government contracts. But, through all of this, it has always maintained its particular character.”
What’s been the best thing about being part of the Wenta Board? “My colleagues over the years. Consistently the Board has been apolitical. That is to say, the political views of individual Board members have never been a factor in Board discussions. The only considerations have been what is best for the future of Wenta. This independence has been a particular strength as government initiatives and related entities (TECs, RDAs) have come and gone over the years. Oh, and the biscuits.”
07 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
Financial Report 12 Months to 31/07/2016
12 Months to 31/07/2017
12 Months to 31/07/2018
12 Months to 31/07/2019
£3,020,227
£3,144,337
£3,535,190
£3,308,677
(£2,815,328)
(£2,982,444)
(£2,645,236)
(£2,664,193)
Interest/Other Charges
(£83,839)
(£78,442)
(£89,107)
(£108,304)
Surplus on Ordinary Activities
£121,060)
£83,451
Turnover Administrative Expenses
£800,847
£536,180
Asset Revaluation
£1,206,101
Surplus After Revaluation
£1,289,552
£800,847
£536,180
£7,687,601
£9,570,512
£10,123,088
£10,432,750
(£3,402,232)
(£4,250,029)
(£4,001,758)
(£3,779,765)
£4,285,369
£5,320,483
£6,121,330
£6,652,985
Total Assets Less Liabilities Long Term Liabilities Total Net Assets
I found a gem in Wenta! The building is well kept, quiet and offers all the facilities a growing business needs with a range of flexible options for space and meeting rooms. However, my highest recommendation is for the staff. Lucy Waterman Google Review 2019
The relaxed yet professional approach gives a perfect platform for sounding out ideas on your own business. Eleanor Wright Planet Sustainable Event Signage Ltd
08 Wenta Annual Review 2018–2019
Thank You Thank you to our partners, stakeholders and supporters that have collaborated with us over 2018/2019. Clients
Partners, stakeholders and supporters
Thanks to everyone who appears in this Annual Review. We are incredibly grateful for the fantastic clients we get to work with every day. You are the core of our Wenta community.
ACAS ASA Business Consulting Ask if Bedford Borough Council Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce Bell Consultancy Brasier Freeth British Business Bank Cheeky Munkey City Business Library Cobweb Information Companies House Dacorum Borough Council Daymedia Earthware Eastleigh & Browtowe East Herts District Council Enfield Council Enterprise Research Centre Exemplas Export UK Finpoint Foxley, Kingham Chartered Accountants & Business Advisors FSB Google Digital Garage Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce Hertfordshire County Council Hertfordshire Growth Hub Hertfordshire LEP Hertsmere Borough Council HM Revenue & Customs Jamcrackers Journolink Ian Martin Consulting KCA Kent Growth Hub
Board Directors Special thanks go to our Wenta Board for their steer and support over 2018/2019: Zoe Hancock Simon Arbon Anthony Bond Helen Webb Graham Lane Peter Oxley Samantha Chaney Leath Al Obaidi Ed Jordan Paul Layte ‌as well as all our Wenta staff for their continued hard work and commitment.
W www.wenta.co.uk T 01438 310020 E marketing@wenta.co.uk @TheWentaGroup /TheWentaGroup
Lawes Agricultural Trust London Luton Airport Ltd Luton Borough Council Manchester City Council Mentors Me Myers Clark Chartered Accountants North Hertfordshire College Oaklands College Partner in Export UK Richmond Planning Rothamsted ROCRE Santander Scott & York SEMLEP SEMLEP Growth Hub Small Business Saturday South Hill Centre Stanta Start Up Loans Stevenage Borough Council The Princes Trust Ueni Ltd UK Finance University of Bedfordshire University of Hertfordshire University of Northampton Veale Wasbrough Vizards Velocity Growth Hub Vincent & Gorbing Waterstons Watford Borough Council Watford Chamber of Commerce Watford Community Housing Trust Webb Strategy Ltd