Tag Archives: business support

News

Skincare products manufacturer looking good after sustainable approach helps it target £5m sales

A specialist in organic skincare and beauty products has become one of the greenest businesses in its field, doubling sales in the past two years in the process.

Good Ventures, which was first formed by female entrepreneur Laura Rudoe in 2007, is on course to hit £5m by the end of 2022 and its desire to be a ‘regenerative’ force for the environment, body and mind is driving this growth.

The St Albans-based manufacturer has tapped into support from the Manufacturing Growth Programme (MGP) to help boost its sustainability credentials, not to mention getting it ready for ISO 9001 and ISO 22716 quality accreditations.

It has also used external support and a grant to purchase a semi-automated filling machine that has speeded up the production process and increased capacity by 20% and 15% respectively.

“The initial concept dates back more than 15 years, but by the time we had developed it into a product I knew could make a difference it was 2014, the year I took on my first employee to cover £140,000 of sales,” explained Laura.

“We’ve come quite a way since then, with sales doubling during the pandemic as more people were investing in skincare that they could do at home. Sales have remained strong and, with three products about to launch later this year, we are expecting to hit the £5m mark before too long.

“Our two main skincare ranges – Evolve Organic Beauty and Adaptology – are all handmade and organic and their ethos has always been on about being regenerative…making sure we leave a positive legacy on the world and the people who buy our artisanal products.”

She continued: “This is not empty marketing rhetoric. With the help of MGP, we completed a carbon foot printing that has helped us become one of, if not, the most sustainable cosmetics businesses in the world. That’s some achievement for a SME that is competing with multinational brands.

“There’s a lot of greenwashing about and we wanted to avoid this by showing consumers how transparent our supply chain is and how we are doing everything we can to become Carbon Neutral.”

Good Ventures is one of 4300 companies that have been supported by the Manufacturing Growth Programme, which provides grants and dedicated consultancy to manufacturing SMEs in England.

A team of industry-experienced Manufacturing Growth Managers have worked with management teams over the last six years to complete strategic business reviews, before unlocking funding for improvement projects that help with planning, productivity and process improvement, competitiveness, innovation and leadership and management.

This service has delivered more than £13.5m grants and helped safeguard or create more than 10,000 jobs.

Now the focus is turning to the future to ensure the new UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) reflects the desire for the continuation of specialist industrial business advice and support.

Laura, who has seen the firm’s products stocked in John Lewis, in 100 Holland Barrett stores and in 36 different countries, added her support: “MGP has been brilliant. When you are running a small business, the process needs to be easy to apply for and it was certainly that.

“The other thing for me is the fact you are dealing with people who understand manufacturing, and this can make a massive difference when helping you scale. We’ve received grants for three very different projects, all of them fundamental to helping us grow and taking us to our now 30-strong workforce.

“My one word of advice to local authorities in charge of the UKSPF, please, please, please make sure you don’t reinvent the wheel – just support the Manufacturing Growth Programme and back an initiative that is already working.”

Amanda Freeland, MGP Manufacturing Growth Manager for Good Ventures, concluded:

“Laura and her team have proven how a little bit of specialist support can make a massive difference in helping a challenger brand take on bigger rivals and win due to its product quality, customer service and their commitment to sustainability.”

For further information, please visit www.goodventures.co.uk or  www.manufacturinggrowthprogramme.co.uk

Finance and Banking, News

Firm gets cash boost thanks to finance experts

A Shropshire business got a welcome helping hand from a neighbour when it needed to fulfil an important contract.

Q Financial Services helped fellow Shrewsbury firm Team4You UK recruitment agency to leverage its unpaid invoices into a cash injection at short notice.

Experts from Q helped Team4You UK set up an Invoice Finance Facility, which in turn allowed the recruitment agency to provide temporary staff to Nuffield Health – without having to worry about its cash flow.

Invoice financing gives a business early access to money owed to it in unpaid invoices. Instead of having to wait for invoices to be paid by customers, the lender can advance up to 90 per cent of the invoice cash value within a short time frame.

Mike Barton, commercial executive in Q’s Commercial Finance department, said: “Team4You UK wouldn’t have been able to provide the number of staff they did without the Invoice Finance Facility.

“Being able to quickly access money tied up in unpaid invoices allows small businesses to react to opportunities as they arise, without having to worry about their cash flow.

“The invoice finance for Team4You UK was quick and easy to set up as we have a great relationship with the lender, and I’m delighted we were able to help in this way.

“We initially got to know Team4You UK through an outreach initiative we ran in Shrewsbury and have subsequently built up a really strong working partnership with them, often attending networking meetings together both in the town and beyond.”

Team4You UK director Jess Bailey said: “Now we have invoice finance in place, we are able to supply our clients with highly skilled temporary workers. We know we have the security of factoring our weekly payroll without it affecting our cashflow as a business. All of this is very important to us as a reputable, ethical recruitment agency.”

She added: “Communication between Mike, myself and the finance provider was seamless, efficient and straightforward. Mike was professional, personable and extremely knowledgeable, and he was happy to provide us with all the information we needed to set up invoice financing without any problem.

“The process was quick, and at no time did I feel pressured into signing any agreement – this was very important to me as a new SME looking to grow organically.”

Q, which has bases in Wellington and Shrewsbury, is one of the region’s fastest-growing financial services companies and has been shortlisted this year in the Shropshire Chamber business awards for outstanding customer service.

For more information about Q visit  www.qfinancialservices.co.uk/

Awards, Midlands News, News

Businesses urged to enter prestigious awards

Entries are now open for the most prestigious awards available to UK businesses – and firms in Shropshire are being encouraged to apply for this year’s prize.

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are awarded to businesses for outstanding achievement in four categories: International Trade, Innovation, Sustainable Development and Promoting Opportunity.

Businesses across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin were urged to enter the awards at two launch ceremonies attended by Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, Mrs Anna Turner.

She said: “It was great to have so many of the county’s businesses with us for the launch events and I hope many of them will now go on to submit entries.

“The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise were first presented in 1966 and have since been seen as the ultimate seal of approval for businesses.

“Winners get so much more than a trophy and the right to use the logo and fly the flag – they get worldwide recognition that they are a leader in business and an example for others to follow.”

Mandy Thorn MBE DL, chair of the Marches LEP, added: “We have hundreds of fantastic businesses here in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin who are leading the way for others to follow. The Queen’s Award for Enterprise is the most prestigious award a business can win and can provide a massive boost to your business profile.

“It doesn’t matter if your business employs two people or 2,000. The awards are judged solely on merit and are a real showcase for the most successful enterprises.”

The two launch events were a breakfast meeting at Origins restaurant at Shrewsbury College followed by lunch at the offices of i2r Packaging Solutions in Telford, which has previously won Queen’s Awards for both innovation and international trade.

Peter Reay from i2r Packaging said: “I was delighted to be able to host the meeting at our new UK headquarters in Telford. Hopefully the event will help to inspire other local companies in the Shropshire region to participate in one of the country’s most sought after awards.”

At the launch events, representatives of interested businesses learned about the application process and had the chance to ask questions as well as hearing from previous award winners.

In Shrewsbury, Tullis Matson from Stallion AI Services Ltd, and Andrew Smith from Derwen College presented their experiences of winning the award with Councillor Lezley Picton, leader of Shropshire Council closing the event.

In Telford guests heard from Sara Williams from Proto Labs Ltd and Peter Reay from hosts i2r Packaging Solutions Ltd, triple and double award winners respectively with Councillor Shaun Davies, Telford & Wrekin Council leader closing the event.

Applications for the 2022 Queen’s Awards are open until midday on September 6. To be eligible, a company must be based in the UK, have at least two full time UK employees or part-time equivalents, file its company tax returns with HMRC, be a self-contained enterprise that markets its own products or services under its own management and demonstrate strong corporate social responsibility.

Winners receives an invitation to a Royal reception, a special crystal trophy presented by the Lord Lieutenant, the right to fly the award flag at its headquarters and use the logo in its marketing for five years as well as worldwide recognition as a winner.

Full details are available at https://www.qaeshropshire.co.uk/

Midlands News, News

Marches region awarded £10 million of funding for innovation projects

Nearly £10m of funding has been awarded to organisations in the Marches to develop innovative projects tackling issues as diverse as sustainability, an ageing population and Covid challenges.

Innovate UK approved nearly 30 projects for the funding in 2020/21, with the majority awarded for business-led innovation in response to the global disruption caused by the pandemic.

One of the largest awards made nationally was for a collaborative project led by Veolia, which will result in the development of the UK’s first dedicated recycling line for trays and non food bottles, unlocking the UK tray recycling capability. The project was awarded £34.7m and will take place over 3 years.

The figures were revealed today by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership’s business support service, the Marches Growth Hub (MGH). The MGH works with Innovate UK to promote funding for research and development projects in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin.

LEP Access to Finance champion Paul Kalinauckas said Innovate UK funding was vital to developing and delivering projects which make a real difference to regional economies and communities.

“Nearly 30 different projects secured funding in our region tackling issues such as an ageing society, health and nutrition, waste in manufacturing,  home learning and working during the pandemic and innovation in medtech and healthcare in direct response to the Covid crisis.

“It is fantastic to see not just the innovation being explored in these projects, but also the wider economic, social and environmental challenges which are being addressed.

“This is just one of a huge number of finance programmes and opportunities the Marches LEP and Marches Growth Hub help support which can provide companies with much-needed funding to drive growth.”

Telford software development company Bronze Labs is behind the Tribe Project – which won nearly £50,000 for a collaborative bid to develop technology to support the co-ordination of volunteers and communities during the Covid lockdown.

Richard Howells, Managing Director of Bronze Labs, said: “Our proposal centred on a digital approach to facilitate the scaling of ‘trusted’ community groups which responded to COVID-19 community demand. The focus was on providing a solution to facilitate coordination, planning and action of broad spectrum community need between voluntary organisations and local government.”

The company developed app technology to categorise and ultimately predict the movement of community ‘need’ across society through use of machine learning. The Tribe Project has used the technology to support and co-ordinate volunteer efforts including reaching vulnerable members of society during the Covid lockdowns.

Other successful funded projects include:

  • Leominster-based Grove Design secured £74,000 to develop a design and prototyping of a clear face mask which allows lip reading for those who are deaf or have hearing loss.

 

  • Earth Rover, based at the Agri-Epi Centre near Newport, led a consortium bid for £175,000 to build prototype equipment which will contribute to solving the problem of a shortage of seasonal agricultural labour required to pick crops due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and Brexit. The robots use an AI-powered vision system to select in-spec broccoli and leave crop growing so reducing crop waste.

 

  • Shrewsbury-based Interactive Opportunities Ltd secured £49,000 to scale-up its online platform designed to support learning from home during the pandemic. The project provides a community, support and advice for parents, carers and teachers while making the most of the creative talents of teachers, celebrities and entertainers who are keen to help others.

 

  • Stok.ly in Hereford received £74,000 to develop the Stok.ly “community eCommerce” platform – an innovative solution to enable local retailers such as butchers, bakers, cafes, delis and grocers to sell their goods online to local communities from a community website.

 

Businesses interested in applying for Innovation UK funding can find out more at https://www.marchesgrowthhub.co.uk/support/innovate-uk/

News

UK CRM Provider launches virtual event series to help businesses conquer COVID

A cloud-based CRM provider has announced a new virtual event series, designed to help UK businesses conquer COVID and rebuild revenue for 2021.

BuddyCRM’s Conquering COVID – the sales bounce back series will commence on 26th November 2020 and is free for delegates to attend.

The first event will welcome 10 guest speakers from a variety of different industry sectors, who will host individual talks with subjects ranging from sales strategy, business development and Public Relations through to maximising CRM for team collaboration and improved customer service delivery.

Designed to provide practical insights and advice that will help businesses rebuild revenue and thrive post-pandemic, the event series will also provide an opportunity for attendees to expand their strategic network and cement new business relationships.

Philip Mayling, CEO of BuddyCRM, explained: “The pandemic has proved extremely challenging for business owners UK wide, with millions significantly impacted and down on revenue by a vast margin. As the BuddyCRM team is made up of sales professionals who are experienced in helping businesses create a focused sales strategy, we felt that establishing this series would not only benefit our customers, but other businesses too.

“The free event series will enable us to give back to the business community and in dividing the talks into three clear streams, “Sales & Marketing:, “Business Process: and “CRM Top Tips” we hope that attendees will be able to gain great insight into how they could revise, rebuild and develop a new and focused sales, marketing and lead generation strategy sure to drive growth during 2021 and beyond.”

Confirmed guest speakers include Hannah Haffield, managing director of PR agency, Make More Noise, Nick Washington-Jones, managing director of the UK’s oldest sales consultancy TACK, and Jonathan Cox, owner of The Marketing Train to name a few. For those who cannot attend on the day, talks and Q&As will be available to watch back online a week after the event.

Headquartered in West Midlands, BuddyCRM is a cloud-based CRM system designed by sales professionals for sales professionals. With a client retention rate of 99%, the platform is renowned for its unique ’3-click’ functionality, enabling users to complete all actions with just 3 touchpoints.

For more information and to register your interest for the event, please visit: https://buddycrm.com/conquering-covid/

Healthcare, News

The Soke opens its doors to offer mental health and wellbeing support to businesses and private clients

The Soke – a first-of-its-kind clinic in London offering mental health care and wellbeing services alongside professional coaching – recently opened for business.

Based in South Kensington, The Soke offers best-in-class psychotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors and leadership development specialists. They cover
common behavioural health issues such as depression, anxiety and other non-acute disorders; offer family therapy, child & adolescent counselling, and corporate wellbeing services. Clients will benefit from an integrated system of care in one location, ensuring their individual needs are met at every junction, and enabling them to become to be the best version of themselves.

Offering a completely new approach to mental health and wellbeing, The Soke has attracted some of the best talent from across the UK:

Dr Chi-Chi Obuaya, Clinical Lead at The Soke, is a Consultant Psychiatrist for the NHS and in private practice. He has extensive experience of launching new services, having set up NHS primary care liaison teams in Camden and Islington. He served on the management board of Brent Clinical Commissioning Group and online mental health service Psychiatry-UK for two years, and is also clinical advisor to a digital health start-up.

Dr Shadi Shahnavaz, Head of Family Therapy, has over 25 years of experience in her specialised field of Systemic Family Therapy, working with families in Sweden, France and England since the early 90’s. As well as her role at The Soke, Shadi works in private practice and also teaches other practicing professionals. Additionally, she runs a range of supervision groups at clinics and universities and is a trained Circle of Security facilitator.

Dean Nicholson, Head of Adult Therapy, has been leading, motivating and developing behavioural health teams since 1983 and has a sterling reputation among peers and clients alike. He was a founder member of the British Association of Care Home Proprietors (BACHP) and trained as a counsellor to support people and families affected with AIDS and HIV, becoming Chairman of the Cambridge AIDS Trust until 1994.

Sam Dunn, Head of Corporate Wellbeing, is a Business Psychologist with two decades of experience in wellbeing, leadership development, facilitation and coaching, as well as organisational, cultural and team development. Having worked as an in-house coach and organisational development director for a range of corporate clients, Sam has in recent years provided external consultancy services for leading brands.

Holli Rubin, Head of Personal Wellbeing, is a qualified psychologist, social worker and therapist and takes an integrative approach to mental health. She is well recognised for her holistic approach, combining physical with psychological interventions to derive the optimal outcome for her private and corporate clients. Holli is a leading voice – and an advisor to the UK government – on body image and its impact on mental health. Her insight and experience is helping drive change at a national level, so that body image education becomes part of a bigger conversation.

With recent figures from the ONS showing that depression has doubled during the pandemic, and people across the UK suffering from a range of mental health issues as a result of lockdown measures and economic uncertainty, The Soke has been developed to offer a regulated, professional, multi-disciplinary outfit to meet both the clinical and the service-led demands of both corporate and private individual clients.

Founder and CEO Maryam Meddin recognised the need for an innovative, collaborative, high quality care centre for mental health & wellbeing following her personal experiences at both the receiving and providing ends of psychotherapy. Meddin has a 25-year background in corporate communications, in addition to a law degree and a Masters in Psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology.

Maryam Meddin, founder & CEO of The Soke, comments:

“The impact of COVID-19 has been felt across society and the latest ONS figures on depression have shown that there has never been a greater need for mental health to be given the same consideration as physical health. The time to modernise the sector is long-overdue.

“The Soke has been a labour of love over the last year and we are thrilled to be opening our doors today to offer a completely new approach to mental health and wellbeing services.”

Dr Chi-Chi Obuaya, Clinical Lead of The Soke, comments:

“The provision of mental health services is ripe for innovation and I was immediately drawn to The Soke as an opportunity to work in a regulated environment as part of a multi-disciplinary expert team providing genuine client-focused solutions.

“We are hugely excited to have such an experienced group of clinicians joining our board to lead each discipline and we look forward to welcoming clients over the coming months.”

The Soke is a forward-thinking business that aims to be part of a global movement using business as a force for good. A key part of this mission is The Soke Foundation, a non-profit organisation that derives its income from The Soke. A portion of every client fee and a percentage of profits will go to The Soke Foundation, which will provide grants to underfunded mental health programmes, forming an initiative that looks after the wider community within which it is set to join. This is reflective of The Soke’s dedication and commitment to benefiting society as a whole, bringing mental health to the forefront for everybody.

Healthcare News, Mental Health at Work, News

New concept in mental health care and wellbeing support to launch for businesses and their employees

A brand new concept in mental health care and wellbeing will open its doors in October, offering a first-of-its-kind clinic for businesses and their employees. The Soke will bring together mental health care and wellbeing services with career development and professional coaching all under one roof.

With depression now the most common cause of ill health and disability worldwide (World Health Organisation) and one in six adults in the UK (one in four in London) suffering from a Common Mental Disorder (CMD), including depression, anxiety, phobia and OCD, the impact on both society and the economy is severe. CMDs are the leading cause of sickness absence, costing the UK economy £105 billion each year.

With a growing need for businesses to care for their employees’ mental wellbeing, not just reactively, but also proactively, The Soke – based in South Kensington – has been developed to offer a regulated, professional, multi-disciplinary outfit to meet both the clinical and the service-led demands of corporate (and private individual) clients.

Businesses had already begun (pre-pandemic) to understand the importance of caring for their workforce’s mental health – recent events have also shown the importance of investing specifically in supporting the psychology and resilience of their leaders who have often been under pressure to make tough decisions with limited information.

The Soke’s multi-pronged approach enables them to create bespoke packages to suit a corporate client’s particular size, industry, makeup and culture as well as its specific pain points, ensuring that in doing so they’re able to enhance the employees’ wellbeing and also nurture their strengths and skillsets in order to improve performance, raise productivity and ensure job satisfaction.

The Soke is a forward-thinking business that aims to be part of a global movement using business as a force for good. A key part of this mission is The Soke Foundation, a non-profit organisation that derives its income from The Soke. A portion of every client fee and a percentage of profits will go to The Soke Foundation, which will provide grants to underfunded mental health programmes, forming an initiative that looks after the wider community within which it is set to join. This is reflective of The Soke’s dedication and commitment to benefiting society as a whole, bringing mental health to the forefront for everybody.

Founder and CEO Maryam Meddin recognised the need for an innovative, collaborative, high quality care centre for mental health & wellbeing following her personal experiences at both the receiving and providing ends of psychotherapy. Meddin has a 25-year background in corporate communications, in addition to a law degree and a Masters in Psychotherapy & Counselling Psychology. She has onboarded COO George Broke, who brings a background in behavioural healthcare, including senior management positions at The Priory Group, where he oversaw the development and commercial growth of the Group’s nationwide private mental health services and more recently Schoen Clinic, where he created and executed their UK market-entry strategy, and CFO Melissa Fox whose credentials include the growth and sale of Gu Puddings.

Most recently Dr Chi-Chi Obuaya, one of London’s leading psychiatrists, has been appointed as Head of the Clinical Board. Dr Obuaya works as a Consultant Psychiatrist in the NHS, has a private practice on Harley Street and admitting privileges at The Nightingale.

Maryam Meddin, founder & CEO, comments:

“As the UK begins to emerge from lockdown and large numbers of the working population have been working from home or furloughed, there is now a greater expectation for employers to ensure the mental health and wellbeing of their workforce is a top priority, alongside their career development and progression.

“We are all acutely aware of the need for stigmas around mental health to change and the time to modernise the sector is long-overdue. We must encourage mental health to be given the same consideration as physical health – those who most often go to the gym are not doing it because there’s something wrong with them, they do it in order to improve their wellbeing. The same standard should apply to emotional and psychological fitness”.

George Broke, COO, comments:

“The Soke will be the pioneer, the standard-bearer and the thought leader in a new era of mental health delivery. We are creating a single, easy access system of health that delivers the highest level of service, transparency and outcomes to those who recognise the importance of engaging with their psychological and emotional wellbeing both proactively and reactively. We are not just using the very best in technology to support our offline services, but will actively invest in continually improving on what is already available.”

The Soke sets out to normalise and improve mental health care, creating a quality, sophisticated solution whilst building credibility around wellbeing. Clients will benefit from an integrated system of care in one location, ensuring their individual needs are met at every junction, and enabling them to become to be the best version of themselves.

The Soke will open on the 1st October and is based at 241 Fulham Road, London SW3 6HY

To learn more, visit https://www.thesoke.uk

Law, News, Software, Technology

Libryo offers business leaders free COVID-19 regulatory guidance

Libryo, the cloud-based legal compliance software company, is offering business leaders worldwide with free access to its COVID-19 regulatory tracking platform. Until 30 September, users can sign up to receive real-time updates and full access to all relevant Coronavirus regulation across 16 countries and 8 USA states. Since March, Libryo’s automated technology has tracked and notified users of over 400 COVID-19 related laws to know and comply with.

Alongside reviewing up-to-date legal information in both full source and highlight formats, users can store their related legal documents, share updates with co-workers via the in-built messaging platform and clearly detail which regulations they’ve studied and understood. This functionality keeps companies abreast of the rapidly changing regulatory landscape and helps support multi-jurisdictional compliance to COVID-19 legal obligations.

Malcolm Gray, CFO and co-founder of Libryo, commented: “Just four months following the first reported case of COVID-19, we’ve already seen hundreds of new regulations relating to the virus and associated hygiene management passed worldwide. With the volume and complexity of the regulatory landscape only set to increase, we wanted to offer business leaders a helping hand – to keep them informed about their new legal obligations and assist with achieving company-wide compliance.

“Our platform has been designed to tackle the frequency, complexity and lack of searchability of legal records. We want to make it easier for organisations to stay updated with changes and understand constantly changing COVID-19 laws relevant to them – helping avoid the consequences of non-compliance. Libryo’s technology can help you and your businesses during this uncertain time.

“Libryo is a cloud-based, digital solution that effectively tracks, filters and configures your businesses applicable regulations. We are aiming to provide you with greater certainty and peace of mind in this fast changing and often complex space. If you think we can be of help and would like to experience the Libryo platform, simply fill out a short form and enjoy free platform access until 30 September – we are excited to support you!”

Founded in 2016, Libryo currently helps over 130 organisations and more than 10,000 users with their legal compliance by filtering all laws and delivering only the regulations that are relevant to that business. For more information about Libryo, or to set up access to its COVID-19 regulatory tracking platform, visit libryo.com.