Business 22 October2014

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Tech tips, a manifesto for change and start-upshoping to be the next big thing... inside theFestival of Female Entrepreneurs

THESE WOMENMEAN BUSINESS

SPECIAL REPORT

– Pages 6&7

PICK A CARD

Forget Facebook, firm hopes torevive old fashioned cards – p3

222014OCT

MAKE A MOVE#REALRATESREFORM

Our campaign to overhaul taxwins political backing – p2

Find new opportunities inour Jobs pull-out inside

COMMERCIALPROPERTYREVIEW INSIDE

PLUS

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EPB-

E01-

S3

2 We d n e s d a y, October 22, 2014 3We d n e s d a y, October 22, 2014 w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/businessw w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

Contest final

Silas hopingfor royal sealof approval� A BURGEONING techstart-up has a royal appointmentnext month when it present itsideas to the Duke of York.

Three businesses all from theBristol Robotics Lab, based atUWE’s Frenchay campus, tookpart in a boot camp this week toqualify for Pitch@Palace.

Silas Adekunle of ReachRobotics, Alan Broun of DawnRobotics and David Graves ofOmniDynamics were among 42companies who made theirpitches to anexpertjudgingpanel inS h o re d i t c h .

Thecompet-ition wastoughand Silas,above, wasone of the 15chosen to goforward to the final at St James’Palace.

Short pitch videos of all thefinalists will be made and apublic vote held prior to the finalwith the winner announced onthe night.

Pitch@Palace is The Duke ofYo r k ’s initiative to supportentrepreneurs, who he believesare essential to Britain’scontinuing prosperity.

This time the event has ascience theme.

Prince Andrew said: “I believethe UK has the best scientistsand engineers in the world –they create valuable intellectualproperty that can be exploitedby entrepreneurial endeavour.

“There must be a commonacknowledgement thatentrepreneurs will drive growthand be the wealth creators ofthe future.”

The first Pitch@Palace eventtook place in April, when theDuke worked with 36businesses from across the UK,including Bristol-basedN e i g h b o u r l y.

The next event take place onWednesday November 5.

Bristol Post campaign

Support grows MPs add weightto campaign for reform of rates

POLITICIANS have voicedsupport for the Po s t ’s#RealReatsReform cam-paign for a major overhaul ofthe business rates system.

The Po s t is calling for:� Greater local control over how ratesare spent so they can be used toencourage more investment and jobcreation, extending ideas currentlyonly in place in enterprise zones.� A simpler system that small busi-nesses can understand.� Breaking the deterrent to expan-sion. This could be done by replacingrates with a local sales or profits tax.

And there is a growing politicalconsensus on the ground in partic-ular supporting greater local controlof how the tax is spent.

North East Somerset Tory MPJacob Rees-Mogg said: “I fully sup-ports this campaign.”

He added: “I’m all in favour of there-localisation of business rates to allcouncils – not just to Bristol but toBath and North East Somerset Coun-cil too.

“I think it makes sense to re-loc-alise one of the important sources oflocal government funding.

“I think the uniformed businessrates were done for a very good reas-on, there were some dreadful councilsthat were ruining all of their busi-nesses, but its long-time con-sequences have been unfavourable.”

Fellow Conservative Chris Skid-more, MP for Kingswood, is deputychair of the Number 10 Policy Board.He said the government was alreadyhelping small businesses with raterelief but idea of greater local controlhad merit and he would give it anairing at the highest level.

“The success of the Bristol TempleMeads Enterprise Zone that we cre-ated demonstrates that if businessesare trusted with greater freedoms and

are able to invest more of their profitslocally, the local economy can benefitenor mously,” he said.

“I would certainly be interested inpassing on the Bristol Post’s ideas tothe Number 10 Policy Board on whichI sit.”

Charlotte Leslie,Conservative MP forBristol North West,said: “There are hugeanomalies in the waybusiness rates cur-rently work. I’m all forgiving local authorit-ies more powers anddiscretions over busi-ness rates.

“Obviously busi-ness rates have toexist but it does seem such an in-efficient way to make relief moneywhen you’re actually stifling the veryorganisations that keep communitiesin employment; it seems not the bestway to raise government funds.

“At the moment it’s really cripplinga lot of small businesses, the veryones we need to help flourish to getthe economy back on track. I knowlots of local businesses and pubs thatstruggle with business rates – it’s a

massive issue.”The Government

last year introduced arates retention schemethat allows authoritiesto keep a proportion ofrates collected

Lib Dem StephenWilliams, who is Com-munities and LocalGovernment Ministeras well as Bristol WestMP, said: “The Govern-ment has already al-

lowed local authorities to retain halfthe business rates they collect, theseconstitute some major reforms inp o l i cy.

“As the local MP and the Lib Demrepresentative I think there is cer-

Plan business succession and avoid tales of the unexpected

Soraya Kishtwari &Gavin [email protected]

Find out what Green Capitalwill mean for your business

Best wishes ‘Forget emails, makeyour message special with a card’

AngelBerry continuesto expand worldwide� FROZEN yoghurt companyAngelBerry, which started with anoutlet on the Imperial Retail Park inHartcliffe, has opened its first storein Abu Dhabi.

The Bristol-based business is fastbecoming a bigexporter, withstores inMauritius andSouth Africaas well asBristol andBrighton.

Co-founderJames Taylorrevealed thefirm had signed“a very big contract”with a South African cinema chainto roll out kiosks in its branches.

A second Abu Dhabi store and afirst in Dubai are under construction.

James said: “We will end this yearon 12 stores globally, with a further15 locations planned to open in2015.”

Delegation pays visit

Bristol Connected

� BRISTOL has welcomed itssecond high powered delegationfrom the Guangzhou region.

Organised by the West of EnglandChina Bureau and Bristol CityCouncil, the delegation from theGuangzhou International InnovationCity was in Bristol to discuss closercooperation between the cities. Thedelegation met Mayor GeorgeFerguson and business leaders.

China

Fo o dCommunication

Gavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)[email protected]

TWO entrepreneurs have set out on amission to get Bristolians to put downtheir smartphones and put pen topaper instead to share news and mes-sages with their loved ones.

David Robinson and Oli Gosling, behindTemple Studios-based branding agency Hypeand Slippers, have branched out with Card-Nest, a greetings card subscription service.

CardNest delivers three cheerful and brightgreetings cards to subscribers every month,all suited to a wide variety of occasions.

The idea is to build a nest egg of cards athome so that subscribers can dig into theircollection when an unexpected birthdaycreeps up on them or they have a last-minute“thank you” to send.

The cards are all exclusively designed bythe pair’s favourite artists, so can’t be foundon the high street, so you should avoid theproblem of sending the same cards as every-one else.

And the founders are keen to stress thatcards aren’t just for special occasions, butsharing a funny story, simply saying “hello”or inviting someone for the weekend.

The duo decided to turn their idea intoreality when Oli received an unexpected“thinking of you card” that made his day.

“Going through the post each day isn’texactly the most exciting part of my day,” saidOli. “One day however I found a brightlycoloured envelope hidden amongst the usualbills and junk mail.

“I quickly recognised my friend’s hand-writing on the envelope. It wasn’t my birth-day, so I couldn’t think what was inside.

“Wonderfully, it turned out that they simplywanted to tell me they missed me as I hadn’tseen them in a while. It was so touching andsuch a surprise!

“I automatically went to grab my phone to

reply but I stopped myself. I wanted to makethe special effort and write back withouttechnolog y.”

The pair recognise that social media isgreat for keeping in touch, but somethingmore than a rushed message or quick “l i ke ”can mean a lot more.

David said: “We want people to keep intouch, not struggle to keep on top of no-t i f i c at i o n s.

“CardNest isn’t just about the conveniencethat comes with being topped up on lovelygreetings cards each month, it’s about en-couraging people to take their time and nur-ture their relationships rather than seeing itas a job ticked off the list.”

IT has been described as a fantastic oppor-tunity for the city, but what does Bristol’sstatus as European Green Capital nextyear mean for businesses locally?

You can find out the answers atnext week’s Bristol Connectedwhen a member of the Bristol2015 team will be one of ourguest speakers.

Bristol Connected is a busi-ness networking event run bythe Bristol Post every othermonth.

It gives business owners andmanagers and anyone in the businesscommunity the chance to meet, chat, talkshop and make connections in a friendly andrelaxed setting.

Assistant editor Gavin Thompson said:“Since we launched Bristol Connected earlierthis year, it has been a great success.

“I’ve met dozens of fascinating people,many of whom I’ve since written about so it’sa great chance to meet the Po s t team too andpin us down about that fantastic story youwant to share about your business.

“We ’ve had some top speakers so far andnext week’s line-up won’t disappoint – I’m askeen as anyone to hear what the Bristol 2015team has to say.

“But the main event is always the chance tonetwork with your peers. That’s why we keep

the speeches short and leave ample time toch at .

“Whether you’re making poten-tially key business contacts or justsharing the load from your day,it’s important to have somewhereto meet people and talk.

“So come along. We’d love tosee you there.”

The event is free and limitednumbers of tickets are still avail-

able. Bristol Connected takes placefrom 6-8pm on Tuesday at the Double-

Tree by Hilton hotel in Redcliffe Way, Bristol.Free parking is available on site.

To sign up search on Eventbrite or scan thisQR code.

A subscription costs £7.50 a month, in-cluding delivery. And those who sign up canalso add on three first class stamps for thesame price at the post office, so there’s noexcuse for not sending a card!

� DavidNichols, OliGoslingand DavidRobinson

Andrew FisherExecutive directorAlanbrookes Ltd01934 863386Andr [email protected] w w. a l a n -brookes.co.uk

Know how

ENVISAGE the following scen-ario. You are the generalmanager and 20 per centshareholder of a successfulbusiness. The director and 80

per cent shareholder dies unexpec-t e d ly.

He’s the only signatory on the bankaccount, which is duly frozen. Withneither a contingency plan nor liquidfunds, the company collapses and youare unemployed, together with therest of the workforce.

As the company is no longer agoing concern, the director’s familyare left with precious few assets and awhole raft of financial and non fin-ancial headaches.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Busi-ness succession planning is eitherforced, as above, or foreseen andstructured accordingly. The death of abusiness owner or co-owner has thefollowing consequences dependenton the type of business:

� A sole trader business automat-ically comes to an end, and it is likelythat all the family will have left is thebreak-up value of whatever physicalassets are used in the business.� Unless there is specific provision inthe partnership agreement – andmost partnerships have no formalagreements – a partnership will tech-nically cease on the death of a partnerand the deceased partner’s estate will

become entitled to their share of thebusiness, either as a lump sum or as aprofit share in a new partnership.� A limited company will continue ina legal sense, but often – as in theabove scenario – not in any real sense.Even if it survives, the deceaseds h a re h o l d e r ’s beneficiaries will con-tinue to share in the decision makingand the profits of the business.

For many companies who areowned by two 50 per cent sharehold-ers this often means that the sur-viving shareholder splits the profitswith his co-shareholder’s spouse,who may have no interest in thebusiness, and as a result will be work-ing twice as hard for the samem o n e y.

All in all, a gloomy prognosis. Sowhat can be done?� A sole trader can set up a lifeinsurance policy and either assign itto the person he wants to take overthe business – a family member or an

employee for example – or sets up atrust to pay that person after hisdeath, in either case so that the busi-ness assets can be acquired.

It is worth pointing out that al-though most trading businesses qual-ify for business property relief forinheritance tax, if the rest of theestate attracts inheritance tax, thebeneficiaries could be faced withselling the business to meet the taxbill.� A partnership can set up a doubleoption agreement (also known as across option). With this, the surviv-ing partner has the option to buy thedeceased partner’s share.

The estate of the deceased partneralso has the option to buy out thesurviving partner. The business willbe valued on an agreed basis, andeach partner takes out a life insur-ance policy on their own life, writtenunder trust to benefit the other part-n e r.

� The partnership arrangements canalso be used for the shareholders andtheir beneficiaries in a limited com-p a ny.

It is vital that you use an exper-ienced professional who can avoidpitfalls, for example HMRC interpret-ing the agreement as a binding con-tract for sale, which would denyBusiness Property Relief for Inher-itance Tax.

It’s not just death that stops a busi-ness in its tracks – there are alsopolicies that provide critical illnesscover. It is particularly importantwith this type of policy to considerthe circumstances in which lumpsums are paid out and/or the busi-ness is transferred.

In every case, you should get anaccountant experienced in businessvaluations to value the enterprise –undervaluing or overvaluing thefruits of your labours can cause realproblems later down the line.

tainly scope for going a lot further.”Mr Williams said that as part of

plans to devolve greater powers toScotland – which he said would “un-d o u b t e d ly ” follow in Wales – bu s i n e s srates were among the key powerslikely to be fully devolved.

He added: “I definitely supportBristol in its calls to see more thanhalf of all business rates retainedl o c a l ly. ”

Bristol East Labour MP Kerry Mc-Carthy said Government measuressuch as the two per cent cap on ratesincreases “fall short” of what manybusinesses need. She said Labour pro-posing to cut rates in 2015 and freezethem in 2016.

She said: “I agree with the cam-paign that new powers need to bedevolved to local authorities orgroups, we need to empower them tobuild thriving, sustainable and pros-perous communities. Labour is look-ing at how a devolved approach can bebest delivered.”

Kerry McCarthy

“ I agree with thecampaign that newpowers need to bedevolved to localauthorities or groups.”

Charlotte Leslie

“There are hugeanomalies in the waybusiness rates work. I’mall for giving localauthorities more powers.”

Stephen Williams

“ I definitely supportBristol in its calls to seemore than half of allbusiness rates retainedl o c a l l y. ”

For more information, or to take our 2 monthfree trial, go to www.saltydoginvestor.com saltydog

INVESTOR

Take control of your ownfinances. With our help youcan reap the benefits.

Saltydog Investor Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and does notprovide financial advice. Any information that you use, or guidance that you follow, is entirely at yourown risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

DOUGLAS CHADWICK,FOUNDER AND CHAIRMANOF

Saltydog Investorand

the Saltydog Investor crew

Invite Saltydog Investor subscribers, friends and the curious to learn:

The benefits of actively trading funds

How to consistently pick the top performing funds

The best way to avoid market downturns

How to maximise the returns on your ISAs, SIPPs, and other Investments

Talk & Drinks

Monday,October 27th, 2014

6:00pm - 8:00 pmHarveys Cellars

12 Denmark Street, Bristol, BS1 5DQ

To attend the talk please email: [email protected]

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3


Contest final

Silas hopingfor royal sealof approval� A BURGEONING techstart-up has a royal appointmentnext month when it present itsideas to the Duke of York.

Three businesses all from theBristol Robotics Lab, based atUWE’s Frenchay campus, tookpart in a boot camp this week toqualify for Pitch@Palace.

Silas Adekunle of ReachRobotics, Alan Broun of DawnRobotics and David Graves ofOmniDynamics were among 42companies who made theirpitches to anexpertjudgingpanel inS h o re d i t c h .

Thecompet-ition wastoughand Silas,above, wasone of the 15chosen to goforward to the final at St James’Palace.

Short pitch videos of all thefinalists will be made and apublic vote held prior to the finalwith the winner announced onthe night.

Pitch@Palace is The Duke ofYo r k ’s initiative to supportentrepreneurs, who he believesare essential to Britain’scontinuing prosperity.

This time the event has ascience theme.

Prince Andrew said: “I believethe UK has the best scientistsand engineers in the world –they create valuable intellectualproperty that can be exploitedby entrepreneurial endeavour.

“There must be a commonacknowledgement thatentrepreneurs will drive growthand be the wealth creators ofthe future.”

The first Pitch@Palace eventtook place in April, when theDuke worked with 36businesses from across the UK,including Bristol-basedN e i g h b o u r l y.

The next event take place onWednesday November 5.

Bristol Post campaign

Support grows MPs add weightto campaign for reform of rates

POLITICIANS have voicedsupport for the Po s t ’s#RealReatsReform cam-paign for a major overhaul ofthe business rates system.

The Po s t is calling for:� Greater local control over how ratesare spent so they can be used toencourage more investment and jobcreation, extending ideas currentlyonly in place in enterprise zones.� A simpler system that small busi-nesses can understand.� Breaking the deterrent to expan-sion. This could be done by replacingrates with a local sales or profits tax.

And there is a growing politicalconsensus on the ground in partic-ular supporting greater local controlof how the tax is spent.

North East Somerset Tory MPJacob Rees-Mogg said: “I fully sup-ports this campaign.”

He added: “I’m all in favour of there-localisation of business rates to allcouncils – not just to Bristol but toBath and North East Somerset Coun-cil too.

“I think it makes sense to re-loc-alise one of the important sources oflocal government funding.

“I think the uniformed businessrates were done for a very good reas-on, there were some dreadful councilsthat were ruining all of their busi-nesses, but its long-time con-sequences have been unfavourable.”

Fellow Conservative Chris Skid-more, MP for Kingswood, is deputychair of the Number 10 Policy Board.He said the government was alreadyhelping small businesses with raterelief but idea of greater local controlhad merit and he would give it anairing at the highest level.

“The success of the Bristol TempleMeads Enterprise Zone that we cre-ated demonstrates that if businessesare trusted with greater freedoms and

are able to invest more of their profitslocally, the local economy can benefitenor mously,” he said.

“I would certainly be interested inpassing on the Bristol Post’s ideas tothe Number 10 Policy Board on whichI sit.”

Charlotte Leslie,Conservative MP forBristol North West,said: “There are hugeanomalies in the waybusiness rates cur-rently work. I’m all forgiving local authorit-ies more powers anddiscretions over busi-ness rates.

“Obviously busi-ness rates have toexist but it does seem such an in-efficient way to make relief moneywhen you’re actually stifling the veryorganisations that keep communitiesin employment; it seems not the bestway to raise government funds.

“At the moment it’s really cripplinga lot of small businesses, the veryones we need to help flourish to getthe economy back on track. I knowlots of local businesses and pubs thatstruggle with business rates – it’s a

massive issue.”The Government

last year introduced arates retention schemethat allows authoritiesto keep a proportion ofrates collected

Lib Dem StephenWilliams, who is Com-munities and LocalGovernment Ministeras well as Bristol WestMP, said: “The Govern-ment has already al-

lowed local authorities to retain halfthe business rates they collect, theseconstitute some major reforms inp o l i cy.

“As the local MP and the Lib Demrepresentative I think there is cer-

Plan business succession and avoid tales of the unexpected

Soraya Kishtwari &Gavin [email protected]

Find out what Green Capitalwill mean for your business

Best wishes ‘Forget emails, makeyour message special with a card’

AngelBerry continuesto expand worldwide� FROZEN yoghurt companyAngelBerry, which started with anoutlet on the Imperial Retail Park inHartcliffe, has opened its first storein Abu Dhabi.

The Bristol-based business is fastbecoming a bigexporter, withstores inMauritius andSouth Africaas well asBristol andBrighton.

Co-founderJames Taylorrevealed thefirm had signed“a very big contract”with a South African cinema chainto roll out kiosks in its branches.

A second Abu Dhabi store and afirst in Dubai are under construction.

James said: “We will end this yearon 12 stores globally, with a further15 locations planned to open in2015.”

Delegation pays visit

Bristol Connected

� BRISTOL has welcomed itssecond high powered delegationfrom the Guangzhou region.

Organised by the West of EnglandChina Bureau and Bristol CityCouncil, the delegation from theGuangzhou International InnovationCity was in Bristol to discuss closercooperation between the cities. Thedelegation met Mayor GeorgeFerguson and business leaders.

China

Fo o dCommunication


TWO entrepreneurs have set out on amission to get Bristolians to put downtheir smartphones and put pen topaper instead to share news and mes-sages with their loved ones.

David Robinson and Oli Gosling, behindTemple Studios-based branding agency Hypeand Slippers, have branched out with Card-Nest, a greetings card subscription service.

CardNest delivers three cheerful and brightgreetings cards to subscribers every month,all suited to a wide variety of occasions.

The idea is to build a nest egg of cards athome so that subscribers can dig into theircollection when an unexpected birthdaycreeps up on them or they have a last-minute“thank you” to send.

The cards are all exclusively designed bythe pair’s favourite artists, so can’t be foundon the high street, so you should avoid theproblem of sending the same cards as every-one else.

And the founders are keen to stress thatcards aren’t just for special occasions, butsharing a funny story, simply saying “hello”or inviting someone for the weekend.

The duo decided to turn their idea intoreality when Oli received an unexpected“thinking of you card” that made his day.

“Going through the post each day isn’texactly the most exciting part of my day,” saidOli. “One day however I found a brightlycoloured envelope hidden amongst the usualbills and junk mail.

“I quickly recognised my friend’s hand-writing on the envelope. It wasn’t my birth-day, so I couldn’t think what was inside.

“Wonderfully, it turned out that they simplywanted to tell me they missed me as I hadn’tseen them in a while. It was so touching andsuch a surprise!

“I automatically went to grab my phone to

reply but I stopped myself. I wanted to makethe special effort and write back withouttechnolog y.”

The pair recognise that social media isgreat for keeping in touch, but somethingmore than a rushed message or quick “l i ke ”can mean a lot more.

David said: “We want people to keep intouch, not struggle to keep on top of no-t i f i c at i o n s.

“CardNest isn’t just about the conveniencethat comes with being topped up on lovelygreetings cards each month, it’s about en-couraging people to take their time and nur-ture their relationships rather than seeing itas a job ticked off the list.”

IT has been described as a fantastic oppor-tunity for the city, but what does Bristol’sstatus as European Green Capital nextyear mean for businesses locally?

You can find out the answers atnext week’s Bristol Connectedwhen a member of the Bristol2015 team will be one of ourguest speakers.

Bristol Connected is a busi-ness networking event run bythe Bristol Post every othermonth.

It gives business owners andmanagers and anyone in the businesscommunity the chance to meet, chat, talkshop and make connections in a friendly andrelaxed setting.

Assistant editor Gavin Thompson said:“Since we launched Bristol Connected earlierthis year, it has been a great success.

“I’ve met dozens of fascinating people,many of whom I’ve since written about so it’sa great chance to meet the Po s t team too andpin us down about that fantastic story youwant to share about your business.

“We ’ve had some top speakers so far andnext week’s line-up won’t disappoint – I’m askeen as anyone to hear what the Bristol 2015team has to say.

“But the main event is always the chance tonetwork with your peers. That’s why we keep

the speeches short and leave ample time toch at .

“Whether you’re making poten-tially key business contacts or justsharing the load from your day,it’s important to have somewhereto meet people and talk.

“So come along. We’d love tosee you there.”

The event is free and limitednumbers of tickets are still avail-

able. Bristol Connected takes placefrom 6-8pm on Tuesday at the Double-

Tree by Hilton hotel in Redcliffe Way, Bristol.Free parking is available on site.

To sign up search on Eventbrite or scan thisQR code.

A subscription costs £7.50 a month, in-cluding delivery. And those who sign up canalso add on three first class stamps for thesame price at the post office, so there’s noexcuse for not sending a card!

� DavidNichols, OliGoslingand DavidRobinson

Andrew FisherExecutive directorAlanbrookes Ltd01934 863386Andr [email protected] w w. a l a n -brookes.co.uk

Know how

ENVISAGE the following scen-ario. You are the generalmanager and 20 per centshareholder of a successfulbusiness. The director and 80

per cent shareholder dies unexpec-t e d ly.

He’s the only signatory on the bankaccount, which is duly frozen. Withneither a contingency plan nor liquidfunds, the company collapses and youare unemployed, together with therest of the workforce.

As the company is no longer agoing concern, the director’s familyare left with precious few assets and awhole raft of financial and non fin-ancial headaches.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Busi-ness succession planning is eitherforced, as above, or foreseen andstructured accordingly. The death of abusiness owner or co-owner has thefollowing consequences dependenton the type of business:

� A sole trader business automat-ically comes to an end, and it is likelythat all the family will have left is thebreak-up value of whatever physicalassets are used in the business.� Unless there is specific provision inthe partnership agreement – andmost partnerships have no formalagreements – a partnership will tech-nically cease on the death of a partnerand the deceased partner’s estate will

become entitled to their share of thebusiness, either as a lump sum or as aprofit share in a new partnership.� A limited company will continue ina legal sense, but often – as in theabove scenario – not in any real sense.Even if it survives, the deceaseds h a re h o l d e r ’s beneficiaries will con-tinue to share in the decision makingand the profits of the business.

For many companies who areowned by two 50 per cent sharehold-ers this often means that the sur-viving shareholder splits the profitswith his co-shareholder’s spouse,who may have no interest in thebusiness, and as a result will be work-ing twice as hard for the samem o n e y.

All in all, a gloomy prognosis. Sowhat can be done?� A sole trader can set up a lifeinsurance policy and either assign itto the person he wants to take overthe business – a family member or an

employee for example – or sets up atrust to pay that person after hisdeath, in either case so that the busi-ness assets can be acquired.

It is worth pointing out that al-though most trading businesses qual-ify for business property relief forinheritance tax, if the rest of theestate attracts inheritance tax, thebeneficiaries could be faced withselling the business to meet the taxbill.� A partnership can set up a doubleoption agreement (also known as across option). With this, the surviv-ing partner has the option to buy thedeceased partner’s share.

The estate of the deceased partneralso has the option to buy out thesurviving partner. The business willbe valued on an agreed basis, andeach partner takes out a life insur-ance policy on their own life, writtenunder trust to benefit the other part-n e r.

� The partnership arrangements canalso be used for the shareholders andtheir beneficiaries in a limited com-p a ny.

It is vital that you use an exper-ienced professional who can avoidpitfalls, for example HMRC interpret-ing the agreement as a binding con-tract for sale, which would denyBusiness Property Relief for Inher-itance Tax.

It’s not just death that stops a busi-ness in its tracks – there are alsopolicies that provide critical illnesscover. It is particularly importantwith this type of policy to considerthe circumstances in which lumpsums are paid out and/or the busi-ness is transferred.

In every case, you should get anaccountant experienced in businessvaluations to value the enterprise –undervaluing or overvaluing thefruits of your labours can cause realproblems later down the line.

tainly scope for going a lot further.”Mr Williams said that as part of

plans to devolve greater powers toScotland – which he said would “un-d o u b t e d ly ” follow in Wales – bu s i n e s srates were among the key powerslikely to be fully devolved.

He added: “I definitely supportBristol in its calls to see more thanhalf of all business rates retainedl o c a l ly. ”

Bristol East Labour MP Kerry Mc-Carthy said Government measuressuch as the two per cent cap on ratesincreases “fall short” of what manybusinesses need. She said Labour pro-posing to cut rates in 2015 and freezethem in 2016.

She said: “I agree with the cam-paign that new powers need to bedevolved to local authorities orgroups, we need to empower them tobuild thriving, sustainable and pros-perous communities. Labour is look-ing at how a devolved approach can bebest delivered.”

Kerry McCarthy

“ I agree with thecampaign that newpowers need to bedevolved to localauthorities or groups.”

Charlotte Leslie

“There are hugeanomalies in the waybusiness rates work. I’mall for giving localauthorities more powers.”

Stephen Williams

“ I definitely supportBristol in its calls to seemore than half of allbusiness rates retainedl o c a l l y. ”

For more information, or to take our 2 monthfree trial, go to www.saltydoginvestor.com saltydog

INVESTOR

Take control of your ownfinances. With our help youcan reap the benefits.

Saltydog Investor Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and does notprovide financial advice. Any information that you use, or guidance that you follow, is entirely at yourown risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

DOUGLAS CHADWICK,FOUNDER AND CHAIRMANOF

Saltydog Investorand

the Saltydog Investor crew

Invite Saltydog Investor subscribers, friends and the curious to learn:

The benefits of actively trading funds

How to consistently pick the top performing funds

The best way to avoid market downturns

How to maximise the returns on your ISAs, SIPPs, and other Investments

Talk & Drinks

Monday,October 27th, 2014

6:00pm - 8:00 pmHarveys Cellars

12 Denmark Street, Bristol, BS1 5DQ

To attend the talk please email: [email protected]

EPB-E01-S3

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S3


Retail heavenUnited front topromote region

Accrued holidays togo on balance sheets� FIRMS which allow workers tocarry over holiday will have to putit on their balance sheet from nexty e a r.

That’s just one of a host ofchanges to accounting standardsthat will affect most businesseswhich were outlined by GrantThor nton’s new managing partnerat an event for finance directors.

Tim Lincoln, pictur ed, said thesnappily titled FRS102 standardswere a “once in a generationchange” to how the books weredone.

He said businesses needed tobe aware as it could have anaffect on howhealthy theirbalancesheetlooks.

Amongthechangesare thatinvestmentssuch asproperties orshares will be partof the profit and loss accounts,not just reserves, which means afirm’s profits could take a hitwithout any real change in howthe business is performing.

And accrued holiday has to beaccounted for too, causing extracomplications if a firm’s holidayand accounting years don’tmatch. He said: “Talk to yourinvestors to make sure theyunderstand it doesn’t change thehealth of your business.”

Acco u n t i n g

‘We ’ll help skilled people start business’

Shopping

D eve l o p m e n t


Join us for the‘Buying Customers Seminar’ Presented by Brad Sugars,

Founder of Action Coach

Register now for FREE at

www.bristolpost.co.uk/bradsugars

What if you were guaranteed that every new customer buying from you would spend the next 5 years buying more products at ever higher price points?

Or you were certain that every Pound spent on your marketing or advertising would return extra Pounds to you down the road?

Now, you can … with this innovative new seminar from Brad Sugars, The World’s Leading Business Coach.

Discover the proven strategies of massively boosting your number of new clients almost immediately with Brad Sugars and his “Buying Customers” seminar.

Thursday 23rd October 201418:30 to 21:30

UWE Bristol Exhibition and Conference Centre, Filton Rd,Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS34 8QZ

A SHORTAGE of subcontractors couldhamper the housing market.

The situation has led one major developerto appeal for subcontractors to come forwardand it has even offered to help skilled trades-people to start their own businesses.

Barratt Developments plc, which includesBarratt and David Wilson Homes, needs tofind skilled labour to meet rising demand forplaces to live as the economy recovers.

Regional managing director Chris Burtonsaid: “It’s well reported that the constructionindustry is emerging from the effects of thefinancial crisis which led to a significantamount of trades people leaving the sector.

“The legacy is that sub-contractors areworking flat out right now and we need to be

sure we have sufficient numbers of skilledprofessionals moving forward.”

Speaking about the local demand, he said:“We have ambitious growth plans and arelooking to supplement our sub-contractorbase in Bristol.”

But he also said the firm wanted to hearfrom people thinking of starting a business.

He said: “Providing people with businessopportunities and the environment in whichto thrive, through regular work and ment-oring, is one of the huge benefits we offer. Ourphilosophy is straightforward. We recognisesub-contractors are vital to our business andwith Barratt Developments we are looking forgenuine partnerships where all parties moveforward together.”

RETAILERS across Bristoland Bath are joining forcesin an attempt to bring moreinvestment to the region andto promote the area to shop-

p e r s.In the past, there has been fierce

rivalry between the likes of CabotCircus in the city centre, out-of-townCribbs Causeway and Bath’s Southg-ate Centre. But now they, along withsome of the key retailers and otherinterested businesses, are putting ona united front.

Under the umbrella of the West ofEngland Local Enterprise Partner-ship (LEP), a 40-strong delegation isheading to Westminster today tolobby for investment and promote thea re a .

John Hirst, chief executive of Des-tination Bristol, said: “This is thefirst time that we have taken theopportunity to work within ourwhole LEP region to promote the

complete retail offer. We must havethe best and most varied retail offerin the country.”

The delegation includes represent-atives from the local authorities,Business West chairman StephenRobertson, John Lewis Cribbs Cause-way managing director Liz Mihell,Bristol Airport chief executiveRobert Sinclair and Filton MP JackL o p re s t i .

John added: “The overall aim is toraise awareness nationally and in-ternationally of our LEP region’sfantastic retail offer.

“Ideally as a result, we will attractmore investment, additional retailersand ultimately, encourage more vis-its from customers from in and out-side the region.”� Thousands of students descendedon stores in Cabot Circus shoppingcentre for its annual Student Ses-sions evening of discounts with analphabet of stores from Accessoriseto Yours Clothing taking part.

Centre director Stephanie Laceysaid: “Even though the heavensopened, student sprits were high. Theevent is a must for new and returningstudents and has become firmly es-tablished in the student calendar.”

C l ot h i n g

Business gurugives city talkONE of the world’s leading sales andmarketing experts will be speaking inBristol at a free event tomorrownight.

Brad Sugars, p i c t u re d , who headsup the ActionCOACH franchise, istalking about Buying Customers, theapproach set out in his book.

Brad, an Australian now living inLas Vegas, tours the world giving freetalks in what he sees as something ofa mission to help businesses grow.

He said often business owners weregreat at the job of their business, butnot at business itself.“Business own-ers make thesame mis-takes aroundthe world,”said Brad. “Iwant themto be a greatbu s i n e s sowner not justa technician intheir own busi-n e s s. ”

Nigel Jew, ActionCOACH’s Bristolcoach, urged people not to miss out.

He said: “It is fantastic to have thewo rl d ’s leading business coach inBristol to help local business ownerstake their business to the next level.

“Brad has coached tens of thou-sands of business owners and made amassive difference in their businessand lives.”� The event is supported by BristolPost publisher Local World. To signup, visit www.bristolpost.co.uk/bradsugars

Inspiring the next generation

C oa c h i n gEngineering

Ramping up S ka teret a i l e r ’s sales soarGavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)[email protected]

A CLOTHING retailer with a growingcustomer base among skaters, streetartists and surfers has seen a ten-foldrise in orders over the past 12m o n t h s.

Now Recreo Clothing, which isbased in Portishead, is hopinglocal artists, musicians and fash-ion designers will benefit fromits growing success story.

The online retailer onlybegan trading two years ago,but has seen a sales surge due toa massive growth in demandfrom consumers across the UKand around the world.

Directors Duncan Wilmot, p i c t u re d ,and James Batten believe its bigger inter-national profile means a wider audience forlocal labels among the major and independentbrands which it stocks.

Duncan said: “The last year has been trulyremarkable. We decided to make relativelysubtle changes to our marketing, the rangesthat we sell and our delivery systems and theyhave all had significant impact.

“The number of orders which we havehandled since then has been increasing at therate of 30 per cent month-by-month.

“As well as continuing to grow our cus-tomer base in the South West, we have at-tracted huge numbers of shoppersthroughout Britain, Europe and as far afieldas the United States and even Australia, who

now prefer shopping with us to their localo u t l e t s. ”

He said the firm planned to capitalise onthat momentum over the next 12 months.

“Doing so also means being able to furtherour commitment to providing an even biggerstage for local designers, artists and bandswho we have worked with since we begantrading,” he said.

Since the pair launched Recreo Clothing inSeptember 2012, the brand has won cus-

tomers among the skater, street art,music, snow and surfing com-

munities with its range of cloth-ing, equipment and accessories.

Duncan said the firm waslooking to move to new, biggerof fices.

“The progress which we haveseen recently and our expecta-

tions for the future need carefulmanagement in order to be sus-

tained,” he said.“A key part of our approach is that we don’t

think that being a relatively small retailernecessarily means that we can’t have the sortof standards of service normally associatedwith much bigger brands.

“For example, we have put in place abreadth and flexibility of delivery more typ-ical of retailers many times our size.

“T hat’s because we understand how im-portant a factor that can be in consumersdeciding whether to complete purchases ornot.

“By sticking to our ideals and continuing tooffer great service, we are confident that wecan swell the number of individuals whochoose to shop with us on a regular basis,wherever they are.”

� Students queuing up for discounts at Cabot Circus in Bristol

ENGINEERING companies are try-ing to inspire young people to be-come designers and technicians.

Students from 26 schools fromBristol, South Gloucestershire, andBath and North East Somerset tookpart in Teen Tech along with 24companies, such as Airbus, whosponsored the event, and Rolls-

Royce, Dyson, JVC, NCC, Active Ro-bots and National Grid.

The event is designed to be in-teractive to capture the imagina-tions of 12 and 13 year olds withscience, engineering and techno-log y.

It targets students before theymake their GCSE subject choices,

with the aim of dispelling genderstereotypes and shifting perceptionsof careers teenagers may have con-sidered “dif ficult”, “g eek y” or “bor-ing”.

Neil Scott, Vice President of Air-bus Engineering in the UK, said;“This is a vitally important projectfor Airbus because we need to mo-tivate the next generation of en-gineers to design the aircraft of thef u t u re. ”

� India’s largest domestic airline bymarket share, IndiGo, has signed aMemorandum of Understanding for250 A320neo Family aircraft.

The agreement will become Air-bu s ’ single largest order by numberof aircraft.

Indigo president Aditya Ghoshsaid: “This reaffirms IndiGo’s com-mitment to the long-term develop-ment of affordable air trans-portation in India and overseas.”

� Airbus graduate Ethan Moss demonstrates the principle of flying to students from Yate International Academy from left, Regan Cross, Natasha Bondand Oscar Hammond all aged 13

� Chris Burton, right, regional managing director of Barratt Developments plc, speaks withsub-contractor Gary Miles

Part of the Local World group

With many years experience in fashion shows, we candesign and create your desired backdrop and shape thecatwalk while using creative lighting effects to producea show-stopping event.

Music

Lighting

Live Camera Relay

Staging your Fashion Showdoesn’t have to cost a fortune...

Call us on: 01684 575832Email us at: [email protected] us at : www.aneventservices.co.uk

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3


Retail heavenUnited front topromote region

Accrued holidays togo on balance sheets� FIRMS which allow workers tocarry over holiday will have to putit on their balance sheet from nexty e a r.

That’s just one of a host ofchanges to accounting standardsthat will affect most businesseswhich were outlined by GrantThor nton’s new managing partnerat an event for finance directors.

Tim Lincoln, pictur ed, said thesnappily titled FRS102 standardswere a “once in a generationchange” to how the books weredone.

He said businesses needed tobe aware as it could have anaffect on howhealthy theirbalancesheetlooks.

Amongthechangesare thatinvestmentssuch asproperties orshares will be partof the profit and loss accounts,not just reserves, which means afirm’s profits could take a hitwithout any real change in howthe business is performing.

And accrued holiday has to beaccounted for too, causing extracomplications if a firm’s holidayand accounting years don’tmatch. He said: “Talk to yourinvestors to make sure theyunderstand it doesn’t change thehealth of your business.”

Acco u n t i n g

‘We ’ll help skilled people start business’

Shopping

D eve l o p m e n t


Join us for the‘Buying Customers Seminar’ Presented by Brad Sugars,

Founder of Action Coach

Register now for FREE at

www.bristolpost.co.uk/bradsugars

What if you were guaranteed that every new customer buying from you would spend the next 5 years buying more products at ever higher price points?

Or you were certain that every Pound spent on your marketing or advertising would return extra Pounds to you down the road?

Now, you can … with this innovative new seminar from Brad Sugars, The World’s Leading Business Coach.

Discover the proven strategies of massively boosting your number of new clients almost immediately with Brad Sugars and his “Buying Customers” seminar.

Thursday 23rd October 201418:30 to 21:30

UWE Bristol Exhibition and Conference Centre, Filton Rd,Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS34 8QZ

A SHORTAGE of subcontractors couldhamper the housing market.

The situation has led one major developerto appeal for subcontractors to come forwardand it has even offered to help skilled trades-people to start their own businesses.

Barratt Developments plc, which includesBarratt and David Wilson Homes, needs tofind skilled labour to meet rising demand forplaces to live as the economy recovers.

Regional managing director Chris Burtonsaid: “It’s well reported that the constructionindustry is emerging from the effects of thefinancial crisis which led to a significantamount of trades people leaving the sector.

“The legacy is that sub-contractors areworking flat out right now and we need to be

sure we have sufficient numbers of skilledprofessionals moving forward.”

Speaking about the local demand, he said:“We have ambitious growth plans and arelooking to supplement our sub-contractorbase in Bristol.”

But he also said the firm wanted to hearfrom people thinking of starting a business.

He said: “Providing people with businessopportunities and the environment in whichto thrive, through regular work and ment-oring, is one of the huge benefits we offer. Ourphilosophy is straightforward. We recognisesub-contractors are vital to our business andwith Barratt Developments we are looking forgenuine partnerships where all parties moveforward together.”

RETAILERS across Bristoland Bath are joining forcesin an attempt to bring moreinvestment to the region andto promote the area to shop-

p e r s.In the past, there has been fierce

rivalry between the likes of CabotCircus in the city centre, out-of-townCribbs Causeway and Bath’s Southg-ate Centre. But now they, along withsome of the key retailers and otherinterested businesses, are putting ona united front.

Under the umbrella of the West ofEngland Local Enterprise Partner-ship (LEP), a 40-strong delegation isheading to Westminster today tolobby for investment and promote thea re a .

John Hirst, chief executive of Des-tination Bristol, said: “This is thefirst time that we have taken theopportunity to work within ourwhole LEP region to promote the

complete retail offer. We must havethe best and most varied retail offerin the country.”

The delegation includes represent-atives from the local authorities,Business West chairman StephenRobertson, John Lewis Cribbs Cause-way managing director Liz Mihell,Bristol Airport chief executiveRobert Sinclair and Filton MP JackL o p re s t i .

John added: “The overall aim is toraise awareness nationally and in-ternationally of our LEP region’sfantastic retail offer.

“Ideally as a result, we will attractmore investment, additional retailersand ultimately, encourage more vis-its from customers from in and out-side the region.”� Thousands of students descendedon stores in Cabot Circus shoppingcentre for its annual Student Ses-sions evening of discounts with analphabet of stores from Accessoriseto Yours Clothing taking part.

Centre director Stephanie Laceysaid: “Even though the heavensopened, student sprits were high. Theevent is a must for new and returningstudents and has become firmly es-tablished in the student calendar.”

C l ot h i n g

Business gurugives city talkONE of the world’s leading sales andmarketing experts will be speaking inBristol at a free event tomorrownight.

Brad Sugars, p i c t u re d , who headsup the ActionCOACH franchise, istalking about Buying Customers, theapproach set out in his book.

Brad, an Australian now living inLas Vegas, tours the world giving freetalks in what he sees as something ofa mission to help businesses grow.

He said often business owners weregreat at the job of their business, butnot at business itself.“Business own-ers make thesame mis-takes aroundthe world,”said Brad. “Iwant themto be a greatbu s i n e s sowner not justa technician intheir own busi-n e s s. ”

Nigel Jew, ActionCOACH’s Bristolcoach, urged people not to miss out.

He said: “It is fantastic to have thewo rl d ’s leading business coach inBristol to help local business ownerstake their business to the next level.

“Brad has coached tens of thou-sands of business owners and made amassive difference in their businessand lives.”� The event is supported by BristolPost publisher Local World. To signup, visit www.bristolpost.co.uk/bradsugars

Inspiring the next generation

C oa c h i n gEngineering

Ramping up S ka teret a i l e r ’s sales soarGavin ThompsonAssistant Editor (Business)[email protected]

A CLOTHING retailer with a growingcustomer base among skaters, streetartists and surfers has seen a ten-foldrise in orders over the past 12m o n t h s.

Now Recreo Clothing, which isbased in Portishead, is hopinglocal artists, musicians and fash-ion designers will benefit fromits growing success story.

The online retailer onlybegan trading two years ago,but has seen a sales surge due toa massive growth in demandfrom consumers across the UKand around the world.

Directors Duncan Wilmot, p i c t u re d ,and James Batten believe its bigger inter-national profile means a wider audience forlocal labels among the major and independentbrands which it stocks.

Duncan said: “The last year has been trulyremarkable. We decided to make relativelysubtle changes to our marketing, the rangesthat we sell and our delivery systems and theyhave all had significant impact.

“The number of orders which we havehandled since then has been increasing at therate of 30 per cent month-by-month.

“As well as continuing to grow our cus-tomer base in the South West, we have at-tracted huge numbers of shoppersthroughout Britain, Europe and as far afieldas the United States and even Australia, who

now prefer shopping with us to their localo u t l e t s. ”

He said the firm planned to capitalise onthat momentum over the next 12 months.

“Doing so also means being able to furtherour commitment to providing an even biggerstage for local designers, artists and bandswho we have worked with since we begantrading,” he said.

Since the pair launched Recreo Clothing inSeptember 2012, the brand has won cus-

tomers among the skater, street art,music, snow and surfing com-

munities with its range of cloth-ing, equipment and accessories.

Duncan said the firm waslooking to move to new, biggerof fices.

“The progress which we haveseen recently and our expecta-

tions for the future need carefulmanagement in order to be sus-

tained,” he said.“A key part of our approach is that we don’t

think that being a relatively small retailernecessarily means that we can’t have the sortof standards of service normally associatedwith much bigger brands.

“For example, we have put in place abreadth and flexibility of delivery more typ-ical of retailers many times our size.

“T hat’s because we understand how im-portant a factor that can be in consumersdeciding whether to complete purchases ornot.

“By sticking to our ideals and continuing tooffer great service, we are confident that wecan swell the number of individuals whochoose to shop with us on a regular basis,wherever they are.”

� Students queuing up for discounts at Cabot Circus in Bristol

ENGINEERING companies are try-ing to inspire young people to be-come designers and technicians.

Students from 26 schools fromBristol, South Gloucestershire, andBath and North East Somerset tookpart in Teen Tech along with 24companies, such as Airbus, whosponsored the event, and Rolls-

Royce, Dyson, JVC, NCC, Active Ro-bots and National Grid.

The event is designed to be in-teractive to capture the imagina-tions of 12 and 13 year olds withscience, engineering and techno-log y.

It targets students before theymake their GCSE subject choices,

with the aim of dispelling genderstereotypes and shifting perceptionsof careers teenagers may have con-sidered “dif ficult”, “g eek y” or “bor-ing”.

Neil Scott, Vice President of Air-bus Engineering in the UK, said;“This is a vitally important projectfor Airbus because we need to mo-tivate the next generation of en-gineers to design the aircraft of thef u t u re. ”

� India’s largest domestic airline bymarket share, IndiGo, has signed aMemorandum of Understanding for250 A320neo Family aircraft.

The agreement will become Air-bu s ’ single largest order by numberof aircraft.

Indigo president Aditya Ghoshsaid: “This reaffirms IndiGo’s com-mitment to the long-term develop-ment of affordable air trans-portation in India and overseas.”

� Airbus graduate Ethan Moss demonstrates the principle of flying to students from Yate International Academy from left, Regan Cross, Natasha Bondand Oscar Hammond all aged 13

� Chris Burton, right, regional managing director of Barratt Developments plc, speaks withsub-contractor Gary Miles

Part of the Local World group

With many years experience in fashion shows, we candesign and create your desired backdrop and shape thecatwalk while using creative lighting effects to producea show-stopping event.

Music

Lighting

Live Camera Relay

Staging your Fashion Showdoesn’t have to cost a fortune...

Call us on: 01684 575832Email us at: [email protected] us at : www.aneventservices.co.uk

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3


The Big Interview

NOT only is Sue executivedirector of The HR Dept, asuccessful businesswomanin her own right, she hasalso done it in the face of

significant adversity.A rapidly-growing business, The

HR Dept provides human resourcessupport to small and medium-sizedbusinesses through, currently, 57 li-censees at offices around the UK.

Headquartered in WinterbourneDown and with plans to grow thatnumber of licensees above 100, thecompany has become a real localsuccess story since it started up in thecity over a decade ago.

Sue still runs The HR Dept in Bris-tol, providing human resources ser-vices to local businesses.

And its growth is all the moreimpressive given that Sue, who runsthe company along with a manage-ment team including her husbandMike and her daughter Gemma, is

profoundly deaf.The problem occurred gradually

after a viral infection suffered almost30 years ago and has meant Sue hashad to learn enhanced lip-readingand body language-reading skills, tocomplement the help she receivesfrom her digital hearing aid.

She is on the waiting list for acochlear implant, so she can continueworking for years to come, and re-mains philosophical about her con-dition, refusing to let it stand in theway of business success: “No one’sperfect and hearing is not the be-alland end-all,” she said.

“I never let it stop me or prevent mefrom pursuing my career. I’m incred-ibly fortunate, because I’m otherwiseh e a l t hy.

“Deafness can be very isolating ifyou are not careful and your self-con-fidence can be lost. But I like to look atthe positives in life. Being deaf canactually make you a better listenerbecause you have to concentrate onthe other person.

“Yes it can be difficult sometimes.But why should losing one sense limityour dreams?”

Sue was born in Castleford in WestYorkshire in 1950 but grew up in Filey,in East Yorkshire, later training to bean actress at the BirminghamTheatre School.

Her first brush with business camein time off between touring, when afriend suggested that she take some

I FOCUS ON THE POSITIVES IN LIFEIf anyone at the FemaleFestival of Entrepren-eurs was seeking inspir-ation, they needed lookno further than guestspeaker Sue Tumelty, asRupert Janisch re v e a l s

than building a sustainable busi-n e s s, ” she said. “That is what WOTBis trying to encourage them to do. Oneof the problems is women generallyare more worried about taking ondebt.

“Juggling family but putting in thehours and sheer hard work building abusiness takes is hard and they areoften put down by those helpfulfriends and family who I call thedream stealers.

“Those people who say: ‘Ooh that'srisk y’, ‘that will never work’ or ‘a re n ' tyou taking a bit of a risk here’. Havecourage and if this is your dream andpassion, then go for it – and keepgoing.”

It’s a strategy which has workedwell for Sue and The HR Dept. Soonafter the company was up and run-ning, she found that she had to takeon staff and was also receiving en-quiries from well beyond Bristol andthe South West.

The idea of a network of officessoon followed and husband Mike,who had worked as the MD of amanufacturing business, came out ofretirement to be the company’s fin-ancial director.

A decade later, and the company isthriving. “Business is great,” saidSue. “The HR Dept nationally is ex-panding and the local Bristol ter-

My working day� You wake up at?6am, or5.30am on breakfastnetworking days� What do you have forb re a k f a s t ? Porridge and fruit� What time do you startwork? 7.30am, in the house� What happens in yourtypical working day? T h e reis no typical day. I guaranteeto laugh though!� What time do you gohome? Around 6pm or6.30pm� Do you take workhome/attend eveningfunctions? Ye s

� Name: Sue Tumelty� Age: 64� Place of birth: C a s t l e f o rd ,Yo r k s h i re� School: S c a r b o ro u g hConvent� First job: Working on thebeach ponies in Filey� Hero or inspiration: Mymum

Vital statistics

ritory is also recruiting more HRstaff to deal with increasing numbersof clients. The premises we movedinto so optimistically 18 months agoare starting to feel a little small!”

And working with so many SMEsnot only in Bristol but around the UKgives her a valuable insight into thegoings-on of our small business com-munity. Recruitment, after all, is gen-erally an indicator of prosperity.

She said: “Working with SMEs wesaw the economic change much earli-er than the news picked it up. Thechange about two years ago was forthese companies to start cautiouslyrecruiting staff, mainly part-time atfirst as there was still nervousnessaround doing so.

“Now we are seeing much morerecruitment for full time roles, butemployers want a far more rigorousprocess to ensure the skills and at-titudes are right.

“So testing and psychometrics arebeing used in addition to the usualcompetency based questions. Com-panies are also wanting to start train-ing again which is a very positivei n d i c at o r. ”

The lack of skills in our young

medium-sized businesses in Bristol.“In the first instance I only did it

really to give myself a job! Despitethis, I quickly found huge demand forwhat I was offering.”

That ability to transform a job intoa business is one which Sue believesmany female entrepreneurs strugglewith.

“Women often start businesses thatare really jobs for themselves rather

work with a telephone answeringcompany in Manchester, so that shecould practise accents all day.

“It was fun and I was promoted tos u p e r v i s o r, ” she said. “I left but re-joined the company in Bristol as a PAmany years later, even though Ic o u l d n’t type quickly. I was promotedto line manager, moved into trainingand then on to HR.”

After rising up to senior manage-ment level for a large company basedin Hertfordshire, Sue became disil-lusioned with corporate life and re-located to Bristol with her family.

She started working ad hoc for sev-eral blue chip firms as an HR con-sultant, which was when the pennyd ro p p e d .

“I spotted a gap in the market toprovide similar services to smallerfirms at an affordable price,” shesaid.

“Whilst large corporations havehuman resources departments tohelp them pick their way through theminefield of ever change rules, reg-ulations and red tape, for small firmsemployment issues are not just ahuge headache – they can be ex-tremely costly if they make a mis-t a ke.

“So in 2003 I set out to offer qual-ified, practical, pragmatic HR andemployment law advice to small and

� LEARNING to read andunderstand code is a “vital” skill forworking in tech businesses,according to a panel of womenexperts.

The issue was addressed at aWhat the Tech session at theFemale Festival of Entrepreneurs,chaired by Zoe Cunningham,managing director of Softwire,which has a base in Colston Tower.

Zoe said people should not bedeterred from having a go.

“People who go into learningcoding often think they are doingsomething wrong,” she said. “Yo ucopy and paste something and itworks because it’s exactly thesame, then you try to changesomething and it doesn’t work andyou think ‘I have done somethingwrong, I’m no good at this’.

“But what you have justexperienced is the job of being acoder. You spend your time findingproblems and fixing them.

“Don’t get disheartened if you tryand it doesn’t work first time.”

Fellow panellist Krisi Smith,founder of the Bluebird TeaCompany in Brighton, said: “If youwant to run an e-commercebusiness it can be very useful.”

But she added that didn’t meanmastering the subject.

“If you are taking a lot of time tosolve a problem, your time mightmore useful elsewhere but it helps if

Coding can bekey skill, saythe experts

Hundreds attend festival to marksuccess of women entrepreneurs

My downtime� What’s your perfectweekend? Pottering in thehouse and garden, going outfor lunch on Saturday andhaving family roasts onSunday� What’s your favouritebook or film or TV show?I love so many books but mybest business book is TheE-Myth by Michael Gerber� What are your hobbies?Reading

workforce is something which con-cerns Sue for the future. “We stillhave a huge skills shortage andyoung people are not coming wellequipped into the workplace,” shesaid. “This is why we work with anumber of schools doing talks andbeing part of enterprise initiatives tohelp develop talent.”

Developing young talent issomething which The HR Dept doesin its own right. The firm’s city officeis headed up by Anna Pepler, who isnow a company director at the age ofjust 27. Meanwhile Sue’s daughterGemma, formerly president of theNational Union of Students and untilApril this year the stakeholder re-lations manager at the office of La-bour leader Ed Miliband, is employedas the company’s development dir-e c t o r.

It’s not the only area in which Suesays she wants The HR Dept to prac-tice what it preaches. “I am determ-ined,” she said, “to make thecompany a beacon for good employ-ment policies.

“We offer flexible working andother benefits including a contrib-utory pension, private health insur-ance and at-cost breaks at ourCyprus-based holiday villa.

“Our staff in the Bristol office canalso work part-time if they choose to,allowing them to achieve a satisfyingwork-life balance and allowing TheHR Dept to benefit from real talentthat some other employers would re-ject.”

Sue Tumelty

“Being deaf can actuallymake you a better listenerbecause you have toconcentrate on the otherperson. Yes it can bedifficult sometimes. Butwhy should losing onesense limit your dreams?”

TWO Bristol-based founder membersof a national organisation have re-leased a manifesto calling for greatersupport for women in business.

Yvonne Bignall and Helen Farmer,who cover the South West region forProwess Connect, are lobbying politi-cians to take action to help women geta better deal.

The manifesto highlights five keypoints which they want to see on thepolitical agenda ahead of the GeneralElection next year.

The team believe women in busi-ness could be more successful if thefollowing areas were addressed: lead-ership, skills, childcare, social secur-ity and investment and funding.

The group was at the Festival ofFemale Entrepreneurs at ColstonHall on Monday.

Helen, founder of VoicebyVolumein Stoke Gifford, set up her own busi-ness after she was made redundantlast year.

The mum-of-one, whose second

child is due this month, said: “I knowfirst-hand the challenges and oppor-tunities of running my own busi-n e s s.

“I believe we need action on manylevels – from Government improve-ments to more local support. It’s im-portant to help women helpthemselves and other self-employedpeople with similar challenges.”

Single mum Yvonne, who set upLaunching Women In Business(LWIB) two years ago, said: “T hemain challenges women face in busi-ness are confidence in their abilities,financing and childcare.

“I am backing this manifestowholeheartedly. I believe if these is-sues are addressed we will see morewomen thriving in business.”

The move follows Yvonne’s visit to10 Downing Street last year for aroundtable discussion with aides ofthe Prime Minister.

According to the Office of NationalStatistics (ONS), women are now

starting more new enterprises thanmen. Since 2008, there has been a 30per cent increase in female self-em-ployment, compared to seven per centfor men.

Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton andBradley Stoke, has so far respondedto the manifesto in a letter. He saidthe Government aimed to encouragewomen into work and business by“tackling the barriers to equal op-

Festival of Female Entrepreneurs

you have a basic understanding soyou can have conversations.

“It’s so easy to learn and there arelots of free resources out there.”

Joanna Kay, managing director ofLancashire-based Digital Guys, said:“I can’t code myself but I have gotto the point where I can read it andsee that this is right or this is wrong.

“If you can start to learn somebasic HTML, I would say it’s vital.”

Jessie Frey, Bristol-based seniorproduct manager at Microsoft MixRadio, added it was good to have alevel of literacy and understandingso you fix simple problems ratherthan ask someone else.

“You need to get over that initialf e a r, ” she said, adding that a goodtime to try things out is before yourwebsite goes public.

“But I don’t think you need tolearn to do everything on your own,”she said.

� Zoe Cunningham of Softwire

portunities and social mobility”.Mr Lopresti said various measures

had been put in place to improvegender equality in the workplace.

He said: “One of the main barriersto work for women can be childcare,which is why the Government wantsto encourage more good quality, af-fordable and reliable childcare to giveworking mothers and families morechildcare provision choices.”

FOUR very different newfledgling firms have beengiven a leg up through win-ning competitions at a celeb-ration of women in business

held at the Colston Hall this week.The Festival of Female Entrepren-

eurs drew hundreds of women whoeither run their own business, workfreelance or are thinking of strikingout on their own.

As well as networking and keynotespeakers, the day saw the winnersannounced from three competitions.

Jessica Turley and Emily Pettifordfrom Bespoke Bride have secured aplace in the WebStart Bristol incub-ator by winning the Upstart Womenprize for the best digital start-up idea.The competition was created becauseof a shortage of women applying forthe scheme.

Joni Farthing, founder of event or-ganiser Women Outside The Box,said: “When WebStart Bristol andWOTB got together we knew wewanted to invest in people, not just abright idea.

“We know that a team of two orthree co-founders usually do betterthan single founders. And all thosefounders have to be very hard work-ing. When we met Jessica and Emilywe knew we’d hit gold!

“Two bubbly young women wholive their brand. Beautifully presen-ted, full of ideas and fun, committedto consistency of work and quality,utterly un-phased by talking money.

“They will use the £15,000 invest-ment to build their marketing cam-paign, and they will work withmentors and experts over the 10weeks at WebStart getting to gripswith the fundamental legal and fin-ancial aspects of running ahigh-growth business.”

The Women with Bright Ideas Com-petition, run by Innovation in En-gineering SW, to find the best femaleengineering start-up idea had joint

winners: Chloe Meineck, for her Mu-sical Memory Box, which invites de-mentia sufferers to interactwith familiar sounds thatstir lost memories, andCatherine Dodd andRosie Phelps for their‘doddl’ toddler’s cutlery,which makes eatingeasier and helps themmove towards adult cut-l e r y.

Joni said: “The winnersare fabulous! Chloe’s inven-tion may well make her huge

amounts of money. The invention of amusic box to prompt and recall

memories in dementia pa-tients was inspired by

working with her grand-mother who has demen-tia.

“C at h e r i n e ’s kids’cutlery is a very smartidea, progressing tod-dlers fast through the

eating stages that lead tothe ability to eat with a

knife and fork.“She’s a very bright and de-

termined woman, and I can see majorstores stocking this invention.”

Finally the I Bring competition –which included a range of prizes fromevent sponsors Freeagent,BrunelOne, Dunkleys and SomersetDesign was won by Sarah Parkins forher business Sniffy Wiffy, whichmakes beauty products that also pre-pare skin for a breast examination.

The festival featured keynotespeaker Fiona Stewart, left, owner ofthe Green Man Festival, workshops,networking opportunities and exhib-ition stands.

Business women should havebetter deal, say campaigners


� Yv o n n eBignall andHelen Farmer,who cover theSouth Westregion forP ro w e s sConnect, arelobbyingpoliticians totake action tohelp womenget a betterdeal

� Crowds at Women Outside The Box's Festival of Female Entrepreneurs held at the Colston Hall.

EPB-E01-S3

EPB-

E01-

S3


The Big Interview

NOT only is Sue executivedirector of The HR Dept, asuccessful businesswomanin her own right, she hasalso done it in the face of

significant adversity.A rapidly-growing business, The

HR Dept provides human resourcessupport to small and medium-sizedbusinesses through, currently, 57 li-censees at offices around the UK.

Headquartered in WinterbourneDown and with plans to grow thatnumber of licensees above 100, thecompany has become a real localsuccess story since it started up in thecity over a decade ago.

Sue still runs The HR Dept in Bris-tol, providing human resources ser-vices to local businesses.

And its growth is all the moreimpressive given that Sue, who runsthe company along with a manage-ment team including her husbandMike and her daughter Gemma, is

profoundly deaf.The problem occurred gradually

after a viral infection suffered almost30 years ago and has meant Sue hashad to learn enhanced lip-readingand body language-reading skills, tocomplement the help she receivesfrom her digital hearing aid.

She is on the waiting list for acochlear implant, so she can continueworking for years to come, and re-mains philosophical about her con-dition, refusing to let it stand in theway of business success: “No one’sperfect and hearing is not the be-alland end-all,” she said.

“I never let it stop me or prevent mefrom pursuing my career. I’m incred-ibly fortunate, because I’m otherwiseh e a l t hy.

“Deafness can be very isolating ifyou are not careful and your self-con-fidence can be lost. But I like to look atthe positives in life. Being deaf canactually make you a better listenerbecause you have to concentrate onthe other person.

“Yes it can be difficult sometimes.But why should losing one sense limityour dreams?”

Sue was born in Castleford in WestYorkshire in 1950 but grew up in Filey,in East Yorkshire, later training to bean actress at the BirminghamTheatre School.

Her first brush with business camein time off between touring, when afriend suggested that she take some

I FOCUS ON THE POSITIVES IN LIFEIf anyone at the FemaleFestival of Entrepren-eurs was seeking inspir-ation, they needed lookno further than guestspeaker Sue Tumelty, asRupert Janisch re v e a l s

than building a sustainable busi-n e s s, ” she said. “That is what WOTBis trying to encourage them to do. Oneof the problems is women generallyare more worried about taking ondebt.

“Juggling family but putting in thehours and sheer hard work building abusiness takes is hard and they areoften put down by those helpfulfriends and family who I call thedream stealers.

“Those people who say: ‘Ooh that'srisk y’, ‘that will never work’ or ‘a re n ' tyou taking a bit of a risk here’. Havecourage and if this is your dream andpassion, then go for it – and keepgoing.”

It’s a strategy which has workedwell for Sue and The HR Dept. Soonafter the company was up and run-ning, she found that she had to takeon staff and was also receiving en-quiries from well beyond Bristol andthe South West.

The idea of a network of officessoon followed and husband Mike,who had worked as the MD of amanufacturing business, came out ofretirement to be the company’s fin-ancial director.

A decade later, and the company isthriving. “Business is great,” saidSue. “The HR Dept nationally is ex-panding and the local Bristol ter-

My working day� You wake up at?6am, or5.30am on breakfastnetworking days� What do you have forb re a k f a s t ? Porridge and fruit� What time do you startwork? 7.30am, in the house� What happens in yourtypical working day? T h e reis no typical day. I guaranteeto laugh though!� What time do you gohome? Around 6pm or6.30pm� Do you take workhome/attend eveningfunctions? Ye s

� Name: Sue Tumelty� Age: 64� Place of birth: C a s t l e f o rd ,Yo r k s h i re� School: S c a r b o ro u g hConvent� First job: Working on thebeach ponies in Filey� Hero or inspiration: Mymum

Vital statistics

ritory is also recruiting more HRstaff to deal with increasing numbersof clients. The premises we movedinto so optimistically 18 months agoare starting to feel a little small!”

And working with so many SMEsnot only in Bristol but around the UKgives her a valuable insight into thegoings-on of our small business com-munity. Recruitment, after all, is gen-erally an indicator of prosperity.

She said: “Working with SMEs wesaw the economic change much earli-er than the news picked it up. Thechange about two years ago was forthese companies to start cautiouslyrecruiting staff, mainly part-time atfirst as there was still nervousnessaround doing so.

“Now we are seeing much morerecruitment for full time roles, butemployers want a far more rigorousprocess to ensure the skills and at-titudes are right.

“So testing and psychometrics arebeing used in addition to the usualcompetency based questions. Com-panies are also wanting to start train-ing again which is a very positivei n d i c at o r. ”

The lack of skills in our young

medium-sized businesses in Bristol.“In the first instance I only did it

really to give myself a job! Despitethis, I quickly found huge demand forwhat I was offering.”

That ability to transform a job intoa business is one which Sue believesmany female entrepreneurs strugglewith.

“Women often start businesses thatare really jobs for themselves rather

work with a telephone answeringcompany in Manchester, so that shecould practise accents all day.

“It was fun and I was promoted tos u p e r v i s o r, ” she said. “I left but re-joined the company in Bristol as a PAmany years later, even though Ic o u l d n’t type quickly. I was promotedto line manager, moved into trainingand then on to HR.”

After rising up to senior manage-ment level for a large company basedin Hertfordshire, Sue became disil-lusioned with corporate life and re-located to Bristol with her family.

She started working ad hoc for sev-eral blue chip firms as an HR con-sultant, which was when the pennyd ro p p e d .

“I spotted a gap in the market toprovide similar services to smallerfirms at an affordable price,” shesaid.

“Whilst large corporations havehuman resources departments tohelp them pick their way through theminefield of ever change rules, reg-ulations and red tape, for small firmsemployment issues are not just ahuge headache – they can be ex-tremely costly if they make a mis-t a ke.

“So in 2003 I set out to offer qual-ified, practical, pragmatic HR andemployment law advice to small and

� LEARNING to read andunderstand code is a “vital” skill forworking in tech businesses,according to a panel of womenexperts.

The issue was addressed at aWhat the Tech session at theFemale Festival of Entrepreneurs,chaired by Zoe Cunningham,managing director of Softwire,which has a base in Colston Tower.

Zoe said people should not bedeterred from having a go.

“People who go into learningcoding often think they are doingsomething wrong,” she said. “Yo ucopy and paste something and itworks because it’s exactly thesame, then you try to changesomething and it doesn’t work andyou think ‘I have done somethingwrong, I’m no good at this’.

“But what you have justexperienced is the job of being acoder. You spend your time findingproblems and fixing them.

“Don’t get disheartened if you tryand it doesn’t work first time.”

Fellow panellist Krisi Smith,founder of the Bluebird TeaCompany in Brighton, said: “If youwant to run an e-commercebusiness it can be very useful.”

But she added that didn’t meanmastering the subject.

“If you are taking a lot of time tosolve a problem, your time mightmore useful elsewhere but it helps if

Coding can bekey skill, saythe experts

Hundreds attend festival to marksuccess of women entrepreneurs

My downtime� What’s your perfectweekend? Pottering in thehouse and garden, going outfor lunch on Saturday andhaving family roasts onSunday� What’s your favouritebook or film or TV show?I love so many books but mybest business book is TheE-Myth by Michael Gerber� What are your hobbies?Reading

workforce is something which con-cerns Sue for the future. “We stillhave a huge skills shortage andyoung people are not coming wellequipped into the workplace,” shesaid. “This is why we work with anumber of schools doing talks andbeing part of enterprise initiatives tohelp develop talent.”

Developing young talent issomething which The HR Dept doesin its own right. The firm’s city officeis headed up by Anna Pepler, who isnow a company director at the age ofjust 27. Meanwhile Sue’s daughterGemma, formerly president of theNational Union of Students and untilApril this year the stakeholder re-lations manager at the office of La-bour leader Ed Miliband, is employedas the company’s development dir-e c t o r.

It’s not the only area in which Suesays she wants The HR Dept to prac-tice what it preaches. “I am determ-ined,” she said, “to make thecompany a beacon for good employ-ment policies.

“We offer flexible working andother benefits including a contrib-utory pension, private health insur-ance and at-cost breaks at ourCyprus-based holiday villa.

“Our staff in the Bristol office canalso work part-time if they choose to,allowing them to achieve a satisfyingwork-life balance and allowing TheHR Dept to benefit from real talentthat some other employers would re-ject.”

Sue Tumelty

“Being deaf can actuallymake you a better listenerbecause you have toconcentrate on the otherperson. Yes it can bedifficult sometimes. Butwhy should losing onesense limit your dreams?”

TWO Bristol-based founder membersof a national organisation have re-leased a manifesto calling for greatersupport for women in business.

Yvonne Bignall and Helen Farmer,who cover the South West region forProwess Connect, are lobbying politi-cians to take action to help women geta better deal.

The manifesto highlights five keypoints which they want to see on thepolitical agenda ahead of the GeneralElection next year.

The team believe women in busi-ness could be more successful if thefollowing areas were addressed: lead-ership, skills, childcare, social secur-ity and investment and funding.

The group was at the Festival ofFemale Entrepreneurs at ColstonHall on Monday.

Helen, founder of VoicebyVolumein Stoke Gifford, set up her own busi-ness after she was made redundantlast year.

The mum-of-one, whose second

child is due this month, said: “I knowfirst-hand the challenges and oppor-tunities of running my own busi-n e s s.

“I believe we need action on manylevels – from Government improve-ments to more local support. It’s im-portant to help women helpthemselves and other self-employedpeople with similar challenges.”

Single mum Yvonne, who set upLaunching Women In Business(LWIB) two years ago, said: “T hemain challenges women face in busi-ness are confidence in their abilities,financing and childcare.

“I am backing this manifestowholeheartedly. I believe if these is-sues are addressed we will see morewomen thriving in business.”

The move follows Yvonne’s visit to10 Downing Street last year for aroundtable discussion with aides ofthe Prime Minister.

According to the Office of NationalStatistics (ONS), women are now

starting more new enterprises thanmen. Since 2008, there has been a 30per cent increase in female self-em-ployment, compared to seven per centfor men.

Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton andBradley Stoke, has so far respondedto the manifesto in a letter. He saidthe Government aimed to encouragewomen into work and business by“tackling the barriers to equal op-

Festival of Female Entrepreneurs

you have a basic understanding soyou can have conversations.

“It’s so easy to learn and there arelots of free resources out there.”

Joanna Kay, managing director ofLancashire-based Digital Guys, said:“I can’t code myself but I have gotto the point where I can read it andsee that this is right or this is wrong.

“If you can start to learn somebasic HTML, I would say it’s vital.”

Jessie Frey, Bristol-based seniorproduct manager at Microsoft MixRadio, added it was good to have alevel of literacy and understandingso you fix simple problems ratherthan ask someone else.

“You need to get over that initialf e a r, ” she said, adding that a goodtime to try things out is before yourwebsite goes public.

“But I don’t think you need tolearn to do everything on your own,”she said.

� Zoe Cunningham of Softwire

portunities and social mobility”.Mr Lopresti said various measures

had been put in place to improvegender equality in the workplace.

He said: “One of the main barriersto work for women can be childcare,which is why the Government wantsto encourage more good quality, af-fordable and reliable childcare to giveworking mothers and families morechildcare provision choices.”

FOUR very different newfledgling firms have beengiven a leg up through win-ning competitions at a celeb-ration of women in business

held at the Colston Hall this week.The Festival of Female Entrepren-

eurs drew hundreds of women whoeither run their own business, workfreelance or are thinking of strikingout on their own.

As well as networking and keynotespeakers, the day saw the winnersannounced from three competitions.

Jessica Turley and Emily Pettifordfrom Bespoke Bride have secured aplace in the WebStart Bristol incub-ator by winning the Upstart Womenprize for the best digital start-up idea.The competition was created becauseof a shortage of women applying forthe scheme.

Joni Farthing, founder of event or-ganiser Women Outside The Box,said: “When WebStart Bristol andWOTB got together we knew wewanted to invest in people, not just abright idea.

“We know that a team of two orthree co-founders usually do betterthan single founders. And all thosefounders have to be very hard work-ing. When we met Jessica and Emilywe knew we’d hit gold!

“Two bubbly young women wholive their brand. Beautifully presen-ted, full of ideas and fun, committedto consistency of work and quality,utterly un-phased by talking money.

“They will use the £15,000 invest-ment to build their marketing cam-paign, and they will work withmentors and experts over the 10weeks at WebStart getting to gripswith the fundamental legal and fin-ancial aspects of running ahigh-growth business.”

The Women with Bright Ideas Com-petition, run by Innovation in En-gineering SW, to find the best femaleengineering start-up idea had joint

winners: Chloe Meineck, for her Mu-sical Memory Box, which invites de-mentia sufferers to interactwith familiar sounds thatstir lost memories, andCatherine Dodd andRosie Phelps for their‘doddl’ toddler’s cutlery,which makes eatingeasier and helps themmove towards adult cut-l e r y.

Joni said: “The winnersare fabulous! Chloe’s inven-tion may well make her huge

amounts of money. The invention of amusic box to prompt and recall

memories in dementia pa-tients was inspired by

working with her grand-mother who has demen-tia.

“C at h e r i n e ’s kids’cutlery is a very smartidea, progressing tod-dlers fast through the

eating stages that lead tothe ability to eat with a

knife and fork.“She’s a very bright and de-

termined woman, and I can see majorstores stocking this invention.”

Finally the I Bring competition –which included a range of prizes fromevent sponsors Freeagent,BrunelOne, Dunkleys and SomersetDesign was won by Sarah Parkins forher business Sniffy Wiffy, whichmakes beauty products that also pre-pare skin for a breast examination.

The festival featured keynotespeaker Fiona Stewart, left, owner ofthe Green Man Festival, workshops,networking opportunities and exhib-ition stands.

Business women should havebetter deal, say campaigners


� Yv o n n eBignall andHelen Farmer,who cover theSouth Westregion forP ro w e s sConnect, arelobbyingpoliticians totake action tohelp womenget a betterdeal

� Crowds at Women Outside The Box's Festival of Female Entrepreneurs held at the Colston Hall.

EPB-

E01-

S3

8 We d n e s d a y, October 22, 2014w w w. b r i s t o l p o s t .co.uk/business

NETWORKERS took the op-portunity to meet thepeople they tweet at a newevent that was held in Bris-tol.

Organiser Amanda Kerin decidedto set Tweet Up Bristol after attend-ing a similar event in Bath.

“I thought Bristol needs a tweet up,so I organised it,” she said. “I run my

Festival shows we’re at global heart of wildlife film-making

AS the cream of the world’senvironmental filmmakingindustry gathers in Bristolthis week for WildscreenFilm Festival, behind the

scenes, the collaboration between there gion’s world-class tech cluster andits rich seam of film and TV pro-duction experts is driving the nextgeneration of filmmaking.

The Bristol and Bath area is thewo rl d ’s capital of the wildlife andenvironmental film and TV industry,with 30 per cent of global productioncoming from this region. The BBC’sNatural History Unit in Bristol iscurrently the anchor for 20 produc-tions and has also encouraged manyindependent TV production compan-

ies to set up in the area.The Wildscreen Film Festival

showcases the best in the business,the latest technological innovationsand new storytelling styles, as wellproviding the perfect opportunity forthe industry to meet face-to-face tomake those all important deals.

But our region is also home to aglobally-significant, fast-growinghigh tech, creative and digital clusterthat is helping to set the agenda forthe future of the film and TV industry.

Opinion

Work across multiple technologyfields is resulting in the developmentof a wave of innovative filming andvisualisation techniques.

Wildscreen Exchange, one of thewo rl d ’s largest collections of naturalhistory content, is being digitallytagged using high performance com-puting expertise found in this region.The hub will empower conservationorganisations with free and afford-able premium digital media to enableimpactful campaigning, educatingand storytelling.

And strengths in robotics – viaBristol and Bath businesses such asOpen Bionics for example – a reproviding filmmakers with the po-tential for innovative ways of cre-

ating shots that would previouslyhave needed a helicopter – or couldn’thave been done at all.

Our region boasts a long heritagein technologies that aid broadcast-ing, including silicon chip design anddigital expertise. This leads to somepretty impressive statistics: over 1billion set-top boxes are powered bysilicon chips made here and over 500million people a month see digitalcontent produced in Bristol and Bathfrom providers like the global You-Tube leader The Yogscast, FuturePublishing and the BBC.

Invest Bristol & Bath is one ofWi l d s c re e n’s key partners and isbacking a ‘Made in Bristol & Bath’session at the festival where at-

Business diary

Email your business events [email protected] are sometimescancelled without us beingnotified so please check withorganisers before travelling.

Bristol Distinguished Address:UWE’s series giving the chanceto meet the leaders of industrycontinues with Stephen Varley -chairman and managing partnerUK&I, Ernst & Young. Bristol CityHall, 6pm, October 23. Registervia UWE.

Ready for Business: F re eworkshop from Business Westand BRAVE Bristol aimed atpotential start-ups. Takes placeat Brave, The Coach House,Upper York Street, Bristol, from10am-4pm, October 23 & 28.

The Pitch Final: 30 UKbusinesses pitch for investmentand to be crowned champions.Plus speeches by Bristol MayorGeorge Ferguson andBrightpearl founder AndrewMulvenna. Paintworks, from 9amto 8pm on Thursday, October 23.Tickets via Eventbrite.

Buying Customers - BradSugars: Sales and marketingguru Brad Sugars gives a freeseminar on his techniques tomake marketing pay at UWEExhibition and ConferenceCentre, Thursday, October 23.Sign up at Bristolpost.co.uk/bradsugars.

Bristol Connected: Businessnetworking event run by theBristol Post team. Chance tohear a couple of short speakersthen network. 6pm-8pm onTuesday, October 28 atDoubleTree by Hilton, Bristol CityCentre. Sign up at Eventrbrite.

Bristol Distinguished Address:UWE’s series giving the chanceto meet the leaders of industrycontinues with Dr Tony Cocker,CEO, E.ON. Bristol City Hall,6pm, October 28. Register viaUWE.

Celebrating Family Business:Family Business United andClose Brothers are inviting familyfirms to join them at BristolMuseum and Art Gallery tocelebrate The Oldest FamilyBusiness in the South West from6.30pm on Thursday, October30. Register ath t t p : / / o w. l y / D 6 Z 6 2

Chance to meet and greet those who tweetown events agency – I’m a start-up inyear two, hence why networking is sokey to me professionally.”

The event is designed to be fun andinformal, with no format, nospeeches and no presentations, justnetworking about business and con-necting people, with the commonground of Twitter.

Amanda added: “Social media is

such a powerful promotional tool forbusiness, it makes sense to providethe opportunity for people wanting toengage with other businesses face toface and meet who you tweet!”

Amanda always gives 10 per cent ofher event ticket sales to charity andhas chosen the NSPCC to benefit fromthis one after meeting Caroline Mor-gan from the child protection charity

at the Bath event.“Tweet Up Bristol is a great op-

portunity for everyone to network ina relaxed informal environmentwhere you can talk about everythingbusiness, Twitter and more,” saidAmanda.

The next event is on November 25,from 6-9pm, at the newly refurbishedRevolution Bar.

� Paola Davis and Yoma Smith BRJK20141014F-010 � Jessica Davies and Dave Kilbey BRJK20141014F-012

� Left,StephenGilpin, LeeWa t e r s o nand CarolineMorgan atthe TweetUp Bristolevent at theRevolutionBar inBristol;right, evento rg a n i s e rAmandaKerinP i c t u re s :Jon KentBRJK20141014F-008/BRJK20141014F-004

David Maher-RobertsInvest Bristol & Bath

tendees from around the globe willfind out how to monetise existingcontent using YouTube, hearing fromthose already making this happen.

We have the talent, we have theuniversities, but we also havesomething unique – Bristol and Bathtech companies don’t just offer soft-ware solutions, they also have peoplewho can build the hardware too.

So if the broadcasting solution in-volves robotics, gaming techniques,UAVs or a bespoke device, there isalways someone here who can help.

David Maher-Roberts is creative anddigital media sector specialist at In-vest Bristol and Bath, a sponsor ofWildscreen Film Festival

In pictures Tweet Up Bristol

Documents

Business 22 October2014