Breaking through the traditional images of farmers and farming, comes a modern day, family-run salad-growing business based in Hinckley, Leicestershire. With the use of new technology, practices that protect the natural environment and a passion for healthy, high-quality food, the young team at Lockwood Salads are changing perceptions leaf by leaf. With an agricultural degree, followed by hands-on and management experience at farms in England and Canada as well as an exciting year in southern Italy growing spinach, Adam Lockwood (32) knew he wanted more. Realising there weren’t many people growing baby leaf salad, he began Lockwood Salads in 2019 with 50 acres of land. The business grows baby spinach, red lettuce, bull’s blood, red chard, land cress and wild rocket. As the business began to grow, Adam looked for support from the Business Gateway Growth Hub which is the one stop shop for Leicestershire businesses. Before COVID, the business operated in two ways – growing and packing its own branded salad bags for wholesale markets used by food service and catering businesses, and selling crops that went straight from the field in trucks to larger suppliers who washed, packed and distributed them to supermarkets. This was during their core season which runs from April to October. The rest of the year the team would import salad from Europe, pack and send it out giving the business an all-year supply. As hospitality businesses closed due to the national lockdown, this effectively ended the supply to this sector but when the supermarkets began to demand more with everyone staying at home, Lockwood Salads switched its focus to this side of the business. Its volume for supermarkets has risen massively from 15,000 to around 35,000 kilos a week but Brexit has also had a huge impact resulting in price wars with larger suppliers, so Lockwood Salads has not returned to importing salad on the same scale for the time being. The business has four employees, including Adam’s partner Alice, which increases to 15 people during peak season. Growth has been rapid and the business now has 300 acres to manage. Adam regularly calls on Business Gateway adviser, Aruna Bhagwan, for advice. He explained: “In the first year you are setting everything up – finding a farm, getting customers, growing a crop.  It wasn’t easy but I knew what I had to do. I was using a loan and my own money. The second year was much more difficult with a lot more outgoings like seeds and rent, and with no reserves, cash flow was an issue. This was made harder being a seasonal business where we are spending from February but have no income until June. I turned to Aruna to help me consider a growth plan. “She gave me advice on the different avenues of support and we were signposted to Hinckley and Bosworth Council’s Recovery Grant. Aruna helped me through the application process and we were successful in securing £15,000 towards a new robotic weeding machine, which is going to greatly improve efficiency.” He added: “I have to say Aruna has been absolutely fantastic. From the beginning, I’ve tried to surround myself with people that can listen and advise. I count Aruna as one of those people. I can pick up the phone anytime and have a chat, it definitely helps to get an external viewpoint.” Aruna commented: “This is such a positive team who are changing the way things are done. From using vegetable oil as fuel to reduce carbon emissions, to monitoring rainfall data to inform their decision-making. I’m so proud of what they’ve achieved. They are on an exciting upward trajectory, and it’s been a pleasure supporting them.”  

Leicester based, Industrial Wiper Company, collects unwanted second-hand clothing and fabric and creates cleaning wipers that are used across a variety of industries from food to janitorial services. Despite a turbulent year facing many market disruptions, as well as the personal and tragic loss of Managing Director, Mark Walters to cancer, this rag and bone business has not just survived but is starting to thrive once again. Mark’s father, Mike Walters established the business in the 1960s.  Back then a horse and cart were used to collect the waste fabric from Leicester companies.  These days t-shirts, sheets and towelling are collected from charities, hotels and factories right across the country and imported from Europe and Asia.  As in the past, the fabrics are then sorted, cut up, bagged and sold – mainly business-to-business – using distributors who sell the wipers on to the auto trade, powder coaters, sign makers, food producers and ventilation cleaners to name a few. When Mark became ill early last year, he called on the Business Gateway Growth Hub and his cousin David Burns for help. David had previously worked as Northern European Marketing Manager for Castrol and ran a capability consulting business. At the time, the business was facing several challenges.  David had come in but with little knowledge of the market or business. There was a shortage in supply of key fabrics, and they were losing significant sums of money a year, due to a combination of factors including inefficient internal systems and procedures, spiralling costs and an unsustainable pricing structure. In addition, their long-term bookkeeper left the company plus Covid-19 and Brexit struck which meant short term closure, a drop in demand for their products and further difficulties accessing the suppliers and the fabric needed to create the wipers.  The number of challenges facing the business, from both internal and external influences was unprecedented.  But by working in partnership with their Business Adviser at the Business Gateway, David was able to tackle every one of them. David said: “This was a time of real disruption and concern. But all the way through I found adviser Joanna Moore and the Business Gateway was the one place I could turn to – to ask questions, get support and find out how things were done locally. I was literally on my own with the team and she was the only person I could talk to, express concern and get help.” As well as providing David with an outlet to discuss problems and identify possible solutions, Joanna was able to offer practical help with several key challenges.  For example, she signposted David to the Leicester Employment Hub to help him quickly recruit a number of key positions within the organisation and access support from the private sector to develop their internal financial systems and processes.  David was also put in touch with one of the Business Gateway’s export consultants, Andrea Collins who understood the intricacies of Brexit and helped them locate a supplier partner to bring materials into the country. David continued: “We’ve also had help with grants. When the metal detected products we supply to the food industry started to come in short supply from Europe, we wanted to set up our own detecting facilities within our factory. Joanna helped us source and apply for an NBV grant of £1,500 towards some machinery giving us in-house capability.” They have also updated the website using a Small Business Recovery grant and Mark’s wife Kay, who is now working at the company, has taken advantage of the Business Gateway finance workshops to build her skills in this area. “It’s been a real partnership. Each time we’ve reviewed our capability we’ve come to the Growth Hub and said, ‘this has disrupted our market, we now need to do this, can you help us?’ And each time Joanna has provided solutions we could try. That’s what I like about it. It’s enabling and assisting to deliver on the opportunities from the disruption in the market,” added David. Joanna Moore commented: “I’ve really enjoyed working with David and Industrial Wiper Company. As an adviser, it’s lovely when you can work with a client, over a longer period.  It gives you the opportunity to really get to know the business and people involved and so it is extra rewarding when you help them to overcome whatever challenges they are experiencing at that time.” The great news is, with the help and support of Joanna and a lot of hard work and dedication from David and his team the business has managed to turn things around and is on target to move from a large loss to a net profit of £15,000 this year. The future is looking even brighter for the business.  Growth plans include working with a new partner, which processes 50,000 tonnes of clothing from their bins and shops, to secure and grow fabric supply.  New non-woven products have been added to the wiper range and a consultancy service has been launched to ensure customers can optimise performance and the cost of their wiping, cleaning, and polishing requirements.  Plus, all Industrial Wipers products and services can now be viewed and ordered via their recently rebranded and redeveloped website – www.industrialwiper.co.uk Finally, David added: “The Growth Hub has been a lifeline. The emotional impact of the support we’ve had is probably an area people don’t fully understand or value. In a small business with everything that goes on to have someone to turn to, bounce ideas off, talk about the market and get feedback: to have another rational voice there, that’s of amazing value.”

A local home builder is supporting those working within the education sector, who play such an important role in their communities by launching a new incentive designed to boost their efforts to buy a new home. David Wilson Homes Yorkshire West, which has it’s Gateford Manor development in Gateford, is offering a deposit contribution of up to £15,000 off the price of a new home for anyone who works at a nursery, school, college or university. The Education Workers scheme, which is being piloted in Yorkshire, allows buyers to receive a deposit contribution of £750 for every £25,000 spent, up to a maximum contribution of £15,000. The discount is designed to help everyone working in the education sector get onto the property ladder or secure a brand new home, as a thank-you for their hard work over the past 18 months. The introduction of the scheme gives something back to the professionals across the region working in the education sector who have faced a challenging 18 months, during which they have had to adapt quickly to school and class closures and the challenges associated with remote teaching. To mark the launch of the pilot scheme, the home builder is also offering £200 school fund contributions for every sale of employees of that school purchasing a home with David Wilson Homes in Worksop and Nottinghamshire. Sam Wood, Sales Director at David Wilson Homes Yorkshire West said: “The teachers, tutors, lecturers and support staff who work in Worksop and Nottinghamshire have done a tremendous job in challenging circumstances over the last 18 months, so we wanted to thank them in the form of some extra support for those who might be looking to buy a new home. We have a range of properties available for first time buyers and growing families alike, and our sales advisors are on hand to arrange appointments and viewings around busy schedules for anyone eager to find out more.”