< Previous East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk END OF YEAR ROUND-UP Resilience and success © stock.adobe.com/Alexey Fedorenkowww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link END OF YEAR ROUND-UP I t’s been a bumpy year for pretty much the entire country, but the midlands and the north have often found themselves scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to any investment from our government. Said government has been busy imploding, waging culture wars, dealing with incompetence and corruption, and ultimately creating and causing drama rather than improve the lives of their constituents as they’re supposed to. Has it all been doom and gloom for the East Midlands, however? Not really. If there was one thing the absolute sham of governance has taught us over the last few years, it’s how to become more resilient. COVID-19 and the pandemic taught businesses to be lean, while the “recovery” taught them to be resilient, and now the lack of aid from down south has taught them to be independent. On the back of budgets and statements and “levelling up” that always seems to amount to so much window dressing, businesses in the region have continued to truck on and find their own success, and to make more out of less, and that’s deserving of a lot of praise. In the East Midlands, regional unemployment has remained under 4% leading into the end of the year, coming in at 3.7% according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) compared to the country’s average of 4.2%. That’s half a percentage point lower, which may not sound like much, but which represents a huge number of people. Rising economic inactivity has been a worrying trend for the UK for a while, as it represents something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, with people kept out of work losing spirit and also finding it hard to source new work due to large gaps in their job history on a CV. In the wake of the pandemic, getting people back into work has been a primary focus, and one that has struggled across the UK as a whole, but the East Midlands has done well to buck the trend. That is why the scrapping of HS2 has been hailed as such a blow to the region, as it represents a “levelling down” of the region’s economic potential. The government’s latest statement and promises of an East Midlands Investment Zone and £53 million of Levelling-Up Funding for projects in the region won’t excite many business owners as much as they otherwise might have. In a very real way, the money being used for those could be said to come from money and investment taken away from HS2 – and not even at a good exchange rate. In the East Midlands especially, we’re already waiting for electrification on the main lines, and the scrapping of HS2 doesn’t show much of an ambitious image to the rest of the world, and likely won’t do much to invite investment to the country. There’s a lot of talk about devolution in the East Midlands as well. In October, key legislation was approved that could enable the official formation of the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA). If this goes ahead, it could see The East Midlands has done well for itself, which is impressive given the absolute lack of assistance and meaningful aid it’s had for what feels like an entire 12 months. 22 Á East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk END OF YEAR ROUND-UP Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire benefitting from £1.14 billion of funding to invest in local projects, infrastructure, transport, education, skills and housing. If this goes ahead the EMCCA will be ruled by an elected mayor, which would likely see an election in or around May 2024, and could see the East Midlands having the first combined council authority in the country. Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t doubts and concerns to be raised. There is already some issues and complaint over an election booklet which could see costs as high as £900,000, but the authorities behind it stress that it may be an unavoidable cost. After all, we’re all used to our government elections and how those work, but this will be the first time the East Midlands would be electing a mayor of the EMCCA, and the first time such will have ever existed, so there is bound to be a lot of confusion and not much understanding. Future elections may not require such investment, but it’s better everyone be aware – and not everyone will be willing to educate themselves by reading online or tuning into local broadcasts. Any election for Mayor of the EMCCA is bound to be in some degree controversial in no small part because it will be treading new ground. The Mayor of the proposed EMCCA would be responsible for deciding funding and investing in the region, and there’s obvious potential for businesses from Nottingham and Derby to butt heads and accuse one another of getting the lion’s share. It will be a delicate balance for the mayor and their team to ensure that both counties get an even share of the investment money, and that concerns from both sides are heard, but the relevant councils have been working together for some time now in preparation for this, so the foundations of cooperation are already there. A devolution deal for Greater Lincolnshire has also taken a step forward after central government announced the agreement of a proposed deal that could see millions flowing from the government to an MCCA in Greater Lincolnshire. Council leaders from across Lincolnshire have united to praise the news and have shown much excitement for the deal, which could see more decisions on the allocation of funding and investment made by those with local ties to the area. © stock.adobe.com/SakhanPhotographywww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link END OF YEAR ROUND-UP Moving onto other exciting future prospects for the region, it’s worth noting that while the autumn statement was a little lacklustre in many ways (at least with regards to how the average person will benefit), the news that the East Midlands will be gaining another investment zone is undeniably good news for the region. The second East Midlands Investment Zone has not yet had a location or name provided, but it will focus on green industries and advanced manufacturing and is expected to leverage £383 million in private investment and create up to 4,200 new jobs. While there are likely to be challenges in finding all those employees, especially for advanced roles, it could also be opportunities for local universities to offer up graduates for roles in manufacturing, engineering and design. Hopefully, it will even help the region get below 3.7% on its unemployment figures. Going into 2024, many companies in the East Midlands are looking (or are currently trying) to increase the size of their teams, but in a recent survey 67% said they were having trouble finding suitable staff to fit their needs. To hear that over two thirds of businesses are feeling that their options for recruitment are substandard is concerning, but it’s also pointing to something that is more than just a “trend” or “one-off occurrence”. If two thirds of companies cannot find suitable staff, then it may be that suitable staff simply do not exist, necessitating businesses to look at ways to turn unsuitable candidates into suitable ones. While this is undoubtedly possible with training, both in-house and external, there’s no denying it’s a costly endeavour, and that many are seeing it as a last resort. However, recruitment is also costly and isn’t likely to get any less so, and the issues with finding high quality staff have existed for well over a year now. It’s not something that is simply going to go away despite people’s best efforts, so a decision to be made in 2024 may have to be on whether a business wants to keep recruiting in the hopes of finding the right person – potentially throwing thousands away in recruitment advertising and interview time – or whether they want to start early on taking in employees who are close to fitting the bill, and trying to invest in taking them the rest of the way. © stock.adobe.com/SakhanPhotography East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk BLUEPRINT INTERIORS Q&A Can you tell us a little about Blueprint Interiors? We’re an award winning workplace consultant and commercial office fit- out specialist. We work with ambitious, people-focused brands to create one- of-a-kind office environments that consider wellbeing and inspire people to be happier, motivated and more productive. We help employers understand what their people and their business needs from the physical workplace, and how it can influence the ‘unseen’ bits like culture, wellbeing and behaviours. Having defined your needs, we then design and build a bespoke workplace that supports your business to achieve its goals. A space where people can be happy, productive, and are equipped to perform at their best. How can workplace design promote productivity and success? Many businesses are still struggling to understand what their workplace is for and what they need to do to attract people back to the workplace. There’s been a revolution in what people want from their offices in the last few years. The necessary need for people to work from home suddenly gave us all a choice of how to work; at the kitchen table, sofa, or home office. And for many, this was the first time they’d had such a choice. Getting people to come back to the rows and rows of desks they left when they appear to have more choice at home (plus a commute to do) was always going to be hard. For employees, every morning is a mental equation. Adding and subtracting to work out, “is my commute worth it?” As workplace designers, we continue to learn, adapt and grow with the evolving trends in how people are working, but more importantly, how they want to work. The main thing to remember is that it’s all about focusing first and foremost on your people. We can all see that the world is catching up to the idea that offices are places for people to thrive, not for corporations to simply provide accommodation. We used to design offices with processes, adjacencies and efficiencies in mind. They could have been square footage led (how many people will fit in this space?) or design/brand led (we want the space to A workplace used to be just a place where staff worked, but evolving needs and preferences have led to ‘people focused’ workplace designs that create an ‘experience’ in which employees thrive because their needs are met. We speak with Rob Day, Chairman and Founder of Blueprint Interiors, and also Chloe Sproston, Creative Director, to find out how things have changed in the workplace, and what employers can do to make their employees happy and eager to work there. Rob Day, Chairman and Founder Chloe Sproston, Creative Director Mutual House - Melton Mowbray Building Societywww.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link BLUEPRINT INTERIORS Q&A look great). But things have changed. Conventional office spaces where people do the same activities 9-5 are now irrelevant. It’s now more vital to consider human-centric goals and aims, and the different qualities of the people using the space. Because when your people fulfil their potential, your business will also thrive. Describe examples from recent projects One of our recent projects was for Gleeds UK who relocated their Nottingham operations to a new space in the city centre. We’ve previously worked with Gleeds UK to refurbish their offices in Bristol and Manchester and enjoyed working with leadership once again to achieve a unified yet distinctive office style in the new Nottingham location. Gleeds wanted to create a modern and adaptable workplace in order to coincide with their own business focus on sustainability and environmental responsibility. In this sense the design had to reflect these core values while also making the office an attractive and comfortable place to work. The new location boasts over 11,000 sq ft of the highest quality office space, with sustainability as a core principle throughout the design. The space fosters flexibility in work arrangements and places a strong emphasis on employee wellbeing, collaboration and team synergy. The Melton Building Society embarked on their complete office refurbishment and fit out in order to encourage people back into the workplace, add value to their members and enhance community engagement. With a new CEO at the helm and following a rebrand, we were appointed to revamp their head office, Mutual House, to provide a more efficient work environment and to bring value to members by investing in a shared future. Throughout the process, much consideration was given to the fact that members should benefit from the new space as well as employees. A truly great workplace is designed with people and their wellbeing in mind. The workplace consultancy phase of the project helped us to understand exactly what that meant for MMBS. This first stage of our trusted four-step process delved into their team, culture, space and processes to uncover insights that we used to form their bespoke workplace strategy. Equipped with this information, we created a design brief for a space to enable people to perform at their best. The human-centric design concept focused on the ability for people to be happy, healthy and productive at work, rather than being constrained to a traditional corporate layout. Determining office space needs is still a challenge. Where do you start? Your workspace should facilitate the way your business works. Refurbishing your space gives you the exciting opportunity to ‘start again’ with your office design to reflect the constant evolution of your people, systems and ambitions. The most logical place to start is a workplace consultancy project as this will help to shape opinion as well as budget. It’s not always necessary to relocate in order to achieve the perfect office space To find out more, visit www.blueprintinteriors.com email hello@blueprintinteriors.com or call 01530 223111. to suit the way your business works. Assessing if and how your current space could be utilised further to achieve maximum potential is a worthwhile exercise. This is why the initial workplace consultancy work is so very important. A good office design can enhance your staff’s motivation to succeed and create value in your business, with the payoffs being increased productivity and effectiveness. In fact, consider the alternative – a workplace that hasn’t been designed at all. Many people are working in such environments where changes in the workplace have been made as a response to growth rather than having been planned. Such spaces are usually characterised by inconsistent planning and purchases. Your ideal office design doesn’t have to cost the earth. But not having a design is the same as not having a plan, and we all know the consequences of a lack of planning. Research now shows that it’s the experience that attracts people to the office. Worldline UK&I - Beeston, Nottingham East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk INVOICE AND FINANCE SOLUTIONS L ate payments, a universal issue plaguing all businesses, have further-reaching consequences than it would appear to the inexperienced. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are an undeniable support structure to the nation’s economy, comprising 99.9% of UK private sector businesses. Often hailed as the backbone of Britain, they more accurately represent the entire skeletal system. If this system weakens, the entire nation stands on shaky ground. The economy operates in a symbiotic manner with every single business. Disruptions in one area inevitably reverberate through others. The chronic issue of late payments stands as a stark example, affecting companies and corporations not only in specific regions but across the UK. Despite the significance of SMEs, the fact remains that they face separate struggles with customers who seem unwilling to follow through on their responsibility to compensate for services rendered. This pervasive issue threatens SMEs themselves as much as their contribution to national wealth, siphoning billions in critical funding from the economy. Late payments, beyond their immediate impact, become a systemic issue with severe ripple effects on economic health and vitality. With the latest statistics placing our total number of SMEs at 5.5 million, the struggle against late payments is a collective one. The economic climate, now more than ever shot through with uncertainty and bleak outlooks, further exacerbates the challenges. A worrying cycle unfolds as businesses, grappling with delayed payments, inadvertently contribute to perpetuating the late payment epidemic. The aftershocks of this chronic issue extend beyond mere inconvenience. Small businesses find themselves in a relentless cycle of daily invoice chasing, straining relationships with clients and jeopardizing future dealings. Simultaneously, the affected company may decide to forego future business with a client or customer deemed likely to cause payment delays again. Among the worst-performing sectors, surprisingly, are membership The scourge of late payments Beyond immediate financial strain, late payments threaten to destabilise businesses across our region and, by extension, the nation’s economic health. www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link INVOICE AND FINANCE SOLUTIONS organisations—entities like trade bodies and subscription-based organisations. Businesses within or serving this sector grapple with an excruciating average wait of more than 137 days, equivalent to over four months. Once again, the ramifications of such delays extend beyond individual businesses, impacting quarterly financial results and casting uncertainty over forecasts and projections. While the onus often falls on the party responsible for settling the bills promptly, companies themselves bear a share of the burden. Many operatives who need and deserve their pay hesitate to take action against lateness, fearing the potential damage to client connections. In response to this financial conundrum, invoice finance emerges as a vital lifeline, letting businesses sell their outstanding invoices to a third party. In return, the business receives an upfront sum, albeit at a cost. This financing model empowers thousands of businesses to maintain a healthy cash position, providing a means to regain control over cash flow issues arising from tardy and unpaid invoices. The allure of invoice finance lies not only in its simplicity but also in its expediency. Businesses can receive a substantial portion of an invoice’s value within a mere 48 hours, a stark contrast to the customary 30-day payment period specified on most invoices. However, like any financial tool, businesses must carefully navigate the landscape, choosing the right type of invoice finance tailored to their needs and selecting providers that align with their operational ethos. The financial toolbox available to businesses extends far beyond the realms of invoice finance. Asset-based finance, a specialised method, utilises accounts receivable, inventory, machinery, equipment, and real estate as collateral for working capital and term loans. This option proves invaluable for bridging gaps in cash flow, supporting growth strategies, and navigating scenarios such as start-up financing, refinancing, mergers, acquisitions, and management buy-outs. © stock.adobe.com/Andrey Popov 28 Á East Midlands Business Link www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk INVOICE AND FINANCE SOLUTIONS Private equity, another avenue for businesses seeking capital, involves investors injecting long-term equity capital in return for shares, a percentage stake, and sometimes, a seat on the board. While advantageous for financing management buy-outs or supporting growth plans, securing private equity is a time-consuming process with no guaranteed outcomes. Angel investors, high-net-worth individuals deploying personal funds, provide not just capital but also bring valuable experience, knowledge, and contracts to the table, providing more worth for the wait than your average stakeholder. Their involvement proves particularly enticing for early-stage businesses, but they must keep in mind that the process of securing an angel investor can be protracted and challenging. Management buyouts (MBOs) present a compelling transactional model in which a company’s existing management team acquires its assets and operations. This strategic move offers managers enhanced control and autonomy, elevating them from employees to owners. Sellers, on the other hand, can shed non-core divisions or retire, benefiting from a lucrative exit strategy. Management buy-ins (MBIs) instead involve external management teams acquiring a company, replacing the existing management structure. While MBOs enjoy the advantage of an inherent understanding of the business, MBIs require external teams to acclimate to the company’s operations, build relationships, and navigate the intricate dynamics with clients and staff. As the economic lifeblood, cash flow sustains businesses, and its interruption, caused by delayed payments, impairs growth plans. Outside the need for solutions to immediate financial strains, mounting late payments pose a serious threat in this area too. Executing growth initiatives necessitates a healthy cash flow, an element vital for translating plans into tangible actions. While growth plans often involve months or even years of meticulous strategising, delayed invoices can consign them to the realm of abstraction. Fortunately, collaborating with strategic partners or forming new alliances can bring in beneficial resources, expertise, and access to a wider network of markets. Agreements like distribution partnerships can be one pathway to expanding reach in promoting each other’s services, or leveraging a pre-existing distribution channel for mutual benefit. Joint marketing or venture efforts also provide short and long-term opportunities to cross-promote while sharing resources, www.eastmidlandsbusinesslink.co.uk East Midlands Business Link INVOICE AND FINANCE SOLUTIONS risks and rewards alike. These partnerships are the best help through times of financial struggle in their vast potential to accelerate growth without the need for significant capital investment. Amidst myriad challenges, businesses can always turn to equity experts, solicitors, and lenders for guidance and support. These professionals, operating in various regions, offer valuable advice to ease the strain caused by late payments. Their expertise becomes particularly crucial in navigating complex financial landscapes and devising strategies to fortify businesses against economic uncertainty. Businesses must adapt, evolve, and seek equitable solutions to sustain the harmonious balance that drives collective prosperity. But cunning exploration and employment of strategic financial management, local initiatives, complementary partnerships, and a rich diversity of financing options are there to combat delays in payment whenever your business may need them. © stock.adobe.com/UladzislauNext >