The Hirer Magazine Issue 5

hirerTM

PLUSCOMMENT GAVIN WEBSTER TEN THINGS I COULD LIVE WITHOUTLIFESTYLE CONTINUING SAGA OF OUR RECESSIONISTATRAVEL WE TAKE A LOOK AT BOUTIQUE HOTELS IN NEW YORKBANKING WHY PEOPLE ARE TURNING THEIR BACKS ON BANKERSLEISURE LOOKING AT THE COMFORTS OF A PRIVATE MEMBERS BAR

thehirermagazine.co.uk october 09 volume2 issue 5

FEARGALSHARKEYUKMUSIC NEWDEAL

SHAF RASULONLINE DRAGON

CATHALMCATEERFASHION FOR FOLK

KEVIN GREEN£27 BILLION INDUSTRY

JamesCaan

SOUND BUSINESS

Inspiring EntrepreneursPromoting Business

Oct2009£2.95

Inspiring Entrepreneurs Promoting Business the hirer

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Hello Hirer readers, first of all can I thankyou for your emails and comments on thelast publication, I am glad so many of youenjoyed it and got great value from our arti-cles and features.This month I met with the highly successfuland enigmatic Dragon – James Caan, mytime with him was both enlightening and in-spiring and I hope that you enjoy the piece.I would like to thank James and his team atHamilton Bradshaw for the hospitality ex-tended to me. James’ well known successwithin the recruitment sector leads us to ourfeature on the Recruitment and Employ-ment Confederation (REC) the only profes-sional body dedicated to representing thewhole of the recruitment industry.I would like to thank Kevin Green CEO of REC, for his openness on the chal-lenges they are facing with the looming implementation of new legislation and theimpact on the industry that generates £27bn per annum in the UK.Cathal MacAteer the highly respected Glasgow designer who launched the suc-cessful FOLK label in 2001, in our interview he tells us why in the middle of re-cession he opened his flagship store in London and how it has bucked themarket trend.My appreciation to 80s legend and front man of The Undertones FeargalSharkey now CEO of UK music, for his open and frankness on the issues fac-ing the music industry relating to unlicensed file sharing – the impact; loss of rev-enue to artist, songwriters and musicians.Our regular columnists have again delivered entertaining and inspiring copy giv-ing us an insight of their monthly adventures in Corporate Land.In out next month’s edition out November we will bring you more articles andfeatures on the challenges businesses owners are currently facing, with a specialpiece on the under 30s CEO and Entrepreneurs. As always please feel free to getin touch.

Greta

EditorGreta Hill-Lyons


Front Coverphotography Aidan McCarthy

EditorGreta Hill-Lyons

Contributing EditorsBrian WilliamsonBobby SinghGeorge Bewley

Director of PhotographyMark Hamilton

Feature WritersLesley QuinnNicola HamiltonFern CampbellRobbie KennedyGordon SmithCharlene CliffordJ Miller Muirhead

ColumnistsShaf RasulGuy VickerstaffJosie SmithSteve CookRory PatersonMark O’Dowd

SalesKaren Murphy

To advertise please contact:0845 230 0067

To subscribe please contact:[email protected]

Published byThe HirerGreta [email protected]

Printed byCreative Colour Bureau

All rights reserved. Editorial in this magazinemay not be reproduced in whole or partwithout prior written permission of the pub-lisher. Articles published do not necessarliyreflect the opinions of the publishers.

the hirer contents

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contentsInspiring EntrepreneursPromoting Business

featuresThe CastThis year’s Nation 1 BallAspiring FolkSome rather clever fashion FolkSkies the limitOcean Sky the world’s finest aircraftsGood ethics these days are hard to findCampaigning work of UK MusicSocial BankingWhy people are turning their backsJames CaanInterview with a DragonRelaxing at HomeThe comforts of a private members barSteven McKechnieTalking propertyBest Hotels in New YorkThe best business accommodationMaking Waves£10 million challenge that’s making wavesSerious about standardsInterview with Keven Green Chief Exec REC

ColumnsBook Review3 of the best in association with BordersTiger TalesBrian Williamson Entreprenurial ExchangeSalt and SauceGuy Vickerstaff from the Leith AgencyPhoenix NestShaf Rasul the online DragonMedia ManRory Paterson from MediacomLondon Business ForumThe World’s finest MBA programmeMark O’DowdCorporate BulliesBusiness BubbleNorth East by Steve CookTales of a RecessionistaOne woman’s journey through the recession

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corrections

In an interview with MarkO'Dowd appearing in theAugust ‘09 issue of theHirer it was stated thatMr O’Dowd's former em-ployer Bishops SolicitorsLLP had suffered a £1.3million loss. We acceptthis statement was in-correct . We accept thatBishops Solicitors LLPdid not suffer a tradingloss and apologise forany implication that theydid.

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gadgets

the hirer Inspiring Entrepreneurs Promoting Business

Kleen Keys 100% Silicone Flexible Keyboards are com-pletely sealed water-proof and dust free and are easilycleaned with soap and water or disinfectant if you wish.Just roll up and put in your bag. Excellent tactile feedbacksimilar to a standard keyboard and very quiet to type on.The ergonomical flat design reduces negative stress tothe wrist.

LaCie iamaKey USB Flash Drive 4GB Sturdy metal key design; fits ona keyring with fast transfer rates (Read mode: up to 30 MB/s; write mode:up to 10MB/s), ultra-mobile and lightweight it has Gold SIP technology andis water and scratch-resistant.Swiss Army USB Drive available in 1GB, 2GB & 4GB with Red LEDlight, ballpoint pen, knife, scissors, file, screwdriver & keyring.

Powermonkey Solar ChargerTough and water-resistant, instantpower, wherever you are, compatiblewith the majority of standard mobilephones. LCD screen displays batterycapacity and level of charge in the pow-ermonkey. USB connectors power upiPods and accessories, MP3 players,PDAs, smart mobile phones, digital cam-eras, games consoles, BlackBerries,Bluetooth® headsets and many moredigital devices.

EVG 920 Video Eyewear This super-light eyewearweighs only 59g; it is compatibility with many portablemultimedia devices (iPod Video, PMP, portableDVD/VCD players, PS2, Xbox, Xbox360 and more)and the built-in lithium battery enables you to have thesensation of watching an 80" screen from 2m away.

Nanovision MiMo UM-740 Display Link Moni-tor. Great for referring tonotes while writing an e-mail, checking info in aspreadsheet while enter-ing data into a web page,keeping an eye on yourto-do list while browsingYouTube or using IM.Features: 7-inch LCDpanel, USB bus poweredscreen, touch screenfunctionality, a webcam &a microphone.

The alarm clock that runs away and hides toget you out of bed. Clocky is an indoor onlydevice that can jump off a height of up to 3feet. Allows you to set a snooze time 0-9minutes - snooze once before he runs awayand you need to get up. He can move onwood and carpet, the screen flashes whenbeeping/running so you don’t need to worryabout tripping over him on those darkmornings. A gadget you’ll love to hate.

CHARLENE CLIFFORD takes a look at the latest gadgets on offer.06

10Step forward Geordie comedian Gavin Webster the man thatnarrowly missed out on being a British Rail Porter as he can only drinksixteen pints a day. Big thanks to all at thestand.co.uk.

Professional ScousersAnd professional Geordies and profes-

sional Glaswegians, what gives itaway is that you always live in London.

things I couldlive without

Life InsuranceWhen you’re dead, you’re going to beworth a lot of money, well lucky me!Talk about selling sand to the arabs.

Militant AthiestsSome of us

unbelievers justkeep a dignifiedsilence. Methinks

you doth protest toomuch.

Hybrid Dog BreedsCockerpoos, Labradoodles, Westipoos,just buy a poodle, they’re perfectly finedogs in their own right.

Stag NightsDressing as women or Roman centurionsisn’t funny. Paintballing in the afternoon

then on to a comedy club at night, then to alapdancing club, try something a bit more

original for christ’s sake.

English NationalismMr. Parker Smyth getsthe 6:24 to Waterlooevery morning, thevillage green, cricket,strawberry jam.Nothing to do withwhere I'm from.

MadonnaHave never got it. Stolen

riffs, crap lyrics and athatcherite ideal. Retire.

Local Commercial RadioThey’re not local. The DJs are just dull, bitter, super-

cillious no marks, stop clogging up our airwaves.


Australian Question SyndromeUsed by countless middle class

media types. It’s a sign of a limitedvocabulary and zero intellect, and

that's from a Geordie.

?

Radio 4 ComedyFunded by the United Kingdomtaxpayer and appealing to a few poshpeople in the home counties.

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Virgin trolly dollyDonna CanningAccount Manager

One half of 118William BrowniPhone App Developer

Blue smartieLindsay WoodBusiness Consultant

OXO cubeMark McintoshCreative Writer

Wonder bra model (hello boys)Caroline YuManager

Apple silhouetteKirsty MacaraProduct Designer

Wii tennis playerAngie ChungPR

Caramel galaxy bunnyPolly LiInterior Designer

Milky bar kidBrain CoitSoftware Engineer

Just some of the characters you are likely to bump into at thisyear’s Nation1 annual Halloween Ball.

Friday 30th October sees the return ofScotland’s most unique corporateevent; Nation1’s annual Halloween Ball.Now in its fourth year (having started asa laugh for staff in their West RegentStreet office) the gig is growing fromstrength to strength, attracting someserious corporate partners and VIPguests. Last year the digital agency,that specialises in niche campaigns forhigh growth clients, teamed up withJaguar and over 400 guests - enjoyingvintage champagne, enough freebooze to sink a ghost ship, live musiccourtesy of the Grateful Dead, DJHeather Suttie and Lewis MacLeod co-median extraordinaire. Among thecrowd last year was StephanieWillemse aka Miss Scotland 2008,Kelly Copper Bar, The Curry King Cha-ran Gill, John White founder DX Com-munications, Robert Carlyle, AnnaRyder Richardson and the team fromRiver City. “That was genuinely the bestagency party I have ever been to, andyou can quote me on that” said DavidReid MDAdvertisingAgency 1576. Thisyear it’s back and even bigger. SGW3the new venue is situated in Glasgow’sWest End off Kelvinhaugh St. With over450 VIPs from Scotland’s entrepre-neurial, media and corporate world theevent promises to raise the dead withmore free drinks courtesy of event part-ners LA Bartenders. The theme thisyear is Advertising Legends (thinkShake & Vac ladies, Scottish Widow,Sheila’s Wheels) with some top notchprizes for the best dressed including aVIP weekend at the Radisson for twoand a flight over Loch Lomond courtesyof Loch Lomond Sea Planes. Thevenue will be decorated with over 1,000candles and a state of the art video wallcourtesy of sponsors Cameron Presen-tations. These are the hottest tickets intown. Every guest leaves with their owntrick or treat bag full of sweeties andother goodies. So let your hair down,get your thinking cap on and climb intoyour Michelin Man costume for a creditcrunch free zone and a night of uniquemadness and mayhem. Hirer readerscan get their hands on them by enter-ing a ballot online.Simply visit nation1.co.uk/halloween

Irn Bru grannySarah OrmerodAccounts Executive

Tango guyDavid NivenCivil Engineer

Lynx cave girlVicky SinclairDesigner

Pampers babyBaby AlexProfessional Model

It’s gonna be aball... againYour chance to get a VIP ticketand it could be you cinders...

thecast

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aspiringfolkROBBIE KENNEDY talks to some rather clever fashion Folk.

For many Glaswegians, a job in a local shop istreated as either spare cash or a stop gap for some-thing better: that accounting firm you’ve always

wanted to work for; the head-hunter dying to snap youup or even the director waiting to unleash your hiddentalents.Not so for Cathal McAteer. Aged just 16, he started work-ing as a ‘Saturday Boy’ in Glasgow boutique Ichi Ni San.It was here that his passion for designer clothing was born,and it has resulted in his own upmarket fashion label.Folk, born in 2001, boasts an impressive list of achieve-ments for such a young brand. Around 130 independentboutiques and department stores worldwide carry theirrange; including fashion luminaries like Liberty, HarveyNichols and Selfridges. In 2004, Cathal successfullylaunched the brand’s sister range, Shofolk, a footwear ac-companiment for the then fledgling fashion range and in2007, despite the looming credit crunch, the label opened

it’s flagship store in trendy Lambs Conduit Street in Lon-don, thus cementing Folk’s arrival to the world of fashion.Cathal has also worked for designers such as NicoleFarhi, and it was his ability to work with other designersthat spurred him on to create his own range.“Cathal was asked by a Japanese company to design someclothes for them for a year,” explains Fraser Shand, Man-aging Director at Folk: “Eventually he just decided to doit for himself.”A wise choice, it seems. Now Folk sell all over Europe,including Scandinavia, Italy, Germany and the UK. Saleshave also been made in North America and even as faras Asia for the label.Press-wise, the firm have punched above their weight re-markably. Despite Fraser’s assertion that they are a‘young brand’, Folk have featured in high end glossiessuch as GQ, FHM, Arena, Mens Health, Monocle andEuroman. They have adorned the pages of the quality


book reviewin association with

press, including The Guardian, The Independent andThe Telegraph and they have entered the blogospherein the forms of Cool Hunting, High Snobiety and Hype-beast. Not bad for a brand whose entire ethos is not to bethe most fashionable, nor even the most stylish. Cathal’saim with Folk was to create clothes that his friends wouldlike to wear.Quality control is a phrase thrown about by businesses sooften that the phrase has almost lost all meaning. It’s akinto when people write that they are ‘personable’ on a CV.But with Folk, they have the evidence to back up thisclaim.“What sets us apart from the rest is the amount of timewe spend selecting the right fabrics.”“Our attention to detail is another reason why peoplevalue our label. Some have commented on noticing thatour buttons have six holes instead of four, and for us it’sthe small touches like that that gives us an edge.”Such is the brand’s passion for quality that their pro-curement of material resembles an adventure trip; Alpacaknits made in Peru, shirts created in sunny Portugal, jack-ets crafted in far flung Hong Kong, their merino Knitwearrange is assembled in Uruguay and back in Blighty, ac-cessories for the business are produced. The entireShofolk range is built in a family owned factory in Portu-gal, handpicked due to their 60 years experience of craft-ing shoes and the leather is imported from Italy.The future remains bright for the label too. Folk hope toopen a new shop in London this November, and aspireto open more shops around the UK in due time. Even-tually, according to Fraser, the firm plan to “expand onthe retail” by making Folk more accessible to the aver-age punter. The fashion industry certainly has warmed tothem, but there is a significant difference between the cat-walk and the pavement.Times, however, were not always as rosy as they are now.Like any business, Folk hit some snags, albeit small, alongthe path to the present.“It’s always difficult starting a small fashion business, es-pecially with the kind of competition you face out there.At the beginning, it was a bit of a rocky road. Factorieswere difficult to find as we were unknown and new to themarket but all problems have been ironed out now.”In a world of never ending fashion items each claiming tocater to the individual, the Folk brand is a breath of freshair. The range boasts smart, sophisticated colours, bold,brash designs and a rigorous quality control process thatwill undoubtedly ensure future success whatever the fi-nancial weather. The results are already there for thebusiness; after eight successful seasons in a row Libertycreated a permanent installation for them, a testament tothe brands instant eye-catching qualities. It has taken just8 years for Folk to establish themselves firmly in theworld of fashion, and if things go as planned, the next 8will cement them as a power in their own right.

Re ImagineTom PetersThis is a visually unorthodoxbusiness text, but then Peters’style has always been different. Ithas also been engaging, andabout more than just business.His message is simple: innova-tion is king, so adapt or die. Heencourages companies to inno-

vate in areas where the competitors aren’t looking.Considered by many to be THE management guru ofmodern times, his earlier work ‘In search of Excellence’was once voted the greatest business book of all time.But Tom Peters doesn’t pretend to have gotten every-thing right. His focus is always on being right next time.

Good To GreatJim CollinsAuthor of Built to Last, Jim Collinsseeks to understand what takesan already healthy company to thenext level. Collins explored the for-tunes of over 1400 recent top 500companies and boils them downto instructive examples.His conclusions (amongst them:

humble and determined leadership beats a high pro-file and a big mouth) are sometimes at odds withconventional thinking but his research team of 15people spent 5 years poring over every detail of hiscase before Collins very persuasively let’s the evi-dence prove the case. It’s hard to argue.

Rise and Fall of Marksand SpencerJudi BevanA trusted and loved brand,Marks and Spencer’s transitionhas gone from humble begin-nings to an enviably stableplace in the market.New personnel in the hierarchybrought new ideas and aggres-sive attitudes to policy change

and the pursuit of profits at all costs resulting in anold brand in serious trouble. Enter Stuart Rose. Com-mitted to restoring core values and regaining trust,slowly but steadily put the company back on track.Bevan presents this as a clash of corporate cultures,ethical business practice versus rat-race methodol-ogy, arguing a fast changing marketplace doesn't ne-cessitate.


Tiger TalesBrian Williamson

Director Entrepreneurial Exchange

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War – what is it good for – absolutely nothing. Theseiconic words from James Brown have proved to be quiteprophetic in today’s world turmoil. However what if wechange a few words and sing a new song. Change -what is it good for - absolutely everything. Why?“Don’t waste the opportunity this recession is giving us”say many entrepreneurs.There is no doubt that in a maelstrom of change we areexposed to a mixture of menace and excitement; we wit-ness the threat to businesses and livelihoods at thesame time as exhilaration to new opportunities openingbefore us. In the steady growth of a few years ago I sawexciting opportunities for companies to change andmake improvements but on too many occasions I wit-nessed a “don’t fix what ain’t broken” attitude. In today’sclimate a great number of people face the financial im-perative to change and many businesses I have spokento recently, have reported that they have made changesfor the better. Furthermore when the fresh shoots of re-covery turn into lush green pastures these same com-panies will retain all the benefits from these changes andbe much fitter and stronger.John Kotter is a Change Guru from Harvard and in hisbook, “Our Iceberg is Melting”, he uses a fable to de-scribe change and how to manage and maximise it. Hetells us that people are less likely to change themselvesand others based solely on data and analysis. Insteadcompelling experiences are the key drivers to influencingbehaviour. Feelings trump thinking. This explains whysome companies were slow to act to the recession. Theyheard the forecasts of its coming in the form of data andanalysis but did not act until they “felt” the impact of thedownturn.The key here is to embrace change and sing – Change– what is it good for – absolutely everything.This month I have to tell you about someone who madea huge change in his life – no such thing as allowingevents to drive him. Jim left a very secure career andwent onto a Scottish Enterprise Programme called TheSaltire Fellowship. He left behind his earnings and no

remuneration was offered on this 13 month experience.He also left behind his wife and two young daughters for7 months as he took up unpaid placements in the USAand went to Babson to top up his entrepreneurial tool-box. He mothballed his dream sports car he had workedso very hard for. And what was, and is, his guaranteedoutcome? Nothing. The risk he has taken is significant tosay the least. He did not stretch the envelope, he tore itup, threw it away and looked for a new one! Jim hascome to work with me on a couple of “interesting” proj-ects. What did I see in this forty something guy? I sawhunger and a youthful ambition. I saw someone whoworked as many hours as I do – and that’s a lot. I havewitnessed a dedication and a mature questioning stylecombined with an impatience to achieve, that has keptme on my toes. I have often thought – who is driving whoin this relationship?!When I look at Jim I am in admiration of a person whohas decided to make such a radical change. What didhis data and analysis tell him? No job and prospect ofreturning to his old career, working long hours for no in-come, no obvious route on how and when this pro-gramme would give him an opportunity. And all of this inthe worst economic climate we have seen for 60 years.So from the data and analysis aspect this was a risk – ahuge risk. However, now that he is in the middle of thischange how does he feel?“I have never been so motivated and excited; neverworked so hard and felt so positive. I am so glad I madethe change!”I do not think it will be long before Jim bursts into thisworld in new clothes and gets a real payback for the in-vestment he made in change.Change is something to be embraced as an opportunity,not a threat. It can be forced upon us or as in Jim’s casewe can make that change at any time in our lives.I have a really good feeling about next month. Some-one is out there and synchronicity will drive us togetherand I can’t wait to see who it is. My iceberg may be melt-ing but I will never be sunk.


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skies the limit...

The elite traveller is often subject to require-ments that cannot be met by scheduled airlinestimetables and services. On occasion it is nec-

essary to be on the aircraft within two hours of bookingthe flight, something that you just cannot do with thebest commercial airlines services, even BA 1st Classdoesn’t offer this flexibility of service.To experience the most opulent of flights the best betis to go for a private hire jet company, one of the bestin the UK is Ocean Sky. Set up by husband and wifeteam Niki Rokri and Kurosh Tehranchian in 2003 inaircraft brokerage they quickly expanded and were infull aircraft service by 2005.To date they have doubled their initial fleet of planesby acquiring Düsseldorf based company Triple Alpha.With consistent growth and expansion, even during therecession, Ocean Sky has managed to become a major

league player in European aviation. It has fixed bases ofoperations at Manchester, Luton and Prestwick and of-fices in Salzburg, Zurich and Moscow.With an extensive fleet ranging from short range Tur-boprops seating up to 10 passengers, to long range Ex-eculiners seating from 19 to 43 passengers Ocean Skycan meet the requirements for just about any flight. Allthe planes at Ocean Sky are less than 5 years old andare maintained to the highest specifications, so even themost nervous flyer should be completely at ease in theluxurious surroundings of the planes interior.The facilities due to become available on board someof their planes are comparable to those offered by 5star hotel suites, the lavish outfitting in the Boeing Busi-ness Jet, with its 42 inch flat screen TVs, leather re-cliners, bedroom, shower and sauna, really is the lastword luxury travel.

George Bewley delves into Ocean Sky the aviation company that can offer the world’s finest aircraft tomeet your every need.

Their continued expansion acrossEurope, and designs on the MiddleEast, will increase their reach andby that merit allow Ocean Sky togrow further, and judging by theirmeteoric rise in the aviation sector itis far from unthinkable, quite theopposite in fact, that they are gain-ing recognition on an internationallevel.The unrelenting success they haveenjoyed, even in the most haz-ardous economic landscape, is tes-timony to the efficacy of theirbusiness model. Though the servicethey provide is for a very elite nichemarket, they provide that service insuch a way that other companies inthe sector see and realise the bene-fits of getting on board with them.The founders of Triple Alpha forexample recognised that in comingmonths the private jet market willbe subject to extensive consolida-tions, with Ocean Sky going fromstrength to strength it can allowTriple Alpha to be a lot more activein their FBOs and maintenance,which, according to co-founder

Hans Pfeiffer, they could not dowithout Ocean Sky.Ocean Sky puts safety and securityat the forefront of their service,while holding their flexibility in de-livering that service as of the highestimportance. Their blue-sky visionof executive travel is second to noneand their dedication to meetingevery whim of their clients is ir-refutable, with everything from con-ference rooms to fine dining,everything any executive travellermight need is catered for.So it would seem the jet set have lit-tle to worry about when planningtheir next trip, whether the journeybe for business or pleasure the flightmight just be the best part of the ex-cursion. While the rest of us arecrammed into Easy Jet and RyanAir flights watching some lowestcommon denominator blockbusterand eating peanuts, the elite flyerwill be cruising by in a palatialOcean Sky jet, watching anythingthey like on the widescreens and en-joying a fine dining experience.

Salt and SauceGuy Vickerstaff – Head of ArtThe Leith Agency

During the American Civil War there was aPOW camp atAndersonville Georgia. Due toa wartime shortage of building materials, thecamp had no fence around it. So to keep theprisoners inside, the general in charge drewa line in the dirt around the camp. He told theprisoners that this was the ‘dead-line’. If any-one crossed it, they would be killed on sight.I found that little story in an inductionbrochure for an American ad agency. Onethat is regularly credited as being the bestcreative agency in the world.What was curious about it was that it wasquoted in the context of a piece about themmissing deadlines. “We excel at the big stuff,big ideas done beautifully etc… but some-times we fail at the little things, like meetingdeadlines.”“The little things like meeting deadlines?”WTF, as the kids say.I suppose as a junior ‘creative’ you’re oftenkept away from clients so the deadline canseem like a slightly abstract notion. Not foryou the embarrassing ‘so that’s it then’ si-lence that fills the room after presentingsome hastily cobbled together thoughts,some cheery stock shots and a rewording ofthe brief.At any given time there could be dozens ofprojects rumbling through an agency. Somelike shape-shifting bendy buses, picking upand depositing people along the way andothers like your mum’s pushbike with a bas-ket on the front. We even employ ‘traffic’ peo-ple to ensure these projects get to wheretheir going without any nasty surprises. (Andto make sense of that analogy.)Where I’m from, you miss a deadline, thepresentation doesn’t happen, the ad doesn’trun, you don’t get paid and the agency busi-ness model falls apart. It ain’t no little thing.Here at The Leith we like to think we’re prettygood at the big stuff. We’re pretty good atmaking the big stuff the best it can be. And,we’re pretty good at staying up all night,pulling favours and doing what needs to bedone to make sure that that big stuff doesn’tmiss it’s bloody deadline.

phoenixnestbyShaf Rasul

Lots of people talk to me about starting their own busi-ness. Some of them are obviously just ‘talking thetalk’ and have no intention of getting round to it. I callthese people the superglue entrepreneurs – theystand on the top diving board saying they are about totake the plunge when in fact something, probably riskaversion, has super glued their feet to the board. Thesecond type of would-be entrepreneur complains thatthey would start off on their own if they just had a lit-tle bit of capital. To them I always say “You couldhave at least £500 in capital in two to three days. Justsell some assets.”I’m not talking about the family silver here I’m talkingabout the stuff in the attic, the presents you didn’twant and other detritus that you never got round tothrowing away. And it’s easier now. Selling your un-wanted stuff no longer needs to involve car-boot sales– use the internet and you can get more customersand better prices.There are two routes into online selling. Firstly youmight just want to de-clutter your home a bit and raise£500 as a seed fund for your new business. Inciden-tally, the benefit of offloading your second-hand goodsis that any income you make is almost certainly tax-free. Alternatively, you might want to consider settingup a fully-fledged online business. For many peoplewho have taken this route, their business is basedaround a hobby or passion. A mate of mine is a fish-ing fanatic, and started a business selling on the In-ternet his old fly fishing equipment along with anythingthat he picks up at car boot sales and junk shops –his work is his hobby.However starting up a business does require dedica-tion. You have to be willing to put in the hard work anddedicate over 50 hours a week to successfully launcha start-up. An investor will look for a ten times return,and you will need to convey both your enthusiasm forthe product/service and your business acumen whenpitching to them.It’s also important that you’ve already done your mar-ket research and have the back-up to convince methat there is a significant demand for your product orservices.But crucially you have to have integrity, know whatyou are talking about and know your numbers insideout. Do that and you may secure investment.

Bundy On TapOn the 26th of Sep-tember, the Aus-tralian town ofBundanoon, in theNSW SouthernHighlands, stoppedselling bottled stillwater, within thetown precinct. Wor-

ried about the environmental impacts of buying bottledwater the residents voted overwhelmingly to support theinitiative which will make Bundanoon Australia’s first Bot-tled Water Free Town. (And possibly the world’s first.)As part of the initiative, Bundanoon is expanding drinkingwater facilities in the town. Businesses will make availablefor sale reusable drink bottles and chilled filtered tap water,whilst free filtered water stations or ‘bubblers’ will be pro-vided for the public.The Premier of NSW has announced a ban on the NSWGovernment purchasing bottled water. “This represents asaving for taxpayers and it makes sense for those who con-sume the water.”

Areva rushes to hire workers as demand for nuclearreactors explodes.

In the French steel town of Chalon-sur-Saône, techniciansare welding a giant drum that will one day form the heartof a Chinese nuclear reactor. Once complete, the 500-tonne steam-generating unit being built by Areva, theFrench nuclear energy group, will be loaded on to a bargeand floated down the river to Marseilles for export. A resur-gence of global interest in nuclear power is driving a boomin orders from this area, the centre of the French nuclearindustry. To cope with demand, Areva is hiring up to 1,000people per month to prepare for a surge in orders fromaround the world.Areva, which is 91 per cent-owned by the French State, hasmore than doubled in size in three years as France seeks tocement its position as a supplier of nuclear equipment andcapitalise on a renewed focus on the technology as coun-tries try to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.It intends to recruit 10,000-12,000 staff globally this yearand a similar number in 2010.

jobs boom


Media ManWhy are they all still running scared?

Rory PatersonMediacom

There is no specific word for a fear of the Internet…It perplexes me somewhat that I even know this fact,but I found myself Google-ing it in the hunt for a snappylittle title for this article… failed! You see I’ve beencaught by surprise no less than three times this month,caught by surprise that there are still business peoplewho openly proclaim that they find the internet scary.The digital media industry has kept me fed and wateredfor just under a decade and during that time I’ve alwaysloved working with people to help them understand andtake advantage of the opportunity digital channels, andin particular the internet, offers them and their business.Thankfully the horrible moniker “new media” has all butdisappeared, and in the main, the internet has beenwidely accepted as a mainstream channel by themasses. No wonder, in July 2009 there were36,912,000 people aged 15+ online in the UK, 61% ofthem went online everyday according to ComScore,Inc.Don’t get me wrong, I can understand why some peo-ple might have a trust issue with the internet, why theymight get a bit worried when they hear about onlinefraud, cyber-bullying or other sinister activities, that’sjust human nature. However from a business perspec-tive I struggle with a fear of the internet, fear can all tooeasily lead to blissful ignorance, which in this day andage is a very dangerous state to adopt.I doubt there are many people out there who couldargue that the internet serves no purpose for them,whether it be communication, banking and finance, re-search, purchasing or entertainment to name but a few.I’m always quizzical of a person who tells me they“don’t get it” only to answer “yes” when asked if theyhave an email address, bank online or have everbooked a flight on the web. This does still happenthough, unfortunately there are business people whoseem to be in denial that the internet has become aneveryday part of their life, dare I say it, a utility.

Over the coming months I’ll attempt to demystify someof the popular trends, myths and opportunities the in-ternet offers Hirer readers, their businesses and con-sumers. I’ll look to include as much supportingevidence I can through the industry, clients, friends andmy own personal experiences, potentially plantingsome seeds and drumming up debate on related topicareas.This month I’d like to kick off with an admission that Isubscribe to a school of thought which I believe makesthe internet a much easier place to understand, putvery simply, the internet doesn’t do anything particularlynew, it just does things we’ve always done much faster,makes them easier and more accessible, arguably ithelps us do things better than ever before.When was the last time you were in the local branch ofyour bank? What about booking a holiday, did you con-sult a travel agent? Got something in the fridge youneed a recipe for? What about your business’s CRMprogramme, I’m sure you had one those before the in-ternet came along? You’ve probably always recognisedthe power of word of mouth for new business/sales, butit’s not just your friends and families opinions you getwind of these days is it? How would you approach a re-search survey of your customer base? Where wouldyou advertise a job vacancy within your organisation?How would you disseminate a very urgent press re-lease or shareholder update?You could do a lot worse than apply your experienceand knowledge of how to address personal and busi-ness challenges using the internet. I’m not saying theinternet hasn’t changed our lives, undoubtedly it has,but if you think of it as an advancement in how you’vealways done things it becomes a far less scaryprospect.Together we can stave off the creation of a word whichshould never exist, a catch all for “a fear of the inter-net”!

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good ethics thesedays are hard to find

Feargal Sharkey

Representing the bulk of thecommercial music industry,UK Music was founded only

ten months ago, gaining much pub-licity through the appointment of itsown musically talented Chief Execu-tive Officer, Feargal Sharkey, formerlead singer of The Undertones andsuccessful solo artist.Bringing together eight different in-dustry organisations (from those rep-resenting artists, songwriters andmusicians, to music managers,record labels, music publishers, theindependent music community andthe two collecting societies PPL andPRS for Music) the organisationaims, where possible, to provide thebroad church of the UK’s music in-dustry with one united voice.This is no easy task, however it can

be said that UKMusic have foundedthemselves as an organisation whichdelivers not only support for its rep-resentatives but also passion for theindustry which it symbolises.Without a doubt, one of the mostsubstantial issues facing the musicsector at present, and for severalyears leading up to this time, is thatof unlicensed file sharing over peer-to-peer networks (such as Limewire,Pirate Bay or Mininova). This com-plex issue has come to the fore overrecent months following the publica-tion of the Government’s DigitalBritain report in June 2009, and anongoing Government consultationfocussing on how to grow the UK’sdigital economy (for instance, pledg-ing that every UK household willhave access to broadband by 2012)

while also sustaining and nurturingour creative industries.For UK Music - in consensus withother creative industries such as film,TV, publishing and gaming - the keyto growing the online market, whileensuring copyright holders can be re-warded is to pursue a tripartite strat-egy: to encourage the licensing of adiverse range of new digital businessmodels (for instance, the musicstreaming services Spotify andWe7);to educate consumers about thevalue of music; and to request Gov-ernment intervention to develop thedigital market.Feargal Sharkey understands thatthere is no backward solution to thischallenge and the only way for thegovernment and the industry to ben-efit from technological development

Nicola Hamilton takes a look at the campaigning work of UK Music in its fight to stem the flow ofillegal and free music files.


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Best of British and worth protecting

is to embrace the future of musicconsumption in a manner which islegal and helps sustain growth of anindustry where creativity is at theheart.In a previous press statement he said:“Any intervention must be designedto embrace new horizons and mustbe fit and proper for use in a modernworld; a modern society and a mod-ern culture. For this industry, regres-sion is not an option. We have learntfrom our past mistakes and have noambition to repeat them. Our futurelies ahead not backwards.”UK Music has given its backing forgovernment initiatives to reduce ille-gal file sharing and believes that oneof the most successful ways in whichthis could happen is through the as-sistance and cooperation of InternetService Providers (ISPs). It is ex-pected that a number of new musicservices will be launched in comingmonths by ISPs, including Sky andVirgin Media.The question of Government inter-vention is also ongoing, with a Digi-tal Economy Bill expected to beintroduced in November.To inform this debate, UKMusic re-cently published the findings of a re-search project undertaken by the

University of Hertfordshire, fo-cussing on the music consumptionbehaviour and experience of youngpeople aged 14 to 24. Reporting theopinions of some 1,800 respondents(making it the biggest academic sur-vey of its type), among the most in-teresting findings it uncovered were:The computer is the main placewhere young people listen to musicMusic remains one of the most val-ued forms of entertainment.61% said they download music viaP2P networks or torrent trackers(with 83% of these doing so on atleast a weekly basis.Of those using P2P networks, 85%said they would be interested in pay-ing for an unlimited all-you-can-eatMP3 download service.Ownership of music is hugely im-portant – both online and offline.And, ultimately, music consumptionis becoming increasingly complex -86% of respondents have copied aCD for a friend; 75% have sent musicby email, Bluetooth, Skype or MSN;57% have copied a friend’s entiremusic collection; 39% have down-loaded music from an online storagesite; and 38% have ripped a TV,radio or internet stream.So where do the solutions lie? With

new legal services? With changingthe attitudes of the “YouTube Gen-eration”?Aside from commercial develop-ments, one way in which UK Musicis working to address this issue isthrough music education. SoundRights, a website set up last year canbe accessed by both students andteachers to enable them to under-stand more about the power of musicthrough a range of video, sound clipsand podcasts which work to help stu-dents focus on how influential musicis in their lives.What is genuinely inspiring about thisorganisation is the proactive stepswhich they are striving to take in orderto secure musical notes for years tocome; something the Chief ExecutiveOfficer acknowledges is possibly themost important issue of all.Following the publication of the Uni-versity of Hertfordshire research inAugust, Sharkey commented:“Clearly, the shape of our entire busi-ness will continue to evolve. How-ever, we will achieve nothing if we donot work with music fans and youngmusic fans in particular. They arehugely demanding in their needs, butcollectively we must rise to that chal-lenge.”


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socialbanking...

Whether you are enraged by bankers reward-ing themselves for doing such a fantastic jobof screwing up the global economy, or just

disillusioned with conventional banking altogether anddon’t want to help line the undeserving pockets of theworld’s worst gambling addicts, yes we’re still talkingabout bankers here, then there are ways to sidestep highstreet banks when trying to secure a loan.Many will suggest credit unions as the best alternative totraditional bank loans, and they are good, in principleand practice, though there is a heavy focus on the unionside of that, you have to be willing to invest a lot of time,money and trust in groups of other people. There aremore individual ways, Zopa for instance.The online-based company is, in their own words, ‘aplace where people meet to lend and borrow money…sidestepping the banks.’ Peer to peer lending is a pretty

simple idea, someone with cash to spare goes to the site,states what they are willing to lend at what rate of interest,borrowers are then free to take up the offer and, pre-suming both sides are satisfied, the deal is done.The theory is that both parties benefit, from the lenderspoint of view they get a much greater return on their in-vestment than they would in say a regular savings account,and the borrower enjoys a much lower rate of interestthan they would with a traditional bank loan. Zopa havedone a good job of proving this theory having already fa-cilitated £50 million of loans.So is Zopa a real contender with the big banks and will thisput pressure on the banks to become more customer fo-cused? In short: maybe. This really boils down to whetherordinary Britons will take the initiative and actively try toavoid using banks as they have in the past, challenging thebanks as individuals as part of a wider social protest.

George Bewley looks at why people are turning their backs on bankers and ways to do it.

B£The Brixton Pound is an attempt to boostthe local economy and tie local shoppersto local shops by George Bewley

With outrage at the conduct of the country’s leadingbranches at a, justifiably, all time high this does notseem unlikely. James Gardner, Director in corporateinformation technology at the Department for Workand Pensions, argues that Zopa is no real competitivethreat to conventional bank lending as: “the simple factis this: If Zopa were to have a material effect on banklending, and its competitive differentiation is price, itwill not win. It does not have pockets deep enough towin a price war with a major bank, let along the wholemarket.”This misses the point that the differentiation is not justprice, but method and channel. Zopa has no branches,few employees, no massive overheads paid for by thepublic purse, and so is much more desirable at presentas the source of a loan to the public at large. Zopa andits foreign counterparts; Wonga, Wesabe, Mint, Smar-tyPig and Prosper to name but a few, are based on amodel of social connection first, with finance second.There are many stand out successes of finance modelswith a social, internet or telephone layer on top, PayPal for example, First Direct is another, it is just a bankwithout branches, a telephone and web layer on top ofa traditional banking model. Both have proven them-selves very sustainable.Targeting existing customers within any given sector byoffering them a new way to do quite traditional things isan idea that has produced some of the biggest brandsand products we know today, iPod leaping instantly tomind, and almost all of these innovations were said tobe unfeasible and unsustainable prior to their over-whelming success.Chris Skinner, of the Financial Services Club, refutesJames Gardner’s argument that Zopa is immaterial as athreat to conventional banks on the grounds that theirmodel is flawed because they are targeting traditionalcustomers with just a social media on top. This, Christells us, “is why Zopa’s strategy is fine in fact.” It makessense considering the successes listed earlier.The overriding point here is that we, as individuals, nowhave the opportunity to act, to show the banks that theyare now just openly mocking us and we won’t just sitthere and smile dumbly while they do it. How did weget to the stage where we have to do things as drastic asturning our backs on banks altogether?Was theWorldBank not set up all those years ago to ensure the de-pression of the 1930s and the ensuing political desta-bilisation could never happen again?It would then seem that we have been let down griev-ously by the organisations set up to protect us fromthe exact position we now find ourselves in now, per-haps they were too busy protecting the interests of theruling elites, forcing the majority with the minority ofwealth to flip the bill to maintain the wealth of thewealthy minority. And so it falls to us as individuals toprotect our own interests, part of doing this is refus-ing to contribute to the bankers’ bonuses and takinga loan from any other credible source. I suggestZopa.

Brixton is the first urban area in the UK to set up its own localexchange trading scheme (LETS). Under the scheme thecommunity has money minted that can only be spent ongoods and services in local businesses. The aim is to stopcash flowing out of the local area and into the pockets of cor-porate multinationals.Those in favour of LETS argue social, economic and envi-ronmental advantages. Sociological studies have shown thatthese schemes tend to present social improvements in areaswhere they have been implemented; the idea of a local cur-rency stirs a patriotism and pride in residents who support it.That much is certainly true of Lewes, East Sussex, a ruralmarket town occupied largely by the liberal middle class.Though Lewes and Brixton are hardly comparable so anysuccess claimed there is not really transferable. The argu-ment for the economic benefits hinges on the fact that Brixtonmoney stays in the community, though money is, as anyeconomist will tell you, a method of keeping accounts,whether it is Brixton or Sterling mint will have no impact onthe productive potential of Brixton.The argument on the environmental front, on the face of it,seems sound; local produce means less shipping, true, how-ever if local land is not of great agricultural standard it is theninefficient to obtain your produce there and actually has beenshown to lead to a greater carbon footprint than simply im-porting goods causes.So the benefits of LETS are centred on the social advantages,and with so much support for the Brixton Pound coming fromlocal businesses and residents it seems it has alreadystrengthened the community spirit. Social amelioration couldinspire more creativity in the area, which could, theoretically,lead to economic improvements.Keeping local money in the community and out of corporatepockets is something worth supporting on social grounds,even, so long as it is viable, on environmental grounds.Though as an economic model it has been shown throughouthistory, with very few exceptions, to be restricting. If the op-posite were true Cuba would be a leading world super poweron account of the trade sanctions.Trade with outside parties is necessary to promote growth,interest, capital; all the key elements of a healthy economy. Inareas where there is a majority of privately owned local busi-nesses community currency is a good gimmick to promoteloyalty. A simple marketing ploy that bookshops and highstreet chains have been hip to for years, of course they calltheir currency ‘tokens’ or ‘vouchers’.Frankly it is likely that there will be little change as a result ofthe initiative, the people who support it must already have astrong sense of community pride. Those who previously didnot care are likely to continue shopping at the multinationalsthat can afford to offer very competitive prices for the goodsand services on offer.


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Grey suit £575, Waistcoat £130, Checked shirt £85, Silk Tie £69.95, Handkerchief £19.95, Loafers £230

In 1805 John Crombie founded what was to become an irrefutable British brand. Designed for thefuture the brand has continued to capture the very essence of fine British tailoring.

inspired bythe past


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jamescaan

GRETA HILL-LYONS talks to James Caan... Who started his business life at the age of sixteen.With only his natural charm and a copy of the Yellow Pages, he swiftly became one of Britian’s mostsuccessful entrepreneurs.

The recruitment industry is where James Caanmade his fortune and I have the pleasure ofmeeting the enigmatic and engaging Dragon at his

Hamilton Bradshaw London HQ. We chat about hisjourney to date how from an early age he displayed en-trepreneurial skills, how he fell into recruitment, the prin-cipals he has introduced to the sector along the way whichhave been adopted by the industry giants. Of course wetalk Dragons’ Den the winners, the losers, those that gotaway and his recently completed autobiography ‘FromBrick Lane To Dragons Den’. He believes life begins at50 and at 48 he says he is looking forward to the begin-ning, so sit back relax and be inspired…To allow understanding of his outstanding business suc-cess to date we have first to unravel the pieces that makeJames Caan who he is today.His father moved from Lahore in Pakistan to Britain in1961 leaving his wife and family. He worked tirelessly

raising enough capital to not only bring his family to theUK in 1962 but to put a deposit on a home and start upin business.Growing up James watched his father in business learn-ing from him and this instilled a great respect for aspira-tion and grounded him for the future. “I knew from anearly age that if there was something I wanted then itwould have to be earned.”Leaving school at 16 much to his family’s displeasure hesaved enough money from his early entrepreneurial suc-cess to move into his own flat. The next step was to finda job; he did the normal search through the classifiedsand although a relatively new concept in 1977, he got intouch with a recruitment agency and after a few interviewshe secured his first job as a sales rep. Now earning moneyalthough minimal he was keen to start earning more, sohe went back to the agency and had an interview withGrand Metropolitan Hotel, joining them as an Accounts


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Assistant, skills he had learned whilst helping to do hisfather’s invoices and VAT returns.Like any young man James enjoyed going out and havingnice things however his salary wasn’t allowing him to do asmuch as he wanted. For this reason, he fell into recruit-ment; Premier Personnel were advertising for a TraineeInterviewer – their pay structure was slightly different therewas a basic salary and for everyone James placed he wouldreceive a bonus, he tells me “this was highly motivating, al-though I realised fairly quickly that it wasn’t as interestingas I first imagined, but this was where I learned the wholeprocess of recruitment from my boss Clive.”From these early beginnings James went onto become aBranch Manager at the age of 17 with Alfred Marks, thenbeing headhunted by one of his clients Reid Trevena torecruit directly for them. This would prove to be not onlya very lucrative job financially earning James £3-4k amonth – which nearly 30 years ago was a staggeringamount – and also prepared him for the future of run-ning his own business.In 1985 the company Alexander Mann was born from areverie James had about what his first recruitment agencywould be called if personified as a person. AlexanderMann gave the impression of establishment, and he de-cided his first office would have to reinforce this notionand after tough negotiations he secured his first office at50 Pall Mall, London. The office although compact andmiteux gave the impression of the exact opposite, he heldhis meetings in the Ritz and no-one questioned it. Soonhe was able to bring on a team and he realised that if heinvested in his staff and was extremely generous thiswould benefit the business and as James states “little

things make a big difference to morale.”With the business thriving James was keen to introducenew ways to increase revenue, one such notion was re-cruiting consultants for other recruitment agencies, a sug-gestion he tells me was met with utter disbelief, “the teamhad thought I had gone mad, however I was determinedit would work.” “Admittedly,” he tells me “it was a toughsell to start but once I mastered the pitch I made my firstsale 8 weeks later.” Rec2Rec was born, the team quicklygot on board and Alexander Mann established a highlysuccessful Rec2Rec division. A model quickly replicatedthroughout the industry and is now the norm when re-cruiting Industry Professionals. James continued to rev-olutionise the industry with the introduction ofRecruitment Events where clients are invited to meetprospective candidates, Flat Fees, Search & Selection andAccount Management and with this action by 1990Alexander Mann had made a profit of over £1/2millionpounds.James is very generous and highly astute which was dis-played two years later when through a goodwill gestureraised £100k in response to the Bart A&E appeal and indoing so Alexander Mann generated £1.8million worthof PR. Introducing a corporate social responsibility, thisis now an adopted ethic of many organisations today.This propelled James into a new arena where he was ap-proached to join many charitable boards, one of whichwas the NSPCC. This appointment had him debating is-sues with many of the UK’s most high profile and suc-cessful business operators such as Stanley Kalms,Chairman of Dixons; David Svenson, the EuropeanHead of Microsoft and not forgetting Prince Andrew.


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This was both highly rewarding in what could be achievedfor the charity and a great insight into the greatest busi-ness minds of that time.James is a firm believer in networking and choosing aforum that best fits your business needs. During the 90sJames was invited to join the ‘Young Presidents Organi-sation’ an elite club of Chief Executives from all sectorsof industry allowing him to meet up and discuss business,strategies and options; a highly effective sounding boardwhere discretion was always paramount. Today there arebusiness forums throughout the UK, and he would highlyrecommend membership to this valuable resource.Having invested in a great team at Alexander Mann hestepped aside from the day to day running and left it inthe safe hands of JonathanWright. Alexander Mann wasinvesting in new markets with the introduction of Alexan-der Mann Technology Ltd and Alexander Mann Financeand additionally investing in new companies under theAlexander Mann group including Adlam Consulting,QED Consulting and Nicholson Consulting.Although remaining as CEO, this allowed James moretime to attend industry events and it was at one such event‘Management Recruitment International’ (MRI) that hemet Doug Bugie. “This was when I was introduced to theconcept of Franchising.”Doug Bugie and James founded Humana, an interna-tional recruitment franchise, transforming the industryfurther. They successfully grew the business globally hav-ing 147 offices in 30 countries; and they would go ontosell Humana to MRI, the company who first approachedthem to sell them the idea, enabling them to realise mil-lions in value for the company.

James then turned his attention to floating AlexanderMann on the Stock Market. It had been valued at £60mby a broker and just prior to floating they were ap-proached by Advent International with a view to them in-vesting. After many discussions James was persuaded thata private equity deal would be much more lucrative.James agreed to the deal under the principle that it wascash sale and was left wondering ‘what now?’After a period of pure enjoyment and indulgence he en-tered academia going to Harvard to study their AdvancedManagement Programme. Returning to London Jamesmissed the daily routine of business and to the relief ofhis family started meetings with business colleagues to dis-cuss a new venture in Private Equity.Having successfully built the team at Alexander Mann herepeated the process bringing in top professionals to hisnew business, Hamilton Bradshaw. Quickly word got outthat James was back in town and his phone started ring-ing with deals and opportunities. The first deal saw theminvest in a company with a turnover of £160m and whenthey exited the turnover had increased to £430m. As asmall company with no investors to please, HamiltonBradshaw makes decisions no other Private Equity com-pany can; they predominantly work in the £1m - £10m in-vestment bracket and make 2 or 3 deals per year allowingthem to support the investment not only with money butwith their skills and experience. Hamilton Bradshaw’sportfolio of investments now range through nursinghomes, recruitment agencies and retailers – they have ex-panded their model to work in Pakistan.During this period James also set up the James CaanFoundation. Whilst the Foundation helps support other


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UK charities, James ensures the Foundation also helpsgive back to people in some of the poorest regions of theworld, ensuring children gain access to a basic educationand healthcare. One success story of this is the AbdulRashid Khan campus in Pakistan, a school named afterhis Father.This brings us to Dragons’ Den, in 2007 James’ office re-ceived a call asking if he would be interested in a newBBC show, he was interviewed and filmed and then withhis busy schedule forgot all about it. Although the shownever took off the tape was shown to a producer of Drag-ons’ Den who in turn got in touch to ask if James wouldmeet. After several meetings with the producers, Debo-rah Meaden and Duncan Bannatyne, James was still leftuncertain of a place in the Den. Several weeks later hewas invited to replace the outgoing Dragon, Richard Far-leigh.One of the biggest challenges to the Dragons’ Den pro-duction team is not finding people to come on the showbut actually finding time, at the same time, in the Drag-ons’ diaries for filming.James assumed that the Dragons would be fully briefedon each pitch, but found this was not the case; each ofthe Dragons are unaware of the myriad of presentationsahead. After treading water for 5 days he made his first in-vestment in ‘Fit Fur Life’ much to the amusement of theothers; he invested the full £100k for a 50% stake inSammy French’s business, this investment has completelytransformed Sammy’s life.Throughout his time at Dragons’ Den, James has in-

vested not only money but also time and experience inprojects such as ChocBox, Rapstrap, MagnaMole andGoldGenie all now realising outstanding growth, successand some with exclusive deals.Of course there are the ones that got away and Jameshopes they have been successful.Dragons’ Den has had an enormous impact on James’life and he is aware that he is blessed with good fortune– not just monetary fortune but personal fortune.This year has been a busy one for James. Recently Jameswas appointed by Business Secretary Lord Mandelsonas Co-Chair of the Government’s Department of Busi-ness’ Ethnic Minority Task Force; he received an Hon-orary Doctorate in Business Administration from LeedsUniversity and is involved with the iAwards which recog-nise and celebrate the best British achievements in sci-ence, technology and innovation. James has also beeninvited to attend events such as Asian Women ofAchievement Awards and is also regularly invited to pres-tigious events, most recently the Queen’s summer gardenparty.I ask James about the future – and am told “I have noidea what the future holds, I’ve never been a planner soit doesn’t worry me. I hope there are a few more series ofDragons’ Den, but I’m certainly enjoying myself toomuch to retire. I think my future probably lies in philan-thropy as I’ve learnt it is not just money that can makethings happen, but also my skills and my ability. Moneyis great, but it is what you do with it that counts.”

LONDONBUSINESSFORUMThe World’s Fastest MBA Programme

more info at londonbusinessforum.com

For those of us who don’t have two years and over £20,000to spend at business school, the 80 Minute MBA is an attrac-tive short-cut to business brilliance. Acclaimed business au-thors, speakers, consultants, researchers and co-founders ofthe IntelligenceAgency, Richard Reeves and John Knell werebrave enough to take on the enormous task of whittling downa traditional MBA programme into 80 minutes. Yet, they don’thave a single MBA between them!Now a popular annual event held by the London BusinessForum and also a best-selling book, The 80 Minute MBAdoesnot intend to supplant traditional courses. Rather, it promisesto deliver the “key learnings” of an MBA in a high-octane, en-tertaining and informal session.So, why do MBA’s take so long to complete? “The real in-dustrialisation [of the past few decades] has been in businessbooks, most of which are crap,” explained Richard Reeves atthe last 80 Minute MBAheld in October 2008. “There are nowfive books on leadership published per day.” The event’s offi-cial motto is “Citius est Melius,” “Quicker is Better.” Or, asKnell says, “We’ve done the reading so you don’t have to.”Reeves and Knell argue that whilst there is a lot to be said fora full masters degree, business education contains manytime-wasting concepts that can usefully be forgotten, or atleast have their priority downgraded. One such example saysReeves is the idea of being an “authentic” leader. “Great lead-ers are quite often inauthentic,” he suggests. “In 1940, Win-ston Churchill’s strategic assessment was that the Americansweren’t going to [intervene in World War Two], the Germanswere going to overwhelm us and we were probably going togo down… He did not stand up in the House of Commonsand say this.”The 80 Minute MBAdoes not ignore the valuable elements ofa modern MBA course. After filtering through the informationoverload, Reeves and Knell explore the necessity of greatleadership. After all, the right kind of leadership can make adramatic difference to a company’s fortunes.Amongst the serious messages of The 80 Minute MBA thereis also an element of fun. Many of the modules are genuinelyinformative but some are designed simply to entertain. Thelanguage module consists of nothing more that learning howto ask, “How do you speak English?” in Mandarin Chinese,which in case you were wondering, roughly translates pho-netically as, knee hoy shure ing wen ma.Reeves and Knell encourage students of The 80 Minute MBAto question many long-established and trusted business con-cepts. It is a painless injection of creative thinking and busi-ness inspiration that challenges you to think differently.The next 80 Minute MBAwill take place on 20 January 2010.

Kosovo (1999-2001)‘There wasn’t any electricity. Everything was black. Noone could work without light, there was no TV, no radio,no cars, only darkness. It made me realise how much wetake for granted.’

On our way to the next house we stopped at the placewhere the massacre had occurred. The number of bulletholes in the wall told their own horrific story. The nextwoman we spoke to had her own memories of that dayfour months before, and as we talked I just couldn’t un-derstand how they were surviving. There was no dole of-fice, no state aid, no employment and no bank. As Ilooked around, I couldn’t see a single building in the vil-lage that wasn’t a house – no pub, no shop, no café – andI couldn’t get my head round how they could survivewithout an economy. Nor could I work out why they wereso friendly and not morbid or depressed. By the fourthhouse, I knew I had to help.“What can we do here, Yusuf?”“It’s your call, James.”“I don’t know where to start.”As we walked around the village we discussed a plan thatwould see me “adopt” the village.“These people don’t need blankets or clothes” Yusufsaid, “They need dignity. Why don’t you give them theirdignity back?”The aid agencies in the country were so busy dealing withsuch a complicated disaster that they thought it would be

a year before aid reached the village.I decided that I would fund what-ever the village needed for a yearuntil the aid agencies reached it. Wedevised a plan that trained one per-son to use a computer who thenmade a register of every woman andchild who was left. Next we deviseda budget for each of them – notenough for luxuries but enough forfood, for electricity, clothes and

transport. It was important to me that the allowance en-abled them to live with dignity. I didn’t want them to haveto sell any of their possessions or to beg, but to be able tolive well enough that they could start rebuilding their lives.

Here we print anextract from JamesCaan’s autobiography

Yusuf Islam formallyCat Stevens

relaxing at home...I’m apprehensive in the taxi. I’m in London on busi-ness and have been invited out for a “relaxing dinner

at my Club” by a good friend. I’ve settled down fromblind panic to apprehension as I have been assured byReece Williams, the Club’s Marketing Director, there isno dress code “We just ask our members to refrain fromnudity!” As it is – I’m wearing the only dress I’ve packed– a knee length green number off one of the better highstreet pegs.I arrive at 20 Portman Square and stand outside a mag-nificent building – the butterflies are suddenly metamor-phosing into elephants. However, my friend is therewaiting and we enter Home House. The warmth andfriendliness of the club is immediately evident the mo-ment we walk through the hallowed black doors.We head up the extraordinary cantilever staircase to oneof the drawing rooms and I’m completely at ease – so farI’ve passed men in jeans, ladies on their mobile phones,there is someone reading a tabloid newspaper and evensomeone with a laptop tapping away at the keyboard(Home House is set up with free Wi-Fi).We sit in the Great Drawing Room (aptly named) and areapproached by a member of staff who leaves the wine andcocktail list along with some nibbles, greeting my friendby name – without looking at the list a bottle of wine is or-dered and the waiter disappears only to return promptlywith the wine. Dinner itself is fantastic – the restaurantseats up to 80 guests and has wonderful views over theSquare, and I’m told with a smile that the Club is alsohome to one of London’s best-kept secrets – the garden.Home House offers a fantastic fusion of old and new –designed in 1773 by James Watt, with interiors designedby Robert Adams, the grace and opulence is infused withan edgy bar and reception area designed by the renownedarchitect Zaha Hadid in 2008.

This sumptuous private members Club, brings people ofall cultures together in a vibrant and relaxing melting pot,to meet friends, relax and network. I chat with ReeceWilliams who explains that “The tone that we like tostrike is that of confident irreverence, not taking ourselvestoo seriously but comfortably knowledgeable. TheHouse is fun, a “palace of entertainment” and not yourusual private members club.”The Club is actually set over 3 houses on PortmanSquare, offering fabulous parties and events. The HouseBar, The Bison Bar, 20 luxury bedrooms, a gym and spa– which is known as one of London’s premier boutiquehealth and fitness destinations and 5 sumptuous drawingrooms, all add up to make Home House a hidden Lon-don gem.As a woman it’s the Gym and Spa that catches my inter-est more than the option of accommodation. The Gymand Spa are integrated into the Grade 1 Robert Adambuilding, allowing members to indulge themselves in theluxury of the mosaic pool, the invigorating eucalyptussteam room, and the sauna. Jonathan Goodair and histeam of Personal Trainers are on hand to supply indi-vidual, high quality bespoke training programmes – nomatter what your level of fitness!The Spa is run under the expert eye of AnastasiaAchellios, beauty specialist to the A List and HomeHouse Members! The Anastasia Achellios MethodSpa has some of the best treatments from across theGlobe to delight the senses and produce extraordinaryresults.My all too brief visit to the club ends with a final strolldown the wonderful, winding staircase to the discretelobby where the attentive and friendly concierge guidesme to my waiting car. I make a note to myself to call myfriend to recommend me for membership.


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J Miller Muirhead discovers the comforts of a Home away from home.

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger thanmagician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to,

in the strongest conjuration.

Charles Dickens


34

talkingproperty

With the property market facing its toughest pe-riod in decades, I meet with Property In-vestor Stephen McKechnie MD of Kelvin

Properties, who agrees it has been tough, he explains thereare definitely positive changes in the market place re-cently. He started his property career in 1995 renovatingproperties, he now holds a portfolio of over 400 through-out Scotland, from purchasing his first property in 1999,we discuss the highs and lows of his business!How did you start?“As an electrician to trade I ran a small building company

in Glasgow after gaining a Government grant in 1995.Weworked predominantly for property companies refur-bishing flats. It seemed a natural progression to developthe business into investing and renovating our own prop-erties, being a tradesperson definitely was a key factor inmy decision to starting my own property company. I hadwitnessed the pitfalls of high renovation costs from otherdevelopers who had subcontracted out work.”Tell me about Kelvin Properties.“In 1999 I formed my Ltd Company with the aim to buyand sell flats, Glasgow at that time was well behind other

GRETA HILL-LYONS chats with Stephen McKechnie MD of Kelvin Properties

Mark O’Dowd SolicitorDirector of OperationsHBJ Gateley WareingFounder of NationalGood Manners Day

Corporate Bullies

As a young chap with a smart mouth, growing up inthe south side of Glasgow, I happened upon morethan my fair share of bullies.From the gangs you had to pass on the way home, tothe young chap who let his young sister smack meabout for the only prize I ever won at school. They allhad one simple well understood thing in common, theexpression of their torment was always physical. Ofcourse, most of us learn to deal with these types; Ipersonally began to give them a slap back.I left all of this behind when I developed a little confi-dence; aided with some Army Cadet boxing trainingand a few Jeet Kune Do lessons. As I began my jour-ney into the corporate world, I felt a strong sense ofrelief as I swapped the mortar attacks and sniper firefor discussion, reasoning, common values and thelike.You can imagine my surprise when after only a fewweeks in my new job, I witnessed a senior member ofstaff bullying a colleague. This bully didn’t wait until 4O’clock, nor did she carry the obligatory sticks, stonesknives and bad tattoos. Over the years, I have heardmany similar tales. From these it was clear that thatthere was an even more dangerous sub species ofbully, ‘ the silent bully’.In all of these stories, the silent bullies pattern of be-havior was the same. They didn’t slap their victims onthe face, they eroded their confidence, enthusiasmand commitment. They often left their victims doubtingthemselves. Displaying appalling manners, insensi-tivity, a lack of responsibility and on occasion aggres-siveness. The stories were usually always concerningpeople in authority, often liked and even admired bytheir peers. In many cases they would mask their be-havior behind rules to exert their control.It struck me that these people not only pose a threatto their colleagues, particularly during these challeng-ing economic times, where people are working harder,in some cases for less money and are afraid of losingtheir jobs, but to the entire business.It can’t be good for businesses having staff only moti-vated by fear. It can’t be good for businesses beingunaware of the potential of a claim for bullying beinglodged against them or staff going off sick to avoiddealing with the manager who is tormenting them. Norcan it be good for businesses to learn that their hardwon reputations, goodwill and branding are beingeroded, slowly and silently in coffee shops and bars.Now I do not wish to make light of anyone’s experi-ence of bullying, but it did get me thinking, how luckyI really was only having to deal with the physical bul-lies; at least you knew what you were getting!

cities in relation to property prices, with a 2 bedroom flat in thecity being bought for around £50,000. My initial investment was6 properties, after renovating and selling we achieved a £100kprofit which was invested back into the business. This capital al-lowed us to get investment from the banks and as well as sellingproperties we moved into the ‘Buy to Let’ market.”What about growth?“I actively built a network with letting agencies to sublet our prop-erties which allowed me to focus on renovating, letting and sell-ing. In year 2 we sold 5 properties and retained 10 for let, whichmeant £150k in rental deposits, providing further capital to in-crease our properties to let. Our ethos was clear – highly main-tained properties were being successfully let through ournetworks and in turn they were requesting longer leases, at theend of the day there are ongoing costs when a property is lyingempty such as factoring fees, council tax, maintenance, insuranceetc... Our clients ranged from those on housing benefit throughto the executive market, it has always been important to meet ourclients individual demands.In 2003, annual property capital growth was around 20% andbanks saw this potential and were happy to lend on the securityof the buy to let business model. At this time we had 50 proper-ties which were occupied and rented throughout Glasgow. Thisallowed further growth in purchasing offices and warehouses toconvert into flats which provided a high return. On this basis wegrew our portfolio to 250 very quickly.Kelvin Properties has gone from buying and renting propertiesto selling portfolios, recently moving into the Aberdeen marketwhere we have 150 apartments fully occupied. Aberdeen hasseen a great letting market and as yet haven’t experienced the fulleffects of the recession.”How do you move forward?“Whilst over the last 12 – 18 months we have gone from just buy-ing rental properties to now buying and selling portfolios, we havehad to ‘tread water’ for a while as the market stagnated. We havebeen able to keep rent arrears to a minimum, with more peopleunable to purchase their own homes we have seen an increase inour rentals as we have properties to meet most budgets.We are looking forward to continue to grow our portfolio, mov-ing into new markets throughout 2009/10 and whilst there havebeen challenges, overheads have been kept to a minimum andwe remain focussed on our cash flow, looking at seizing new op-portunities.”


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The Peninsula New YorkFacing pageFifth Avenue luxury with sublime 3-levelspa. Ideally located on Fifth Avenue amidthe city’s best shopping, this Beaux Artslandmark has a renowned health cluband spa that features a glass-enclosedrooftop pool with spectacular views ofManhattan. The views are equally im-pressive from the sky-high Salon deNing. Spacious rooms and suites featureplush pillowtop mattresses, 450-thread-count Italian linens, large plasma TVs,and complimentary wireless Internet ac-cess. Suites include TVs above soakingtubs.

Mandarin Oriental, New YorkRightAcross from Central Park. Rising aboveColumbus Circle at the edge of CentralPark, this Manhattan luxury hotel occu-pies floors 35–54 of the Time WarnerCenter; Lincoln Center is 3 blocks away,and theaters are 7 blocks south.Modern artworks and a glass ceilingsculpture adorn the Mandarin Oriental’slobby. The Asian-inspired spa has cus-tomised personal experiences such as Vi-tality Pools, “eRooms with floor-to-ceilingwindows command expansive views ofCentral Park, the Hudson River, or Man-hattan. Entertainment systems include36-inch flat-panel TVs and DVD playerswith surround sounxperience showers”and amethyst crystal steam rooms.

The Pod Hotel New YorkBudget-friendly, hip hotel in Midtown East.The innovative Pod Hotel offers compact,cleverly designed rooms and a prime lo-cation 4 blocks from Manhattan’s FifthAvenue, less than 6 blocks from the The-atre District, and 2 blocks from subways.Complimentary wireless Internet accessis available throughout the Pod HotelNew York. The lobby, with colourful mu-rals and mod decor, is the setting forcomplimentary social hours Fridays andSaturdays.All rooms and suites feature iPod dock-ing stations and comfy custom bedding.Rooms offer LCD TVs and private orshared baths with rainfall showerheads.Suites are larger and have private baths.

The Pierre, A Taj HotelUpper East Side elegance across fromCentral Park. Known for its gracious serv-ice, the iconic Fifth Avenue hotel over-looking the emerald expanse of CentralPark re-opened on June 1 following ameticulous $100 million renovation to cre-ate new guestroom and bath interiors.Le Caprice restaurant, modelled after itslegendary London counterpart, debutedat The Pierre in the summer of 2009. Thehotel’s award-winning concierge team canassist with personal shopping, theatretickets, private tours, dining reservations,and more.The Pierre’s freshly renovated gue-strooms and suites feature high ceilings,abundant natural light and luxury bedding.

The Gramercy Park HotelIdiosyncratic, eclectic vision offers a per-fect modern alternative to the institutionalapproach one now finds in even the mosthigh-end boutique design hotels.The bold, individualistic spirit of the pub-lic spaces at the Gramercy Park Hotel iscarried on into the 185 guest rooms andluxury suites here in Manhattan. They aregenerously scaled and beautifully ap-pointed. Each is different with its ownunique layout, vivid Renaissance colorpalette inspired by Raphael and distinc-tive collection of art and objects. Importedhand tufted rugs with deep rose velvetdrapery on custom bronze rods create abeautiful palette with the mahogany win-dow enclosures and wooden blinds.

The Hirer has selected what we think are the best business hotels in NEWYORK. For us it not onlyhas to function as a place to stay but must also be a place to work.

BEST BUSINESSHOTELS INNEWYORK

Rip it up...and start again

We asked John Smyth, who began hiscareer in the engineering distribution in-dustry 20 years ago, and was one of thefounding Directors of Glasgow basedcompany Worldwide Engineering. SoJohn, what would you do?

Q: What type of new business?A. I’d love to create community soccerschool academies focusing on social in-clusion and education for young kids.Growing up all I did was play footballwithout any real coaching. Giving kidsproper football coaching in a safe envi-ronment would help develop them aspeople too, and ensure we’re lookingafter the next generation.

Q: When to do it - during or after arecession?A. Football at this level is relatively re-cession proof. Naturally a strong busi-ness plan would be crucial to thesuccess. However, passion, determina-tion and giving something back wouldmake this an exciting opportunity.

Q: Where?A. Scotland. Let’s fly the flag and showthe rest of the UK what can beachieved.

Q: How would you achieve theabove?A. By getting a buy in from all the rele-vant authorities, government, local au-thorities, football clubs, schools and theSFA, who, collectively could be encour-aged to provide sites that could be de-veloped.Commercially the opportunity would beattractive to sponsors to align their prod-ucts with the healthy, sporty environ-ment that would be created.Ultimately we maybe even produce awinning Scottish football team – you justnever know!

makingwavesThe world has gone climate

change mad and the quest tofind a way to power the

planet in way that’s environmentallyand budget friendly seems to be anongoing battle. So could the answerto this be to offer £10 million to sci-entists who can come up with a prac-tical way to develop renewable waveand tidal energy.Alex Salmond seems to think so andis unleashing this very challenge toanyone willing to take it on, but is thisreally an achievable entity or just anovel way of keeping the EU onside?The EU has adopted a target statingthat renewable energy should ac-count for 20% of the EU’s final en-ergy consumption by 2020. TheUK’s share of this has been set at15% by 2020 which means it has thelargest target of all the member states.Alex Salmond has taken this goal onboard and has realised the potentialScotland has in helping the countryhit this target. He says “Our opencoastlines and island straits can make

us the global capital for wave andtidal stream technologies. Just as theseas around Scotland have been atthe heart of our hydrocarbon econ-omy, we now have the opportunity tobuild a renewable economy.”To open this up globally and perhapsease the burden on the UK as awhole he came up with the idea ofthe Saltire Prize where scientists andbusinesses around the world cancompete to win £10 million. In orderto qualify for the challenge, entrieswill need to produce a minimumelectrical output of 100GWh over acontinuous two year period, usingonly the power of the sea. The bestoverall technology that is most com-mercially deployable after consider-ing the environmental sustainability,cost and safety will win the prize. Thecompetition will be judged by abroad range of academics and willrun from the summer of 2009 untilDecember 2014 but, if no entryachieves the minimum output thenthe challenge will be extended for an-other two years.

Leslie Quinn takes a look at the £10m challenge that’s makingwaves.


39

The Government have fully sup-ported the challenge and justifies theprize for other reasons too. AlexSalmond explains the other motivesfor this overtly large reward. “In ad-dition to the economic benefits thereare a number of other reasons forputting this forward. This includes re-ducing the country’s carbon emis-sions by 80% by 2010, acceleratingtechnological developments in theglobal marine renewable sector andinspiring the innovation necessary tohit the country’s target of 50% of elec-tricity generated by renewables by2020.”In the grand scheme of things theSaltire Prize does look like an inspir-ing way to encourage a global re-sponse to an issue that affects everycountry but with a direct benefit tothe UK. The challenge has attractedmany supporters with a positive viewon how successful the results couldbe.Andris Piebalgs the EU Energy Com-missioner has praised the challenge.He says “The Saltire Prize is a global

call to action. The prize provides animportant platform to seek out theimportant technological break-throughs that can help unlock theenormous potential of marine re-newable energy.” This mirrors theview set out by the Energy Technol-ogy Partnership who view the re-search and technology undertaken bythe industry and academia will leadto discoveries that will secure a cleanand sustainable future for our energysystems.As with all schemes of this scale thereare those who ridicule the wholeidea. Many people feel the £10 mil-lion being taken out the Governmentbudget could be spent on more justi-fiable causes especially during this pe-riod of economic instability. Otherssee this as just a publicity stunt tomake the UK Government lookgood and put Scotland in the forefront of international business. PRexpert Max Clifford has gone as farto say it would be more of a betteridea to put Simon Cowell in a kilt inorder to get Americans to stand up

and take notice of Scotland ratherthan publicise the Saltire Prize there.Many scientists have also put doubtinto the validity of the prize as theybelieve it is designed to exclude smallinnovative companies and favour thericher marine energy company. Thisis due to the cost of keeping machin-ery in the water for over two years aswell as maintaining and repairing it,something small companies can’t af-ford. There has also been commentmade on how the prize should bebased on the quality of electricity gen-erated not the quantity as tidal poweris notoriously hard to store for futureuse according to one scientist.The Saltire Prize in theory looks tobe a great idea, a novel way of get-ting global attention to help solve anenvironmental challenge that couldhold the key to open future doors ofrenewable energy. Or is it just that anovel idea, an idea that is being usedto launch the UK as the front run-ner in achieving the unachievable?Either way it’s certainly makingwaves.


40

ASA Recruitment is operatingon the front line of the jobsmarket.We can see there are

definite signs of recovery. Interest-ingly, whilst we were all reported to bein the recession trench, the recruit-ment market could see a great varietyof situations. Some industries barelyfaltered during recession, others frozecompletely. Some specialist marketswere positively thriving and continueto do so. ASA has been around sincethe 1970s and it was heard to be said,in the current climate, that “grey hairis good”. At last ASA had the greenlight to use and comment upon ourexperience of trading over the last 30+years. Application of this knowledgerealised a business which, whilst notgrowing hugely in the last year, cer-tainly did not drop and is now placedto capitalise on the opportunitieswhich an improving market inevitablypresents.Any recovery is historically driven bythe temporary market and true toREC’s findings, ASA are experienc-ing increases in those recruited fortemporary work. Flexible labour willbe the order of the day and is essen-tial to a continued recovery. Indeed

flexible labour should have a perma-nent fixture in the future strategy ofany economy.There are signs of an increase tocome in the permanent market also.Companies have restructured andfound themselves in a position to re-cruit and plan their staffing require-ments for the future. Manybusinesses who are forward thinkingwill realise that now is the time to at-tract talent for the next phase ofgrowth.As recession diminishes, we will beleft with the natural evolution andtrading of business. Some will riseand some will fall as has always beenthe case. Questions will be raised asto what direction markets will head.The retail industry is said to be in de-cline but is the retail industry really indecline or is it shifting online? Ouractivities would suggest this to be thecase. One of our online retailingclients has experienced their busiest‘quiet season’ in years. They are op-erating with high numbers of tempo-rary staff to satisfy current needswhilst shifting their focus to the de-livery of a sustained change in theirmarket and no doubt towards a need

to employ the workers on a perma-nent basis. This is flexible labourstrategy assisting business strategy forthe long term good of businessgrowth.Whether you are recruiting or seek-ing employment, our advice is thesame; position yourself for a positiveturn in the market.The future is bright. Bucking thetrend of markets in the last 18months, ASA has invested heavily inIT systems to further improve con-tract management and service deliv-ery. We are putting our moneywhere our mouth is, advising organi-sations to look for the next genera-tion of talent. We believe in this -we’re doing it for ourselves!Leaders of the future are sitting wait-ing for the call. Businesses withstrong growth in mind are waiting topounce. One thing is sure, the nextfew years will be interesting times andthose who see that now will benefit inthe future, whilst others who are wait-ing to see what happens will alwaysbe waiting. Insight and integrity are atthe core of ASA Recruitment’s be-liefs. Integrity is a given, insight illu-minates the path ahead.

the futureis bright...Last month the REC released a report entitled, ‘The first signs of recovery in the jobs market’. Although‘normality’ is still further than we would all like, the message is positive and one to listen to, by Iain MoirManaging Director ASA Recruitment.

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Business BubbleNorth-East

By Steve Cook, CEO Empire HR

Scottish companies have been fined over half a millionpounds for hiring illegal workers since April 2008.In a bid to crack down on those employing illegal staff,the Home Office have slapped businesses with fines to-talling £670,000.These shocking fines are imposed on businesses re-gardless of whether they are aware that the immigrantsare illegal and companies still have to pay them even ifthey hired the staff in good faith.One Scottish employer was hit by a £50,000 fine afterbeing caught hiring illegal immigrants and an Aberdeencompany has been forced to shut down after it was dis-covered three staff were working illegally.Recent figures published by the Home Office demon-strate that an alarming number of small businesses arebeing targeted – often prompted by public telephone callsto the UK Border Agency alerting them that there may beillegal immigrants working there. Following intelligenceled investigations; enforcement officers then swoop inand catch employers by surprise.A takeaway in Glasgow’s Victoria Road was forced toclose immediately after an unexpected visit from UK Bor-der Agency inspectors and is now facing a fine of£30,000.At Empire HR we are acutely aware that the devastatingfines could force many Scottish companies out of busi-ness, while some employers knowingly hiring illegal staffcould also face a two year jail sentence under the newrules introduced by the Government in February last year.It has become apparent that employers are confused bythe new immigration rules and the number of enquirieson employing foreign workers has doubled in the first halfof this year.Unfortunately it is often small to medium sized busi-nesses that are hit by these colossal fines as they tend tobe dependent upon staff that frequently move from job tojob which can make it difficult to keep up-to-date with allthe pre-employment checks.These businesses are also likely to be struggling duringthese current tough financial times making it more prob-able that they will have cut back on the time spent on re-cruitment. However, these fines highlight how important

it is to ensure that there are records demonstrating thatall staff have permission to work in the UK. Pre-recruit-ment checks are not something that a business can riskcutting back on.A new points based immigration system, introduced latelast year, means most employers need to revamp theirpre employment checks in order to ensure that they donot fall foul of this complex scheme.Combined with anti discrimination laws, dealing with im-migration is now a minefield for most businesses whichoften struggle to balance the need to avoid a discrimina-tion claim with the need to comply with Home Office ruleson employing illegal workers. This can be an absolutenightmare for employers who are unsure of how to dealwith these issues in the workplace without offending theworkers concerned.Once they have been selected, any potential new em-ployee should be asked to provide one of the originaldocuments given in the Home Office List 1, or two of theoriginal documents given in the Home Office List 2.These lists can be found on the Home Office website(homeoffice.gov.uk). You should take a copy of the mainpage of the passport which states the immigration status,and any pages which have UK endorsements.There should be clear wording on the passport or visastating the applicant’s immigration status. These also nor-mally state a date that the visa expires. To ensure that thedocuments belong to the applicant, you should check thephotographs to ensure they match the applicant, and thatthe date of birth is consistent with the appearance of theapplicant. This is an area where many employers struggleso it is well worth seeking specialist advice at this point.Admittedly this is an extremely complex and confusingarea of law. Most business owners and managers willnot be able to fully get to grips with the huge amount ofrules and regulations relating to immigration – it confusesmost lawyers too! This is where it is a real advantage tohave access to specialist advice and support. It is wellworth considering outsourcing this area of managementin order to ensure there is no risk. Let’s face it, times arehard enough at the moment without the added stress ofa substantial fine.

All Skills Recruitment

Are you looking for a temporary staffing supplier that’s as passionateabout your business as you are?

At Sercon People we pride ourselves on knowing your business to ensure we providethe perfect fit each time, every time.

For more information telephone:Glasgow Team 0141 332 2669Edinburgh Team 0131 248 2637

Alternatively you can email us at [email protected] visit our website www.serconpeople.co.uk

Admittedly, it may lack the allure of the launch ofthe latest iPhone or Playstation 3, but ploughinghard through the recession is the United King-

dom’s recruitment industry, now valued at £27bn a year:above that of even the electronics business.Despite its colossal contributions to the country’s econ-omy, all too often it is a sector that is not going to instantlywin the limelight, and often needs to fight to be heard.This battle is being fought – and regularly won – by theRecruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), theUnited Kingdom’s largest trade organisation for the re-cruitment industry. Chief Executive Kevin Green ex-plains: “Lobbying is hugely important to us. A crucialelement of what we do is getting the government andother stakeholders to understand the significance of whatis now a £27bn industry. If nothing else we create a hugeamount of GDP. The REC is the voice of the industryand lets people know how considerable we are, what wethen can do is use that voice to influence issues that canarise.”Such clout is only created when built upon a strong foun-dation, as Kevin explains: “At the heart of the REC is ourstandards agenda. We want to try and encourage busi-nesses to join the organisation, so clearly we want to make

it as straightforward as possible, but at the same time en-suring every new member adheres to our standards.”Upon joining the organisation, members must sign up tothe REC’s Code of Professional Practice, a binding agree-ment that ensures members adhere to the highest princi-ples of ethics, integrity and equity. As Kevin states, suchrobust criterion are not easy to achieve, but it does paydividends: “For the smaller businesses, the ability to dis-play the REC badge allows them to differentiate them-selves from the rest, and shows they are credible, andsigned up to follow certain standards.”The benefits for those that do become members of theREC are tangible, “We offer a wide range of assistance,including a free legal helpline, in addition to our four in-house solicitors who are experts in the field. It is im-mensely important to us to not only provide generaladvice to our members, but also sector-specific guidance,whether that be construction, oil and gas or office sup-port.”Kevin openly admits that one of the single largest chal-lenges the organisation face at the current time is thelooming implementation of the Agency Workers Direc-tive (AWD). “As far as I am concerned, some years ago,a Labour government would have taken the trade unions

Kevin Green: Chief Executive

serious aboutstandards

Kevin Green, Chief Executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation special feature byGordon Smith

Recruitment and Employment Confederation feature

44


45

word hook, line and sinker, being unaware of the valuewe create in terms of jobs creation, helping people intoemployment. It has been a hard slog, but we have gotthem [the government] to a place whereby they under-stand the industry and the value we create.”Since it was proposed a decade ago, the REC has foughtagainst the premature introduction of the AWD. Kevinstates, “I think we have put up a fantastic campaign, and– with the support of the government – have kept it atarms distance for ten years. One of the things we havelearnt from lobbying is if you wait for government to con-sult, and publish draft regulations, to a large extent thebattle is already lost, as the public are not going to fun-damentally change their position. It is imperative to get inearly to influence the agenda.”“What we also seek to do is not only speak on behalf ofrecruitment organisations, but also to align others withinthe industries. In terms of the AWD, when we publishedour initial report into the subject in February 2009, wereceived endorsement from the British Chamber ofCommerce, the CBI, the Professional ContractorsGroup, and effectively built a coalition of employers, em-ployment lawyers, and recruitment businesses, all sayingthat when government implements the AWD, there area range of issues that they need to be aware of.”Although headquartered seconds from Oxford Street,the REC cannot be accused of being London-centric,

with the confederation having a visible presence in thenations and regions, with policy forums in Scotland,Northern Ireland andWales. Chief Executive Kevin is astrong believer that it is imperative to allow members toget their voice heard at a local and regional level: “We’verun three national summits so far, all of those have takenplace in London. However, with the publication of theAWD report due in the beginning of October, what wewant to do is take the message to all parts of the UK, andgive our members and employers the opportunity to getan update on where we are, hopefully we will have thedraft regulations to talk through, allowing us to identifythe issues, and discuss what is still up for grabs.“The summits also allow us to start to prepare people.Although we are asking for the AWD not to be imple-mented until the end of 2011, there is still the possibilitythat it will be with us in 2010. It will take some time foremployers, and agencies to bring in the system, and agreeon how they will pass the information from one to an-other. Undoubtedly there is an issue on how much timewe have to prepare our members.”“We do not feel it is right to introduce the AWD duringa period of deep recession, this will stifle job creation,making it that bit harder for employers to recruit people.Why rush it through? Why make it any earlier than2011?”“Temporary workers are vital for employers to manage

“We do not feel it is right to introduce the AWD during a period of deep recession, this will stifle jobcreation, making it that bit harder for employers to recruit people.”


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the peaks and troughs of their workload, and to a largeextent, the losses we seen earlier in the year is the modelworking in practice. If you do not have any work, thenyou terminate the contracts of your temporary workersbefore you need to get rid of your permanent staff. An ef-ficient organisation needs to be able to hire people andfire people easily to match its workload, and companiesoften think very carefully when taking on permanent staffwhen you have a fluctuating workload. Quite often a busi-ness, if they couldn’t take on temporary people, would-n’t take people on at all, and very often they will try to doit through overtime or moving people around. I believeone of the reasons our unemployment rate – despitebeing at 7.9 percent – is lower than Germany, France,and certainly Italy or Spain, is because we have a flexiblelabour market. If we didn’t have flexible working, our un-employment would be at 10, if not 11 percent. In brief,temporary work creates employment – that is the point.”Aside from the headache provided by the AWD, Kevinhas some other real concerns for the state of UK Plc:“We’ve got an aging workforce, combined with hugeskills and talent shortages which are being masked at themoment by the economic situation. As soon as we getsome demand back in the economy, I suspect we willhave to be looking at immigration again and potentiallyfrom outwith the European borders.”“A further worry of ours is the fact that of the 2.4 millionunemployed, nearly one million of them are under 24.There must be a renewed focus on internships and ap-prentice schemes, with any kind of funding stimulus forgetting young people into employment to be welcomed.We have educated all of these people to A-level andoften graduate level, now we need to get them into work.The longer people are left out of the labour market, theharder it is for them to re-enter.”

Despite the economic climate, Kevins says his in-tray isnot entirely gloomy. In August 2009, the REC publishedtheir latest data showing that for the first time in 17months, the organisation’s members had recruited morepermanent staff than the month before. This trend wasechoed by the figures from the temporary sector, wheremore staff had been recruited than the previous monthfor the first time since July 2008. Kevin states, “These arestill the very early days and it by no means shows a fun-damental shift, but what it does illustrate is that employ-ers are beginning to hire again, and this is a positive sign.We have had 17 months of negative indicators, so whenwe get a positive one, you want to promote it, as confi-dence is essential.”“What we must remember is that unemployment as ameasure lags nine to twelve months behind the economy.What we are saying is that at the front end, people arestarting to employ again, but don’t expect there to be ahuge impact on unemployment in the short term – it islikely to get worse before it gets better.”“The fiscal stimulus appears to have worked at a macrolevel, what we want to see is continued pressure on thebanks to continue to lend to small and medium sizedbusinesses. From a legislative point of view, it is all aboutthe AWD, for god’s sake don’t introduce that right now,lets leave that until the last possible moment, as not tostifle job creation.”Amid the chaos of the past 18 months on the economy,on a personal level Kevin is proud of his achievements todate within the REC: “At the end of this financial year,despite the market being very tough, we will have had anet increase in members of over 200. Quite simply, thosein the recruitment sector value the service we offer andrecognise that we have created a voice that is being lis-tened to at a national level.”

“ for god’s sake don’t introduce that right now, let’s leave that until the last possible moment,as not to stifle job creation.”

Sercon People have been trading since January 2009and although “new kids on the block” have grown,both in resources and reputation, faster than ex-

pected. “We recently opened our second branch in thenetwork in Edinburgh sourcing prime office space inMorrison Street. From our locations in Glasgow and Ed-inburgh we are now able to cover all requirements withinScotland.”The next evolution for the business is a 3rd branch open-ing in London on 4th January 2010, no mean feat for acompany borne and raised in a recession. “We are in theprocess of viewing properties and expect to sign the con-tract this month for a small property in Pall Mall, inci-dentally not far from the location James Caan opened uphis first branch of Alexander Mann.”Our new London office will supply mainly office supportand Executive and Management staff however the corebusiness of industrial temps will be maintained as mainrevenue stream throughout our entire business. We pur-posefully chose this London locale as we want to be seenas a competitive force in the industry and not as a tinystart-up moving into a new and highly competitive mar-ketplace. We’re looking forward to the challenge of tak-ing on the London market – there have been manypeople in the industry who have been surprised at the de-cisions we’ve made, not only to open a new employmentbusiness when unemployment in Britain has been at itshighest, but also taking seemingly bold chances. But afterreading James Caan’s autobiography, one piece of advicestuck – and surprisingly it came from James’ father – not


48

James himself. “Observe the masses and do the oppo-site.”We’ve been fortunate that through hard work, long daysand nights and never giving up with our clients andprospects we’ve been able to build a strong brand andprofitable business. To ensure we maintain our brandidentity and the excellent reputation we’ve developed weregularly take part in external training for the senior man-agement team and the sales staff and will be looking intogaining further accreditations to go alongside ourISO9001 including REC Professional Membership.Despite the recession, Sercon People has shown growthmonth on month since inception. This is down not onlyto a strong marketing and sales activity plan, but alsodown to a solid support function; from our Director andFinance Director to our payroll staff to our highly expe-rienced Sales Consultants at branch level.Future plans for Sercon People are nothing short of in-dustry domination. Our intention is to keep searching forthe best and most talented recruitment consultants in theindustry and to grow our existing teams and also to growour geographical reach as we identify skilled consultantsthroughout the country.Another major investment we’ve made is the develop-ment of our new website www.serconpeople.co.uk - thefirst draft of the new site went live last week and is alreadyreceiving impressive visitor numbers. We aim to makethe site an industry leader in the online recruitmentworld, and where this might not happen overnight – itwill happen soon.

“Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow.” Chris Dodds talks throughthe aspirations of Sercon People.

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The final word

52

tales of arecessionista

So like apparently the increasing popularity of so-cial networking sites, emailing and texting is lead-ing to anxiety, reduced productivity and a

generation of Blackberry orphans. Reahhlly? Expertsexplain that our obsession with data and informationfrom a never-ending, constantly expanding number ofsources is so great, that it could even be damaging ourhealth. I don’t know about that... Now I’ve come overall Katie Price and covered my Blackberry in pinkSwarovskis, it gives me a surge of almost maternal pridewhen I glance down at it. And I can’t even rememberlife before crackbook! Professor Nada Kakabadse, fromNorthampton University, recently reported, that out ofa sample number of everyday volunteers, one third suf-fered from technological addiction. “They are addictedto their gadgets – phones, Blackberries, laptops. It is aproblem. It has negative consequences on their familylife, their health and their social life.” Well okay. Somaybe I’d rather sleep with my Blackberry instead ofTarquin. (It certainly vibrates a bit more thrillingly).And alright... so I moved Chi-Chi out from his chaiselongue under the desk to fit in a few more adapters andextension cables. But it’s only to quadruple the speed ofmy broadband! Admittedly, I do get a bit fed-up whenmy beauty sleep gets interrupted every eight minutes bya facebook update. But when I get poked, well... itmakes a girl feel that bit more popular.Professor Kakabadse also said that at work, we can beinterrupted from our primary task by a pop-up alertingus to an email. So we end up stopping what we aredoing to read the message. That then directs us else-where, perhaps to another link on the internet. We maythen check other emails stacked up behind the new one.A quick look on Facebook, Twitter or something else,

and it may be half an hour before we’re back to that pri-mary task! Nightmare. It happened to me the other dayat work. I was totally engrossed in the HFR Market Mi-crostructure Hedge Fund Industry Report for the sec-ond quarter of 2009. Then two clicks later I was equallyengrossed in an advert for a Manolo Blanik sample sale.Professor Kakabadse said, “You cannot any more doeffectively the task you were originally doing, even if itwas routine. You will suddenly feel low energy, you be-come clumsy and you have a spatial disorder. You be-come exhausted,” she said. She’s right, I was totallyspatially absorbed. Was my foot going to be too widefor the size 5 Manolos?! I was positively dizzy withstress.The US firm AOL recently conducted a survey of 4,000email users in America, 46% described themselves asbeing ‘hooked’ on email. Nearly 60% had checkedemail in the bathroom, (ditto, last night to see if Chelsreally was serious about getting back with Harry), with15% checking it in church, (does Selfridges count as aplace of worship?), and 11% had hidden the fact thatthey were checking it from those around them, (Tar-quin has no idea I’ve got a profile on sugardaddie.com).Apparently, it has, somewhat depressingly, given rise tothe phenomenon of BlackBerry orphans – childrenwho desperately fight to regain their parents’ attentionfrom the devices. Personally, I don’t think there is any-thing unhealthy about that. At Roedean I only sawmummy twice between the ages of twelve and seventeen.I think I agree with Einstein. It has become appallinglyobvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.In fact, that sounds so like 'deep' that I’m going to post itas my facebook status. My five thousand, seven hundredand forty four friends will be totally impressed.

Josie Smith details the recession musings of Tamara Pemberton-Piggot. Tamara hasa business Blackberry, a personal mobile and a pager for her therapist. She recentlydiscovered how to turn off the red light on her Blackberry and described the break-through as ‘life-changing’.

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The Hirer Magazine Issue 5