The ultimate connection: Hyperoptic’s Dana Tobak on recalcitrant councils and politics in taxis October 18, 2015 The thing some have been slow to come to terms with is that BT is not the only solution," says Dana Tobak, when I ask her what the UK is doing wrong when it comes to internet provision. Tobak co-founded fibre-based internet service provider Hyperoptic in 2011. She and business partner Boris Ivanovic, who she [...]
Why Shoreditch is still so attractive for young firms – Investec Comment October 18, 2015 For a young business finding its feet, office space is a classic challenge. Alongside being a sizeable overhead, the question of how much space you take and how long you take it for is not easily resolved. Landlords will typically want to sign you up for as long as possible. But while your company is [...]
Nick Hewer on Uber, Jack Whitehall, true entrepreneurship and the dream of a Labour Party coup October 11, 2015 I’m very wobbly. I feel homeless – it’s a huge hole,” says Nick Hewer who, after nine years and 10 series as Alan Sugar’s right-hand man, has left The Apprentice. But the 71 year-old businessman isn’t talking about leaving the show; he’s describing what it feels like to have voted Labour since 1964 and now [...]
Don’t overlook the blossoming UK mid-market – Investec Comment October 11, 2015 Germany's Mittelstand is a point of national pride, but Britain’s mid-market companies are often unfairly overlooked. While the largest firms gain attention by virtue of their size, and smaller businesses are regularly prioritised by government, mid-sized companies – broadly, those with an annual turnover of between £10m and £200m – don’t get the attention they [...]
Careers: Thinking you’re cleverer than you actually are brings success, but could make you unpopular with your colleagues October 7, 2015 When it comes to success, it's not just having brains that brings you rewards – having an inflated view of your own ability also gives your career a boost. When researchers at Baylor University in Texas compared the academic results of intellectually arrogant students with those of intellectually humble students, they found a clear correlation – [...]
Millennials are raking it in from their grandparents’ cashed-in pensions October 6, 2015 The Taxpayers’ Alliance may be pushing for an end to winter fuel subsidies and senior bus passes, but researchers at Investec have hit back with a study claiming that pensioners are already hard done by because they have to spend so much on their damn grandkids. The study couldn’t have been better timed, it [...]
Powder White’s co-founder Fraser Ewart-White on ski lifts, Khazakstan and the credit crunch October 4, 2015 When do the best business ideas come to you? For Fraser Ewart-White, it was while swinging on a chair-lift 1500m above sea level. Ewart-White had recently left his job as head of buying at the entertainment company Blockbuster, turning his back on his career to study for an MBA and, among other great ambitions, to [...]
Investec Comment: A smooth ride post management buy-out October 4, 2015 Mark Cornford, managing director of Integrity Print, and Gary Edwards, Growth & Acquisition Finance at Investec, discuss the support that companies need from their bank following a management buy-out (MBO). What issues did your company face post-MBO? MC: Managers can become over-confident with what they can achieve in the marketplace. I always had belief [...]
New pension freedoms leading to prolonged careers as older workers delay retirement September 27, 2015 A QUARTER of older workers could delay retirement after dipping into their pension pots, according to research from pension provider Zurich. One in four (26 per cent) of over 55s in employment said they were planning to work beyond their retirement date after using pension freedoms to release cash from their savings. More than 200,000 [...]
Michael Moritz: Billionaire venture capitalist on leadership and his new book with Sir Alex Ferguson September 27, 2015 If you meet Michael Moritz, you’re speaking to a venture capitalist whose investments include Google, PayPal, Yahoo and LinkedIn. He was the man Steve Jobs described as Apple’s “historian”, and went on to write the first history of the company, The Little Kingdom. His firm, Sequoia Capital, forms close relationships with young founders, whose companies [...]