Five questions mid-market businesses need to ask about risk management today June 9, 2020 | City Talk In this article, I consider the five key questions a mid-market business should ask themselves when it comes to risk management in the current environment. Are you clear about the key risks facing your business? If recent months have taught business leaders anything, it should be that to survive – let alone thrive – in [...]
If the chancellor stands up for small firms, he’ll be standing up for society as a whole March 6, 2020 Ever wondered how much small businesses hand over to the Treasury each year? Try £145bn in corporation tax and VAT alone. Factor in business rates, national insurance contributions, fuel duty, clean air charges and the insurance premium tax, and this big figure becomes, well, astronomical. We small business owners are resilient. We have continued to [...]
How to avoid friction when working in a small team October 7, 2019 Small businesses are often accompanied by an intense working environment, where space is at a premium and the day-to-day proximity between colleagues can inevitably cause friction. As a business owner, I’ve found that big issues often arise from seemingly little problems. But don’t write off small businesses just yet. With a little ingenuity, flexibility, and [...]
Doom and gloom: Small businesses suffering from ‘dogged lack of confidence’ amid Brexit uncertainty October 4, 2019 More small companies are glum about their business prospects than at any time in the last five years, as calls for a Brexit deal ratchet up. Butchers, bakers and cafes up and down Britain have called on the government to clinch a deal with the EU to end a “dogged lack of confidence” among small [...]
Worried about Brexit’s impact on your business? September 18, 2019 London is one of the world’s business capitals – a world-class financial hub, home to leading businesses across finance, professional services, law, technology, and creativity. While Brexit will not change these fundamentals, we know that it will cause new challenges that firms need to address to continue to be successful. Big firms will weather the [...]
What fears would Pennywise use to terrify you and your office? September 10, 2019 With the final instalment of Stephen King’s epic horror tale It now in cinemas, offices will be buzzing with talk of Pennywise and the various monsters the character transforms into. But what if the dancing clown decided to leave the fictional town of Derry and pay a visit to the modern workplace? In honour of [...]
How will global disruption affect small cap stocks? September 9, 2019 | City Talk Small capitalisation stocks, or small caps, can offer the potential for higher returns compared with investing in larger companies, although they are not without risks. As with all equities, investors may not get back the amount they originally invested. As well as the potential for higher returns, investors are also being drawn to the sector [...]
Notting Hill Carnival’s ‘Dancing Granny’ signs underwear deal with Sloggi after video goes viral August 30, 2019 Almost 1m people attended Notting Hill Carnival’s annual carnival last weekend. One of them, Colette Zacca, left with viral fame and an underwear deal with German brand Sloggi. Read More: Notting Hill Carnival 2019: Everything you need to know about London’s best parade The 56-year-old from Stamford Hill has been dubbed “Dancing Granny” online after [...]
Management lessons in kindness from TV icon Mister Rogers August 27, 2019 Say the name Mister Rogers to a certain generation of Americans, and they will likely go misty-eyed and start humming the same tune. Fred Rogers hosted a US children’s television programme called Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood that ran from 1968 all the way to 2001. The show was revered for its host’s gentle nature and the [...]
Female founders, here’s my advice for starting a business July 30, 2019 To any female founders reading this: your existence is statistically remarkable. Female tech founders are, simply put, unlikely. A report from the venture capital firm Atomico found that 93 per cent of money invested in European tech startups in 2018 went to all-male founding teams. Only seven per cent went to startups with a single [...]