articles

Business Support

Help where you least might expect it

Business HELP goes even beyond the services of competent lawyers, bankers and accountants in the infrastructure of support that has grown in the North East in recent years. Brian Nicholls reports

 While businesses rely a lot on accountants, lawyers and bankers – and the North East has a rich supply of these – support can also be had from many other quarters. Design experts, enviro-advisors, language coaches – niche back-up is ubiquitous. 

 

Just as the North-South divide in the economy seems to narrow, a new split appears in foreign languages.

 

This must harm a region heavily reliant on exporting, and where some younger people like those elsewhere may want one day to work abroad. Yet in 10 areas of England, mostly in the North, more than threequarters of teenagers are dropping the GCSE study of any foreign language. 

 

In more than 100 out of England’s 150 local authorities fewer than half of the 16-year-olds took a GCSE in a modern foreign language recently. Questionably, foreign languages became optional studies for 14 to 16 year olds from 2004. 

 

Now those in wealthier parts of the South show highest take-up. Good language facilities at adult level exist in the North East, but these will serve best where a basic grounding exists.  

 

Good design helps to sell products – look how many shapes, sizes and colours of mobile phones there are - and entrepreneurs in this region can get better understanding at a design event held annually, in association with Newcastle College, to explore what makes notable designers tick.

 

This year’s promotion took place across the North East, and In-fashion designer Wayne Hemmingway, who supports the event, says: “There’s definitely a buzz around design at the moment.”

 

Need to keep abreast of staff development is vital too, given the additional onus on management from the new Corporate Manslaughter Act. Team building may help minimise safety and health risks. 

 

Under this Act, firms may face manslaughter charges if an employee dies during a staff development activity, even one outsourced.

 

The impulse may be to switch from bungee jumps, quad bike races, wall climbs and assault courses to gentle pursuits: cookery, collective drumming, yoga classes. But there are other alternatives. 

 

TeamFilm of Thornaby, for example, has individuals working together on short feature and advertising films, based on key issues within their company. Results from a team proud of their achievement can be used internally and externally.

 

Ability to pay energy and fuel bills could make a difference between survival and closure for some firms just now. An entrepreneurial cost consultant at South Tyneside, Ross McConnell, through his Ross McConnell Consultancy, is helping firms cut back on energy and waste. He also advises on compliance with environmental audits and commissions.

 

In other financial aspects, Finance Tree helps firms to understand needs of investors, prepare better business plans and raise investment finance to grow. It also provides products and services for investors and business support bodies. 

 

Many firms might usefully heed the government body Envirowise first, which says employees should be briefed regularly on their company’s bills for energy, fuel and recycling. Guy Bashford, North East manager for Envirowise, says a third of 1,800 office workers surveyed said they did nothing to reduce waste at work. 

 

Nashwan Dawood, professor of construction at Teesside University - and director of the Centre for Construction Innovation and Research - heads a 10 strong team examining energy alternatives. He says: “Simply telling everyone to cut down on  heating and lighting is not likely to work. Individuals need more information about their energy consumption, and more intelligent control systems allowing them to use and control their energy much more efficiently.”

 

Companies and organisations curious about benefits of wood fuel heating would do well to visit the UK’s first dedicated wood fuel exhibition - Expo Ignition 09 – at The Sage, Gateshead on March 11 and 12. 

 

David Clubb, project director of NEWheat, promises: “This event should help dispel myths surrounding wood heat and give valuable information.”

 

Organisations already involved in the supply chain will be encouraged to network there too. The event is hosted by NEWheat, a not for profit initiative, funded and backed by One North East and Rural Development Initiatives. 

 

Another organisation, Renew, helps deliver commercial projects using proven low carbon and environmental technologies.

 

Renew is part of the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) at Wilton Centre, and stems from the success of another young organisation, Renew Tees Valley. It also works closely with the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC) at Blyth.

 

It is helping to green North East industry, communities, funders, regulators, technology suppliers, and many other groups. Dr Graham Hillier, director of low carbon energy at CPI, explains: “Renew gives strategic support to organisations looking to maximise the economic opportunities and carbon reductions that can now be achieved through low carbon energy and environmental technologies within projects and operations.”

 

The North East is already a leading producer of low carbon energy, and new investment is going into major new technologies and facilities. These include the South Tees Eco Park (Step) that will help reclaim a derelict brownfield site once Teesside’s chemicals and steel industries have consolidated.

 

Transport infrastructure is in place, and work is under way to develop the 53 hectare site of a former steelworks with a £2.15bn investment if necessary. 

 

Long term, it is not just rising costs of energy and fuel that will test balance sheets but also the likelihood of further penalties inflicted by government for failures to green operations. 

 

On staff relations, Sam Colquoun, director of Right Hand HR in Newcastle, warns that workforces depleted by redundancies often remain demoralised, demotivated and underperforming because many employers lack expertise in well defined procedures, and in extreme situations risk facing an employment tribunal.

 

Also, according to Paul Hughes, partner at law firm Mincoff Jacksons, when money gets tighter commercial disputes may increase as companies fall back on strict terms of contracts with suppliers and customers. 

 

Contracts are usually covered by standard terms of conditions of one of the parties, though that may come as a shock to the other party which believes the contract is subject to old terms.

 

He advises firms to bring their conditions to the attention of suppliers and customers. The easiest way is to state in all correspondence leading to a contract that your terms apply.

 

In good times and bad a tested and proven springboard of support exists in the region - agencies and organisations able and willing to give all kinds of help business may require. 

 

One North East (ONE), England’s best performing regional development agency on National Audit Office reckoning, helps around 16,000 businesses a year to improve, and almost 1,000 to gain from innovation.

 

Through ONE and BT, the North-East was the first UK region with total broadband capability. This has enabled many small rural businesses especially to enter global markets. 

 

Sub-agencies and development companies, many of them partners to the regional development agency and local authorities, help start-ups, growth and inward investment, sometimes with financial back-up. 

 

Business and Enterprise North-East (including Business Link) now provides a single regional business support service in all aspects. It aims to help around 36,000 customers and 4,000 start-ups yearly, and has guided thousands into work over a decade.

 

The North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC), with more than 4,500 member firms employing a third of the region’s workforce, goes back to 1815. It has more than 35 products and services to save members money through collective buying power. It also has an award-winning department to advise exporters on securing and maintaining contracts abroad, and to provide the documentation for import and export.

 

It claims also to be the North-East’s largest work-based training provider. 

 

The North East has thriving regional arms of national bodies such as the Confederation of British Industry and the Institute of Directors, and centres of excellence and employer-led groups exist to focus on specific sectors. 

 

Five universities in the region partner business, offering value-added knowledge and solutions through Knowledge House. It has 1,600 business projects in 12 years to its credit. The North-East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) gives back-up in production and planning, and can provide early accommodation. It has helped more than 2,500 start-ups, whose survival rate – 75% still trading in the third year – betters the national average. In 14 years it has helped create 7,000 jobs. 

 

UK Trade and Investment is the lead government advisor on exporting.  

 

Good networking exists through The Entrepreneurs Forum, The Bridge Club - for early growth businesses especially - and Women into the Network, led by Durham Business School. No North East business need feel isolated. 

Back to Articles »