Whilst hospitality is one of the industries worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, a Leyton-based entrepreneur has revealed how he has used lockdown to re-shape his Unholy Bagels business to bring a little piece of New York to London. Unholy Bagels, a name which reflects the initial period when Martin Frimet started to bake the bagels and struggled to create the infamous holes in the middle, was founded in August 2018. For the first 18 months Martin began by taking his bagels to markets. Then, in March 2020, he took over a kitchen in a café and moved his business…

Nora Beqaj, Business Director, The Nest UK, shares some insights into how to develop a start-up whilst maintaining the customer as the focal point and how to leverage data to optimise customer experience performance The need for a new company to put their customer at the heart of every action they take can’t be overstated enough. It can be all too easy to presume customers will understand and adopt a product or service as initially intended. However, scenarios of use and imagined paths customers will take will not be perfect, and will evolve throughout a product’s lifespan. This is at the core of the…

Allica Bank has launched its direct-to-SME banking offering and appointed three Relationship Managers and one New Business Executive to support the launch. The investment marks the bank’s mission to ‘bring back the local Relationship Manager’ for established small and medium-sized businesses – a group that typically is no longer offered a relationship manager with deep local knowledge and SME lending expertise. In response to the increased importance of relationship managers following Covid, Allica’s focus in its new direct banking offering is on strengthening its personalised and tailored service with the very best technology that makes customers lives easier. It has seen strong growth in lending in the last year and plans to offer £500 million in committed SME loan offers this year. These appointments mark the start of Allica’s ambitions in the direct-to-SME segment, which will see relationships managers rolled out nationwide, bringing local tailored support to Britain’s…

Time is nearly up on lockdown and staying in is no longer the new going out! We’ve missed going out and meeting people; socialising as opposed to socially distancing; dressing up instead of masking up, but now the Frow Show is back to help everyone remember how to laugh, giggle, chuckle, snicker and enjoy some comedy relief! Mike Sengelow, the Frow Show’s director and co-producer, said: “During lockdown, we’ve missed performing as much as people have missed going to live performances, so we’re really excited about this show. We think that people have been craving the chance to share some…

Today is International Design Day and designer Zara Weston is sharing some tips for business owners who are considering upgrading their ‘look & feel’. Zara heads up the Bristol office of creative design agency Hamilton-Brown which also has an office in London. “This day is an opportunity to recognise the value of design and its capacity for change in the world,” Zara said. “The team at Hamilton-Brown believe this is to be true and we always work holistically with a client to create an authentic design which effectively communicates their brand, ethics and purpose.” Zara stated the problem with many…

Tamas Kadar, CEO and Co-Founders of SEON, the fraud fighters talks to SMEToday. The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted drastic change across many industries over the past year. While lockdowns and social distancing measures have meant that customers have had to shop for non-essential items from the safety of their homes, businesses have had to move into the online space to survive – some for the very first time. The truth is, many of these businesses simply aren’t ready for the threats the online landscape poses and neither are certain customers. Many consumers are new to the online space too. Demographics…

The continued easing of lockdown restrictions brings a renewed sense of hope to the nation’s high streets as our favourite independent businesses start to look to the future with cautious optimism. The forced closure of businesses deemed ‘non-essential along with travel restrictions has resulted in a groundswell of support for the local economy born out of a sense of convenience, compassion, loyalty, and a commitment to support small businesses most impacted by the pandemic. We saw this in our own research as 84% of UK consumers reported actively supporting local independent businesses in 2020, with a further half (47%) feeling…

ClimateCare, an organisation dedicated to tackling climate change and improving lives, has launched its new carbon footprint of the internet infographic to raise awareness of the growing climate impact of the digital world. The profit with purpose B Corp is launching its infographic as a means to educate and raise awareness amongst business leaders of how energy hungry the digital world is. ClimateCare noticed a growing trend across the business community of a mistaken belief that the pandemic would likely lower their emissions due to the lack of business-related travel. ClimateCare contends that whilst overall emissions have gone down, digital emissions due to…

With lockdown restrictions hopefully easing, a hot topic amongst all business owners is the question of ‘Do we need an office?’ Working from home for over a year has created a new normal for employers and employees alike. Some companies have implemented the change better than others, and some staff have struggled to adapt to the home environment easily. Whilst the idea of having no commute is joy to people’s ears, are we downplaying the purpose and social necessity of what an office brings to our daily lives? There is a clear divide of owners that feel strongly about maintaining…

A survey of small and medium businesses (SME) in the UK (1-249 employees) has found that only 21% have taken steps to fully protect their intellectual property (IP) assets. The survey, of 436 SME decision makers, found that a further 22% have protected their intellectual property assets in part and, of the remaining respondents, 10% did not know whether their business was protecting its IP assets, and 21% did not think that they produced any IP assets at all. Even amongst the larger companies polled (50-249 employees), awareness of the importance of IP was low, with only 64% businesses stating…

Becoming self-employed is a massive step but comes with a lot of advantages. As contractor accountants, we know a thing or two about how to take the leap. If becoming a sole trader or contractor is the right move for your career and you’re interested in self-employment, read on. We’re happy to help you figure out how to achieve your goals and become your own boss. Should You Become a Social Media Entrepreneur? But first things first. Should you actually become self-employed? It’s important that you figure out whether self-employment is really for you, as this comes with some challenges…

The government ‘roadmap out of lockdown’ has prompted an increase in SME confidence: More than a fifth (21%) of small businesses expect their productivity to rise as children go back to school full time. New research also suggests that more than a quarter (26%) of businesses will be able to resume ‘normal working hours’ without childcare demands – says a study by Enterprise Nation, commissioned by Starling Bank. British business owners have been putting in longer hours since the schools closed, working more than four hours over the average working week. But with childcare and homeschooling no longer on the…

Tom Pom Organic, the frozen baby food brand, has announced plans to raise funds for FareShare, the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste, through membership of ‘1% for the Planet’. Surrey-based Tom Pom Organic was founded by Kari Sharman after she had struggled to find suitable food for her second son, Tommy – known as Tom Pom. At nine-months-old, Tommy was diagnosed with food allergies, particularly to nuts (including peanuts), and dairy, as well as reactions to potato, chicken, and watermelon. At the time, there were no frozen baby or weaning foods on the market which were healthy,…

Lauren Douglass, SVP Global Marketing, Channel Factory discusses why marketing should not be seen as a “Dirty Word” The marketing function has long been considered less than essential, a back office ‘nice to have’ for businesses with money to spare. It is often marketing roles that are made redundant in times of business uncertainty, and the current climate is no exception. Research by the Chartered Institute of Marketing found that 40,000 marketing jobs have been lost in the UK alone as a result of COVID-19. Is it any wonder that marketing practises are seen as a tick box exercise that, traditionally speaking,…

With 31 December 2020 marking the end of 48 years of the UK membership of the European Union, the largest trading block in the world, it would be unrealistic to believe 1st January 2021 was going to be business as usual. Throw in the worst international pandemic for a century, and businesses are reassessing what the new, post-Brexit, post Covid-19 world will look like.  What does the real landscape for UK businesses, and companies trading between the UK and the EU look like?  Let’s consider the evidence so far and try and come up with some lessons we can learn…

84% of large businesses and organisations in the UK have lost working days due to a lack of effective contact tracing, according to a new study. The resulting lost productivity is estimated to have cost the country’s economy over £11b in the last 12 months, equivalent to 4.3 million working days. The study, which looked at 500 UK companies employing over 100 staff, found an average cost of £660,193 per business due to absent workers isolating and waiting for test results, following potential contact with COVID-19. This includes time off for those who thought they might have been in close…