Jodie Fraser, founder of Fraser Allen Estate Management, has been named as a winner in the Property Hero Awards 2020 for ‘going that extra mile in an exceptional year’. The awards celebrate extraordinary individuals within the property management industry who achieve things that often go unnoticed in the wider world. Entries for the awards are made on behalf of property managers, concierge staff, managers, contractors or anyone else in the industry who has ‘gone that extra mile to support leaseholders and the teams that support them in this exceptional year’. “I am thrilled to have won such a wonderful award.…

Julianne Ponan, CEO of leading free-from food brand ‘Creative Nature’ has been named as finalist in the national Free From Hero awards on the eve of Allergy Awareness Week (May 24th – 30th). The awards were first started in 2008 to celebrate and raise awareness of free-from products – as well as awareness around allergies and food intolerance. This year Julianne has been shortlisted for the Free From Hero award not only for her work on her own brand, Creative Nature, but for being a voice for those with allergies and her activism around bringing about real change in allergy…

The European Union has launched legal action against AstraZeneca claiming that the coronavirus vaccine manufacturer has failed to comply with its obligations under the vaccine supply contract. The dispute stems from the vaccine advance purchase contract the EU Commission signed last August for 300 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with an option for 100 million more. Whilst AstraZeneca admitted earlier this year that its supplies would be reduced because of production problems. It has responded that the Commission’s claim is “without merit” and has said that it would “strongly defend itself in court”. So what lessons can be learnt…

A boom in the construction industry created unprecedented demand for the Target Group which specialises in digger, dumper and access platform hire across Colchester and Ipswich, London and Kent.   To fund new dumpers, tippers and excavators, Target Group turned to the Metro Bank at Colchester to help finance the equipment their customers urgently needed.  Each of Metro Bank’s 77 stores has a local director who specialises in supporting their local businesses and SME communities. “We were able to pull the asset financing together for Target in just a matter of weeks,” explains Colchester Metro Bank’s local director Chris Morgan. “Target was pleased with the speed at which…

A Dorset team of social entrepreneurs have launched an ambitious start-up which is turning plastic waste into building materials, and empowering communities in developing countries to do the same. Wimborne-based Greenbrick Workshops was founded by Ben Gibbons, and soon joined by co-founder Connor Winter, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced them to return to the UK from Nepal, where they had been working with rural communities to reduce the damage caused by plastic pollution. After catching the last flight back from Nepal before the borders closed in March 2020, they began setting up a plastic recycling workshop that would enable them to…

Xero, the global small business platform, today announced a major milestone in the growth of the Xero ecosystem, with more than 1000 certified apps connected to Xero. Ten years after Xero certified its first third-party app, over 2.7 million subscribers now have access to a thriving ecosystem of more than 1000 apps and 300 connections to banks and financial services partners. This breadth of offerings enables small businesses and advisors to customise their unique workflows along with their Xero subscription. The milestone comes at an important time for small business. Never have digital tools been more important than during the economic conditions…

Allica Bank has appointed three Business Development Managers to further drive its broker distribution channel. The appointments coincide with a decision to further increase its commercial mortgage maximum loan size from £3 million to £5 million following feedback and requests from brokers. Allica’s maximum asset finance loan has also been increased from £250,000 to £500,000. The bank says it has a joint mission with brokers to help more SMEs gain access to the finance they need to grow, and this is part of an ongoing journey to expand its broker operations in the UK. Having been in the banking and finance sector for 14 years, Arshad Miah joins Allica to manage its asset finance broker relationships in the Midlands and East Anglia regions. With recent experience of a…

Brexit is undoubtedly causing more SMEs to expand their importing and exporting horizons which is good news for the UK economy. However, this potentially provides a problem for time starved business owners who will have to deal with an increasing range of foreign currencies. Alternative lender Just Cashflow has been quick to anticipate this and formed a partnership with Infinity International Ltd, a leading provider of FX services in the UK. The services, that are now available for Just Cashflow customers, have been developed for SMEs that are currently supplying too and buying from overseas territories, providing a means to…

As leading BAME fostering agency Banya celebrates its 25th anniversary, the team is appealing for more foster carers to come forward – the need post pandemic is greater than ever. Set up in South London in 1996 by Nyasha Gwatidzo and her late husband Dr Paul Soper, Banya’s directors are all black women and 98% of the staff are also female. Nyasha explained: “Here at Banya we pride ourselves on supporting our foster carers through their fostering journey, whether they are new to fostering or more experienced. As a result, we are on average ten times more successful when it…

Female entrepreneurs are hit harder by the pandemic, here’s what they’re doing about it. It’s been well documented that Covid-19 has disproportionately affected women’s careers. Data shows that during the pandemic, women were more likely to be furloughed, have spent significantly less time working from home, and have spent more time on unpaid childcare and housework. But what about the state of female entrepreneurship? While the percentage of women-owned businesses in the UK grew from 17% in 2016 to just over 32% in 2020, women are more likely to run businesses in areas harder hit by the pandemic, like wellness…

Salim Somjee, Head of Private Equity at Cripps Pemberton Greenish talks to SME Today about why Private Equity-backed businesses shouldn’t shy away from Mergers & Acquisitions in new sectors… Private equity firms have been key in driving Mergers & Acquisitions activity over the last 10 years, for various reasons; they have been able to offer healthy multiples they quite often come to the table as cash buyers While the process when selling to trade is involved, a sale to private equity can be even more complex, but that is not, in itself, a bad thing. Private Equity transactions are more…

Channel Factory, the global brand suitability and ad performance platform for YouTube, has announced the results of recent research into inclusive advertising practices on YouTube. It has looked at the diverse range of languages spoken in the UK and consumer sentiment towards English-only advertising practices, which shows a real need for marketers to be more diverse and inclusive in their advertising campaigns. The study has revealed that 81% of respondents live in bi-lingual homes, while 18% state English is not their native language. A further 29% speak at least one other language in addition to English in their home. In…

Redundancy has always been a driver for entrepreneurialism.   Of course, it can be a devastating personal experience which suddenly fills life with uncertainties, but after recovering from the initial shock, for many, it’s a great time to step back and re-evaluate life and career. And that often leads to people finally fulfilling some lifelong dreams, including leaving the rat race behind and starting up their own company & being their own boss. That’s exactly what happened to Ben Veal, founder of the boutique communications consultancy, ‘Second Mountain Communications’. Born out of Covid redundancy, Second Mountain Communications specialise in supporting and…

A year on from the launch of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), almost one in three (29%) small and medium-sized businesses who took out a loan are not aware of the Pay As You Grow (PAYG) options which provide more time and flexibility to make repayments, according to research by Lloyds Bank. Through the government’s PAYG scheme, borrowers can request an extension of their loan term to 10 years from the standard six years, reduce their monthly repayments for six months by paying interest only, or take a full repayment holiday for up to six months. All lenders are…

Google are planning to update their search engine algorithm to include a factor called ‘Page Experience’, which is going to be an important element that has an impact on page rankings. As part of this initiative, they’ve launched Web Vitals, which are a series of benchmarks essential to measuring and enhancing the user experience on the web. This update was originally going to be released this month (May 2021) but has now been postponed until mid-June. ‘Page Experience’ includes all aspects of how users interact with a web page and how good or painful it is for them, including existing…

Have you ever stopped to think about diversity in the business you work for? Consider gender diversity, ethnic diversity, and racial diversity. Are different groups given representation and better still, equality? What is the average profile of an employee, of managers? Can you see all walks of life reflected in your employees, in your leadership? There are many benefits of diversity, but it’s less likely to be found in a company than you might expect. Diversity and inclusion is certainly a hot topic at the moment, so why is equal representation still proving so difficult to achieve? Adzooma looked into the business…