Derby entrepreneur marks International Women’s Day with funding invite
Derby-based entrepreneur Kavita Oberoi OBE is inviting registered charities who share her goal of improving the lives of women and girls and empowering them to achieve their goals to apply for funding to support their work.
Mrs Oberoi is the founder and Managing Director of Oberoi Consulting, the suppliers of IT and clinical support services to the NHS and pharmaceutical industry, and Oberoi Business Hub in Pride Park, which provides serviced office accommodation and back office support services.
Every year a percentage of profits from the companies are ploughed into The Oberoi Foundation which was launched a few years ago to support charitable causes and she is marking International Women’s Day 2022 (March 8) by opening the application process for funding.
The foundation is run by the Charities Aid Foundation who work with companies across the private, public, and social sectors to transform purpose into practice.
Mrs Oberoi has been a long-standing philanthropist. As patron and board member of various charities, she has supported the fundraising of millions of pounds for good causes including chairing the fundraising of £10 million Global Girls Fund, launched in 2010 to mark the 100th anniversary of The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
She also went undercover for Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Millionaire’ – visiting the deprived Ladywood area of Birmingham to discover more about its residents and the difficulties they face and then donating funds to several local causes.
More recently she spearheaded the Derby Breakfast Club which aims to ensure that no child starts the school day hungry.
Mrs Oberoi explained: “Through my involvement in campaigns and charities locally, nationally and internationally, I have seen the positive impact that funding innovative causes can have on changing the lives of women and girls.
“The Global Girls Fund in particular has helped change the lives of women and girls from some of the most deprived communities worldwide. This was my motivation and inspiration for setting up The Oberoi Foundation and I am delighted that we are now in the position to invite applications for funding.
“I look forward to receiving initial expressions of interest so that we can then guide applicants through the formal process.”
Expressions of interest for The Oberoi Foundation should be emailed to admin@oberoi-consulting.com
New Chief Executive for East Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets Association
Brigadier Stuart Williams OBE has joined East Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets Association as its new Chief Executive.
Stuart’s previous service within the East Midlands and East Anglia, and latterly from leading the Army Cadets, ensures a solid grounding for the role.
Commenting on his first day, Stuart said: “I am very much looking forward to leading the team at East Midlands and to being back on home turf. Everything we do is about people, and championing and enabling our incredible Volunteers and Cadets will be at the forefront of all that we do.”
Brigadier Williams replaces Group Captain (Retired) Nick Sharpe, who is retiring after 10 years in the role. During his time as Chief Executive, Nick provided a calm and guiding hand, particularly through the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nick was also part of the team who has been shaping the new Non-Departmental Public Body that will form the future of the RFCAs.
Brigadier Williams joined the Army in 1989 and commissioned into the Royal Regiment of Artillery, eventually leading to Command 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (3 RHA) in Germany. He also undertook tours in Belfast, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
In addition, Stuart was a Staff Officer in several Army formation headquarters, most recently as Deputy Commander 7 Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East, and in Cyprus. He was appointed OBE in the New Year Honours List 2019 in recognition of his engagement work with ethnic minority communities and his leadership of the Army’s Cadets in the East of England.
Stuart is married, has two grown-up children and lives in Lincolnshire. He is passionate about cycling, heading up Army Cycling for the past eight years, and with wide interests such as rugby refereeing, field sports, and skiing.
Housebuilding Trio Promote Trade Careers for International Women’s Day
Three female apprentices at leading housebuilder William Davis Homes are showing the way in how to build a successful career in construction.
The teenage trio are proud to be ambassadors for women working in the construction industry, and on International Women’s Day (Tuesday 8 March) are encouraging others to join them.
Fourth-year apprentice electricians Demi Whitehead and Felicity Monks are both aged 19, while 16-year-old Sian Bradshaw is in her first year as an apprentice bricklayer with William Davis Homes. Last November, Demi became the Loughborough-based company’s first female Apprentice of the Year.
“These days, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or woman – we’re just as capable of carrying out any construction job,” said Demi, who joined the company straight from school. “Everyone’s really friendly on-site and it’s a great experience.”
A study last year indicated that just over one in ten (13%) of people employed in the UK construction industry are women. A mere 3% of ‘blue collar’ construction workers are female. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #breakthebias.
Sian says although the figures show women are in the minority in the UK building industry generally, construction sites are no longer seen as male-dominated, masculine places. “I’m not treated any differently,” she added. “Everyone is really welcome and we get on with the job.”
Felicity was encouraged be an electrician by her grandmother: “My grandma told me I should get a trade because you can’t go wrong with that. So that’s what I did. She’s really proud of me and loves telling her friends about what I do.”
As well as the determination to succeed, these three young apprentices say women can also bring another quality to the workplace – as good listeners.
“That’s so important when it comes to conversations around mental health,” said Felicity.
The HR Manager at William Davis Homes, Rebecca Jones, said all three apprentices are great ambassadors for encouraging women to consider construction careers: “They are wonderful advocates for women in construction. All three have a strong passion and enthusiasm for their trade. I hope that as an industry we start to see more women follow in their footsteps.”
Felicity is attending a career event at Stephenson College in Coalville this week, in support of efforts by William Davis Homes to encourage more young women into construction jobs.
Employing for the first time – Streets Chartered Accountants
There are a multitude of rules and regulations that you must be aware of when you start employing staff for the first time, as Streets Chartered Accountants details below.
HMRC’s guidance sets out important issues to be aware of when becoming an employer.
- Decide how much to pay someone – you must pay your employee at least the National Minimum Wage.
- Check if someone has the legal right to work in the UK. You may have to do other employment checks as well.
- Check if you need to apply for a DBS check (formerly known as a CRB check) if you work in a field that requires one, e.g. with vulnerable people or security.
- Get employment insurance – you need employers’ liability insurance as soon as you become an employer.
- Send details of the job (including terms and conditions) in writing to your employee. You need to give your employee a written statement of employment if you’re employing someone for more than 1 month.
- Ensure that you register as an employer with HMRC. You can do this up to 4 weeks before you pay your new staff. This process must also be completed by directors of a limited company who employ themselves to work in the company.
- Check if you need to automatically enrol your staff into a workplace pension scheme.
The Property & Business Investment Lincolnshire Expo: a great day of networking and business generation
Taking place on Wednesday 27 April 2022 at The Bentley Hotel, Lincoln register now for the free to attend Property & Business Investment Lincolnshire Expo.
Business Link is a proud partner of the event which provides everything you require for a great day of networking and business generation.
The Property & Business Investment Lincolnshire Expo is a well targeted event aimed at the Construction, Property, Business, Investment, Finance, Professional Services and related B2B markets.
The event, which will open at 9am, will also host a seminar and as the exhibition closes it will roll directly into an informal, open buffet style network lunch – tickets are just £25 plus vat and can be ordered and paid for directly online.
Spaces for the lunch are limited, so order as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
To attend the event, register for free here.
To generate opportunities by exhibiting at the event, click here.
Purchase tickets to the networking lunch here.
Meet more potential clients in one amazing cost effective day, than it would take months out on the road. Tina King, of Business Shows Group, said: “It’s been a long time in the making thanks to the pandemic, but we are finally nearly there, The Property & Business Investment Lincolnshire Expo is gearing up to be one of the best to date!” To see who is exhibiting at the event click here.Derby-based healthcare services provider to acquire Sheffield firm in £13m deal
Totally plc, a Derby-based provider of frontline healthcare services, corporate fitness and wellbeing services, has entered into an agreement to acquire Sheffield-based Pioneer Health Care Limited, an established independent provider of specialist NHS secondary care services.
The total consideration for the acquisition is up to £13 million, on a cash-free and debt-free basis. The consideration is to be paid 80% in cash and the remaining 20% will be satisfied by the issue of new ordinary shares in Totally. £6.9 million is payable on completion, on a cash-free and debt-free basis, and up to £6.1 million is payable on a deferred basis, based on the financial performance of Pioneer in the year ending 31 March 2022.
Pioneer Healthcare delivers insourcing and outsourcing services across a wide range of surgical and medical specialities to NHS patients and holds contracts with NHS Foundation Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), predominantly across the North of England.
Pioneer also holds the difficult-to-acquire Any Qualified Provider (AQP) status, which enables it to offer services direct to NHS patients across the whole of England, free at the point of delivery, where there is sufficient demand.
The business is led by three experienced, senior NHS consultants, Mr Hesham Zaki, Professor Prasad Godbole and Mr John McMullan, who are well recognised in their chosen fields, and will continue to hold senior leadership roles within the business following the acquisition.
Pioneer Healthcare and Totally Healthcare, which forms Totally’s Insourcing division, will be brought together to create a single, established, provider of insourcing and outsourcing services under the Pioneer brand.
The acquisition is the company’s second in three months and supports the Board’s buy and build strategy, utilising the substantial cash balances held by the company to strengthen its service proposition and bring further earnings-enhancing opportunities to the Group.
Wendy Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of Totally, said: “We are delighted to welcome Pioneer Healthcare into the Totally Group. This is Totally’s second acquisition in three months, demonstrating our commitment to growing the business, delivering enhanced shareholder value through our ‘buy and build’ strategy and moving into areas where we know demand for services is outstripping current capacity.
“The acquisition creates new opportunities for the Group and will ensure we can continue giving vital support to the NHS as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Pioneer’s services closely complement those provided by Totally Healthcare. The combined insourcing and outsourcing business will benefit from its stronger footprint across the UK and Ireland and the additional significant experience of the Pioneer leadership team. Pioneer has an excellent reputation in the market and we look forward delivering on the undeniable potential that is available to the combined business.”
DMU graduate secures $150,000 funding for start-up business
A De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) graduate who created his own financial technology company while studying in Leicester has raised $150,000 for his start-up idea.
Hands In, founded by Business Management and Economics graduate Sam Flynn and his business partner Raul Patel, is a digital payment option that allows users to split payments evenly across a group when making purchases online.
Sam pitched the business to potential investors to secure funding, which will be used to hire more developers to build out the platform further ahead of its launch.
“Hands In was born out of necessity,” Sam said. “When moving with my housemates in the first year, I was getting frustrated that there was no way we could split payments for shopping, takeaways and utilities. Someone was always left to foot the bill and they would have to chase the rest of the group for payment.
“I wanted to create a platform where there was an option to split the costs of your basket when buying stuff online. When using Hands In to purchase something, the platform will send out a WhatsApp message taking users to a secure payment page where the people in the group pay their share.
“Around 90 per cent of our costs at the moment are going on labour, as developers don’t come cheap but they are essential to ensuring our platform functions at its best and is cyber secure.
“The initial funding was a good success to build on but I try not to get too caught up in the moment. I’m already looking at the next milestone for the company.”
Having secured the boost from investors, Sam is now looking to raise a new round of funding, which will help the business operate for a further two years.
Sam said: “We’re programming the platform so the funds only leave customers’ bank accounts once everyone has paid. If one person doesn’t pay in the allocated time, no purchase is made, which protects the rest of the group and our partnered merchants.”
While studying at university, Sam approached the DMU Works Enterprise team for advice and hired student interns to help him conduct early market research. During the second year of his degree, he placed second and won £1,000 at the university’s annual Pitch2Win competition, which was set up to find the very best new student ideas.
A trip to Silicon Valley in California through DMU Global proved to be inspiring for the budding entrepreneur, who was able to meet with successful business founders and investors, including the co-founder of Tesla, Marc Tarpenning.
Sam said: “If I had one piece of advice for students, it would be to use DMU Global to understand how businesses work in other cultures. When I went to Silicon Valley, I sought out any opportunity to talk to entrepreneurs and did a lot of my own research out there.
“I was lucky enough to speak to investors and meet people like Marc. Listening to those conversations with tech entrepreneurs and taking in that information at an early stage was so inspiring.
“Had I not gone on that trip, I’m certain I wouldn’t think the way I do now. I hope the university upscales the programme and more students look to use it.”
UK labour market hits two-year high as economy emerges from pandemic
The strength of the UK labour market has returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to the latest Business Trends report from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP.
BDO’s Employment Index rose for a fourth consecutive month to 110.75 in February, representing a monthly gain of 0.77 points. This is the highest level the index has seen since February 2020, when it reached 112.86 ahead of the UK’s first coronavirus lockdown. The index now sits well above the 95 level which indicates growth.
The jump in the Employment Index has been driven by the lifting of COVID restrictions and associated economic recovery. As businesses continue to re-open and resume operations, they have been looking to hire more staff to cope with increased demand. A shortage of workers due to Brexit and the pandemic has also made competition for employees fierce. Together, these factors have placed upward pressure on employment figures, reflected in BDO’s Employment Index.
The lifting of the remaining coronavirus restrictions has also led to a rise in BDO’s Optimism Index, which increased 0.9 points to 105.81 in February, marking a second consecutive month of improvement following December’s Omicron-related dip.
This rise was primarily driven by the BDO Services Optimism Index, which covers retail, hospitality and leisure among other industries. The index jumped by 0.94 points in February to reach 105.24 – its highest reading since July 2021 – reflecting the impact that remaining restrictions had on consumer-facing businesses.
However, this rise in optimism could be short lived. The impacts of Russia’s war on Ukraine are expected to weigh heavily on inflationary pressures, compounding existing concerns around the cost of living, which could see confidence decline in the coming months.
Commenting on the results, Tim Foster, partner at BDO LLP in the Midlands, said: “Propped up by the government’s furlough scheme, the UK jobs market was largely resilient throughout the pandemic. As we emerge from a series of lockdowns and return to normality, the jobs market is now moving from resilience to growth, reflected in February’s buoyant figures.
“While it’s promising to see growth in business optimism throughout February, this could be short lived as inflation continues to rise at a faster rate than wages. Inflationary pressures are set to mount further over the coming months, with energy and fuel prices key drivers of this increase.”
Speculatively built trade counter scheme in Corby reaches full occupation
Speculatively built trade counter scheme, Omega Court is now fully occupied.
Omega Court, located within Centrix Business Park, Corby, comprises 45,563 sq ft split over 10 units ranging from 2,939 sq ft to 8,600 sq ft.
Units were launched to the market at the start of 2021 with several occupiers on site and operational by summer. In recent weeks, agents and developers have secured tenants for the remaining unit which now sees the development 100% occupied.
In an interesting twist, the last tenant to sign up to Omega Court has also taken a unit at another Clowes scheme known as Forbes Park in Long Eaton. The national retailer, City Plumbing, have completed on two leases with Clowes Developments within one week.
Other occupiers at Omega Court include national DIY and trade store Toolstation and local businesses including Nielsen Racing, Personal Canvas Prints, River Rouge, B.F Brickwork and Northants Waste Control.
Construction activity at Centrix Business Park is ongoing with contractor Winvic on site building two units for NFU Mutual. One 162,000 sq ft unit has already been let to Deichmann-Shoes UK and the other 58,000 sq ft unit is being built speculatively.
Developer at Clowes Developments, Dominic Jackson, said: “I am delighted to have seen this scheme through from start on site to completion. Omega Court will undoubtedly be an active, thriving trade centre in a convenient location with an attractive mix of occupiers set within the successful Centrix Business Park.”
Conveyor Systems Limited invests in new Swadlincote HQ
Following an increase in demand for its design and installation services, due in part to the exponential growth of eCommerce, Conveyor Systems Limited (CSL) has invested in new purpose-built headquarters incorporating offices, a showroom and testing facilities.
The supplier of turnkey eCommerce fulfilment, warehouse automation, conveyor, and sortation systems, as well as a provider of support and maintenance services, has secured an 11,520 sq ft HQ close to its existing site in Swadlincote.
Enthusing about the investment, Managing Director, Mike Graham, said: “Our new purpose-built 11,520.60 sq ft head office is in close proximity to our existing site and centrally located in Swadlincote, Derbyshire. The building will play a significant role in our projected expansion plans as we drive the business forward.”
The company has also hired a marketing executive, Pete Evans. His addition strengthens the management team as he takes responsibility for marketing and brand development.
Commenting on his new role at the company Evans said: “With CSL’s ambitious expansion plans I’m looking forward to raising the profile of the business. The directors required a dedicated marketing team who could align the marketing strategy with the company’s growth plan.
“I am very excited about the challenge ahead. It is a great opportunity for me to bring my experience and creativity to the business and work together with the management team to further grow the CSL brand.
“Part of my remit includes focusing on winning new business as well as improving our clients’ experience. Underpinning all I do will be the need to bring consistency to our marketing activities, branding and documentation. As CSL enters a pivotal stage in its development it is great to be part of the journey.”
Managing Director, Mike Graham, concluded: “This is a very exciting year for CSL, we are looking forward to moving into our new flagship head office in what is the company’s 25th anniversary year.”
