NEWS
QUEENS GAMBIT AND STRATEGY
You may have seen the latest Netflix big hit ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ which is the story of Elizabeth Harmon, an orphaned chess prodigy rising through the chess master ranks whilst she struggles with various personal issues. It is Netflix’s most watched scripted limited series to date. I admit it doesn’t…
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ESG – BECOMING A KPI?
The ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) acronym is a relative newcomer to the corporate world. However, its origins date back several decades, perhaps to the 1960s when some funds declined to invest in certain controversial sectors, such as tobacco and South African mining stocks. These days, leading companies are required…
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BANKING ON IT – A BOOK REVIEW
This month’s book review is ‘Banking On It – How I Disrupted an Industry’ by Anne Boden, who founded Starling Bank. Starling Bank is a digital challenger bank for both personal and business customers with a real emphasis on customer service and designing the whole business processes around that customer…
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TRADE POST BREXIT
It is just over a month since we left the EU and a lot has happened in the interim. Article 16 was invoked and then withdrawn in a dramatic few days of political wrangling over vaccine production and availability. However away from politics and back to day-to-day activities and the…
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CONSIDER CBILS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
We start the New Year of 2021 under lockdown 3.0 with the uncertainty and impact this has on our businesses. The roll out of a vaccine is of course very welcome news, but will take time, and no doubt take longer than envisaged. For countless businesses, this will cause yet…
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BREXIT……A WHOLE NEW WORLD
At 11am on 31 December 2020 the UK completed the transition from the EU. A trade deal was reached at the last minute, with some compromises, but an agreement at least gives some clarity on the way forward for businesses. Now we will see the practical effects of leaving the…
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RAY DALIO – PRINCIPLES
This is a book review of ‘Principles’ by Ray Dalio, who founded Bridgewater Associates back in 1975. Bridgewater is one of the largest hedge funds and asset managers in the world. Dalio has been called ‘the Steve Jobs of investing’ and from day 1 he built his business using a…
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DEBT CAPACITY POST COVID
Recent figures suggest that businesses have taken c£18bn of CBILS and c£42bn of Bounce Back Loans this year. This is on top of any other funding that businesses have taken. Whilst these government schemes have been welcomed by businesses that needed funding to survive this COVID period, it does mean…
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ENTREPENEUR RESILIENCE
For many entrepreneurs and businesses this past year will have been the most challenging they have ever faced, and let’s face it, this is not over yet, so we still have many uncertainties ahead of us. Back in March as lockdown began, I wrote an article in the Snowball newsletter …
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