roundtable


of directorships, was careful to draw the distinction between a boardroom NED and a hands-on NED. “I dislike the choreography of formal board meetings – I much prefer spending time with the businesses, so I always have to ask myself, ‘Can I add value?’ If I can, then I seek recompense in proportion to the value I add to the business.”


In her own business, Lennox cited the financial director as an important source of strategic advice as well as, interestingly, the interns who are, “always very challenging, constantly asking us ‘What would it be like if.....?’, which always shakes us up and gets us thinking.”


The worth of the input of the younger generation to help drive innovation and, ultimately, growth was universally acknowledged among the participants. “We as ‘experienced’ people often don’t recognise how old and stale we are.” laughed Gaskell, whilst Garrett noted that one of the reasons why they had started to take on and train graduates was that “the person in, say procurement, in 10 to 15 years time, will probably be doing business in a completely different way to how it’s done now.”


Coping with economic upheaval


Martyn Begbour’s (executive director, UBS) opinion was that businesses had taken the upheavals of 2016 in their stride. “Post BREXIT, some transactions fell over but this soon settled down. All of my clients are saying, ‘What’s changed? We make things and we sell things’, so no, I don’t see fear out there, I see confident businesses.”


This optimism was echoed by Gaskell, who also reaffirmed the need for agility and responsiveness in the face of economic change whilst quoting this economic statistic: “Between 1970-2013 there have been around 450 financial crises of which 35 have been in major economies. In that same period, international trade grew from $1 trillion to $30 trillion.”


Garrett raised a note of caution, as to how export-ready UK businesses really were, relating a recent conversation which had taken place with a small exhibition business, who asked, ‘If your market was a European single market, were you ever actually exporting?’ The international post-BREXIT trading opportunities have been there for many years, simply that, as MP Liam Fox once put it, some businesses have become ‘fat and lazy’.


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – FEBRUARY 2017 businessmag.co.uk 25


As far as the other side of the coin is concerned though, sterling’s recent devaluation has certainly increased the UK’s attractiveness, with Begbour commenting that, “lots of US firms are now looking to acquire in the UK, and buying for a significant discount – this will ensure a longer shelf life as the £/$ exchange rate will fluctuate.”


Exit, stage left


Napier-Munn turned the discussion to the final stage of the business cycle – that of ‘exit’.


Garrett echoed the wisdom of Gaskell and Lennox’s original point about wisdom of early exit planning. “One of the dangers of not planning for exit in advance is that you have to do a lot of emotional thinking at the same time as trying to run a business, which can be very distracting.”


However, if the exit strategy has been pre-thought out with a certain acquirer in mind, this makes the process so much easier, as per Gaskell’s opening comments at the start of the roundtable.


“You deserve ‘best value’ for your business, and identifying a target acquirer in advance will help to shape your strategy, energise your forward- planning, and ultimately drive value. Some might say going about business this way is a prostitution of your independence, but for us, it gave us clarity on exit strategy, where previously there was fuzziness.”


SOUTHERN entrepreneurs


Ed Bates


Conclusion


Businesses require different skill sets as they progress through their lifecycle. Leaders have to be adaptable while at the same time possessing a vision which they can communicate both internally and externally. A 1,000-day plan can help to translate this vision into reality.


Tamsin Napier-Munn


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