INTERVIEW
Kevin is the Chamber's incoming President
‘Leicester is full of entrepreneurial, aspirational people who have big plans for their businesses’
If he isn’t so already, Kevin will become increasingly With prominent external roles including that of Chair of the
Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) and as the next President of the Chamber, Kevin is recognised as one of the region’s key influencers. So what’s his motivation? His response - to give business a strong voice. “I meet a lot of business owners who say that part of the challenges they face are things they consider out of their influence. However, while things may be out of their control, that doesn’t mean they can’t influence outcomes. “Local businesses have a big role to play in shaping the
future. There’s an idea that businesses can’t have an impact, that decisions are determined by the public sector or Government, but the more you get involved with working with Chambers and LEPs, the more you realise that it’s a partnership. “Businesses can have a say and businesses can influence,
but to do this effectively you need a coordinated voice and the Chamber and the LEPs are both voices of business. “Personally, I also learn a lot in these roles. Chairing the
LLEP Board tests you as a person. You see things from other perspectives. You also see first-hand the outputs from the LLEP and the impact this has on jobs and the quality of life we enjoy locally. “In terms of my LLEP role, a lot of it is about forward thinking, not just about dealing with the here and now. It’s about putting the Local Industrial Strategy together and shaping Leicestershire for the next 30, 40, 50 years. How we upskill, attract people to the region and keep them here, those kind of things are fundamental to long-term growth.” In order to set an action plan for the future, Kevin believes
Leicester, Leicestershire and the wider East Midlands needs to be ambitious if it is to realise its potential. “It’s about vision and identifying where we need to be
and how to get there, I believe anything is possible. If you set a high bar, you can achieve big things. Look at Leicester, as examples we’ve got internationally-recognised Enterprise Zones, the developing Space Centre, our great universities – why shouldn’t we aim big? “Leicester is full of entrepreneurial, aspirational people
who have big plans for their businesses. A lot of things are in our favour, including our location – we’re in the heart of the country so most goods pass through our patch; North to South and East to West. We’re an hour from London and we’ve got some of the greatest rural locations to live in and work from in the country. I see mine and the LLEP’s role as pulling all these ingredients together and presenting a really attractive offering to the outside world.”
42 business network November 2018
visible to Chamber members in the year ahead, as he takes over the Chamber’s presidential reins from Rob Mayo this month. It’s a role he is very much looking forward to at what he believes is an exciting time for the region’s leading business representation organisation. “Since the merger (in 2013) Leicester has benefited significantly. I think Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire have benefited too – it’s been proven now to have been the right move,” suggests Kevin. “I am very much looking forward to my year as
President. The Chamber is going from strength-to-strength, it’s very highly regarded so taking over at this time is very exciting. It’s an interesting period and Brexit is clearly a big part of it but there’s a lot more going on than just Brexit.” What is clear is that, in the months and years to come
irrespective of Brexit, businesses here in the East Midlands and the UK in general will continue to be relentless in their pursuit of growth. And Kevin believes that the businesses that find the right
balance of ambition and caution – as well as those that access the right information – will be the ones most likely to succeed. “This is where business advisers in their truest sense
have a big role to play; especially experienced business advisers. There are going to be upturns and downturns and that’s the business lifecycle, that’s the economy and the way it works. But through experience you become better at helping businesses achieve the right balance. In my day job at RSM I work closely with fast-growth, energetic people and part of my role is to make sure we don’t clip the wings of business owners but keep their feet on the ground – you have to make sure that the proper foundations are in place when they are growing as many businesses fall into the trap of overtrading at this time and fail. “Keeping a sense of balance is really important. The last
thing we want to do is stop businesses driving forward, but there’s a need to be sensible. The best businesses grow in a managed way. This comes back to thinking ahead, taking some time out of the business and aligning yourself with people who have seen it before.” In the end, argues Kevin, it comes down to identifying
and dealing with the challenges while similarly identifying and taking advantage of the opportunities. “You’ve got to get a sensible balance between doing
what you need to be doing day-to-day but also looking at where those opportunities are. It isn’t always the best businesses that are the most profitable, it’s those that are finding opportunities and taking sensible risks. It’s about having a forward-thinking mentality, having a vision. “Businesses need to deal with the here and now but not
lose sight of opportunities. Businesses that do that will, I think, realise the benefits in the months and years to come.”
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