Plain Talking HR
Talking
about how to help and support
As the name of her business suggests, Bina Briggs likes to talk – and, now, her plain talking, straightforward yet open and helpful approach has been recognised by a national women’s networking organisation.
Bina, who runs Plain Talking HR in Luton, has
been selected to be part of the f:Entrepreneur Top 100 Businesswomen #ialso campaign for 2021. T e organisation highlights inspiring female business leaders through events, content and storytelling, and her inclusion in the list is simply the latest in a long list of projects through which Bina reaches out to help others – from clients to local students to other business owners. Having arrived as a refugee from Uganda in
1972 and seeing her family build a new life from an almost penniless start, Bina understands the need for support within any community. She and her family were supported by the people of Luton and so it has become her home in every sense. “I come from an Indian family where family and community are very tight knit, everyone helps one another and is there in times of need, and I guess I just grew up with that approach to life, that if I can help someone, I will. “A lot of it came from my mother. She was a very
strong woman who had been through a lot and she taught me to just get on with things and help where it was needed and to be part of the community spirit because you can’t survive without a close community around you.” Bina founded Plain Talking HR in 2009 when she
was 57, after a long career in HR at Luton Airport. Her focus has always been on small businesses and start-ups, where honest, straight talking advice is essential but where resources have to be utilised very carefully.
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Bina Briggs Plain Talking HR –
Photographs courtesy of Jane Russell Photography
In her free time, Bina volunteers for local charities in her own Indian community as well as being a trustee with Level Trust (a charity that helps families overcome the costs of education) and is a governor at Luton Sixth Form College. She is also a trustee of Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation where she advises on employment law issues as part of the Evolve initiative that supports gender equality. Over the past year, Bina has also been selected as a fi nalist for T e
Best Business Women Awards, T e National Business Women Awards, SME Bedfordshire and T e National Paralegal Awards for 2020. “T e #ialso100 campaign began when Michelle Ovens, the founder
of the f:Entrepreneur campaign, realised that the words she heard most often when talking to women at events were ‘I Also’,” said Bina. “People, particularly women, rarely just run their core business. T ey run their business and then added that they’re also a trustee of something, or they’re also running a side business, or they’re also in a carer role within the family, or writing a book. It struck Michelle how much people give back to their communities and how hard they work in all areas of their lives. “Because of my background, I’ve always done that and it seems
natural to me. If you have time and advice to off er, then you just do it. And I know that although I’ve had this recognition from the campaign, I’m not special. T ousands of women all over the country are doing exactly the same kind of thing, people just aren’t hearing about them. “So, whether I am advising clients, or mentoring students, or being
ALL THINGS BUSINESS
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