After five years of push-me-pull-you politics, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement  to set out a future relationship came into force on 1 January 2021.

Although the deal was supposed to provide assurances for UK businesses, many have been left frustrated by the wholesale changes that have occurred, of which they had little warning.

While some issues may be teething problems, others are permanent  changes in the way that business will have to be conducted henceforward.

To try and cut through the noise, we invited trade expert, Victoria Boldison, to give us some practical advice on how to avoid the major pitfalls of the post-Brexit era.

Useful links
Duty Deferment Scheme
The FoodHub
The SME Brexit Support Fund
Bolst Global website
Victoria's LinkedIn page 

HGVs that join an electrified tramway above motorways?

A delivery robot on every street corner? 

The postman conveying your mail by jetpack?

We speak with Prof Richard Wilding OBE of Cranfield University about pandemic, present and future, covering the above and the below:

• The hurry-up of Supply Chain 4.0
• Procuring for resilience rather than for cost
• Onshoring, near-shoring and multi-shoring
• Infrastructure in the face of Net Zero 2050
• ESG risks
• The need for a common language for traceability data
• Corporate cyber security starting in the home

Useful links
https://www.gs1uk.org/our-industries/powering-progress/traceability-empowering-the-informed-protected-consumer
www.richardwilding.info
www.linkedin.com/in/richardwilding   
https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/SOM/Open-Executive-Programmes/Logistics-and-Supply-Chain-Management/Supply-Chain-Management-Programme
https://www.youtube.com/user/SupplyChainPodcast
https://twitter.com/SupplyChainProf 

After a bit of a hiatus, we are back on the case again with an episode about sustainable fashion and the need for a green post-pandemic recovery, no matter what walk of life you are in.

We speak with Vanessa Barker of Bedstraw + Madder about her business journey, and co-founding a company that makes garments from sustainably sourced fabrics that are plant dyed without the use of chemicals.

Useful links
Lenzing
HKRITA Green Machine
Renewcell
The Sustainable Angle - Future Fabrics Expo 9.5
Tersus Solutions
Bolt Threads
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability
Elephant dung paper
Oshadi
Fiber Shed
The True Cost
Lady Garden Foundation
Sea Sisters Sri Lanka

In this episode we speak with friend of the podcast, Sophia Procter, about the process she went through to get her prodcut from idea to sales success, national newspaper coverage and award recognition.

Useful links

Mark Sheahan, inventor in residence, The British Library
British Plastic Federation
Amazon Accelerator Programme
Enterprise Nation
The Lean Startup

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic sent shockwaves through the business world, as the way we've traded for millennia ground to a sudden halt.  As doors closed, so did businesses, and small towns and small businesses were hit the worst.

At a time when the company owners and conurbations felt cut adrift, online business communities began to spring up across the United Kingdom in an attempt to weather the crisis.

One of the most prominent of these is Totally Locally, set up a decade ago as a grass-roots initiative to digitise towns. We talk to its founder, Chris Sands, about how important this kind of community is in pandemic Britain, and what SMEs should be doing to survive in 2021.       

Useful links
Totally Locally
Hebden Bridge high steet online

As we exited a detested 2020 into the fresh and undiscovered Hades of 2021, we thought it wise to go back and speak to one of our first interviewees from the sunlit uplands of March last year, when the world was a decidedly less difficult place, and interviews could be conducted in person.

When we first spoke with food mentor, Karen Green, we asked her for her top tips for crafting the perfect pitch to prospective buyers. Ten months later, we went back to ask the same questions for success in the pandemic continuum, and to see how things had changed.       

Useful links
Make 2021 best ever
Pitch perfect – waitlist  

The coronavirus pandemic has meant that tens of thousands of business owners have gravitated to online selling in a way that could not have been foreseen at the beginning of the year. Many are combining virtual shopfronts with trading through online marketplaces, of which OnBuy is a British-made up-and-comer.

In this interview we speak to OnBuy's founder, Cas Paton, about the trends he has seen emerge since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, and what he thinks the future of retail is going to look like in Brexit Britain.

Useful links:
OnBuy 

At one of the most uncertain times in the history of forever, what would possess you to think of launching a prodcut to market? 

We ask somebody who's done just that, Sophia Procter of children's tableware company, Munchy Play.

With the coronavirus pandemic only set to abate with a vaccine, and the end of the EU transition period on the horizon, Sophia tells her story and highlights the influences and expertise that she's leant on along the way.

Useful links
Munchy Play
Amazon Small Business Accelerator
Small Business Sunday
Holly & Co

So...

• Did you know that after 31 December 2020 you will have to appoint a fiscal representative to trade in 19 out of 27 EU Nations?
• Did you know that you might need a second EORI number to keep on trading in EU countries?
• Do you know what the EU VAT e-commerce package will mean for your business?

Even if you did know the answers to the above, it's well worth listening to this week's edition of the podcast with Colin Stansbury, strategic alliances manager – EMEA, at Avalara, to hear a little bit more about the perfect storm of liabilities, responsibilities and changes that will affect online sellers in 2021.

It really could be make-or-break info, whether it is deal or no deal.
 
Useful links
Avalara’s Brexit Survival Guide 

In episode three of this series, we spoke with the head of healthcare at GS1 UK, Glen Hodgson about the our recently released report on the Scan4Safety programme in six trust across NHS England. Off the back of that interview, we received some questions on the reports findings, so we asked Glen to come back and answer them via the wizardry of Microsoft Teams.

It also transpires that Glen's is a fan of the post-punk and alternative rock movements, and that wonders will never cease.   

Useful links
A scan of the benefits: the Scan4Safety evidence report
GS1 UK Healthcare Conference 2021