Crisis spawns Necessity. Necessity fuels Innovation. McKinsey & Co have reported that the pandemic response is that Companies are deprioritizing innovation to concentrate on four things: shoring up their core business, pursuing known opportunity spaces, conserving cash and minimizing risk, However in past crises, companies that invested in innovation delivered superior growth and performance postcrisis. 

JFK once observed that the word “crisis” in Chinese is made up of two characters—danger, and opportunity. He may not have been entirely correct on the linguistics, but the sentiment is true enough. How do companies find creative ways to continue fund their innovative projects? 

Dr Vivien Badout, CEO of DRIAD innovation consultancy for deep-tech start-ups and SMEs.  and expert in innovation grant funding joins us to help answer that question 
 Website  https://www.driad.co/ Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCceXHh0iIjRgPWkZ_Clschg 

Ian Livingstone CBE is calling for schools to embrace games-based learning and digital creativity to help address  the question of the growing skills gap facing employers.

Ian has had a hugely successful career built on his passion for games and gamebooks.   He has partnered with the Aspirations Academies Trust. They have teamed up to launch The Livingstone Academy Bournemouth which will be rooted in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM)   Ian share's with us what happens when a game-obsessed entrepreneur meets education thought leaders and how they are preparing to up-skill the next generation.  https://www.livingstone-aspirations.org/

2020 was one of the most challenging many of us will face in our lifetime. Whilst a little different, Christmas typically allows time to reflect and restore our energy levels with family . Batteries re-charged, how do we look forward to 2021 with positivity?   New Lockdown measures announced last night (5th Jan 2020) means we need to dig deep. Even as lockdown eases, work patterns  are set to remain blended  with home and socially distanced office working.   What tools and self-care can we deploy to maintain those energy levels for both ourselves and our employees?  Emma-Louise Fusari founder of In-House Health provides employers with anonymised health data of their workforce to design targeted health initiatives and employee wellbeing.  She’s taken her wealth of experience in chronic disease management and delivering public health programmes, to get on the front foot of mental and physical wellbeing  She joins us today to share insights today on how to face the challenge of lockdown and eventually  a healthier happier 2021  Show Notes : BusinessCloud Well-Being Story https://www.businesscloud.co.uk/opinion/five-gadgets-to-improve-your-wellbeing-in-2021/ Check out In-House Health and Digital Nurse  In-House Health

 Is burn out the real virus blog : https://inhousehealth.co.uk/is-burnout-the-real-virus-impacting-tech/  LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedigitalnurse/

Check out the radio show Check Up Tuesday

https://www.fabradiointernational.com/fab-radio-schedule/tuesday/inhouse-health-radio-show 

Modern digital marketing is truly a maze. How do we navigate this?

There are cutting edge changes in algorithms and fast paced roll out tactics which will make your head spin. Then the strategic copycat nature of the wider social media industry where  TikTok style features pop up as Reels in Instagram and so forth. 

 Tim Hyde, founder of Social Media Marketing agency, TWH Media to joins us today to help navigate the minefield and shares simple ideas on how to capture your audience attention  

A recent survey by Engine has found that people are spending on average 10-30% more online as a result of the pandemic. 

There is growth across all ecommerce categories in particular subscription and convenience services, which has seen growth in  revenue  200% and conversion 140%  

Tim is one of Manchester’s home grown success stories, He started his journey at LADbible at just 18 years old as the 11th staff member. ‘Employee of the Year’ at 19,  before joining Social Chain and then launching his own consultancy. He  help us get to grips with the rapidly growing focus on online retail and ecommerce  
TWH Media - https://www.timwillhyde.com/

Brands Journalhttps://brandsjournal.com/the-valuable-role-ecommerce-social-media-marketing-will-play-in-keeping-businesses-afloat-during-lockdown/Small Business.co.uk

https://smallbusiness.co.uk/5-tips-to-maximise-black-friday-sales-during-lockdown-2551604/

If there’s one positive to come of this year it’s that there’s been an eCommerce explosion with 61% of Brits admitting to shopping more online during lockdown. (*Retail Times) 

But currently up to 40 per cent of clothing bought online is returned, compared with 5 to 10 per cent of in-store purchases.

Fashion prediction platform Dressipi is working to change that. It’s working with retailers like John Lewis, River Island and Topshop to help them predict what customers will buy and not return. 

Co-founders Donna North and Sarah McVittie join me on this episode to talk about how technology is shaping the future of fashion.

Host: Patricia Keating
Guests: Donna North and Sarah McVittie co-founders Dressippi  https://dressipi.com/

For more information on personalisation and data in fashion: 

https://dressipi.com/how-river-island-used-personalisation-to-deliver-revenue-increase/

https://dressipi.com/closer-look-at-our-data-insight-hub/

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ABOUT FAST FORWARD:

Hosted by Tech Manchester’s director Patricia Keating, FastForward shares the stories and expertise of business experts and founders at all stages of their business journey. It’s crammed full of practical advice on how to take your startup to the next level. 

In 2012 Jolyon Bennett risked his home to launch his vision: a sustainable mobile phone accessories business. Some nail-biting moments followed but Jolyon's was handed a big break by John Lewis, just weeks before his money ran out. 

John Lewis sold 2,000 units in the first week and Juice became the fastest selling brand they had ever launched.

Juice is now on a mission to not only ensure his company is manufacturing in a more sustainable way, but he is also rolling out an incentive to help others to do the same - including supermarket giant Tesco. 

This year Juice became the first mobile phone accessories manufacturer to completely remove single-use plastic from its packaging. The company also launched completely compostable phone cases and is now working towards bringing their plant-based plugs to market. 

Jolyon has been on an incredible journey from leaving school with a backlog of three months detention to leading the call for more sustainable business models. In this episode he shares what he's learned along the way and explains why more CEOs need to make the change to build a better world for all of us. 

Host: Patricia Keating
Guests: Joylon Bennett founder Juice https://www.juice.co.uk/

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Sixteen years ago Gayle Carpenter took a risk. She left the security and support of full-time employment as a design director to start her own creative and brand agency.  
Just two weeks after launching Sparkloop Gayle found herself pitching to Red Bull UK. She won the contract and still counts Red Bull among her clients today along with some other household names including The Prince’s Trust, Prudential, Checkatrade, Homeserve and Asics.  

Gayle has kept her vision, kept her team small and focussed, and has offices in London and Bath to maximise business opportunities. 

In this episode she shares her personal business journey and the principles of how to create an authentic brand as well as giving her advice for women in leadership roles. Hint: It really is time to ditch the power suits!

Host: Patricia Keating
Guests: Gayle Carpenter, founder Sparkloop www.sparkloop.com

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Have you ever been hit with expensive transaction fees while using your card abroad? Having been burned on holiday by expensive card transaction charges the founders of Currensea decided there had to be a more convenient product. 

The former investment bankers launched their new venture in January 2020, a perfect time, when many of us are planning annual holidays, to launch a product to cut the cost of transactions abroad. 

However, just a few months later the world as we know it stopped and the travel industry was grounded. 

The founders of Currensea had no choice but to adapt to the shifting landscape. And despite the obvious challenges the fledgling company onboarded 5,000 customers in quarter one alone and has achieved quarter-on-quarter cardholder growth of over 230%. 

How have they done it? 

Currensea’s founders James Lynn and Craig Goulding talk to Trish about their journey so far and discuss why there is never a good time to start a business!

Britain in Business reportHow COVID-19 and Brexit are affecting SMEs and advice on how they can power through this challenging time. Includes insight from Mastercard, Visa’s former CEO and the founders of Currensea.
https://www.currensea.com/britain-back-in-business/

Host: Patricia Keating
Guests: James Lynn and Craig Goulding www.currensea.com

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Most founders have experienced failure, or will do so at some point in their journey. As Samuel Beckett wrote in Westward Ho: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Currently around 60% of new businesses fail within their first few years and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to send business failure rates sky rocketing. 

Jan Cavelle built a multimillion pound business from absolutely nothing. She also lost it all when her furniture went into administration in 2017 after 20 years of trading. But she has rebuilt her portfolio and now back on the road to success.

Jan talks to Trish about her journey, the advice she now shares with fellow entrepreneurs and why we must all stop viewing failure as a problem. 

Host: Patricia Keating
Guest: Jan Cavelle https://jancavelle.co.uk/

Scale For Success by Jan Cavelle, released in April 2021 by Bloomsbury. Pre order your copy below: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scale-Success-Insights-Growing-Business/dp/1472985559/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1605550492&refinements=p_27%3AJan+Cavelle&s=books&sr=1-1

Listening Time: 43 mins

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If you want someone at the helm to help navigate your SME through an economic storm, then Catherine Birkett CFO of Go Cardless is certainly someone you would want on board your ship. 

She's helped businesses though two recessions, guided a telecoms company though the dot-com crash in 2000 and steered the disruptive technology fintech GoCardless through the highly competitive payments industry.

In this episode Catherine shares her approach to navigating the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst an unfamiliar challenge, she believes the approach of scenario planning, keeping a level head, accepting mistakes, engaging stakeholders and keeping an eye on the bottom line is the key to survival. 

Listen now to hear some valuable insight on how to guide your scaleup though this economic shock. 

Host: Patricia Keating
Guest: Catherine Birkett, CFO GoCardless https://gocardless.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-birkett-b897b812/?originalSubdomain=uk

Listening Time: 43 mins

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