Author: Richard Willcox

Is kindness in leadership the key to recovery?

Posted on by Richard Willcox

Unsurprisingly, kindness is not an attribute that always features highly on business leaders’ agendas. And, if it does, for some it represents maintaining status and getting people to do as you ask. But given the turbulent year we’ve all been through, perhaps change is afoot.

So why now? Well, on a grander scale, kindness builds trust and improves productivity and loyalty. As we look to recovery and building back better, now is the time for leaders and businesses to adapt. The opportunity is to move quickly to focus on optimism and embrace kindness as integral parts of long-term recovery plans. Demonstrating kindness is fast becoming the leadership style that will achieve change and aid recovery in a fragile world.

On a more personal, less grandiose scale, if there’s one thing we as business leaders can do to make a difference, it would be to lead by example and show a little more kindness because even the smallest actions can have huge consequences. As the Dalai Lama once said: “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito in the room.”


The strength of kindness
In our research – The power of kindness – which was inspired by a unique collaboration with Oxford University Saïd Business School, Global Thinkers Forum and Women of the Future, we revealed an overwhelming agreement among people that kind behaviours and actions have a positive impact on the people and culture of organisations and the desire to perform. This leads to better overall business performance.

When people feel valued and respected, they feel motivated and perform better, therefore making the business case for being kind, robust and strong. Simply put, kindness makes people happy, happy people work harder, which in turn helps businesses do well.

The challenge here is to change our perception of how we view kindness, particularly within a business environment. It’s not hard to see why some may view kindness as a weakness. By definition, kindness is seen as giving a part of yourself for another’s benefit.

As media and business psychologist Charlotte Armitage points out, this goes against our innate need to survive and make ourselves stronger. She explains that kindness is not typically associated with strength. However, sometimes it’s the strongest people who can be the kindest. They don’t feel the need to use defences, or put up barriers to protect themselves. They are therefore more able to offer genuine kindness because they themselves feel safe and secure with who they are. Armitage argues that offering kindness shows a level of psychological strength and resilience which is grounded in acceptance of oneself. Being kind is in reality a show of personal strength.


Collaboration, not isolation
Kind leaders put their people at the centre of their organisations. They recognise that people are key to organisational performance and impact. Through their kind behaviours and actions, they stimulate collaboration, encourage inclusivity and inspire commitment. Collaboration, rather than division and isolation, is much needed, within teams, in our organisations and our wider society. Indeed, most of the biggest challenges facing the world today are not matters that can be resolved by any one person, organisation or institution. Collaboration amongst diverse minds is key to success and human kindness is at the heart of a more collaborative and inclusive society.


Are you listening carefully?
Of all the kind behaviours discussed in our research, listening was among the most frequently mentioned. Our most basic need is to be heard and so listening attentively is a big part of being a good leader in any business.

During the pandemic, I have personally been challenged in so many new and unexpected ways. Managing the outpouring of emotion from friends and colleagues, that kept coming wave after wave throughout the year was difficult. I have tried to stay much closer to people by connecting to them more often and in more informal ways. Sending a message or just thinking about them; a personalised thank you or one-to-one chats.

However, becoming a kind leader isn’t about checking off a list of attributes from a ‘how-to’ list. Leading with kindness is more a way of life and how you conduct your daily actions with those around you. It is something you have to proactively work on and be more aware of.


Brand value
Kindness is increasingly important in organisational culture. Businesses are being judged on their actual (rather than their claimed) behaviour and if that is perceived to be unkind then this damage to their brand value can be catastrophic.

Recent examples are easy to find. Boohoo was exposed for unacceptable failings in its supply chain, while JD Wetherspoon’s outspoken chairman Tim Martin received widespread criticism at the start of the pandemic for his comments towards staff and did little to portray him as a kind leader.

However, from proactively offering paid lockdown leave, to advertising all jobs as flexible, finance giant Zürich is an excellent example of a company that understands what it means to embrace a kindness in leadership approach. With its ‘Family Friendly Workplace’ policy, it puts people and kindness at its core. This is a first-class example of how doing the right thing for people isn’t just a business choice, but also an essential ingredient of modern leadership.


Kind leadership in a crisis
Hall & Partners has also been looking at the value of kind leadership in a crisis, compared with ‘normal’ everyday work and beyond. Leadership in a crisis can take many forms, but importantly, kindness is found to underpin any and every response required to help an organisation successfully navigate the current pandemic and to keep staff happy, engaged and willing to stay the course.

The global workforce has been clear; it wants to be better informed and have a clearer oversight of its organisation’s overall purpose, strategic direction and, increasingly, its values.

Many people are facing indefinite job insecurity as the threat of a deeper global recession looms. Companies will therefore need to step up and communicate with greater clarity on business continuity and long-term recovery strategies to invoke confidence and engage their employees. And they need to deliver all this with sensitivity and compassion.

The post-COVID-19 workplace is looking quite different to the world of work we previously inhabited and it won’t return to ‘normal’ overnight – if at all. However, businesses can now seize this unique opportunity to support workers physically returning to work and prove how a kinder more empathetic leadership style and an inclusive collaborative approach is embedded in their organisation to drive permanent and long-lasting prosperity.

I believe businesses and brands have the power to change the world and this starts with people. The COVID-19 crisis, combined with impassioned social movements, have led us to reassess our core values and question the things that are important to us. What we are seeing is a fundamental shift in values and expectations from those around us. This in turn is impacting what people want from their work and their lives. They are looking for a new employee/employer contract, one that feels more equitable, fair and flexible.

Focusing on the importance of kindness in leadership is neither a fad, nor a shallow pitch made by a motivational speaker. Everyone can aspire to kindness; it gives life a richer meaning and has been shown to make us happier in the process. It’s time to challenge the traditional conversation, which has, in the past, overlooked the importance and power of kindness in leadership and the immense impact that it has in all areas of business and all areas of our lives.

Bank of England on crypto: legitimate concerns or not?

Posted on by Richard Willcox

Fast forward to the present day, and you don’t need to be a finance or tech expert to know what cryptocurrencies are — or to invest in them. This year, in particular, was a big one for the digital currency as its total market cap surpassed $2trn for the first time.

Although news headlines and social media discourse sometimes make it seem like anyone and everyone is getting involved with crypto, this digital currency also has its critics. One notable figure to recently dim the sparkle of this enticing asset class was like Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey.

“Cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value. That doesn’t mean to say people don’t put value on them, because they can have extrinsic value. But they have no intrinsic value,” he said during a press conference in London in May. “I’m going to say this very bluntly again. Buy them only if you’re prepared to lose all your money.”

His comments understandably attracted a lot of attention, but whether investors will take any notice is another matter. What’s more, the Bank of England isn’t exactly an institution anyone would expect to support plans for a decentralised currency. Did Bailey have ulterior motives when he issued this warning, or do his words ultimately come from a place of truth?


Is the BoE’s hostility predictable?
Bailey’s hostility to cryptocurrency is hardly surprising when you consider what it is and what it represents. These decentralised digital currencies operate outside the parameters of the current prevailing financial systems. In fact, this is one of the main reasons that crypto has its supporters. It is not created or regulated by a government body, which means that its value is not impacted by how central banks respond to social, economic or political developments, or by a particular bank’s monetary policy. The blockchain technology required also makes it very difficult for an individual to corrupt or manipulate cryptocurrencies. All in all, cryptos aim to prevent the risk of a single entity gaining too much power — something particularly enticing in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.

Given that the nature of cryptocurrency is completely at odds with the financial systems we have today, perhaps it was to be expected that someone like Bailey would stand in opposition to it. After all, if Bitcoin became the norm in terms of how we make payments, there would be no need for a Bank of England or any other central bank for that matter.

It’s also interesting for Bailey to state that cryptocurrencies “have no intrinsic value” when warning people against investing in them. Although this is true, fiat currencies including the pound sterling have no intrinsic value either. In these cases, the value comes from the trust citizens place in the respective governments and because the value is maintained and agreed upon by all the parties involved. And while the value of cryptocurrencies can be manipulated (just look at how quickly Dogecoin skyrocketed), fiat currencies can also be immediately devalued. For example, a central bank may print more money.


Should investors be wise to crypto uncertainty?
Even though some may be sceptical about Bailey’s motives, there’s no denying that there are some issues crypto investors certainly need to bear in mind.

Bailey is right to point out the extrinsic value of cryptocurrencies. When there are only a certain number of bitcoins in existence, it goes without saying that people will place extrinsic value on it as an asset. The problem is that unlike other assets, there is no practical application when it comes to cryptos — they merely exist to be traded. Plenty of investors decide to put money into cryptocurrencies simply out of ‘Fear of Missing Out’. Gambles can and do pay off, but it’s important to remember that ultimately that’s all crypto trading is — a gamble on an asset offering nothing in material terms.


Huge volatility
Many people are attracted to cryptocurrencies as there is a chance of racking up impressive profits in a short space of time. Obviously, this also means it’s very possible that an investor could lose just as much, just as fast. In this sense, Bailey is speaking some sense when he says “prepare to lose all your money” because that could happen. In February 2021, Bitcoin fell by $10,000 in just 19 hours, followed by another steep drop in May where Bitcoin’s value halved in only nine days. This kind of volatility can be incredibly costly. That said, perhaps it is unfair to single out crypto when all investments ultimately come with risk. Whether it’s crypto or another type of financial instrument, the same rules apply. Investors should always do their research and exercise due diligence, and most importantly, never risk money they can’t afford to lose.


Regulatory issues
The potential positives of cryptocurrency are clear, but the downsides are just as obvious. One of the main problems with such a new, exciting yet complicated technology is how easy crypto can be exploited for criminal purposes such as money laundering and fraud. This makes regulation very important and necessary. Gary Gensler, the newly appointed head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has emphasised the need for greater regulatory oversight of exchanges trading crypto assets in order to instil more confidence. Unfortunately, crypto is also very hard to regulate. Investors and consumers need to be protected, but governments don’t want to bring in measures that end up constricting innovations that could bring huge benefits.

In conclusion, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrency exchanges. For this reason, we don’t currently offer cryptos to our customers at Trade Nation. However, this may change if there were to be regulatory developments. Ultimately, investors must be aware of all the unknowns, be braced for high risk and volatility, and only invest within their means.

Top 5 female-fronted fintech firms

Posted on by Richard Willcox

Bringing together the traditionally male-dominated fields of finance and technology, it’s no secret that fintech still has some way to go when it comes to gender equality. In the UK, just one percent of all venture capital funding goes to female-founded fintech firms, and in the US the situation is much the same, with VC investment in female-led fintech teams reaching just three percent. That said, the industry boasts a number of trail-blazing female pioneers, ranging from fintech founders through to angel investors and technology experts. Indeed, while there is still much work to be done, it’s certainly encouraging to see a variety of female-led fintech companies making waves in this fast-moving industry. Many of these firms are also created not just by women but also for women, taking into consideration the specific wants and needs of their female user-base. Here, World Finance takes a look at five of the world’s most exciting female-fronted fintech firms.

 

1 – PensionBee
All eyes are on British pensions provider PensionBee as it readies itself to go public on the London Stock Exchange. Founded by Romi Savova in 2014, the company aims at simplifying pensions for its customers, by consolidating their old pensions into one new plan. The float is expected to value the firm at between £346m and £384m, and with a 45 percent stake in the company, 35-year-old Savova is set to become one of the UK’s wealthiest female technology CEOs. Dubbed ‘the Monzo of pensions the firm’s smartphone-friendly app allows users to manage their pensions remotely and efficiently, with the company hoping to pull the famously-complex industry into the 21st century.

 

2 – Starling Bank
This entry on our list certainly needs no introduction. The digital-only challenger bank achieved coveted ‘unicorn’ status recently, after raising £272m in its largest funding round to date. This latest cash injection sees the British bank valued at £1.1bn, with founder and CEO Anne Boden declaring that “digital banking has reached a tipping point” in a statement confirming the valuation. Boden founded the bank in 2014 at the age of 54, after many years of working in the traditional banking sector. Despite some early setbacks, under Boden’s leadership, Starling has become one of the UK’s fastest growing banks, with a new customer now joining every 39 seconds. In November 2020, she released an explosive tell-all book, Banking On It, which details her struggles as a 50-something woman trying to forge a new path in the competitive fintech industry.

 

3 – Borrowell
Canadian fintech firm Borrowell is on a mission to help those struggling as a result of the COVID-19 induced economic downturn. Founded in 2014, the company hopes to help people achieve their financial goals – whether that includes clearing debt or saving for the future – by helping them to make informed decisions about credit. The company was the first in Canada to offer customers free access to their credit scores, as well as pioneering the country’s first AI-powered ‘credit coach.’ Eva Wong, the firm’s co-founder and COO, has long been a vocal advocate of diversity and inclusion, speaking on how to attract a diverse candidate pool when hiring by focusing on inclusive language in job postings. This commitment to workplace diversity has seen Borrowell listed as one of the Best Workplaces for Women by Great Place to Work Canada.

 

4 – Ellevest
Stock trading apps hit the front pages earlier this year when the so-called ‘GameStop saga’ saw amateur investors drive up the share price of a number of companies – GameStop, Blackberry and AMC Cinemas included. Away from the headlines, trading app Ellevest is looking to shake up the industry, and is dedicated to its goal of helping women to start investing. Founded by Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck in 2014, the company markets itself as a tool built by women, for women, with its investment algorithm taking into account specific issues that may affect its female user-base – such as career breaks, longer average life spans and pay gaps. In March, the company hit a new milestone of $1bn in assets under management, showing a growing appetite for its services even amid the pandemic downturn.

 

5 – Ovamba Solutions
Founded by Viola Llewllyn in 2013, Ovamba Solutions is a fintech firm focused on helping Africa’s micro, small and medium-sized businesses to grow through access to short-term capital. Having noticed that banks and traditional financial institutions were largely unable to close the continent’s credit gap, Llewellyn set up Ovamba Solutions with the intention to empower African entrepreneurs through innovative online platforms and mobile apps that can more effectively meet the demands of burgeoning SMEs. Its offerings include culturally-sensitive technology, such as chatbots that speak a variety of African languages, and solutions that take into consideration the realities affecting African businesses and entrepreneurs.

Top 5 Latin American tech hubs

Posted on by Richard Willcox

In recent years, Latin America has established itself as one of the world’s most promising regions for start-up activity and burgeoning tech talent. Venture capital investment in Latin American tech has been growing steadily over the past five years, doubling annually since 2016 before reaching a record high of $4.6bn in 2019. The COVID-19 recession has, of course, impacted this flow of investment pouring into the region, but many of Latin America’s thriving start-up communities – from Brazil through to Mexico – have shown remarkable adaptability and resilience in the face of the numerous challenges of the past year. Here, World Finance takes a look at five of Latin America’s most exciting tech hubs.

 

1 – São Paulo
The vibrant city of São Paulo is often referred to as Brazil’s innovation powerhouse, with its dynamic tech community attracting a steady flow of VC funding from all over the world. Indeed, over 60 percent of start-up investments in Brazil are concentrated in the city, and it’s not hard to see why. The south-eastern megalopolis is home to a rich tech ecosystem, which supports an impressive number of local ‘unicorns,’ as well as boasting more fintech start-ups than any other Latin American city. It’s hardly surprising, therefore, that tech giants such as Amazon, Uber and Spotify have chosen the city as their Latin American base. The well-established nature of São Paulo’s technology sector has spared it from the worst of the COVID-19 recession, with many of its start-ups not just surviving, but thriving in these economic hard times.

 

2 – Mexico City
Home to over 21 million people, the sprawling megacity of Mexico City is fast establishing a reputation as one of Latin America’s most promising tech hubs. For many investors, Mexico is something of a gateway to the rest of Latin America – while Brazil might be more populous, its primary language is Portuguese, which can pose a challenge to businesses looking to establish a wide-reaching Latin American presence. Spanish-speaking Mexico, meanwhile, provides the ideal entry point to the region’s growing economies, while its capital Mexico City also enjoys a strategic location, with the US tech hubs of Los Angeles and Austin a relatively short flight away. Streaming giant Netflix is one of many big-name companies that have established a regional headquarters in Mexico City, marking a vote of confidence in the city’s thriving tech community.

 

3 – Santiago de Chile
There’s a good reason why the Chilean capital has earned itself the nickname ‘Chilecon Valley.’ A rather remote city, surrounded by the Andean mountains, Santiago is perhaps an unlikely tech hub, but it has long been a hotspot for entrepreneurial activity. Back in 2010, the Chilean government launched the ‘Start-up Chile’ seed accelerator for small business, which provides equity-free investments for start-ups from around the globe. Since its launch, it has worked with over 1,500 start-ups from 80 different countries, in what has been hailed as a world-leading programme. What’s more, the nation ranks as Latin America’s top country for entrepreneurship, according to the 2020 edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Index, with a forward-thinking and adaptable tech community that will help to drive recovery in the aftermath of the Coronavirus crisis.

 

4 – Buenos Aires
Some of Latin America’s most successful start-ups have been borne out of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires – and it’s not just by chance. The city is home to a vibrant and ever-expanding technological ecosystem, gaining a reputation as the region’s best performing tech incubator. Ecommerce giant Mercado Libre – often called the Amazon of Latin America – is undoubtedly the city’s greatest success story, but Buenos Aires is also establishing a name for itself as a regional blockchain hotspot, with the number of Argentinian blockchain and cryptocurrency companies rising by 10 percent in 2019 alone.

 

5 – Medellín
Colombia’s second-largest city has seen its tech scene grow significantly in recent years. The city has been working hard to reinvent itself and shake off the reputation that has dogged it for so many years – with Time magazine dubbing it “the world’s most dangerous city” back in 1988. Nowadays, Medellín can be associated with some much more positive adjectives: innovative, open and dynamic. In 2019, two of China’s largest tech companies, Huawei and Tuya Smart, announced that they would be establishing bases in Medellín, specifically within the city’s specially-developed Innovation District. The Ruta N complex, where both firms will be based, is a co-working space designed to foster innovation and collaboration between start-ups, with hopes to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem within the city.

The rise of ESG and the importance of compliance

Posted on by Richard Willcox

The pressure from stakeholders, be they lawmakers or shareholders, regulators or activists, or indeed society at large, on companies of all sizes, and across all sectors, to recognise, adhere to, improve, measure and report performance against ESG metrics is increasingly urgent and compelling.

Why is ESG reporting so significant in the business world of 2021, and what are the associated risks? As ever, and recognising the adage that prevention is better than cure, identifying potential issues early on, and ensuring an effective framework is in place to respond efficiently to developments, is key. That is particularly the case in the age of social media, where perceived transgressions are quickly and widely shared.

Whatever sector or jurisdiction a company operates in, effective due diligence of ESG issues and accurate reporting of the results of that diligence, as well as having regard to emerging calls for standardised global ESG disclosure, is essential. The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently announced Climate & ESG Task Force, within the Division of Enforcement, highlights the growing focus on gaps or misstatements in ESG-related disclosures.

 

Environmental goals
The increasing prevalence of, and focus on, company reporting is, however, only one side of the story. Recognising and improving – in a meaningful, measurable, way – the issues that are becoming as important to assessments of company performance as traditional financial metrics is key. Commitments to net zero carbon emissions and other environmental goals are laudable, but particularly in the absence of a single unified reporting framework, companies’ environmental impacts must be assessed, and reported, with care. Shortcomings in codes of conduct, human rights and other policies, sustainability reports and press statements are increasingly being identified, scrutinised, and challenged – whether in litigation or otherwise – by stakeholders, including investors.

As an early step, ensuring that an effective and comprehensive compliance programme is in place is essential; that programme should have regard to existing, and forthcoming, legislative developments including, for example (in respect of EU-domiciled companies, or those with EU-based subsidiaries or operations), the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and the Taxonomy Regulation; or (in respect of UK-domiciled companies), the Modern Slavery Act, and the anticipated legislation signposted recently by the UK Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure, to name just two examples. Similarly, the much-anticipated corporate governance reforms in the UK, announced by UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng MP last month (February 2021), will impact on ESG, on reporting obligations in this area, and the price of failure to comply. The significance of these reforms to company directors, whether at board level or otherwise, is critical. Internally, these non-traditional, non-financial, factors will impact decisions on executive remuneration. Externally, companies’ behaviours in those areas will be scrutinised and challenged.

 

Reputational and financial damage
The importance of human rights due diligence cannot be overstated, in the context both of the company itself, but also up and down the supply and value chain. Recent high profile scandals – often resulting in litigation – have revealed the appalling human cost of failing to ensure compliant behaviours, as well as, of course, the associated reputational and financial damage that inevitably follows. Awareness of, and adherence to, the requirements of the various benchmarking regimes, such as the World Benchmarking Alliance’s Human Rights Benchmark, is critical to ensure that best practice is observed. Such benchmarks – which represent independent assessments of companies’ human rights programmes – are useful bases upon which to develop and reinforce practices in this area, hopefully, before problems emerge. Not reporting on these issues is not an option and, as disclosure increasingly becomes mandatory, companies need to ensure that their performance will stand up to scrutiny in the light of the changing legal and regulatory environment.

But ‘hard law’ obligations are only one element of this fast-changing landscape. Consideration should equally be given to the broader societal expectations that are emerging from corporate performance and disclosures of that performance, not only in the context of environmental impact and human rights due diligence (as critical as they are), but also in respect of the multiple other issues falling within the scope of ESG. ‘Soft law’ developments, whether at national, regional or international level, often reflect changing societal norms; the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights is one such example. Recognising the emerging focal points, and improving performance in those areas, should be a priority.

 

Public scrutiny intensifies
To take one example, disclosure obligations in respect of ‘social’ issues has lagged behind that of ‘environmental’ and ‘governance’ issues, in part because the hard law requirements have not, thus far, been as stringent in this area. Treatment of employees, for example, such as in the context of the company’s employment model, or behaviour towards employees during the pandemic, is traditionally under-reported. But that is changing. Particularly as high profile scandals emerge, and resulting public scrutiny intensifies, companies will be under increasing pressure to report – accurately of course – on employee-related issues. As with many ESG issues, these can be difficult to measure, but it is clear that there is increasingly a demand to do so.

Ultimately, these are, or should be, board-level concerns; responsibility for companies’ performance, including by reference to ESG issues, lies with the board, and a close awareness of the requirements in this regard is fundamentally important. As ESG due diligence and reporting requirements continue to dominate the corporate agenda, ensuring best practice and compliance at an early stage will reap benefits, and hopefully avoid pitfalls, down the line.

Top 5 sustainability pioneers in Europe

Posted on by Richard Willcox

The pandemic has prompted us to reconsider many aspects of our lives, from our working habits to how and where we spend our money. It has also served to heighten our awareness of environmental issues, as we begin to think of the world we would like to see post-pandemic. According to a survey by management consultancy company Accenture, 60 percent of consumers say that they have started making more environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical purchases since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

In the business world, too, sustainability has become a top priority over the course of the past year, with major firms such as Unilever and Google announcing significant green pledges over the course of 2020. Even amid the COVID-19 crunch, venture capital firms have been pouring money into sustainable, purpose-driven start-ups, suggesting that eco-friendly products and services may well be a key area of growth in the post-pandemic world. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five of Europe’s top sustainability pioneers.

 

1 – Oatly (Sweden)
The non-dairy milk market has been booming in recent years, and is predicted to reach revenues of over $38bn by 2024. This is good news indeed for Swedish oat milk-manufacturer Oatly, which has seen its sales soar as ethically-driven consumers seek alternatives to traditional dairy products. Founded in the 1990s, the company states its aim as: “to make it easy for people to turn what they eat and drink into moments of healthy joy, without recklessly taxing the planets’ resources in the process.” Boasting partnerships with major retailers such as Starbucks, the company is undoubtedly one of the most prominent names in the plant-based industry, and is now said to be seeking a valuation of close to $10bn as it prepares to go public on the US stock exchange.

 

2 – EO Charging (UK)
With many of the world’s workers giving up the daily commute in order to work from home in 2020, the pandemic has encouraged a reassessment of our transport usage. While global car sales fell by around a fifth during the pandemic, sales of electric vehicles rose by a remarkable 43 percent, showing an increased appetite for eco-friendly cars. As the demand for electric vehicles grows, the need for increased EV charging infrastructure is becoming ever more apparent. Based in the UK, EO Charging is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of electric vehicle charging ports, having sold more than 30,000 charging points in over 30 countries in the five years since its launch. Working with high-profile partners such as Uber, Sainsbury’s and Ocado to facilitate a transition to EV, EO Charging was recently named among the Financial Times’ fastest growing companies in Europe.

 

3 – Cellugy (Denmark)
Plastic pollution is an area that has come into sharp focus over the course of the past 12 months, with discarded single-use masks becoming an all too common sight since the start of the pandemic. Based in Aarhus, Denmark, Cellugy is a pioneering biotech start-up that is committed to helping to bring an end to plastic pollution through the creation of alternative forms of packaging. Its innovative product, called EcoFLEXY, is a durable material designed for use in the packaging industry. Made from recycled food waste, the product is all-natural, fully recyclable and biodegradable. In a recent seed round, the company raised €2.38m from the European Innovation Council Accelerator, which will allow it to scale-up production of its EcoFLEXY product.

 

4 – RanMarine Technology (Netherlands)
An unexpected side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the unfortunate increase in marine litter pollution. Plastic gloves, single-use masks and other forms of PPE have been washing up on beaches across the globe, with this increase in plastic waste threatening the health of marine life the world over. Dutch drone technology firm RanMarine is the company behind the innovative WasteShark – a product designed to clear plastic and other waste from all manner of waterways. The device has a 10-hour ‘swimtime,’ and is able to clear 500kg of debris from the water each day – with users able to control the device remotely and monitor its progress in real time. The firm secured a Series-A investment in 2020, allowing it to scale-up its operations this year and beyond.

 

5 – Meatless Farm (UK)
After years of unstoppable rise, 2020 was the year that plant-based foods well and truly hit the mainstream. In the UK, sales of plant-based foods hit £1bn for the first time, with market research company Kantar finding that 13 million consumers had bought meat-free substitutes and dairy-free milk. Fully-vegan companies such as Meatless Farm have seen their sales soar as demand for plant-based products grows. The British firm is on track to record £50m in sales in 2021, with founder Morten Toft Bech setting his sights on an eventual $1bn valuation. If achieved, this will make the Meatless Farm a rare ‘unicorn’ company. After a ‘Veganuary’ sales bump – which saw the company’s global sales rise by 92 percent compared with the same month in 2020 – 2021 is already shaping up to be a momentous year for the Meatless Farm.

Top 5 keys to global economic recovery

Posted on by Richard Willcox

One year on from the onset of the pandemic, and while the world certainly isn’t out of the COVID-19 woods just yet, we now have some cause for cautious optimism. Across the globe, vaccination drives are picking up steam – although it must be said that the success of said drives differ wildly from one country to the next. After a year of stop-start lockdowns, depressed wages, mass redundancies and vastly diminished economic activity, the global economy is now expected to grow by four percent in 2021, according to the latest predictions from the World Bank.

While this is positive news indeed, global economic recovery from the pandemic is set to be long, slow and highly dependent on a number of key factors, with curbing the spread of the virus and ensuring widespread deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine of course being at the top of the list. While too much has already sadly been lost – in terms of both lives and livelihoods – we may now be turning a corner on the fight against Coronavirus. Here, World Finance takes a look at the key factors that will impact global economic recovery in the 12 months to come.

 

1 – A successful, widespread vaccine roll-out
Unsurprisingly, the effective and widespread deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine had to be top of our list. Since the first Pfizer jab was administered in early December of last year, vaccine deployment has been steadily gaining momentum worldwide, although some countries are certainly outpacing others when it comes to the speed and strength of their vaccination programmes. Take Europe, for example: the UK has now vaccinated over half of its adult population, while just 14 percent of EU citizens have received the jab at the time of writing. While the vaccine will help to restore some semblance of normality, for global recovery to become more sure-footed, the jabs need to be deployed both rapidly and fairly around the world. In particular, low and lower-middle-income countries are at risk of a lack of access to vaccines, leaving them vulnerable to long-term economic damage as the world finds its feet post-pandemic.

 

2 – Supportive fiscal policy for businesses
For businesses of all sizes, the past 12 months have likely been the most challenging in recent history. As countries around the world have moved in and out of restrictive lockdowns, many businesses have found that their income has simply dried up; leaving them more or less dependent on government assistance in order to keep the wolves from the door in these testing times. From job retention schemes to business loans and protection from eviction, governments around the world have attempted to provide safety nets to those companies worst affected by the pandemic. In the EU, for example, France, Germany, Spain and Italy have committed to spending an additional $3.1trn on business support since the start of the pandemic. While this support has proved invaluable to many SMEs, for others, it hasn’t quite been enough to save them from the jaws of bankruptcy. If businesses are to stand a chance at bouncing back from the pandemic, then this generous, wide-reaching support will need to continue long into 2021.

 

3 – An end to stop-start lockdowns
Even with extensive government support, the stop-start nature of lockdowns around the world has posed a significant challenge to even the most innovative and forward-thinking of businesses. For many firms – particularly those operating in the arts, tourism and hospitality sectors – their entire business models are incompatible with a world restricted by lockdown measures and social-distancing requirements. Many businesses will require a return to ‘normality’ sooner rather than later if they are to survive, but as of now it is impossible to predict whether the current spate of lockdowns will indeed be the world’s last. Until countries are able to achieve and maintain low infection levels, then lockdowns may well remain on the cards for some time to come.

 

4 – Targeted support for those hardest hit
While the pandemic has affected every single one of us over the course of the past year, the COVID-19 recession has been felt much more acutely among certain groups than others. Indeed, the pandemic has served to exacerbate the inequalities already present in society, with the young and those on lower incomes bearing the brunt of the economic downturn. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, in the UK, 88 percent of the payrolled jobs lost over the course of the past year have been lost to under 35-year-olds, creating a looming youth unemployment crisis. Targeted support for these affected groups – such as the British government’s Kickstart job creation scheme for 16 to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit – will prove crucial in the months and years to come.

 

5 – Investment in future growth
As we now tentatively look to a post-pandemic future, governments around the world will need to shift their thinking from ‘survival mode’ to focusing on future economic growth. In the longer run, investments in high growth areas such as digital infrastructure and green energy could boost job creation and stand to future-proof economies around the world. According to PwC, there will be a renewed global shift towards embracing green infrastructure and fighting climate change in 2021, with the US, EU and China all set to prioritise green strategy over the course of the next year. According to the International Labour Organisation, a global move to a greener economy could create 24 million new jobs by 2040, meaning that investment in these areas could help to spur growth in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Top 5 WFH habits, according to the world’s most successful business leaders

Posted on by Richard Willcox

In March 2020, the world began an unprecedented experiment in working from home. Almost overnight, offices were emptied and employees were encouraged to WFH wherever possible, with most employees expecting to return to the office in a short matter of weeks. Weeks soon turned into months, and as the pandemic showed no signs of abating, workers continued to log on remotely, carrying out meetings from their bedrooms and living rooms through Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

Now, one year on from the first COVID-19 lockdowns, it seems that WFH is here to stay, with many companies introducing permanent ‘flexible working.’ While there are undoubtedly benefits of working remotely – time and money saved on lengthy commutes, and a better work-life balance among them – there are also some downsides. Many have found themselves more easily distracted, while others have found it hard to switch off when their laptop is permanently within reach. For those of you who might be struggling to set up a productive WFH routine, here, World Finance has put together five of the best remote working tips, as recommended by some of the world’s most successful business leaders.

 

1 – “Buffer time,” says LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner
As CEO of LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner knows a thing or two about healthy work habits. For years now, he has been a vocal proponent of ‘buffer time’ – brief interludes in your daily schedule that act as ‘buffers’ between meetings or other periods of high-intensity work. With the dawn of widespread remote working, Weiner has reemphasised the importance of taking these short, scheduled breaks, stressing that they can serve to boost both productivity and wellbeing. Taking to his own LinkedIn profile, Weiner wrote: “Free time in between video calls is increasingly being absorbed by taking care of kids, caring for dependents, doing household chores, and myriad other ways in which people are jumping from one task to the next. Make sure to carve out real buffer time: to catch your breath, get some exercise, or whatever you enjoy that helps put your mind at ease.”

 

2 – “Reflect on the day,” according to Zoom CEO Eric Yuan
There is perhaps no company as synonymous with WFH than video conferencing platform Zoom. The company’s founder and CEO, Eric Yuan, has said that he believes that the future of work will be hybrid – a mix of remote and office-based working – and that people’s working habits will therefore permanently change. In an interview with Business Insider, Yuan reflected on his own WFH routine, with a typical day unsurprisingly consisting of plenty of Zoom calls and meetings. One habit that he always makes time for is putting aside a 15-minute slot in the evening to reflect on the day – examining what went well and what he could have done differently. Yuan calls this slot a “thinking meditation,” and says that these periods of reflection help him to consider how he can be continuously improving as a leader.

 

3 – “Get outside of the house” says YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki
While some people have found themselves more easily distracted from their work while WFH, others have found it impossible to pull themselves away from their computer screens without the structure of a traditional office day. For YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, getting away from her desk and heading outside for some fresh air twice a day has proved invaluable while working remotely. “I need to get outside of the house, whether it’s walks or exercise, I find that’s essential for me. I need that a couple of times a day,” she said in an interview with Bloomberg. As well as making sure to get outdoors, she also said that keeping a positive outlook has helped her while working through lockdown, saying: “I’m also trying to remember that this will end, that we will get through it. Like any crisis – as a leader we all go through crises and we know they do end.”

 

4 – Set a schedule, as advised by Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates
Bill Gates is perhaps one of the most high-profile figures advocating for WFH culture to continue long after the pandemic. Speaking at an online business summit organised by The Economic Times, the Microsoft Co-founder said: “It is amazing to see how well the work from home culture has worked, and I hope it will continue even after the pandemic is over.” While he has sung the praises of remote working, Gates has also acknowledged its limitations and the challenges it poses to both workers and students alike. Making a guest appearance on an episode of Code Break, Gates stressed the importance of discipline and structure when logging on remotely. “I do think that having a new normal pattern and trying every day to stick to that is pretty helpful,” he said. “I do think that discipline is pretty important.”

 

5 – Start the day with exercise and meditation like Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
In the months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Twitter was one of the first major firms to announce that its sudden pivot to remote working would be a permanent change, telling its employees that they would be allowed to work from home “forever,” if they so wish. Pre-pandemic, the company’s CEO Jack Dorsey was an early proponent of flexible working, and tended to work from home at least two days a week. When working from home, Dorsey begins his days with a spot of meditation, followed by some high-intensity interval training. This involves a seven minute workout to wake the body up before the start of the working day. “The thing that I love about the workout is that I never have an excuse,” he said on a podcast appearance in 2019. “I don’t have a personal trainer. I don’t go to the gym. All I need in order to do a workout every single day is a chair and wall and my body weight.”

Top 5 pandemic-proof industries

Posted on by Richard Willcox

The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a cruel blow to businesses over the course of the past 12 months, with entire industries effectively put on pause and little indication as to when they might be able to reopen. Travel, hospitality, entertainment and the arts are among the hardest hit sectors, being essentially unable to operate as countries around the world move in and out of restrictive national lockdowns. But where some industries have struggled, others have thrived, with repeated lockdowns proving no barrier to their success. As the vaccines start to take effect and the global economy begins to tentatively recover in 2021, there are a handful of industries that have proved themselves to be pandemic-proof, able to withstand the shocks of the past year and putting themselves in a strong position as the world looks towards a post-Covid future. Here, World Finance takes a look at five of those pandemic-proof industries.

 

1 – Real estate
COVID-19 has sent the world into a deep recession – the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Redundancies and reduced wages have sadly become all too common in households the world over, but even with families feeling the pandemic-pinch, the demand for homes has been skyrocketing. With WFH becoming the new normal, people have been reconsidering their living arrangements, looking to relocate from city centres and showing a growing interest in larger properties with outdoor space. This so-called ‘race for space’ has sent home prices soaring, creating a ‘Covid boom’ for the real estate industry. In October 2020, UK house prices rose at their fastest rate in four years, with mortgage lender Halifax confirming that the average price of a home had reached £250,000 for the first time in history. In the US, meanwhile, 2020 saw home sales reach their highest level since 2006, showing a spike in demand on both sides of the Atlantic. Even as the world enters what is set to be a long and slow recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, estate agents predict that house prices will continue to rise, with no end in sight for the real estate boom.

 

2 – IT and digital services
This one surely comes as no surprise. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have become ever more reliant on digital services – with WFH, remote schooling and virtual socialising all dependent on reliable, high-speed digital technologies. Even as the vaccination programme gathers momentum around the world, offering a glimpse at a return to ‘normality,’ it seems likely that our working habits will be permanently changed by the pandemic, with agile, remote working seemingly here to stay. This is, of course, a real boon for the digital services industry, with big tech seeing their profits soar since the start of the pandemic. Amazon’s cloud computing arm – Amazon Web Services – helped to drive the company to a record profit of $6.3bn in the third quarter of 2020, as companies across the globe continue to migrate to digital. Apple, too, posted record revenues of $59.7bn in its third fiscal quarter, and more than 3.3 billion people now use a Facebook-owned app at least once a month, with social media usage soaring during the pandemic. Records like these go to show that tech companies are not just pandemic-proof, but pandemic-profitable.

 

3 – Construction
While stop-start lockdowns have brought many industries to a standstill, work has continued steadily in the construction sector – albeit not quite ‘business as usual.’ In the UK, construction sites have been allowed to remain open throughout the nation’s three national lockdowns since March 2020, and despite a contraction in the spring, the sector has bounced back at a remarkable rate. A boom in infrastructure projects has seen construction work top pre-pandemic levels, with an increased demand for housing fueling a rise in new projects. In November 2020, the value of all UK construction work reached £14.01bn – the highest level since pre-lockdown January 2020. In the US, construction projects have also continued largely unabated in most parts of the country, with 18.3 percent of construction businesses saying in a recent JustBusiness survey that the pandemic had had no impact, or a positive impact on their output.

 

4 – e-Commerce
The world of retail has been completely transformed by the pandemic. Government-mandated lockdowns, social distancing measures and COVID-19-related anxieties have seen footfall at traditional bricks-and-mortar stores dwindle down to record lows. Unsurprisingly, while physical stores have suffered, e-commerce operations have boomed, with data from the Office of National Statistics showing that online sales grew by a remarkable 24 percent in the UK in 2020. To put that figure into perspective, before the pandemic, online shopping was growing at an estimated rate of 4.5 percent globally, showing just how profound the pandemic has been in ushering in the age of e-commerce. According to a new report from IBM, the pandemic has fast-tracked the shift from physical stores to e-commerce by approximately five years – and many believe that this will be a permanent change in consumer behaviour.

 

5 – Pharmaceuticals
Before this year, how many of us would have been able to reel off a list of pharmaceutical companies from memory? Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca are perhaps as familiar to us now as Coca-Cola, Disney and Nike. The pharmaceutical industry has taken centre stage this year, playing a central role in the global fight against COVID-19. The world rejoiced at the discovery of multiple successful vaccines against Coronavirus, and the news sent pharmaceutical shares soaring in the latter half of 2020. What’s more, the pandemic has served to highlight the importance of infectious disease prevention, treatment and research, with the drug discovery market predicted to be valued at a remarkable $71bn by 2050.

The myth of the stand-alone CEO: a mentality shift to succeed in business

Posted on by Richard Willcox

The world has its fair share of superstar CEOs – almost mythological beings that seem to have endless reserves of focus, discipline, and energy. Identified by just a last name, Gates, Jobs, Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk have achieved celebrity statuses rivalling that of sporting legends, musical stars and Hollywood actors. Should today’s start-up founders emulate these anomalies, or will the very attempt sabotage their prospects of success in the post-pandemic world?

While the wealth these individuals have amassed off the back of the digital age is nothing to scoff at, it’s not the money that turns them in to god-like beings. What sets them apart is their capacity to single-handedly alter the future and inspire the world through their unique (and often branded) vision for it. The people flock to label them as visionaries, and rightly so, but once an up-and-coming start-up founder is hooked, however, hallucinations can begin to take hold.

The bright light of admiration creates a silhouette of big tech’s superstars and the outside world fills in the details with their own imagination, exaggeration if found in both the positive and the negative. We begin to agree that without them the ship will sink and only with them do the winds blow in a favourable direction. The members of this crowd include start-up founders and if they accept the exaggerations as gospel, they will set themselves on a journey their start-up is unlikely to endure.

Delegating duties
Budding start-up founders and potential world-changers don’t see the infrastructure these titans stand on or the equally praiseworthy teams around them. As such, the suggestion of recruiting a co-founder or co-equal is as close to an offensive comment as asking them to delegate a task not worthy of their time. Interestingly, according to a recent Gartner CEO survey, the habit of delegating does not appear to improve with experience; similar proportions of first-time CEOs (33 percent) and serial CEOs (35 percent) were wary about deputising key functions.

COVID has forced the illusioned start-up CEO to face the reality of their situation. Government officials are seen relying heavily on their specialist advisors to make decisions and multinational CEOs are watched as they turn to their boards for strategic discussions and consensus. Scarred, battered and bruised, some start-up CEOs are emerging from the lockdown wise of their errors and willing to change – and this is how they should do it.

To survive the next three years of economic turmoil, CEOs need to show a strong mentality shift in what it means to succeed in business. It has always been about getting to where you want to be as fast as possible, and that’s not wrong – we just need to remember there is no rule forcing you to go it alone and you don’t get extra points if you do.

Trust the team you’ve hired to run the company for you. Create a retreat for yourself, as much as we are all sick of it, take a pause. Step back from your business for a minute and disconnect from the daily grind and tasks of start-up life, you’ll quickly learn your anxiety is misplaced. By delegating your most activities, you show the team around you that you believe in their abilities and value their contribution to the start-up – without them the ship will sink, not you.

Honest conversations
When you return only take the tasks that truly require you to do them and help the business jostle its way up in the world. In the CEO survey mentioned above, nearly half of respondents (44 percent) admitted they were not giving the required attention to all their mission-critical priorities. By having a deep honest conversation with your team, you’ll find they want to take things off your plate. For each task there’s likely a person on your team more talented than you happy to do it – executives want to be valuable to their CEO as this is one of working life’s most fulfilling accomplishments.

Advisory boards are found in many businesses, but their existence and utilisation are extremely important and very often underutilized in start-ups where they can have a critical impact; especially in the post-pandemic world.

For the start-up CEO today, there is nothing more valuable than the mentorship from veterans who worked through the prolonged recession of 2008–2013. We’re set to experience similar turmoil and leveraging access to the insight needed to keep a business productive during the recession will be the difference between life and death.

A company I founded and was Chairman and CEO for, ForceLogix Technologies Inc, made a successful IPO in 2009, and I couldn’t have done it so well without the guidance from my board of advisors, which ultimately became my board of directors.

Long-term success
There are many things you need to get to make sure your advisory board sets you up for long-term success and survival. Establish the goal of the board before you appoint the advisors to join it, set their focus in stone and make it clear why they were brought in.

A second task to accomplish before appointing your members is to identify the blind spots and weaknesses of your business processes and earmark them to be discussed with the board in your first meetings – this way you can engage your advisors from day one and have their contributions make an impact early on.

None of us are a scalable asset, despite what Silicon Valley’s celebrities might appear to accomplish.

As a start-up CEO, a life where you have a second layer of management currently sounds like a dream land of milk and honey, but it’s not too far away for those that succeed in the next 18–24 months. It’ll still be stressful, it’ll still be hard, and 24 hours in a day still won’t be enough but now you’re the chief executive officer instead of the chief everything officer.

 

Main photo taken by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

The passing of the baton: three steps to a successful succession process

Posted on by Richard Willcox

CEO succession is also one of the most challenging tasks and processes to get right; succession planning is highly sensitive and comes with significant risks throughout the entire process, from identification of potential successors, to selection, to appointment, to transition. There have been times when a new CEO had to be external, as the grass was often considered to greener elsewhere. But that trend has now reversed. Currently, companies increasingly prefer to appoint an internal successor and this actually makes sense.

There is mounting evidence that external CEOs have a higher failure rate – up to 40 percent can take six months to achieve full productivity and cost close to 20 percent more. In 2018 nearly 90 percent of CEO successions within S&P 500 companies, were internal. Alongside this change, of course, comes the growing need for CEO succession planning and development.

An internal ‘CEO bench’ is now essential, if you want to appoint an internal successor. CEO succession processes require planning, and a multi-year approach. A study by the Centre for Executive Succession (University of South Carolina) shows clearly that a planned succession stands a much higher chance of being successful: of 22 successful appointments, 76 percent were part of a planned succession process. Of the failed appointments, only around half (57 percent) were planned.

Although this study and many others make the relationship between planning and successful appointments clear, many companies are struggling to set up a succession programme or to develop a strong succession bench. Development is key to this and there are three key steps to a successful succession process;

 

1. Continuous talent development
Identification and development of executives with CEO potential (in the future) is key. This is an ongoing process and preferably a non-formal part of the actual succession process.  Ultimately, companies need to continually develop the CEO bench – not only one appointment ahead but also two to three CEO moves ahead. This means that identification and most importantly development of future succession candidates reaches further than the current executive board. Nowadays, companies are often faced with sudden acceleration of the succession process, due to external circumstances, crisis or other disruption, which makes this continuous phase even more important.

 

2. Begin the process three years prior to succession
Two or preferably even three years prior to the planned succession date, the formal succession process should starts. This begins with future-basing the CEO profile. It is not a copy of the current CEO that you want – times and challenges will have changed rapidly since their appointment. It is crucial that the Non-Executive Board really makes a thorough analysis of the skills, knowledge and capabilities that are needed in the near future and base the CEO profile on this analysis. This is crucial for external selections, but equally important for internal selection (allowing you to objectively identify the right internal, potential successors). The next step in this phase is creating the actual succession plan and appointing the committee.

While the entire Non-Executive Board has a role in the selection of the CEO successor, many Boards name or even create a committee to take the lead. This committee, which is typically led by the Chairman, is responsible for developing and executing the succession process. Obviously, whilst not formal members of the Committee the current CEO and CHRO also have an important role to play in the succession process – especially since the CHRO role is now developing into a more strategic role and they are now almost always a member of the Executive Board. When this is all set up, you’re ready to identify potential, internal successors and assess them. The assessment will be much more valuable if a thorough future CEO profile has been created. This means potential candidates can be assessed against that profile. Often the committee in charge of the succession process is surprised by the outcome – since it is the future CEO profile internal candidates are assessed against, not their current performance. In this phase, development will be formally connected to the succession process. In parallel, the external benchmark will take place.

 

3. Actual succession
After the selection is completed and the new CEO is appointed, the actual transition process starts. This will take one or two years. So, in a way, the appointment is the beginning of the process rather than the end! My experience is that the value of a solid transition tends to be underestimated, yet is crucial to mitigate risks and avoid disruptions. This not only applies to the appointed CEO, but also to the internal successors that in the end do not get the CEO position. The risk of them ‘jumping ship’ is significant, which is in most cases not in their best interest, nor the company’s.

 

Development is key
So how can you develop senior executives to become future CEOs? Personally, I believe external, independent mentoring is the best way of developing potential CEOs. The only way to teach senior executives things they haven’t learned before, is by sharing experience that they do not have yet – CEO and board experience. Mentoring from external CEOs and board members can unlock their potential. Achieving successful internal CEO appointments is hard work but few things have a higher return on investment.

 

Marga Hoek is an international Board Member and Chairman, specialising in Renumeration, Nomination and Sustainability Committees. She is a global thought-leader on sustainable business, international speaker and the author of The Trillion Dollar Shift. For more information go to www.margahoek.com