FSB

AWARD-WINNING SPEAKER

Nigel Risner is a motivational speaker and consultant known for inspiring and empowering both big corporate CEO’s and small business owners alike. On April 7, FSB Cornwall is delighted to be hosting Nigel for a UK-wide webinar that will change the way you think about your business and your life.

Having appeared on prime-time chat shows, such as Richard & Judy, Nigel is an awardwinning speaker who is known around the world as a respected author and television presenter in his own right. He speaks with authority and experience about how to overcome the unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Which is where many of us will be right now.

Nigel conducts more than 150 motivational seminars and corporate speaking engagements a year for an enormous variety of companies and organisations in Britain and overseas. His books ‘You had me at Hello’ – the new rules for better networking – and ‘It’s a zoo around here’ – the new rules for better communication and The IMPACT Code have sold in their thousands and are literally transforming lives all around the world.

As one of the youngest CEOs of a financial services company in the City of London, Nigel knows business but unlike others, he has the ability to translate complex philosophes into entertaining, understandable and actionable concepts that FSB are delighted to share with business owners attending their free motivational online event. Book your free place at www.fsb.org.uk/event-calendar The FSB has responded to the launch of the British Business Bank (BBB)’s latest Small Business Finance Markets report, which shows gross bank lending (excluding overdrafts) to smaller businesses rose to £104 billion in 2020.

National chairman, Mike Cherry, said: “The BBB has been a critical component of the business support landscape over the past year, helping more than a million small firms to access the emergency finance they’ve needed to stay afloat. The BBB’s role will no doubt become even more fundamental as we withdraw from EU funding streams. “Of the small firms that have recently accessed finance, four in ten now describe their debt as ‘unmanageable’. A lot of them do not fit the narrow definitions of frontline retail, leisure and hospitality so have received little by way of direct Government support. “Three quarters of small firms are accessing finance to help manage cashflow which underscores how Covidlinked disruption is exacerbating our late payment crisis, a crisis which destroys 50,000 firms a year at a cost of at least £2.5 billion to the economy. “The question now is, what steps should policymakers and banks take to ensure emergency debt delivers value to the economy? More than half of those with facilities say a student loan approach – whereby repayments are only made once a firm is profitable again – would mark a helpful way forward. Greater incentives to adopt an Employee Ownership Trust model could also help many in this area. As repayments start to fall due in the coming months, lenders should remember that these loans were only made possible by the Government in order to help firms in need and treat borrowers accordingly.”

GOOD BUSINESS CHARTER

Small businesses are being offered a new way to have their employee wellbeing, sustainability and diversity credentials acknowledged thanks to a fresh collaboration between FSB and the Good Business Charter (GBC). Firms with up to 50 employees can apply for GBC accreditation through a streamlined application process.

The new assessment has been designed in recognition of the time and financial pressures faced by small business owners, especially against a backdrop of trading restrictions and the end of the transition period.

The Good Business Charter – brainchild of Richer Sounds MD Julian Richer, who handed control of the firm to his employees in the summer of 2019, enables businesses to have their commitment to ethical practice recognised by clients, employees and the wider community alike.

Richer said: “We welcome this opportunity to work closely with FSB and take an important step forward to ensure the accreditation works for small businesses. Richer Sounds started as a small business and as it grew, responsible business practices have always been at the heart of our approach to all stakeholders. We want the GBC to work equally well for small businesses as for the largest UK companies and are excited about the potential small businesses now have to lead the way in being recognised for their ethical practices.”

FSB Offer for Business Cornwall Magazine Readers at www.fsb.org.uk/join

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