Sir Peter Rigby to speak at CMI’s 21st Annual Crystal Lecture, ‘Creating a World Class Business from Scratch’, at Wolverhampton on 23rd October 2014

The CMI say, “We would be delighted if you (and any guest you may wish to invite) could join us at the Crystal Lecture entitled “Creating a World Class Business from Scratch”, to hear the presentation and participate in a discussion on: The importance of a clear vision in building a substantial business, how real Entrepreneurial skills provide competitive advantage, highlighting secrets of success and how to re-set perceptions on Entrepreneurship and its contribution to British economic growth.

Speaker - Sir Peter Rigby

Sir Peter is the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Rigby Group, which he founded in 1975 with £2,000 savings, the parent company for a portfolio of privately owned and highly successful businesses operating across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Diversifying from its origins as a principally technology-led business, Rigby Group has evolved - through smart, strategic acquisitions - into a £1.8 billion portfolio business. With two generations of the Rigby family at the helm, Rigby Group has built a distinguished reputation as both an investor and business operator; renowned for its independent thinking, seamless execution and a peerless approach to acquiring and nurturing businesses to unleash their potential.

Date: 23 October 2014

Start Time: 6:00 PM

End Time: 8:30 PM

Capacity: 300

Venue: Millennium City Building, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton

Questions about this event should be addressed to Events Administration at event.adminstration@managers.org.uk or by telephone on 01536 207461.

Mary Portas announced as the key note speaker at the Finance Director’s Forum on board the Aurora from 8th to 11th October

Opening Address 2014 - The future of customer needs, behaviour & community values by Mary Portas

Mary Portas, Chief Creative Officer at Portas, retail consultant, television personality and government adviser on the future of the high street in Britain will headline this year’s Finance Directors’ Forum. A huge variety of influences have impressed upon Mary the importance of responsible corporate behaviour and a very deep respect for the drivers of all of our economic engines – the people who pay for them.

Tasked with finding solutions to the long term decline of Britain’s shrinking high streets in 2011, she offered the government 28 separate recommendations, many of which are already bearing fruit. From leading efforts to re-create British clothing manufacturing to re-imagining charity shops as profitable community hubs, Mary Portas’s vision of how we will live and shop in the future is well placed to illuminate her topic: The future of customer needs, behaviour and community values.

Mary Portas is widely recognised as one of the UK’s foremost authorities on retail and brand communication, and has a multitude of expertise; business woman, advertising executive, retail expert, Government adviser, broadcaster and consumer champion. Beginning her retail career in John Lewis, Boots, Harrods and Topshop, she joined Harvey Nichols, progressing to the Board as Creative Director in 1989. She was credited with leading its transformation into a world renowned fashion store. In 1997 Mary left Harvey Nichols to launch an agency, Yellowdoor, which has made its mark in the creative advertising landscape and in January 2013 she re-launched her agency with a new name and brand: Portas.

Inspired by her weekly ‘Shop!’ column in the Telegraph Magazine, Mary began her television career in 2007 when her efforts to rescue failing independent boutiques were documented by the BBC2 series Mary Queen of Shops. Mary’s continued advocacy of our High Streets led to her receiving a commission from the British Government to lead an independent review. She delivered her report on the future of our High Streets to the Prime Minister, in December 2011, outlining 28 recommendations to rescue failing High Streets, and her work has been a catalyst for community regeneration, and the re-visioning of high streets across the country.

http://www.fdforum.com/

CIMA West Midlands announce Christmas Ball for Friday 28th November in Birmingham

MADE for Success – The Entrepreneur Festival at City Hall, Sheffield, on 24th & 25th September

Spectacular conference speaker programme announced.

MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival, the country’s biggest celebration of enterprise, has confirmed its conference programme for the 2014 headline event.  Topics include leadership and management, sales and marketing, growing a business, sourcing funding and finance, developing your brand, and finding new customers.

WEDNESDAY 24th SEPTEMBER

                                                                                 
5.00pm        Welcome & Opening

                   NIGEL RISNER

                   Leading motivational speaker

         

 5.15pm       Become a real entrepreneur

                   PAUL MCKENNA

                   International Best Selling Author
       
 7.00pm       DAY 1 CLOSE
          
THURSDAY 25th SEPTEMBER                                                                       
      
9.30am        Welcome address

                   NIGEL RISNER

                   Leading motivational speaker
          
9.45am        JAMAL EDWARDS
                   Sensational Young Entrepreneur and Founder of SB.TV
       
10.15am      FRASER DOHERTY MBE
                   CEO and founder of 'SuperJam'

10.45am      MICHELLE MONE OBE

                   CEO and founder of 'Ultimo'
         
11.15am      BREAK

11.45am      SHAA WASMUND

                   Digital entrepreneur, bestselling author, and founder of ‘SMARTA

12.15pm      NICK AND GILES ENGLISH

                   Founders of Bremont Watch Company
         
12.45pm      BREAK
         
1.45pm        LEVI ROOTS
                   Musician, Entrepreneur and TV Personality

 2.15pm       OMG Marketing - Observational Marketing Greats

                   GEOFF RAMM

                   Marketing specialist and inspirational speaker
        
2.45pm      Panel Discussion - What makes a great entrepreneur and how do we make more of them?
        
3.30pm        BREAK
     
4.00pm        The manager trumps the brand

                   JEFF TURNER

                   Head of Learning & Development, Facebook
           

4.30pm        DOUG RICHARD

                   Visionary entrepreneur and founder of School for Startups
   

5.15pm        CONFERENCE END

MADE for Success conference tickets are on sale now, priced at £48 (inc VAT) or £24 (inc VAT) for concessions. 

Visit the official website: www.madefestival.com 

CIMA NW Midlands joint event with ILM on ‘Professional Business Ethics’ at Penkridge, Stafford, on 16th September

What does business ethics mean for you? What exactly is professional ethics? This presentation will look at answering these questions around professional business ethics.

During the presentation we will explore: -

-      what business ethics is and how it relates to professional ethics

-      benefits of business ethics

-      frameworks for thinking about business ethics

-      pressures on companies to have high ethical standards

-      identifying and resolving ethical dilemmas

-      real life case studies.

Speaker Details: -

Daniel Johnson is a researcher at the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), where he researches and writes on a wide variety of business ethics topics including speaking up, fairness in the workplace, codes of ethics, and ethical indices. Dan joined the IBE in May 2013 off the back of an apprenticeship with a small ESG advisory firm. Prior to this, Dan completed a master’s degree in corporate social responsibility, after an undergraduate degree in finance, accountancy and management, both at the University of Nottingham.

Date/Time:  16 September 2014 - 6.30 for 7.00pm

Location: Mercure Hatherton House Hotel, Penkridge, Nr. Stafford ST19 5QP   

Price: Free of Charge – Buffet served on arrival

Booking: To confirm your free place, please email Julie Wiits, CIMA Area 4 Co-ordinator, at Julie.witts@cimaglobal.com

“TRUST Mills to do things differently!...” reports the MTD CNC website

Mills’ new Employee TRUST initiative will reward loyalty and incentivise staff – and help secure the long-term future of the company.

Mills CNC, the exclusive distributor of Doosan machine tools in the UK and Ireland, is a progressive company that has a reputation for challenging the conventional, raising the bar and doing things differently.

On the back of a highly-successful MACH show in April and major investments made to developing its campus facility in Leamington, and with 2014 half-year results expected to be the best in the company’s 42 year history, one might be forgiven for thinking that Mills, which has just successfully completed a management buy-out and the appointment of a new Operational Board of Directors, might take its foot off the pedal.

Not so.

Because, rather than rest on its laurels and potentially leave its continued growth and sustainability to chance, the company has recently implemented an innovative employee TRUST scheme designed to reward staff for their continued service...and in doing so help secure the long-term future of the company.

The Trust, created by the gift of a substantial share-holding by Nick Frampton and Andrew Jack means that Mills has the widest employee participation of any company in the UK machine tool sector.

Says Paul Hooper-Keeley:

'Independent research reveals that employee-owned companies consistently perform better and deliver improved customer service.

'Because, we are a privately-owned company with total autonomy and flexibility over the running of our business and, because we are dedicated to improving our performance and customer service by investing in our people, the creation of an employee TRUST was a natural and obvious choice.'

The TRUST gives all Mills employees a vested interest in the future growth and profitability of the company.

It helps address issues facing all UK manufacturing companies – namely attracting and retaining skilled and experienced staff, and will, according to Paul Hooper-Keeley, 'not only make existing staff feel even more valued and integral to the future growth and success of the company, but also attract new talent to Mills who are looking to join and contribute to one of the UK’s fastest-growing and most innovative machine tool companies.'

“Mills CNC has a new Managing Director reports machinery.co.uk

Mills CNC has announced that Paul Hooper-Keeley has taken over the management and running of the company.

Nick Frampton (previous managing director) and Andrew Jack (previous technical director) will both retain a shareholding in the company and remain as consultants to ensure continuity of service and support to customers and partners during the transition.

Nick Frampton explains the reason for the change: "With 2014 half-year sales turnover figures expected to exceed £ 35 million for the first time in the company's history (some 25% up on the same period last year), and through a range of recent customer focused investments made over the last 12 months at our Campus facility in Leamington, Mills CNC, widely-recognised as one of the most progressive in the machine tool sector is in a strong position, primed and ready for the next phase in its illustrious 42-year history."

Mills CNC will also now have an operational board of directors comprising existing directors and senior managers already at the firm.

The new managing director, Paul Hooper-Keeley (previously finance director), is joined by senior managers Nick White, Kevin Gilbert and Tony Dale, who have been appointed sales director, operations director and technical director, respectively.

Adam Attwood will continue as chairman and non-executive director, a role he has occupied at Mills for the last six years.

Managing director, Paul Hooper-Keeley says: "These are exciting times for Mills' employees and our customers.

"The impressive growth we have experienced over recent years, and the ambitious plans we have for the future, have necessitated a strategic change in the way we organise ourselves and run the business.

"The composition of the new operational board of director does this, and more accurately reflects the importance and inter-relationship between machine tool sales, customer service and technical support.

"The key message to customers is that we at Mills are passionate about customer service and are dedicated to delivering first-class machine tools and manufacturing solutions, and providing world-class support.

"Our principles, values and business approach, based on integrity, respect and commitment to meeting and exceeding our customers' requirements, remain as strong in the new structure as they ever were in the past...and that's why I am confident about the future."