Last autumn, Thrings worked with Insider magazine and fellow campaign partners to identify the most exciting businesses in the South West.
The group looked at tech start-ups, cutting edge engineering firms, food and drink manufacturers and even equipment manufacturers for the space industry – all of which have been challenging the status quo and putting the region on the map.
Since then, members of our Corporate and Commercial teams have been joining these businesses to discuss the hows and whys of their successes, and aspirations for the future.
Meeting representatives from eight exciting companies at the magazine’s first roundtable of the series in November last year were John Davies, partner and head of Corporate at Thrings, David Clensy, editor of Insider South West, and representatives from the campaign’s fellow supporters: Interaction, Smith & Williamson, Weston College and UWE Bristol.
Among those attending were Appsbroker, a major Google partner in the UK, Cardstream which is revolutionising the alternative payments space from its Taunton base, and Cubex, one of Bristol’s most active developers, well known for its ongoing Finzels Reach project.
Pennet group International, which develops training equipment for aircraft engineers and Sparkol, producers of video-creation tools, also took part in the discussion alongside TasteTech, Ovo Energy and Viper Innovations.
Scaling-up, making the right decisions when it comes to location and property, the introduction of flexible working practices, and accessing the right talent, all surfaced as common themes (see the January edition of Insider South West for more).
Sharing his insight as a long-time corporate lawyer and prominent business figure in Swindon and Wiltshire through the Switch on to Swindon initiative, John Davies, said:
“I spend most of my time buying and selling companies – mostly mid-market companies. One consistent theme among the clients I’m working with is the difficulty in finding the right people, especially with tech skillsets. There is a generational issue for some businesses. The demographics of the people you’re looking for might impact where they want to work.”
Taking place on 21 January 2020, the second roundtable was hosted by Weston College. Head of Employment and Immigration at Thrings, Kerrie Hunt, talked scaling-up, innovation and more with individuals from Blu Wireless, Brightpearl, iCOMAT, LettUs, Optimum SME Finance, Rockit and Zentraxa.
The event is featured in the February 2020 edition of the magazine. Quoting Kerrie, Insider writes: “The legal advice that businesses need at each stage of their scale-up journey is very different. When you’ve got entrepreneurial growth businesses, you want to be able to give the right kind of advice at the early stages, but you also… need to be thinking ahead to the next stage of growth for the client.”
Thrings will be hosting the next roundtable of the series in March 2020.
To discuss your business-related matters with a legal expert, please get in touch with a member of the Corporate, Commercial, Employment, or other specialist team, at Thrings.
