How to make an award-winning business
Class People has just been nominated for another award. It all looks like plain sailing for Naomi Howells, the second generation leading the successful family firm. If only you knew the whole story!
Dear readers,
We hope you had a great week.
We spent yesterday (Thursday 10 October) at a Cheltenham Literature Festival event with a difference. This was the town’s influential cyber group, CyNam, staging an afternoon of panel debates, talks and networking.
For those who don’t know, CyNam can now boast more than 5,000 members from some of the most influential and exciting digital businesses in the country, but this was a sector that is so often shrouded in mystery opening its doors to all.
And although it was not its first event at the building that is the new unofficial headquarters of cyber in Gloucestershire, the Hub8 MX (Minster Exchange) centre beside Cheltenham Minster, it was perhaps the biggest and best attended yet.
We’ll be running a full report on that gathering Monday - somehow trying to fit in the many messages that came out of an afternoon full of stories and positive vibes (anyway, that explains an absence of an edition of Raikes yesterday!).
In the meantime, we have one of our profile pieces below. We had the pleasure of a sitdown interview with Naomi Howells, the second generation owner of an award-winning Gloucestershire business that was started by her mother.
We thank her for her openness as she chatted about how shortly after taking over as MD the business was hit by a bombshell that changed everything, the challenges that followed, and how she sought to manage that, emerge triumphant and develop herself too - alongside moving house and becoming a mum!
And there’s a few briefing notes for you too.
We very often paywall our Thursday and Friday editions, to give some value to those who support us as members. If you join them you’ll be helping us this community interest company’s mission possible - delivering something we and others think is lacking in Gloucestershire - a click-bait free, editorially and journalistically-led digital magazine for Gloucestershire.
Have a great weekend.
Please do send us your stories/ideas about companies/people/issues you think we should write about. Contact andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk or telephone 07956 926061.
Your briefing notes
🚗 Well-known Gloucestershire family car dealership, Completely Motoring Ltd, part of a group employing 165 staff and including John Wilkins (Motor Engineers) Ltd, and Thunder Road Motorcycles Ltd, has gone into administration. The business, which has a base in Staverton and Gloucester, was founded in 2009 by Rob Ayland, formerly of Colt Cars Mid West, and went on to employ two of his sons, George and James. Its last set of accounts for the period ending March 2023, showed a turnover of £78 million, up from £50 million the previous year, with a gross profit of £7.7 million. Jonathan Amor of Azets, the joint administrator, said the group “encountered financial difficulties after poor summer sales... we are exploring sale options with interested parties”.
💪 After starting the year stating it did not expect its three years of growth at 55 per cent to continue, newly AIM-listed Cotswold construction business Hercules has revealed quite opposite. At the start of the year it was predicting a ‘robust’ set of results for 2024 but little more, but come March its interim statement upgraded that somewhat. And now, in a statement ahead of its final results, it has gone one better and predicted a record year with revenues smashing the £100 million barrier. Another story from our perpetual Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series, sponsored by Randall & Payne. Read more in our Reports & Deals channel here.
💷 A family firm from Gloucestershire has been awarded a £15,000 start-up Loan from SWIG Finance to invest in a new workshop and equipment. Carbon Magics uses technology research and product development to help firms with everything from their accounts to product development. It offers advanced engineering, design, project management and consulting services for a variety of sectors as well as helping businesses become fully compliant with their HMRC and Companies House regulations. The Wotton-under-Edge-based business already employs four members of staff, including a contracted engineer. Owner Priya Vijayakumar said the loan was “crucial” to it securing a new premises for drone training, soldering activities, 3D printing machines and “machinery related activities”.
⚖️The latest updates in law and case law impacting businesses have been summarised neatly for you in the latest edition of Employment Law Dispatches, put together by legal experts Willans LLP, also one of the main supporters of The Raikes Journal. Topics in its latest edition include a new duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of employees, fire and rehire, an employee facing criminal prosecution unfairly dismissed, disability discrimination, unfair dismissal, and rescinding a job offer over social media views. If any of the top lines pique your interest or you want to hear the predictions for what the new Government has in store for UK employment legislation Willans is planning a free webinar due from 10am to 11.30am on Tuesday 15 October in which you can learn more. You can register for that here.
* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
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How to make an award-winning business
Class People has just been nominated for another award. It all looks like plain sailing for Naomi Howells, the second generation leading the successful family firm. If only you knew the whole story!
By Andrew Merrell
It can all look so rosy from the outside for that next generation lucky enough to take over the fully formed and successful family business. But imagine if shortly after becoming the new boss, with all eyes on you, your first job is to rescue that business and rebuild it all over again.
Naomi Howells had just that challenge – and more.
Her mother, Lynis Bassett, had founded and spent the best part of 20 years growing Class People into an award-winning teacher recruitment specialist, with Howells working alongside her for much of that time.
The intention had never actually been to build ‘a family business’, but at the end of 2023 it was revealed the Cheltenham-headquartered firm had been subject to a management buyout and she was the new owner.
Neither was it Howell’s intention to ever buy out her mother, but suddenly it felt right. She had worked her way up through the ranks, first joining the firm in 2011 as a recruitment consultant and later establishing its first regional branch in Bristol before going on to become managing director in 2019.
While her decision to take over the business may have surprised her, her ambition to succeed has always been there. From when she left Pate’s Grammar School she had wanted to work and loved to rise to a challenge.
“Both me and my brother have been brought up with a very strong work ethic. I think I was honest about where I wanted to be,” she said.
All plain sailing so far then. It certainly started well.
“Leading up to March 2020 we had one of our best performing years we have ever had. It was going really well.
“I recall that March we had a couple of schools calling to say they would take all the staff we had. It was fantastic,” said Howells, who exudes energy, focus and organisation.
But then came the bombshell that changed everything.
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