In previous years, regional judging sessions for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards, sponsored by Julius Baer, have all taken place over convivial lunches – and readers of my weekly Any Other Business column know how much I enjoy throwing in a restaurant tip as part of an economic parable. This year, however, that hasn’t been possible, for obvious reasons, so like millions of other daily meeting participants around the world we have resorted to Zoom (plus snacks) to enable working-from-home judges and finalists to encounter each other through the small screen.
Of course, just as our own processes have had to be changed because of the Covid pandemic, we are keen to learn what effect it has had on the extraordinary range of business that entered for this year’s Awards – a record total of almost 150, so far whittled down to 24 finalists in our four regions.
But would these online sessions be as good as what some of us still think of as the real thing? Gastronomically, clearly not. But if this first meeting with finalists from the Midlands and North East was anything to go by, the process of understanding the spirit and direction of an entrepreneurial business in the brief time available is actually enhanced by the focus of the Zoom format, without the distraction of rattling cutlery and interrupting waiters.
Our guest judges on this occasion were all veterans of these Awards. Representing the Midlands, Clive Bawden is COO of past regional winner Warwick Music and has a hand in a wide range of entrepreneurial and social projects. From Yorkshire, Gordon Black is the former chairman of his family’s manufacturing business, Peter Black, and an active venture capitalist. And from Newcastle, Caroline Theobald is chair of Northumbria University’s business school and founder of First Face to Face, which connects early-stage entrepreneurs to money and markets.
We heard first from Dr Paul Harrison of EthOss Regeneration, a West Yorkshire-based venture founded in 2013 which has perfected a revolutionary biomaterial for dental implants, already in use in 50 countries and currently seeking the major breakthrough of approval in the US. Whereas previous-generation implants were derived from animal bone tissue, EthOss’s product is wholly synthetic but changes into human bone within a few weeks; it’s also relatively easy for dentists to use, plus it also reduces pain for the patient. A classic example of patient commercialisation of laboratory science.
Next, from Newcastle, came GCSEPod, presented by co-founder Anthony Coxon. This business, conceived in 2006, was an early UK player in the ‘edutech’ field, providing digital learning materials for teachers and pupils through all forms of mobile devices — ‘like having a teacher in your pocket’. It is used in a third of all UK secondary schools and 40 countries worldwide, with an 85 per cent customer retention rate, and added a year’s worth of growth in four months when the coronavirus crisis forced schools to close.
Our third presenter was Iain Hulmes, chief executive of The Alternative Pallet Co from Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, a business completely transformed by the pandemic and a very uplifting story to hear. Having previously made pallets and warehouse products from sustainable honeycomb paper material, it has pivoted to making pop-up desks for working from home, screens for dividing workspaces, and a growing range of Paper Hive-branded ‘eco-furniture’. As orders have soared, even the Prime Minister’s office has ordered a desk!
Finally, we heard from Nicholas Beatty of Zenobe Energy, a London-based venture in battery storage and provision, particularly for electric-powered bus fleets, which has sites dotted around the country, including Leicestershire and West Yorkshire, hence its choice to enter for this region. A smart financial and software model, in the hugely important and high-growth electric vehicle sector.
Optimism, ingenuity, dedication to perfecting the product, and a willingness to look beyond the pandemic to a brighter future — these were characteristics of all four Midlands and North East finalists, and of course of many other entrants who unfortunately didn’t make the cut. We enjoyed learning about all of them – and, despite the lack of a good lunch, we’re very much looking forward to the rest of the regional judging sessions. Watch this space.
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