North West business briefs: Globus Group; Symatrix; FreelanceHER 100; Sales Geek; GSG Hospitality; Co-operatives UK
Trafford Park-based Globus Group, maker of PPE (personal protective equipment), has launched a recycling venture with a university to cut the amount of waste from items such as face masks and respirators.
Since the start of the pandemic, an estimated 8.4m tonnes of plastic waste has been generated from 193 countries, the majority of which ends up in landfill or, in some areas, the ocean.
A new Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project is set to revolutionise how used plastic PPE is treated to turn the waste into a secondary raw material called pyrolysis oil, which can then be refined into new commercial products like new PPE products or fuels. The project, which aims to create a robust circular economy approach for plastics, will run for two years.
Dr Aimaro Sanna, an assistant professor in chemical and process engineering at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University is an expert in thermochemical conversion of biomass and waste material. He said: “We will be working closely with our commercial partner, Globus Group, to develop a bespoke process that will be applied to PPE plastic waste that cannot currently be recycled mechanically due to various technological, economic or ecological reasons. As the world strives to reduce its landfill, ocean impact and carbon emissions, this project is a significant step towards addressing the increased waste generated during the global pandemic.
“Initially the research will help to recycle over 100 tonnes of product generated by the manufacturing process every year – the equivalent to 10kg of waste every hour. However, our hope is that this new process will be adopted more widely. Many countries have been unable to process their plastic waste PPE properly. Our ground-breaking research aims to address these challenges providing an exemplar technique for application globally.”
As part of the initiative, Globus Group has implemented innovative sustainable thermal heating technology at its Alpha Solway factory in Golborne. Developed by Thermal Compaction Group, the machine has been designed to heat and compact the plastic polypropylene into large, reusable blocks. These are then collected and processed, providing raw materials which Globus Group can use to make new PPE products – reducing the company’s PPE waste by an estimated 85%. Globus Group CEO, Haraldur Agustsson, said: “Placing environmentally green materials, technology, sustainability and recycling projects at the heart of our future strategy and investment is now key to our goals moving forward.”
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Chris Brooks
Symatrix, a Manchester-based Oracle HCM and ERP partner, is expanding its headcount by 20 staff, a 27% increase, following a rise in demand for the company’s services amid a series of new client wins. In the first half of the fiscal year, Symatrix reported growth of 22% on top of strong growth already achieved in 2020.
Buoyed by the success of its aggressive growth strategy, the company has opened a new division, Symatrix Global IT Services, supported by an office in Delhi, India. The new office is be headed up by Alok Darshan, who has more than 20 years’ experience of Oracle HCM and ERP consulting and will be focused on delivery support and testing functions.
Symatrix managing director, Chris Brooks, said: “Over the past 18 months, we have successfully delivered numerous projects, 100% remotely, often working with people from across the globe. Expanding our footprint still further and opening our new Indian operation is a natural evolution of this process and gives us the opportunity to augment the UK team with experienced Indian consultants with high levels of Oracle skills.”
The expansion into India comes on the back of ongoing success in Symatrix’s home market of the UK. The company, which works with a number of brands, such as The Co-op Group, Marriott Hotels and Durham University, has recently secured a series of new customer contracts across retail, higher education, and the public sector.
The organisation has also successfully launched a graduate programme, with three appointments to the scheme. The structured training programme, which lasts up to a year, covers several specialisms including the technical and functional aspects of Oracle applications.
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Participants in FreelanceHER100
An accelerator dedicated to supporting the entrepreneurial ambitions of 100 women freelancers from the North West looking to launch and grow businesses in the digital, creative, media and technology sectors, is set to return in 2022.
FreelanceHER 100, developed by IN4 Group, is a fully funded 12-week business accelerator that empowers female freelancers to be strong leaders, create powerful enterprises, and influence and shape the world through their companies. Due to increased demand and to make it as accessible as possible, FreelanceHER 100 is not only open to women from Greater Manchester, but fully-funded places are also available to female founders from across the North West.
With only 19% of women working in the UK tech sector and five per cent of leadership positions in the industry held by women, there is a particular focus to support those who work with digital and technology products, services and ideas, as well as women from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Based at HOST, the Home of Skills & Technology in MediaCity, FreelanceHER 100 offers a bespoke support programme of weekly workshops and peer group mentoring from female entrepreneurs, ‘brunch and learn’ sessions and talks from inspirational speakers.
Launched in November 2020, FreelanceHER 100 was aimed at supporting women who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic and to help them succeed during challenging times – providing them with the skills, confidence and self-belief to pursue their ambitions as a freelancer or start-up business. The programme was hugely successful in supporting 104 women with starting and growing their businesses, and it has also won the Women in Tech Excellence Award for diversity and inclusion initiative of the year.
Bella Copland, programme director of FreelanceHER 100, said: “Our mission is to continue building and supporting our diverse community of female founders with the skills to launch, innovate and grow their businesses. We have seen a clear demand from women to have access to a programme that goes beyond the practicalities of being a freelancer, giving them a safe space, flexibility and a community to benefit and innovate from.”
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Sales Geek team
Sales Geek has announced plans for expansion into the USA and Australia after celebrating doubling year-on-year turnover for the fifth year in a row.
Growth in 2021 came from the launch of 13 new franchises in the UK alongside individual franchise growth and a series of major client wins for the multi-award-winning sales training company. Downloads of the Sales Geek Hub app have also increased by more than 300% in the past year with users coming from across the globe.
While continuing to grow its franchise offer in the UK, the Blackburn-based company is now set to open its first operations in the USA and Australia in the first half of this year.
Sales Geek founder and CEO, Richard Few, said: “We are incredibly proud of our entire team for achieving such exceptional growth once again. This time last year we were forecasting 80% growth, but in the final figures we had, in fact, doubled. With confirmed contracts, we’re set to achieve the same this year, which will be the fifth year in a row we have doubled our turnover since launch.
“The new operations in the USA and Australia will provide opportunity to increase our growth even further even quicker. With a common language, you can imagine Sales Geek’s services translate very well into these markets – but there’s also an appreciation of our no-nonsense, straight talking approach in both these territories.”
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Liverpool-based GSG Hospitality is opening its second Bold Street Coffee site in the city in early February.
As part of a wider reimagining of The Plaza, within the central business district on Old Hall Street, the hospitality group will open its first concept in the building with a full restaurant and bar to follow in spring 2022. Bold Street Coffee will form part of an arrival experience at The Plaza, which is undergoing a £3m transformation by Bruntwood Works as it creates igts first ‘Pioneer’ building in Liverpool, putting lifestyle and wellbeing firmly at the centre of the working day.
Bold Street Coffee opened in 2010 and has become an institution in Liverpool. Parent group, GSG Hospitality, is also behind Duke Street Food and Drink Market, 81 Ltd, Salt Dog Slims and Slim’s on Bold Street.
Matt Farrell, director of Bold Street Coffee, said: “Bold Street Coffee is a much-loved venue with a strong community focus and we can’t wait to welcome regulars and new guests to our second site in the city centre. Opening in the business district is really exciting for us. Our focus is on the quality of house coffee and produce for our breakfast and brunch dishes.”
Colin Forshaw, regional director of Bruntwood Works in Liverpool, said: “Our Pioneer buildings are all about creating forward thinking workspaces that bring together work and lifestyle, and the transformation of the ground floor on this building really embodies that. It’s easily the biggest hospitality offering we’ve ever created within a workspace environment creating an arrival experience like no other.”
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Holyoake House
Trade body Co-operatives UK has commissioned a consultation on the future of Holyoake House and has selected Manchester-based URBED to lead the work. URBED (Urbanism, Environment and Design) is a multi-disciplinary consultancy with many years of experience working for public, private and community sector clients, and focuses on achieving environmental and social sustainability in urban areas.
The Holyoake House consultation will seek the views of the building’s tenants and wider Co-operatives UK members to understand what they’d like from Holyoake House and how it could be used to best serve the movement going forward. The results will then be considered, with a view to creating a viable future vision for the building.
Rose Marley, Co‑operatives UK CEO, said: “Holyoake House is an important, historic building that’s been a home for co‑operation for more than a century. We’re pleased to be working with URBED, our members and tenants to shape its future so that it can continue to serve the co‑op movement and proudly remain at the heart of our heritage.”
Helen Grimshaw, from URBED, said: “We’re looking forward to working with Co‑operatives UK on this consultation. As a co‑op, we feel privileged to work on such an important project for the co‑operative movement. We can’t wait to get started and to discover the potential to combine heritage and sustainability for the future of Holyoake House.”
The historic Manchester location, built in 1911, is home to numerous co‑operatives and social enterprises. These include the Co-operative College, the Association of British Credit Unions (ABCUL), Co-operative News and the Manchester office of Your Co-op Business Solutions. In early 2021, a community of social entrepreneur start‑ups, known as the Federation community, moved into the building from the nearby Federation building.
