Business model
The specific ways business leaders are tackling Brexit issues
The outcome of the Brexit vote hailed a seismic change for how businesses on both sides of the UK/EU border would be able to operate.
The possibility of stringent checks, additional paperwork and higher costs were coupled with uncertainty surrounding cross-country staffing, changes in tax regulations and the ease of trade.
Following the decision to leave the EU, businesses across the UK were faced with numerous difficult choices. Some larger businesses chose to make the EU a permanent home, but smaller firms had to adapt to a changing landscape in different ways.
We’ve been catching up with business leaders who found themselves making some big decisions surrounding Brexit. From ensuring the continuation of a supply chain, to creating a subsidiary business and heavily investing to maintain stock levels, each of these leaders took on the Brexit challenge in different ways. Click through to hear, in much more detail, each leader’s particular approach to reducing Brexit disruption.
Setting up a subsidiary in the EU
For Alina Cincan, managing director of translation service Inbox Translation, setting up a subsidiary branch of her business in her home country of Romania meant that she could continue operating across the EU and in the UK with little to no friction.
Creating a Brexit risk register
The team at Playdale Playgrounds are used to the logistics of exporting, having traded with 51 countries for a number of years.
Fully aware of the complexities surrounding exportation, soon after the Brexit vote MD Barry Leahey decided that the company would develop a Brexit risk register which would help the firm plan for the coming changes.
Introducing a full-time Brexit co-ordinator
Manchester-based company HMG Paints always had close links with the EU, exporting orders and purchasing raw materials regularly.
Keen to continue operating as normally as possible for the benefit of customers, the firm hired a full-time employee to oversee all the research, processes, logistics and paperwork associated with Brexit.
Innovating through asset financing
Susan Fiander-Woodhouse, co-owner and managing director of Blaenafon of Cheddar, knew that the demand for British cheese would increase following Brexit.
Determined to make the most of the opportunity, she invested in an innovative new product via an asset financing facility, which led to increased production and a deal with a national supermarket.
Shortening your supply chain
Savage Wines founder Kyle Paskett has worked hard to stay close to family wine makers which supply the goods for his business. Working to remove importers, wholesalers and others found in traditional supply chains has allowed him to maintain better control of the flow of the products he needs and keep costs down which are then passed on to customers.
He’s used his background as a chartered accountant to stay on top of cash flow, key when buying direct from a product source, and engaged in currency hedging to protect his positions.