The ninth edition of Hiscox’s DNA of an entrepreneur report analysed the opinions of 4,000 owners and senior executives across France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, the US and the UK. What it found was encouraging “record numbers reporting growth.” Heritage Angel is one such company, appreciating many of the survey’s positive findings.
Some 71 per cent of companies are enjoyingA new-found optimism and an increase in customers, Hiscox explained. And oddly enough, in the case of Heritage Angel, Brexit plays a large role. Of course, founder?Carolyn Lloyd Brown is by no means a fan,?believing it?to be one of the worst events to happen in”her?lifetime, but admits itAffected her?thinking in terms of marketplace and growth areas.
While she trained as an?archaeologist, Brown wasn’t fond of “digging,” instead launching a company that would make the most of her want to share her love of learning and understanding with others.
Indeed, Heritage Angel creates, according to Brown, those memorable days out with family and friends?. She is in a ways a heritage consultant, working with clients to develop and invest in the likes of museums, exhibitions and tourism projects.
However, she exclusively told Real Business: “Cuts in public spending have led to a very stagnant market.” She added that Brexit?was A total disaster,” which led her to pursue collaboration with companies in China.
(1) What prompted you to become a serial entrepreneur”
Confidence and opportunity I guess. It wasn’t really a plan just having done it once and learned good business (and life) lessons, feeling confident enough to try again and also to embrace change within a business.
(2) What would you attribute as the factors leading to your second company’s success”
Self belief was an important factor in creating Heritage Angel, coupled with market knowledge, a sense of realism and good business (financial) sense so not drawing silly money out of the company for example.
(3) How have cuts in public spending impacted the market”
My experience is that the dramatically reduced government support of the heritage/culture sector has positively encouraged the sector to change the way it thinks and operates, becoming more entrepreneurial and business focused.
BUT it has also meant a loss of good and experienced people from key roles (in institutions and local authority commissioning positions, a heavy reliance on volunteers to staff services and the need to always bid for funding to deliver new exhibitions and initiatives).
Also, there has been a great rise in seeking private sector sponsorship which is a new challenge for many, and is harder for those outside London.
Read on to find out”how Heritage Angel found its way to China
(4) Similarly, how do you believe Brexit has impacted the overall business landscape
Where do I begin” I was firmly in the ‘remain’ camp and feel even more strongly since the referendum that we should endeavour to rapidly find a pragmatic, practical solution to the uncertainty that the vote has meant for all businesses.
The energy and huge resources that we are having to put into the Brexit negotiations could be far better spent on other much needed areas.
In my sector, there was a lot of European support and collaboration?” this hopefully won’t disappear but as a marketplace for projects, employment and funding, the lack of clarity is unhelpful and frankly worrying.
I genuinely believe it was one of the worst events ever to happen in my lifetime. My opinion is that the negative effects will be felt for many years to come, sadly. It has led to a seismic shift in my own thinking about the future.
(5) How has it affected your own company”
It has affected my thinking and forward planning in terms of marketplace and growth areas. Many colleagues had in the last few years spent a lot of time cultivating European contacts and clients, to their great benefit.
I was busy with UK-based work but as soon as the vote started to look uncertain and once the result was confirmed I made the decision and took active steps to pursue opportunities beyond Europe.
I sought collaboration with another UK-based company that was well established in China, working on a wide range of exciting cultural projects. I was fortunate to have this chance and, after working on several projects successfully in the last year, have decided to concentrate mainly on projects in China for the foreseeable future.
The work is fast-paced and challenging but also very interesting professionally in terms of working with Chinese colleagues and understanding a culturally different approach to design and content development for new museums.
The Chinese authorities recognise the high quality of UK design expertise and our creative approach to storytelling (they tend to take an academic and didactic approach to content, which is not especially family friendly?” and families are the big market for cultural destinations). It’s still early days but I enjoy the overseas travel and a different way of working.
(6)?What are the key things you’ve learned helping other companies”
Learning is a two-way process, it benefits both parties; there’s always something new to learn; enterprise can start, and be successful, at any age (it’s not just for under 25s). People really value shared insight and wisdom, including insight from the many mistakes and errors of judgement that” inevitably happen when building a business.
(7) Would you say business confidence is on the rise
I feel there is much uncertainty among colleagues and fellow businesses, but equally everyone I know manages to maintain a positive and upbeat attitude, and a determination to succeed. The community enterprise I’m involved in is?optimistic of its future success and that constructive attitude among a team always bodes well.
(8) With growth on the cards, what are your future ambitions for Heritage Angel”
Maintain and build collaborative business relationships and to seek lower volume, higher profitability project work, especially in China selecting the right projects to work on will be vital. To continue to champion UK expertise in my sector and have a business that I continue to enjoy well past any retirement age!
