All Things Business - The Podcast

Further education: The unsung hero? | Ep 69

Today’s guests on All Things Business – The Podcast are Sally Alexander, Chief Executive at Milton Keynes College, and Nick Mann, Chair of Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership. Nick is also an organiser of the Milton Keynes Business Achievement Awards. They are both here to discuss the links between business and education.
One of Ben’s oft-repeated mantras is ‘business needs education, education needs business’. These two guests are emblematic of this.

Employment Rights Bill: “HR should be proactive!" | Ep 68

Ben is back, this time with a panel of HR and employment law experts to discuss the Government’s new Employment Rights Bill, a new package of laws that grant new rights to employees and new obligations for employers. As owner of an SME, Ben has plenty of questions about this new bill. With 26 employees, that’s a lot of new rights to manage, so he’s assembled this amazing team to explain the key factors.
Ben is joined by Naomi Butters, Chief Executive of Icena, an empowerment and social change training and consultancy business; Priya Magar, a Partner specialising in employment law at EMW Law; and Claire Butcher, Director at CE People, a HR consultancy.

Alex Goldsmith and James Syrotiuk: The challenges of navigating growth | Ep 67

This special episode of the podcast focusses on the challenges of mergers and acquisitions, using occupational health business Medigold Health as a case study. Ben interviews Alex Goldsmith, Medigold’s CEO and James Syrotiuk, their CFO.
Medigold Health is a leader in the occupational health sector and recently acquired a competitor business, Health Management Limited, in early 2023.
The move saw them double in size, becoming the largest occupational health business by head count in the UK, with over 1100 employees including 600 clinicians. Alex describes the acquisition as important to the business’s survival long term, with demand rising and resources becoming scarcer over the coming decade.

Lorraine Lewis and Barry Tong: Taking the Lewis Foundation to the next level | Ep 66

Ben is joined by Lorraine Lewis of the Lewis Foundation and Barry Tong of Sol Retail. The Lewis Foundation works to provide comfort and support to those going through cancer treatment by proving them with packs of supplies during their hospital stays. This includes support packs of toiletries and underwear, gifts such as books, and simply spending time with those going through an incredibly difficult period in their lives.

David Thomson: How to create top salespeople | Ep 65

Dave Thompson is a serial entrepreneur and sales guru. He and Ben met over twenty years ago, both growing up in Wellingborough and have recently reconnected.

Barry Gough: Mechanic to 100 million | Ep 64

In this episode of All Things Business The Podcast, Ben travels to Memento Exclusives to talk to Barry Gough.

Nadim Akhtar & Fabian Forde: Meet the owners of Kettering Town FC | Ep 63

Ben is joined by the new owner of Kettering Town FC, Nadim Akhtar & Sporting Director Fabian Forde for the latest episode of All Things Business The Podcast.

Joe Gilbert & Kacie Foskett: 4 Day Work Week is the Future | Ep 62

Kacie Foskett and Joe Gilbert from Red Giraffe, a digital marketing agency based in Milton Keynes, join Ben for this discussion on one of the frontiers of flexible working: the four-day work week.
Joe started Red Giraffe a decade ago and, in his role as Managing Director, has always been an advocate of practices that promote a healthier work-life balance. His thoughts around the four-day week began at home. His wife was struggling with her workload as a primary school teacher. After seeing how overwork affected her mental health, and how it improved dramatically after she reduced her hours and went part time, Joe began to see the value of personal time differently.

James Geary & Hassan Shah: It Was A No Brainer | Ep 61

Ben is joined by James Geary and Hassan Shah, Managing Partner and Partner respectively at EMW Law. Hassan joined the firm as part of a merger, with his own firm SP Law becoming part of the EMW family.
This deal expanded the range of services available to clients of both firms. SP’s specialties lay more in private law practices such as employment and property law, while EMW’s services are more focussed on commercial law, such as mergers and acquisitions and other business-related services.