Summer has arrived and the weather appears to be as changeable as the economic forecasts at the moment. So with change on our minds in this issue we bring you an interesting selection of articles that outline the ups and downs alongside the immense opportunities within our sector.
We spoke to Christiana Stewart Lockhart the new Director General at EISA to explore what priorities she has uppermost in her mind for her tenure and as you will read, education is key to her agenda. Nick Sharp of Hambro Perks sat down with us to talk about the importance of their mission and ethos and what he sees as essential to continued success. In a similar theme we were in conversation with Ben Davies of Praetura about their values and why they are leading the charge in developing joined-up thinking for investment funds and companies based in the north of England. The north is also central to our article from Andrew Noble of Par Equity in which he outlines exactly why ‘finding true north’ is essential within the government’s recently published Levelling Up White Paper. He discusses research Par Equity undertook with PWC in 2021 that showed the immense disparity between VC funds invested in the north and those invested in London.
Oxford Capital offers an interesting and topical take on tackling inflation issues which are of course on everyone’s mind at the moment and Octopus offers a detailed insight into the families being affected by Inheritance Tax. We also took the opportunity to republish a very thought provoking and honest article written for us by Ricky Margolis of Arie Capital for our mental health awareness week in which he discusses the loneliness of the modern day founder.
Our friends and colleagues at GrowthInvest were recently in the news given their successful takeover of the Kuber platform and we bring you an exclusive interview with Dan Rodwell who explains the background to this and why it will help the sector as a whole. Jenson Funding have kindly provided some useful details of their SEIS and EIS portfolio highlights. Following his recent OBE for services to Technology and Retail E-commerce Entrepreneurship we were delighted to take the time to congratulate and chat to Scott Weavers-Wright, Co-Founder and Partner at Haatch Ventures about his incredible investment journey, so far.
A bumper packed issue and as ever we are grateful to all of our contributors and editorial team.
All the very best
Alex Sullivan
Publishing Director
