Clearview National June 2016 - Issue 175 | Page 22

INDUSTRYNEWS

UNTAPPED POTENTIAL
»»A NEW REPORT FROM

OBITUARY

GORDON NELSON
»»THE BRITISH
Woodworking Federation
(BWF) is mourning another
serious loss to the joinery
industry this year, with the
death of its Senior Vice
President and Chairman for
Scotland, Gordon Nelson.
Gordon passed away at the end
of March, aged 74.
Gordon began his career in
the joinery industry almost 50
years ago as Northern Field Sales
Manager for Gliksten Doors,
selling flush doors and doorsets.
In 1974, Gordon took on the
position of Sales and Marketing
Director for Rothervale Joinery
in Sheffield. Gordon became
well known within the industry,
helping to grow the company’s
sales to eventually become one of
the largest in the industry.
In 1987 Gordon bravely
took the decision to invest in a
management buyout of Sarek
Joinery from its Swedish private
equity owner. He helped to grow
the business to a £30 million
organisation with operating
profits of £3 million. The success
of the business lead to interest
from Norcross plc. The business
was acquired by Norcross
plc at the end of 1988 and
subsequently the organisation

was merged with Crosby Doors
to form Crosby-Sarek. At the
time of the merger, annual sales
were in excess of £80 million.
Gordon remained in the
newly formed company for a
year before leaving to form his
own company, Eurojoinery.
Gordon also acted for a time
as the Sales Director for J B
Kind, a door distributor in the
Midlands.

‘immense industry
experience’
Iain McIlwee, Chief
Executive of the BWF, said,
“Gordon had been an active
and enthusiastic member of the
BWF for some years. Only last
year he was made the Chairman
of our newly formed Scottish
division and had already started
to develop some very good
contacts and new membership
for the BWF north of the
border. He was a passionate
Scotsman and a senior leader
in his Highland clan, Clan
Gunn. His immense industry
experience, sound strategic
thinking and sense of fun will
be greatly missed by all who
knew him.”

22 » JUN 2016 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

the Federation of Small Businesses
(FSB) ‘Women in Enterprise:The
Untapped Potential’, explores
the specific challenges faced
by women-led businesses and
makes recommendations for
improving support, developing
mentoring networks, and
increasing the diversity of business
ambassadors.

ACUTE ISSUES
While the report finds
women-led businesses face many
of the same challenges all small
firms encounter, including cash
flow issues (42%), and difficulty
accessing finance (25%), there
appear to be issues that were
more acute for women business
owners.
FSB spoke to over 1900 women
business owners in the UK. It
found key challenges included
balancing work and family life
(40%), achieving credibility for
the business (37%) and a lack of
confidence (22%).All of these are
limiting women’s ability to start,
run and grow their businesses.

BOOSTING GROWTH
Helen Walbey, FSB Diversity
Policy Chair and the only woman
to run her own motorbike
scrapyard in Wales said,“Womenled smaller businesses already
contribute over £75 billion to the
UK economy. But less than one
in five (18%) of businesses are
majority run by women. If women
were to set up businesses and
grow them at the same rate as
men, we would see a huge boost

to growth and prosperity in this
country. In fact, the Government
estimates it could add £600 billion
to the economy.

WORKPLACE
DISCRIMINATION
The report also found
that a third (34%) of women
business owners say they have
experienced gender discrimination
in the workplace.This was felt
particularly in sectors that are
traditionally male dominated, for
example in construction where
over half (54%) had experienced
discrimination.
Helen Walbey added,“More
needs to be done to really
empower women.Vocational
education is one way to grow
the next generation of women
entrepreneurs, but they also need
long term business support to
help them succeed and grow.
Better advice and mentoring
should be provided and Maternity
Allowance for the self-em ployed
should be brought in line with
Statutory Maternity Pay.

HARNESSING
POTENTIAL
“Small firms already
make a huge contribution
to our economy; if we were
to harness the still largely
untapped potential of women
entrepreneurship, it could lead
to additional jobs, economic
growth and a more diverse and
representative small business
community.”
www.fsb.org.uk