The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 12: Summer 2019 | Page 15

IN PROFILE JONATHAN KNEE McKenzie & Co. Financial Consultants Jonathan Knee is the latest recruit at Bath- based McKenzie & Co. Financial Consultants, recently joining the firm as Financial Advisor. With several years’ experience in the financial services industry, Jonathan has previously worked in the City for financial giants such as Legal & General and MetLife as well as working for Bath’s Novia Financial. Jonathan has board level experience having worked for his family business H.J.Knee Ltd, founded by his great, great grandfather in 1879, in Trowbridge as group director and also as a non-executive director of the British Independent Retailers Association. His local commitments include being a Governor at St. Augustine’s Catholic College in Trowbridge and as a business mentor at SETsquared in Bath, a highly successful business innovation centre and part of Bath University. We met Jonathan to find out more about him and his new role. How did you become part of the team at McKenzie & Co? Tell us more about your mentoring with SETsquared I was fortunate to get introduced to Tristan Johnson whilst I was working in London last year, Tristan was already working with Ed McKenzie in Bath at that point and things fell into place over the following months which have cumulated with me joining the team. The energy and ideas you experience as a business mentor at SETsquared Bath is fantastic. SETsquared work with Bath University students and local tech entrepreneurs to improve their business ideas. The SETsquared Partnership is the global no. 1 business incubator and enterprise partnership comprising five research-intensive universities: Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. It is a huge privilege to be a very small part of this organisation. Is there a particular part of the business you’re working on? I have a wide and varied client base that is growing rapidly, covering both private and corporate clients. I have a passion for working with people, helping them plan for the future that they desire whilst ensuring that adequate protection and planning is in place should life throw the odd curveball (which it inevitably will in one way or another!). Being a financial advisor is a huge responsibility and one that I enjoy immensely. How can you help businesses and their owners? By helping them better understand and prepare business risks, pensions, employee benefits, share incentive schemes and corporate investments. I provide my corporate clients and their employees, with a significant amount of support in areas that they might not have the time or expertise to fully prepare for. It helps having had personal experience working across multiple business sectors and being able to understand first-hand how precious a business owner’s time and resources are. With your expertise in independent retail, what top tips would you give Bath retailers? Invest in your staff, reward them and treat them with respect. They are central to your business succeeding or failing and will often be the barometer by which your customers rate you and your business. What do you like to do in your spare time? My favourite hobby is swimming, I was a member of Bradford on Avon ASC from 1982 onwards and more recently started swimming with Bath Dolphins ASC. I still compete in the odd competition when time allows. My wife and I enjoy days out with our son, we recently bought annual passes to Longleat which we are really enjoying. My family are all around the area, stretching from Shepton Mallett to Trowbridge so we often get to spend time with them too. What’s been your biggest learning in business? That the most obvious detail is often the thing we miss, everyone is trying to be so clever in business that it’s the simple things that can be forgotten about. It’s so important to constantly review the principles and foundations of your business, to ensure that they are sound and evolve over time. To contact Jonathan you can email him at [email protected] and to find out more about McKenzie & Co. Financial Consultants visit: www.mckenzieandco.co.uk and sign up to their financial E-briefing by clicking on the sign-up section. You can call them on: 01225 300281 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019 15