The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 4: Summer 2017 | Page 5

BUSINESS NEWS University of Bath Festival draws 10,500 visitors Locals celebrated the University of Bath’s 50th year on May 6 with a free community festival on the Claverton Down campus. Crowds had the chance to try out 15 sports, experience a virtual reality art exhibition, fly a drone, meet a robot and build a crystal amongst dozens of other attractions. As the sun shone, people relaxed with food and drink by the lake and enjoyed live music from local musicians. Welcoming friends and neighbours, the University also saw more than 800 former students return for its largest ever alumni reunion. At midday, The Red Devils, The Parachute Regiment’s freefall team, skydived into campus and delivered a peppercorn which was presented to the chairman of B&NES, Councillor Alan Hale, by Thomas Sheppard, Chair of the University of Bath Council to commemorate Founders Day and a half-century long, close working relationship between the University and Council. Amongst the festival activities, entrepreneurial Bath graduates showcased businesses including PushMe, a device that can turn a pedal bike electric in a matter of seconds and DoodleMaths, the UK’s best-selling maths app. The University’s Innovation Centre, part of the global number one business incubator partnership SET Squared, provides invaluable support to thousands of start–ups . Its industry links have helped to secure Bath as one of only two universities in the UK to feature in THE’s 55 Tech Challenger Universities. Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Provost Professor Bernie Morley, said: “I’m delighted we were joined by so many visitors. Our festival showcased the diverse range of activities and research that the University is involved in, as well as the talent and enthusiasm of our students and staff, and the facilities and opportunities we have for the local community. I would like to thank everyone for coming to celebrate with us.” The University of Bath celebrates its 50th anniversary this year as one of the UK’s leading universities both in terms of research and its reputation for excellence in teaching, learning and graduate prospects. The University continues to play an integral part in the city of Bath as the second largest employer, with students spending over 10,000 hours volunteering with local charities and raising thousands for good causes each year. To receive updates on events and activities at the University, go to: www.bath.ac.uk/about/community Innovative accountancy firm launches Hartham Financial, a new accountancy firm with a focus on cloud-based technology, is helping business owners have essential business information at their fingertips. Started by Oli Thomas and Angela Ashworth, and based at Hartham Park in Corsham, Hartham Financial seek to enable directors to gain business control through smart financial reporting and advice. Using a platform of industry-leading applications based around an accounting package called Xero, the aim is to empower companies with live financial data that can be accessed any time and on any device. They also provide traditional accountancy services such as statutory year- end accounts, VAT returns and payroll processing. Oli said: “We started this project to change the way accounting and financial services are delivered, moving the focus away from traditional compliance work, as technology plays an increasing part in our work. The capabilities of software such as Xero are vast, but it’s helping businesses understand what the technology can do and how they can use it to make real-time strategic and management decisions that excites us. We help and train our clients to capture and report their financial data in the most efficient ways, with the compliance work such as year-end accounts being completed in the background.” Angela added: “With HMRC’s strategy around Making Tax Digital, all businesses need to look at their current processes and how they can be streamlined and digitised. Our approach gives clients serious control over their finances, enabling them to make effective decisions to assist with development and growth.” Combined, Angela and Oli have over forty years’ experience in the industry, helping start-ups and SME business es achieve their potential. They are certified advisors for Xero and have recently completed the Cyber Essentials programme; a Government-backed scheme that audits your IT and cyber- security processes. This gives clients assurance around that their data is in safe hands. Hartham Financial is on the look-out for forward thinking, experienced management accountants. If you fit the bill and would be interested in joining the team, you can get in touch by email: [email protected] For more info: www.harthamfinancial.com Oli Thomas Angela Ashworth Bath Tourism Leslie Redwood, Head of Business Development and Partnerships at VisitBath gives us some blue sky thinking this summer. As our summer rolls on (kind of!) and the days and evenings are brighter, I thought this would be a good opportunity to focus on some of the incredibly positive initiatives and projects that are being delivered at Visit Bath on behalf of the city and region. It’s easy to become complacent, that nearly six million visitors come through our ‘front room’ here in Bath each year, injecting £431M into our region’s economy and creating almost 10,000 jobs. As the most successful Destination Marketing Organisation (DMO) outside of London, we should be justifiably proud of the service we deliver to the area, our 500 members and other strategic partners we are building relationships with as the company grows. Visit Bath is currently delivering more marketing campaigns and initiatives, than any time in its history. We’re working with independent partners such as the Bath Comedy Festival and commercial partners like Lovehoney, to add value, directly supporting Bath independent businesses with advice, promotion and printed marketing collateral. Our local authority partners directly support all of our activities and have backed the company with a three-year funding deal. We have achieved nearly £30M worth of PR and publicity so far, as well as generating nearly 3 million unique visitors to the visitbath. co.uk website. We also have over 120,000 regular followers across our three most successful social media platforms. We are now working to add substantial value to Bath’s business tourism offer with the allocation of a new resource to support the burgeoning conferencing and events proposition in Bath, as well as working internationally with Bristol and the new Metro Mayor, Tim Bowles, in an attempt to secure extra funding around the visitor economy and retailing sector in Bath and the whole of the West of England. We even have a new hot air balloon partnership with Novia Financial and have just signed a major new strategic marketing partnership with GWR – one of the biggest DMO deals ever secured nationally. With a much enhanced Great Bath Feast on the agenda for 23rd September-8th October, and another successful Christmas market on the cards from 23rd November-10th December, things really are looking up and that’s not just at our new hot air balloon! Please feel free to contact me for more details of how we can support you and your business. For more info: www.visitbath.co.uk [email protected] THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017 5