CEO Monthly Issue 6 2018

8 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 6 2018 , YTKOGroup is a successful, private sector business based in London. The firm’s CEO, Bev Hurley recently took time out of her busy schedule to provide us with an insight in to the services YTKOGroup provides clients, as well as how she originally started the company. Founded on Innovation, Creativity and a Single-Minded Commitment to Results There aren’t too many jobs where you can look at yourself at the end of every day and say, “ I made a real difference ”. Part of the joy of my role is that my team can make a real, often transformational, difference to both people’s lives and to UK businesses, and we get to see tangible results very quickly. What does YTKO do? For the first half of our 40-year life, we were mostly a pan- European marketing agency, working directly with technology corporates and larger SMEs to grow sales and market shares. However, it is the work that we’ve undertaken over the last decade which has been by far the most rewarding, and most challenging. Initially, we set off on a non- profit social mission to increase entrepreneurship, especially from more disadvantaged client groups, and bring our private sector professional expertise to support the growth of established SMEs. Through delivering a range of public and private sector projects, we have helped more than 25,000 individuals and 16,500 businesses. Collectively, our clients now contribute well over £1.5bn to the UK economy each year. Our 5.7 million SMEs are the lifeblood of the UK economy, 99% of all businesses and creating 60% of all private sector jobs. Yet 96% of them employ less than nine people, and around 75% are sole traders. Enabling those that have the ambition to scale to overcome their challenges and achieve their goals is vital, especially in a post-Brexit scenario, and one of our mission goals, to which every member of the team contributes, is growth measured by new job creation. I’m so proud that we’ve enabled the creation of over 8,000 new jobs so far; and humbled and inspired by so many of our clients’ achievements. As a woman-owned business - only around 20% of businesses are – it gives me particular pleasure that just over half of all our clients are female. Especially when policy makers moan about why there aren’t more women start-ups or growth businesses: if only they looked at the evidence base, applied the same lessons, and invested properly in the female economy, we’d have much more equality in the UK SME base. Entrepreneurs and business leaders are amongst the bravest, most driven, hardworking and passionate people you are likely to meet. Many have taken a big financial risk to start-up their business, or invest in innovation, people or capital equipment to grow. Sometimes their home is on the line, and some have faced bankruptcy. My teams have seen and heard pretty much everything, from naive new idealists planning on making £1m before breakfast, to super- stressed business owners and employees who might lose their house and jobs if they don’t shift some units. 1805CE10 One of the things that helps them most, is that not only has YTKO been through all the challenges of growth on its journey to over 100 staff, but that many of our business advisors also have first- hand experience of running a business. For our clients, there’s nothing like finding someone who knows exactly how you feel, who has experienced the fantastic highs and soul-destroying lows, or who has overcome those same challenges, to give them confidence and motivation, as well as tools, knowledge and new skills. There are several key challenges, consistent across all sectors and most businesses, that we come across time and time again. Management skill deficits, particularly around sales and marketing strategy, comes top of that list – reflecting the No. 1 challenge for small businesses across Europe. In the UK, perhaps due to a historical cultural aversion to ‘sales’, and low esteem for such roles, we see constant struggles to build consistently profitable sales