Where potential lies in 2021
The world has changed so fast in 2020, no longer is it fear mongering or an exaggeration to state this, it is pure fact! April 2020 is the line in the sand that divides life pre COVID and post COVID. This shift in mindset and working practises is global and everyone is running to catch up.
The pandemic has, I don’t want to use the word “forced” because some of these changes are long over due, but yes we were forced to review so many aspects of our daily routines and standard working practises. It has also caused us to really think about and realise what is truly important to us. Whether we are questioning simple things like how often we eat out versus how we can eat more healthily at home or to the more complex questions like “How much time do I really need to spend in the office” or “can I keep this work life balance post COVID” I personally cannot think of any other time in my life that have forced such fundamental changes to so many things.
What is the new norm and how can businesses get back to operational stability?
What does “Return to Work” actually mean?
As many countries start or re-start their easing of lockdowns business leaders and entrepreneurs across the globe are being challenged to understand how best to respond and to plan how their business operations will progress and adapt to this new horizon During “The Great Lockdown of 2020” We decided to put a lot of our focus to how to adapt to this new landscape, how much remote working can our business model actually support and how much is really wanted. Surprisingly we found that the majority of our colleagues wanted to come back to the office, they miss the social interactions and stated that home working left them feeling isolated and was heavily counterproductive. So how can we allow colleagues to come back to work in an office environment safely? What is clear at present is that the transition is going to be a slow one. There is a plethora of evidence that suggests that the infection rates will continue to eb and flow for another 18 months. The UK is already going through secondary lock down processes and this in itself shows the contrasts between COVID-19 and “The Flu” which so many people like to compare it to. A single person with the flu can be responsible for upto 15 further transmissions of the virus. The same person with the same process of transmission would be responsible for closer to 60,000 infections. So until the unicorn of a vaccine is produced we are likely to see continual spikes in the rate of infections. We have a duty of care as leaders to plan ahead and assist all our colleagues with concerns. We can do this by being clear and considered in our
plans moving forward and communicating them efficiently across the enterprises we captain.
But this is a difficult subject, one fraught with huge implications spanning both social and economic areas on a scale not yet seen by any living person. Overall my immediate concern is ensuring whatever course of actions we take are stable and balance concerns with colleagues health while still considering the best way to maintain fiscal stability.
For the best part of a decade we as business leaders have preached that collaborative workspaces will yield a much great result when looking to solve a problem. So with that in mind I ask all business leaders to come together and collaborate and share our views, plans and ideas on how to create a structured, safe approach to returning to work programs.
To get the ball rolling, let me share some of the more practical questions my leadership team and I have been asking ourselves, as we start to think about helping our employees make that transition:
• Can we create some form of hot desking structure that will allow colleagues to work remotely up to 3 days a week?
• How can we continue to promote collaborations with remote/homeworking if it becomes the new standard?
• Do we need to consider a HomeWorking Allowance to cover costs incurred by colleagues that work from Home?
• Should we be reducing our real estate acquisitions program or should we be repurposing a percentage of our current assets for other uses?
• Can we require colleagues to use PPE in the office? Will this create friction with those who are unable to use current PPE?
• Do we need to hold more detailed medical records for colleagues to ensure we are aware of those colleagues who are higher risk due to age or health conditions?
• Do we need to manage Arrivals, breaks and departures to ensure social distancing?
• Do we need to restrict access to bathrooms?
• Do we need to implement testing or Track and Trace?
• How do we manage employee moral when they are transitioning from an open and free working environment to one akin to a nanny state?
• How can we both support those colleagues who are anxious about returning to the office and still monitor and maintain high levels of productivity with Home Working?
• Do we need to create our own shuttle bus system to ensure colleagues who rely on public transport can get to the office safely?
• Can colleagues safely visit, customers or suppliers and who is then responsible for the safety of that colleague when they are on site?
• Does this mean we are then liable for the safety, hygiene and traceability of all visitor to our offices?
• Do we need to increase budgets for in house cleaners or will we make colleagues responsible for hygienic practises?
• How do we deal with non-compliance of a colleague?
• Do we need to assign more of the retained earnings to capital reserves in case of secondary outbreaks/peaks or new lockdowns.
The Lockdown has presented us with time to assess and reflect
There seems to be a constant rush to get back to normal as soon as possible! Now I understand this and think it is simply phrased wrong, we are not all in a rush to get back to “Normal” I think we can all agree that ship has sailed. But what we do want to do is find our new groove and begin to create stability across our businesses and for all of those who depend upon us for their livelyhoods.
This crisis has created a culture of fear and instability, so many people are struggling financial and yet it seems to be a taboo subject because the overriding concern is for those who are ill with COVID. Now I do not wish to detract from those who are ill or lessen the impact of the countless who have died but the two are not inextricable linked we can discuss someone’s financial suffering and it is just as valid as those who have experienced the negative effects on their health or someone close to them’s health. Business leaders once again have a duty of care to ensure the fiscal stability of their employees just as much as their physical and mental health.
I hear more concerns from my colleagues about how they will survive if they lose their job or have to rely on “Furlough” income, children at home, spouses at home all increase financial pressures on the home and so we must while adhering to the guidelines try and support our employees fruitful and continued employment. This can only be done when business leaders look at their business models with fresh eyes.
We have all heard the cliché that even the darkest times yield opportunities, so those who have labelled themselves as “thought leaders” “Entrepreneurs” “Business or Industry Leaders” and “Innovators” it is your time to shine! Rebuild your businesses create those opportunities and innovate.
Am I practising what I preach you say? I am trying at the very least! We have taken a 15 year program of expansion for our business and remodelled it based on where we envisage opportunities happening in a post COVID world and we are now raising capital, and leveraging our business model to invest ahead of the curve!
So where does potential lie?
This question will be the subject of many white papers, blogs and business books in the future I am sure. I really think we will start to compartmentalise our lives in a ‘Pre-COVID and ‘Post-COVID’ perspective, both from a personal and from a business perspective – the impact of that will be huge.
The scale of what is ahead is unimaginable, I will not attempt to join the myriad of economists and politicians that choose to pontificate about an uncertain future. All I can do as a business leader is aim my business where I see futures and pre-empt as much of the risks as possible.
So, here goes:
I think we will see a resurgence of daytime radio listeners with home working becoming prevalent, I envisage that this market if worked correctly will allow smaller businesses to reach target audiences in a cost efficient manner. The home worker may choose to listen to their own music etc if the radio market is over commercialised but if a balance is struck between quality music, engaging programs and commercial advertising the “Radio” could see a resurgence. As a result of this we are investing in new teams in both the United Kingdom and The United States to create and test out these theories.
This global pandemic has shown us just how important communications are to our way of life, when it comes to Icarus Telecoms we are going to be increasing the capital expenditure to allow for the acquisition of more destressed assets across the telecoms industry.
We expect that there will be an increased demand for all services that surround video communications and virtual work environments as well as tools that allow staff to stay connected on the move.
The real estate sector has been changed so much by COVID. We have seen a mass exodus from large metropolitan areas in favour for a more rural lifestyle with a lower cost of living. This has happened as more and more people realise that "Home Working" is a realistic option. This is a positive step for the rural communities that will see an influx of capital, services and infrastructure and yet it is having a negative effect on the commercial real estate markets in cities and larger hubs. I believe this is just a corrective movement that will balance itself out over time and the commercial real estate sector will return to some semblance of normality across 2021. This is primarily driven by the belief that the human being is a social creature and after the novelty of Home Working wears off the majority of us are craving the ability to go back to the office.
So what does this mean for The Lupine Group?
Home improvements/Home Services is one of the few sectors that has had a lot of growth because of COVID. A lot of people spending more time at home and choose to improve or modernise their homes to fit in with their new home working life style.
We are investing considerable capital into the Home Services venture with a specific focus on the North American market where we can grow a much larger franchise network across the Midwest.
There is a real need for skilled trades people and with COVID increasing both construction and home services demands we have created the Lupine University where people can learn new skills and become qualified tradespeople and gain new career growth.
Lupine University will also work closely with THG's franchising teams to train all incoming franchise owners on our systems and allow us to create a much more stable network of interconnected ventures.
Construction has seen a massive increase in government spending as both local and national governments attempt to keep the economies alive by injecting fresh capital into this sector.
THG is also investing heavily in the Construction Industry with the advent of our new Lupine Construction Venture in North America we aim to become one of the most valued construction companies in the Midwest by 2025.
The fitness industry was one of the hardest hit by the Pandemic, with centres closed for month on end revenues completely disappeared. During this time we took a step back and addressed some structural improvements that would allow us to take on the North American market in a much better way. COVID may have decimated Olympus but it also decimated our competitors across the board as well, this allows us to work to acquire those destressed assets at a fraction of the cost and integrate them into one of the Olympus ventures ready for the 2021 rebuild.
We do think there will be a massive resurgence for the fitness industry, we have all been cooped up for so long now and once that vaccine allows us to return to our normal more people will look to enjoy a gym. especially those who are working from home more who will see it as a necessity. So what are we doing?
Ares Combat has always represented great value for our members, we actively promote a family centric combative arts centre. Now we will introduce this model to the North American market. Showing them how we offer all those classes and a full gym under one simple membership.
We will then introduce our franchise model allowing martial artists, boxers and combative arts instructors to grow their own centres. Again once COVID lifts we envisage a resurgence in the desire to have hobbies and person interests not just in being healthy.
Artemis, Sister to Apollo and Goddess of the Hunt!
Artemis represents an entrepreneurial take on the female centric fitness space. The Artemis Centres will be built around the group/fitness class model, devoting a large portion of the floor space to the classroom rather than having it tucked away in the back.
There will of course be standard gym areas such as the cardio zone and power zone that allow for individual training and enjoyment, but it is Artemis goal to create an atmosphere of comradery and shared revelation.
With all of these new centres being opened both corporately and via our franchise teams we need a certified way to control the quality of teaching at all of these centres....
The Athena University will allow people to take control of their own destiny, retrain as a personal trainer, fitness instructor, martial arts instructor or even a gym owner! The Athena syllabus have the capacity to assist so many entrepreneurs reach their true potential doing something they truly love.
Our DemiGod Venture will continue to innovate in the space of sports apparel, supplying all three of its stable mates with training apparel, martial arts uniforms and equipment as well as combative PPE.
However over the next 5 years it is our goal to roll out the demigods brand as a stand alone sports apparel brand that can compete with the multi-billion dollar brands in this sector. It is going to take a lot of hard work but with the right team and vision we are confident that DemiGod will become a byword for sports clothing over the next few years.
Events and Seminars ground to a halt this year, so how do we see things changing in 2021? With a return to the new normal a desire to be social and enjoy downtime together will be evermore present and as such venues will have a renewed interest in events creation and growing these events across 2021.
With Gods of Rock we will be looking to grow this brand across the student scene throughout the UK and create a unified and connected network of venues all holding God's of Rock nights and streaming live across the network so that each and every venue can benefit from the atmosphere.
We will continue to work with Ares Combat throughout 2021 to create the UK's premier martial arts seminar with a shared learning experience for all ticket holders.
The Entrepreneur's Exhibition is more important now than ever before! COVID has shown many people that "Job Security" is relative and really you are just as much at risk in a stable job, so you may as well become the master of your own destiny. The E2 is also the only event we will be taking to the US in 2021 with our first events scheduled for April of 2021.
We have seen a relatively stable amount of growth across 2020, our clients remain strongly engaged and value our services.
We continue to build our network via our franchising systems and across 2021 we will be looking at connecting the UK and EU offices and created a streamlined system that allows clients with cross border transactions to negate risk and manage efficiencies.
The global pandemic created an extremely volatile marketplace, then add into the mix the US elections and the turmoil it created across global markets and we can say that 2020 has been an extremely interesting and challenging year.
We will be looking at expanding our divisions adding energy derivatives as well as other commodity trading desks. We will be looking to Europe for our expansion with the North American expansion scheduled for 2022.
Our rollout stalled across 2020 with the pandemic creating such risks that we decided to pause all operations until the Pandemic was dealt with. We are still working very closely with European Banks to create an interconnected network that will allow us to operate at a much lower cost point.
We expect to see the first Vulpine Bank launch in the UK in 2021 as a digital operation with branches opening towards the fourth quarter.