HOW I MADE ITTracy MortFounder ofGrace Co le

PERSONAL TRAGEDYwas the making ofTracy Mort. On the brink of redundancyshe learnt that her brother had cancer.Twodays later, hewasdead.“Losing him made me stop and think

about life and my future,” said Mort. “Ihad todosomethingwith that grief.”One month later, in January 2007, the

beauty company where Mort worked asa buyer went into administration. Eliza-beth French had been bought by the Dis-perseGroup threeyearsearlier.“The whole thing was poorly man-

aged,” she said. “Every brand Dispersebought went under. I was left to watchthis catastrophe.”Mort wasted no time in co-founding a

new company, called Grace Cole, whereshe was determined that things would bedone differently. “I didn’t know how torun a business but I knew that if I had theright product at the right price, it wouldwork,” she said. “I was sick of being toldthings thatmadenosense tome.”Grace Cole’s body, bath and cosmetic

products and gifts are sold in stores suchas Boots, Debenhams andHarrods. Sevenyears on, the companyhas annual sales of£10.3m and hopes to reach £12.5m in2014-15. It is based in Cheadle, south ofManchester, andhas24employees.Mort’s co-founder was David Gerrard,

previously her boss at Elizabeth French,who took an 80% share. The planwas forher to be the creative director and buyer,with Gerrard as managing director, butthree weeks in he had to stand down forpersonal reasons.“I couldn’t quite believe this was hap-

pening — I was almost back to squareone,” said Mort. She had no choice but totake charge. “I’d never been a managingdirectorbefore, and Iwaspetrified.”Gerrard recovered but did not return

to a hands-on role with Grace Cole,although he kept his stake. Mort bought35% of the business from him last April,taking her stake to 55%. She said: “Davidhasbeenagreat soundingboardbut in theend Ihave run it theway Iwant to.”This included steering Grace Cole

through the recession. “Companies weregoing under around me.” The crisis alsoforced her to consider her businessstrategy.“IhadtoquestionwhyIwaspur-chasing from China when the UK econ-omywas in turmoil andneededhelp.”In 2008 she moved 5% of manufac-

turing to this country. Today, half ofGrace Cole products are made here. Therange is exported to 70 countries. “Thosefirst fewyearswere themost traumatic ofmy life but channelling my grief andfacing all those difficulties has broughtthis company forward,” saidMort, 39.

She grew up on a council estate inBolton, Greater Manchester, with herolder brother andmother, who held sev-eral jobs cooking and running slimmingclasses to make ends meet. “Mum alwayssaid, ‘Never end up like me. Not knowingwhere the next penny is coming from is ahorrific way to live.’ It gave me the driveand determination never to rely on any-bodyelse financially.”Mort left Sharples High School in

Bolton at 16 to join a taster scheme withGreater Manchester police. “All I wantedto bewas a policewoman; I hadmywholelife mapped out.” After 18 months, shewas disappointed. “It was an administra-tion role, not an insight into the policeforce. I felt lost.”She decided to go elsewhere until her

21st birthday, when she could join as anofficer. To fill the time she took a jobwitha building contractor, where she met herhusband, Steven. She then tooka jobat anestate agent, but found it “tremendouslyboringwaiting for thephone to ring”.

Thedreamofbecomingapolicewomanended with the birth of her daughter in2000. “Steven thought it was too dan-gerousacareer and I gave in,” she said. “Ifthere was something I wanted so badlynow, I wouldn’t, but it was the rightdecision in theend.”That decision led her to try her hand as

a buyer for USI, a trading company. “Assoon as I started buying I knew this waswhat I wanted to do. It was so varied andexciting, I didn’thave time togetbored.”She found her niche in health and

beauty and in 2004 successfully appliedfor the job of head buyer at ElizabethFrench. When it came to developing abrand for her own business, she tookinspiration fromthatcompany.“With a name, buyers feel they’re

dealing with a person rather than a com-pany,” Mort said. “I wanted a nice Eng-lish lady’s name to appeal to our exportmarket, so Imadeoneup.”Shehas addedanonline storeandplans

to expand intomake-up. “I don’t want todiversify too much, only products thatcomplementwhatwedoalready.”Mort lives in Ramsbottom, Greater

Manchester, with her husband anddaughter, Georgia. She was appointed anMBE in January last year for services tothe economy and won the 2013 NatWestEverywomanaward.Her advice to entrepreneurs is to keep

focused: “No matter how many timespeople knock you back, if you’re confi-dent you have the right product, priceandmarket,nevergiveup.”

HattieWilliams

CHEAPOFFICE OPTIONSFORNEWCOMPANIESJMwrites: I runa small technologycompanybased ina sharedworkspace, renting twodesks for£400eachamonth. I havereceivedsome further fundingandwant toexpand the team.Should I rentmyownoffice?

Asyouexpand, it canbecomeexpensive tobe in asharedworkspace,but if youarehappywith that environment,youshouldapproachtheownerand try tonegotiate adiscount,writes JonDawson,partneratKingstonSmithLLP. Sharedworkspaces canbeveryflexible andyoucan scaleupordowndependingonyour requirements.Oftenyoucancancelwithbetweenoneand threemonths’ notice.However, therecanbea lackofprivacy ina largeopen-planoffice.Alternatively,youcould enter into

acommercial lease to rentyourownpremises,butyouneed tobeconfidentyouhaveenough fundingor thatyouaregenerating sufficientrevenue tocover theupfront andrunningcosts.It can take severalmonths to find

asuitable space,negotiate termsanddealwith the legal agreements, so ifyouaregoing to take this route,youshouldstart lookingas soonaspossible.Whensearching,youshouldconsiderwhat spaceyoumayneed in futureandwhether there isroomformore staff. Itwill beimportant toget right the termsofthe leaseand thedilapidationsclause,andyouwillneeda lawyer toadviseyouon thecontract.Onceyouhavepremises, you

willhave tobuy furniture andequipment,pay forelectricity,waterandheatinganddealwithall theservicesyouandyour staffwill need.Anotheroption thatmightbe

moresuitable foryou is to rent someoffice space fromanotherbusinessthathas sparecapacity.Youcouldalsoconsider servicedoffices,whereyoucanhave shortormedium-termrentalperiodswitha rangeofsupportingservicesonoffer.

CAN I FORCE STAFF TOWORK EXTRAHOURS?TCwrites:Can Imakemystaff comeinat theweekends for trainingsessions?Mostof the teamhasagreed,but onepersonhas refused.Weekendworkwill obviouslybepaidextra.

Youremployees’ contracts ofemploymentwill determinehoweasy thiswill be to implement,writesPeterDone,managingdirector ofPeninsulaBusinessServices. Thehoursyour staff areexpected toworkshouldbeset out in individualemploymentcontracts,whichareagreedwhenanemployee joinsyourorganisation.Contracts cancontainsome

flexibilityonworkinghours and it isalwaysadvisable to incorporate thissoyoucanrespond todemandandothereventualities.If thecontracts state that some

weekendworking is required, thenyouhaveagoodargument toexpecttheemployee tobemore flexible andcomeinat theweekend.If this flexibility isnotprovided for

inyourcontracts, employeesmaywell argue it is abreachof contract torequire themtodo these extrahoursand that this cannotbe forcedonthem,regardless of the fact that theywill bepaid.Ineitherof theabove situations,

employeesmayrefuse toattendbecause theyhaveresponsibilitieswithchildcareorother typesof carethatcannotbe changed.However,theemployermayrelyon thespecificallywordedcontractual termto take someactionagainstemployeeswhereappropriate.If the training ismandatory, speak

to thepersonwhorefuses toattendandsee if adeal canbereached.If theemployee still doesnot

attend,youshouldmakeall thetrainingmaterial available tohimandsetoutyourexpectation thatheupdateshimselfwith thematerial sohe is in the samepositionas all otheremployeeswhodidattend.Going forward,youmaywant to

consider includingaclause inall yourcontractsof employment fornewstaff, settingout that theywill berequired toattendweekend training.Alternatively,moregeneralwordingcanbeused thatallowsyou to setworkinghoursaccording to theneedsof thebusiness.

Doctor, our start-upsneed a cash injection

Tracy Mort owns 55% of her company, Grace Cole, which posted £10.6m sales last year

When my world collapsed,I had the bottle to go it alone

PAUL COOPER

Bruce He l lmanswiped his fingerove r h i s i P adscreen. “This is howp a t i e n t s a r ereminded to take

their medication,” he said, “andthey can choose a brain trainingexercise.”Hellman was demonstrating

how his uMotif app works, andhow it can help those sufferingfromParkinson’s, thedegenera-tive brain disease. Patients logtheir moods and movementsdaily and are told when to taketheir drugs. Data is stored andsent to a clinicianwho canmon-itor theirprogress.“In Europe, about 200,000

Parkinson’s sufferers die eachyear because they don’t taketheir medicine. This [app] cansave lives,” said Hellman, 35,who founded the businessalmost two years ago with BenJamesandRashmiNarayana.The company was quick to

win cash from the DepartmentofHealth, through its small busi-ness research initiative, whichprovided £75,000. Initially,Hellman held a trial with 30patients through the Cure Par-kinson’s Trust — a positiveresponse led to another wave offunding.Last July, uMotif received a

further £400,000 from White-hall, cash that will fund trials atseven NHS trusts, starting nextmonth. The company also wonfirst prize at the Cisco Big Awardslast November which, alongwith £60,000 cash, handedHellman and his west Londonteam of seven vital mentoringand legal advice. The company isinvesting in developing a similarservice fordiabetespatients.Approval to test the product

on NHS patients has led to a dealwith an American healthcareinsurer. “They see the NHS ashard to crack so it helps to havethatbehindus,” saidHellman.It is a valid point. Medical

technology continues to breedstart-ups, but entrepreneursface hurdles. Research and trialsare costly, spurring a need forinvestment. Moreover, the

journey from product to profitcanbe longandcomplex.Universitiesacross thecountry

continue to invest in start-upfacilities for medical techies. InBirmingham, for example, a£6.8m biomedical hub will openin the summer to boost theregion’s life-sciences sector. Thecentre aims to create 600 jobsandhouse several businesses.In Manchester, the MedTech

Centre, an expanding “incu-bator” site for medical tech-nology companies, is part-funded by the NHS. However,though money is being investedin the sector, some worry thatthe infrastructure to nurtureemerging companies is notmaturingas fast as the talent.“Many get to a stage where

they have to make a gutsygrowth move and the easiestthing is for them to sell out or flipthe company into an Americanventure,” said Andy Richards, a

member of the CambridgeAngels technology investorsgroup, who chairs several med-ical technologycompanies.Cambridge is at the heart of

Britain’s medical-technologysceneandhometoabout 100pri-vate companies associated withit. “The public markets have tobecome engaged. We needgrowing businesses that can actas examples of corporate head-quarters capable of buying othercompanies,”he said.Richards noted that Oxford

Immunotec,whichcreateda testfor latent tuberculosis, choseAmerica’s Nasdaq market whenit floated last year: “That tellsyousomething.There’sadiscon-tinuity in the finance availableaftera certain stage.”Testing a product can be frus-

trating for many medical tech-nology start-ups, he claimed.“You have to measure yourproduct and that means going

into the NHS. That’s very diffi-cult. Many firms spend a lot ofmoney doing it on their own orraising the money internation-ally to test it elsewhere,”he said.He added that “early access”

schemes, whichwill allow com-panies to test on NHS patientssooner, are being debated by thegovernment. “It needs to getbetter faster because things aregettinghugely competitive.”ForPsychologyOnline,aCam-

bridge-born company offeringtherapy and counselling, gettingrecognition was difficult. “TheNHS is suspiciousofprivatecom-panies with new ideas,” saidBarnaby Perks, 46, the firm’schief executive. “There’s athreat that companies will comein and change the landscape andcostpeople their jobs.”The company has 12 staff and

150 freelance therapists acrossthe country. Since itwas foundedin 2011, it has had investment

from the Cambridge Angels aswell as Harvard Business Schooland other private investors.“Testing the benefits of theproduct was slow and hard intheearly stages,” saidPerks.AttheMedTechCentre inMan-

chester, Sameer Kothari runsZilico, a company that special-ises in the early detection of cer-vical cancer. The business,started in 2000, raised £5m in2006 from private equity firmsand angel investors — but madeits first salesonly last year.“Healthcare expenditure and

competition are spiralling outof control,” said Kothari, 44,whose products are used in NHShospitals in Sheffield. He claimshis product could cut by a quar-ter the annual 2,000 appoint-ments made by women whoneed testing. “The £5mhas beenspent on research and analysis.You have to do a lot to prove youhavesomethingwortha trial.”

KingstonSmithLLP, the charteredaccountant, andPeninsula, theemployment law firm, canadviseowner-managers on their problems.Sendyourquestions toBusinessDoctor,TheSundayTimes,3ThomasMoreSquare,LondonE98 1ST.Advice isgivenwithout legal responsibility.

bizdoc@kingstonsmith.co.uk

Business doctor

Investing:uMotif founders

Ben James,Bruce Hellman

and RashmiNarayana

TOM STOCKILL

Medical techcompanies needconstant careif they are tosurvive and grow,says Kiki Loizou

BUSIN

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