Business Diary: September 11

The White Collar Boxing Dinner is in aid of St George’s Crypt (Leeds) and is to be held at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, on September 27. The evening will constitute a black tie dinner followed by the boxing.

Contenders are drawn from firms such as Brewin Dolphin, Squire Sanders, PwC, Deloitte, BDO, Walker Morris and Begbies Traynor, and have been training at the Rick Manners School of Boxing in Leeds.

The event, organised by Chris Keane of Squire Sanders, follows last year’s inaugural event.

St George’s Crypt offers support for homeless, disadvantaged and vulnerable people in Leeds and its surrounding areas.

Matthew Wells, divisional director at Brewin Dolphin, is in the midst of training for the big event.

When asked by Diary for his boxing name, he replied: “Matthew ‘The Halifax Hitman’ Wells.”

Backing the best

MARTIN Penny, co-founder and former chief executive of GHD, which is famous for hair straighteners, remembers the difficulties he faced when starting his own ventures.

Now he helps budding entrepreneurs to start up and succeed in business.

He does this by backing Leeds University’s Enterprise Scholarships, which go to undergraduates with bright ideas.

The Enterprise Scholarships can help students with business, training and transport costs, introduce them to business and university mentors, provide incubation space for their business and help them to develop their networks.

“I’ve always been fascinated by business and I’ve always been amazed at how people can make money doing things that you would never think of.

“When I started GHD [in 2001] the same thing, my bank manager said: ‘What? You intend to set up a business selling hair tongs? That will never work.’ “I remind him of that from time to time,” Mr Penny told Diary.

Mr Penny started his first company OHS, a now £10m turnover environmental services firm, while studying for a PhD at the university in the 1980s.

He said getting funding from the banks was a struggle then. “You needed to give some form of security or put your wife and children in a vault.

“But I think it has got worse and now it’s virtually impossible. If myself and other alumni can assist then it’s very worthwhile.”

Which rose will wilt?

DTZ has found a way to settle the War of the Roses for once and for all.

The property company’s Leeds and Manchester offices are fielding cyclists to complete the gruelling 177-mile Way of the Roses Coast to Coast challenge.

On Friday October 5, a team of 29 staff including 26 riders and three support crew, will attempt to cycle the route in just three days.

Each cyclist will start with their back wheel in the Irish Sea of Morecambe Bay on the West Coast of the UK and travel for three days, ending with their front wheel in the North Sea at Bridlington on the East Coast.

The route will take the riders over the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales, passing through the historical cities and towns of Lancaster, Settle, Pateley Bridge, Ripon and York.

The riders will be tackling en-route some challenging terrain and hills, the highest of which reaches 1,312 feet.

DTZ will match the money raised and two chosen charities are LandAid, which helps young and disadvantaged people in the UK access the buildings, skills and opportunities they need to achieve their potential and also NWCSG, the children’s charity support group working alongside disadvantaged children and those with special needs.

Diary notes that those crafty devils in the Leeds office have already managed to get one up on their Manchester rivals by fielding 16 cyclists against Manchester’s 10.

Fingers crossed for a White Rose victory.

Look to Libya

FORMER UK Ambassador to Libya, Richard Northern, will visit Hull later this month to speak about business opportunities available in the North African country.

The event is open to businesses from across Yorkshire and Humber and has been organised by the International Trade Centre of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce and corporate travel company Good Travel Management.

Kevin Harrison, managing director of Good Travel Management, said Libya is very much “open for business” and is in need of the skills UK companies can offer as it undergoes reconstruction following last year’s bloody civil war.