Apprenticeships do work, say one of the region's fastest growing accountancy firms, as two of their office apprentices are promoted to senior members.
Bishop Fleming, with seven offices and 300 staff, believe they have proved the effectiveness of in-house training with Plymouth-based former apprentices, Kevin Connor and Daniel White, being appointed as senior managers.
Charlie Thomson, partner in charge of Bishop Fleming's Plymouth office, says: "As a firm, we take huge pride in ‘growing our own', as well as recruiting people from ‘the Big Four' accountancy firms.
The first quarter of 2015 has seen improved confidence resulting in an increase in activity within the commercial property market throughout Devon. Exeter in particular is experiencing substantial growth and has become the South West’s most vibrant commercial hub.
Demand for both industrial and business space remains healthy with agents experiencing a shortage of current supply, which has not been helped with the lack of new development over the past seven years or so due to the challenging marketing conditions during the recession.
We live at a time where thoughts zip around the world at the speed of light. A cataclysmic event or a compromising photo is instantly witnessed by millions of people in the blink of an eye. In so many ways the internet, not even a concept just a few years ago (the worldwide web was 25 last year!) has changed our lives in immeasurable ways and, I like to think, for the good.
To many, social media services such as Twitter and Facebook ARE the internet with the amount of active users on a day by day basis counting in the hundreds of millions and growing. For a lot of people from my...
If Devon farmer Jon Williams' late father had been told his dairy herd would be milked by robots in 2015, he would have laughed disbelievingly. However, that is exactly what is happening at Higher Hampton Farm in Kilmington as 21st century technology hits the age-old occupation.
But it is Ben, Jon's eldest son and the third generation of the family to work on the farm, who has been the driving force behind this radical change to their livelihoods.
Since the 1970s, much research has gone into investigating methods to alleviate time management constraints in conventional...
In 24 Hours With…we take a well-known local businessperson and ask where they go for lunch, spend their downtime and visit for inspiration or advice.
Former City lawyer Deborah Clark and husband Tony Orchard own Burgh Island in Bigbury-on-Sea and Southernhay House boutique hotel in Exeter. Here, Deborah tells us what the city has to offer:
FOR BUSINESS LUNCHES
Harry's Bar, situated in Exeter’s Northernhay Gardens, is the best place to get steak tartare. But ask for the DIY version, not the pre-mixed! It's also quiet, discrete and has excellent staff. You can watch...
Richard Stevens, 47, is the managing director of Plymouth Citybus. He’s worked his way through the ranks since his first job as a bus driver in 1990.
He lives in Crownhill, Plymouth, and is married with two children.
Here, he gives Devon Life Business & Professional a tour of his office at Plymouth Citybus HQ in Milehouse:
1. Investors in People certificate of accreditation – Gold Standard
“We were presented with this last year and it makes me so proud. It’s the national standard of how you manage people as a business and to get the gold standard is a...
Andrea Galley is used to the look: that one of surprise, awkwardness and admiration all rolled into one. It tends to happen when she tells people what she does for a living.
Because at the age of just 29, Andrea is an architect in charge of her own firm and responsible for an increasing number of high profile projects in Devon.
She and fiancé Dan Atkins, 33, set up Crayon shortly after graduating from the notoriously gruelling seven to eight-year-long architecture course at Plymouth University.
It was a bold move for a couple fresh out of university, but ‘freshness...
It’s a crisp and sparkling, sunny morning and in my Sigma office overlooking Plymouth’s Royal William Yard, the water’s looking particularly enticing. It’s a gorgeous spot and silently I pat my husband and business partner on the back for his enlightened suggestion to buy premises here 13 years ago, when Cremyll Street was still something of an ‘interesting’ area. I can’t help daydreaming, admiring the nautical view. Right, I must gather my thoughts. Keeping up with news at the moment, let alone getting on top of my workload and the other activities I seem to get involved in, is beginning...
What Group Investments Ltd, the financial advice and distribution group, is building a new sales force that can advise on and sell life assurance and other health-related policies.
It is the latest company looking to attract finance through the equity-crowdfunding platform InvestingZone.
The York-based financial advisory firm says there is a huge opportunity for growth in the direct sales arena since the collapse of many big insurers and their sales forces over the past 30 years.
“In the mid 1980s there were around 350,000 salespeople working for British financial...
