The year that was and the year that will be

A: As you know the Foundation has three strands, each of which focus on topics that are vital to the business finance sector:

• Next generation
• Diversity and inclusion
• Innovation

All three have been busy behind the scenes developing initiatives that are ready to launch later in 2021 once lockdown restrictions have eased.

The Next Generation team has continued encouraging young people in the industry to expand their networks by holding online events. It has also developed the cross-industry ‘Insights’ programme, focussed on attracting and developing young talent in the sector. We’ll be providing more details on that in due course.

Diversity & Inclusion has continued focusing on helping business finance companies to understand the business benefits of building inclusive leadership, management, organisations and teams. The thought-provoking blog programme has carried on throughout the pandemic and several events have been organised, including a number in partnership with the FLA plus a ‘bring your pet to work’ session earlier this year on zoom which was incredibly well-received, particularly as everyone is thinking about mental wellbeing now. We’ve got at least three more events planned for the rest of the year so keep your eyes peeled for updates!

The Innovation Initiative has been planning a programme of events to roll out later in the year to continue guiding businesses to understand and take advantage of the benefits of emerging technologies. A focus on brokers will be next – helping them operate in a digital world – and we’ll let you have details on that once dates have been firmed up.

A: Everyone has been through a turbulent time trying to remain open and helping customers in the eye of the hurricane at the same time. We’ve all pulled together and have been supporting SMEs weather the storm we are in. The asset finance industry has remained strong and is now seeing light at the end of the tunnel. 2021 will hopefully be a calmer year for most of us and we are hoping to help get the UK back to work and help SMEs do this successfully.

A: We very much honoured to be working with FLA across all our programmes – we’re holding joint diversity and inclusion events, the FLA is an active partner in our Industry Insights initiative and from an innovation perspective, we are collaborating on a project to enhance a broker’s journey in terms of proposal, governance and execution.

A Leasing Foundation / FLA partnership is an obvious thing to do – the Leasing Foundation represents the individuals in the industry and the FLA represents companies on behalf of the industry. This kind of collaboration has many benefits for both parties in terms of education, networking and broadening people’s career prospects.

A: We are busy enhancing our proposition, we are making sure that we regularly providing updates and focusing on the areas that are meaningful and add value to the industry.

We have a clear purpose and we encourage anyone involved, in the Leasing Foundation generally or the three channels (innovation, D&I or NextGen), to be active and help make a difference. This, therefore, means that we are withdrawing our ‘Fellowships’ which, in previous years, were gifted to anyone that participated in LF events, but did not necessarily help drive initiatives forward. We have several wonderful ambassadors in each of the channels and, of course, would love to welcome more, so do get in touch if you would like to get involved. It’s going to be a busy and exciting year for us.

A: It was a challenging year. I became chair in April 2020 just as lockdown and the pandemic hit. I concentrated on steadying the ship and focusing on what mattered to the industry with a view to things returning to a new normal in 2021. Things are thankfully looking far more positive now and we are committed to making the business finance industry a destination of choice for the next generation of talented, career-minded young individuals across the UK.

As many of you will know Richard Cameron, the head of asset finance at Allica Bank, is a long-standing friend and colleague to many in the business finance industry. His son Beau has become very unwell in the last five months and is now requiring around-the-clock care.

Richard, and his wife Samantha, have started a fund to help meet the costs for the equipment and care that Beau is very much in need of. In May – thanks to the generosity shown by family, friends and colleagues – the fund topped £6,000, enough to cover the cost for a stair climber that will allow Beau to get downstairs from his bedroom to go outside for walks.

In a blog post, Beau’s mum wrote: “In December 2020, Beau started to suffer pains in his chest, five months later Beau is still suffering from the pain in his chest, which has also caused severe trauma and he no longer walks, talks and is fed through a feeding tube (NG Tube) he can no longer attend school due to the care he requires, he basically spends his days in his bed.

“Before this happened, Beau was a happy 10-year-old boy who loved playing Fortnite and Minecraft, playing on his PS4 fishing and having fun with his friends.

“We are currently waiting on a referral to Great Ormond Street Hospital as his condition is now considered complex and needs to be assessed by a paediatric specialist and will have to under months of rehabilitation to help him learn how to walk and talk again.

“As Beau's parents, we want to make life as comfortable as we can for him and to ensure that he continues to enjoy time with his siblings.

“This is going to have a long term effect on Beau and now requires full-time care such as being washed, dressed, fed and carried around including being lifted into the bath and taken to the toilet. We had to stop carrying him from upstairs to downstairs as it's not safe.

“Unfortunately, some of the equipment and help we need to support Beau such as a stair climber is not issued through the occupational therapist referrals as we would need to either buy or hire one.

“We never imagine that we would be in this situation with one of our own children and it's heart-breaking for those that know Beau to see how he is now.

“We are looking to raise money to go towards a stair climber and other equipment or therapies that Beau may require over the coming months to give our little boy back some normality and fun.

“Thank you to everyone that has supported Beau's fund so far it has been so overwhelming. We are going to keep the fundraising page open once the target amount is met as people have been asking how they can help and if there is anything Beau needs.”

To contribute to Beau’s fund, visit GoFundMe: https://lnkd.in/dfSW_-X