Author Archives: R Bonaparte

“With the right support structure all things are possible.”

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Gaining professional experience with the support of Birkbeck Careers service, making friends from all over the world, travelling around the UK and Europe… Namibian alumna Omagano Kankondi, Head of Solution Mapping at the Accelerator Lab under United Nations Development (UNDP) talks about her experience at Birkbeck. 

Omagano Kankondi

Can you tell us about your background?  

I am originally from Okahao which is in the northern part of Namibia, I currently live in the capital city Windhoek.  In 2005, I started my tertiary education in Cape Town at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and I was there till 2011. During my time there I obtained a National Diploma in 3D Design, a Bachelor of Technology in Product Design and a Master’s in Design focusing on Socially Responsible Design. I graduated from my Masters in 2012 and four years later I started on the MSc in Business Innovation with Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management. 

Why did you decide to study at Birkbeck?

It was always my intention to get a qualification that was business-centred because I felt as a designer who had the intention of going out on my own in the future, I really needed it. In 2012 I started working for the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Namibia as a Design Consultant, focusing on product development for SMEs. Working here, sparked my curiosity for business studies. Initially, I had wanted to pursue an MBA but after much contemplation, I realised an MBA was not the route I wanted to take.  

When I came across this programme at Birkbeck I believed it would suit me perfectly. The MSc in Business Innovation with Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management had the right balance of business focus and innovation, so I was even more pleased when I was awarded a Chevening scholarship.   

How was studying at Birkbeck?

I found the staff to be friendly and approachable, whenever I approached a staff member with a query or problem, they always offered their full assistance.  This was the case for staff on all levels.   

I made a really good set of friends. We were a diverse bunch, a small United Nations. We started off as a study group and soon we were planning epic trips together, I think our most memorable trip was to the Austrian Alps. My very patient friend Kevin tried to teach me how to ski for the very first time but despite his best efforts, I couldn’t quite get the hang of it. We all still stay in touch via our WhatsApp group and we check in every now and then.  

I didn’t officially join any social clubs, but I did attend a couple of activities organised by the International Students forum. One such activity was a tour to Houses of Parliament which I thoroughly enjoyed.  

When I started writing my dissertation, I thought it would be the right time to look for work experience because my schedule was way more flexible, but I was not making any headway. I reached out to the Birkbeck Futures and one of the staff members helped me review my CV and gave me guidance on how to improve it. I eventually secured a job at Good Innovation London. 

How was it living in the UK?

 When I moved to Cape Town it was my first time moving away from home. At that time I really wanted to live in halls of residence but was unable to get a place, so when I moved to London, I decided that I would live in halls for the experience. I got a place in Connaught Hall right next to campus which was so convenient and cost-effective for me. I loved the experience and I got to make great friends in halls (Hi Russel, Isaiah, Hanako and Shezard!) but I must admit sharing bathrooms was an interesting experience I do not need to relive.   

My London experience was amazing, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I made sure to get to know London; going to art shows, concerts (please tell Adele she still owes me a concert from that time in 2016), joining my brunch club in various parts of London to try out Instagram–worthy dishes and chilled hangouts with friends from the African diaspora. I think my initial challenge was getting used to the pace of the work at Birkbeck but I eventually got the hang of it – my main challenge turned out to be the lack of sun! I come from one of the sunniest places in the world so this was a tough adjustment. One of the things I enjoyed and miss the most about London is the variety in Every. Single. Thing!!  

London living showed me that with the right support structure all things are possible. I think one of the ways I have changed is that my level of tenacity has been boosted, ‘try just one more time’ has become a self-cheer and part of my way of doing things.  

What have you done since graduating from Birkbeck? 

I am currently employed as the Head of Solution Mapping at the Accelerator Lab under United Nations Development (UNDP) in Namibia. The accelerator Labs are the UNDP’s new service offering that works with people, governments, and the private sector to reimagine development for the 21st century. Together with the Head of Experimentation and Head of Exploration our main objective at the #AccLabNam is to support the UNDP Country Office in addressing wicked complex challenges in Namibia. At the lab we hope to create people-centred solutions “where today’s moonshots1 become tomorrow’s breakthroughs.” 

I landed a job which combines my social responsibility and design background and innovation at the United Nations Development Programme, which was on my vision board as a dream employer. 

My journey has been a little unusual, I started as an industrial designer but now work in development. The one thing that has remained consistent is that at the heart of it all, my work has always been about people so if you would like to keep people at the centre of your work, my advice would be, as cliché as it might sound, remember why you started and how it can contribute to the big picture of not leaving anyone behind.  

What advice would you give other people thinking of studying at Birkbeck?

Do it! You will have the best time, challenging at times and in times like that you can pop over to The George Birkbeck bar. 
😊  

Why businesses fail: Financial management

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Welcome to the Why businesses fail series. This is the final instalment of the series that delves into the reasons for businesses failing and offering solutions. This series was launched by Lucy Robinson of Birkbeck Futures and Ghazala Zia from Windsor Swan. In this blog, they share why financial planning should be high on the list of priorities for new businesses and start ups.  

Lucy Robinson is the Employability Consultant for Business and Enterprise at Birkbeck Futures. She runs the Pioneer programme for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs and hosts an enterprise series on the #FuturesPodcast.

Ghazala Zia is a Venture Capital Advisor at Windsor Swan, a boutique London business advisory firm. She has an extensive legal background and currently specialises in advising start-ups of all stages on funding, strategy and business analysis.

Young businesses often prioritise hiring team members to focus on technology and sales. Obviously, these are very significant elements of the start-up, but neglecting the management of finances is a common reason businesses might fail.

A very common reason for a business failing is running out of money. Frequently, entrepreneurs will burn through cash to the brink and then be left with two to three months’ worth of cash, which is really unattractive to investors. This comes back to investors wanting to secure a return on investment and showing poor financial management makes you high-risk. Instead, having eight to twelve months’ worth of cash indicates that you’ve got time to grow your business and doesn’t come off as desperate.

In the beginning, having access to someone who performs a CFO-type function could be the difference between succeeding and failing. This doesn’t have to be a full-time team member if that’s not feasible, as this is a function that can be outsourced fairly easily. Essentially, this is someone to discuss how you allocate your costs, draw up your financial model, and manage your finances day-to-day for the business. Think about this before you receive funding, as they can also help you plan ahead. Showing investors that you’ve taken this initiative is also a big plus in terms of your trustworthiness.

The misconception is often that we don’t need to hire a CFO or shouldn’t spend money on this, as an accountant can perform the same function. Whilst accountants are great at what they do, their role is more about looking backwards than forwards. In essence, planning ahead financially isn’t exactly their purpose. When looking at the finances for your start-up, it’s speculative and forward-looking – largely making educated guesses. So, you need someone with this skill set, which is more likely to be a financial specialist who’s worked in start-ups before.

Read more from the Why Businesses Fail series:

 

Meet our staff: Professor Almuth McDowall

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Meet Professor Almuth McDowall, Assistant Dean for Organizational Psychology. We briefly caught up with her to discuss what she enjoys about working at Birkbeck and what she likes to do in her spare time.

I have worked at Birkbeck since 2014, and have been Assistant Dean for Organizational Psychology since 2016. In some ways, it’s been a homecoming after 30 years, as I started my UK academic education here at Birkbeck with training in systemic therapy.

What do I enjoy most about Birkbeck?

I love everything about Birkbeck, as I keep saying and genuinely mean that this is the nicest and most collegial bunch of people I have ever worked with. Our executive team

Head of Department & Senior Lecturer in Organizational Psychology

in BEI has been catching up weekly and sometimes daily, our focus is on supporting each other to plan for the uncertainty ahead; my colleagues in OP have been going the extra mile to support all our students. Human connection matters so much, particularly in these challenging times. Birkbeck students are the best. We salute you. I can’t wait for face to face lectures to begin again. I always make a point of checking in with the group, no matter how large or small and ask how they are doing. Our students make so many sacrifices to join us and learn. Huge respect!

What is most challenging about my job?

Well, let’s put it that way – academics don’t necessarily want to be managed. We relish autonomy and freedom in our work. But let’s face it, there is a job to do which involves common tasks. So coordination and getting joint agreement can be a challenge.

Describe Birkbeck in 3 words

Inspiring, eclectic, connected

What do I enjoy when I am not working?

As a former professional dancer, I spend a good part of my salary going to see the arts – classical ballet, modern dance and hard rock in equal measures. I am a regular at the Almuth dancingRoyal Opera House! I still teach dance-based fitness classes – in fact, some at Birkbeck. This helps me feel grounded and also makes me a better lecturer. In dance classes, you always have to be at least two steps ahead mentally. This is good practice to have in any lecture – stops you from ‘mentally cruising’!

Can you tell us about a good book you read, a film you watched or place you visited?

I love London and London parks, we are so lucky. During the lockdown, I have rediscovered rollerblading. I go to Burgess Park just off the Old Kent Road. On sunny days, this is not only ideal for skating around the park but also people watching. Last time I went one person was practising the saxophone (beautiful!), another group doing Salsa, all socially distanced of course, and Canada Geese were having a serious fight in the lake, scaring us all. It’s a really buzzy and very London Park – go and visit.

Many Days Late and Many Dollars Short: COVID-19 Institutionalised Racism and the Black British Experience

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Dr William Ackah, Lecturer in Community and Voluntary Sector studies, reflects on how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting Black, Asian and other global majority heritages.

I watched my first virtual funeral this week. I and around 80 others joined the 15 or so people who were physically present in Bristol UK to say goodbye to an amazing woman. I first met this woman nearly 20 years ago, when I moved to the city. She was then recovering from a brain tumour operation. My wife and I would give her a ride to our local church and on the way she would tell us stories about her nursing career in Britain and the obstacles she had to overcome as woman of Jamaican heritage to gain recognition in her profession. She would talk with pride about her children making lives for themselves in the UK and in the United States and of her dream that when she was able to drive again, she would buy herself a Jaguar. I never quite believed that she would get the car, but lo and behold eventually she did. She was the quite the character, one of a number of wonderful people in that congregation in St Pauls in the heart of the city.

I fondly remember tasty lunches with people of Indian heritage, playing games with families from Singapore, becoming a godfather to a daughter of Malawian descent, being pastored by a man of white south African descent and praying and fasting with Nigerian descendants, Guyanese, Ghanaians, Jamaicans, Brazilians, Romanians, Croatians, Australians and white and black British. In that small church we weaved an international tapestry that criss-crossed continents, cultures and identities. Doctors mingled with taxi drivers, who talked to cleaners, dentists, lawyers, barbers and cooks. It was a living, breathing community with a network that was global in its reach and connections. The death of one the precious members of that community at this time is a very hard pill to swallow.

The bitterness of death is made even harder by the fact that the precious life of this woman will barely register outside of her immediate community. She alongside so many others will invariably be reduced to a BAME statistic. Night after night via the media and the data machine of the day, complex individuals with amazing stories and profound life experiences are reduced to racialised entities. In this reduction they are robbed of their humanity and their dignity. In life they faced discrimination in death they face denigration by statistics.

The primary data sets that reference the Black British experience primarily tell their/our story in proportion or disproportion to the ‘white’ population. The value of Black lives therefore according to the data only exists in relation to ‘whiteness’.  This invariably leads to them/us becoming a freak side show. Them/us are people that require further research and investigation, as opposed to being human beings that first and foremost need support and protection!

The statistics reveal that people from Black, Asian, and other global majority heritages are dying in some cases at four times, the rate that ‘white’ people are. A question that should be asked is why is this public health disaster only warranting calls for a public enquiry and a Public Health England investigation? We might not know why they/us are more prone to the virus, but we do know without question that they/us are particularly vulnerable so why are they/us not being shielded as a matter of priority? Why are they/us not being placed on automatic furlough?  Why are the circumstances around Black deaths not considered a national health emergency that demands immediate action?

Why oh why yet again after Windrush, Grenfell and so many other countless failings by the authorities of this nation are Black citizens once again left to suffer and die? Time after time like clockwork all we hear are words of regret and the promise of an investigation. Is that really all we are worth? Is this nation pathologically predisposed to continually s…t on its non-white citizens?

When a migrant descendant doctor, nurse, care worker, bus driver, supermarket assistant dies the impact often goes far beyond that of their immediate family. ‘Successful’ migrants and their descendants are often at the apex of complex and unfolding pyramids of influence. Their finances, knowledge and influence support communities and individuals both locally and globally. Where the state is absent here and abroad these women and men are often a vital cog in sustaining families and communities. COVID-19 is fracturing these community structures and the state through its lack of action to protect its ‘global majority’ citizens is adding salt to the wounds.

The country faces challenging times ahead. How we treat minorities and the vulnerable in a time of crisis is a true test of how ‘Great’ a nation we are. Britain’s Black, Asian and other descendant communities with origins from all over the globe have demonstrated once again their courage, loyalty, and integrity to support the nation in its time of need. What will the nation do in return? We need a systematic and comprehensive plan backed by substantial resources to eradicate racialised discrimination from our society. It is ultimately the only way to end the curse of the BAME label and stats with all their marginalising characteristics and connotations. There are many lessons that the nation needs to learn from this life-changing event, but one must be that it is time to end the madness of racialised inequality in this country once and for all.

 

 

 

 

How my MA work placement helped me kick start my career in the Arts

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Birkbeck alumna, Florencia Nannetti de Bella who studied MA History of Art at Birkbeck details how she started her career in the arts, from work placements to freelancing, to now starting a full-time role while working remotely.

Florencia Nannetti de Bella

Florencia Nannetti de Bella

On Monday 20 April, I started a new job as Community and Visitor Engagement Officer at the Museum of Cambridge. This has been, as you can imagine, a very unusual experience, given the circumstances. However, I could not be more thrilled about undertaking this post for many reasons, and I want to tell you about it.

First of all, let me tell you a bit more about how I got here. In 2017, I enrolled on a full-time History of Art MA course at Birkbeck. I had undertaken several courses in Arts Education and Visual Arts before, but this course at Birkbeck compelled me for a particular reason: it offered the opportunity to do a work placement at a cultural institution for 3 months.

At least in my case, I discovered quite quickly that breaking into the arts and culture sector could be difficult without enough experience. And although I had worked extensively as a freelance art facilitator in galleries and schools, it felt like I needed something more solid. So I figured that doing a work placement as part of my studies was a good place to start.

While enrolled on the Work Placement module, I had sessions with the tutor Sarah Thomas and the rest of the students to reflect on my practice. This is not something you usually get to do when you are working or doing a placement outside university, and it added so much to the experience. To have been able to discuss what you’re doing, the challenges you’re facing and the things you learn, added a whole new level of knowledge. In this case, it helped me become a reflective professional, and therefore improve my performance.

I had it very clear in my mind what I wanted to do for my placement: I wanted to be part of an Education Team. There were many more placements related to curation, but I was lucky to find one with the Creative Learning Team at Alexandra Palace.

Anna Gordon, from the Careers Advice Team, was brilliant at helping me with my application and interview. If you haven’t heard of the team, I would recommend you look them up and get in touch with them. In preparation for the work placement, Anna not only provided some great sessions on how to prepare your CV and cover letter, but she also provided 1 to 1 sessions. She carefully went through the application pack with me, and helped me tweak my CV accordingly. She gave me homework on this, for us to review together, and then helped me prepare for my interview.

One of the things that have impacted me the most from these sessions has been how she taught me how to approach an application. And most importantly, she helped me understand the skills that I have that I can offer to employers. This was so empowering and gave me more confidence to apply for the jobs that I really wanted.

I would certainly take this particular time to get in touch with the Birkbeck Careers Advice Team and work on your CV and cover letter. What better time to tackle it? Many new remote posts are appearing, so you might also want to consider that as an option.

It was a tricky time, when I was working, studying, and doing the placement at the same time. It was not easy, but was absolutely do-able. You will have to be extremely organised, planning ahead was key to navigating that period successfully.

The placement lasted three months, and it was great. My manager at Alexandra Palace, Isobel Aptaker, would take me to all her meetings, let me see how she went about doing certain tasks, answer my questions, and discuss challenges of the role, and of working at this venue in particular and others she had worked at. It was very useful, because I could get a real sense of how things are done, and the dynamics of the job. It also gave me a chance to really put to the test whether this was something I wanted as a career or not. A work placement can be a great way to discover if something you thought you liked, is actually what you want. Don’t regret it if you discover it is not.

Increasingly, I would have more and more tasks with a good degree of responsibility within the Ally Pally Learning team, which was good to test my skills and learn new ones. You don’t need to know it all when you undertake a placement, and it is good if your manager can give you challenging tasks that will help you grow, and build your knowledge. This is something you should discuss with the manager and your tutor. After all, you need to make it work for you.

After I graduated, I continued doing freelance work, and kept an eye open for other opportunities. My freelance experience has also been invaluable to expand my skills set and grow my professional network after the placement.

Last July, I got a very nice position as the Education and Training coordinator for a team of energy advisers, at an environmental charity. The experience from my work placement, which I spoke about during my interview, was key to getting this role. On this topic, I would recommend you keep a log of every new job or placement: it will help you keep track of everything you learn and do, so then it’s easier for you to give examples of your skills.

Starting a job in lockdown: why it has been good in many ways

In March this year, I came across this lovely post from the Museum of Cambridge, and just before the quarantine started, I managed to attend my interview. Consequently I was offered the role, which I accepted. The week right after, the country went into lockdown. However, Cambridge City Council, who is funding my position and the projects I will deliver, and the museum, were very keen for me to undertake the post remotely.

Albeit unusual, this has had a lot of positive benefits. Firstly, I could tackle my induction in a record time! I went through a lot of online training modules and documents that usually take a bit longer to go through, as you normally have to do other things around it if you are on site. In addition, since all of our cultural and engagement offer has to be re-arranged to fit the current circumstances, I have had to spend a good deal of time figuring the alternatives out. This is certainly testing and improving my planning skills and my creativity. I have to find alternatives, adapt activities, think of new ways to continue to build community through collections with all these new challenges we are facing. On the down side, I cannot familiarise myself with the collection and the building. However, this is bringing me closer to the wonderful team of volunteers and the Collections team, whom I rely upon to understand the museum’s dynamics.

Something that has always interested me is work within the arts and culture sector, and social issues, which in my opinion, have to involve engaging with local communities. One of the things that worried me the most about a lockdown, was that the voices of those communities, especially minorities, might go unheard again, and that we might lose the sense of connectedness between us. In this new job, I have the chance to try and stop that from happening.

It didn’t happen from one day to the other, but with patience, dedication, and the help of the very talented professionals I have mentioned, I was able to find the job I really wanted.

FURTHER INFORMATION
• Birkbeck School of Arts
• Birkbeck Futures

Why Businesses Fail: Business Plans & Financial Models

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Welcome to the Why businesses fail series. This is the fourth of five blogs that delve into the reasons for businesses failing and offering solutions. This series was launched by Lucy Robinson of Birkbeck Futures and Ghazala Zia from Windsor Swan. In this blog, they share why having a carefully considered business plan is essential to the success of your business.  

Lucy Robinson is the Employability Consultant for Business and Enterprise at Birkbeck Futures. She runs the Pioneer programme for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs and hosts an enterprise series on the #FuturesPodcast.

Ghazala Zia is a Venture Capital Advisor at Windsor Swan, a boutique London business advisory firm. She has an extensive legal background, and currently specialises in advising start-ups of all stages on funding, strategy and business analysis.

We all know the importance of a decent pitch deck when it comes to presenting a business idea to investors, but ultimately, they’ll be looking at the detail behind the pitch when making their decisions. Once you’ve started your business and got a few customers, you should be looking at your business plan and preparing it for an investor. This seems early but is the right time because that’s how long it takes to prepare for investment.

Investors might not ask for a business plan straight away, often they’ll request to see this after a few meetings. Entrepreneurs often wait until they’re explicitly asked before creating a business plan, which isn’t setting yourself up for success.

In reality, a business plan is a living, breathing document, not just something you rustle up on request for the purpose of your funding application to an investor. Showing an investor, a rushed, poorly considered, or insufficiently detailed business plan won’t fill them with confidence.

A detailed and carefully considered business plan isn’t just important for impressing investors – it’s one of the most important tools in your arsenal as an entrepreneur, and when used correctly it can be incredibly valuable for planning ahead, making decisions and staying on track.

The business plan should work for the life cycle of the business, which is approximately 3-5 years. Consider the milestones you’ll reach and issues you’ll face within this timeframe. It should be a professionally written document that you and your team refer to time and time again, meaning that everyone is literally on the same page. It’s not static, and should be amended as you go along. This allows you the flexibility to adapt to new circumstances and continue planning ahead.

As well as your business plan, you also need a detailed, well-evidenced and realistic financial model. The first question to answer here is that of why your business needs funding in the first place. Where are you hoping the business will go in the next 3-5 years? What specifically will the funding be spent on? How have you arrived at these costs? How will the meeting of these needs lead to more growth and profit? Specificity is needed here, as investors awarding significant amounts of money will want to know exactly where that money is going, and how it contributes to their return on investment.

You also should be proportionate and realistic about the amount of funding you ask for. There’s no exact rule about how much funding to request, as it ultimately comes down to your planning, but you shouldn’t expect to waltz out of your first investment meeting with one million pounds. It’s speculative at the early stages, but you can come up with a good financial model that’s relevant to the type of investor you’re approaching if you take the time to look at the detail of your business. Seeking the guidance of a financial advisor is a good step to take here, as they’ll know the right questions to ask you.

When it comes to your business plan and financial model, sit down and spend a lot of time on these. This is why investors often prefer to back entrepreneurs who’ve already tried and failed, because they know the steps to take and the questions to ask themselves.

Read more from the Why Businesses Fail series:

 

Personal Protective Equipment and the ‘Face-Mask’ saga!

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Professor Sanjib Bhakta from the Department of Biological Sciences discusses the various forms of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) available and how effective they may be in shielding us from catching COVID-19.

NHS workers in PPE

Medics from across the NHS practise in full Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Although PPE should be used as a last resort to reduce health risks at work, it is often essential for the health workers and laboratory researchers to use PPE. Now, practicing this has become more crucial than ever as we must consider; lab coats, gloves, safety glasses and face-masks more widely and wisely in our microbiology research laboratories with the ongoing global challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic!

It is our (both employer and employee) primary responsibility in making the workplace safe and includes providing/following instructions, procedures, training, and supervision to encourage people to work safely and responsibly. If PPE is ultimately needed after implementing other controls of substances hazardous to health (COSHH), we must provide this for our employees free of charge. We must choose the equipment carefully (see selection details below) and ensure employees are trained to use it properly and know how to detect and report any faults.

The right mask for the right task: There are several different types of face-masks on the market with a complicated grading system. It can be difficult to distinguish the type of mask you may need or if you need it at all, so here is a useful breakdown.

The right mask for the right task: There are several different types of face-masks on the market with a complicated grading system. It can be difficult to distinguish the type of mask you may need or if you need it at all, so here is a useful breakdown.

Surgical mask

Surgical mask

Surgical masks: These are the most commonly encountered masks, frequently worn in a clinical setting. These masks contain a 3-ply barrier and do not provide a high level of protection for the wearer. Studies that compare different surgical masks by manufacturers find significant variability in their filtration potential. Depending on the manufacturer, a surgical mask can filter particles at a varied level.

Cloth masks: Cloth masks have become a popular alternative globally for social distancing. While they may create a more practical solution than surgical masks as can be worn for a longer period, they still do not block specific particles from passing through. There is little data on their efficacy.

These types of masks can be attributed to a lack of regulation over manufacturing, as well as the poor peripheral seal around the face. The porous design and gaps forming on the cheek and neck area allow airborne particles to leak through the mask. They are most effective in potentially protecting others from bodily fluids expelled by the wearer. For example, a sick (with or without clinical symptoms) person can wear this to protect others from droplets (of varied size) produced while coughing or sneezing.

Respirator

Respirator

Respirator: A “respirator”, that is validated by a regulatory body, typically have an adequate seal and an air filter that regulates what particles can pass through, making them effective against airborne contaminants and aerosolized droplets. Amongst the respirators, there are disposable and reusable versions of the mask. The disposable respirators (left) are not meant to be used for more than a few hours. The reusable masks, also known as “half-face masks” (right) have cartridges to replace the air filter after several hours of consecutive use. Amongst the reusable masks, one should look for filters that block particulate matter not just gas/vapor only, to protect against pathogens. Also, users should always carry out a pre-use seal check or fit check.

Face shields: Face shields may be advantageous because they provide a single barrier against mucous membranes on the face (portals of microbial entry i.e. eyes, ears, nose, mouth). They have been shown to reduce a person’s exposure to acutely expelled large droplets. However, smaller particles can stay in the air longer and make their way around the face shield. That’s why face shields should be worn in combination with another PPE, such as a mask. Another major advantage of the face shield is that they substantially reduce surface contamination of respirators, prolonging their use.

Consider while purchasing: a combination of letters and numbers that specifies what particles the mask allows to pass through the filter. Note, respiratory pathogens are found in water-based aerosol droplets (e.g. sneezing, coughing etc).

 

Country Respirator Classification
 

United States (NIOSH)

 N95 (95% non-oily particles) N99 (99% non-oily particles) N100 (99.97% non-oily particles)
European Norm (EN)

 

 

 FFP1 (80% particles) FFP2 (94% particles) FFP3 (99.95% particles)

The letters ‘N’ and ‘FFP’ stand for ‘not oil resistant’ and ‘filtering face piece’. Next is the numbering system, which are as follows: 95 = effectively blocks out 95% of airborne particles,
99 = effectively blocks out 99% of airborne particles,
100 = effectively blocks out 99.97% of airborne particles. Once you understand that breakdown, it is easy to understand the masks that other countries manufacture.

Further information:

Why businesses fail: customer acquisition strategy

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Welcome to the Why businesses fail series. This is the third of five blogs that delve into the reasons for businesses failing and offering solutions. This series was launched by Lucy Robinson of Birkbeck Futures and Ghazala Zia from Windsor Swan. In this blog, they share how you can narrow down your customer and find an effective marketing strategy to attract and retain them.  

Lucy Robinson is the Employability Consultant for Business and Enterprise at Birkbeck Futures. She runs the Pioneer programme for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs and hosts an enterprise series on the #FuturesPodcast.

Ghazala Zia is a Venture Capital Advisor at Windsor Swan, a boutique London business advisory firm. She has an extensive legal background, and currently specialises in advising start-ups of all stages on funding, strategy and business analysis.

Once the product or service has been tested, it’s not enough to assume that it will speak for itself. Customers don’t come without being invited. It’s crucial to have a detailed customer acquisition strategy and a relevant, targeted marketing strategy alongside in order to succeed.

Firstly, define your customer. Not just ‘young women’ or ‘professional millennials’, but very specifically identified. Think about gender, age group, location, profession, and more. Similarly, your customer might not be an individual but a service provider themselves. You still need to be specific here. For example, if you want to sell to a university, who do you want to reach within the organisation? The students, the lectures, the staff? Knowing who your customers actually are is vital to the short- and long-term success of your start-up. Conducting market research tests on your intended audience is also a great way to measure if they actually want your product – often, you may be surprised by who your actual customers are.

At the early stages of a start-up, it’s wise to channel funds (even if they’re limited) into a solid marketing strategy. Test your consumer behaviour, determine advertising costs, and determine how many customers you’ll reach. Similarly, build up your brand reputation in order to garner recognition and ultimately, loyalty from your intended audience.

Customers show loyalty to authenticity, and your marketing should reflect a strong and consistent brand identity that is honest to the product itself. If you have a flashy marketing campaign but the product itself doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, you risk being slated online and by word of mouth. This is why the marketing strategy itself only holds up when the product does – which bring us back to the importance of understanding the problem you’re solving, and carrying out extensive testing on your intended audience.

Within your customer acquisition strategy, you should be familiar with certain metrics. How will you acquire your customers? What is your cost of acquisition? How much marketing do you need to spend to acquire one customer? How are you going to retain that customer?

Read about how to identify a need in the market and attract investors in the first two blogs of the series.

 

Cancel the Window-Cleaning Contract!

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Professor Jerry White, Professor of Modern London History at Birkbeck recounts how the College faired during the Second World War. This blog is part of the 200th-anniversary series, marking the founding of the College and the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

Bomb damage to Birkbeck Library

Bomb damage to Birkbeck Library. The area around Birkbeck College was bombed during the air-raid of 10-11 May 1941. The resultant fire destroyed the Library. Image courtesy of Birkbeck History collection.

Most of London University shut down on the declaration of war in September 1939. The headquarters at Senate House was taken over by the Ministry of Information and most colleges were evacuated (like much of the BBC, many government departments and most of London’s hospitals) to areas thought to be less vulnerable to bombing. University College shifted to Aberystwyth and elsewhere in Wales, King’s to Bristol, LSE and Bedford to Cambridge, and so on. Birkbeck, its London roots deeper than any of its sister colleges and so unable to be useful to Londoners if sent to the country, resolved to close on the outbreak of war and for a time did so. But the war failed to open with a bang and in the absence of air attack, or apparently any likelihood of bombing for the immediate future, Birkbeck reopened at the end of October 1939. Indeed, it didn’t merely reopen but expanded its offer: for the first time, extensive daytime teaching was made available for those London students unable to follow their chosen university colleges out of the capital. And despite the blackout, a wide range of evening teaching also resumed.

Birkbeck was not yet at its present Bloomsbury site. That building contract had been let but work had to stop in July 1939 because of the uncertain international situation – contractors were given more pressing projects to work on, both civil defence and industrial – and in fact the new college would not be completed and occupied till 1951. So Birkbeck was still in its late-Victorian location in Breams and Rolls Buildings, straddling the City and Holborn boundary west of Fetter Lane, incidentally sharing a party wall with the Daily Mirror building. It had some near misses during the main blitz of 1940-41 and narrowly escaped total destruction in the great City fire raid of 29 December 1940, which opened a view – never before seen – of St Paul’s from the college windows. From that time on all places of work had to arrange a fireguard of staff to be in the building at night time to deal with incendiaries and raise the fire brigade if necessary. There followed nearly three-and-a-half years of relative quiet, with sporadic bombing of London and the Baby Blitz of early 1944 rarely troubling the college and its work. But Birkbeck would nearly meet its nemesis from a V1 flying bomb (or doodle-bug) at 3.07am on 19 July 1944.

Dr A. Graham was a member of the college fireguard that night, on the 1-3am watch.

I wakened Jackson [the College accountant] to do the 3-5am spell…. We were saying a few words to one another when we heard The Daily Mirror alarm go. Suddenly the bomb, which had merely been a near one until that second … dived without its engine stopping. Its noise increased enormously; Jackson and I looked at one another in silence; and I remember wondering what was going to happen next. What did happen was all over before we realised it had happened … a gigantic roar from the engine of the bomb, not the noise of an explosion, but a vast clattering of material falling and breaking, a great puff of blast and soot all over the room, and then utter quiet. Massey [another fire watcher] raised his head from the bed where he had been asleep and asked what all that was….

As the dust settled Graham climbed over the flattened metal doors of the College and went into the street. The first thing he heard was footsteps coming at a run up Breams Buildings. It was a Metropolitan police constable: ‘he called backwards into the darkness… “It’s all right, George, it’s in the City”’; satisfying himself there were no urgent casualties he promptly disappeared. Troup Horne, the College secretary from 1919-1952, was also one of the fireguard but, not wanted till 5am, was in a makeshift bed in his office: ‘At 3.06am I was awakened by a doodle overhead. Thinking we were for it, I pulled a sheet over my head to keep the plaster out of my remaining hairs; and five seconds later the damned thing went pop.’ Horne was found ‘covered from head to foot with soot, dust, and thousands of fragments of broken glass and other bits scattered from the partition which separated the general office from his room.’ His chief assistant, Phyllis Costello, was also sleeping in the College that night and was frequently part of the fireguard. She rushed to see if he was injured and was greeted by Horne instructing, ‘Cancel the window-cleaning contract’.

Indeed, there were no windows left anywhere in the College. For some time after, a witticism coined in Fleet Street during the main Blitz, was Birkbeck’s watchword: ‘We have no panes, dear mother, now.’*

*Edward Farmer (1809?-1876), ‘The Collier’s Dying Child’: ‘I have no pain, dear mother, now.’ All the information used here comes from E.H. Warmington, A History of Birkbeck College University of London During the Second World War 1939-1945, published by Birkbeck in 1954.

Why businesses fail: Being unattractive to investors

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Welcome to Why businesses fail, the second of five blogs that delves into the reasons for businesses failing and offering solutions. This series was launched by Lucy Robinson of Birkbeck Futures and Ghazala Zia from Windsor Swan. In this blog, they share some practical tips to get investors to demonstrate traction in your business and attract potential investors.

Lucy Robinson is the Employability Consultant for Business and Enterprise at Birkbeck Futures. She runs the Pioneer programme for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs and hosts an enterprise series on the #FuturesPodcast.

Ghazala Zia is a Venture Capital Advisor at Windsor Swan, a boutique London business advisory firm. She has an extensive legal background and currently specialises in advising start-ups of all stages on funding, strategy and business analysis.

Being unattractive to investors is a primary reason why some start-ups fail, and there’s a few pitfalls to avoid here. One big one is not showing traction.

Having a strong and evidenced market need for your product or service is the best way to demonstrate traction. By traction, we don’t mean a few thousand likes or free users – that’s not enough for an investor. It needs to be clear that this engagement is converting into paying customers, which is a trackable and easily identifiable metric. Engagement without custom isn’t traction or validation of your product. It could be a sign that you’ve got great marketing or that you’ve got a particularly active customer base, but if they’re not actually buying your product it suggests they don’t really need it.

One metric you should always know as part of your financial model is how many customers you need to stay viable. Before you start pouring hours into creating content, or spending time and money adding new features to your product, ask yourself: “What value am I adding?”. If the effort, energy and resources you use won’t actually convert to more sales, you should consider if it’s really necessary.

Investors vary with the level of traction they’d like to see, and different types of investors look for different amounts. For example, if you’re an early-stage start-up you’re likely looking at individual investors like Angels. Angels want to get involved at an early stage and take a punt on your business, if they see something in you. At a later stage, when you’re in revenue, you might use Seed Investors. Seed Investors get involved when you can demonstrate more growth that they want to get on board with. Generally speaking, investors want to make ten times return on their investment. This means you need to demonstrate traction which suggests they’ll be able to achieve this by investing in you.

Further information: