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TECHNOLOGY REPORT

Setting up for the first time

six months as well as background on the business owners.
onsider Jemima Neal, the 14-year-old daugh- And as for finance, there are plenty of options out
ter of Sam Neal, CEO of the family-run Geoff there; Close Brothers Asset Finance, Compass Business
It doesn’t take much Neal Group. Back in September (2023) Finance, Paragon Bank and Funding Circle are just some
Printweek reported on her new apparel busi-
to set up a business: a Cness, Mima Rose, where the young Neal her- of the options.
Next comes the entity: sole trader, partnership, or lim-
good idea, graft, self designs t-shirts and hoodies which are then handed to ited company. Here Helen Thornley, a technical officer at
opportunity and of production partner Uno Group UK to be printed via a dig- the Association of Taxation Technicians, says that each
course, appropriate ital transfer process. approach has pros and cons and that “a good accountant
In order to set up the business, Neal negotiated for a
funding. However, it business development loan with her father. should be able to help with this decision”. They can be
takes thought and It’ll be interesting to see how the business progresses. found by visiting the website of any of one the profes-
planning to last the Of course, Neal’s business is going to be different to sional bodies – Google ‘how to find a qualified account-
course and become that of a new-start printer. Even so, the principles of set- ant’.
Even so, she thinks it helpful to understand some of the
successful. ting up are very similar as are the multitude of considera- basics. She points to various distinctions, noting that at
tions.
Words by First steps one end of the spectrum comes simplicity and personal
liability through sole tradership and partnerships, while
Adam Bernstein Take the first: the business plan. Budding entrepre- at the other, is a company that is owned by its sharehold-
neurs need to think about their aspirations in terms of
where they’ll start and potentially end up. This then leads ers and run by its directors.
to the next step: creating a financial plan to fund the prop- And while most will likely set up as a company,
osition which features a cashflow forecast, profit/loss Thornley notes that even seasoned directors can come off
forecasts for the next year and bank statements for the last the rails if they do not fully understand the implications of

42 PrintWeek MENA January 2024 www.printweekmena.com