In this podcast season, curated in partnership with Somerset Chamber of Commerce, hgkc are exploring Somerset with prominent business leaders who have made their lives and their careers in the county. In this episode, Peter Quintana speaks to Karl Tucker.

Karl joined Yeo Valley in 1996 as they were expanding and developing the organic and quirky brand that we see today, rising to become their Chair in 2021. In 2017 he joined the Heart of the South LEP, becoming their Chair in 2019, and then went on to become chair of the Great South West in 2023, one of the few public private partnerships in the UK, along with the Midland Engine and the Northern Powerhouse, receiving funding from the Government.

He talks about his utopia - to see all 4000 jobs at Agratas filled by young people coming out of college now and doing apprenticeships. He is acutely aware of the challenges facing Somerset and the rest of the Great South West – to persuade inward investors that the education and skills sector will produce the workforce needed, and that workforce has the infrastructure – housing, transport, broadband – to live.

He is not afraid to say that he thinks we underestimate the scale of the problem, but he also says that the willingness and desire to make it better for investors is there, and if we can get this right, there is nowhere better in the country to locate and live and work and operate from.

If you would like find out more about the Great South West, visit their website here, or you can contact Karl here.

If you would like more information about hgkc help clients navigate their business towards their goals, please contact us here.

In this podcast season, curated in partnership with Somerset Chamber of Commerce, hgkc are exploring Somerset with prominent business leaders who have made their lives and their careers in the county. In this episode, Peter Quintana speaks to Mark Bolton.

Born in the North-East, Mark started out as a freelance graphic designer supplementing his income with part-time lecturing. He must have good at it, because soon he was lecturing full-time, then moving into management.

A serendipitous meeting with the then Dean of Yeovil College (Mark couldn’t have put a pin in the map to locate Yeovil at the time!), brought him to the college as Director of Employer Engagement, and then in 2019 he became CEO and Principal of the college himself.

His tenure has seen the college double the size of the student population and increase the proportion of students who live outside Yeovil to almost 50%.

Add to that over 400 apprenticeships in engineering, of which 150 are at the higher level, a close relationship with all the major employers in the area, particularly Leonardo, and his claim to be creating opportunities for young people to realise great career opportunities has considerable credibility.

As he says, when you can access the level of support that Yeovil and the other colleges offer, have leading edge engineering companies on your doorstep, and enjoy all the benefits that come from living in Somerset, why would anybody want to be anywhere else?

If you would like find out more about how Yeovil College work with the community of businesses in South Somerset, North and West Dorset, or find out more from Mark about the opportunities Yeovil College could help you realise, you can contact him here.

If you would like more information about hgkc help clients navigate their business towards their goals, please contact us here.

In this podcast season, curated in partnership with Somerset Chamber of Commerce, hgkc are exploring Somerset with prominent business leaders who have made their lives and their careers in the county. In this episode, Peter Quintana speaks to Harry Singer.

Leading a company founded by his Grandfather that has just celebrated it’s 90th birthday, Harry talks with passion about the work he and his team are doing for biologists all around the world to accelerate science.

Describing himself and his team as lucky enough to do some really nerdy, cool high-tech work, he recognises the privilege of living in an amazing part of the world.

A stuffy old company Singer Instruments is certainly not, though, as one look at their website will tell you. He describes his Grandfather and Father as real characters, and is following in their footsteps to continue to build a company with real purpose that people want to be a part of.

But he also recognises the challenges in there being not enough bright young sparks entering the STEM sector, and the problems that historically have caused so much friction in the planning process.

If you would like find out more about the work Harry and his team at Singer Instruments does, you can contact him here.

If you would like more information about hgkc help clients navigate their business towards their goals, please contact us here.