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You're listening to the Decarbonisation Dialogue,
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a podcast from Salix. Welcome to Delivering on
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Climate Change, our collective challenge. Welcome
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to the Decarbonisation Dialogue. I am Hannah
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Walker and I believe that the best way to communicate
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a message is by being passionate about what you
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are talking about. Welcome to Asif Ghaffar. Asif
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is a born business innovator. He completed his
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degree in business studies in 1992 at the University
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of Bradford, and I believe continues to support
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the university as a donor to the Bradford Futures
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Fund, supporting students' challenges in assessing
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and remaining in higher education. Following
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his time at university, Azif has held many senior
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roles, including Managing Director for AME Investments
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and Non -Executive Director at Wandel. He is
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currently the CEO of BEV, the largest electrical
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vehicle charging network across Greater Manchester
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and co -founder of Aduna, which develops new
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infrastructure in the mobility, telecommunications
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and energy sectors. So welcome to Azif. Hi. Nice
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to meet you. Thank you and thank you very much
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for your time today. Can we start by talking
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a little bit about your career and what shapes
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your vision? What motivates you? I know at university
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I think you've been quoted as saying you weren't
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too sure what you were going to do or where you
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were going to and who you were going to become
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and I know you sought internships and I think
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you had a very pivotal and fundamental moment
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when you had an internship with Midland Bank
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which is of course now HSBC which I think you've
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said changed your life. and you remained in banking
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for five years but tell us in your own words
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how did you get started and what motivates you?
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So I think for me this the excitement is normally
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led by quite interesting challenges and having
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done the internship which you refer to one of
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the final year projects was to focus on a company
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or institution and make some sort of forward
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predictions and whether I had the glass ball
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to look into, but my prediction was Midland Bank
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would no longer exist on its own and it would
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be subsumed into a much larger international.
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operations and Convenient for me in my final
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year. That's what happened So I've actually submitted
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my paper and then that happened and then I got
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quite good high marks for that which was quite
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great but in terms of Opportunities and look
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at you know, all of the various roles I've done
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and the areas where I focused It's always been
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about building something new and trying to lean
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into future development So in Amy one of the
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big problems the UK has and still has today is
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what you do with waste household waste, commercial
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waste. So in Amy, I was part of the team who
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helped build out the strategy and then build
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out the business to look at how you solve that
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problem, building waste facilities all the way
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through to how you sort out collections at home
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and so on. Actually, if I fast forward to 2015
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-16, I got very interested in how technology
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and the shift in energy is going to make a massive
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difference to the way we move from A to B because
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you know for the last 50 60 years nothing's really
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evolved it's always been the same and that this
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was a pivotal moment I thought and pivotal moments
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and disruption creates opportunity and this creates
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opportunity. And indeed when I research you and
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look at your work I do read the word disruption
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and disruptor quite a lot. So I know that's going
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to be a bit of a theme and I'm going to come
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back to that in a moment. But from your experience
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across mobility and energy, what do you see as
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the biggest opportunities right now for businesses
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to contribute to net zero? Interestingly, I've
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been trying to ban the word net zero. That's
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probably a good starting point because the opportunity
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of mobility isn't necessarily always linked to
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net zero. It's actually linked to the future
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technology and the way things are developing,
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whether it's AI or whether it's autonomous vehicles
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or whether it's any combination around the way
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we move from A to B. So I got quite interested
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in 2015 thinking autonomous vehicles are coming.
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Let's get ourselves ready. This is a great business
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opportunity. probably slightly too early and
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then you kind of roll back a bit and go actually
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if you break that down the various pieces which
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could be interesting was putting telecommunications
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on highways from A to B all the way through to
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electric vehicle charging and each of these are
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new sectors and the element of disruption is
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they break the crossing boundaries so telecommunications
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are traditionally in a very straight line highway
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management in a straight line, car production
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and the OEMs in a very straight line and what
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we're finding now if you look at the car manufacturers
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they've slightly lost control of this market
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because they haven't got control of any of the
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key points apart from the metal bashing at the
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front which is producing the vehicle. That disruption
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is how I perceive the opportunity and it's a
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good example of how this change of technology
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rather than net zero is what's driving these
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massive opportunities here. And in terms of business
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there's the opportunity there's the sustainability
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and you've seen success and you've developed
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success but sustainability and commercial success
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are they in your experience of planning your
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own businesses are they compatible sustainability
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then and being a commercial success? I think
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compatibility is done by your inner core to an
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extent here. It's what you start off believing
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is the right thing to be doing. So you have to
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be blind to not see the damage we're doing to
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our environment and the damage we're going to
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leave to future generations if we don't change
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the way we operate. You talk to people about
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the 50s and the peace fog in London. you know
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people then they brought in legislation they
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brought in change in how people heated their
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homes. This is just a continuation of this story.
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If you set your business compass correctly and
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establish some core basic principles which are
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about building something which is fair we have
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a you know when we set out to build the BEV one
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of the first things we set out was we want to
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have an employee owned business. And in that
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environment, that became a core principle. By
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the very nature, I always say to the team, let's
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not think about the fact that it's sustainable
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because we're in EV. It's what else can we do?
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So when we built our four -core model, which
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is our Manchester charging oasis, we thought
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about the individual steps we could do to make
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that actually become part of your business compass.
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So planting, drainage. reuse of water, the materials
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used on site, the ongoing sustainability of that
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as well over the next 20 years and how we can
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actually manage that and create a positive outcome
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plus also involve the community. We didn't go
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into that project and just ignore the neighbours,
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we actually brought them in, we brought the councillors
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in, we invited people to events. uh all of the
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things which we weren't required to do from a
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planning perspective we did because again from
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a business compass sustainability and getting
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people involved people are interested there's
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ways of getting that kind of engagement and really
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creating that business compass and setting it
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right and that's really interesting that you
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say that so talking about electric cars most
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specifically and that kind of disruption does
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it mean and the project you've just alluded to
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does it mean that we are facing a future without
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the I suppose the petrol stations if you like
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that we're so used to seeing on on our on our
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along our high straight or on the motorway I
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mean it's a completely different idea of how
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that looks isn't it yeah it's like it's like
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asking um someone in 1900 you know where are
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you going to be where are you going to be taking
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this thing called a motor vehicle uh are you
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going to take it to a barn to go and refuel uh
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the answer was No, because there's no logic in
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that going forward. So this disruption creates
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a massive opportunity to create something different
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and an experience which is different. So people
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still think about traveling from A to B long
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distances. I have to stop on a motorway services.
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I watched really boring documentaries. I watched
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a documentary about the first motorways and motorway
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services on BBC Four. Fascinating. But actually
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people, you know, go in there to have a day out
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and have lunch and dinner and watch the odd car
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go past on the M1. That was exciting then. But
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now there's never going to be enough space and
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enough power for that model to work going forward.
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So what's the next model? The next model is at
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every junction, we have a coffee stop or a food
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stop or a shopping stop. people are able to charge
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and it kind of fits in around what they're doing
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on that journey at the point when they need to
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go the loo or grab a coffee or change a nappy
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or walk the dog and so on so there are rare times
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in your life where you're able to actually create
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something which is going to have a hundred year
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life going forward or a 50 year life going forward
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and that's where we are honestly that's where
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i believe we are sitting today and that responsibility
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which is why i go back to that business compass
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of setting that right and thinking about it in
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the right way because it's going to have an impact
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not just on what we do as a business but also
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guide the sector and guide this market and how
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it kind of builds out in the UK and maybe elsewhere
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in the world. I hear a lot from people worried
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about and we will talk about obviously Greater
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Manchester and the work going on there but hear
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a lot of people who are worried about that buying
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or acquiring an electric. vehicle because of
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that lack of charging infrastructure and being
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making that long journey on the motorway wherever
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they might be going and worrying about will they
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be able to charge and or will there be a big
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queue and will it take me longer to charge and
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then you started talking about hundreds of years
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ago when people might sit and watch cars which
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gets me thinking about which takes me into another
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whole realm of transport being in the airport
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and my father was saying to me, I just go to
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the, sometimes I've gone to the airport arrivals
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just to watch the people arrive and meet their
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family and friends. So that's got me thinking
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about something else altogether. But going back
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to, because it is a wonderful place to be in
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the arrivals at the airport. And I get it, I
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completely get that. So can we talk a moment
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about your work? in transport for Greater Manchester,
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how you see the electric vehicle charging infrastructure
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evolving to support where we're going on this
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journey in Manchester. Yeah, so we started off
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life in Greater Manchester. That was our first
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contract working with Transport for Greater Manchester
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and we actually upgraded their network. they
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received central government funding so we upgraded
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the network and then now we manage that and then
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over time we've added extra bits on so taxi charging,
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car clubs have been added on and there's been
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some expansion change in the existing network
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as well. The idea which and I'm not just saying
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this because they were our first customer but
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I love our customer in Greater Manchester because
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They had a very clear idea, clear strategy and
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also knew what their role was. And they were
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therefore very clear to me what my role was.
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And my role was you go out, you're good at building
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networks, running networks and getting high performance
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and getting customer engagement. And their role
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was to set the policy, set the strategy and then
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create space for that to actually happen and
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give guidance and support. And so that whole
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contract is a contract not just between us and
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the public authority you've got the 10 local
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authorities thrown in but for me it's with the
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residents of Greater Manchester because how do
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you create that change and how do you create
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an environment where you know they were one of
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the early adopters as a as a region I started
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off looking at Greater Manchester like a country
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in itself and saying we've got nearly three and
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a half four million people how do you get them
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engaged plus you got nearly half a million to
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a million visitors coming in on a regular basis.
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We talk about reducing car usage on the road.
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Unfortunately, the network of public services
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isn't great and it's going to take a while. So
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we need that alternative. That alternative can
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be something which people can really get engaged
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with. We knew that the government funding had
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limitations, so we then worked with Trafford
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Council, Stockport Council, and we followed Noah's
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Ark principle, which was we took a ward, and
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we worked out a distance of where we should at
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least try and get minimum number of charges in
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to be a minimum, hence Noah's Ark element, but
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try and see if we can put more in in that particular
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location, and then work your way through all
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of the borough and make sure you've got nice
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spread of rapid, ultra rapid and AC charging.
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So for the various dwell behavior and activity,
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we had long conversations, shall we add in overstay
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charges? I'm like, no, this is bonkers. This
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is the stage where we really want people to get
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engaged and get quite excited. So instead we
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did launches. If you know the weather of Manchester,
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I remember one launch in Trafford where when
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I got on the train to come home, I literally
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was taking water out of my shoe. It was that
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wet that particular day. Well, we did launches.
00:14:47.009 --> 00:14:50.610
We created noise. We got people engaged. We did
00:14:50.610 --> 00:14:53.669
free charging days where people could come and
00:14:53.669 --> 00:14:56.389
charge for free and try it out. We went and stood
00:14:56.389 --> 00:14:58.830
in car parks and showed people how to do this.
00:14:59.149 --> 00:15:04.159
It was really a great way of getting gave us
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:07.179
loads of experience, loads of understanding,
00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:11.100
but fundamentally really turned our focus from
00:15:11.100 --> 00:15:14.019
coming from an infrastructure space, really to
00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:17.639
recognize this is all about customer and customer
00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:20.960
behavior. If you get that right, we're a winner
00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.500
and the regions we're in will be massive winners.
00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:26.299
If you get that wrong, everyone's a loser and
00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:29.080
this is not going to work. That really creates
00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:31.259
that shift in the way we're thinking about this.
00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:34.059
which is why now if you ask me what's my focus,
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:36.279
I may have come from infrastructure, but I'm
00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:40.259
100 % want to be the number one charge point
00:15:40.259 --> 00:15:43.480
operator in the UK from a customer perspective.
00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:46.100
That's my real target, the goal as a business.
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.120
And when you go into the community, because you've
00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:51.379
mentioned community a few times now and the customer,
00:15:51.620 --> 00:15:54.019
obviously customer is key business, but you're
00:15:54.019 --> 00:15:56.759
going into the community and a lot of those people
00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:01.019
might not ever become customers, but what What
00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:04.899
are you hearing from them when you've moved,
00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:06.659
when you've been out on the ground? What do you
00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:09.419
hear from people about this change in infrastructure
00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:13.820
and this disruption? I have spent a lot of time
00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:18.840
in car parks just lurking around. I make everything,
00:16:18.980 --> 00:16:22.659
so in our team culture, it's everybody who joins,
00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:26.799
early doors, you go to a site, you go and charge.
00:16:27.220 --> 00:16:29.799
Some people, we film what they're doing to just
00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:33.480
observe. what doesn't work and works. Then on
00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:35.620
a regular basis, we have something called customer
00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:38.679
squads, people around talking to customers. We
00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:41.000
go to our sites, we go to our competitor sites,
00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:42.659
but we're just trying to learn and understand.
00:16:43.100 --> 00:16:46.120
What we really hear is changing. The conversation
00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:50.539
number one was a very forgiving customer base.
00:16:50.909 --> 00:16:53.470
you know if that didn't work oh why didn't that
00:16:53.470 --> 00:16:55.789
work and lots of conversation but why it didn't
00:16:55.789 --> 00:16:58.509
work the next wave of customers and we are getting
00:16:58.509 --> 00:17:02.210
into early mass adoption stage now that customer
00:17:02.210 --> 00:17:04.930
isn't forgiving because why should they be when
00:17:04.930 --> 00:17:07.430
you buy a mobile phone and you use your mobile
00:17:07.430 --> 00:17:10.190
phone and the apps the app doesn't work you don't
00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.609
say oh it doesn't matter it's a new it's a new
00:17:12.609 --> 00:17:15.089
sector therefore i'll be forgiving you're actually
00:17:15.089 --> 00:17:18.210
quite angry or quite upset And to actually make
00:17:18.210 --> 00:17:19.869
the customer experience the best, you really
00:17:19.869 --> 00:17:22.430
got to be in the weeds with the customer and
00:17:22.430 --> 00:17:26.170
try and solve every driver's experience and try
00:17:26.170 --> 00:17:28.990
and get it to exceptional. Because it isn't exceptional
00:17:28.990 --> 00:17:31.970
today. Nobody was delivering exceptional. I will
00:17:31.970 --> 00:17:34.829
include ourselves in that. But that's our goal
00:17:34.829 --> 00:17:38.730
here. And going back to that technology, and
00:17:38.730 --> 00:17:40.710
it's not just the charging infrastructure, it's
00:17:40.710 --> 00:17:42.390
not just the technology you're working with.
00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:45.750
But people in general, we love technology, anything
00:17:45.750 --> 00:17:48.250
that moves us forward. But there's a lot of technology
00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:51.569
out there that doesn't work, as you say, as well
00:17:51.569 --> 00:17:55.470
as it could. And some things they break, they
00:17:55.470 --> 00:17:57.690
don't get fixed, or we're finding work rounds.
00:17:58.069 --> 00:18:00.890
So is that an issue for your business on a practical
00:18:00.890 --> 00:18:03.210
basis, or that kind of technology that doesn't
00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:07.190
quite work? What I worry about is water tanking
00:18:07.190 --> 00:18:11.029
on the parking space. So when a driver gets out,
00:18:11.210 --> 00:18:13.670
you're soaked and your feet are soaked. I worry
00:18:13.670 --> 00:18:16.930
about the signage. We've gone through every single
00:18:16.930 --> 00:18:20.069
step of what that customer, the physical customer
00:18:20.069 --> 00:18:23.069
journey is. and looked at what do we need to
00:18:23.069 --> 00:18:25.049
change and how do we need to adopt that we're
00:18:25.049 --> 00:18:27.609
now moving on to the next step which is wayfinding
00:18:27.609 --> 00:18:29.849
so we're spending quite a bit of time talking
00:18:29.849 --> 00:18:32.589
and discussing and agreeing what is it and talking
00:18:32.589 --> 00:18:35.490
to customers actually asking you know what is
00:18:35.490 --> 00:18:37.789
it you want on wayfinding whether it's wayfinding
00:18:37.789 --> 00:18:41.029
to the site or on site we're also looking to
00:18:41.029 --> 00:18:45.309
roll out hopefully on some sites totems we've
00:18:45.309 --> 00:18:47.710
done the big one on Manchester charging oasis
00:18:47.710 --> 00:18:50.099
customers love it because it just tells you something
00:18:50.099 --> 00:18:52.200
really basic called the price. No one knows what
00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:55.259
they're paying. And it tells you that very clearly.
00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:58.460
And then there's a whole digital discovery piece
00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:01.339
which we're continually testing. What we're finding
00:19:01.339 --> 00:19:04.599
now isn't those brilliant basics aren't set.
00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.079
I think we've got a nice line where we actually
00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:10.539
are achieving. What we're now finding is things
00:19:10.539 --> 00:19:13.559
which you haven't really thought about go wrong.
00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:17.660
Last week we had an outage. which is a rolling
00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:20.700
outage for eight hours, what was that down to?
00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:24.859
Because the SIMS in the certain type of charges
00:19:24.859 --> 00:19:29.059
had had an update from the SIMS service provider.
00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:31.059
I didn't even think that would be a problem.
00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.220
Who'd come up with that as a problem? But it
00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:37.279
suddenly became my problem and my network. I'll
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:39.740
be like, what's going on here? And I'll solve
00:19:39.740 --> 00:19:42.880
it. So we have solved it. We put in two SIMS
00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:46.240
now in every charger. But this is the bit now
00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:48.579
where we're kind of working our way through to
00:19:48.579 --> 00:19:51.339
get to exceptional. For me, exceptional is a
00:19:51.339 --> 00:19:55.059
driver goes to a charger first time, first time
00:19:55.059 --> 00:19:57.819
they try and pay, first time to try and connect,
00:19:58.299 --> 00:20:02.549
seamless, and actually it's so unmemorable. as
00:20:02.549 --> 00:20:05.450
an activity that they remember the coffee or
00:20:05.450 --> 00:20:07.730
the burger or the shopping, they don't remember
00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:09.970
the charging. The experience of that charging.
00:20:10.410 --> 00:20:13.029
Now there's a huge amount of lessons there for
00:20:13.029 --> 00:20:17.549
other businesses and not just the transport business
00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:20.630
but there's a lot of brilliant basics there that
00:20:20.630 --> 00:20:22.549
could be applied particularly when you talk about
00:20:22.549 --> 00:20:25.150
the customer and the customer's count and going
00:20:25.150 --> 00:20:28.210
through that whole journey with them. What lessons
00:20:28.210 --> 00:20:31.279
from your experience with BEV could be applied
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:34.500
to other sectors and Dare I mention particularly
00:20:34.500 --> 00:20:41.980
when aiming for net zero? Well I think the first
00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:44.920
thing is I think unfortunately whether we like
00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:46.900
it or not people are being turned off by the
00:20:46.900 --> 00:20:49.680
word net zero so that's why I've kind of not
00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:53.190
really used it because You know, when I buy a
00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:55.690
vehicle, whether I bought a vehicle 20 years
00:20:55.690 --> 00:20:59.289
ago or a year ago, I buy it because I think I'm
00:20:59.289 --> 00:21:01.170
going to look good in it and it's going to get
00:21:01.170 --> 00:21:04.930
me from A to B and it gives me some happiness
00:21:04.930 --> 00:21:07.650
for all the hard work you've done and so on and
00:21:07.650 --> 00:21:12.670
so on. I think a lot of people, and as a by -product,
00:21:13.190 --> 00:21:16.250
I'm buying electric because I believe in the
00:21:16.250 --> 00:21:19.490
challenge we've got in the environment. and so
00:21:19.490 --> 00:21:21.950
it's important that's why I'm kind of I think
00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:23.670
there's so many other things which kind of get
00:21:23.670 --> 00:21:25.769
you to that point before you start worrying about
00:21:25.769 --> 00:21:28.809
the net zero piece but from a from a customer
00:21:28.809 --> 00:21:33.230
perspective I think the and I we look at other
00:21:33.230 --> 00:21:36.710
sectors ourselves yeah so we're looking so I
00:21:36.710 --> 00:21:39.289
McDonald's is I've used McDonald's as an example
00:21:39.289 --> 00:21:43.210
with my team the McDonald's experience is now
00:21:43.210 --> 00:21:47.049
you go in you touch a screen you go to the counter,
00:21:47.369 --> 00:21:49.869
you get your bag of food and you stuff your face
00:21:49.869 --> 00:21:53.589
and you do that three minutes and you don't there's
00:21:53.589 --> 00:21:57.470
no it's a very seamless process of getting and
00:21:57.470 --> 00:22:02.049
eating the end activity there which is the quality
00:22:02.049 --> 00:22:04.630
of the food which is hot which has been delivered
00:22:04.630 --> 00:22:08.490
well for me that customer experience we're still
00:22:08.490 --> 00:22:11.069
on this journey i just still i still don't think
00:22:11.069 --> 00:22:14.539
i've been able to define 100 % sent where I want
00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:17.380
to get to but that's not I'm not I'm not worried
00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:20.160
about that because if you remember when a Nokia
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:23.619
phone came out we all got very excited by the
00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:27.299
snake game and if we look back on it now and
00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:29.819
think my gosh I'm so basic to where we've got
00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:32.880
the phones to today but that but at that point
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.759
I achieved customer satisfaction and much in
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:39.680
the world now if I can get all the basics right
00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:46.529
and get to that the basic first time charge experience
00:22:46.529 --> 00:22:50.549
and as people can find my site I've got to my
00:22:50.549 --> 00:22:53.789
snake game but I also need to have an eye on
00:22:53.789 --> 00:22:56.109
that actually I'm going to ultimately end up
00:22:56.109 --> 00:23:00.890
with an app at some point here as well. So it's
00:23:00.890 --> 00:23:02.289
always looking isn't it? It's always looking
00:23:02.289 --> 00:23:04.990
for the next the next advancement how you can
00:23:04.990 --> 00:23:08.250
make it better for everybody and obviously when
00:23:08.250 --> 00:23:10.410
you say you when you are buying a car you look
00:23:10.410 --> 00:23:13.099
for obviously something that is You gonna feel
00:23:13.099 --> 00:23:16.460
good about but obviously that also is is kinda
00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:19.579
I suppose to our planet now I was asked this
00:23:19.579 --> 00:23:22.299
question to guests because we've talked about
00:23:22.299 --> 00:23:25.740
sustainability we've talked about success and
00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:28.900
driving things forward but what sustainable look
00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:31.420
like for you in your own lifestyle I think you
00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:34.660
say you obviously drive an electric car but what
00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:37.259
tell us a little bit about your own green if
00:23:37.259 --> 00:23:41.380
you like habits and how do you maintain. a sustainable
00:23:41.380 --> 00:23:44.660
lifestyle. Oh, I've got a big confession to make.
00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:53.019
I don't drive a car. Uh -huh. Wow. I ride a bike,
00:23:53.900 --> 00:23:57.579
I go on the bus, I go on the train, and I borrow
00:23:57.579 --> 00:24:00.880
my mom's electric car. Okay. So it's quite, because
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.440
our head office is in Manchester, so when I'm
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.599
up in Manchester, I stay with my mom. Yes. So
00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:10.420
it's gone all the way back to being 18, 19. I'm
00:24:10.420 --> 00:24:12.400
like, Mom, can I borrow the car tomorrow? I need
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.359
to go to ABC. And if not, I hire an electric
00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.640
car if I can't do that. We're quite close to
00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:24.099
the airport. But now my Your life choices around
00:24:24.099 --> 00:24:28.140
sustainability have to be also replicated in
00:24:28.140 --> 00:24:32.079
your work choices here 100%. I think for me it's
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:34.240
about sustainability, it's also about the community
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.940
piece. The two go hand in hand because it's no
00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:40.799
use me being an island on my own being sustainable
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:44.079
if we're not really able to take. Whether it's
00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:45.859
with my working with my neighbors, I do quite
00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:49.299
a lot of stuff on my street with the neighbors,
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.119
which is quite unusual living in London because
00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:54.660
you normally don't know your neighbors. But in
00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:58.539
the same in the work environment, I will go back
00:24:58.539 --> 00:25:01.180
to the employee -owned element. The employee
00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:04.960
-owned element wasn't, the idea was very simple.
00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:07.359
that hopefully one day this business will be
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:11.480
successful and it won't be the two co -founders
00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:14.559
who drove that, it's everybody who's done blood,
00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:18.200
sweat, tears to get to that point and therefore
00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:21.140
trying to create a degree of sustainability in
00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:23.319
their lives going forward but at the same time
00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:25.839
pushing them and giving them opportunity to be
00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:29.740
able to grow, which is as important. But in daily
00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:34.660
life, I kind of live a very non -preachy, basic
00:25:34.940 --> 00:25:37.640
I'm so busy, I think probably I'm so busy with
00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:39.720
work I can't really judge what else I'm doing.
00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:43.880
I think that's the key is not to be too preachy
00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:48.640
about it as many people do tell us and it's obviously
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.319
very important to you to give back because you
00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:54.900
support Bradford, you know you support the Bradford
00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.779
Futures Fund for students who might be struggling
00:25:57.779 --> 00:26:00.470
and you've talked about a community, you've talked
00:26:00.470 --> 00:26:02.710
about your neighbours, so that's obviously very
00:26:02.710 --> 00:26:05.109
important for you and the way you move forward
00:26:05.109 --> 00:26:09.029
in your own life and your career and your business.
00:26:09.730 --> 00:26:12.990
So it is a success but making it a success as
00:26:12.990 --> 00:26:17.509
you say for everybody, you might be leading it
00:26:17.509 --> 00:26:20.450
but it is a success that everybody can have a
00:26:20.450 --> 00:26:26.269
share of. That seems exceptionally valid but
00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:29.160
But what do you think next for you? Because we've
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:31.460
talked about BVM for your career. What are the
00:26:31.460 --> 00:26:34.660
next steps? I think just touching on the point
00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:36.539
there you make, I think one of the things which
00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:39.839
are really important to me is, and you've seen
00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:42.460
this recently in the UK, and we've seen this
00:26:42.460 --> 00:26:45.420
around the world, if you don't, if you just take
00:26:45.420 --> 00:26:48.900
a very one -dimensional view of yourself, you're
00:26:48.900 --> 00:26:51.500
going to end up with events like Brexit, and
00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:54.500
I'm not going on either side of the shock of
00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:58.640
those events. or the shock of other events similar
00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.380
to that, which have kind of gone, oh my God,
00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:03.680
where did that come from? A Trump coming in or
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.259
an extreme of what was normal in a very center
00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:10.480
world, because people are not thinking in the
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:13.059
broader sense of taking people with you on that
00:27:13.059 --> 00:27:15.660
journey. And that's important to me. So even
00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:18.859
as this step, oh my God, I've got so much more
00:27:18.859 --> 00:27:23.440
to do in this step of the business that I always
00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:26.569
say, I'm probably the worst person to be involved
00:27:26.569 --> 00:27:30.930
in something which is pretty normal. I get really
00:27:30.930 --> 00:27:34.690
bored and quite annoying and even when I left
00:27:34.690 --> 00:27:38.390
Amy I had some time out for six months as part
00:27:38.390 --> 00:27:43.589
of the normal gardening period and so on. Day
00:27:43.589 --> 00:27:47.130
one I looked out the window and I was like God
00:27:47.130 --> 00:27:50.089
there's a car moved those people are going to
00:27:50.089 --> 00:27:55.210
school. Day two intervention uh from family and
00:27:55.210 --> 00:27:57.769
friends was just you need you're gonna go mad
00:27:57.769 --> 00:28:01.150
you need to do something so i put on a bit like
00:28:01.150 --> 00:28:03.150
reginald perrin was the weapon but he was now
00:28:03.150 --> 00:28:06.519
he's put on his i put on the suit I went to go
00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:08.859
and just have coffees and lunches and talk about
00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:11.500
the next thing, which is kind of where this started
00:28:11.500 --> 00:28:14.619
from. And so I spent six months just talking
00:28:14.619 --> 00:28:17.279
to people about the next thing, about I could
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:19.619
do this, this looks interesting, what do you
00:28:19.619 --> 00:28:22.680
think about this and so on. But for me, the opportunity
00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:26.160
here is we are really at the beginning. And the
00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:28.359
beginning is, you know, for our business, we've
00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:31.279
been very focused on being a public charge point
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:34.140
operator in Great Britain. That's kind of our
00:28:34.140 --> 00:28:38.390
model. but actually within that, to get to that
00:28:38.390 --> 00:28:42.130
exceptional customer experience with a network
00:28:42.130 --> 00:28:44.329
which continues to grow and a market which will
00:28:44.329 --> 00:28:49.029
consolidate. At the beginning, which is a very
00:28:49.029 --> 00:28:50.750
exciting place to be, so we're certainly going
00:28:50.750 --> 00:28:55.809
to keep our eyes on you. I love that. It's so
00:28:55.809 --> 00:28:58.240
important to take people with you. because that's
00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:01.059
what we're hoping to achieve here too. So thank
00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:04.779
you to Asif Gafoor today for providing such insight.
00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:07.059
There can be no doubt that climate change is
00:29:07.059 --> 00:29:09.480
the biggest challenge of our time. Today we must
00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:12.039
reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow global
00:29:12.039 --> 00:29:14.799
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00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:36.039
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00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:39.160
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00:00:07.049 --> 00:00:10.529
You're listening to the Decarbonisation Dialogue,
00:00:10.830 --> 00:00:14.570
a podcast from Salix. Welcome to Delivering on
00:00:14.570 --> 00:00:17.350
Climate Change, our collective challenge. Welcome
00:00:17.350 --> 00:00:20.010
to the Decarbonisation Dialogue. I am Hannah
00:00:20.010 --> 00:00:22.289
Walker and I believe that the best way to communicate
00:00:22.289 --> 00:00:24.829
a message is by being passionate about what you
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are talking about. Welcome to Asif Ghaffar. Asif
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is a born business innovator. He completed his
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degree in business studies in 1992 at the University
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of Bradford, and I believe continues to support
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the university as a donor to the Bradford Futures
00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:45.920
Fund, supporting students' challenges in assessing
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and remaining in higher education. Following
00:00:49.140 --> 00:00:52.359
his time at university, Azif has held many senior
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roles, including Managing Director for AME Investments
00:00:56.100 --> 00:00:58.780
and Non -Executive Director at Wandel. He is
00:00:58.780 --> 00:01:02.520
currently the CEO of BEV, the largest electrical
00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:05.540
vehicle charging network across Greater Manchester
00:01:05.540 --> 00:01:09.040
and co -founder of Aduna, which develops new
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.459
infrastructure in the mobility, telecommunications
00:01:11.459 --> 00:01:15.930
and energy sectors. So welcome to Azif. Hi. Nice
00:01:15.930 --> 00:01:17.849
to meet you. Thank you and thank you very much
00:01:17.849 --> 00:01:20.900
for your time today. Can we start by talking
00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:23.359
a little bit about your career and what shapes
00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:27.019
your vision? What motivates you? I know at university
00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:29.079
I think you've been quoted as saying you weren't
00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:30.959
too sure what you were going to do or where you
00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.420
were going to and who you were going to become
00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:36.319
and I know you sought internships and I think
00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.379
you had a very pivotal and fundamental moment
00:01:39.379 --> 00:01:41.799
when you had an internship with Midland Bank
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which is of course now HSBC which I think you've
00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:47.739
said changed your life. and you remained in banking
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for five years but tell us in your own words
00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.079
how did you get started and what motivates you?
00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:57.659
So I think for me this the excitement is normally
00:01:57.659 --> 00:02:01.900
led by quite interesting challenges and having
00:02:01.900 --> 00:02:04.579
done the internship which you refer to one of
00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:08.639
the final year projects was to focus on a company
00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.719
or institution and make some sort of forward
00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:16.400
predictions and whether I had the glass ball
00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.680
to look into, but my prediction was Midland Bank
00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:22.960
would no longer exist on its own and it would
00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.199
be subsumed into a much larger international.
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operations and Convenient for me in my final
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year. That's what happened So I've actually submitted
00:02:31.750 --> 00:02:34.009
my paper and then that happened and then I got
00:02:34.009 --> 00:02:35.990
quite good high marks for that which was quite
00:02:35.990 --> 00:02:38.729
great but in terms of Opportunities and look
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at you know, all of the various roles I've done
00:02:41.129 --> 00:02:44.370
and the areas where I focused It's always been
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about building something new and trying to lean
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into future development So in Amy one of the
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big problems the UK has and still has today is
00:02:53.990 --> 00:02:56.949
what you do with waste household waste, commercial
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waste. So in Amy, I was part of the team who
00:03:00.229 --> 00:03:02.930
helped build out the strategy and then build
00:03:02.930 --> 00:03:05.750
out the business to look at how you solve that
00:03:05.750 --> 00:03:09.409
problem, building waste facilities all the way
00:03:09.409 --> 00:03:12.990
through to how you sort out collections at home
00:03:12.990 --> 00:03:16.129
and so on. Actually, if I fast forward to 2015
00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:20.550
-16, I got very interested in how technology
00:03:20.550 --> 00:03:25.370
and the shift in energy is going to make a massive
00:03:25.370 --> 00:03:29.229
difference to the way we move from A to B because
00:03:29.229 --> 00:03:31.770
you know for the last 50 60 years nothing's really
00:03:31.770 --> 00:03:34.729
evolved it's always been the same and that this
00:03:34.729 --> 00:03:37.969
was a pivotal moment I thought and pivotal moments
00:03:37.969 --> 00:03:40.789
and disruption creates opportunity and this creates
00:03:40.789 --> 00:03:44.370
opportunity. And indeed when I research you and
00:03:44.370 --> 00:03:49.639
look at your work I do read the word disruption
00:03:49.639 --> 00:03:52.039
and disruptor quite a lot. So I know that's going
00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:53.580
to be a bit of a theme and I'm going to come
00:03:53.580 --> 00:03:56.500
back to that in a moment. But from your experience
00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:59.400
across mobility and energy, what do you see as
00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:01.960
the biggest opportunities right now for businesses
00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:05.479
to contribute to net zero? Interestingly, I've
00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:08.080
been trying to ban the word net zero. That's
00:04:08.080 --> 00:04:11.680
probably a good starting point because the opportunity
00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:15.939
of mobility isn't necessarily always linked to
00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:18.339
net zero. It's actually linked to the future
00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:21.180
technology and the way things are developing,
00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:25.279
whether it's AI or whether it's autonomous vehicles
00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:28.379
or whether it's any combination around the way
00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:31.699
we move from A to B. So I got quite interested
00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:35.319
in 2015 thinking autonomous vehicles are coming.
00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.800
Let's get ourselves ready. This is a great business
00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:41.810
opportunity. probably slightly too early and
00:04:41.810 --> 00:04:44.610
then you kind of roll back a bit and go actually
00:04:44.610 --> 00:04:47.430
if you break that down the various pieces which
00:04:47.430 --> 00:04:50.850
could be interesting was putting telecommunications
00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:55.050
on highways from A to B all the way through to
00:04:55.050 --> 00:04:59.089
electric vehicle charging and each of these are
00:04:59.089 --> 00:05:02.670
new sectors and the element of disruption is
00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:06.569
they break the crossing boundaries so telecommunications
00:05:06.569 --> 00:05:09.370
are traditionally in a very straight line highway
00:05:09.370 --> 00:05:11.870
management in a straight line, car production
00:05:11.870 --> 00:05:14.949
and the OEMs in a very straight line and what
00:05:14.949 --> 00:05:17.529
we're finding now if you look at the car manufacturers
00:05:17.529 --> 00:05:20.670
they've slightly lost control of this market
00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:23.449
because they haven't got control of any of the
00:05:23.449 --> 00:05:26.230
key points apart from the metal bashing at the
00:05:26.230 --> 00:05:29.730
front which is producing the vehicle. That disruption
00:05:29.730 --> 00:05:32.670
is how I perceive the opportunity and it's a
00:05:32.670 --> 00:05:36.769
good example of how this change of technology
00:05:37.019 --> 00:05:40.399
rather than net zero is what's driving these
00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:44.600
massive opportunities here. And in terms of business
00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:48.839
there's the opportunity there's the sustainability
00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:53.040
and you've seen success and you've developed
00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:57.980
success but sustainability and commercial success
00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:01.800
are they in your experience of planning your
00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:05.600
own businesses are they compatible sustainability
00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:10.079
then and being a commercial success? I think
00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.980
compatibility is done by your inner core to an
00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:15.540
extent here. It's what you start off believing
00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:18.600
is the right thing to be doing. So you have to
00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:22.100
be blind to not see the damage we're doing to
00:06:22.100 --> 00:06:24.279
our environment and the damage we're going to
00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:27.279
leave to future generations if we don't change
00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:30.800
the way we operate. You talk to people about
00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:35.800
the 50s and the peace fog in London. you know
00:06:35.800 --> 00:06:38.040
people then they brought in legislation they
00:06:38.040 --> 00:06:41.399
brought in change in how people heated their
00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.579
homes. This is just a continuation of this story.
00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:49.459
If you set your business compass correctly and
00:06:49.459 --> 00:06:52.459
establish some core basic principles which are
00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:55.300
about building something which is fair we have
00:06:55.300 --> 00:06:59.100
a you know when we set out to build the BEV one
00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:01.160
of the first things we set out was we want to
00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:04.759
have an employee owned business. And in that
00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:07.720
environment, that became a core principle. By
00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:10.620
the very nature, I always say to the team, let's
00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:13.759
not think about the fact that it's sustainable
00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:17.480
because we're in EV. It's what else can we do?
00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:20.000
So when we built our four -core model, which
00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:22.720
is our Manchester charging oasis, we thought
00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:25.939
about the individual steps we could do to make
00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:29.459
that actually become part of your business compass.
00:07:30.220 --> 00:07:35.329
So planting, drainage. reuse of water, the materials
00:07:35.329 --> 00:07:39.170
used on site, the ongoing sustainability of that
00:07:39.170 --> 00:07:42.250
as well over the next 20 years and how we can
00:07:42.250 --> 00:07:45.689
actually manage that and create a positive outcome
00:07:45.689 --> 00:07:48.829
plus also involve the community. We didn't go
00:07:48.829 --> 00:07:50.990
into that project and just ignore the neighbours,
00:07:51.389 --> 00:07:53.629
we actually brought them in, we brought the councillors
00:07:53.629 --> 00:07:57.089
in, we invited people to events. uh all of the
00:07:57.089 --> 00:07:59.230
things which we weren't required to do from a
00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:01.990
planning perspective we did because again from
00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:04.970
a business compass sustainability and getting
00:08:04.970 --> 00:08:07.730
people involved people are interested there's
00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:10.089
ways of getting that kind of engagement and really
00:08:10.089 --> 00:08:12.990
creating that business compass and setting it
00:08:12.990 --> 00:08:14.949
right and that's really interesting that you
00:08:14.949 --> 00:08:18.209
say that so talking about electric cars most
00:08:18.209 --> 00:08:20.709
specifically and that kind of disruption does
00:08:20.709 --> 00:08:23.110
it mean and the project you've just alluded to
00:08:23.110 --> 00:08:27.899
does it mean that we are facing a future without
00:08:27.899 --> 00:08:30.660
the I suppose the petrol stations if you like
00:08:30.660 --> 00:08:33.659
that we're so used to seeing on on our on our
00:08:33.659 --> 00:08:35.460
along our high straight or on the motorway I
00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:37.980
mean it's a completely different idea of how
00:08:37.980 --> 00:08:41.159
that looks isn't it yeah it's like it's like
00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:45.779
asking um someone in 1900 you know where are
00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:47.259
you going to be where are you going to be taking
00:08:47.259 --> 00:08:49.860
this thing called a motor vehicle uh are you
00:08:49.860 --> 00:08:53.100
going to take it to a barn to go and refuel uh
00:08:53.100 --> 00:08:55.960
the answer was No, because there's no logic in
00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:59.740
that going forward. So this disruption creates
00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:03.360
a massive opportunity to create something different
00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:06.340
and an experience which is different. So people
00:09:06.340 --> 00:09:10.159
still think about traveling from A to B long
00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:12.980
distances. I have to stop on a motorway services.
00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:16.639
I watched really boring documentaries. I watched
00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:19.720
a documentary about the first motorways and motorway
00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:23.639
services on BBC Four. Fascinating. But actually
00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:25.840
people, you know, go in there to have a day out
00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:28.879
and have lunch and dinner and watch the odd car
00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:32.460
go past on the M1. That was exciting then. But
00:09:32.460 --> 00:09:35.019
now there's never going to be enough space and
00:09:35.019 --> 00:09:37.799
enough power for that model to work going forward.
00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:40.480
So what's the next model? The next model is at
00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:45.480
every junction, we have a coffee stop or a food
00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:49.490
stop or a shopping stop. people are able to charge
00:09:49.490 --> 00:09:51.830
and it kind of fits in around what they're doing
00:09:51.830 --> 00:09:54.570
on that journey at the point when they need to
00:09:54.570 --> 00:09:56.950
go the loo or grab a coffee or change a nappy
00:09:56.950 --> 00:10:01.429
or walk the dog and so on so there are rare times
00:10:01.429 --> 00:10:04.389
in your life where you're able to actually create
00:10:04.389 --> 00:10:07.129
something which is going to have a hundred year
00:10:07.129 --> 00:10:10.230
life going forward or a 50 year life going forward
00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:12.509
and that's where we are honestly that's where
00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:15.429
i believe we are sitting today and that responsibility
00:10:15.429 --> 00:10:18.090
which is why i go back to that business compass
00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:21.309
of setting that right and thinking about it in
00:10:21.309 --> 00:10:24.129
the right way because it's going to have an impact
00:10:24.129 --> 00:10:27.309
not just on what we do as a business but also
00:10:27.309 --> 00:10:29.909
guide the sector and guide this market and how
00:10:29.909 --> 00:10:33.029
it kind of builds out in the UK and maybe elsewhere
00:10:33.029 --> 00:10:36.210
in the world. I hear a lot from people worried
00:10:36.210 --> 00:10:38.149
about and we will talk about obviously Greater
00:10:38.149 --> 00:10:40.190
Manchester and the work going on there but hear
00:10:40.190 --> 00:10:43.929
a lot of people who are worried about that buying
00:10:43.929 --> 00:10:46.919
or acquiring an electric. vehicle because of
00:10:46.919 --> 00:10:50.139
that lack of charging infrastructure and being
00:10:50.139 --> 00:10:52.620
making that long journey on the motorway wherever
00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:54.799
they might be going and worrying about will they
00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:58.200
be able to charge and or will there be a big
00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:00.940
queue and will it take me longer to charge and
00:11:00.940 --> 00:11:03.200
then you started talking about hundreds of years
00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:05.679
ago when people might sit and watch cars which
00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:08.649
gets me thinking about which takes me into another
00:11:08.649 --> 00:11:11.549
whole realm of transport being in the airport
00:11:11.549 --> 00:11:14.950
and my father was saying to me, I just go to
00:11:14.950 --> 00:11:18.009
the, sometimes I've gone to the airport arrivals
00:11:18.009 --> 00:11:21.190
just to watch the people arrive and meet their
00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:23.029
family and friends. So that's got me thinking
00:11:23.029 --> 00:11:26.269
about something else altogether. But going back
00:11:26.269 --> 00:11:27.950
to, because it is a wonderful place to be in
00:11:27.950 --> 00:11:32.009
the arrivals at the airport. And I get it, I
00:11:32.009 --> 00:11:34.169
completely get that. So can we talk a moment
00:11:34.169 --> 00:11:38.970
about your work? in transport for Greater Manchester,
00:11:39.370 --> 00:11:43.029
how you see the electric vehicle charging infrastructure
00:11:43.029 --> 00:11:46.090
evolving to support where we're going on this
00:11:46.090 --> 00:11:49.509
journey in Manchester. Yeah, so we started off
00:11:49.509 --> 00:11:51.929
life in Greater Manchester. That was our first
00:11:51.929 --> 00:11:54.590
contract working with Transport for Greater Manchester
00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:58.700
and we actually upgraded their network. they
00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:01.659
received central government funding so we upgraded
00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:05.080
the network and then now we manage that and then
00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:08.259
over time we've added extra bits on so taxi charging,
00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:11.600
car clubs have been added on and there's been
00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:14.399
some expansion change in the existing network
00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:18.399
as well. The idea which and I'm not just saying
00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:20.299
this because they were our first customer but
00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:23.460
I love our customer in Greater Manchester because
00:12:23.820 --> 00:12:27.580
They had a very clear idea, clear strategy and
00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:30.080
also knew what their role was. And they were
00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:32.720
therefore very clear to me what my role was.
00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:36.039
And my role was you go out, you're good at building
00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:38.840
networks, running networks and getting high performance
00:12:38.840 --> 00:12:42.340
and getting customer engagement. And their role
00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:46.259
was to set the policy, set the strategy and then
00:12:46.259 --> 00:12:49.100
create space for that to actually happen and
00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:51.720
give guidance and support. And so that whole
00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:55.379
contract is a contract not just between us and
00:12:55.379 --> 00:12:58.240
the public authority you've got the 10 local
00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.379
authorities thrown in but for me it's with the
00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:02.779
residents of Greater Manchester because how do
00:13:02.779 --> 00:13:05.519
you create that change and how do you create
00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:07.919
an environment where you know they were one of
00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.480
the early adopters as a as a region I started
00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:13.480
off looking at Greater Manchester like a country
00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:16.059
in itself and saying we've got nearly three and
00:13:16.059 --> 00:13:18.500
a half four million people how do you get them
00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:20.779
engaged plus you got nearly half a million to
00:13:20.779 --> 00:13:24.639
a million visitors coming in on a regular basis.
00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:27.539
We talk about reducing car usage on the road.
00:13:27.779 --> 00:13:31.159
Unfortunately, the network of public services
00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:33.779
isn't great and it's going to take a while. So
00:13:33.779 --> 00:13:36.639
we need that alternative. That alternative can
00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:39.700
be something which people can really get engaged
00:13:39.700 --> 00:13:42.389
with. We knew that the government funding had
00:13:42.389 --> 00:13:45.250
limitations, so we then worked with Trafford
00:13:45.250 --> 00:13:48.909
Council, Stockport Council, and we followed Noah's
00:13:48.909 --> 00:13:53.409
Ark principle, which was we took a ward, and
00:13:53.409 --> 00:13:55.929
we worked out a distance of where we should at
00:13:55.929 --> 00:14:00.230
least try and get minimum number of charges in
00:14:00.230 --> 00:14:03.490
to be a minimum, hence Noah's Ark element, but
00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:05.590
try and see if we can put more in in that particular
00:14:05.590 --> 00:14:09.389
location, and then work your way through all
00:14:09.389 --> 00:14:11.730
of the borough and make sure you've got nice
00:14:11.730 --> 00:14:15.769
spread of rapid, ultra rapid and AC charging.
00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:19.250
So for the various dwell behavior and activity,
00:14:20.029 --> 00:14:24.090
we had long conversations, shall we add in overstay
00:14:24.090 --> 00:14:26.269
charges? I'm like, no, this is bonkers. This
00:14:26.269 --> 00:14:29.149
is the stage where we really want people to get
00:14:29.149 --> 00:14:31.769
engaged and get quite excited. So instead we
00:14:31.769 --> 00:14:35.009
did launches. If you know the weather of Manchester,
00:14:35.590 --> 00:14:38.830
I remember one launch in Trafford where when
00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:41.389
I got on the train to come home, I literally
00:14:41.389 --> 00:14:44.529
was taking water out of my shoe. It was that
00:14:44.529 --> 00:14:46.889
wet that particular day. Well, we did launches.
00:14:47.009 --> 00:14:50.610
We created noise. We got people engaged. We did
00:14:50.610 --> 00:14:53.669
free charging days where people could come and
00:14:53.669 --> 00:14:56.389
charge for free and try it out. We went and stood
00:14:56.389 --> 00:14:58.830
in car parks and showed people how to do this.
00:14:59.149 --> 00:15:04.159
It was really a great way of getting gave us
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:07.179
loads of experience, loads of understanding,
00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:11.100
but fundamentally really turned our focus from
00:15:11.100 --> 00:15:14.019
coming from an infrastructure space, really to
00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:17.639
recognize this is all about customer and customer
00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:20.960
behavior. If you get that right, we're a winner
00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.500
and the regions we're in will be massive winners.
00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:26.299
If you get that wrong, everyone's a loser and
00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:29.080
this is not going to work. That really creates
00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:31.259
that shift in the way we're thinking about this.
00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:34.059
which is why now if you ask me what's my focus,
00:15:34.360 --> 00:15:36.279
I may have come from infrastructure, but I'm
00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:40.259
100 % want to be the number one charge point
00:15:40.259 --> 00:15:43.480
operator in the UK from a customer perspective.
00:15:43.559 --> 00:15:46.100
That's my real target, the goal as a business.
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.120
And when you go into the community, because you've
00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:51.379
mentioned community a few times now and the customer,
00:15:51.620 --> 00:15:54.019
obviously customer is key business, but you're
00:15:54.019 --> 00:15:56.759
going into the community and a lot of those people
00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:01.019
might not ever become customers, but what What
00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:04.899
are you hearing from them when you've moved,
00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:06.659
when you've been out on the ground? What do you
00:16:06.659 --> 00:16:09.419
hear from people about this change in infrastructure
00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:13.820
and this disruption? I have spent a lot of time
00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:18.840
in car parks just lurking around. I make everything,
00:16:18.980 --> 00:16:22.659
so in our team culture, it's everybody who joins,
00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:26.799
early doors, you go to a site, you go and charge.
00:16:27.220 --> 00:16:29.799
Some people, we film what they're doing to just
00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:33.480
observe. what doesn't work and works. Then on
00:16:33.480 --> 00:16:35.620
a regular basis, we have something called customer
00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:38.679
squads, people around talking to customers. We
00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:41.000
go to our sites, we go to our competitor sites,
00:16:41.100 --> 00:16:42.659
but we're just trying to learn and understand.
00:16:43.100 --> 00:16:46.120
What we really hear is changing. The conversation
00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:50.539
number one was a very forgiving customer base.
00:16:50.909 --> 00:16:53.470
you know if that didn't work oh why didn't that
00:16:53.470 --> 00:16:55.789
work and lots of conversation but why it didn't
00:16:55.789 --> 00:16:58.509
work the next wave of customers and we are getting
00:16:58.509 --> 00:17:02.210
into early mass adoption stage now that customer
00:17:02.210 --> 00:17:04.930
isn't forgiving because why should they be when
00:17:04.930 --> 00:17:07.430
you buy a mobile phone and you use your mobile
00:17:07.430 --> 00:17:10.190
phone and the apps the app doesn't work you don't
00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.609
say oh it doesn't matter it's a new it's a new
00:17:12.609 --> 00:17:15.089
sector therefore i'll be forgiving you're actually
00:17:15.089 --> 00:17:18.210
quite angry or quite upset And to actually make
00:17:18.210 --> 00:17:19.869
the customer experience the best, you really
00:17:19.869 --> 00:17:22.430
got to be in the weeds with the customer and
00:17:22.430 --> 00:17:26.170
try and solve every driver's experience and try
00:17:26.170 --> 00:17:28.990
and get it to exceptional. Because it isn't exceptional
00:17:28.990 --> 00:17:31.970
today. Nobody was delivering exceptional. I will
00:17:31.970 --> 00:17:34.829
include ourselves in that. But that's our goal
00:17:34.829 --> 00:17:38.730
here. And going back to that technology, and
00:17:38.730 --> 00:17:40.710
it's not just the charging infrastructure, it's
00:17:40.710 --> 00:17:42.390
not just the technology you're working with.
00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:45.750
But people in general, we love technology, anything
00:17:45.750 --> 00:17:48.250
that moves us forward. But there's a lot of technology
00:17:48.250 --> 00:17:51.569
out there that doesn't work, as you say, as well
00:17:51.569 --> 00:17:55.470
as it could. And some things they break, they
00:17:55.470 --> 00:17:57.690
don't get fixed, or we're finding work rounds.
00:17:58.069 --> 00:18:00.890
So is that an issue for your business on a practical
00:18:00.890 --> 00:18:03.210
basis, or that kind of technology that doesn't
00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:07.190
quite work? What I worry about is water tanking
00:18:07.190 --> 00:18:11.029
on the parking space. So when a driver gets out,
00:18:11.210 --> 00:18:13.670
you're soaked and your feet are soaked. I worry
00:18:13.670 --> 00:18:16.930
about the signage. We've gone through every single
00:18:16.930 --> 00:18:20.069
step of what that customer, the physical customer
00:18:20.069 --> 00:18:23.069
journey is. and looked at what do we need to
00:18:23.069 --> 00:18:25.049
change and how do we need to adopt that we're
00:18:25.049 --> 00:18:27.609
now moving on to the next step which is wayfinding
00:18:27.609 --> 00:18:29.849
so we're spending quite a bit of time talking
00:18:29.849 --> 00:18:32.589
and discussing and agreeing what is it and talking
00:18:32.589 --> 00:18:35.490
to customers actually asking you know what is
00:18:35.490 --> 00:18:37.789
it you want on wayfinding whether it's wayfinding
00:18:37.789 --> 00:18:41.029
to the site or on site we're also looking to
00:18:41.029 --> 00:18:45.309
roll out hopefully on some sites totems we've
00:18:45.309 --> 00:18:47.710
done the big one on Manchester charging oasis
00:18:47.710 --> 00:18:50.099
customers love it because it just tells you something
00:18:50.099 --> 00:18:52.200
really basic called the price. No one knows what
00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:55.259
they're paying. And it tells you that very clearly.
00:18:55.660 --> 00:18:58.460
And then there's a whole digital discovery piece
00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:01.339
which we're continually testing. What we're finding
00:19:01.339 --> 00:19:04.599
now isn't those brilliant basics aren't set.
00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.079
I think we've got a nice line where we actually
00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:10.539
are achieving. What we're now finding is things
00:19:10.539 --> 00:19:13.559
which you haven't really thought about go wrong.
00:19:14.119 --> 00:19:17.660
Last week we had an outage. which is a rolling
00:19:17.660 --> 00:19:20.700
outage for eight hours, what was that down to?
00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:24.859
Because the SIMS in the certain type of charges
00:19:24.859 --> 00:19:29.059
had had an update from the SIMS service provider.
00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:31.059
I didn't even think that would be a problem.
00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.220
Who'd come up with that as a problem? But it
00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:37.279
suddenly became my problem and my network. I'll
00:19:37.279 --> 00:19:39.740
be like, what's going on here? And I'll solve
00:19:39.740 --> 00:19:42.880
it. So we have solved it. We put in two SIMS
00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:46.240
now in every charger. But this is the bit now
00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:48.579
where we're kind of working our way through to
00:19:48.579 --> 00:19:51.339
get to exceptional. For me, exceptional is a
00:19:51.339 --> 00:19:55.059
driver goes to a charger first time, first time
00:19:55.059 --> 00:19:57.819
they try and pay, first time to try and connect,
00:19:58.299 --> 00:20:02.549
seamless, and actually it's so unmemorable. as
00:20:02.549 --> 00:20:05.450
an activity that they remember the coffee or
00:20:05.450 --> 00:20:07.730
the burger or the shopping, they don't remember
00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:09.970
the charging. The experience of that charging.
00:20:10.410 --> 00:20:13.029
Now there's a huge amount of lessons there for
00:20:13.029 --> 00:20:17.549
other businesses and not just the transport business
00:20:17.549 --> 00:20:20.630
but there's a lot of brilliant basics there that
00:20:20.630 --> 00:20:22.549
could be applied particularly when you talk about
00:20:22.549 --> 00:20:25.150
the customer and the customer's count and going
00:20:25.150 --> 00:20:28.210
through that whole journey with them. What lessons
00:20:28.210 --> 00:20:31.279
from your experience with BEV could be applied
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:34.500
to other sectors and Dare I mention particularly
00:20:34.500 --> 00:20:41.980
when aiming for net zero? Well I think the first
00:20:41.980 --> 00:20:44.920
thing is I think unfortunately whether we like
00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:46.900
it or not people are being turned off by the
00:20:46.900 --> 00:20:49.680
word net zero so that's why I've kind of not
00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:53.190
really used it because You know, when I buy a
00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:55.690
vehicle, whether I bought a vehicle 20 years
00:20:55.690 --> 00:20:59.289
ago or a year ago, I buy it because I think I'm
00:20:59.289 --> 00:21:01.170
going to look good in it and it's going to get
00:21:01.170 --> 00:21:04.930
me from A to B and it gives me some happiness
00:21:04.930 --> 00:21:07.650
for all the hard work you've done and so on and
00:21:07.650 --> 00:21:12.670
so on. I think a lot of people, and as a by -product,
00:21:13.190 --> 00:21:16.250
I'm buying electric because I believe in the
00:21:16.250 --> 00:21:19.490
challenge we've got in the environment. and so
00:21:19.490 --> 00:21:21.950
it's important that's why I'm kind of I think
00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:23.670
there's so many other things which kind of get
00:21:23.670 --> 00:21:25.769
you to that point before you start worrying about
00:21:25.769 --> 00:21:28.809
the net zero piece but from a from a customer
00:21:28.809 --> 00:21:33.230
perspective I think the and I we look at other
00:21:33.230 --> 00:21:36.710
sectors ourselves yeah so we're looking so I
00:21:36.710 --> 00:21:39.289
McDonald's is I've used McDonald's as an example
00:21:39.289 --> 00:21:43.210
with my team the McDonald's experience is now
00:21:43.210 --> 00:21:47.049
you go in you touch a screen you go to the counter,
00:21:47.369 --> 00:21:49.869
you get your bag of food and you stuff your face
00:21:49.869 --> 00:21:53.589
and you do that three minutes and you don't there's
00:21:53.589 --> 00:21:57.470
no it's a very seamless process of getting and
00:21:57.470 --> 00:22:02.049
eating the end activity there which is the quality
00:22:02.049 --> 00:22:04.630
of the food which is hot which has been delivered
00:22:04.630 --> 00:22:08.490
well for me that customer experience we're still
00:22:08.490 --> 00:22:11.069
on this journey i just still i still don't think
00:22:11.069 --> 00:22:14.539
i've been able to define 100 % sent where I want
00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:17.380
to get to but that's not I'm not I'm not worried
00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:20.160
about that because if you remember when a Nokia
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:23.619
phone came out we all got very excited by the
00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:27.299
snake game and if we look back on it now and
00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:29.819
think my gosh I'm so basic to where we've got
00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:32.880
the phones to today but that but at that point
00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.759
I achieved customer satisfaction and much in
00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:39.680
the world now if I can get all the basics right
00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:46.529
and get to that the basic first time charge experience
00:22:46.529 --> 00:22:50.549
and as people can find my site I've got to my
00:22:50.549 --> 00:22:53.789
snake game but I also need to have an eye on
00:22:53.789 --> 00:22:56.109
that actually I'm going to ultimately end up
00:22:56.109 --> 00:23:00.890
with an app at some point here as well. So it's
00:23:00.890 --> 00:23:02.289
always looking isn't it? It's always looking
00:23:02.289 --> 00:23:04.990
for the next the next advancement how you can
00:23:04.990 --> 00:23:08.250
make it better for everybody and obviously when
00:23:08.250 --> 00:23:10.410
you say you when you are buying a car you look
00:23:10.410 --> 00:23:13.099
for obviously something that is You gonna feel
00:23:13.099 --> 00:23:16.460
good about but obviously that also is is kinda
00:23:16.460 --> 00:23:19.579
I suppose to our planet now I was asked this
00:23:19.579 --> 00:23:22.299
question to guests because we've talked about
00:23:22.299 --> 00:23:25.740
sustainability we've talked about success and
00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:28.900
driving things forward but what sustainable look
00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:31.420
like for you in your own lifestyle I think you
00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:34.660
say you obviously drive an electric car but what
00:23:34.660 --> 00:23:37.259
tell us a little bit about your own green if
00:23:37.259 --> 00:23:41.380
you like habits and how do you maintain. a sustainable
00:23:41.380 --> 00:23:44.660
lifestyle. Oh, I've got a big confession to make.
00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:53.019
I don't drive a car. Uh -huh. Wow. I ride a bike,
00:23:53.900 --> 00:23:57.579
I go on the bus, I go on the train, and I borrow
00:23:57.579 --> 00:24:00.880
my mom's electric car. Okay. So it's quite, because
00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.440
our head office is in Manchester, so when I'm
00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:06.599
up in Manchester, I stay with my mom. Yes. So
00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:10.420
it's gone all the way back to being 18, 19. I'm
00:24:10.420 --> 00:24:12.400
like, Mom, can I borrow the car tomorrow? I need
00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:15.359
to go to ABC. And if not, I hire an electric
00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.640
car if I can't do that. We're quite close to
00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:24.099
the airport. But now my Your life choices around
00:24:24.099 --> 00:24:28.140
sustainability have to be also replicated in
00:24:28.140 --> 00:24:32.079
your work choices here 100%. I think for me it's
00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:34.240
about sustainability, it's also about the community
00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:37.940
piece. The two go hand in hand because it's no
00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:40.799
use me being an island on my own being sustainable
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:44.079
if we're not really able to take. Whether it's
00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:45.859
with my working with my neighbors, I do quite
00:24:45.859 --> 00:24:49.299
a lot of stuff on my street with the neighbors,
00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:52.119
which is quite unusual living in London because
00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:54.660
you normally don't know your neighbors. But in
00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:58.539
the same in the work environment, I will go back
00:24:58.539 --> 00:25:01.180
to the employee -owned element. The employee
00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:04.960
-owned element wasn't, the idea was very simple.
00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:07.359
that hopefully one day this business will be
00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:11.480
successful and it won't be the two co -founders
00:25:11.480 --> 00:25:14.559
who drove that, it's everybody who's done blood,
00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:18.200
sweat, tears to get to that point and therefore
00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:21.140
trying to create a degree of sustainability in
00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:23.319
their lives going forward but at the same time
00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:25.839
pushing them and giving them opportunity to be
00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:29.740
able to grow, which is as important. But in daily
00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:34.660
life, I kind of live a very non -preachy, basic
00:25:34.940 --> 00:25:37.640
I'm so busy, I think probably I'm so busy with
00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:39.720
work I can't really judge what else I'm doing.
00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:43.880
I think that's the key is not to be too preachy
00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:48.640
about it as many people do tell us and it's obviously
00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:52.319
very important to you to give back because you
00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:54.900
support Bradford, you know you support the Bradford
00:25:54.900 --> 00:25:57.779
Futures Fund for students who might be struggling
00:25:57.779 --> 00:26:00.470
and you've talked about a community, you've talked
00:26:00.470 --> 00:26:02.710
about your neighbours, so that's obviously very
00:26:02.710 --> 00:26:05.109
important for you and the way you move forward
00:26:05.109 --> 00:26:09.029
in your own life and your career and your business.
00:26:09.730 --> 00:26:12.990
So it is a success but making it a success as
00:26:12.990 --> 00:26:17.509
you say for everybody, you might be leading it
00:26:17.509 --> 00:26:20.450
but it is a success that everybody can have a
00:26:20.450 --> 00:26:26.269
share of. That seems exceptionally valid but
00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:29.160
But what do you think next for you? Because we've
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:31.460
talked about BVM for your career. What are the
00:26:31.460 --> 00:26:34.660
next steps? I think just touching on the point
00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:36.539
there you make, I think one of the things which
00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:39.839
are really important to me is, and you've seen
00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:42.460
this recently in the UK, and we've seen this
00:26:42.460 --> 00:26:45.420
around the world, if you don't, if you just take
00:26:45.420 --> 00:26:48.900
a very one -dimensional view of yourself, you're
00:26:48.900 --> 00:26:51.500
going to end up with events like Brexit, and
00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:54.500
I'm not going on either side of the shock of
00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:58.640
those events. or the shock of other events similar
00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.380
to that, which have kind of gone, oh my God,
00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:03.680
where did that come from? A Trump coming in or
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:07.259
an extreme of what was normal in a very center
00:27:07.259 --> 00:27:10.480
world, because people are not thinking in the
00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:13.059
broader sense of taking people with you on that
00:27:13.059 --> 00:27:15.660
journey. And that's important to me. So even
00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:18.859
as this step, oh my God, I've got so much more
00:27:18.859 --> 00:27:23.440
to do in this step of the business that I always
00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:26.569
say, I'm probably the worst person to be involved
00:27:26.569 --> 00:27:30.930
in something which is pretty normal. I get really
00:27:30.930 --> 00:27:34.690
bored and quite annoying and even when I left
00:27:34.690 --> 00:27:38.390
Amy I had some time out for six months as part
00:27:38.390 --> 00:27:43.589
of the normal gardening period and so on. Day
00:27:43.589 --> 00:27:47.130
one I looked out the window and I was like God
00:27:47.130 --> 00:27:50.089
there's a car moved those people are going to
00:27:50.089 --> 00:27:55.210
school. Day two intervention uh from family and
00:27:55.210 --> 00:27:57.769
friends was just you need you're gonna go mad
00:27:57.769 --> 00:28:01.150
you need to do something so i put on a bit like
00:28:01.150 --> 00:28:03.150
reginald perrin was the weapon but he was now
00:28:03.150 --> 00:28:06.519
he's put on his i put on the suit I went to go
00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:08.859
and just have coffees and lunches and talk about
00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:11.500
the next thing, which is kind of where this started
00:28:11.500 --> 00:28:14.619
from. And so I spent six months just talking
00:28:14.619 --> 00:28:17.279
to people about the next thing, about I could
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:19.619
do this, this looks interesting, what do you
00:28:19.619 --> 00:28:22.680
think about this and so on. But for me, the opportunity
00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:26.160
here is we are really at the beginning. And the
00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:28.359
beginning is, you know, for our business, we've
00:28:28.359 --> 00:28:31.279
been very focused on being a public charge point
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:34.140
operator in Great Britain. That's kind of our
00:28:34.140 --> 00:28:38.390
model. but actually within that, to get to that
00:28:38.390 --> 00:28:42.130
exceptional customer experience with a network
00:28:42.130 --> 00:28:44.329
which continues to grow and a market which will
00:28:44.329 --> 00:28:49.029
consolidate. At the beginning, which is a very
00:28:49.029 --> 00:28:50.750
exciting place to be, so we're certainly going
00:28:50.750 --> 00:28:55.809
to keep our eyes on you. I love that. It's so
00:28:55.809 --> 00:28:58.240
important to take people with you. because that's
00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:01.059
what we're hoping to achieve here too. So thank
00:29:01.059 --> 00:29:04.779
you to Asif Gafoor today for providing such insight.
00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:07.059
There can be no doubt that climate change is
00:29:07.059 --> 00:29:09.480
the biggest challenge of our time. Today we must
00:29:09.480 --> 00:29:12.039
reduce greenhouse gas emissions to slow global
00:29:12.039 --> 00:29:14.799
warming. Today we must act for tomorrow, adjusting
00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:16.740
our lifestyles to current and future impacts
00:29:16.740 --> 00:29:19.279
of climate change. Today we must use our collective
00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:21.720
wisdom to deliver on our climate commitments.
00:29:21.940 --> 00:29:24.400
Today we work for tomorrow's world. Don't forget
00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:26.579
to subscribe to our podcast channels and tell
00:29:26.579 --> 00:29:29.420
us what you think by emailing us at podcast at
00:29:29.420 --> 00:29:33.299
salixfinance .uk. Thank you once again, Asif,
00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:36.039
for joining me today. Thank you. Thank you very
00:29:36.039 --> 00:29:39.160
much. You've been listening to the Decarbonisation
00:29:39.160 --> 00:29:43.200
Dialogue, a podcast from Salix. For more information
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:46.480
about our work and to find more content, please
00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:51.259
visit salixfinance .co .uk forward slash podcasts.
