Howard Graham (entrepreneur)
Howard Graham BSc FCA FInstD FPC is an accountant, entrepreneur, and businessman.
Biography
After qualifying with top 20 firm Clark Whitehill in 1983 as an accountant.Graham joined Westbury Accountants in 1985, where he has remained since, becoming a partner in 1987. Graham is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and also a member of the IT faculty. He was also responsible for the practice’s financial services division during which time he successfully completed the FPC qualification. Graham founded The Made Simple Group in 2002 for which he became a finalist of 'Business Person of the Year' in 2007..Graham is actively involved in the local business community -being a founding member of Clerkenwell BNI - and also a regular speaker at business events, having regularly appeared on the Midas Touch panel at the Business Start up Show with Dragons, Peter Jones and Rachel Elnaugh. Graham is also keen to share his experiences with start up businesses on the BBC's 'Small Business Panel of Expert's
Westbury Accountants
Westbury Accountants offer accountancy services across a range of industry verticals; Corporate, Art, Charity, Retail and Restaurants and Catering. Clients have included Pizza Express; KFC; Masterchef's Gregg Wallace
Graham's main area of professional involvement has been in the area of financial and business development; focusing on strategy and planning. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Faculty of Information Technology and also holds the Financial Planning Certificate from the Chartered Insurance Institute.
The Made Simple Group
MSG is home to a range of business entities dedicated to providing online business solutions to the start-up and small business communities. Founded in the UK in 2002, the MSG strategy is to deliver low-cost effective products and services to the start up and small business communities throughout Europe. There are now in excess of 11 websites within the group ([company formation], virtual offices, serviced offices, events, websites, accounting, insurance, contracting, banking, company reports, business and legal documents. The Made Simple Group was awarded ' Best Use of the Internet' by Accountancy Age in 2006.
The Made Simple Group and Google
The Made Simple Group joined Google Adwords as a co -marketing partner in 2007. For Graham, the appeal of using Google Ad word’s to a Chartered Accountant was obvious; it allowed him to grow his business online while measuring the revenue spent and generated. As Graham increasingly recognized the incremental value Ad words had added to his business, he decided to extend his partnership with Google further; offering every new company formed an Ad words Voucher As recognition of the innovative way Graham has integrated Ad word’s into his broader marketing strategy, Google made the Made Simple Group a case study in September 2007. and Graham believes there is a lot more the Made Simple Group and Google can do together:I believe there is a lot more we can do together, and I look forward to expanding the Adword's vouchers into other services throughout of sites in the near future.
Gregg's Veg
Graham co-founded Secrett’s Direct and Gregg's Veg -a fruit and vegetable website and farm - with Gregg Wallace of Masterchef fame. Gregg's Veg supplies fruit and vegetables to the hotel and restaurant industry - including Le Caprice, Le Gavroche and Gordon Ramsey at Hospital Road
Business Philosophy
Graham attributes his success to the entrepreneurial philosophy: 'Let's try it and see what happens'
Personal life
Howard is married to Lesley, has two children, Claudia aged 21 and Jonathan aged 18 and lives in North London. His interests include all sports; particularly football - he has been an avid Chelsea FC fan and season ticket holder for forty years. He is also a keen cricket fan; being both a member of the MCC and the Lord's Taverners. Other interests include most sports, bridge, theatre, music and reading and spending time in Spain.