Droben Matchmaking, led by celebrated CEO Ksenia Droben, has once again demonstrated why it is regarded as one of Europe’s leading matchmaking agencies, closing its 2025 season with a distinctive and highly curated dating experience.

For this year’s finale, the agency organised a three-day retreat at the atmospheric Castle Hohenbocka in the Lower Lusatia region of Germany. Fifty singles, handpicked from countries including the UK, Canada and across mainland Europe, were invited to take part.

The retreat was structured to create the ideal environment for forming authentic connections, combining research-backed matchmaking techniques with immersive communication activities and carefully guided introductions.

“Our methods are scientific and provide constant results. When with us, singles can invest in communication without being distracted. We purposefully choose castles in unique locations to create an unparalleled experience,” said Ksenia Droben.

“The whole event was a huge success, and we are very happy. This is the only event like this in the world.”

Beyond these exclusive castle retreats, Droben Matchmaking continues to offer its clients a variety of in-person city meetups and monthly online events designed to expand opportunities for meaningful romantic connection.

Louise Lithgow-Dicker, founder of Go HR, is cautioning small business owners to act now, as the UK prepares for a wave of employment law changes expected to fuel a 23% increase in tribunal claims over the next two years.

With 28 reform proposals under consideration, employers may soon face significantly higher risks, including tribunal awards averaging £13,000 and legal fees near £20,000. The forthcoming changes — from day one employment rights to the removal of unfair dismissal compensation limits — are arriving more rapidly than many SME leaders anticipate.

Louise, who recently spoke with Joe Wicks at BusinessMania about prioritising people and culture, says the scale of the incoming legislation means SMEs cannot afford to delay.

“Small business owners spend thousands on their external brand but very little on their internal culture,” Louise said. “Joe Wicks gives his team a full hour for exercise on top of lunch breaks because he understands that looking after people protects the business. That’s exactly the culture-first mindset SMEs need right now, especially with these legal changes coming.”

The Employment Rights Bill introduces wide-ranging revisions to the workplace landscape. Proposals include enhanced worker protections from the outset of employment, expanded redundancy consultation duties for larger employers, strengthened rights to flexible working, and tougher enforcement penalties. Additional measures aim to improve carers’ leave, update parental leave frameworks and refine off-payroll rules, leaving SMEs with new compliance requirements to manage.

Some reforms are substantial enough to catch many employers off guard. Day one rights will instead be applied after a six-month probation period, while the current £118,000 unfair dismissal compensation cap is set to disappear. Statutory sick pay will also become payable from the first day of absence.

The tribunal system, already facing delays of up to 18 months, is expected to come under further strain as the period for filing claims has been extended to six months. Without cost barriers for employees, experts believe disputes will rise sharply.

“The headlines are very scary and confusing for SME owners, who often don’t know who to turn to for reliable support,” Louise said.

Louise’s 35 years of HR experience and 12 years leading Go HR have made her a trusted source of practical and commercially balanced advice. One recent example saw her resolve a complex long-term sickness issue in just two weeks — a problem the client had struggled with for six months despite support from a major HR provider.

Construction businesses, many of whom rely on Go HR, face particular vulnerabilities. While they are typically strong on regulatory safety standards, they routinely overlook core HR obligations such as issuing contracts at the start of employment, exposing them to automatic penalties.

“They come to me saying: This employee is unproductive and disruptive, I need them gone,” Louise said. “Our job is to give them options, explain the consequences, and help them sleep at night instead of spending weekends worrying about ‘people’ problems.”

Louise advises all SMEs to begin preparing now. Her recommended first steps include reviewing employment contracts, auditing policies for compliance with future changes, and setting crystal-clear expectations around performance.

“With the right preparation, these changes don’t need to be scary,” Louise added. “Businesses that take action now can actually come out stronger. But those who put their heads in the sand will find themselves in tribunal hearings costing £30,000-plus and taking 18 months of their lives.”

To learn more about the new changes and how to navigate them safely, visit www.gohr.co.uk/contact-us.

Leadership expert Anna Mosley has announced the launch of her newest high-level growth initiative aimed at supporting the UK’s most accomplished founders and business leaders whose teams are ready to move into a new phase of expansion.

Launching in January 2026, the Extraordinary Leader Programme offers a 12-week hybrid structure that brings together online training with focused, small-group coaching. Created with the demanding schedules of founders in mind, it provides an environment where ambitious, coachable leaders can build the clarity, mindset and leadership ability required to scale their businesses to eight figures and beyond.

Mosley — a multi-award-winning mentor with a track record spanning thousands of leaders and collaborations with major international brands including L’Oréal, Boots and LinkedIn — notes that the programme is specifically designed for founders who have achieved substantial financial and operational success but now feel blocked or overwhelmed as they face the next phase of growth.

“These founders have done brilliantly to reach six or seven figures and build a team — but in order to scale from here, something has to shift,” Mosley said.

“Most founder have never been taught how to lead. This programme shows them how to become the leader their business needs them to become for this phase of business growth. It gives them the tools, confidence and capability to step into the CEO role of both their business and their life.”

Extraordinary Leader helps founders master how to:

• Lead themselves — building confidence, clarity and self-leadership capability
• Lead others — empowering people and developing future leaders, with maximum impact and influence
• Lead culture — driving high performance, accountability and a team that wins without them

Participants will learn how to free themselves from day-to-day firefighting, and carve out more time to work on their business rather than constantly being stuck in it.

“This programme is designed for the high-achieving yet plateauing founder ready to level up in 2026 — they know they are capable of more, but don’t yet know how to get there,” Mosley added.

“The transformation is profound: participants gain clarity, capability, community and a strategic pathway to scale. They stop feeling stuck, mastering leadership for growth.”

A master in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and an expert in high performance culture, Mosley brings a rare ability to make leadership simple, actionable and transformational.

Applications for the Extraordinary Leader Programme are now open.

To register interest or secure a place, visit: go.eighty.academy/eighty-extraordinary-leader

Business coach and Lincolnshire entrepreneur Steph Ward has reported remarkable early progress following the launch of her new venture, the Evergreen Academy. Within its first quarter, the digital programme has attracted promising sales, established a robust revenue pipeline, and reinforced the feasibility of automated income systems for service-driven businesses.

Ward developed the Evergreen Academy in pursuit of a business structure that would offer both security and flexibility, particularly as she balanced her career with family life. Leveraging her background at Siemens and her co-founding role at Ward Holmes, she crafted a six-step approach to help consultants and coaches build digital income sources that require minimal ongoing maintenance.

Her model has now been validated through the creation of a £75,000 sales pipeline generated from less than £800 in advertising costs, demonstrating that small service-based businesses can secure high-margin, scalable income through automation. Ward’s strategic shift was inspired by her own experience of becoming a parent and reevaluating the constraints of conventional employment.

“I never valued my time as much as until I had a child, and then I realised that time was all that mattered,” she explained. “Nobody starts a business expecting to work harder than ever before for less money, but that is the reality for many when their income depends entirely on personal output.”

A defining element of the Evergreen Academy is its “meta-experience,” where clients learn to build an evergreen offer by progressing through one themselves. “Clients are with me because my process works,” Ward said. “Many had never heard of me before my systems brought us together, which is exactly the point.”

One participant successfully moved from concept to earning potential with a grief counselling course. Initially lacking the confidence to appear on camera, she moved from private writing activities to producing video content with growing assurance over a three-month period. Ward highlights these practical transformations as essential steps that enable coaches to develop enduring digital assets.

In January 2026, the Evergreen Academy will broaden its service offerings with specialist support, including technology clinics and legal insight into intellectual property. These additions have been shaped by client requests for targeted, practical guidance during the digital product development process.

To learn more about the Evergreen Academy, visit: go.theforward.biz/freetrainingpr

Property survey platform Find My Surveyor has confirmed the appointment of Ryan Osman as Chief Technology Officer and co-founder. He joins alongside existing co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Jack Purdie, who will continue in his current role.

Osman’s arrival signals the beginning of a strategic scale-up phase after a successful first year in the market. The company is preparing for significant expansion, supported by improved platform functionality and growing interest from UK property buyers.

Unlike many comparison services that generate multiple sales calls by reselling customer enquiries, Find My Surveyor was developed to offer a smoother, more transparent process. Users are matched to a single RICS-certified local surveyor who provides one clear price without sales pressure.

The model is powered by the proprietary OneQuote matching engine, which evaluates survey requirements, location and appointment availability to produce a single tailored survey quote.

“Our goal is to build the most trusted and efficient route to survey services in the UK,” said Jack Purdie. “With Ryan joining as CTO and co-founder, we now have the technical leadership in place to accelerate development and deliver that at scale.”

Since joining, Osman has prioritised infrastructure improvements, speeding up user interactions and enhancing the booking experience. The platform has also undergone a full redesign to better support additional survey categories and faster processing times.

The business now offers a wide scope of more than 15 survey types, including fire safety assessments, asbestos surveys, CCTV drainage checks, home condition reports, and RICS Level 2 and Level 3 services.

“This industry has been underserved by technology for too long,” said Osman. “We’re giving homeowners a modern, straightforward way to get expert survey advice without the hassle or confusion that’s traditionally been part of the process.”

Looking ahead to 2026, Find My Surveyor plans to build further nationwide coverage, automate more backend processes, and raise expectations across the surveying comparison sector. The brand’s reputation for clarity, fairness and convenience continues to drive momentum.