E118 | The Mechanics of Employee Ownership Trusts with Chris Budd

What do you do if you want to keep your business going after you exit? What processes can you put in place to ensure your business survives without you? How can you extract maximum value from your life’s work?

Chris Budd is the founder and former CEO of Ovation Finance. He is also one of the UK’s foremost experts in selling your business to an employee ownership trust. Why is he an expert in this? Because this is the route he chose to exit his own business. 

“What I wanted, which, at its essence, was to see the business continue. I wanted to be able to exit but not see the business broken up or sold or merged with another company, I wanted to continue because I have a big ego. And I'm proud of the business.”

As well as writing the book on it The Eternal Business, Chris also advises business owners how to follow suit. By creating an employee ownership trust and selling your business to an employee ownership trust, and then moving out the way is how to do it. 

But how do you do it successfully? It’s all linked to purpose, culture and happiness, says Chris. This is a fantastic episode, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

On today’s podcast:

• Becoming an expert in employee ownership trusts
• What is EOT business?
• The eternal business
• Preparing employees for EOT business
• Management and trustees in EOT businesses
• What do you need to sell your business for

Links:

• www.ovationfinance.co.uk
• www.cbudd.co.uk
• Book - The Eternal Business
• Employee ownership association
• Financial wellbeing podcast