SGI Consultants Limited is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency in how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal data. This policy explains our practices in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We collect only the information necessary to deliver our business consulting services effectively, and we maintain rigorous security measures to protect your data. You retain full control over your personal information, including the right to access, correct, or delete your data at any time.
1. Information About Us
SGI Consultants Limited (“we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the website startgrowimprove.com and provides business consulting, planning, and funding services to entrepreneurs and businesses across the United Kingdom and internationally.
Data Controller Details:
Company Name: SGI Consultants Limited
Registered Address: 20 Dawes Road, Fulham, London SW6 7EN
Email: info@startgrowimprove.com
Phone: +44 20 3398 8685
Website: https://startgrowimprove.com
As a data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data. We are responsible for ensuring that our data processing activities comply with applicable UK data protection laws and regulations.
2. What Information We Collect
We collect and process various categories of personal data depending on how you interact with our services. The information we gather enables us to provide tailored business consulting services, respond to inquiries, and improve our service delivery.
Information You Provide Directly
When you contact us for consultations, book appointments, or engage our services, you may provide the following information:
Contact Information: Your name, email address, telephone number, business address, and preferred communication methods allow us to respond to inquiries and maintain ongoing communication throughout our engagement.
Business Information: Details about your business or business idea, including industry sector, business stage (startup, established, expansion), revenue figures, funding requirements, business plans, financial projections, and strategic objectives. This information is essential for us to understand your specific needs and provide relevant, targeted advice.
Professional Background: Your professional experience, qualifications, previous business ventures, and relevant expertise help us tailor our recommendations to your skill set and experience level.
Financial Information: When facilitating funding applications or preparing business plans, we may collect financial statements, bank account details for funding transfers, credit history information, tax records, and investment readiness documentation.
Consultation Records: Notes from meetings, correspondence, documentation of advice provided, and records of services delivered form part of our professional engagement documentation.
Information Collected Automatically
When you visit our website, certain technical information is collected automatically to improve your browsing experience and analyse website performance:
Technical Data: Your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device information, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, and screen resolution help us optimise our website for various devices and browsers.
Usage Data: Information about how you navigate our site, including pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked, search terms entered, and referring website addresses, enables us to understand user behaviour and improve our content and navigation structure.
Cookie Data: As detailed in the cookie section below, we use cookies and similar technologies to enhance functionality, remember your preferences, and analyse website traffic patterns.
3. How We Use Your Information
We process your personal data for specific, legitimate purposes that directly support our business relationship with you. Each processing activity is conducted under an appropriate legal basis as required by UK GDPR.
Legal Bases for Processing
Contractual Necessity: Processing is necessary to perform our consulting services contract with you, including responding to service inquiries, delivering agreed services, preparing business plans and funding applications, and managing the commercial relationship throughout our engagement.
Legitimate Interests: We process certain data based on our legitimate business interests, which include improving our service offerings through performance analysis, conducting business development activities, maintaining accurate business records, preventing fraud and ensuring security, and analysing trends to enhance service quality. We balance these interests against your rights and only process data where the impact on you is minimal and proportionate.
Legal Obligations: We process certain data to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including maintaining financial records for tax purposes, complying with anti-money laundering regulations, responding to lawful requests from authorities, and fulfilling professional indemnity insurance requirements.
Consent: Where we rely on your consent for processing activities such as marketing communications or testimonials, you have the right to withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing conducted before withdrawal.
Specific Processing Activities
Service Delivery: Your information enables us to provide comprehensive business consulting, write professional business plans, facilitate funding applications, deliver mentoring and coaching services, and conduct market research and feasibility analyses tailored to your specific requirements.
Communication: We use your contact details to respond to inquiries and requests, schedule and confirm consultations, provide project updates, send service-related notifications, and share important information about our engagement.
Business Operations: Processing supports our internal operations, including managing client relationships, maintaining accurate records, conducting quality assurance reviews, training staff members, and improving our methodologies and frameworks.
Marketing: With your consent, we may send information about our services, share relevant industry insights and business resources, notify you of new service offerings, and invite you to participate in client feedback surveys.
4. Understanding Cookies
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit our website. These files are transferred to your device’s hard drive, enabling our website to recognise your device and remember certain information about your preferences or past actions.
Types of Cookies We Use
| Cookie Type | Purpose | Duration | Legal Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly Necessary | Essential for website functionality, security, and navigation. These cookies enable core features such as secure areas access, consultation booking forms, and payment processing. | Session or up to 1 year | Legitimate Interest |
| Performance Cookies | Collect anonymous information about how visitors use our site, including which pages are visited most frequently, error messages received, and navigation patterns. This helps us improve website performance and user experience. | Up to 2 years | Consent |
| Functionality Cookies | Remember your preferences and choices, such as language preferences, region selection, and customised settings. These enhance your browsing experience by personalising content. | Up to 1 year | Consent |
| Targeting/Marketing Cookies | Track your browsing activity across websites to deliver relevant advertising and measure campaign effectiveness. These cookies help us understand which marketing channels are most effective. | Up to 2 years | Consent |
Third-Party Cookies
Our website may include cookies from trusted third-party service providers that assist us in operating our website and conducting business operations. These third parties have their own privacy policies governing how they use your information.
Google Analytics: We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors interact with our website. This service collects anonymous data about page views, session duration, bounce rates, and traffic sources. Google Analytics uses cookies to distinguish unique users and throttle request rates. The information generated is transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States and other countries. Google will use this information to evaluate website usage, compile reports on website activity, and provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage.
Booking Systems: Our consultation booking functionality may use cookies from YouCanBook.me or similar scheduling platforms to remember your booking preferences and facilitate appointment scheduling.
Social Media: If we integrate social media features, cookies from platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook may be placed on your device to enable social sharing functionality and track interactions.
Managing Your Cookie Preferences
You maintain full control over cookie usage on our website. When you first visit, you will see a cookie consent banner that lets you accept all cookies, reject non-essential cookies, or customise your preferences by category.
You can modify your cookie preferences at any time by accessing the cookie settings through the banner that appears on your first visit, or by adjusting your browser settings to block or delete cookies. Most modern browsers allow you to refuse cookies, warn you before accepting cookies, or delete cookies that have already been set. However, please note that disabling certain cookies may affect website functionality and your ability to access particular features or services.
For detailed guidance on managing cookies in different browsers, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
5. How We Share Your Information
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes. We share your information only in specific circumstances necessary to deliver our services or fulfil legal obligations.
Service Providers and Partners
We engage carefully selected third-party service providers who assist us in delivering our services. These processors are subject to strict contractual obligations that require them to process your data only in accordance with our instructions and to maintain appropriate security measures.
Technology Service Providers: Website hosting services, email communication platforms, cloud storage providers, and customer relationship management systems help us maintain our digital infrastructure and service delivery capabilities.
Professional Service Providers: We may share relevant information with accountants and financial advisors when preparing funding applications, legal professionals for contract reviews or regulatory compliance, and industry specialists for technical due diligence or market analysis.
Funding and Investment Partners: When facilitating funding applications, we share your business information with potential investors, lenders, grant-making bodies, and government funding programmes as necessary to support your funding objectives. We obtain your explicit consent before sharing sensitive business information with any funding sources.
Legal Disclosures
We may disclose your personal information where required by law, including responding to court orders or legal processes, complying with regulatory investigations, protecting our legal rights and property, preventing fraud or illegal activities, and ensuring the safety of our staff, clients, or the public.
Business Transitions
In the event of a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, personal data may be transferred to the acquiring entity as part of the business transaction. We would notify affected individuals of any such change in ownership or control of personal information.
6. International Data Transfers
We primarily store and process your personal data within the United Kingdom. However, some of our service providers operate globally, which may result in your data being transferred, stored, or processed in countries outside the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA).
When we transfer personal data internationally, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information. These safeguards may include using standard contractual clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, engaging service providers that participate in recognised certification schemes, or transferring data only to countries deemed to provide an adequate level of data protection.
If you would like more information about the specific safeguards applied to international transfers of your personal data, please contact us using the details provided at the end of this policy.
7. Data Security
We implement robust technical and organisational security measures designed to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. Our security framework reflects the sensitive nature of the business and financial information we handle.
Technical Security Measures
Our security infrastructure includes encryption of data in transit using industry-standard SSL/TLS protocols, secure storage of sensitive data with appropriate access controls, regular security updates and patches to our systems and software, firewall protection and intrusion detection systems, and secure backup procedures with encrypted off-site storage.
Organisational Security Measures
We maintain strict internal policies governing data protection, including access controls that limit data access to authorised personnel only, mandatory staff training on data protection principles and security practices, regular security audits and vulnerability assessments, incident response procedures for addressing potential breaches, and confidentiality agreements with all staff and contractors.
Client Responsibilities
While we implement comprehensive security measures, the security of your information also depends on your actions. We recommend using strong, unique passwords for any accounts, not sharing login credentials with others, being cautious about phishing attempts and suspicious emails, ensuring your devices are protected with security software, and promptly notifying us if you suspect unauthorised access to your information.
8. Data Retention
We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, comply with legal and regulatory requirements, and resolve disputes or enforce our agreements.
Retention Periods
| Data Category | Retention Period | Justification |
|---|---|---|
| Active Client Records | Duration of engagement plus 7 years | Until consent is withdrawn or 3 years of inactivity |
| Financial Records | Professional service requirements, potential legal claims, and tax compliance | HMRC requirements, Companies Act obligations |
| Business Plans and Documents | 7 years after service completion | Professional indemnity requirements, intellectual property protection |
| Marketing Consent Records | Until consent is withdrawn or after 3 years of inactivity | Demonstrating compliance, avoiding unwanted communications |
| Inquiry Records (Non-Clients) | 2 years from last contact | Business development, future service opportunities |
| Website Analytics Data | 26 months | Performance analysis, user experience improvement |
At the end of the applicable retention period, we securely delete or anonymise your personal data in accordance with our data disposal procedures. Anonymised data that cannot identify you may be retained indefinitely for statistical analysis and business improvement purposes.
9. Your Rights Under UK GDPR
UK data protection law grants you significant rights regarding your personal data. We are committed to facilitating the exercise of these rights and to promptly and transparently responding to your requests.
Right to Access (Subject Access Request)
You have the right to obtain confirmation that we are processing your personal data and to access a copy of that data, along with information about how we use it. We will provide this information free of charge within one month of your request, though complex requests may take up to three months with appropriate notification.
Right to Rectification
You have the right to have inaccurate personal data corrected and to have incomplete personal data completed. This ensures our records remain accurate and up to date, supporting the quality of the services we provide to you.
Right to Erasure (“Right to be Forgotten”)
In certain circumstances, you have the right to request deletion of your personal data, including where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, you withdraw consent, and there is no other legal basis for processing, you object to processing, and there are no overriding legitimate grounds, or the data has been unlawfully processed. This right is not absolute and may be limited where we have legal obligations to retain certain information.
Right to Restriction of Processing
You have the right to request that we restrict processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as when you contest the accuracy of the data, the processing is unlawful, but you prefer restriction to erasure, we no longer need the data, but you need it for legal claims, or you have objected to processing pending verification of our legitimate grounds.
Right to Data Portability
Where we process your data based on consent or contract performance using automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit that data to another controller without hindrance.
Right to Object
You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes. When you object to direct marketing, we will immediately cease processing your data for such purposes. For objections based on legitimate interests, we will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms.
Rights Related to Automated Decision-Making
We do not currently engage in fully automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal effects or similarly significantly affects you. Should this change, you would have the right to human intervention, to express your point of view, and to contest any automated decision.
Exercising Your Rights
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided in the contact section below. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request to ensure we protect personal data from unauthorised access. We will respond to your request within one month, though complex requests may require up to three months, with appropriate notification of the extension.
10. Children’s Privacy
Our services are designed for and directed at adults engaged in business activities. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child without appropriate parental or guardian consent, we will take immediate steps to delete such information from our records. Parents or guardians who believe their child has provided us with personal information should contact us immediately.
11. Changes to This Policy
We review and update this Cookie Policy and Privacy Notice periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, and business operations. When we make material changes, we will notify you by posting the updated policy on our website with a revised “Last Updated” date and, where appropriate, by direct communication, such as email.
We encourage you to review this policy regularly to stay informed about how we protect your personal data. Continued use of our website and services following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of those changes. If you do not agree with any modifications to this policy, you should discontinue use of our services and contact us to discuss your concerns.
12. Contact Us and Make a Complaint
We are committed to addressing any questions, concerns, or complaints you may have about our data protection practices. Our team is available to assist you with exercising your rights, understanding how we process your data, or resolving any privacy-related issues.
Contact Information
SGI Consultants Limited
20 Dawes Road, Fulham
London SW6 7EN
United Kingdom
Email: privacy@startgrowimprove.com
Phone: +44 20 3398 8685
Website: https://startgrowimprove.com
Data Protection Enquiries: For all data protection matters, including subject access requests, corrections, or complaints, please clearly mark your communication as “Data Protection Enquiry” to ensure prompt routing to the appropriate team member.
Making a Complaint
If you are not satisfied with our response to your data protection concerns or believe we are processing your personal data in violation of data protection law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the supervisory authority for data protection in the United Kingdom.
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk
Report a Concern: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
We encourage you to contact us first with any concerns so we can attempt to resolve the matter directly. However, you have the right to contact the ICO at any time without first approaching us.
13. Consent Management
Where we rely on your consent as the legal basis for processing your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing conducted before the withdrawal.
Managing Marketing Preferences
You can manage your marketing communication preferences at any time by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any marketing email we send, contacting us directly using the contact details provided above, or updating your preferences through your account settings if you have created an account with us.
Managing Cookie Consent
You can adjust your cookie preferences through our cookie management tool accessible on first visit or by modifying your browser settings as described in the cookie section above.
Summary of Key Points
SGI Consultants Limited processes your personal data lawfully, transparently, and securely. We collect information necessary to deliver high-quality business consulting services and improve our service offerings. Your data is protected through robust security measures and shared only when necessary for service delivery or legal compliance. You maintain comprehensive rights over your personal data, including the rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict its use. We retain data only as long as necessary and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. For questions, concerns, or to exercise your rights, contact us at privacy@startgrowimprove.com or +44 20 3398 8685.