news Archive 02/2010

London Rebuilding Society has loan finance available for ethically motivated enterprises in the London area.  London Rebuilding Society is itself a social enterprise and a mutual society - so our aim is to make a positive social impact, not a profit.  That’s why we tailor our loans around the needs of your enterprise.  So if you are looking for loan finance and your business is socially or environmentally motivated then visit their website www.londonrebuilding.com or call them on 0207 682 1666

London Rebuilding Society is a Community Development Finance Institution which offers financial services and products to individuals, communities and enterprises across London who cannot access traditional forms of finance. They provide loans to social enterprises and ethical businesses, a unique form of microfinance scheme for refugee groups, a housing improvement scheme for vulnerable homeowners and a range of consultancy and training services for third sector organisations. Our core values are innovation, inclusion and flexibility.  All of their products are designed to have the maximum social impact and are tailored to the needs of their clients.

Can your company supply these? Perhaps you supply stationery? Sports equipment? Ceramic tiles? Office Cleaning or decorating services?
These are just some of the opportunities that have been posted on CompeteFor this week.
Download this week’s listing below, or log on to CompeteFor for full details,

CIDA - the Creative Industries Development Agency www.cida.co.uk - run regular training courses at their Business Development Centre in Whitechapel. These courses are free to eligible Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham residents.

If you spend all your time being creative and want to make some money from it, whether you’re an artist, DJ or graphic designer, the Creative Cash development programme will show you how to make a living from doing something you love.

A combination of workshops, panel discussions and one-to-one advice sessions will help you to:

  * Create a plan for a profitable future
  * Manage your money
  * Find the right customers to help your business grow
  * Develop some great marketing ideas
  * Keep up to date with the latest social networking and online tools.
  * Legally register as self-employed
  * Build a network of like-minded creative business owners
  * Increase your business confidence

You can apply for this free business development programme if you live or have a business address in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney and are either ready to launch your creative business, or have just started trading (up to 18 months).

Creative Cash takes place 10am – 4pm every Tuesday from 2nd March to 30th March 2010, at the Business Development Centre in Whitechapel.

Limited places are available and will be allocated to eligible applicants on a first come, first served basis. For an application form (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 020 7247 4710.

Creative Cash is supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the IDCF.
if you’re interested in becoming self-employed or freelancing, this is a great opportunity to find out how to make it a reality.

Everything from making a plan to finding customers and managing your finances will be covered, plus you’ll have the chance to meet other like-minded people to discuss your ideas with.

See the document below for this week’s CompeteFor opportunities: In building and construction, City West Homes are looking for a contractor to carry out extensive refurbishment works including dry rot and damp proof treatment and minor structural works to 5 Victorian, terraced properties and Carillion will be delivering the initial phase of the Paddington Station upgrade and are looking for a contractor to provide demolition, asbestos removal and site clearance of various small buildings located in West London near Paddington Railway Station plus site remediation.
LOCOG are looking for a cleaning contractor to provide cleaning services during the 2012 Games at the Athletes Village in Stratford, and at the Weymouth Portland Sailing Village.
For these and many other opportunities for your business, log on to CompeteFor.

Tuesday 9th March, 2010
Barbican Exhibition Hall, London

The City of London Meet the Buyers event provides you with a unique and cost-effective method of presenting your products and services directly to major City based buyers.

Saving you time and money on marketing and frustrating cold calls we find the buyers for you and pre-arrange face to face sales meetings with buyers of your choice.

Thanks to the significant support of the City of London Corporation, if you are based in Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Lambeth or Westminster the cost to attend is just £50 + VAT. If you are unsure if your company falls under these boroughs please get in touch. 

Your booking will include:

  * The opportunity to conduct up to 7 pre-arranged meetings with buyers of your choice. Many more can be made on the day!
  * The chance to benefit from networking with other suppliers on the day.
  * The most effective day’s selling you’ll ever have.

To book your place at this event go to: www.sellingtothecity.co.uk

Avanti Communications have been located in Hackney since 2002, and in 2004 moved to their current HQ building in Rivington Street. They supply broadband and corporate data network services across Europe, currently renting bandwidth from other satellite operators, but in June this year they will launch their own satellite, HYLAS 1, Europe’s first privately financed Broadband satellite.

www.avantiplc.com
On Wednesday Avanti was named joint Technology Exporter of the Year at the London Export Awards 2010, run by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).UKTI provides strategy & insight, trade advice & support to exporters and helps UK companies succeed in international markets. See www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk for more information on how they could help your business.

Avanti Communications shared the prize for top technology exporter with Soho digital film company FilmLight Ltd.

KNOWLEDGE CONNECT is a dynamic and practical programme that is connecting businesses to the knowledgebase* in London.

It has one simple yet fundamental aim…to help businesses to grow and prosper through the development of market-focused new products and services.

The programme represents a huge opportunity for small to medium sized businesses to access and benefit from the wealth of expertise and experience to be found in the Capital’s universities, further education colleges and research and technology organisations.

Find out more and see the latest courses on offer through knowledge Connect at the website: www.knowledgeconnect.org.uk

Planners are invited to submit entries for an exhibition planned as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2010.

50 Years of London Architecture 1960-2010 is hosted by the Architecture Club between 19 -26 June and will be held at the Mall Galleries in London.

Projects will be included if they are significant in the development of British architecture, represent a particular strand of architectural thinking or are excellent examples of their kind.

Entrants should send a 100-word description, credits and low-res images to (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). The closing date is 1 March 2010.

Straight-talking. Challenging. Provocative.

Following the sell-out event last year, take the opportunity to question Lord Sugar, one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs.
Hear his thoughts on:
- What it takes to be a true entrepreneur
- How to battle against the odds
- The UK as an entrepreneurial nation

Dates and times: 17 March / 18.15 - 21.00 / £10 (£7.50 conc)
For full details and to book go to the British Libray website at www.bl.uk/bipc but be quick.

Can you build a jetty? Material excavated while digging Crossrail, the new cross-capital rail link is to be used to create a huge wildlife reserve in Essex. Clay, chalk, sand and gravel taken from the construction of Crossrail will be transferred by ship to Wallasea Island, which the RSPB will transform into 1,500 acres - nearly 2.5 square miles - of tidal wildlife habitat. Crossrail Ltd is looking for a supplier to construct a temporary jetty at Wallasea to take the excavated material from the Crossrail excavations and tunnelling. Works will include the supply and installation of pontoon tanks, conveyors and sizers as well as associated civils works.
For more details of this, and the many other business opportunities posted on ComnpeteFor this week, click on the link below:

A Hackney based project called Upturn has been supporting sole traders and SMEs during the recession.

Upturn is a project aiming to support individuals, employers and businesses based in London who have been affected by the recession.

For some SMEs getting the support they need and renting office space can be overwhelming and expensive, especially during the economic downturn.  Fortunately the Upturn project has been able to assist and subsidise some of the costs of running a small business through Accelerator, London Metropolitan University’s specialist business incubator in Shoreditch. 

Accelerator has been able to provide a free virtual incubation package, which includes access to the building’s meeting rooms and support once a week from Business Advisers.  Businesses are given access to marketing, finance, strategic and legal assistance and on joining are offered an initial IT audit, from one of the successful fellow incubated businesses.  Applicants are also offered the opportunity to undertake subsidised courses and training to further enhance their skills.

An additional offering of the package is that Accelerator can register the businesses at the sought after City fringe address, providing businesses with a London phone number, whilst allowing them to work from different locations.  The incubator’s combined community of businesses and like-minded individuals cultivates an innovative and entrepreneurial environment and the package offers businesses the opportunity to attend networking events to increase their contacts and business links.  Incubators also offer added value when located within Universities, as they are able to access academic expertise. 

The Upturn project is supporting individuals, employers and businesses based in London, who have been affected by the recession.  So far the virtual incubation package has been given to ten businesses and has prevented at least two of these companies from bankruptcy.  The partnership consists of the London boroughs of Hackney, Islington and Tower Hamlets and the boroughs’ respective further education colleges, as well as London Metropolitan University, London First, the City of London Corporation and the London Development Agency.

For more information please visit www.upturnonline.co.uk or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  Alternatively, you can phone 020 7320 1383 to find out how Upturn can help you.

This week Hackney Council are looking for a landscape contractor to deliver a newly designed landscape scheme converting a derelict space, the abandoned railway line of the Eastern Curve in Dalston, into an eco park environment.
There are also opportunities this week for office equipment supply, server maintenance and bricklaying subcontractors.

For these and many more opportunities, click on the document below, or go to the CompeteFor portal at www.competefor.com