Wednesday 23 July 2008

Workshop Programme to kick-start your business

If we can, you can has developed a relationship with Business Link's NOW North East programme, which is being brought across the region to urge budding business tycoons to explore their high-growth business ideas and turn them into reality.

The programme will comprise of a number of stand-alone workshops at convenient locations across the North East for entrepreneurs who have potentially high-earning business ideas and the resource and capacity to start-up, progress and grow.

The workshops, which will take place over the coming months, will cover a range of vital business issues and address the key skills needed to achieve success. Delegates will have the opportunity to meet with like-minded entrepreneurs, network and expand their business contacts, and will have access to a range of knowledgeable business professionals.

If we can, you can are providing personal guides to marketing, finance, planning and people to the workshops, which have been inspired by the many individual approaches taken by some of our If we can, you can members.

Each workshop will last for just three hours and will take place either in the morning or late afternoon. Morning workshops will commence at 8.30am for networking, with a 9am start and will end around 12 noon. The afternoon workshops commence at 4pm and will end at around 7pm.

Those with a potentially high-growth business idea, who would like more information on the workshops and how to attend one, can register at http://www.nownortheast.co.uk/ or call 0845 680 1 391.

Monday 21 July 2008

Busy times for UK Biometrics Ltd

Former Entrepreneurs' Forum Young Entrepreneur of the Year Matt James, Managing Director of UK Biometrics Ltd, has been busy franchising his company all over the UK and abroad. The company is a leading supplier of fingerprint entry systems, membership systems and time & attendance systems, and here are just some of their recent news and developments. Keep a look out on http://www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk/ for Matt's story, coming soon.


BIOMETRIC SECURITY TO PROTECT CHILDREN AT BRITAINS LAGEST NURSERY GROUP

Newcastle upon Tyne based UK Biometrics Ltd has announced the roll-out of a deal worth over half million pounds to supply and install biometric ‘Fingerprint Entry’ security systems at Busy Bees, Britain’s larges chain of children’s nurseries. The system will allow parents and carers easy access to the nurseries while ensuring unauthorised people cannot gain entry.

UK Biometrics has worked with Busy Bees for over a year, trialling the system at fourteen nurseries.

The new biometric locks allow Busy Bees personnel to register parents and carers fingerprints in seconds. Once registered parents press their fingerprint onto a sensor pad at the door then leave or collect their children without fuss. Un-registered visitors ring the bell and wait for a member of staff to admit them.

The new system will allow staff to spend more time with the children at busy drop-off and collection times, rather than answering the door to parents.

The multi-spectral scanner identifies key points on the users fingerprint, and scans sub-dermal ridges making it impossible to ‘spoof’ using a fake fingerprint. . No actual fingerprint is stored and the encrypted data is held only by Busy Bees individual nurseries. It is impossible to reproduce a fingerprint, or any part of a fingerprint from data stored.

Busy Bees Regional Director Carole Chadderton said;

“We are always looking at ways of improving the quality of our nurseries, and security for the children and staff is a prime concern. We have worked closely with UK Biometrics and their access system will enable us to maintain high security standards throughout our nurseries.”

UK Biometrics Operations Director Shaun Oakes said:

“Busy Bees has been the leading provider of quality childcare since 1983 and their commitment to biometric access proves they will adopt the latest and best technology to protect children and offer peace of mind to carers and parents. Biometrics provides the only key which cannot be lost, stolen, forged or hacked – the human fingerprint.”

Busy Bees nurseries are trusted by parents around the UK to provide their children with a safe, secure, happy, healthy and stimulating environment. They offer a child-centred approach where children are encouraged to develop their creativity, individuality and self-confidence in secure surroundings, led by fully trained staff.


BIOMETRIC SECURITY PROTECTS 210 BERKSHIRE CHILDREN

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust has become the first primary healthcare trust in the UK to install biometric access systems to protect 210 children and staff at three nurseries in the County. Little Dragons nursery in Reading, Kiddies Kabin in Maidenhead and Jack In The Box in Slough have replaced buzzer and intercom systems with biometric ‘Fingerprint Entry’ devices.

The multi-spectral scanner identifies key points on the users fingerprint, and scans sub-dermal ridges making it impossible to ‘spoof’ using a fake fingerprint. . No actual fingerprint is stored and the encrypted data is held only by individual nurseries making it fully data protection compliant. It is impossible to reproduce a fingerprint, or any part of a fingerprint from data stored.

The technology, supplied by the Thames Valley office of UK Biometrics Ltd allows nursery personnel register parent’s fingerprints in seconds. Parents then simply press their fingerprint on a sensor pad at the door to gain fast, easy access. They can leave or collect their children without fuss while un-registered visitors must ring the bell and wait for a member of staff. The new biometric system means staff can now spend more time caring for children and helping them attain their Early Learning goals.

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust Security Management Specialist Jim Tye says:

“The new biometric access systems provide state of the art security for children and staff, which is a paramount concern. Parents are comforted to know their children are protected by the latest high-tech device while fingerprint entry makes life safer and easier all round.”

All three nurseries recently attained ‘Good’ OFSTED reports in all areas of their childcare and education. Another OFSTED report praised the biometric entry system as ‘Protecting children from harm’.

UK Biometrics Ltd Director, Reading based Nick Morse says:

“Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has specified the only key which cannot be lost, stolen, forged or hacked – the human fingerprint.”

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Recession won't kill the radio star!

Here's a summary of the conversation between Ali McLean and Victoria Derbyshire on Radio 5 Live - you can listen to the discussion by visiting http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/morning.shtml

'We're far from being in a recession, and I'm sick of all the negativity thank you very much. Our business arranges activity holidays in Europe and all over the world- they're not cheap, but our last two weeks have been our best ever.

'We have a fairly middle class client base, and they're the ones who have been hit the worst by higher interest rates and higher fuel prices. Yet just yesterday, I sold a family of six a ten day white water rafting adventure holiday in Slovenia for £6000. People are still prepared to spend money.

'I'm a member of the Entrepreneurs' Forum, and we're a body of business owners from tiny companies all the way up to our chairman, Paul Walker, who's the Chief Executive of Sage. We held our annual conference recently, and it came out that 88% of our members believe the media has exacerbated the current financial and economic position in this country. We're talking our way into a recession.'

Victoria Derbyshire, Dj for Radio Five Live, said that the British Chamber of Commerce performed a large survey with 5000 businesses, both small and large, and their members reported back that sales on their order books have declined dramatically in the last three months.

Ali responded, 'We resigned from our local Chamber of Commerce a few months ago. We felt that the Entrepreneurs Forum offered us a lot better value, and a lot more positivity. We all talk to each other, and most people say that they are optimistic about the future of the economy here in the North East. If we can survive, everyone else can too.'

An Evening with the Best of Northumberland

Yesterday evening, I held my second networking event “An Evening with the Best of Northumberland” at Kirkley Hall, near Ponteland. The event is aimed at giving my client members of thebestofnorthumberland and other businesses an opportunity in a relaxed, social (and very impressive) setting to make connections with other local recommended businesses to drive more business.

One of my clients, the artist Karen Willis, displayed her stunning pictures and prints at the event, and other client members informed the session of their exceptional services – Phil Brown of Bentley Brown & Co presented an update on pensions, Zoe Moore of Homes & Gardens described her friendly and efficient gardening and cleaning services, and Ralph English of Ralph English Interiors explained how they offered great value for money quality kitchen and bathroom design and installation service.

I was very pleased with the evening – connections made, business initiated, and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves.

The next event is scheduled for 9th September. (For further details, please contact me by phone or email – details as below.)

Tony McAndrew
Director

Word of Mouth specialists, uncovering the hidden gems of Northumberland.
We fly the flag for recommended businesses in Northumberland.

thebestofnorthumberland36 De Mowbray Way
Lancaster Park
Morpeth NE61 3RF
T 01670 504879E northumberland@thebestof.co.uk
www.thebestof.co.uk/northumberland

If we can, you can Challenge Reception


The finalists of ‘If we can, you can’ Challenge came together at a special event to celebrate the success of the competition in unlocking the region’s undiscovered entrepreneurial talent, and to discuss the impact with the wider business community that the If we can, you can campaign seeks to create in its upcoming developments.

The finalists and winners were each presented with a specially designed canvas photo image of themselves by chair of One NorthEast Margaret Fay OBE. The images, made up of a montage of ‘challenge’ entrants and established entrepreneurs profiles, were unveiled at the event for the first time.

Carole Beverley, chief executive of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum said: “The campaign has created a new community of entrepreneurs who have all shown incredible passion, drive and ambition to succeed. We are delighted to see this community already developing its own momentum.”

Thursday 3 July 2008

Tea Frappe

Here is a little bit of info about our Tea Frappe drink...

Tea Frappe is an all natural, well rounded red black tea infused with honey, blended with ice and skimmed milk to create a refreshing tea frappe which contains less than 2% fat.

We are looking for local retailers who currently stock iced coffee drinks who may be interested to trial our product.

Gavin Blowman,
Chooba

Volunteering with Young Enterprise

I have been visiting a local primary school through Young Enterprise to deliver the "Our City" module to 8-9 year olds. This is the first time I have done anything like this and I can strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to give something back to their local community.

Young Enterprise is a national education charity founded in 1939 to forge links between schools and industry. It's mission is: To inspire and equip young people to lean and succeed through enterprise.

Ann Williams-Maughan
Education Takeaway

Spreading my wings

I'm headed to a small country called Kyrgyzstan (next to where
Borat's from...) to work in an orphanage and explore the country. I'll
be carrying all my possessions around on my back, which should be an
experience within itself.

I've employed my brother to take care of things while I'm away.
I'll hopefully be back in touch in a month-or-so, with many experiences and
stories to share.

Have a good summer!

Jonathan Grubin, MiniG Media

Wednesday 2 July 2008

Three Cheers...

Having now been in business for three months, things seem to be going well. Finance is a definate issue... and the fact that it is a relatively new concept for Newcastle deters some customers, although thankfully, the business is breaking even.

A financial 'safety net' would be a lot of help, because then it would be possible to employ a salesperson who would be able to close a lot more deals. Just a small tip for any new 'or old' businesses... if you need the name of a reliable, inexpensive and accommodating printer... let me know!

Mark Rogers
Cheers-Newcastle

Good luck Charles at KLB Promotions

We have tendered for supply of Marquees to Gateshead Council for Leisure events commencing 1st Aug 2008 for 36 months with an option on a further 12 months. This is the first time we have tendered for a contract of this nature and we await a positive result
Charles D SluddenSales & Marketing DirectorKLB Promotions & Events Ltd229 Kells Lane Low FellGatesheadNE9 5HTTel 0191-491-5626 Fax 0191-487-8044Web www.klb-promotions.co.uk E-mail charles@klb-promotions.co.uk

Tuesday 1 July 2008

Welcome

Welcome to the the Blog!

This is your opportunity to tell the rest of your entrepreneurial colleagues what's going on. It could be news about your latest achievements and successes, a review of the latest event, seminar, workshop, etc. you've been to, recommendations, anything you'd like to offer to other entrepreneurs or even a bit of a rant (although we will edit judiciously). If we come across anything we think might be of interest we'll also add it to the blog - so tell us what you'd like to hear about. All you need to do is email your blog content to stephen@ifwecanyoucan.co.uk - we'll aim to add new posts a couple of times each day - and then wrap them up into an email summary at least once a week.