SHILDON-BASED ENTREPRENEURS PUT ‘BUMS ON SEATS’ AT LAUNCH

North East training providers gathered in County Durham last night for the launch of an exciting new website which will help sell training courses online.

http://www.helptrainingcourses.com/ has been designed to fill up those few spare places on courses across the North East and allows companies and individuals to snap up remaining training course places at a discount instead of them going to waste, and from last night’s turnout the website seems to be just what training providers and companies have been looking for.

Lynn Mohan from SpringBoard Safety Services attended the event and said: “The new website is definitely something that the training industry has been looking for as you are really limited on other advertising websites as it all comes down to cost. We advertise on numerous other websites but have now put our courses on www.helptrainingcourses.com and much prefer this one as it gives training providers the opportunity to put exactly what they want without a charge.

“The last minute facility is great as like all other training providers, we often have courses that aren’t booked up to full capacity and so the discount idea is excellent to try and fill up those last few places. It can also improve relationships between training providers, companies and charities that perhaps don’t have the funding to afford training at its full price.”

The search phrase sale where trainers could buy key phrase packages such as ‘First aid training’, generated a great deal of interest. The night also consisted of presentations from founders Craig Fantarrow and John Patrick which allowed people to find out more about the website and its features.

Craig, who already runs successful training company, Help! First Aid Training, came up with the idea for the new website when trying to find ways to fill the remaining few spare places on his own training courses. He said: “We were pleased with the turnout tonight - Our aim for the website is to help get bums on seats and we’ve certainly managed to do that tonight.

“We had already received interest but the feedback tonight has been brilliant, so we are really pleased that the hard work we’ve put in over the last few months is starting to pay off. The number of training providers on the site is continually increasing but we need to keep building on that.”

If you are interested in advertising your training on the website for free, would like to find out more or look at the training courses available please go to http://www.helptrainingcourses.com/.

Craig and John plan to employ a small team of three once the business is established, before aiming to expand the website to cover other regions of the UK.

New engineer-led business to focus on offshore wind

Entrepreneurs' Forum member Tony Trapp is pleased to announce the creation of a new business, called O-Power Limited.

O-Power (OP) will develop new technology in offshore engineering and hopes to make a significant contribution to the rapidly growing offshore wind market. OP offers concept development and analysis, right through to the supply and installation of product. It will use the human, physical and business resources of NE England to provide attractive and competitive engineering solutions - always aimed at improving technology.

O-Power is an independent company founded and staffed by a team of engineers. It is based in Northumberland. The creation of OP is supported by IHC Merwede, the world market leader in the construction of specialist dredging equipment and a major supplier of specialist offshore technology and vessels. IHC Merwede is based in the Netherlands, and owns IHC Engineering Business Limited (EB). Tony Trapp is non-executive chairman of EB, and with three colleagues founded EB in 1997.

The OP team has long experience in the design and build of many kinds of offshore systems in offshore wind, wave and tidal stream, oil and gas, submarine telecom and defence. It will now apply this expertise to the development of effective and commercially realistic solutions for offshore wind.

“I am really excited to be starting this new venture with such a talented and enthusiastic group of people. We plan to rapidly expand the O-Power team with inspired and determined engineers who have in themselves, the basic ingredients of ambition, belief and courage” says OP’s CEO Tony Trapp. “I am confident that we can develop some excellent engineering solutions that can help to make a difference to offshore wind systems, improving the technology to increase safety and reduce cost.”

For further information, please contact team@o-power.com and refer to www.o-power.com

Challenge Celebration BBQ 2010

Date: Tuesday August 10th

Time: 4:30pm arrival for a 5:00pm start.

5:00 pm – 6:30 Presentations and Awards.

7:00pm BBQ and entertainment.

Venue: Unit 26. Hoult’s Yard. Walker Rd, Newacstle NE6 2HL


Another Challenge is over and so it is time to celebrate!! This year’s celebration BBQ will be more stylish, and jazzed up more than ever before thanks to the hugely kind support of The R&B Group.

This year’s If we can, you can Challenge proved yet again that there is a phenomenal amount of entrepreneurial talent in the North East. We were delighted by the quality and quantity of entrants, and even more so by their passion and determination for their businesses to succeed.

Our fourteen finalists have thrown themselves into the Challenge with the energy and enthusiasm you’d expect from a group of driven, dedicated and ambitious entrepreneurs. Our main presentation will be a tribute to these fantastic people and the Challenge, as well as the unveiling of future plans of If we can, you can and its buzzing community.

Then it’s time to let your hair down and relax! For those who attended the last year’s Celebration, the format will be pretty similar - it’s all about you and your businesses.

We would also love for you to showcase your business so if you would like to bring something along to display, or have an idea of a different way you can demonstrate your services then please let us know!

This will be a great opportunity for everybody to meet face to face, and be part of the entrepreneurial revolution that is transforming the region’s economy. We would be delighted if you could join us for either the presentation or the party (but preferably both!)

If you would like to attend please email will@entrepreneursforum.net or call us on 0191 226 7488. Places are limited so please book soon to avoid missing out on a great chance to celebrate and meet some of the new faces from the community as well as catch up with some of the older ones too!