Amazing results for Tyneside radio company

A North East radio station which champions upcoming musical talent has unveiled plans for expansion having secured £800,000 of new investment since the turn of the year.

Following rapid growth in 2010, the Amazing Media Group (AMG), based in Gateshead, is now launching several new services, opening a London office and will soon launch Amazing Radio Brazil.

The organisation, which currently employs 31 people, moved to Gateshead in December 2009, broadcasting Amazing Radio, the first national radio station ever based outside London.
The station now transmits nationally on DAB digital radio across the UK and online for the world and is said to be the world’s first radio station playing 100% new music from unsigned and emerging artists.

Paul Campbell, founder of AMG, said: “The business has gone mad since we moved to Gateshead. Audiences to the radio station are growing at a rate of knots, we’re hitting record numbers on amazingtunes.com both for downloads and new tunes being uploaded, and the viral activity on Twitter and Facebook shows people are really paying attention – and liking what they hear.

“This substantial growth and job creation would have been much more difficult without the funding and backing we received from One North East, which helped us purchase vital broadcasting equipment, computers and to make changes to our new building. It was perfectly-timed, and handled with consummate professionalism by the team at Stella House.”

Based in Amazing Towers, the former home of Century FM, AMG recently launched The Amazing Chart - the world’s first 100% unsigned chart, which music industry bible Music Week plans to publish online every week.

The company has said its next step is to launch Amazing Records later in the year and to sign selected new artists with “exceptional potential.”

Story courtesy of www.bdaily.info

ADMIRAL KICK STARTS EXPANSION STRATEGY

Undaunted by the current economic climate, Newcastle-based PR and public affairs company, Admiral, is bucking the trend and moving ahead with ambitious expansion plans which include the opening of a Manchester office on September 1^st and trebling both turnover and workforce numbers within the next five years.

The company, which currently employs 10 full-time and four part-time staff, will be rolling out its proven formula to other regions and has its sights set

on adding further offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Scotland and Northern Ireland over the next five years. Admiral has also acquired a London base, although Newcastle will remain its head office.

Admiral’s founder and managing director, Georgie Cameron said: “We’ve spent the past 18 months planning our growth strategy whilst protecting our current position during these tough times. Having managed to avoid any drop in profit or turnover, we’re now ready to move forwards and export Admiral’s expertise, creativity and dynamism to Manchester and from there elsewhere around the country. It’s a really exciting move for the company and as a team we’re looking forward to taking on fresh challenges.”

Recent steps to implement the strategy include the appointment of PR entrepreneur, Stephen Waddington as non-executive chairman, and Chris Kelsey who joins from London agency Finsbury. Chris will head up the new public affairs division at Admiral.

Georgie added: “Although based in the North East we already have clients the length and breadth of the country. Our long term plan is to become a well respected regional communications agency – both with clients who want to hire us and with staff who want to work for us.”

With this in mind, Admiral’s growth strategy will be in line with contract wins. Hence the opening of the North West office follows a successful campaign which saw Admiral working with international and Manchester City goal keeper Shay Given and his wife on their celebrity-studded charity event, Fashion Kicks 2010.

The consultancy also landed Manchester-based O3Talk, a new conference call provider set to revolutionise the current market.

Georgie set up Admiral in 2004 following a career with McCann-Erickson in the Middle East and as head of PR and public affairs for software giant, Sage.

Crafting a Busy Summer for North East Youngsters

A business which uses arts and crafts to inspire children in Darlington has appointed a new creative assistant as the service is extended across Teesside ahead of the summer holidays.

NEDay Crafts runs arts and craft workshops, children’s parties and produces craft kits for kids of all ages as well as running corporate team building events.

To date the organisation has been restricted to Darlington, but will now take its inspiring work into Middlesbrough and Stockton, with a series of summer events planned.

The company has appointed 23-year-old Kirsty Oliver, from Willington, as its new creative assistant to handle the increased coverage of the business and help with its ongoing expansion.

Business owner Vicky Lloyd said: “I chose Kirsty as she has a wealth of experience working with children and is very enthusiastic about children’s arts and crafts. She is willing to learn new skills and adapt to various tasks within my business.”

Ms Oliver added: “NEDay Crafts is a much-needed service and I am very much looking forward to imputing creative skills into such a successful business.”

Events for children of all ages, which include seaside and animal themed workshops and the chance to make sun visors and puppets and listen to storytellers, are scheduled across the region right through the summer and into September.

Some of the workshops are being held as part of the Middlesbrough Council-led We Are Open initiative – a scheme which revives city centre spaces such as empty shop fronts with art studios and creative events.

As part of the company’s ongoing development, Ms Lloyd is also aiming to grow the creative consultancy arm of her business after the busy summer ahead.

The service designs new craft kits for specific occasions, such as fundraising events or children's party, with projects available to suit from 10 to 200 children.

For full details of NEDay Crafts’ events programme and its other services go to http://www.nedaycrafts.co.uk.

Research Business Spreads Global Reach

A legal research firm has revealed plans to expand into Asia and Australia after enjoying a 104% leap in sales, taking it beyond the £2m-a-year mark.

Newcastle-based Acritas, which supplies clients with evidence-based research into the legal market, is to target new business in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai as well as the major Australian cities.

The firm currently has offices in London and New York and will add 12 new staff across the company.

Chief executive Lisa Hart said “We are currently working with 35 of the world’s top 100 law firms; our research is helping firms develop strategy and enhance business performance as they cope with today’s corporate environment.”

Acritas interviews in excess of 3000 senior legal buyers each year and provides critical intelligence from the survey data to heads of legal /general counsel with benchmarking data and law firm leaders with in depth market insight to enable them to develop strategy and meet client needs.

The 12 new jobs have been funded by a GBI grant from One North East.

Story courtesy of www.bdaily.info

Exciting times for Sandra

Sandra Turney Swim School Ltd is on track to better even last years' outstanding results in the Amateur Swimming Association's Swimtastic Awards 2010.

The ASA organises the Kellogg’s ASA Swimtastic Awards because it is a great opportunity to celebrate the amazing achievements of people across all levels of swimming and honour the unsung swimming stars out there.

Winners from ten categories are recognised with an action-packed swimming gala and a formal awards ceremony and dinner, where they are joined by Olympic, Paralympic and national swimmers, divers, sychronised swimmers and water polo players.

Last year Sandra Turney Swim School Ltd scooped an Outstanding Achievement Award, and teacher Sarah Knowles was presented with the Bronze in the Top Teacher Category.

With nominations from clients flooding in, Director Sandra Turney is confident of great news when the winners are announced later this year.

"I am extremely proud of my team and the work we do in promoting the sport of swimming. We currently teach over 200 babies, children and adults to swim each week in our partner venues across the North East and have enjoyed a 600% growth at a time when many businesses are struggling".

Local web professionals rally together for charity

Last week saw the region's first overnight charity “hack”, Webdurance; 36 gurus teamed up to create new websites for 6 North East charities in a gruelling 24 hour marathon.

Beginning at midday the volunteers worked to meet a common goal, in many cases with people they had met that day for the very first time.

“The atmosphere is great, people are swapping ideas and know how. There is a real buzz about the event and it’s going really well.“ - Colette Hume, 5 hours in

The night brought it's own challenges as the volunteers struggled with the need to sleep and flagging concentration.

To make things more challenging, each website needed to be representative of very different charities; ranging from Whoops!, a group helping to teach child safety to Tynemouth Blind Society which cares for partially sighted and blind people.

One thing which organisers Paul and David King were keen to encourage for every website however was the addition of a good content management system.

A recent study carried out by the Institute of Fundraising showed that many visits to charity websites simply end in frustration, with content being out of date or hard to find.

“We wanted to create websites that were easy to maintain and update for each of the charities we were supporting.” said Paul King, Managing Director of internet software company 1DayLater and co-founder of Webdurance.

“Many charities are, for the most part, managed by very passionate and exceptional people who are often non-technical”

“By developing websites which can easily be managed after the event we hope to extend their lifespan and give charities more control over the message they put out”

The event gained great support from regional innovation drivers; Sunderland Software City and Codeworks as well as local software companies; 1DayLater, Touchscape and Bond Solutions. VONNE; an organisation for local volunteers, also lent their support.

Bernie Callaghan, CEO of Sunderland Software City, said; “We were delighted to get involved with supporting the Webdurance event. Not only does it provide our talented software engineers with a novel showcase, but it also benefits some extremely worthy causes which might otherwise struggle to get a powerful web presence”

Our aim is to develop the software industry throughout the North East region. The fact that this initiative not only involved local developers and designers but was also conceived and managed by local software entrepreneurs demonstrated the talent, creativity and drive that abound in the North East”

Now with the success of their first event, Paul and David hope to make Webdurance an annual occurrence; and to grow year-on-year to support more struggling charities.

North East female entrepreneurs are being urged to enter the region’s major annual awards for women, which is now in its 11th year.

North East female entrepreneurs are being urged to enter the region’s major annual awards for women, which is now in its 11th year.

Women into the Network (WIN) kicked off its launch events for its North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Durham, Teesside and Newcastle last week for women to find out more about the entry process and be inspired by previous winners.

Nickie Gott, a past winner of the prestigious Susan Dobson Award inspired entrants by telling her story. She said:

“Winning the award raised the profile of She’s Gott It and helped open a lot of doors for us. The award gave me a tremendous amount of inner confidence and I continued to become third in the country as Entrepreneur of the year!

“To all of the women out there if you have any doubts about entering yourself – DON’T! Even filling out the application form and looking at everything you have done on paper gives you a sense of pride!”

WIN’s North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards celebrate the achievements of women of all ages and reach out to companies new and old alike, encompassing a wide range of services, and entry is now open ahead of the awards presentation and dinner later this year.

Categories for the 2010 awards are:

• The Susan Dobson Award for Entrepreneurship
• Best New Business
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year
• Best Small Business
• Best Social Enterprise
• Best Creative Business
• Best Home Based Business
• Best use of Technology
• Best Rural Business
• Best Retail Business

Di Gates, Chair of the WIN board, said: “If you run a business in any sector, of any size, shape or turnover, we want to hear your story. It doesn’t matter if you’ve just started or you’ve been trading for years, there’s a category for you – and entering couldn’t be easier.

“Simply visit www.womenintothenetwork.co.uk and complete the online form to enter yourself or nominate a friend or colleague. If you need a boost of confidence or inspiration you’ll also find it on the website, with stories from previous winners.

“A WIN Award is a major accolade that could really open doors for your business – so please don’t be shy, or put off your entry until next year. Just remember, you’ve got to be in it to WIN it!”

Any woman who operates or owns an enterprise in the North East can enter. You can put forward yourself, a friend or colleague. Entrants must head up an independent organisation and be the main driving force behind it, whether it’s a business or a social enterprise.

WIN will be running surgeries over the next few months to help women complete their applications and a telephone helpline is also available on 0845 2699862. Rules of entry, judging criteria and entry forms can be found at www.womenintothenetwork.co.uk.

The closing date for entries is 5pm on Saturday, September 18 ahead of the shortlisting of nominations on Tuesday, September 28 and the presentation and dinner on Friday, November 19.

Tickets for the North East Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Awards evening, at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead, are available from the WIN website.