entrepreneurship, innovation, business information and stuff
Great to hear that The Hairforce won the The Health & Beauty award at the British Female Inventors & Innovators Awards Ceremony, sponsored by Boots.
I have already blogged about Dee Wright and her innovative service company The Hairforce – Lice Asassins, which uses a safe and chemical-free method to rid children of head lice.
I predict you will be hearing more about her in the future.
Since first joining Facebook a few months ago I have had mixed feelings about this latest (and greatest?) form of web social media. I am sure this is also true for many of you too based on conversations I have had.
The downside are the high level of childish applications which can appear to dominate Facebook, such as Hot or Not, and variations on that theme. This is particularly annoying as Facebook is marketed as a more professional and mature version of Bebo and MySpace which are specifically aimed at children and teenagers respectively.
However, there are significant upsides to using Facebook, particularly communicating to far flung relatives and friends. It also enables me to keep a weather eye on my two teenage kids (but don’t tell them…)
Another real benefit was shown last night when we had a networking meeting at the Business & IP Centre to celebrate reaching 1,000 members on our Facebook group. It was wonderful to meet the real people behind their Facebook profiles and to engage in conversation in the way that is only possible face to face. We have posted photos up on our page to prove it was ‘real’.
Alex Bellinger the founder of SmallBizPod was there with his microphone and plans to put up a podcast on his site shortly.
Thanks again to the wonderfull Springwise I have been alerted to green activities by the corporate giant Nike. The recently introduced product is called Trash Talk, and is made entirely from ‘environmentally preferred’ materials and recycled waste.
Aparently Trash Talk is the brainchild of Nike celebrity endorser Steve Nash. The All-Star guard for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns (basketball star to those of us outside the USA), is a committed green-living advocate.
The retail price of one hundred dollars proves that going green doesn’t have to damage the profit margin.
Many new business are taking a green stance from the outset. However many larger corporations have been accused of using greenwash instead of making genuine changes to their operations. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before the likes of Greenpeace acclaim Nike as paragons of greenness.
In the networking area of the Business & IP Centre are several illustrated examples of ‘success stories’. These are entrepreneurs and inventors who have made use of Centre and gone on to achievement.
One of my favourites is the Wattson from DIY KYOTO who’s wonderful motto is, “to value simple things, and seek to produce products of perfect convenience and utility, elegant in their conception and efficient in their operation.”
If you have been reading this blog for a while you may have noticed my interest in product design and the Wattson is a perfect example of form and function combined into one. Not only does it look elegant whilst showing you how much money you are spending on electricity, the coloured glow emanating from its’ base gives you an immediate sense of your consumption as it changes from blue (good) to red (bad).
This achievement has been recognised by Stuff Magazine who awarded the Wattson number 8 on the cool list of gadgets for 2007, beating the iPod nano into 10th place. An amazing achievement for such a young company.
One of the perks of my job is meeting inventors and then seeing them go on to be successful with a bit of help from us in the Business & IP Centre.
The latest one to make it into the media is Cintra Jaggan-Vince and her Clip & Pull invention. One of several products from her company Dignified Living providing solutions “to help people maintain their independence, safety and dignity with the task of dressing and undressing.”
In a double page feature in the Guardian of 1 February 2008 Cintra is mentioned and a photo of her proudly holding the Clip & Pull product.
Cintra certainly made an impression on me and my colleagues by demonstrating how effective her invention is, in front of our enquiry desk with the aid of a large pair of frilly knickers.
She has already won several awards including the Global Women Inventors & Innovators Network – Special Recognition Award Singapore 2004.
There has been an exponential rate of increase in blogging in the last couple of years. Although there is a danger of a new blog getting lost in the mass of postings, blogging can be a key factor in business success.
The wonderful people at Cobweb Information for Business give some useful tips in their latest free e-newsletter, which I have included below. I believe the key to success is having a passion about your area of expertise. I remember soon after starting this job trying to convince Michael North the owner of the Olive Trail in Bloomsbury to start a blog on Olive Oil as he had such an incredible knowledge and enthusiasm.
1. Blogging takes commitment and time. You’ll have to dedicate your time to providing customers and other site visitors (and this may include other bloggers) with new information. There’s nothing more off-putting for readers when they visit a blog only to find stale, old content. This doesn’t mean you have to type forever – some of the best blogs are short, pithy entries that the reader can view and understand easily.
2. The content must be relevant. Blogs can help to position you as an expert in your field if they’re written the right way. They also enable you to promote your products and services with the personal touch, as you can link to news articles, pictures etc, to keep the content fresh and inspiring.
3. Links are important. It’s easy to forget the business behind the blog and get lost in the blog’s content. Build links to the site from other websites related to your business or your expertise. More links generally mean more traffic and a better search engine position.
4. Blogs are interactive. Readers can normally post their own comments to your blog entries. This allows existing and potential customers to comment on your product or service, or the process involved in buying that product or service. Bear in mind that it might take some time for someone to comment on your entries, so persevere. Install a site counter or check your website statistics to see how many people are viewing your blog. Blog Patrol has free blog counting tools you can download.
5. Is there a call to action? Does the blog link through to a special offer or service you’re currently running? Calls to action will help you win new customers or encourage existing ones to try out new products or services.
6. Can you make cash from your blog? For instance, is there advertising space on it which an organisation could use to market to your audience? Is there an affiliate programme you can join? Post some affiliate links within your blog and you could earn money when a reader clicks through to the affiliate site and buys a product.
Sad to report on the untimely death of Alastair Ross Goobey.
According to Property Week he will be remembered in the business world for championing ideas on corporate responsibility and governance that were unpopular at the time but are now part of the UK Combined Code which governs the management of public companies.However whilst CEO at Hermes Pensions Management he was an inspiring leader. Not only did he get to know each and every one of the 300 staff by spending time, almost every day wandering the floors engaging in conversation, they felt they could talk to him without fear or intimidation (a rare thing in the City). He also delegated responsibility down through the corporate hierarchy encouraging those with talent and ambition to develop their potential. I think many CEO’s could learn from his ‘management-by-walking-around’ approach.
I remember many interesting and entertaining conversations with him over lunch in the staff canteen. He had a very dry sense of humour, and I remember being asked to track down images of sheep and lemmings for presentations to fellow fund managers. My colleagues and I had fun imagining their impact on the audience.
The way he dealt with challenge of leukaemia was typical of his tenacity, grit and good humour, which only increased the respect and admiration of his colleagues. The fact that he beat the disease against high odds for so many years is testament to his amazing positive attitude to life. During over a year of intensive chemo and radio therapy he only missed three days from work.
A former colleague quoted in The Times remembers how Alastair never sought the high financial rewards that other colleagues in the fund management industry received: “I just think I missed out on the greed gene.”
The Independent newspaper has a good summary of his achievements.
Our British Library Entrepreneur and SME Network Facebook group goes from strength to strength with 993 members as of this evening.
Isabel Oswell our intrepid head of Business Marketing is a reluctant convert to social networking, but has promised to be our thousandth member. So her time is rapidly approaching.
A recent message on our wall looks interesting. It is promoting Angels Den, a website that introduces those seeking money, for their business, to over 3800 Angels.
In the last week I have twice been asked how to find business Angels. This could well be the answer.
“Never mind that we have the largest number of angels in Europe – more importantly we are funding 17% of deals on the site. We promise no Pinstripes, no jargon – just good common sense and the grooviest Angels in town.”
Unlike many commercial services aimed at business start ups AngelsDEN are refreshingly up front about their charges, and go on to explain why they charge.
“Why isn’t it free of charge?
Many people have asked us why we charge for this service…well, we’re running a commercial enterprise and we need to cover our admin and promotion costs, pay staff to check your submission and pay for the upkeep of the website. We don’t get any public funding for Angels Den so that’s why we need to charge.
To set up a serious business with outside funding you do need to be prepared to spend some money. In some ways the £499 (plus VAT) fee also acts as a filter for people who are not really committed to doing what it takes to be successful or aren’t sufficiently far down the line to be ready to get funding.”
One of our partners at the Business & IP Centre is Rasheed Ogunlaru who delivers a regular workshop called Boost Your Business.
“It will help you develop the three keys – vision, belief and action – to success, confidence, balance, fulfillment and growth in your life and business. Creative, motivational and practical, it’s ideal for anyone running a business or wishing to. It will enhance your success and performance whether you’re a sole trader, entrepreneur, manager or small business owner.”
I was fortunate enough to attend a previous session and got a lot out of it.
Now Rasheed has got together with Nicole Cohen founder of the Marketing Gym to produce a book A Zest for Business which shares the recipe for starting, succeeding and avoiding the pitfalls of life as a small business owner. It highlights that vision, planning, belief and action and staying the right side of the law are the key ingredients to success and the key areas where most businesses fail.
The launch of the book is taking place in the Business & IP Centre on 27 February from 6 to 8pm.
The authors have also launched their own blog which looks really good.
Mark Prisk the Shadow Minister for Business and Enterprise came to visit the Business & IP Centre on 11 December and was suitably impressed. For his visit we were able to introduce him to Dee Wright of The Hairforce, one of our ‘success stories’. She made a big impression on him as can be seen on the Conservative Business Relations website.
Mark Prisk Meeting Dee Wright
