Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Tomorrow (17th October), NatWest and ITV are launching a competition for small business to win their own TV advert, worth £150,000.
Three businesses will have their own TV advert produced by acclaimed London-based advertising agency, Pablo. It’ll have guaranteed, tailored airtime on ITV and NatWest’s owned channels.
NatWest will also provide over 50 additional support packages to the top entrants, including places on NatWest’s Accelerator programme for entrepreneurs, one-to-one coaching sessions and advertising spend for LinkedIn.
The competition is open to any sector and size, business owners need to be over 18 and based in the UK to enter. It’s open to midnight on 2nd November.
Entrants must make a written pitch to the judges, explaining why their small business is extraordinary.
To enter, visit natwestbusinesshub.com/extraordinary
On 17th October, the first in a series of the four adverts will air, featuring Cornwall-based confectionary business, Buttermilk.
Margaret Jobling, chief marketing officer, NatWest Group said:
“Small business owners around the UK have been through an unbelievably difficult year, and have fought hard to continue supporting their customers through the challenges that the pandemic has brought all of us, so we want to give three extraordinary businesses the opportunity to share their message and
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Google launches Local Service Ads to aid SMEs and professionals
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Google has introduced Local Service Ads to boost the visibility of independent professionals online.
The Local Service Ads helps people to discover and contact local and trustworthy professionals who are backed by the Google Guarantee badge. This means that potential customers can see the professional’s licence information and reviews from previous customers – from there, they can compare and contact the professionals.
The best thing for small businesses is that they don’t even need a website to use these ads and will only pay if they’re contacted by a customer, though there’s no charge from people clicking the ad. According to 2019 YouGov research, around a third of small businesses in six European countries surveyed don’t have a website.
>See also: How to get your small business online within an hour
Searches containing ‘available near me’ have doubled around the world. In the first half of 2020, searches for local services including maintenance and home improvements, increased by over 25 per cent in a year across a range of European countries.
Businesses can also use Google’s Shopping tab
It’s now free for retailers to list their products on the Shopping tab. Available globally in mid-October, search results on the
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How to get a £30,000 grant for your London-based small business
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Today the Mayor of London launches the £1m London Resilience Fund for businesses (including small firms), social enterprises and community groups who are based in the capital.
Funding of up to £30,000 from the £1m pot will be given to projects that develop innovative solutions to environmental and economic solutions facing London’s economy.
This could be an initiative to:
Boost supply chain resilience
Build businesses operational resilience
Tackle inequality
Address food insecurity
Improve health and wellbeing
Improve air quality and tackle climate change
To find out more information, please contact innovation@london.gov.uk.
The London Business Hub also provides a range of free support and funding opportunities to SMEs from all sectors. It includes an online portal where they can get advice on business rates, landlord negotiations, navigate government support schemes and recover reduced revenue streams.
Through a partnership with the Business School (formerly Cass Business School), firms will receive extra support and access one-on-one tailored advice with the Hub’s team of business advisers. A peer-to-peer network has been set up where business owners can discuss the difficulties they’re having.
The hub aims to help with the double blow of COVID-19, a potential no-deal Brexit and other future emergencies.
Sadiq Khan said: “The coronavirus pandemic has hit London’s
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Almost 70,000 SMEs risk missing out on government coronavirus grants
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
A massive 69,543 of eligible SMEs in England have yet to claim for the government coronavirus grants announced back in March.
This amounts to almost £1.5bn worth of funding, as revealed by new figures from money.co.uk.
So far the government has given almost one million small to medium-sized businesses in England an emergency coronavirus grant – either in the form of the Small Business Grants Fund (SBGF) or the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Grants Fund (RHLGF)
Earlier in August, figures showed that £10.8bn had been paid out to businesses, highlighting that a significant sum of this money has gone unclaimed.
The deadline for claiming these grants is this Friday, August 28 and any unassigned funding will be returned to the government.
>See also: You have just one month to claim up to £1.6bn in unspent grants
How much grant funding has my local authority given out?
The average grant provided by English councils is £12,269. Camden is giving out the most per grant, providing SMEs an average of £18,852. This is closely followed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (£18,740) and Westminster Council (£17,615).
Out of the top 20, three quarters (75 per cent) of local authorities paying
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How to win £150,000 for your beauty business start-up
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Beauty brand consultancy, The Red Tree, is giving one beauty start-up the chance to win £150,000.
The firm has partnered with SFC Capital to launch The Beauty Accelerator. As well as the funding, the winning business will get knowledge and expertise from The Red Tree for 12 months, helping your beauty start-up get to the next stage.
Speaking about the launch, Stirling Murray, managing director of The Red Tree said; “We are extremely excited about The Beauty Accelerator. There is an incredibly vibrant independent beauty brand scene in the UK with dynamic entrepreneurs driving game-changing innovation and creating disruptive brands.
“We will give one of these brands the chance to dramatically accelerate their growth through significant investment from SFC Capital and a year-long collaborative partnership with The Red Tree. Our world class team has a wealth of commercial beauty experience and will provide strategic insights as well as access to a wide network of beauty industry contacts”.
Stephen Page, CEO of SFC Capital said “The beauty sector has been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 lockdown, and it is important we help activity return to normal in this highly innovative and dynamic industry. At SFC we are always
Hot Business News Today
How to win £150,000 for your beauty business start-up
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Beauty brand consultancy, The Red Tree, is giving one beauty start-up the chance to win £150,000.
The firm has partnered with SFC Capital to launch The Beauty Accelerator. As well as the funding, the winning business will get knowledge and expertise from The Red Tree for 12 months, helping your beauty start-up get to the next stage.
Speaking about the launch, Stirling Murray, managing director of The Red Tree said; “We are extremely excited about The Beauty Accelerator. There is an incredibly vibrant independent beauty brand scene in the UK with dynamic entrepreneurs driving game-changing innovation and creating disruptive brands.
“We will give one of these brands the chance to dramatically accelerate their growth through significant investment from SFC Capital and a year-long collaborative partnership with The Red Tree. Our world class team has a wealth of commercial beauty experience and will provide strategic insights as well as access to a wide network of beauty industry contacts”.
Stephen Page, CEO of SFC Capital said “The beauty sector has been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 lockdown, and it is important we help activity return to normal in this highly innovative and dynamic industry. At SFC we are always
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South Western Railway launches £12,000 prize packages for small firms
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
In a bid to help small businesses recover from the COVID-19 crisis, South Western Railway is giving away five prize packages worth £12,000.
Each recovery package includes £2,000 of bespoke equipment and marketing support from South Western Railway (worth £10,000), including promotional activities within their train stations. The £2,000 can be spent at any UK electrical, furniture or office supplies online retailer. It cannot be used to purchase resale or second-hand items.
Two of the businesses will win the top prize of a tailored business package plus advertising on Smooth or Heart Radio.
Locals can nominate their favourite businesses, as long as they are based in London and the South West. Firms in the following locations are eligible:
London
Dorset
Exeter
Hampshire
Berkshire
Sussex
Surrey
Middlesex
Wiltshire
Isle of Wight
The business must have premises, along with a Facebook or Instagram account, to qualify for the competition. It must not be a sub-brand of a larger organisation.
If your business is selected for a radio slot, you must be available to pre-record a remote radio advert between July 20-26.
In addition, all customers who nominate their favourite business will be entered into a prize draw to win one of two £1,000 cash prizes.
Entrants must explain why their nominated business
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Legal & General launches £6m grant fund – how to apply
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
Legal & General (L&G) has announced a £6m grant fund for businesses focused on helping people to age in a healthy way.
An additional £6m is available through the role the firm has in The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund from Innovate UK.
Eligible businesses that support products and services for people as they age can apply from today (11 June). The grants total between £50,000 and £1.5m.
Legal & General will work with Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, to divide the grants in a way that they see fit. Their aim is partner and invest in businesses which are focused on the themes below:
Sustaining physical activity
Maintaining health at work
Designing age-friendly homes
Creating healthy, active places
Supporting social connections
Living well with cognitive impairment
Managing common complaints of ageing
This initiative targets ‘scale up’ businesses who are looking for the next stage of their growth and into profitability.
Your company should have an existing top-tier management team, R&D investment, defensible intellectual property and customer traction in the form of meaningful revenue.
Eligible businesses can click here to apply for the grant
Successful applicants could benefit from potential further investment when the business continues to perform. On top of helping businesses scale with
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Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund – how it can help your business
by Anna Jordan • • 0 Comments
Originally written by Anna Jordan on Small Business
The government has launched the second round of applications for the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund.
It’s for businesses that aren’t in the leisure, retail and hospitality industries. With the grant you can receive £25,000, £10,000 or any amount under £10,000.
Am I eligible for the Local Authority Discretionary Grants Fund?
Your business must be based in England and you must have been trading since 11 March. You’ll qualify if you occupy a property or part of a property which has a rateable value of below £51,000.
You should have relatively high ongoing costs and face significant financial impact because of coronavirus. People who have received support under the furlough scheme or the Self-employed Income Support Scheme can also apply, as long as they haven’t applied for this fund already.
To apply, you’ll need to provide evidence of fixed property costs plus evidence of a substantial loss of income because of coronavirus as well as proof that you’re a small or micro business.
Businesses that are in administration, insolvent or have received a striking-off notice won’t be eligible. You also can’t apply if you’ve had support from the Small Business Grant Fund; Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant; Fisheries Response
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Minority-owned salons given access to funding during COVID-19
by DiversityQ • • 0 Comments
Originally written by DiversityQ on Small Business
As part of their global Community Commerce business model, SheaMoisture UK has launched a £40,000 fund to support UK minority-owned salons to survive COVID-19, as reports show that minority ethnic communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
The move comes after the success of the 1 Million Dollar Community Commerce Fund that was launched in April to support minority businesses in the USA.
How the fund works
The SheaMoisture UK Community Commerce Salon Relief Fund will gift three grants of £10,000 to three separate minority-owned salons, and five grants of £2,000 to five different salon owners. The grants will be allocated based on how their business supports the local community, how the funds will benefit their staff and business, and if they can demonstrate that they have positively adapted to COVID-19. This includes moving elements of their business online, donating to local hygiene banks or more.
From 18th May – 31st May 2020, minority-owned salons are being encouraged to enter the fund via social media at SheaMoisture UK’s Instagram page @SheaMoistureUK, and via this survey.
Winners of the fund will be selected by an expert judging panel comprising, editorial and celebrity Hairstylist Stefan Bertin, entrepreneur and founder of Treasure Tress, Jamelia Donaldson and natural hair