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Hot Business News Today

How to win £4,500 to make your small business green

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By Small Business Team on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

The Government has teamed up with BT, SSE and NatWest to find Britain’s most green small business, offering cash prizes worth £4,500 each to winners.

To enter, small businesses must show what steps they have already taken to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, in line with the UK’s aim to be carbon neutral by 2050.

The best Heroes of Net Zero entries will be invited to attend the COP26 international climate change summit in Glasgow on November 2, where the winners will be announced and receive an exclusive prize package worth £4,500:

21 hours consultancy with an energy manager and one-year free access to SSE’s ‘business energy intelligence’ energy management platform, worth £3,500Six hours of mentoring with a NatWest enterprise manager from its climate accelerator programme, helping winning businesses gain climate friendly skills in accessing new markets to attracting talentUp to £1,000 in vouchers to access a brand-new digital advertising support package from BTto grow your business

How to enter Heroes of Net Zero

The competition is open to UK businesses with fewer than 50 employees and split into two categories, each with the opportunity to win a £2,500 prize

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Hot Business News Today

How to win £4,500 to make your small business green

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By Small Business Team on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

The Government has teamed up with BT, SSE and NatWest to find Britain’s most green small business, offering cash prizes worth £4,500 each to winners.

To enter, small businesses must show what steps they have already taken to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, in line with the UK’s aim to be carbon neutral by 2050.

The best Heroes of Net Zero entries will be invited to attend the COP26 international climate change summit in Glasgow on November 2, where the winners will be announced and receive an exclusive prize package worth £4,500:

21 hours consultancy with an energy manager and one-year free access to SSE’s ‘business energy intelligence’ energy management platform, worth £3,500Six hours of mentoring with a NatWest enterprise manager from its climate accelerator programme, helping winning businesses gain climate friendly skills in accessing new markets to attracting talentUp to £1,000 in vouchers to access a brand-new digital advertising support package from BTto grow your business

How to enter Heroes of Net Zero

The competition is open to UK businesses with fewer than 50 employees and split into two categories, each with the opportunity to win a £2,500 prize

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

The Start-Up Series competition is back — a chance to secure up to £250,000 in equity funding

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By Nick Ismail on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
The Start-Up-Series competition is back after a month’s holiday!
The Start-Up Series is the UK’s largest seed funding and mentoring competition. Launched in 2016 by Worth Capital, the competition searches for the brightest entrepreneurs with the smartest ideas and invests real cash into promising start-up businesses. So far, the competition has invested more than £4.2m into over 20 young UK businesses.
The competition will run from the 1st to the 14th of each month.
Don’t miss your opportunity to secure up to £250,000 of equity funding and apply today.
The Start-Up Series competition
Each month one or two winners will be selected to receive package consisting of:
• Up to £250,000 of SEIS/EIS equity funding (subject to due-diligence, terms & conditions).
• A minimum of 2 years invaluable hands-on help from experienced mentors.
• Media coverage on smallbusiness.co.uk and other channels to promote your business.
We are on the hunt for B2B or B2C business across all sectors. As long as your business is eligible for SEIS or EIS HMRC advance assurance, then we’ll consider your application.
We’ll be impressed by innovative products or services, in high growth or underserved markets, with the  potential to

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

Apprentice winner Mark Wright is our new columnist

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By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

Mark Wright, winner of TV’s The Apprentice, has joined SmallBusiness as our monthly columnist.

Mark will be writing his Mark Wright column detailing the ups and downs, the issues and joys of running his own small business, marketing agency Climb Online, in partnership with Lord Sugar.

As the most successful business to have been founded by an Apprentice winner to date, Climb Online is known for its disruptive approach to digital marketing, working with household brands to scale growth and generate profit.

>See also: Apprentice winner Mark Wright on how to build the right team

Mark’s experience in building and creating a multi-million-pound turnover digital business has led him to invest in additional businesses within the property investment, web development, public relations and the hair and beauty sectors, all of which he will be writing about as well.

Aged just 31, Mark has won a host of business accolades including Entrepreneur’s Team of the Year at the 2018 Great British Entrepreneur Awards and Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2018 UK Business Awards.

>See also: Karren Brady Q&A – 6 qualities of a successful entrepreneur

In June 2019 Wright launched his very

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Hot Business News Today

Apprentice winner Mark Wright is our new columnist

by  •  • 0 Comments

By Timothy Adler on Small Business – Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs

Mark Wright, winner of TV’s The Apprentice, has joined SmallBusiness as our monthly columnist.

Mark will be writing his Mark Wright column detailing the ups and downs, the issues and joys of running his own small business, marketing agency Climb Online, in partnership with Lord Sugar.

As the most successful business to have been founded by an Apprentice winner to date, Climb Online is known for its disruptive approach to digital marketing, working with household brands to scale growth and generate profit.

>See also: Apprentice winner Mark Wright on how to build the right team

Mark’s experience in building and creating a multi-million-pound turnover digital business has led him to invest in additional businesses within the property investment, web development, public relations and the hair and beauty sectors, all of which he will be writing about as well.

Aged just 31, Mark has won a host of business accolades including Entrepreneur’s Team of the Year at the 2018 Great British Entrepreneur Awards and Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2018 UK Business Awards.

>See also: Karren Brady Q&A – 6 qualities of a successful entrepreneur

In June 2019 Wright launched his very

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

6 helpful tips for fleshing out a high performing team

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Originally written by Matthew Cushen on Small Business
Last time I wrote an article about what makes an irresistible team for investors. If you’ve impressed investors enough and successfully raised some cash, the pressure now really starts.
Investors will be expecting you to accelerate your growth and demonstrate some proof points before your next round of funding. So you may be thinking about how to gather more talent around you.
These questions might help you make decisions about talent and team building.
#1 – What are we good at, where are we stinky and what are the gaps?
Discipline yourself (i.e. find some uninterrupted time and be objective) to write down:

Where the real value for the business is generated, where is the value for (potential) customers and what will create a higher valuation with investors at the time of your next round
Other activities that must get done to keep the lights on
Talents that the founders and those already in the business have, and which talents they lack
Where can you develop skills versus where you have no choice but to hire?

This should flush out what valuable skills and talents are missing from the team. A third party, such as an investor director, advisor or friend can

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Hot Business News Today

7 funding choices when it comes to financing your start-up

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Originally written by Matthew Cushen on Small Business
As a start-up or small business, what are you funding choices? And the consequences of those choices?
Can you afford the time that it could take to grow the business organically – limiting the upfront cash and reinvesting revenue? Or do you need to develop the product/service quickly, chuck cash at marketing, get the brand in front of people, grow quickly and grab market share before others?
Do you have some personal cash to keep you going or are you going to need to pay yourself a salary before the business is generating enough cash to cover it? Are you going to recruit and pay others? Probably the most stressful aspect of building a team is ensuring you can meet payroll each month.
‘If you aren’t a natural spreadsheet warrior then find someone who is that can help’
How to create a cash flow forecast
To answer these questions you need a cash flow forecast, and ideally some comparisons across some different scenarios.
The high investment/fast growth scenario, the slow burn scenario, the optimistic scenario and the worst-case scenario where you don’t manage to generate any of the expected revenue and cash is flowing one way. A cash flow

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Hot Business News Today

7 funding choices when it comes to financing your start-up

by  •  • 0 Comments

Originally written by Matthew Cushen on Small Business
As a start-up or small business, what are you funding choices? And the consequences of those choices?
Can you afford the time that it could take to grow the business organically – limiting the upfront cash and reinvesting revenue? Or do you need to develop the product/service quickly, chuck cash at marketing, get the brand in front of people, grow quickly and grab market share before others?
Do you have some personal cash to keep you going or are you going to need to pay yourself a salary before the business is generating enough cash to cover it? Are you going to recruit and pay others? Probably the most stressful aspect of building a team is ensuring you can meet payroll each month.
‘If you aren’t a natural spreadsheet warrior then find someone who is that can help’
How to create a cash flow forecast
To answer these questions you need a cash flow forecast, and ideally some comparisons across some different scenarios.
The high investment/fast growth scenario, the slow burn scenario, the optimistic scenario and the worst-case scenario where you don’t manage to generate any of the expected revenue and cash is flowing one way. A cash flow

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

The Start-Up Series competition is back — £250,000 equity funding up for grabs!

by  •  • 0 Comments

Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
Following a short hiatus due to the coronavirus, Small Business and Worth Capital have partnered to reopen the UK’s largest seed funding competition — The Start-Up Series.
The Start-Up Series competition
The Start-Up Series competition was launched in 2016 by Worth Capital, with the aim of searching for the brightest entrepreneurs with the smartest ideas to invest real cash into these promising start-ups.
From September 1st 2020, The Start-Up Series competition in association with Small Business is back and will open for applications at the beginning of every month.
Each month one or two winners will be selected to receive a prize package consisting of:
• Up to £250,000 of SEIS/EIS equity funding.
• A minimum of 2 years invaluable hands-on help from experienced mentors.
• Media coverage on smallbusiness.co.uk and other channels to promote your business.
We are on the hunt for B2B or B2C business across all sectors. As long as your business is eligible for SEIS or EIS HMRC advance assurance, then we’ll consider your application.
We’ll be impressed by innovative products or services, in high growth or underserved markets, with the  potential to build a loved brand. If you can demonstrate these, you’re in with a fighting chance.

For

Read more...

Hot Business News Today

The Start-Up Series competition is back — £250,000 equity funding up for grabs!

by  •  • 0 Comments

Originally written by Nick Ismail on Small Business
Following a short hiatus due to the coronavirus, Small Business and Worth Capital have partnered to reopen the UK’s largest seed funding competition — The Start-Up Series.
The Start-Up Series competition
The Start-Up Series competition was launched in 2016 by Worth Capital, with the aim of searching for the brightest entrepreneurs with the smartest ideas to invest real cash into these promising start-ups.
From September 1st 2020, The Start-Up Series competition in association with Small Business is back and will open for applications at the beginning of every month.
Each month one or two winners will be selected to receive a prize package consisting of:
• Up to £250,000 of SEIS/EIS equity funding.
• A minimum of 2 years invaluable hands-on help from experienced mentors.
• Media coverage on smallbusiness.co.uk and other channels to promote your business.
We are on the hunt for B2B or B2C business across all sectors. As long as your business is eligible for SEIS or EIS HMRC advance assurance, then we’ll consider your application.
We’ll be impressed by innovative products or services, in high growth or underserved markets, with the  potential to build a loved brand. If you can demonstrate these, you’re in with a fighting chance.

For

Read more...