Exeter-based Crowdcube is celebrating its third year in businesses as the world’s largest Equity-based crowdfunder. Crowdfunding has come to prominence in recent years with online companies such as Kickstarter allowing users to donate funding for a wide variety of projects in exchange for rewards, based on the amount donated. Founded in 2011, Crowdcube became the world’s first equity-based crowdfunder, where the rewards for donations - generally additional or exclusive content- are instead replaced by shares of a company’s potential future profits. Since then the industry has flourished...
Youth charity The Prince’s Trust is urging more unemployed young people in the South West to embrace their inner entrepreneur and explore the option of self-employment thanks to financial backing from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The Prince’s Trust Enterprise Programme, which helps jobless young people to start up in business, has already created more than £3.1 million in social value for the South West alone, according to research published by the charity last year .
Supported with investment from ERDF, from now until June 2015, over 1,300 more young...
Is your fledgling food or drink brand the next big thing? The search is on for the region’s most promising start up
Four South West businesses have joined together to form The Seed Fund – a start-up business incubator designed to offer one young, regional food or drink brand the support needed to grow and build a future-proof brand. The 2014 Seed Fund launches this week and is calling for entries to find the next Pieminster, Weston’s Cider or Wyke Farms Cheese. Applicants should apply online at www.seedsw.co.uk before 14 March 2014.
Flybe is looking to raise up to £150 million though a share issue to invest in the group in a move announced today. The offer for 141,501,920 new ordinary shares, costing 110p per share is hoped to raise money for a new investment to improve the company’s customer services and infrastructure. The offer price is a discount on the closing mid-market share price on February 19 which stood at of 118.5p.per ordinary share. Flybe said that, funding raised by the share issue would be spent to improve the airline’s flexibility, strengthen its balance sheet and improve its product range and brand...
In this latest In a nutshell video local business expert Chris Wood at Q Social Media discusses how to utilise your Linkedin connections.
Chris gives great advice on how to make LinkedIn work for you. He also explains the importance of using your connections to help your develop new connections. “Advanced People Searches -- you can utilise existing connections to introduce you to shared connections - people you don't know but that your connections do. Helping you to develop new connections. This will give you new opportunities to: Drive sales leads Be seen as industry experts...
The DEFRA Minister George Eustace today (07/02/14) opened a new £1 million workspace hub at Home Farm, Bicton College, which only a year ago received £300,000 of Rural Growth Network capital funding.
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for farming, food and marine environment travelled to the county to offer his support for a range of local business initiatives. The visit draws attention to the work which is underway to support the rural economy and to help businesses highlight their needs and access help and advice.
The Farmhouse Business Centre project at Bicton...
Concerns have been raised that the £31.1m promised by the Government last year to secure the South West’s railways against severe weather was not delivered, despite widespread support from local authorities. The money was promised by the Government for a programme of rail improvements, after winter flooding cut off rail transport to the South West peninsula for several weeks in 2012/13 with an estimated cost to the South West economy of over £140m. Last week, before the most recent storms saw the destruction of 80m railway line near Dawlish, five Local Transport Authorities including Devon...
Local Wealth Management Company Brewin Dolphin Exeter launched Children’s Hospice South West (CHSW) as its new charity of the year with the creation of a ‘Pop up Shop’ at their offices on Pynes Hill. Brewin Dolphin organised a ‘Drop & Shop’ to raise funds and awareness for the charity by inviting neighbouring business colleagues to help fundraise.
The Brewin Dolphin team, headed up by Administration Manager Rhiannon Bates, arranged two separate collection days for the donation of unwanted items including clothes, jewellery, toys and home-ware. The businesses on Pynes Hill...
In this video local business expert Richard Hussey from RSH Copywriting gives great advice on how to write news articles.
Richard describes the three best principles to writing a new articles and the importance of headlines.
“Your headline has one purpose -- to grab the attention of the specific people you really want to read your content.
"It has to tell them: 'this article is for you’; 'you're going to discover something of value'. And 'this will be a productive use of your time'. See now why headlines are more than just an afterthought?”
Big six power company Npwower has come under criticism for misleading consumers with claims that rising energy bills are the fault of "old and draughty" houses. Npower Chief executive Paul Massara said the prices of gas and electricity in the UK are among the lowest in Europe and expensive bills are "because British houses waste so much energy". In the supplier's second "Energy Explained" report, Mr Massara said: "If we can increase the efficiency of the UK's old and draughty housing, we can ensure that annual energy bills are some of the lowest too." The claims have come under heavy...
