Innospace | News & Blogs

The Manchester Apprentice 2012

2012-04-17T09:18:24+00:00

Do you have what it takes to become the most employable student in Manchester, get noticed by corporates and earn £500?

The Manchester Apprentice offers you that opportunity, being the biggest student business and enterprise competition of its kind taking place in Manchester.
In partnership with Accenture, RBS ESSA, GiveMeTap and couple other nationally known names, Manchester Apprentice is aimed at testing applicants in real business environment.

Over a period of 4 days starting from April the 23rd 20 successful candidates will engage in sales, marketing, pitching and investment challenges, all for a chance to win £500 cash and recognition from some of the most influential people names in the NorthWest, including people from Big 4 consulting firms and banks together with successful entrepreneurs including Alex Epstein from series 6 of The BBC Apprentice and social entrepreneur of the year Edwin Broni-Mensah.

If you think you have what it takes to become the most employable and enterprising student in Manchester and earn £500 APPLY NOW by sending your CV toevents@manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk by 16th April.

Applicants will be recruited based on quality and in first come first served order, so don’t hesitate to apply NOW.

Check out Trailer of Manchester Apprentice:

To find out more check out the Manchester Apprentice 2012 facebook page

Contact: events@manchesterentrepreneurs.org.uk

Be Your Own Boss - BBC Three

2012-03-19T15:54:09+00:00

Apply for your slice of Richard Reed’s investment fund, up to £1m available

The application process is open for a limited time so if you’ve got a great business idea apply asap!

Richard Reed, co-founder of innocent Drinks, has up to £1million that he is making available to entrepreneurs with brilliant business ideas.

He wants to give the next generation of Great British entrepreneurs a helping hand in getting started.

To take part in this exciting new BBC Three TV series, you need to be over 18 and have either started a small business or have a great idea.

Twitter: @BYOBoss_BBC3
Facebook

Sunday Times Social Entrepreneur of the Year Competition

2012-03-16T14:22:49+00:00

It could be a person who runs an educational club, which takes young people off the streets and gives them a constructive and positive hobby or someone helping to provide local healthy food for the community by running communal gardens. In short we want to celebrate amazing and inspiring individuals who are coming up with innovative and enterprising solutions to tackle problems.

The winner of the competition will be featured in an interview in the Sunday Times newspaper, be showcased in a special episode of UK360 on Community Channel, a programme dedicated to sharing the most inspiring local stories from across the UK, will receive a raft of advice from communications professionals at the Sunday Times and be given a grant of £500 to further their work through digital media.

The Community Channel is a national TV station which has been running for over 15 years and is dedicated to untold and inspiring stories from charities and communities across the UK. Media Trust who own the Community Channel are a media charity and work to give people a voice and amplify the work of young people, charities and marginalised communities across the UK. Media Trust’s trustees include Mark Thompson (BBC), Sophie Turner Laing (Sky), Jon Snow and Matt Brittin (Google).

Celebrity ambassadors we have worked with in the past include: Sir Trevor McDonald, Jesse J, Diana Vickers, Dizzee Rascal, Russell Brand, Martha Kearney, Adam Boulton, Jenson Button, Jon Snow and Miquita Oliver.

More details

Manchester Entrepreneurs ‘£10 Challenge’ competition

2012-03-01T11:25:35+00:00

This is a fine chance for the candidates to display their entrepreneur skills, working under tight time and financial constraints - the challenge allows full flexibility from product choice to delivery, pushing participants to think creatively while working under a highly limited timeframe and resources. This is a fun, fully hands-on experience to take up the challenges faced by entrepreneurs!

THE CHALLENGE:
Working with just £10 as a start-up, the idea is to make as much profit as possible over the span of 48 hours. Naturally, the decision-making on capital investment is the core challenge of this activity, but effective marketing and proper team-management skills/distribution of manpower is also crucial to success.

THE RULES:
- The competition can accommodate no more than 12 teams
- Each team can have 5 members
- Expenses have to recorded accordingly on the spreadsheets provided, supported by receipts.
- The teams have to arrive at designated venue on time for registration towards the end of the competition, failure to do so will result in disqualification.

THE PRIZES:
In their last challenge, the winning team walked away with £235 in cash – as per Manchester Entrepreneurs tradition, they are offering 50% of the total profit made from this event as the prize for the winning team, while the team with the most innovative business idea will be treated to a pub meal at Revolution.

Don’t miss out on your chance to engage in a worthy challenge and show-off your inner entrepreneur, because who knows who the next Jay-Z might be?!

The event will take place 6-8th of March, 2012. Visit Manchester Entrepreneurs’ facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/312410205484119/ and JOIN thier Facebook group for more details.

Ex-students prosper by passing on money advice

2012-02-29T12:35:20+00:00

Owen Burek, 24, started savethestudent.com in 2007 while he was still studying at the University of Manchester, but went full-time in 2010 after interest from advertisers such as moneysupermarket.com convinced him it was a viable business.

Read full story

‘Start-ups need more support’ says Easy Sleep Music entrepreneur

2012-02-29T11:00:46+00:00

A young Manchester entrepreneur made a call for more support and mentoring for start-ups as well as low-interest loans to help fledgling ventures when he was invited to the Houses of Parliament.

Read full story in Manchester Evening News

HMRC begins online advice seminars

2012-02-27T14:26:45+00:00

The seminars will cover subjects such as business expenses and capital allowances, VAT and general limited company issues. Each live or pre-recorded webinar lasts about 30 minutes. The live sessions are followed by an additional Q & A session at the end and in total last about an hour. You need to register for the webinars in advance. For details of how to take part and the available dates go to: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/press/online-advice.htm

Pitch 2012 seeks the UK’s best small businesses

2012-02-20T15:38:55+00:00

Now in its fifth year, the competition will host judging days in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A short list of 20 businesses from each region will be put forward to create the ‘Pitch 80′ who will compete for the prize at a two-day conference – ‘The Pitch Live’ – to be held at Liverpool in October 2012.

After this stage, the grand final will take place in London on 16th November during Global Entrepreneurship Week, between the final four contestants, and one extra ‘wildcard’ entrant.

Ross Dickinson, creator of Kibosh, a device which provides a temporary fix for burst pipes, was crowned overall champion of The Pitch in 2011.

He commented: “Being involved in The Pitch 2011 allowed me to make valuable connections with like-minded business people and being crowned the champion was amazing. The prizes have already made a big impact on my company. Yell has given me a fantastic digital marketing package to raise our profile; Studio Diva, one of the other companies which donated a prize, has put together some fantastic packaging for my product, and Karen Darby, the entrepreneur who is mentoring me as a result of my victory, has offered me brilliant business advice. I would highly recommend entering The Pitch 2012 to small business owners.”

You can find out more about the competition and submit entries by visiting www.ThePitchUK.com. Applications must be in by May with judging taking place over the summer.

NACUE National Student Enterprise Conference on 18th and 19th of February in Birmingham

2012-02-02T09:29:45+00:00

Students will be offered an opportunity to network with entrepreneurs, potential sponsors and investors, and of course other aspiring students interested in business and enterprise.

In addition, Shell LiveWire is also offering an opportunity to pitch for £1000 and PR on the day, which can become a great boost and exposure for someone’s business idea.

Innospace’s own Dan Sodergren is sharing his insights in mobile, digital and social marketing.

more information

Connecting digital start ups between the UK and Netherlands

2012-02-01T12:02:01+00:00

Amsterdam is emerging as one of the main creative digital centres in Europe, identified by Wired as one of the top 10 tech start up cities and home to companies such as Layar and Booking.com.

The Creative Industries KTN will partner with PICNIC and the UK Science & Innovation Network in order to deliver a unique event in Amsterdam, on 21st and 22nd February 2012, exploring the creative landscape and making active business connections between the UK and Netherlands.

The event will mark the first in a series of collaborations between CIKTN and PICNIC throughout the year and will build on political contacts between the UK and Netherlands to drive economic connections, and which saw the Dutch Prime Minister visit London and Manchester with a group of digital businesses late last year.

Over the course of two days (pm 21st, am 22nd) attendees will hear case study presentations from high profile digital entrepreneurs, gain insight on two dynamic European marketplaces and participate in panel discussions contrasting the experiences of UK and Dutch digital start ups and exploring the landscape of European capital finance. On the evening of the 21st there will be a dinner hosted by the British Ambassador with a keynote presentation on future trends.

Importantly over the two days there will be a chance to network with like-minded digital businesses and instigate opportunities for commercial collaboration.

Who should attend:

The event will focus on start up media businesses with a concentration on digital technologies – whether communications, applications or services and ranging from social media to the distribution of digital content to software as a service.

The first 14 UK digital start ups to register their interest will receive a bursary of up to £250.00 towards the cost of travel and accommodation.

Event detail:

Date: 21st & 22nd February 2012

Time: 21st - 1400 > 1700 plus evening networking dinner hosted at British Ambassador’s Residence
22nd – 0930 > 1300

Location: De Waag
Nieuwmarkt 4
1012 CR, Amsterdam

Cost: FREE

Support: Bursaries of up to £250.00 to cover travel and accommodation costs are available to the first 14 digital start ups to apply (companies must less than 2 years old and able to articulate their potential in the European market).

Application: To register your interest in attending please apply here – places are limited. Final closing date will be 17th February 2012 but applying earlier will ensure your details are circulated amongst the Dutch attendees in order to set up one-to-one meetings.

For more information contact:

Mark Leaver CIKTN Producer mark@markleaver.net

Liesbeth Bouwhuis SIN Benelux liesbeth.buowhuis@fco.gov.uk