Successful result with tender bid for six figure contract

I was pleased to be asked to assist well-known Sheffield business, Mercury Taxis, with their tender submission for a £100k+ contract recently. The work encompassed a review of the opportunity and Mercury’s strengths; assistance with the development of a new Business Continuity Strategy; developing and writing the Tender submission. And I was delighted to receive […]

Community share issue success for Sheffield Live TV

It’s been a rollercoaster and a learning experience to work on the UK’s first community share issue into broadcast media. But I’m very happy to report that Sheffield Live TV, the local television channel for Sheffield, has achieved its launch fundraising target – with over 100 supporters (including me!) applying to become “community shareholders”. I’ve […]

TownFunder 2014: notes, presentations and interviews

TownFunder 2014, a national conference which I organised, programmed, and chaired on behalf of my client Towns Alive, took place on 1st April at Sheffield Town Hall. The packed programme covered how towns, cities and neighbourhoods could secure funding for projects through Community Share schemes, crowdfunding, community development finance and ethical finance, and local lottery […]

Community finance is JUST finance

Imagine borrowing £100 – but then paying back £50 per month for 6 months to pay off the loan. After 6 months, you’ll have handed back interest of £200 in addition to the original £100 of capital – in other words, the loan will have cost you a shocking 534% APR.  Certainly this isn’t a […]

TV and radio coverage for AMT

Really busy week with my client Action for Market Towns. Their annual convention took place in the lovely Shropshire market town of Ludlow last Thursday: pretty much every hotel and B&B in the town was fully booked, and we reckon the event injected well over £100,000 into Ludlow’s economy. The convention marked the launch of […]

Award success for YCA’s Nikki

Fantastic news on Friday. I’m absolutely thrilled that Nikki Sharpe, the founder of Sheffield-based social enterprise Youth Can Achieve, has been given the ‘Leadership in the Community’ Award at the national ‘Network of Aspiring Women’ Awards. These awards were created by former Apprentice contestant Jo Cameron to celebrate the achievements of women throughout the UK. […]

Commissioning: ask for RHITA!

Who’s RHITA? You may well ask. You’re on a website built by Jamie, after all. And the only middle name I’m aware of having is Stuart. RHITA isn’t my name – it’s an acronym for a set of attributes I try to live by in my professional (and personal) life. Reliability. Honesty. Integrity. Tenacity. Attitude. […]