Vitalising Purpose Book

Get your paperback or ebook copy of Vitalising Purpose – The Power of the Social Enterprise Difference in Public Services Jamie Veitch and Jonathan Bland, with a foreword by Lord Victor Adebowale CBE. “A must read for chief executives, heads of transformation, commissioners and procurement officers, and social entrepreneurs.” Maximise social value, public benefit and […]

How to communicate your research more effectively with Mihaela Gruia

How to communicate research findings and complicated messages effectively, with Mihaela Gruia of Research Retold.

How to research and validate a business idea – John Holcroft interview

How do you get to the truth about what people think of your business or product idea and whether they really will buy from you?
John Holcroft can help. In this week’s radio show and podcast, he spills the beans on his process to validate and research business ideas.

Women hit their crowdfunding targets more than men – across sectors and the world

Yesterday The Crowdfunding Center and PwC published the new joint report, Women Unbound: Unleashing female entrepreneurial potential, which explores the experience of women in achieving finance raising success through seed crowdfunding compared with more traditional finance raising routes. I was one of the two lead authors of the report.

£25k investment for Research Retold

Through Keep Your Fork Ltd, I’ve been supporting Research Retold, a business which turns complicated research documents into easily-digestible summaries – helping researchers to more effectively communicate their findings. So I’m delighted that Mihaela Gruia, Research Retold’s founder, was the winner in a competition to receive a £25k equity investment from UK Steel Enterprise through […]

Growth Vouchers – apply for up to £2000 for strategic business advice

Do you run or work in a small business or social enterprise? Would you benefit from research, social media, marketing strategy, customer retention or communications advice to help to grow the business? The Government’s Growth Voucher Programme might be able to help you. I’ve just become accredited as a Growth Voucher Adviser – I’m thrilled, […]

Consumers still loyal to high street

A study into consumer behaviour, led by Cathy Hart, senior lecturer in Loughborough University’s School of Business and Economics (SBE), has revealed that despite increasing competition, town centres are still the preferred shopping destination, accounting for almost a third of all retail visits. However, competition from online retail, supermarkets and out-of-town stores is likely to […]

Research project: new technology for business and social enterprise

New Strategies for Digital Inclusion – A participatory action research study New and innovative digital tools and strategies are available to businesses (including social enterprises), communities and individuals. Can these emerging and developing technologies and services promote entrepreneurship? How can mobile technologies be used to develop existing businesses and social enterprises and to support new […]

Many shops alienating disabled customers

A new report has found that many high street shops are alienating their disabled customers due to poor physical access, inadequate information, a lack of or misuse of disabled toilets and changing rooms, and even staff attitudes. And it spells out that an accessible high street is not just a (legal) right – but makes […]

Research shows power of small businesses in local economies

New research, published in July from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), shows that 58 per cent more of the money spent by local authorities with small firms is re-spent in the local economy compared to that spent with large businesses in the same area. The FSB and the Centre for Local Economic Strategies surveyed […]