Business News
Understanding Finance for Business
Raising Finance for Business
Looking for more than £10,000 funding? Not sure what options are open to you?
Via a combination of workshops, one-to-one mentoring and practice pitches (all free of charge), the Understanding Finance for Business programme can help you identify and secure the right type of funding for your business. The team has already helped companies in the region raise over £10m but time is running out for others to benefit as the programme closes soon. The next workshop dates are:
- 25 October Stevenage Herts
- 3 November Hethel Engineering Centre Norwich
- 22 November St John's Innovation Centre Cambridge
- 1 December Pontlands Park Hotel Chelmsford
- 8 December British Racing School Newmarket
Visit www.stjohns.co.uk/finance for dates, details and online registration.
Communications & PR Workshop
Positive media coverage is one of the most cost-effective ways of attracting the interest of potential customers, partners and investors. When managed successfully it can provide invaluable third party endorsement for early stage businesses and build confidence in your products and services. St John's Innovation Centre is organising a series of workshops that will help businesses promote themselves to the media and potential investors. The workshops will provide a hands-on practical session that will help entrepreneurs to improve their own communication or to understand what is required in order to direct someone else.
The workshops will cover key marketing and public relation topics including: The Marketing Mix, Developing case studies, Preparing to exhibit, Writing case studies and Dealing with the press. Some sessions will have themed case studies, for example wireless technology or engineering. However, the principles of media relations are widely applicable and workshops will be suitable for all innovative companies.
Final workshop dates include:
- 31 October Hethel Engineering Centre Norfolk
- 14 November St John's Innovation Centre Cambridge
Please visit www.stjohns.co.uk/events to book your place or email events@stjohns.co.uk
Positioning Business for Nuclear New Build
Best Western Ufford Park Hotel, Thursday 27 October 2011
A free event for SME manufacturers aiming to raise awareness of the business requirement of NNB and inform you of the opportunities that are happening now in the UK and in particular at Sizewell C. This is a chance to find out how to position your business competitively within the market for NNB.
For booking details please click here.
Barclays Launches £100 Million Energy Fund for Farmers
Barclays Bank has created a £100 million fund designed to help farmers meet the costs of renewable energy intiatives like wind farms, solar panels, organic waste power and hydro plants.
Research undertaken by the bank has revealed that agricultural businesses are now keen to benefit from government support tariffs. More than a third of farmers would like to install renewable energy projects on their land during the coming year, and hope to generate average annual returns of £25,000.
Britain aims to generate 15% of energy from renewable sources by 2020, compared with 7.4% reached in 2010. The Barclays survey of 300 agricultural customers indicated that four out of five farmers recognise how renewable energy can save costs and 60% see it as a source of additional income.
The funding proivder expects around 80-90% of projects will be solar and wind farms as they are cheapest to build and their costs are forecast to drop by up to 50% in the next three to five years as demand rises and technology improves. Barclays states that the costs of installing renewable energy projects can be recovered after around 10 years.
The fund's loan budget will be unlimted and it has been suggested that the first £100 million could support more than 100 projects as the average cost varies between £250,000 and £700,000.
Please click here for links to the relevant website, scheme guidelines and grant finder report.