The  Delegates  at the London Funding Conference will:

• Hear from the banks, the VCs and angels what they are looking for
• Hear from lawyers about the pitfalls to avoid
• Hear from Capital Enterprise (i.e., me) about publicly funded support available for potential high growth businesses in London.
• Meet the key players
• Meet other fast growing businesses also raising finance

This event is designed to help existing fast-growing businesses understand what is required to attract loan or equity investment to finance their further growth. It will also provide the opportunity for delegates to meet a number of the key players and other high growth businesses.

The conference will feature short presentations and Q&A sessions with the following key speakers:

The presentations will be followed by meeting and networking with the speakers over wine and nibbles.

Where and when?

The Terrace Room, The British Library Business, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB, Tuesday 7^th September 2010, 6 pm to 8.45 pm.

Register at www.amiando.com/funding

There is a small £25 attendance fee, but if readers of this blog send me an e-mail (john@capitalenterprise.org), I will issue you with a discount code that will give 60% off the price of entrance.

The aim of this informal and very interactive event is to give an opportunity for ambitious entrepreneurs who are looking to raise money to:

• Get the facts and “insider track” on raising significant amounts of money (sums of £50K-£2m) from London’s leading bankers, asset financiers, business angels and early stage VC’s.
• Get an opportunity to meet and informally discuss their funding raising plans with some of London’s leading funders of early stage and growth businesses. If there is money out there to fund ambitious entrepreneurs then the guys in this room will either have it or know where to find it.
• Find out about the range of support programmes offered by Capital Enterprise members that will help a London business to develop a business plans, access finance, innovate, market overseas and generally expand.
• Meet other entrepreneurs in the same boat  and share contacts, tips and knowledge.

In essence, we are trying to say to businesses in London that if you want to grow then you should go to the Capital Enterprise and Keystone Law sponsored London Funding Mini-Conference 2010.

Delegates who register will:

• Hear from the banks, the VCs and Angels and find out what they are looking for?
• Hear from lawyers and specialist consultants about the funding process
• Hear from Capital Enterprise on the latest government funded initiatives to support ambitious high growth businesses (including news on innovation grants and university co-finance offers)
• Meet the key players in Early and Growth stage funding
• Meet other “high flying” entrepreneurs also looking to raise finance

The conference will feature short presentations from:

• Huw Morga, Head of Business Banking, HSBC (tbc)
• Amadeus Capital, Growth Stage VC (tbc)
• Paul Grant, Angel Funding expert
• John Spindler, Capital Enterprise
• Simon Littlewood (TBC) and Grant Thornton on the Mayor of London funded “Gateway To Investment” programme
• Keystone Law

We also hope to be able to announce in the weeks leading up to the mini conference, that attending the event will be a host of senior representatives from the  leading funders of early stage funding of ambitious growth companies in London.

Finally, Capital Enterprise is sponsoring the event as a means to explore the possibility of setting up a club or network exclusively for ambitious, growth focused, businesses in London that would be supported (with for example the provision of  insider information and unique exclusive offers) by Capital Enterprise members such as the British Library, universities and Capital Enterprise partners such as the leading accountants, lawyers and banks, etc. Would entrepreneurs be interested? Hopefully, we will get a good turnout and I will get an opportunity to gauge opinion.

If you know anyone who would be interested in attending the mini-conference, then please get them to book their place on the conference by registering at www.amiando.com/funding

Capital Enterprise has therefore decided to pick out some of the most interesting events in May that are either taking place at the British Library or being organised by a Capital Enterprise partner. If you are interested in attending then please click on the associated link. You will find more details on what is going on in London by going to the British Library website.

An Evening with Cherie Blair

TiE UK

DATE: 18 May 2010
TIME: 6.30 – 9.00 PM
PLACE: British Library Business & IP Centre, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
MORE INFO: http://uk.tie.org/TGS/EM/viewevent/viewEventPT?id_event=4509&from_where=chapter_homepage

Greening Production Workshop

Global Action Plan

DATE: Monday, 26 May
TIME: 5.30-8.30pm (registration from 5.00pm)
PLACE: 01 Zero-one, London
MORE INFO: Are you interested in making your company sustainable but feel it’s beyond your reach? At this workshop you’ll learn about the issues the industry is facing, how they affect you and how others are tackling them. This event is in partnership with Ravensbourne and BSkyB. For more details please register at www.putyourbusinessforward.com.

Summer Short Courses at UCL

UCL Advances is offering business training for senior managers/ owners of SME’s.

These courses are also CPD certified and there is a special launch price. Courses offered include:

• Entrepreneurial Marketing
• Entrepreneurial Finance
• Technology Strategy

For further information, please visit: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/advances/cpd or contact Laura Connor on laura.connor@ucl.ac.uk

Doug Richard’s School of Startups

London Metropolitan University>

DATE: Wednesday, 26 May
TIME: 12.00 pm – 5.00 pm
MORE INFO: A must-attend event for any budding or established entrepreneur!

At Start Here! Starting & Growing a Successful Business you will learn:

• The key questions every entrepreneur must be able to answer;
• How to write the perfect business model;
• How to identify your product and your market;
• How to start an affordable marketing campaign to increase your sales leads;
• How to treat the recession as an opportunity, rather than a threat;
• How to make money and secure investment.

What’s included?

• 6 hours of business tuition with one of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs, Doug Richard;
• Access to online resources and materials, including membership of VentureNavigator;
• Accreditation as a Graduate of School for Startups (web-badge).

How much does it cost?

Just £50 for London Met Staff and Affiliate Businesses – type code: SME1

Standard Entrepreneurs Ticket: £95.00 + VAT. Student Ticket: £45 + VAT

For more info and to book: schoolforstartups.co.uk/events

Tim Campbell, Founder of the Bright Ideas Trust

Sometimes I look enviously on the experience of enterprise support providers in American and Australia where demand for enterprise support services is higher and where self-help business books sell as well as books on cookery or gardening. In the UK, enterprise support service providers regularly suffer from “adverse selection” – the reality that demand for services (especially at start up stage) are often from those that are hardest to help and least likely to succeed. This could be a big problem for enterprise support providers if government funding bodies change their strategies to focus future programmes on supporting new and trading businesses who can create jobs for the millions people who are unemployed.

So can celebrity business people (i.e. entrepreneurs who have been on telly or entrepreneurs who started or run well-known companies) help our sector to reach out and engage with a wider cross section of entrepreneurs? Can celebrities make them listen to what we have to offer? We are about to see, for this month Capital Enterprise will launch (with its members and funds from the local council) its first enterprise fair (www.enterprisefair.com) in Islington on the 18th March.

Nick Jenkins, Founder of Moonpig.com

The unique feature of the Islington Enterprise Fair is that involves a series of Q & A panels with well-known celebrity entrepreneurs such as former apprentice winner Tim Campbell, founder of Moonpig, Nick Jenkins, and local big wig Jack Lyon whose family run the Business Design Centre. The fairs also have exhibition stands and workshops where local Capital Enterprise members such as Pre-vista, London Met University and Centa can promote their services and provide advice. But the key feature of the day is the opportunity for local business people to listen to the first hand “war stories” of successful entrepreneurs and get them to spill their “secrets”.

In the USA there seems to be a shared view that “insider knowledge”  (i.e. secrets) is the key to success. If you know what the successful know, you too could be successful in business as in life. We are about to see whether it holds true for the London Entrepreneur.

Finally, if you or anyone else you know wants to get an “insider view” on how to raise money, how to bootstrap your first venture, how to convince major buyers to take the risk on you or anything else related to making your business successful, then please get them to check out www.islingtonenterprisefair.com

(It’s important to note that if we do get a good turnout we hope to repeat the programme across London.)

Audience with the Shadow Minister for Business

Firstly, on Tuesday the 2nd March we have “An Audience with Mark Prisk – Shadow Minister for Business”. This great opportunity to hear what a Conservative Government plans for our sector and is exclusively for Capital Enterprise Members and Partners. It is being hosted by Capital Enterprise member, University College London at their campus in Central London. If you have not already booked your place, please do so now by e-mailing che@capitalenterprise.org.

New to London

Secondly, on the morning of the 12th March, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, will be launching the New To London empty property on-line clearing house at the Oval. The service, developed by Capital Enterprise in partnership with the Mayor of London office, Workspace Group PLC and the British Property Federation, will provide an opportunity for Capital Enterprise members and property owners across London to list and promote a space or property that is offered on favourable terms to new entrepreneurs and businesses. We will be sending out more information next week on how you can get involved, but yet again, it is a high profile event involving Capital Enterprise and participating members.

Enterprise Fair in Islington

Thirdly, Capital Enterprise, in partnership with members such as Bright Ideas Trust, Centa, Prevista and The National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), have been involved in organising and sourcing funding from the local council to run an Enterprise Fair in Islington on the 18th March.

The publicity for this event goes live on Monday, but you can have a sneak preview.

If the event goes well we will be looking to stage a series of similar events with willing partners in willing boroughs across London.

Knowledge and Skills Workshops

Finally, Capital Enterprise will next week be launching a series of half-day workshops for members, staff and associates to improve their knowledge and skills in key enterprise support areas such as using social media, innovation development and sales pitching. These workshops will be free to members and delivered by some of the leading lights in their fields including Central School of Speech and Drama, lbdesign and Happen, the creative innovation agency.

A very busy month, and that’s not withstanding that we have it on good authority that their will be a new round of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to be announced in early March. I can therefore only hope that you believe me when I write, it is just a coincidence that March is also the month that we send out our membership renewal forms. I hope it turns out to be an interesting one.

This two-day conference will provide business advisers, higher education academics, technology transfer managers, professional advisers, creative businesses and IP lawyers with a platform for debate on present and future government policies. The conference will also focus on the effect of digital technology on conventional business models and new trends in IP development and management.

Seminars, plenary sessions and workshops will enable members to close knowledge gaps and address communication issues with clients and entrepreneurs. Attendees will also discuss sector specific IP issues, as well as generic problems that are relevant throughout the creative industry.

The University of Arts have organised a varied programme of workshops that enables you to be flexible and attend sessions on both days or on just one.

Two-day tickets:
(include breakfast, lunch and refreshments on both days)

Early bird: £100 + VAT (£117.50) until 15 February 2010
After this: £140 + VAT (£164.50)

One-day tickets:

Early bird: £60 + VAT (£70.50) until 15 February 2010
After this: £80 + VAT (£94)

Places are limited. For further information, regular programme updates and to book your place please visit:

http://www.own-it.org/events/

Is there too much on offer for one person to fully appreciate?  You bet! We probably all think by the end of the week  we have over done the “Good Cheer”. But for now my guiding principle is to attend as many events and soak in as much entrepreneurial wisdom and good will as possible. So here is the selection of events held by members that I intend to blag an invite too:

For many members Enterprise Weeks Santa’s Grotto will be located at the British Library where the main event happens on Tuesday evening when Alan Sugar takes the centre stage to give us all a piece of his mind about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

Meanwhile on the same night Martha Fox the coolest and most attractive of the UK’s enterprise glitterati will be at Floridita in the West End to appropriately launch the very cool Enternship.com.

Thursday sees the launch of the first of NCGE “Flying Start” events for Graduate Entrepreuners at London South Bank University with James Caan as the special guest. Whilst that evening I will be manning a stand at the UCL Enterprise Week celebration  where what we lack on Celebrates we make up with wine and good cheer and a grant for new innovative entrepreneurs.

On Friday morning, I hope to pop down to Lambeth’s Young Entrepreneurs Market at the National Theatre to see what kind a business a young person can start for £35.

Finally on Friday evening, I will be attending as the guest of BBV the Park Royal Partnership Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony at Wembley Stadium.

As you can see a busy week but my week is not all about “ligging”  on the hospitality of my members for I have meetings lined up with the Department of BIS, Job Centre Plus, the GLA about potentially exciting new developments for the enterprise movement in London. More of which I will reveal next week.

Finally the tender for the Business Link in London Successor contact is expected to be posted on the www.competefor.com website this week. I am sure we will here more about that in future weeks and months.

So to all you members, partners and entrepreneurs: have a Happy Enterprise Week!

Capital Enterprise Autumn Members Meeting

These events are for Members & Partners Only.

Exploring New Service and New Funding Opportunities

Attending: Customer First, SAGE, NCGE, GLE, London Innovation, GLA-Workspace

DATE: Friday, 30th October from 10.00am – 12.30pm
PLACE: British Library IP Centre
RSVP: Email John Spindler

Launching A Baby Product With A Bang

DATE: 13th October
TIME: 9.30am – 12.00pm
PLACE: British Library Business & IP Centre
MORE INFO: http://www.shesingenious.org/baby.html

Funding for Fast Growth

The Funding Game

DATE: Thursday 22 October
TIME: 9.30am – 1.30pm
PLACE: British Library Business & IP Centre
MORE INFO: http://thefundinggameseminar09.eventbrite.com/

How to Write a Winning Bid & Accessing the Right Finance

LCRN

DATE: 20th October 2009
TIME: 10.00am – 16.00pm
PLACE: LCRN  – Training Room 2 – Development House, 56-64 Leonard St, EC2A 4LT
RSVP: To book, please email Suzanne Uittenbogaard at suzanne@lcrn.org.uk

British Library Networking Event

HybridLab Space

IEAction

DATE: Friday 25th September
TIME: 4.00pm – 6.00pm
PLACE: Sophia House, 76-80 City Road, London EC1Y 2BJ
MORE INFO: www.hybridlab.org / 020 7608 2370

Prevista Events

Effective Procurement

At this one day workshop, learn:

• How to win more contracts
• Identify your business’ needs
• Choose the right suppliers
• Negotiate the best price|

DATE: 29 September & 15 October
TIME: 9.00am – 16.45pm
PLACE: United House, Islington  Croydon Clocktower, Croydon
REFRESHMENTS:  Lunch and drinks provided
MORE INFO: www.prevista.co.uk

Where is the money?

With purse strings tightening and banks backing off, now more than ever, you need to have great pitching skills to secure investment.

DATE:  30 September 29 October & 25 November
TIME:   9.00am – 16.45pm
PLACE:  Croydon Clocktower, Croydon & United House, Islington
REFRESHMENTS: Lunch and drinks provided
MORE INFO: www.prevista.co.uk

Introduction to E-Marketing

Realise the potential of e-marketing as a way to access a huge amount of potential new customers.

DATE:   1 October & 28 October
TIME:   9.00am – 16.45pm
PLACE: United House, Islington
REFRESHMENTS:  Lunch and drinks provided
MORE INFO: www.prevista.co.uk

There is more information about both of these items in the PDFs listed below:

Invite to the LYST Open House (PDF: 363KB)

Enterprise Enfield Business Awards flyer (PDF: 1.25MB)