News and Offers

B-innovative: Free Training for Entrpreneurs

Give your start-up a head start by taking part in the University of Bedfordshire's  free B-innovative programme. Starting 24 October 2012, this series of eight seminars is designed to help you develop your entrepreneurial skills and make sure that your new business is a success.

Delivered by experienced entrepreneurs and business people, the seminars will combine a mix of theory, case studies and interactive practical exercises. Key topics that will be covered include:

  • Business idea formation and vision creation
  • Company formation (including intellectual property rights)
  • Defining your market
  • Competitor analysis
  • Developing products and services
  • Building a team
  • Costing and pricing
  • Raising investment

Completing this programme will help you ensure your business has strong foundations for a successful future.

Perfect your pitch

You will also have the opportunity to pitch your business idea to a panel of entrepreneurial experts in a Dragons' Den style competition. Not only will you gain valuable feedback from talented business men and women, but you will also compete for a series of prizes for the best business concept and business plan.

For more information, and to download an application form, visit the University's website here.

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Re-launch of Finance East as Community Interest Company (C.I.C.) opens up new funding sources for companies in Bedfordshire

Finance East and Finance South East have re-launched under a single name – The FSE Group - as an independent community interest company (C.I.C.) with a growing range of funds and services for companies, communities and social enterprises in Bedfordshire.

The FSE Group’s award winning team delivers a range of debt and equity growth finance solutions and support to innovative SME’s.  With approximately £40m funds under management, the team; recognised as Best Early Stage Investment Team by the British Business Angel Association (BBAA) in 2009, has invested over £6m in companies in the East of England over the last three years.

Bedfordshire companies that have benefited from funding via the Group include Sandy-based technology company EBase.

From its office in East Anglia (Ipswich), The FSE Group manages three funding vehicles exclusively geared to companies in Bedfordshire and the East:

The East of England Regional Growth Loan Scheme provides a debt facility to high growth companies based in the East of England.  Loans of between £50,000 and £200,000 are available for revenue generation companies with annual turnover of at least £500,000.

The East of England Business Angel Co-Investment Loan Scheme is designed to offer a flexible loan to unlock business angel investment. The facility is provided on the basis of a minimum 60% business angel investment to 40% co-investment loan split of the total funding requirement.  Investments range from £50,000 to £125,000.

The Bedford Business EIS Fund: enables locally-based investors to collaborate together to invest in a portfolio of high growth potential businesses within the Bedfordshire area via the tax-efficient mechanism of an EIS Fund.

However, in addition to these local/regional funding sources, the Group offers a number of other national funding schemes which businesses in the East are eligible to apply for:

The Community Generation Fund: a national fund to support community-based renewable energy projects.

The Social Impact Co-Investment Fund: loans of £25k – £100k to SME’s anywhere in the UK, which primarily operate with a social purpose.  Business angel matched funding required.

For more information on these services and our current range of funds, please see our website: www.thefsegroup.com
 

New Growth Accelerator programme launches.

An innovative £200 million programme to help up to 26,000 of England’s brightest businesses achieve their ambition and potential, as well as creating 55,000 high-value jobs has been launched by Business Secretary Vince Cable.

GrowthAccelerator is available for companies with genuine potential for rapid and sustainable growth. The new partnership between the private sector and Government will see proven business experts working with companies to identify their barriers to growth and ways to overcome them. This will be on issues such as securing finance, commercialising innovation or developing leadership and management capability.

As well as coaching, GrowthAccelerator, provides comprehensive support by fast tracking clients to trusted providers of business advice such as UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), professional advisers as well as relevant networks such as Angel Investors.

For more information and to check eligibility for the programme, visit the GrowthAccelerator site.
 


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