Leading fire and façade consultancy becomes a cornerstone of CERTANIA’s expansion into the UK and Irish market. BB7 Consulting Ltd, a leading Fire, Façade and building safety advisory services firm in the UK and Ireland has joined the CERTANIA Group, a dynamic and fast-growing international group specialising in Testing, Inspection & Certification (TIC) as well as scientific, laboratory, and compliance services. Founded in 2009 by Ben Bradford, BB7 has evolved into the UK and Ireland’s leading specialist consultancy in fire and façade engineering, strengthened by its comprehensive building safety services. As a certified B Corporation and recognised as an outstanding…

Walk into almost any factory and you’ll see the same thing: good people working incredibly hard, surrounded by brilliant machines, and somehow still running behind. Before Mithryl, I saw this every day. I began my own career at a small manufacturer in Oxfordshire, the kind of place that quietly produces world-class parts for aerospace and automotive customers while operating out of an unassuming shed in the countryside. It was full of brilliant people solving complex problems – but the systems never kept up. Days disappeared into the same processes: reconciling spreadsheets and chasing information between unconnected platforms – by five…

Experienced commercial photographer and director of photography Barbara Leatham has launched her new “The Business Lens” programme for businesses where visual imagery is integral to their marketing. ‘The Business Lens” has been created by Barbara, who has more than 30 years’ experience as a commercial photographer, to offer bespoke and detailed photography training to businesses which need to tell their stories through photographs. It’s designed to work for start-ups right through to larger companies with multiple teams and social media managers. The programme offers highly personalised training to meet a business’s particular needs. From product-based businesses, to trades, to service…

Meet Claudia Freed, Who Truly Knows What It Means To ‘Circle Back’ I met Claudia at the Oracle NetSuite conference in Las Vegas recently, and we immediately hit it off. Claudia is the CEO of a social enterprise EALgreen, which invests in education, the circular economy and therefore sustainability. The organisation, operating out of Chicago, can be found here – https://www.ealgreen.org/pages/home EALgreen was founded in the early 1980s and links educational establishments in the USA with students who need financial support to access and cover some or all of the costs of their education. What is EALgreen? It’s an organisation which…

Manchester’s £1.7bn innovation district, announces the appointment of Dr Karim Bahou as Head of Innovation.  In this role, Karim will spearhead the global development of Sister’s ecosystem, focusing initially on growing the early-stage ecosystem at the Renold Building and helping accelerate the growth of ambitious start-ups. Karim brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of academia and industry. Prior to joining, Karim earned his PhD in the field of organic chemistry from Imperial College and has held academic research positions at Imperial College, CSIRO (Australia), and the University of Liverpool. He has also held senior consulting roles at…

Windsor-based infrastructure specialist Structural Repairs has scooped two prestigious national business awards in quick succession, recognising both the outstanding leadership of founder Roger Line and the company’s exceptional business growth. Roger was first named Business Leader of the Year at the Great British Business Awards 2025, an accolade that honours individuals who lead organisations with outstanding vision, strategic insight, and operational excellence. Judges praised Roger’s ability to combine innovation, strategic growth and a clear long-term vision, describing him as “an outstanding business leader whose influence extends well beyond his industry.” The award celebrates leaders who set new standards within their sector while…

Allergy experts are calling for new allergens to be added to the UK and EU’s official ‘Top 14’ list, after research revealed a rise in severe allergic reactions to pine nuts, goat’s milk, buckwheat, peas and lentils. Entrepreneur and allergy advocate Julianne Ponan MBE, founder of award-winning top 14 allergen free-from brand Creative Nature, is backing the call after suffering life-threatening reactions to several of these emerging allergens herself. Food packaging in the UK and Europe currently lists 14 of the most common allergens including peanuts, sesame, eggs, gluten, milk and tree nuts, but the list has not been updated…

NetSuite, the world’s first cloud computing software company,has just announced the biggest change in its 27-year history – it’s next generation ‘NetSuite Next’ with the tagline ‘No Limits’. The company, owned by Oracle and based out of Austin, Texas, has more than 43,000 clients worldwide, 35 data centres across five continents, and recently opened data centres in Brazil and India. The UK is one of its key markets outside of the USA. It has two million active users and in December 2024 alone managed 6.4 billion transaction lines. This company is, in other words, rather large! At its annual conference…

Entrepreneur Chris Maslin, founder of Go EO, has launched a tool to allow business owners to take the first steps to explore the possibilities of an employee ownership trust (or EOT). The EOT Explorer is a free engagement tool designed to make life easier for those who are considering how to exit their business. “This free, online tool, with no contact details required, is for people to assess how suitable they/their business are for an EOT. I genuinely think it’s great and we have had some brilliant early feedback,” Chris, who lives in Kent, said. Chris’s experience with employee ownership…

There’s something electric about being in a room full of women in business who just get it. The ones who’ve built empires from their kitchen tables. Who’ve sent invoices with shaky hands. Who’ve cried happy tears after their first sale… and real ones when things fell apart. That’s the energy behind The Solopreneur Awards – the first national awards night devoted entirely to female-led solopreneurs. And this year’s theme? The Audacity Era. Because that’s exactly what it takes to build a business on your own terms. Audacity. Grit. Vision. And a little bit of delusional magic. This is a movement,…