The University of Warwick, Advanced Propulsion Centre, and Zenzic have joined the Plug and Play UK’s Mobility programme, which launches today with a kick-off event at Jaguar Land Rover’s research collaboration hub at the National Automotive Innovation Centre (NAIC). The University of Warwick becomes the programme’s founding academic partner. Recently created by global innovation platform and prolific early-stage investor Plug and Play, alongside founding partner Jaguar Land Rover, Plug and Play UK’s Mobility programme will create an innovation hub that is the first of its kind in the UK. The programme will build an ecosystem of startups and scaleups, corporates,…
Author: sme-admin
PAUL DAY, expert on secure software & GDPR, who is technical director of document management specialist Filestream, will be a guest speaker at this week’s Midlands Business Expo in Birmingham. Paul, who has worked with the UK-based company for more than 25 years, will be talking about cyber security, document management and GDPR at the show which takes place at the Aston Villa stadium on Thursday June 23. “Many companies, even smaller ones, have a mountain of documents online which are scattered and can be hard to find at a moment’s notice. This also can mean that a company’s most…
Rapidly becoming one of the most common and difficult scams to detect, invoice fraud targets businesses and their customers alike. It is estimated that, in 2020, the total value of these scams was around £82 million*, with less than half that amount being recovered and reimbursed. Business owners are advised to take as many steps and precautions as possible to protect themselves by minimising the risk of fraud, as well as the risk of liability for negligence. Commonly, invoice (or mandate) scams target payments between an organisation and a legitimate payee. Invoices or instructions for payment sent by email, are…
Follows exceptional first two years of performance, with the bank rapidly becoming the fintech challenger bank of choice for established SME businesses Allica Bank – the fintech challenger bank that seeks to empower Britain’s small and medium sized businesses – has today announced it has secured £55m in additional funding as it continues to make significant gains in the SME banking market. The latest funding builds on Allica’s successful £110 million Series B funding round in November 2021 – and increases the total funding raised by Allica Bank to £285 million, providing a strong basis on which the bank can continue…
Research among more than 1,000 SME owners, undertaken by GoDaddy, reveals that relationships among those who either currently run, or have run, a small company with their partner last 5 times longer than the national average. This equates to 11 years, 4 months for those who run a business together, compared with the national average of 2 years, 9 months*. The study found that almost four in five (79%) said their relationship is stronger because of running a business together, and a similar number (78%) think the character traits needed to run a business with a partner are the same as those…
Entrepreneurs are pressing ahead with their ventures despite all the challenges being thrown at new businesses. In fact, more than 5.4 million businesses were launched in 2021. Whilst software projects remain popular for many, product development is equally popular amongst budding entrepreneurs. 30,000 new consumer products are launched every year, yet 95% of these projects fail, according to experts at Harvard Business School. Faced with this statistic, taking the leap and setting up your own business may seem daunting, but it is also incredibly exciting. For many entrepreneurs, the design and product development stages are the most exhilarating. However, while…
New data has revealed that SMEs are finding it increasingly harder – and more expensive – to acquire new customers through big tech platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. In the current economic climate, it’s perhaps time that SMEs took a step back and considered more effective – and cost-effective – ways to generate value from their customers. Time for change Changes to algorithms, attribution standards, and targeting updates have increased the cost of acquisition for SMEs everywhere. Last year, for instance, Facebook changed its attribution standards in response to the launch of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) opt-in privacy,…
The last couple of years have been a catalyst for change with a noticeable shift towards flexible, hybrid and remote working models. Branded ‘the Great Resignation’, 2021 saw record numbers of employees leaving their jobs in favour of more agile working and an improved work life balance[1]. Last week saw 70 businesses in the UK begin a six-month trial of working a 4-day week for no loss of pay. The ‘100-80’ model whereby employees will receive 100% of pay for 80% hours may be highly attractive to many having recently felt the benefits of flexible working during the pandemic. The…
Leading BAME fostering agency Banya is celebrating being ranked as outstanding in every category by education inspection body OFSTED. The agency, which operates as a not-for-profit organisation and was established over 25 years ago, has moved from good to outstanding since its last inspection in 2017. Set up in South London in 1996 by Nyasha Gwatidzo and her late husband Dr Paul Soper, Banya’s directors are currently all black women. Chido Poe, Nyasha’s daughter is now the managing director and has led the team through a period of change during the pandemic. At the time of the inspection in March…
Paralympic gold medallist Kadeena Cox OBE appeared at the inaugural MS Brain Health Awards recently to raise awareness of the work being carried out globally to improve long-term outcomes for those living with MS and inspire further change. The international awards were held virtually (May 26) and welcomed attendees from all over the world, including healthcare professionals, multiple sclerosis (MS) societies and individuals championing the importance of brain health and timely intervention in managing the condition. Five categories of awards acknowledged and showcased excellence: Patient Organization; Patient Advocacy; the Team Award; the Individual Award; and the Innovation Award. Winners included the multinational…