I was young when I realised I came from a family of businessmen. At the age of eight, my paternal grandfather had been engaging in business deals between Africa and Belgium. One of my uncles had also started an import-export business based in Brussels. Then when I was ten years old, my father jumped on the bandwagon and launched a business engaged in the export of exotic meats from Botswana to the EEC. This is what began to pique my curiosity in business. 

Monday June 29 saw the Demo Day of the exciting first cohort of the innovation 'Lab' by Transport for Wales (TfW). 

'There is not a common, comprehensive definition of what counts as social value, to frame understanding, benchmarking or reporting, and aid comparison of tenders and to determine best practice. This has given rise to significant disparities in what counts as social value activities, and no requirement to focus on improving the wellbeing of those who are most disadvantaged.'

amicable, the tech startup disrupting the family law sector, has raised £488k in funding from existing and new angel investors. The news comes just a few months after a high court judge ruled in favour of amicable’s approach to divorce and separation that focuses on supporting couples through the process and removes the need for couples to instruct two separate lawyers.   

Technology, especially new technology, has always had something of a divisive effect; that is it can be seen as black or white, working in good ways or bad. If we look back in history, any technological advance is greeted with great enthusiasm by early adopters and shunned and ridiculed by those with a more traditional outlook on life.

It is fair to say that so many startups have used the year 2020 to really show how they can adapt and help and shine through, but for the Biggest 2020 Hero category this year there was one clear winner who really have done some amazing work in 2020 and through the COVID crisis, and that is Joanna Montgomery, Founder and CEO of Little Riot which develops connected products that enable human connection in an otherwise very digital world, such as the product Pillow Talk.

Enter Farm-Hand: a software startup revolutionising life for farmers in India by applying Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology to irrigation hardware.

Boris Johnson has announced a £12bn affordable homes programme, providing up to 180,000 new homes over eight years, a slight retraction on his original five year target. Alongside this pledge however, is a sweeping liberalisation of planning regulations, which the Government are quoting to be the most radical since the end of the Second World War.

Global initiative building diversity within Venture Capital, Included VC has launched recruitment for its second annual fellowship. Included VC’s mission is to change the face of the VC industry, dramatically increasing diversity and maximising fund success by transforming networks, staff, dealflow and investments. 

Local businesses are core to our communities, but the impact of COVID-19 has been tough on business owners. As the UK steadily reopens its doors to businesses and people alike, Google has pledged to support small businesses across the country with a burgeoning package of products, tools and services to support the reopening and growth of British commerce.

New research by Hitachi Capital Business Finance has explored the challenges businesses led by single parents face. The research surveyed more than 300 single parent business owners asking about how they started their business, running their business day-to-day, and plans for the future. Their responses were benchmarked against a nat rep sample of 1,466 business owners. 

So, you’re starting a business - you’re ready to go, you’re excited to start chasing clients, you get some enquiries, you convert those enquiries into leads and now it is time to turn those leads into clients - and ultimately, cash. But there’s a problem… what do you charge? 

The 23rd of June this year marked four years since the UK's EU membership referendum, and the rest of 2020 will likely see some decisive action on the UK's intention to leave the EU as a result. Much has been written over the last four years about the UK's currently gilded status as the preeminent global hub for financial services and fintech, and the risks of the UK losing this status to another European competitor once Brexit happens.

Scooploop is a social media neighbour and community networking site. It is a platform that you can use for your business, charity or personal use, and lets you join in with conversations, find out local information and get to know people that you may not have met yet.

KETS Quantum Security, world leaders in integrated quantum cryptography hardware solutions, pitched against ten other start-ups from Bristol’s world-leading tech scene to win the ‘Best Elevator Pitch’ audience vote at Tuesday’s inaugural online version of SETsquared Bristol’s Tech-Xpo.

Identifying your ideal client is one of the most difficult things, and yet the most important thing to do for your business. Before I start going into the how, let us spend a few minutes thinking about the why. Why does everybody bang on and on about this ideal client business!? Believe me I used to feel the same way. Then one day it clicked into place.

Advanced Engineering is on the hunt for ground-breaking startups to showcase their latest products and inventions as part of its Enabling Innovation Zone. The show, which is the largest annual engineering event in the UK, will take place on 4th-5th November at the NEC, Birmingham, and will allow smaller enterprises to accelerate their growth by making the right connections in the world of advanced manufacturing and technology.

Speechmatics and Puzzel, European Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) provider, have partnered to transform customer experiences in contact centres through Puzzel’s Agent Assist technology.

Sage has announced new updates to its Small Business Accounting Solution. Designed to support small businesses in the construction industry, the updates enable customers to manage their day-to-day accounting in the cloud, as well as comply with sector specific UK Government requirements for the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS).

Secure business operations on digital platforms bring a unique set of challenges to compliance for managers. Startups now have to seek SOC 2 compliance just like other traditional businesses.