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My husband recently returned from Nigeria, where he’s been researching a book about investing in Africa and other “frontier markets.”
Among the most moving accounts is his visit to a slum in Lagos, where he met a young man whose father died in ethnic fighting and whose mother travelled seven hours to work as a nurse. The lad, left with his two brothers during the week, was determined not only to better himself and his family but also the slum around him by studying for a degree in zoology, focusing on pollution control to eradicate the deadly scourge of malaria, typhoid and diarrhea. Amid the poverty surrounding him, he worked on a broken laptop barely able to read on the cracked screen.
Coming back to England and going to the rubbish tip brought home the huge waste between our world and Africa’s. We throw away old technology every day – especially as businesses - that could easily be of massive benefit to those who can’t yet afford the latest gadgets. We undertook to make sure the lad in Lagos would get a working laptop.
B&Q worker Aseri Katanga had the same thought but on a far bigger scale. As he watched his employer fill up a skip with unwanted computers he thought about how useful they would be back home in Tanzania. Aseri approached B&Q for permission to store the computers in his garage. He put the word out and soon his garage was chockablock with computers. Next, he arranged for a shipping crate and lots of neighbours to help him load the computers on their way to Africa.
From that first shipment an entire charity was spawned called Computers 4 Africa. The charity, based in Aylesford, takes computers from across Kent, cleans the data, loads up-to-date software such as Microsoft Windows 7, and ships them out to schools and non-governmental organisations.
Speaking on the Business Bunker radio show, marketing manager Sharon Roberts told us that the charity is looking for computers, monitors, keyboards and laptops, but not printers as it’s harder to get the ink.
All of the equipment it sends has an expected useful remaining life of at least five years. Any donations that don’t make the grade are split up and used for parts. Best of all, the charity’s connections on the ground make sure the people receive the equipment know how to use it. Having computers at school can make a world of difference, giving a better education and real earning potential to children and their future families. One day, Aseri says he wants African children to know the difference between a mouse and a mouse.
Jules Serkin.
For details on how to donate computers go to www.computersforafrica.org.uk. If your company has ten working computers, the charity will pick up free of charge.
Tweet me @julesserkin Tune in to my shows @SCOFFQUAFF food & drink show for Kent every Tuesday live 11-12 & 1pm @businessbunker on www.channelradio.co.uk
SUPPORT OUR CROWD FUNDING CAMPAIGN
LAUNCH 22 SEPTEMBER on INDIEGOGO
50 FREE MINI SNAIL FARMS FOR SELECTED SCHOOLS ACROSS THE UK
Mini Snail Farm Trail is about providing free mini snail farms to 50 selected UK schools where the children would benefit most from contact with living things. Each one has 6 baby snails and everything you need to look after them: food, housing, bedding and care instructions,
Perks for donations:
A thank you on our campaign page and: hand magnifiers, snail greeting cards, Meet the Snails days, signed copies Molluscs and Me, and lots more must-have goodies
I am Helen Howard, and H&RH Escargots is one of the few UK snail farms growing edible snails and helping other people to grow their own snails at home. As a teacher I believe that it is vital for young children to learn about living things through practical experience not just by reading about them in books. I am keen to support schools in helping children to learn in an engaging way. The National Curriculum is so demanding that it is easy for other important learning to get lost in the time pressure. A mini snail farm sitting at the side of the classroom so children can take turns to care for the snails extends their learning and is a reminder of the importance of the living world.
Please help spread the campaign Mini Snail Farm Trail. Even if you can't give a contribution, spreading this page via all social media platforms and through family and friends will help us a lot! We plan to take mini snail farms into 50 selected UK schools to help teachers provide opportunities for children to learn about living things. We want to promote science education in primary schools so that the next generation understands more about the world around them.
Helen Howard.
http://minisnailfarmtrail.wordpress.com
twitter @minisnailfarm
https://www.facebook.com/MiniSnailFarmTrail
In modern-day business, with success determined by tweets and web hits, geeks are the rock gods. You can glean a lot from studying their tricks of the trade.
After my column a couple of months ago on the top apps for small businesses, here’s another techno hit parade: some top tools recommended by Edouard Rosenblum from the geek jobs website Breaz.
1. Slack
Forget Skype. Use Slack. Slack is the most modern communication tool for teams with an incredible design that allows you to integrate all of the services you’re using and get instant notifications
2. mention
This powerful application helps you track what’s being said about your brand and your competitors in real time. It works for blog posts, forum mentions, news and web references, as well as social media posts.
3. Buffer
Want to publish on multiple social networks in one click and track your reach? Use Buffer. It’s an extremely simple application to manage your social media presence on almost every channel. Buffer also provides great tips for startups on their blog.
4. Followerwonk
This is a great resource when it comes to finding influencers in your sector. For instance, you can sort out a list of all of the most followed people for any keyword or expression.
5. Dashlane
With all of the apps you’re using, you should use a password manager to protect your security. Dashlane will connect you automatically to all of your apps and prevent you from losing any passwords.
Jules Serkin
Tweet me @julesserkin, Tune in to my shows @SCOFFQUAFF food & drink show for Kent every Tuesday live 11-12 & 1pm @businessbunker on www.channelradio.co.uk
I often think of all the great music out there humming in the heads of people without the musical ability to record it, and the funny things people think without being able to express them as jokes.
It’s the same thing in business. You think of the amount of people who say they’ve got a great idea, but they don’t have the money or other tools to put it into action.
That’s where grants come in. It can be more straight-forward than you think. I had one email from a particularly inspiring example.
Darren Hollands had some bright ideas for making audio speakers and amplifiers. He wanted to base the company locally rather than going to the cheaper manufacturing bases of the world.
“We were looking for factory units in the county that had an area that we could use for design, as well as manufacturing bays,” said Darren “I was finding it frustrating.”
Darren turned to an associate he knew, Chris Broom from Locate in Kent, who suggested he apply for a grant from the South East Urban Coast Creative Enterprise Support Scheme (SUCCESS). This body supports new or expanding creative SME’s who want to create jobs in the district and have match funding.
SUCCESS provided a £150,000 grant, funded from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund covering Thanet.
“If it wasn’t for Chris, I wouldn’t have known about the scheme and we wouldn’t have been able to start up the business,” said Darren.
“I was able to match the £150,000 grant with my own money and loans from family, and that has allowed us to start developing products and to buy a company called O’hEocha which, although technically still trading, had been dormant for a couple of years.
“That has been important, as having an established brand name with a history and product range has opened doors to specialist suppliers and potential high street retailers and has given us a really positive start.”
Locate in Kent also helped identify the Rowe’s Yard unit where the start-up team is busy developing new products, updating those bought from O’hEocha, and developing a range including a streaming unit that allows for downloaded music to be streamed directly to speakers.
“The premises are perfect,” said Darren. “They are new, very clean and smart and ideal for the image we are looking to project to suppliers and customers. We are really keen to identify local suppliers as I am a huge advocate of keeping business as local as possible.”
Paul Wookey, Chief Executive of Locate in Kent, said the range of financial support schemes across the county had made it an even more attractive location for businesses looking to launch or expand.
“All the statistics and feedback we have show that businesses from the UK and beyond are increasingly aware that much of Kent and Medway is covered by Regional Growth Fund support. There are various schemes that support companies of all sizes and at all stages of their development and which are looking to grow and create jobs,” he said.
“Sonic Concept is a prime example of a company whose start-up has been made possible by one of those schemes, launching in an area where investment and growth is helping transform the economic landscape.”
With six months of design and development work ahead before releasing its products to market, the company has a team of four, including Darren, with a fifth joining at the end of August and plans to expand to 20 over the next three years.
Jules Serkin.
Schlepping to Gatwick, Stansted or Heathrow for the summer holidays? Spare a thought for more local airports.
Thanet council has been appealing for expressions of interest in running Manston airport. The search is part of the local authority’s consideration as to whether the compulsory purchase of the airport would be a viable option.
We should know the level of interest soon enough following the Aug. 20 deadline. The final stage will involve meetings set to take place in mid-September, depending on the level of response.
Any acquisition of the site would rely on significant investment with a minimum twenty-year business plan.
What a pity such robust qualifications didn’t form part of the sale process last time around!
To add insult to injury, the local business community is also being asked to consider the Boris Island plan to devastate the Thames estuary with an airport on the Isle of Grain.
Sir Howard Davies – yes the one who was meant to be regulating banks five years before they blew up – is now chairing the Airports Commission. He’s considering the locations best placed to add much needed airport capacity for the South East and UK.
So far, he has taken forward proposals for expansion at both Gatwick and Heathrow for further consideration. He will be announcing next month whether a new hub airport on the Isle of Grain will also be included in his review.
The Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce hasn’t publicly supported any particular scheme for Sir Howard's review but is now considering the views of the business community.
Personally, I’m against building new airports when we have several that can be enlarged to cope with increased travel needs at a lower environmental and financial cost. For a start, there’s Southend Airport, which I used only last month. It was an absolute breeze to fly from there. A transport link, say from Ebbsfleet to Essex, would improve the connection even more.
Better still, Sir Howard should get together with Kent County Council to consider Manston.
Jules Serkin.
Tweet me @julesserkin, Tune in to my shows @SCOFFQUAFF food & drink show for Kent every Tuesday live 11-12 & 1pm @businessbunker on www.channelradio.co.uk
In the 1800s, Canterbury was the centre of the universe for public infrastructure, with the world’s first regular steam passenger train, the Crab & Winkle. So how is it that this great city has been cast aside in the battle for resources today?
Last weekend, I had to call an ambulance to the scene of an accident in Whitstable. At 9pm on a Saturday night there were none. It turned up an hour later. We then drove for another hour to Ashford. When we arrived, the hospital was bedlam with 30 ambulances bringing in patients in the space of about an hour. The medics were completely overrun. Despite a serious incident involving a head injury and concussion, we were made to sit in the waiting room six long hours to be seen, with no beds available or even a trolley to make the wait more comfortable. My concussed patient, (told not to move by the ambulance, was shuffled from scans to nurses etc all on his feet whilst bleeding from a head wound.)
But it’s not just the health service. Call the police and you’re through to an operator in Maidstone. It takes triple the time to explain an incident when the person you’re speaking to has no knowledge of the area, (Whitstable Alleyways !)
Our shops in Canterbury are fast disappearing, replaced with a multitude of cafés. Yet the council seems to feel no obligation to address this. One member told me: we must be doing something right as the cafes are all full. It isn’t the point. A city thrives on a variety of retail outlets.
I took the park-and-ride recently and was horrified at the jump in fares to £3, I visit Canterbury twice a week on average & my parking costs me approximately £14 a week, at £56 a month that's an expense I'll need to cut.
The population of Canterbury and the surrounding area isn’t getting any smaller. In fact, more housing is going up all the time along with the universities expanding, 3 private schools, 2 Grammars, Herne Bay High, & lots of primary schools and growing numbers of commuters.
So I’m wondering, who is fighting Canterbury’s corner? Anyone?
Jules Serkin
Tweet me @julesserkin listen to my radio shows live Tuesdays 11-12 @SCOFFQUAFF & 1pm @businessbunker on www.channelradio.co.uk @KentTweetups
Dates: Free Microsoft Word Training Talk F-Keys : August 28th 10am: @lenleys Roper Road Canterbury, free parking. Details: www.KentBusinessTweetup.co.uk
On last week's Business Bunker, as we sweltered in our studio in sunny Dymchurch, our guests Steve & Anny Lowe provided an inspiring story of a great Kent business starting up.
They met working for a textile company. Anny was in Bangladesh, Steve in the UK,
Steve as sales manager travelled out after four months of emailing on work business. Anny watched him trawling through the offices in Bangladesh saying to each lady worker, "Are you Anny?” until finally they met.
"We never saw each others' faces before, just emails,” said Anny. "You’re much younger than you seem on email, he told me!"
The couple have been together 10 years now and have 2 children,
Steve travelled around the world previously and had good connections,
The pair started Elsatex in Strood as a business five years ago, supplying the full range of budget hotel needs along with hospital bed sheets. They bought a small factory that was struggling in Bangladesh, importing 30% of their product from there.
Last year was a pinnacle moment. "We actually gave back the factory to our workers," says Steve. ``So all of our workers get the benefit and a share of all the profits."
The workers come from very humble beginnings.
“It was great to know we saved the factory from liquidation, and that we’re making a difference to those workers."
The company is now looking at competing with Turkish producers, traditionally a leader in textiles quality, and importing Egyptian cotton and then making the materials in the factory in Bangladesh. They're making higher percale cotton count and better quality towels.
"You’ll see most of our textiles in town centre shops in the UK," said Steve.
The company won the Medway Business award last November and was joint Kent winner of the HSBC Global Connections & KEIBA SME Business of the Year award.
“This company epitomizes the ability of a small business to compete globally," said Paul Andrews, my co-presenter. "A small operation with a relatively small number of staff probably 30 years ago would have found it almost impossible without a huge amount of money to back it. Nowadays with hard work it’s easier. It's about collaboration , it’s about partnerships and it's about empowering the people that work for you."
Jules Serkin
Do you know an inspiring story? Tweet me @julesserkin ; listen to my radio shows live Tuesdays 11-12 @SCOFFQUAFF &1pm @businessbunker on www.channelradio.co.uk
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