Barclays joins us in Entrepreneur Country - 18/12/2009

With the end of the year upon us, we'd like to say a big thanks to all of you who have emailed us with contributions, suggestions and feedback over the year - we hope to see many of you at our Entrepreneur Country forum in January. We'd also like to thank the partners who have joined us over the year. This is a group of leading businesses which share our committment to supporting entrepreneurship and business.

May we wish you a wonderful festive season and a prosperous new year!

In this fortnights issue:

• Barclays joins us in Entrepreneur Country
• Intamac and D-Link to unveil 'connected home' solutions
• The Independent leads the way with iome's Plotstar
• Entrepreneur - Simon Brickles, CEO of PLUS Markets
• Leveraging Social Networks For Your Business - Penny Power

You'll find interviews with many of the UK and Europe's leading entrepreneurs at www.entrepreneurcountry.net. Register while you're there and join the growing community.

Barclays joins us in Entrepreneur Country

In the lead up to the Entrepreneur Country - Politics Not As Usual event on 14 January, we are delighted to announce a new partnership with Barclays.

Barclays is committed to supporting businesses throughout the growth cycle, from start-ups through to large commercial operations. Barclays delivers a range of value-add services to its business customers which go beyond simple banking products, including free seminars, market and industry reports, business software and services and top quality advice from experienced practitioners.

Steve Cooper, Managing Director of Barclays Local Business said: "This is a pivotal time for entrepreneurs. They've shown immense resilience during the recession, and the most successful, I believe, have changed their business plan to reflect the new economic reality. Pressing challenges remain, and this event should give businesses the platform they need to bring those challenges to light."

Steve Cooper will be speaking on a panel at the January event - for more information and to register, go to our event website: http://entrepreneurcountry.eventbrite.com.

Intamac and D-Link to unveil 'connected home' solutions

The 'connected home' came a step closer last week with the announcement by web-based device management specialists Intamac that it has been collaborating with D-Link, a global leader in network devices, to develop new turnkey product and service solutions for telcos and utilities looking to deploy new offerings to consumers.

The companies are to unveil a range of new product solutions, including interactive devices for energy management, security, home automation, video surveillance and 'telecare', at CES, the huge consumer technology tradeshow in Las Vegas next month.

Commenting on the partnership, Intamac CEO Kevin Meagher said: “Between us, we offer service providers and utility companies low-cost, turnkey solutions that will enable them to quickly deploy a range of over-the-top services that complement their core offerings.”

“We believe we can give consumers the tools they need to be safe in the home and control the environment to reduce carbon emissions,” said AJ Wang, chief technology officer for D-Link. “Market research and trials have been very successful and we now have a portal and a range of new products that allow us to realise our vision of the connected digital home.”

Intamac is listed in the 2009 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and won Best New Innovation in the 2008 European Business Awards.

The Independent leads the way with iome's Plotstar

Ariadne Capital has helped put together a partnership between iome and Independent News & Media (INM) which saw INM launch the world’s first, white-labelled social event planning tool on The Independent’s website.

The free service is the first of its kind, providing the 10 million monthly visitors to The Independent’s website with a tool to discover what’s on around them, make savings through offers and interact with friends, all through a single location.

The newspaper took its new branded service to market in less than three weeks from inception of the project, at no cost to the business. As market conditions become increasingly challenging for traditional media, the service will see The Independent extend its reach to readers and generate new web and mobile revenues from purchases made through the portal (e.g. theatre tickets, restaurant bookings), advertising and sponsorship.

Ariadne Capital, in its capacity as advisor to iome, played a significant role in negotiating the deal. iome CEO Phil Eames said: "Ariadne identified The Independent as a target partner, made the introduction at decision making level and helped build the business case. They supported the discussions through follow up meetings and kept negotiations on track through to completion."

ENTREPRENEUR - Simon Brickles, PLUS Markets

Simon Brickles knows the markets. He was one of the brains behind the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and, in 2007, launched PLUS Markets, the junior stock exchange primarily for growing companies.

I say ‘primarily’ because those familiar with trading on PLUS will know there’s a number of large companies, including Arsenal Football Club and some of the UK’s largest breweries, trading on the platform. But as Brickles explains, the market’s real USP attracts smaller companies looking to raise finance and retail investors who want a simple and liquid method of investment.

“The first thing to say,” says Brickles, “is that PLUS is a full stock exchange, not merely a trading platform. But as we offer companies a more straightforward listing and our regulations, while strict and sound, are not as heavy handed as other exchanges we are a natural place for smaller, growing companies to be.

“We are, in fact, the natural choice for entrepreneurs and their investors.”

And if you were in possession of the preconception that PLUS is a small exchange you’d be wrong. With more than 200 companies currently listed PLUS has around £10bn of trades passing through it each month.

Read the interview...

Leveraging Social Networks For Your Business

This is an extract from Know Me, Like Me, Follow Me, a new book on the power of social networking, by Penny Power, founder of Ecademy

In April 2008 I wrote a blog called ‘Community, Intention and Tools – how to achieve leverage through software and people’.31 So far there have been more than 4,000 views of this blog and more than eighty people have kindly added their comments to it. The message I was giving is that there are three elements to being successful inside social networks:

1. The community – the people
2. The intention – the purpose
3. The tools – the software

So far in this book I have covered parts one and two – how to be part of a community and how to share your intention with others. Many people are afraid of using the web to build relationships and connect, this is because they see it as ‘technology’. It is not, it is about the people, and by now I am sure you will have begun to understand that.

Read more...