Kings of the Castle at Warwickshire & Coventry FSB awards

A great night out on Friday for Real Point, we recently entered the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Warwickshire & Coventry Awards in the staff training and development category, and Friday was the big revealing at Warwick castle.

The big question, who were going to be Kings and Queens of the castle?

Well, Real Point didn't quite make it as King, so does that makes us knights? We came runner up in our category. But it was great to see friends and clients also doing well in the awards, and a fantastic time was had by all. If you haven't entered any business awards, why not? It's a great chance to get some press coverage for your business, one of the business owners who I spoke to had already increased business from coverage in his local paper.

And in case you're wondering, Broad Lane Vets from Coventry, were crowned business of the year. For the winners in each category, visit the FSB website.

May 15, 2010 at 12:20 pm | General | No comment

FSB National Conference

It's been an interesting last couple of days at the FSB conference 2010 which I have been attending. We have had some high profile speakers including Peter Mandelson and Alex Salmond who made good use of the platform to put forward their parties agenda for the coming election, the big question is just how much do we trust them to deliver?

Several speakers said just how important small business is to the economic recovery with one Labour MP saying that one of the best ways to make a difference would be if each small business were just to employ just one new employee. Which seems just a tad out of line with their planned increase in employer's National Insurance, a tax on on employing people, hardly an incentive!

Oh and by the way said same MP said that Twitter was a wste if time!

March 20, 2010 at 12:28 pm | General | No comment

Inspiring and humbling – The Prince’s Trust Awards

I had the privilege today of presenting the Award for Enterprise at the West Midlands Prince's Trust Awards. The stories from the young people, the difficulties they have overcome and the new businesses and community initiatives they have created were humbling and inspiring.

Starting and running a business is never easy, but with the help of the Prince's Trust, many young people do just that. Last year the Prince's Trust helped 41,324 young people make a difference in their lives last year.

I presented the Federation of Small Business Enterprise Award to Claire and Kate who set up Teme Valley Care in May 2008. Teme Valley Care provides care services for the elderly and disabled in Worcestershire. There were also five other finalists, all who deserve recognition for success against the odds - Lissa Dobson - Mugz4U, Ben and Michael Dyer - Altogether Company, Barkhad Hassan - The Hub, Kwayera Simpson - City Headwear, Mehmet Zamur - Mehmet's Barbers.

The Prince's Trust are always looking for volunteers to mentor the young people on the programmes, so if you've got some spare time in your diary, why don't you see if you can make a difference?

November 24, 2009 at 9:56 pm | Business Thinking, General | No comment

Real Point on Sky News talking about 1.5% interest rate cut

As many of you will know by now, the Bank of England had made a 1.5% interest rate cut, which I hope will be great news for us all. This prompted Sky News to get in touch with me as a member of the Federation of Small Businesses to hear my opinions on how it will impact me as the owner of a small web design agency in the midlands and home owner with a mortgage.

You should be able to see the clip on sky news at 5pm tonight or watch online at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Sky-Live-TV

Now we just need to wait and see if the banks pass it on to both business owners and consumers to hopefully get some good news in the run up to Christmas, and if this does mean you can go out and spend a few extra pounds in the next couple of months then make sure you shop local!

November 6, 2008 at 1:20 pm | General | 1 comment

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