News

The £10,000 Business Growth Idea Competition is now open for entries. Philanthropist and business expert Lawrence Tomlinson is donating his £10,000 Government salary to encourage entrepreneurs who have enterprising ideas to boost economic growth in the UK.

Entrants are encouraged to share their innovative ideas, big or small, on the practical steps the Government could take to generate growth.

The winner will be awarded a cash prize of £10,000, and will receive mentoring from Lawrence Tomlinson, who will then bring the idea to the attention of Government Business Secretary Vince Cable.

Entrepreneurs with ideas for business growth - whether in pre-start or starting up phase, or running an existing business - may submit an entry.

The competition will run until the end of the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Week UK campaign, which takes place 18-24 November 2013, and the winner will be announce on 22nd November.

For more information on the competition, click here.

The government is launching a consultation on two tax reliefs set to be introduced to encourage, promote and support indirect employee ownership structures.

The first, a capital gains tax relief, would apply when the controlling share of a business is sold into an indirect employee ownership structure. The second is an income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs) exemption, allowing indirectly employee owned companies to pay employees a certain amount per annum, free of income tax and NICs.

Following the Nuttall Review of Employee Ownership in 2012, which highlighted the benefits of employee-owned companies can provide to the economy, the government announced in the 2013 Budget that £50 million will be provided annually from 2014-15 to support employee ownership models.

This stage of the consultation will run until 26 September 2013.

To find out more, click here.

The Angel CoFund, a fund bringing together businesses and entrepreneurs along with government and private sector investment, has been extended across the UK.

The fund has invested over £10 million since its launch, alongside a further £40 million from business angels and other investors, helping UK companies grow. It has now been increased to £100 million to meet demand for investment from both high potential businesses and co-investors

The fund invests between £100,000 to £1 million into SMEs with high growth potential, working in partnership with syndicates of experienced business angels to help companies fulfil their promise

For more information on the fund, and investment criteria, click here.

A consultation on social investment tax relief has been launched, along with an announcement that Big Society Capital and the Big Lottery Fund will provide £250m over the next decade to help communities take over local assets.

Speaking at the G8 Social Impact Investing Conference, David Cameron said Big Society Capital and the Big Lottery Fund are currently developing a £50m Community Assets Fund.

For more information, click here.

Crowdfunding is becoming increasingly popular as a source of funding for enterprises, as an innovative way of raising finance, testing the market and building a strong customer base.

Anne Strachan from CrowdfundUK is holding a free crowdfunding workshop at the University of Northampton to help you get to know crowdfunding and how it can benefit your enterprise.

The workshop will be taking place between 2pm - 4pm on Tuesday 15th October at Newton Hall, Avenue Campus, University of Northampton.

To book your place, call Sharon Irwin on 01604 892626 or email [email protected]

Santander’s 2013 Social Enterprise Development Awards (SEDA) will open for entries on Monday 3rd June, with an increased number of awards available.

The Awards give social enterprises the funding and support they need to grow and increase their social impact, with awards of £50,000, £20,000 and £10,000 available to organisations working to improve social inclusion, support employment or create a greener environment.

The £2.3 million prize fund will be split across eight regions - London & South East, South, West, Midlands, North West, North East, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland - with seven awards of £10,000, eight awards of £20,000 and one award of £50,000 per region.

Along with funding, the successful social enterprises will receive a business support package including fully-funded internships, business webinars, consultancy days and network opportunities. Santander’s assessment tool will also allow them to measure how the award has helped them increase their contribution to the local community.

Deadline for applications is 1st July, with winners announced in September. For more information, and to apply, click here.

A £3 million fund providing cash grants to businesses in Suffolk has launched.

Grants of between £25,000 and £100,000 are available for companies looking to expand their operations and create jobs. The grant will cover 20% of costs needed to expand, and businesses must create one new job per £10,000 of grant funding.

Applications can only be accepted by Small to Medium Enterprises, who must be a sole trader, partnership, limited company or not for profit business.

For more information on the fund, and to register your interest, click here.

The Guardian Public Services Awards 2013 have been launched and are open for entries.

Now in their tenth year, the awards recognise innovation and best practice across all public services, whether from central government, local authorities, the voluntary sector, social enterprise or the private sector.

Categories include grassroots excellence, financial excellence and leadership excellence.

The awards are open to private, voluntary and community bodies as well as public sector organisations working within public services in the UK.

Entries close on 12th July. For more information, and to apply, click here.

Evolve 2013, a new annual event for the voluntary sector is taking place in London on Monday 17^th June.

Organised in partnership by the NCVO and Volunteering England, the event will be the largest conference of its kind and is designed to share knowledge and learn from the sector’s collective experience.

The event will feature debates and discussions and tailored workshops along with the Evolve Marketplace - 50 exhibition stands providing advice, support and expertise to organisations.

To find out more about the event and to book, click here.

Managed by Young Chamber Ltd (YCUK) on behalf of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Awards honour and celebrate the best public and private sector work that promotes business development in communities across the UK.

There are four categories in this year’s awards; the most enterprising place in the UK, the organisation that best promotes enterprise, the organisation most successful in encouraging businesses to export, and the school or FE college that is best at supporting enterprise ambition in young people.

For more information on the awards, click here.