SME manufacturers may be able to claim Manufacturing Advisory Service funding of up to £10,000 towards implementing strategic change
Under the scheme, SME manufactures can claim funding up to £10,000 (or 50% maximum) towards approved projects carried out with the help of E-MK advisers. Business strategy specialist E-MK was one of the first to be registered as an approved MAS delivery partner.
E-MK’s advisers have extensive experience and expertise in starting, growing, funding and exiting successful manufacturing businesses.
The new funding is for suitable projects that fall under the MAS Level 4 Transformation Service for a strategic change...
Nothing new under the sun!
I have lost count of the number of business people I have met whose eye’s gloss over when I have asked them about their business plans. Unfortunately, many business owners think that planning is a waste of time, when it’s actually just good common sense.
I came across the following, in a book I have been reading, that illustrates why planning is as important now as its always been.
“No wonder, said an Ancient that chance has so much power over us, since it is by chance that we live. Anyone who has not groomed...
An unbeatable offer for your growing business
Would your business benefit from some independent thinking?
An e-mk Advisory Board could be the answer.
No business is too small to benefit from having an advisory board. It is such a powerful management tool – can you afford to be without one?
The e-mk Advisory Board Programme offers a refreshingly different and increasingly effective alternative to hiring “consultants” and “business coaches”. The Programme provides you with affordable access to an independent and impartial team of experienced...
Views wanted on tax simplification ideas for small business
Small businesses and advisers are being invited to give their views on tax simplification ideas put forward for discussion today by the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS).
In the latest development in the ongoing review of small business taxation, the OTS has set out a number of options in two consultation papers, focusing on disincorporation for small companies, and a simpler income tax for the smallest businesses.
The consultations, which run until 7 October 2011, set out a number of options from clerical changes...
Business Link’s new helpline going live in November…
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has appointed Indian-owned call centre provider Careline Services, in partnership with the Business and Enterprise Group, to provide its new Business Link helpline. The service is due to go live on 25th November 2011, the day the Business Link Regional Services close.
The telephone helpline is an important part of the Government’s new framework of support for businesses. In conjunction with the Businesslink.gov.uk website, the helpline will support small businesses...
Are you looking for an investor? Do you know what investors are looking for in you?
Equity finance is a way of raising capital from external investors in return for a share of your business. Raising capital can be a time-consuming process and will require you to disclose a lot about your business, you and your management team. A key aspect is making sure you have suitable professional advisers working on your behalf.
The first step in preparing to raise any type of capital is the production of a detailed business plan that includes a detailed marketing plan and realistic financial projections. Investors...
Would your business benefit from some independent thinking?
Unsurprisingly, given the recommendations of the UK Corporate Governance Code, the use of non-executive directors is widespread in public companies. Their role is to provide some independent input to the leadership of the organisation including acting as a sounding board for the executives and offering a critical assessment of the effectiveness of the management of the organisation. So important are these activities that having too few non-executives or independent directors is often viewed as a sign of poor...
The Bribery Act 2010 and your business
From the 1st July 2011 the Bribery Act 2010 comes into law. The Act is concerned with bribery. Very generally, this is defined as giving someone a financial or other advantage to encourage that person to perform their functions or activities improperly or to reward that person for having already done so. So this could cover seeking to influence a decision-maker by giving some kind of extra benefit to that decision maker rather than by what can legitimately be offered as part of a tender process.
The Act will have most...
New funding scheme will support innovative small companies
A new scheme will offer funding to small companies to enable them to research and develop new products, processes and services that could stimulate economic growth.
Managed by the Technology Strategy Board, the Grant for Research and Development scheme, which comes into effect from 4 April 2011, will support small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) across the UK that want to carry out research and development generating new and innovative products and services. The new scheme supersedes the Grant for R&D scheme...
Have you thought about selling your business?
People starting a business are encouraged to prepare a business plan, in part to show themselves and other parties that what they want to do makes sense and will make a profit. Few owners think about selling the business at this time, yet the goal over the long term is to make a return on the financial and emotional investment made when starting the business and over the years ahead. So, why not consider from the start how that return will come about.
Few people get to sell more than one business and if they get it...