Six Months' Free Market Trading Space Up For Grabs

Budding North East entrepreneurs could win six months’ rent-free space in their local market as part of the annual Make Your Mark in the Markets competition.

Run by Enterprise UK, Make Your Mark in the Markets offers a low-risk opportunity to start or grow a business.

Now in its second year, the competition was set up to enable budding and fledgling entrepreneurs to turn their business ideas into reality. With difficult employment conditions, local markets provide the ideal opportunity to turn hobbies, passions and enterprising ideas into successful businesses at the heart of the community, with minimal start up costs.

80 markets from across the UK have already signed up and committed free space to the 2010 competition, including Darlington’s weekly general market as well as its food, craft, French, Continental and Italian markets. Entrants have until 22 March to submit their applications.

Last year, North East finalist Nichola Ridley from Gateshead set up her own business Emily Rose, which designs and sells retro inspired baby clothes and accessories.

Nichola won some free trading days at Newcastle’s Quayside market, which went down a storm with the local public and since then the business has gone from strength to strength.

Inspired to set up the business after the birth of her first daughter Emily, Nichola designs the baby clothes and tasks local university fashion students to make them by hand, which they do as part of their practical projects.

Nichola’s experience on the market was so successful that she is trading again this summer and is encouraging other people who have a business idea to enter the Make your Mark in the Markets competition.

She said: “The Make your Mark in the Markets competition allowed me to trial my business idea, which just started out as a hobby after having my daughter Emily Rose.

“I found myself looking for designer baby outfits on the internet and realised how expensive they were, so I took inspiration from the different styles I liked and started to draw some designs of my own, which local university students produce for me. I sell items such as changing bags, hats, bibs, vests, bloomers, blankets and pram accessories.

“As a young mother myself I understand the pressure to keep up with the latest trends. People that buy my products can be assured they are buying original hip and trendy designs at not so designer prices.

“I decided market trading was the best option for my products. My father had been a market trader since before I remember and I have always enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the market life.

“During my free trading days I was able to see how people would react to my range, and what the best sellers were, which has dictated the styles for this summer. The competition certainly gave me that extra push I needed to make a go of the business. I don’t think I would have actually set it up otherwise and would still be sitting here dreaming of it rather than doing it.”

Commenting on the competition Darlington Markets’ manager Peter Wilson said: “We’re calling on people from the North East with ideas, energy and drive to enter this exciting competition.

“Anyone with innovative fresh ideas that they feel will benefit the local market and attract customers should give it a go – you never know they could be the next Marks and Spencer which famously started as a market stall.”

The 2010 competition has grown to include two categories – the first for entrepreneurs who have been trading for less than six months and the other for those growing an existing, but still relatively young, business.

One shortlisted applicant per market will win up to 10 days’ free trading to prove that their product or service has what it takes to cut it in a real trading environment.

Judges will visit each stall to assess sales, customer feedback and presentation before choosing two national winners, who will receive the top prize of six months’ free trading, £1,000 towards stock, free National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) membership and a business starter pack that provides all the advice and guidance they will need to hit the ground running.

Enterprise UK director of North East region Pam Hargreaves said: “We encourage anyone that has ever considered starting their own retail business to enter the competition. Whether you’re fresh out of education and buzzing with business ideas, running a small business that you would like to grow or want to test a new concept, markets offer the ideal start -up environment.

“Lord Alan Sugar’s business empire and multimillion bag business Radley & Co, both started on market stalls. We hope Make your Mark in the Market will unearth the next generation of enterprising talent from right across the North East.”

Graham Wilson CEO, NABMA said: “The markets industry desperately needs to recruit new traders, and the Make Your Mark in the Markets initiative is an excellent way of raising the profile of markets, while attracting new entrepreneurs as market traders. Last year we launched a successful competition and we are hoping that this year we will attract even more applicants, and make the markets an attractive place to start new businesses.”

Make Your Mark in Markets is run by Enterprise UK in partnership with the National Market Traders Federation, the Retail Markets Alliance, Association of Town Centre Management and the National Association of British Market Authorities.

It is part of Make Your Mark in Business, a wider programme of proven initiatives by Enterprise UK to tip people into self employment.

Interested applicants should visit: http://www.enterpriseuk.org/markets to complete an application form. The deadline for entries is 22 March 2010

Soult Makes His Name In UK Retail Blogosphere

A Newcastle market researcher has been declared the number two retail blogger in the UK – being only narrowly beaten to the number one slot by leading industry magazine Retail Week.

Graham Soult, who is a senior research executive at specialist market research company Marketwise Strategies on the city’s Westgate Road, was named the 2nd best blogger on all-things retail by global media intelligence company Cision.

Cision’s list was compiled by “combining visitor, search and social metrics with in-house expertise” to “identify the most read, most discussed and most influential names in the UK retail blogosphere”.

His blog - Soult’s Retail View - is an analysis of the UK's retail industry and retail history, often with a North-East flavour.

Graham Soult, an Architecture graduate who also runs two web portals called the Home Interiors Directory and the Garden and Landscape Directory in his spare time, said: “I started the blog because I have always been fascinated by the way retail is such an important part of every town, city and community.

“I write the blog as a hobby but it certainly helps me in my daily work as a market researcher because there’s a retail element to quite a lot of the market research projects we do, such as launching new products and interviewing representatives of top retail companies.

“I only started the blog last July and have taught myself how to create websites, blog and Tweet. All those skills have proved really useful as Marketwise Strategies builds its own online presence, and also help me to better understand the needs of our clients in the digital sector.”

Marketwise Strategies is currently revamping its website, to put in place more sophisticated online communications to maximise its web presence.

Marketwise Strategies managing director Jacquie Potts said: “We’re absolutely thrilled that Graham’s blog has been recognised and I firmly believe that encouraging your staff to be creative outside of work helps them to be creative inside work.

“Graham has shown entrepreneurial flair by launching his own websites and brings fantastic retail, online marketing and web knowledge to the business. I just hope with all his success that he doesn’t become a millionaire too soon!”

North East IT Experts Help National Park Make Dramatic Energy Savings

Management at the Lake District National Park – England’s largest National Park - have turned to a North East IT specialist for help in boosting efficiency and reducing their environmental impact by the equivalent of planting 600 trees.

Experts from Gateshead-based ITPS have spent several months helping LDNP’s ICT Service to implement virtualisation technology, consolidating the power of what was formerly 30 computer servers into just six machines.

With their help, LDNP has become the first within the 14-strong National Parks network to have fully virtualised its server estate.

Virtualisation technology allows the work of several servers to be carried out by one. The result is a better return on IT investment, stronger business continuity, a lower carbon footprint and cheaper running costs – typically by up to at least a third.

ITPS appointed a dedicated project manager to handle the contract, which comes following a long-standing partnership between the two organisations. ITPS manages LDNP’s maintenance and support requirements and is also regularly called in to assist with other consultancy and implementation projects.

Martin Lord, LDNP’s Head of ICT, said: “We protect and preserve some of the most spectacular landscapes in the UK, so lowering our carbon footprint across all areas of the organisation is very important to us.

“This work is incredibly beneficial and is the equivalent of taking 45 cars off the road. Virtualisation has also boosted the overall efficiency of our ICT infrastructure, improving performance and reliability, and reducing operational risk and energy consumption.

“We now have a more robust technology framework with less potential points of failure, and we have been able to cut energy bills as well as the amount of administration time and effort needed.

“Our in-house ICT Service had started to investigate the potential of virtualisation, but calling in the specialists from ITPS has allowed us to speed up the process and with their help, future-proof our ICT platform at the same time.

“Fully virtualising our server estate will help us to better protect our organisation and cut costs, and this is the latest in a long line of successful projects where the help of ITPS has been invaluable to us.”

ITPS consultant Ralph Flemming added: “The majority of the average IT budget is spent on admin, maintenance and support, and virtualisation is fast becoming the smart way to make sure a business gets maximum benefit from its IT budget.

“One of the key benefits is improved business continuity. Many public sector clients now demand proof of business continuity plans when putting projects out to tender, and this factor will become an increasingly crucial, ‘must have’ element in all types and sizes of organisations.”

This is the latest in a chain of contract wins for ITPS, which aims to capture a large slice of the lucrative virtualisation market, as a growing number of organisations look to technology to help them strengthen business continuity and cut costs.

Press Ahead adds to its marketing mix

An award winning Sunderland agency has added to its marketing mix, with two new staff appointments. Press Ahead, a PR and marketing agency – which was named Small Business of the Year at the 2009 Sunderland Echo Portfolio Business Awards – has furthered its growth with the recruitment of two new team members.

James Ealey joined the team this month as a senior account manager. James was previously senior marketing manager at Ward Hadaway Solicitiors, where his responsibilities included business planning, budget management, brand management, event organisation, e-marketing and business development, alongside managing the marketing elements for the opening of the firm’s new office in Leeds. Prior to that, James held a senior marketing position at Trinity Mirror North East.

James’ appointment follows that of PR assistant, Mégan Waggott, who graduated from the University of Sunderland in 2009, after studying a three year BA Hons degree in Journalism. Her course covered newspaper and magazine writing, multimedia, media ethics and law. She gained experience working at the Hartlepool Mail during her time at university.

The new recruits are the latest additions to Press Ahead’s growing team, which has doubled in number in the last 18 months. The company’s client portfolio has quickly grown in that time, with Press Ahead having most recently been appointed to manage the public relations for Sunderland Software City, a project established to encourage the growth of the software industry in the region.

In addition, Press Ahead continues to play a role in the bid to bring World Cup football to Sunderland in 2018, as well as working alongside major regional organisations in projects to drive business success and regeneration in the region. And Press Ahead is demonstrating its commitment to this by sponsoring the Durham & Wearside Company of the Year Award of the Journal and Evening Gazette North East Business Awards.

Press Ahead managing director Russell Borthwick said: “I am delighted to have James and Mégan on board. “We work hard to attract the very highest calibre individuals to Press Ahead and these two appointments have further strengthened an already fantastic team; bringing further expertise to the business.”

Spark Response Expands Service Portfolio With New Storage Solutions

Gateshead-based contact centre and fulfilment specialist Spark Response is offering a new storage service to local businesses as part of its service portfolio expansion.

Spark has undergone a major business turnaround in the last three years, restructuring its sales and marketing approach to become a recognised and respected name in eCommerce fulfilment and contact centre services.

“Our business is growing,” said managing director, Peter Slee. “This means that we often have spare storage capacity, depending on the seasonal nature of our clients’ business.

"We believe there is a gap in the market for storage facilities for companies who are starting to outgrow their current space and are looking to outsource to a partner with the potential to become more than just a storage provider. Or it may well be that they simply have a slow-moving product they would like to put into deep storage at an external site and concentrate on their revenue generators. We are aiming to fill that gap.

"Our experience extends way beyond storage and warehousing and that’s our differentiator.” Following a string of high profile contract wins and renewals over the last few months, including Cancer Research UK, One NorthEast, Fitflop, Toys R Us, E.ON and Red Direct, Spark is seeking to grow its business within the north east region.

“We’re a proud north east business and believe in forming and developing local partnerships,” said Mr Slee. “We’re the chosen contact centre and fulfilment partner for One North East’s North East England tourism campaign, and we are about to go live with a major local eCommerce retailer.

"We also partner Knowledge IT and Port of Tyne, both of whom have been instrumental in helping develop our service offering over the past two years. We have dedicated a lot of time and resource into continually improving our technology, quality, efficiency and security. Follingsby Park is just off the A1 and A19 and has 24 hour security coverage.”

Mr Slee believes there are businesses within the region that have grown to the point where they need the services of a contact centre or fulfilment point. “Those are the companies we are aiming at this year,” he said, “and our new storage offering is just one way of achieving that.”