PRIME business club

Date: Wednesday 28th January 2009

Time: 1:45pm - 5:00pm

Venue: The Circle, 3 Rockingham Lane, Sheffield, S1 4WF

Status: PRIME event

PRIME is running a free workshop for anyone who is over 50 and thinking about becoming self-employed or starting a business in Sheffield.

Find out if self-employment is right for you. The workshop will help you identify skills you have, explore business ideas and produce an action plan to take those ideas forward.

To book your FREE place call PRIME on 0800 783 1904 or email prime@ace.org.uk

Date: Wednesday 14th January 2009

Time: 1:45pm - 5:00pm

Venue: The Circle, 3 Rockingham Lane, Sheffield, S1 4WF

Status: PRIME event

PRIME is running a free workshop for anyone who is over 50 and thinking about becoming self-employed or starting a business in Sheffield.

Find out if self-employment is right for you. The workshop will help you identify skills you have, explore business ideas and produce an action plan to take those ideas forward.

To book your FREE place call PRIME on 0800 783 1904 or email prime@ace.org.uk

Date: Tuesday 9th December 2008

Time: 9:45am - 12:45pm

Venue: The Circle, 3 Rockingham Lane, Sheffield, S1 4WF

Status: PRIME event

PRIME is running a free workshop for anyone who is over 50 and thinking about becoming self-employed or starting a business in Sheffield.

Find out if self-employment is right for you. The workshop will help you identify skills you have, explore business ideas and produce an action plan to take those ideas forward.

To book your FREE place call PRIME on 0800 783 1904 or email prime@ace.org.uk

We are currently actively seeking more volunteer business mentors for the Black Country in the Midlands and Doncaster and Sheffield in Yorkshire. And we expect to be recruiting more mentors elsewhere at the beginning of 2009.

PRIME mentors assist people in the early stages of starting a new business. The emphasis is on being a sounding board and talking through and clarifying options rather than giving business advice.

On our existing schemes (the Black Country, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland) mentors have all been experienced business people giving a few hours a month of their time on a voluntary basis. All mentors receive some training on the counselling approach we use, and work with a PRIME mentor co-ordinator.

In the New Year we expect to start more mentoring schemes in England, but are not yet sure of the exact locations. But if you are interested please drop us a line at prime@ace.org.uk

Date: Tuesday 2nd December 2008

Time: 9:00am - 13:00pm

Venue: The Pointe, Darts (Doncaster Community Arts), 16 South Parade, Doncaster DN1 2DR

Status: PRIME event

For more information about starting your own business come along to our free workshop session for beginners

To book your free place, please call 0800 783 1904

Map

It’s easy to be cynical about the constant stream of awards we are all treated to in the media. But where they work best is at the regional level. The PR they generate is of some use to smaller businesses, who often serve a local rather than national market. And the chances of winning or getting shortlisted is greater.

A case in point is the NW Women in Business Awards 2009, which is the only business award in the region to focus exclusively on women (regardless of age).

For more information on how to enter and to download an entry form you can visit www.nwda.co.uk/women. The deadline for nominations is soon - the 30th November 2008.

The winners of the awards will be announced at an Awards Dinner to be held at the Park Royal Hotel in January 2009. This will also provide an opportunity to network with business women from across the region and also meet representatives from the Northwest’s key business support providers and women’s business networks.

When Enterprise Week was first invented a few years back PRIME was vociferous in pointing out that enterprise was not just for the young. Finally our lobbying paid off. In March 2008 “Enterprise: unlocking the UK’s talent“, the government’s new strategy on enterprise appeared. In it there was a small paragraph with major ramifications:

“Given the ageing population and the lower aspirations around enterprise amongst older age groups, it is important for the UK’s future growth prospects to encourage more people over 50 to become enterprising. The Government will work with Enterprise Insight, PRIME and SEEDA to develop and a campaign to encourage older people to realise the benefits of unlocking their talent and exploiting their skills and knowledge to be active in enterprise”.

So this year a number of special events designed for the over 50s will feature during Enterprise Week. Some of these are highlighted on www.primebusinessclub.com under “Up-coming events”.

Enterprise Insight has commissioned research on the thorny question of marketing enterprise to the over 50s. You might think that marketeers would have cracked this long ago - but they were too busy concentrating on the youth market!

It has been a very small start, but it is a beginning. There is a slow dawning of realisation that soon there will be more people over fifty than under fifty. The number of young people is dropping fast. Ignoring the needs of those aged over fifty is becoming a nonsense.

Why?

Well first of all nearly one person in three aged between fifty and state pension age is workless. These are people who have one-third of their lives in front of them. They need to finance this.

If we are to have a robust and competitive economy, we need a thriving start-up market. Given that the number of younger people is falling (and the under 30s start-up market was never that strong anyway), we need to invest in people with skills and experience if we are, as a country, to remain competitive in the global economy.

The sad thing is that too many people just have not got it yet.

Let us make sure that this year Enterprise Week is also Breakthrough Week for olderpreneurs.

Date: Thursday 20th November 2008

Time: 13:00pm - 4:00pm

Venue: DNCC Commerce Centre, Canal Wharf, Chesterfield, S41 7NF

Status: PRIME event

If you’re looking for a change in your working life, or maybe to get back into work, PRIME is running a free drop-in event in partnership with Derbyshire Enterprise Agency at the Chamber of Commerce in Chesterfield next Thursday 20^th November.

The afternoon event, entitled ‘Curious about self employment?’ is open from 1.00 to 4.0pm, and has been organised to coincide with the national Enterprise Week campaign.  This is an ideal opportunity for anyone who has an interest in self-employment, but has yet to take the first steps, as you will be able to meet a variety of local agencies who can help with different aspects of setting up a business for the first time.

Anyone who is interested in attending should call Derbyshire Enterprise Agency on:01246 212902 or email caroline.colley@dncc.co.uk

Programme:

1.00 - 1.15 Registration and Refreshments
1.15 - 1.20 Introductions
1.20 - 1.50 Business Link - Vaughan Roberts
(including start up offer, workshops and mentoring)
1.50 - 2.10 PRIME - Nicola Tomlinson-Murphy
2.10 - 2.25 Case Study - Pending confirmation
2.25 - 2.40 Tea and Coffee Break
2.40 - 2.55 HMRC - Susan Brierley
2.55 - 3.10 Business Link eBusiness Programme -Diane Simpson
3.10 - 3.25 Chesterfield College - Helen Parsons
3.25 - 3.55 Questions and Answers
3.55 - 4.00 Evaluation Feedback and Close

STOP PRESS: APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED
PRIME has obtained corporate sponsorship for four new training and mentoring posts in the North and South of England.

The training posts are full time, while the mentoring co-ordinator positions are part time (17.5 hours a week). All the jobs will involve travel, but can be based anywhere feasible in the North or South of England.

Training Officers

To develop, organise and deliver a range of training products, such as workshops for PRIME clients and course materials. You will also help market them to potential beneficiaries and sponsors. Successful applicants are likely to have considerable experience of delivering business information and training.

There are two full-time positions, one for the North and the other the South of of England. The jobs will be home-based (for which an allowance is payable), or it may be possible to arrange a desk in a local PRIME partner organisation. Frequent travel will be required.

Job description and person spec for Training Officer

Application form for Training Officer

Closing date

Friday 5th December 2008.
Interviews: To be held on Monday the 15th of December.

Mentoring Co-ordinators

To develop a volunteer mentoring service, which we hope to extend eventually to all PRIME clients.

We are looking for two people, part-time, one based in the North and one based in the South. The job will involve recruiting, training and co-ordinating volunteer mentors for PRIME clients, initially in their early pre-enterprise phase. The successful applicants will ideally have some experience in mentoring in the context of disadvantage and self-employment.

Job description and person spec for Mentor Co-ordinator

Application form for Mentor Co-ordinator

Closing date

Friday 5th December 2008.
Interviews: To be held on Wednesday 17th December 2008.

Application requests can be sent to prime@ace.org.uk or call 020 8765 7833. Or you can download the application form and background documents from the links above.

Please note that only applications on our application forms will be accepted.

STOP PRESS: APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED.
PRIME has obtained corporate sponsorship for four new training and mentoring posts in the North and South of England.

The training posts are full time, while the mentoring co-ordinator positions are part time (17.5 hours a week).  All the jobs will involve travel, but can be based anywhere feasible in the North or South of England.

Training Officers

To develop, organise and deliver a range of training products, such as workshops for PRIME clients and course materials. You will also help market them to potential beneficiaries and sponsors. Successful applicants are likely to have considerable experience of delivering business information and training.

There are two full-time positions, one for the North and the other the South of of England. The jobs will be home-based (for which an allowance is payable), or it may be possible to arrange a desk in a local PRIME partner organisation. Frequent travel will be required.

Job description and person spec for Training Officer

Application form for Training Officer

Closing date

Friday 5th December 2008.
Interviews: To be held on Monday the 15th of December.

Mentoring Co-ordinators

To develop a volunteer mentoring service, which we hope to extend eventually to all PRIME clients.

We are looking for two people, part-time, one based in the North and one based in the South. The job will involve recruiting, training and co-ordinating volunteer mentors for PRIME clients, initially in their early pre-enterprise phase. The successful applicants will ideally have some experience in mentoring in the context of disadvantage and self-employment.

Job description and person spec for Mentor Co-ordinator

Application form for Mentor Co-ordinator

Closing date

Friday 5th December 2008.
Interviews: To be held on Wednesday 17th December 2008.

Application requests can be sent to prime@ace.org.uk or call 020 8765 7833. Or you can download the application form and background documents from the links above.

Please note that only applications on our application forms will be accepted.

Date: Tuesday 20th November 2008

Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm

Venue: The Honey Pot, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Square, Bromyard

Status: PRIME recommended event

 

Social enterprise and co-op awareness day. Drop in any time. All welcome.

Contact Clare Foster at claref@midwest-rural.org.uk  

Date: Friday 21st November 2008

Time: 11:30am - 2:00pm

Venue: The International Business Centre, Delta Crescent, Westbrook, Warrington, WA5 7WQ

Status: PRIME recommended event

 

Opportunity to meet and talk with local advisers who can help you start and grow your business. Please let the organisers know if you are attending, so that they know how much food to prepare.

Please contact Cheshire and Warrington Business Venture on 01925 715 175 or stella.libertini@wbv.org.uk  

UPDATE:Missed the programme? Watch on BBC iPlayer.

“Charles At 60: the Passionate Prince” transmits at 8.30pm on BBC One on the 12th of November. The BBC has had unprecedented access over the course of a year to observe the Prince at work in the UK and abroad, at home at Clarence House in London, at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Birkhall in Aberdeenshire.

“This important documentary sheds new light on the Prince of Wales”, says Nick Vaughan-Barratt, its Executive Producer. “It shows the Prince using his substantial influence to further a wide variety of causes – some of them unfashionable, some controversial – and it provides a rare opportunity to hear him speaking directly, not just about what he does but why he is so passionate about the many causes he espouses.”

More about the programme at the BBC web site

Full list of Prince’s charities and social enterprises

Note: PRIME (the Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise) was born around ten years ago, as a direct result of the approach of the Prince’s 50th birthday. He realised that for most people getting a job gets increasingly difficult with age. His post bag was full of letters from people desperate to work but unable to find anyone to employ them - because they were “too old”. PRIME is one of the 18 charities the Prince has personally founded.

Prince Charles has also founded six social enterprises. Their trading activities help fund the charities. The best known is the highly successful organic brand Duchy Originals, the most recent The Highgrove Shop.

The Prince of Wales is 60 on the 14th of November 2008. PRIME itself was born around ten years ago, as a direct result of the approach of the Prince’s 50th birthday. He realised that for most people getting a job gets increasingly difficult with age. His post bag was full of letters from people desperate to work but unable to find anyone to employ them - because they were “too old”. PRIME and its sister charity in Wales PRIME-Cymru were the result - two of the 18 charities the Prince has personally founded.

The two PRIMEs help people over the age of 50 get round the problem of finding someone to employ them by setting up in business for themselves - self-employment as a means of getting back into the fray and earning a livelihood.

In addition to his charities, Prince Charles has also founded six social enterprises whose trading activities help fund them. The best known is the highly successful organic brand Duchy Originals, the most recent The Highgrove Shop. These activities are substantial - the charities alone raise over £100 million a year from all sources.

It would tempting to apply an American term like “social entrepreneur” to the Prince. But this would fail to do justice to the real roots of his commitment. This side of the Prince’s life gets well-deserved attention in an hour-and-a-half long BBC documentary two day’s before his 60th birthday.

“Charles At 60: the Passionate Prince” transmits at 8.30pm on BBC One on the 12th of November. The BBC has had unprecedented access over the course of a year to observe the Prince at work in the UK and abroad, at home at Clarence House in London, at Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Birkhall in Aberdeenshire.

“This important documentary sheds new light on the Prince of Wales”, says Nick Vaughan-Barratt, its Executive Producer. “It shows the Prince using his substantial influence to further a wide variety of causes – some of them unfashionable, some controversial – and it provides a rare opportunity to hear him speaking directly, not just about what he does but why he is so passionate about the many causes he espouses.”

UPDATE: Missed the programme?
Watch on BBC iPlayer.

More about the programme at the BBC web site

Full list of Prince’s charities and social enterprises

Date: Tuesday 18th November 2008

Time: 4:00pm - 7:00pm

Venue: Hyndburn, Globe Centre, St.James Square, Accrington, Lancashire, BB5 0RE

Status: PRIME recommended event

Advice on business for the over 50s. Drop-in format, Q & A for potential start ups, existing start ups on panel plus partners to answer questions.

Please contact Aileen Evans at centa@fsmail.net