Open invite to first techmesh event

We are holding our first event in the new year on Wednesday 27, January - if you work in the Yorkshire and Humber digital, IT and telecommunications sector you're more than welcome to attend.
Backed by Yorkshire Forward, techmesh is a new business network for the region’s fast-growing digital sector - the largest outside of London
The first techmesh event will take place on Wednesday 27, January 2010 at The Loft, Cross York Street, Leeds at 6.00pm and is free to attend for those operating in the regions IT and telecommunications sectors.
Guest speaker on the evening will include Lee Strafford, Executive Chairman of theNetStartup and founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Sheffield-based internet service provider which was sold to British Telecom in 2007 Mr Strafford is also Chairman of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.
He is joined by Conrad Poulson, Head of Startup Business Development of Orange, which has several divisions in Yorkshire developing mobile software.
This will be techmesh’s first formal event and provides an ideal opportunity to introduce the regions digital professionals to a new and vibrant business network.
It is also a great opportunity for guests to network with other delegates and swop business ideas. Both our speakers are very accomplished and have witnessed how start ups can quickly grow to become major companies and employers.
If you're planning to come along remember to register here.

Meet the techmesh team

Meet the techmesh team. From left to right there is Edward Lamb, Sales Executive; Dawn Kelly - Events Coordinator; Nick Butler, Chief Executive Officer; Gary Rowbotham - TechMesh Programme Manager and Danielle Ward, Marketing Executive

techmesh gets backing from Yorkshire Forward

This is our first official post on the techmesh teams' blog and will, hopefully, be the first of many now that Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, has awarded the contract to Connect Yorkshire to create and run a new business network for the region’s IT and Telecommunications sector.
Yorkshire & Humber has the fastest-growing digital sector in the UK outside of London, and is recognised as a leading centre of excellence in the digital and new media industries. With IT and Telecommunications set to make a major contribution to the Yorkshire and Humber economy techmesh will provide a business network for companies, organisations and individuals working in these sectors to meet, exchange information and share best practice.
As a business collaboration network techmesh will act as an umbrella organisation, bringing together existing networks in the region and will signpost businesses to other sources of funding information, market intelligence, emerging technologies and research and development opportunities.
Watch this space for announcments on forthcoming events, get togethers, seminars or a few drinks out of an evening. techmesh will very much be owned and directed by the membership so do get in touch and let us know what you think or leave a comment here.

Pitch Perfect

Our Winter Investment Forum is fast approaching and we are now seeking applicants to present and exhibit. A fundamental part of the process leading up to the event, is that we provide 'pitch' mentoring to help companies hone their idea into something non-specialists in their field can understand.

We often find that young ambitious companies have the ability to talk about their proposition and the technical aspects, but often lack the ability to discuss this in layman's terms as this is what these companies do day in day out. However when it comes to raising investment it's crucial.

This is also an invaluable opportunity for presenters to get feedback, share good practice and see the other side of presenting an understandable pitch. Often it is not until you have tried to explain what is so sparkling about a proposition that you realise it isn't polished enough!These Company Assessment Groups (CAGs) are made up of the mentors that are assigned to each company that are drawn from our sponsors. The companies get high-quality feedback from people who have heard it all before. So when they present at the Forum, they have the best possible chance of winning over investors and raising the finance they need to take their business to the next level.

This mentoring and support is a key part of the Connect model.

We are also offering exhibition space at the event to companies who do not wish to make a presentation on this occasion but who wish to raise finance in the next 6-12 months.

If you are interested in getting your business plan more polished or pitch perfect, do get in touch...

Aspire to Inspire in Leeds and Sheffield

Elizabeth Jackson, Chief Executive of Directorbank, the UK’s leading private equity recruitment specialist will be inspiring young leaders and business people from Leeds and beyond at the Aspire to Inspire event on 30th September.

Guests who attend this event will also hear from other inspiring speakers including representatives from The Aspire Fund, Forward Ladies and SYIF.

We are working in partnership with The Aspire Fund Manager, Capital for Enterprise Ltd, and Forward Ladies to promote the fund amongst female entrepreneurs in the region.

The Aspire Fund was established with the objective of increasing the number of successful women- led businesses in the UK. The Fund is able to make equity investments of between £100k and £1m, on a co-investment basis, in order to strengthen business and underpin growth.

A key element of the fund is to seek to improve the linkage between those providing funding and those providing investment readiness support; which is where we fit in.

We are honoured to be working with so many proactive and successful businesswomen. We hope that many women-led businesses will join us at the event and hear about how Elizabeth built a successful business, leading to a secondary buy-out of Directorbank.

This event is kindly being hosted by DLA Piper. We do hope that you will be able to join us and if not then we are also running a similar event in Sheffield on the 5th October. To reserve your place visit: www.forwardladies.com/networking-events

South Yorkshire adds chicken tikka to its pudding

The Asian Business Director's Network (ABDN), with the help of Connect Yorkshire launched its South Yorkshire operation in Sheffield. It was a well supported event and it was really good to meet and talk with many businesses from the Sheffield community.

The event, held at Aroma restaurant aimed to give Asian-led companies access to the mainstream business community. Lynn Harrison, Business Link partnership manager, discussed the Train to Gain proposition; and Insider’s editor Richard Stirling informed that he wants to receive more business news from within the Sheffield community and I, all spoke at the event.

Arshad the chairman of ABDN, made a fantastic speech that was inspiring, he described ABDN as being, “a bit like chicken tikka masala, served with Yorkshire pud.”

He also added; “The ethos of the ABDN is to break through the barriers. We want BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) businesses to break out of dealing with their own communities because that is where the business is, that is where the need is.”

We are looking forward to working with members of ABDN who are looking to raise investment to help grow their business.

We do hope that Connect is not perceived to be Leeds centric; and to reiterate - we are not! This years plan is to hold a total of seven events in Sheffield this Autumn; starting from the 5th October. Don’t miss your opportunity to join us; further details will be displayed on our events page shortly.

Race to the Pole

A documentary on the BBC2; ‘On Thin Ice’ got me thinking……

After almost two weeks of intensive Polar Training in Antarctica; James Cracknell, Ben Fogle and Ed Coates set off to race from the edge of the Antarctica continent, to race over 370 nautical miles across the largest ice cap in the world to the Geographic South Pole.

The racers will face constant challenges throughout their journey: surving in temperatures as low as -50C, navigating and skiing while pulling a 70Kg. pulk, climbing up to 9300 ft. to the South Pole and through everything working together as a team.

The bottom line is that, as in sport, there are no guarantees of success but equally there is no substitute for preparation. That's why coming up with a well thought out business plan is key.
In September we will be holding the InvestorQuest Investment Challenge and we are now seeking applicants to present at the event. It will be interesting to see how many of the business propositions can articulate exactly what they do and why they might be one of the winners...

Each presenting company has the chance of winning up to £1000 of top level Intellectual Property, Accountancy, Legal and Marketing advice from four of our Sponsors (£4000 in total).

Investors look for attributes that they have seen in ventures that have generally made it in the past: clear vision and value proposition, strong management that can navigate through the blizzards to success, understanding of the competitive landscape, a feasible route to market, etc.

The aim of the Investment Challenge is to encourage people seeking early-stage funding and business support to put their ideas forward. The funds involved so far are the Viking Fund, YFM Group and Aquarius Equity Partners. If you’re interested, then check out the InvestorQuest page of our web site for more information.