Accounting Workshop raise £1500 for Kent Charity

January 5, 2017

Kent firm of accountants, Accounting Workshop, selected The Kent Foundation as their charity of the year for 2016.

Julian Kirkness, Chairman of The Kent Foundation was delighted to accept a donation of £1,500 from the philanthropic team from Accounting Workshop, Ashford. The adventurous team, comprising Senior Partner, Lisa Brown and colleagues Georgina King and Lawry Vorster trekked 50 kilometres around the Peak District National Park. At their highest point, Kinder Scout, they reached over 2,000 feet in altitude. Lisa and Georgie met The Kent Foundation at a business seminar early this year, Lisa said:

“We immediately realised we had found the perfect charity for us. We like to support new businesses as much as we can and this charity helps young people to achieve their ambitions with practical, easy to access business advice and mentoring. We enjoyed the challenge and are so pleased we have been able to raise funds to help keep these vital services free”

Julian Kirkness, Chairman of The Kent Foundation said:

“We rely on Kent’s businesses to support our charity. Kent businesses, supporting potential new Kent businesses has obvious synergy and we are constantly interested to promote anyone who wants to get behind our fantastic cause. Thanks to Lisa and her team we are now able to further develop our business mentoring services around the County of Kent. Kent Foundation supports young people who are the future of the Kent economy.”

Kent Foundation News

Impact Award Presented to Business Support Volunteer

December 15, 2016

A business support volunteer was presented an Impact Award at a volunteers reception hosted by The Chairman of Kent County Council in support of Kent’s largest business support charity The Kent Foundation. Over 50 guests attended the evening at which four young entrepreneurs spoke about their businesses and their gratitude to the Kent Foundation Volunteer Business Mentors.

A special Impact Award was presented to business support volunteer Michaela Partridge who, since becoming a Mentor in 2013, has made a huge difference in the business lives of many of Kent’s young entrepreneurs. Michaela has become a ‘front line’ ambassador for The Foundation – meeting and introducing many young people to The Foundation, she became a Trustee in 2014 and has helped create a marketing strategy to reach more young business people.

Michaela from West Malling, established her career in Human Resources and developed into Training and Business Coaching in Spain and the UK.

The Director of The Kent Foundation, Paul Barron described Michaela as:

“An extremely willing and industrious volunteer, always going the extra yard to help young people with their own aspiration”.

The Chairman of KCC, Tom gates presented Michaela with her Impact Award. Paying tribute to the small army of volunteers Tom said:

“It is a privilege to meet the volunteer mentors who work with Kent Foundation and offer their time and expertise so willingly to guide young entrepreneurs across the county.”

Become a Volunteer Business Mentor

Kent Foundation News

The Entrepreneur’s Journey Global Entrepreneurship Week UK

November 21, 2016

The Kent Foundation and The Business Terrace in Maidstone kick started Global Entrepreneurship Week UK by playing host to almost 50 local business people who joined them on The Entrepreneur’s Journey to get involved with the world’s biggest celebration of entrepreneurship.

The idea behind the inspirational event ‘The Entrepreneur’s Journey ’ tied in with this year’s GEW theme ‘Compass Points’ which identifies the various stages of business. Paul Barron, Director of The Kent Foundation, a charity providing free support to young business owners across Kent tells us more:

“The event was designed to project real, personal, factual stories of entrepreneurs who are at various stages in business. We achieved this by inviting four Kent businesses along to speak and inspire others with their journey in business. Interestingly, collaboration was a common topic amongst all the speakers and this was confirmed as a vital link to running a business.”

“Collaboration in Business is the Way Forward”

The event featured speakers; Josh Bates from Cove Videos, Jo Hage and Sarah MacDonald from Rise Communications and Roger Williams from Intelligent Linking. Freya Briley, aged 23 and owner of Jest 4 Entertainment a recently established Maidstone based events company presented ‘Starting the Journey’:

“I’ve just started this journey which is interesting and really exciting. The idea for starting Jest 4 Entertainment came from my personal experiences through my drama degree and working for various private event companies. It became clear to me that I could build something for myself and add significant value to schools and businesses by boosting their interpersonal skills using drama based approaches. It is scary but there’s so much support, I am learning so much about myself and I’m loving it.”

Business support charity The Kent Foundation is dedicated to supporting young business owners such as Freya to reach their business goals. Paul Barron, Director reflected:

“This has been inspiring and portrayed a perfect example of a variety of entrepreneurial journeys from all backgrounds, business lifecycles and ages. The thing here is that at some point every one of them all recognised a gap and had to take that step to start their own business.”

The event was perfectly timed to celebrate the one year anniversary of The Business Terrace which provides a collaborative working environment for businesses to build a network, work with others and access free business support every day of the week.

Also a special mention to Ibi’s Kitchen who kindly sponsored the event by providing the catering – Absolutely amazing grub, do check them out!

Kent Foundation News

Accounting Workshop Trekking 50km to support Kent’s young people

August 24, 2016

Accounting Workshop based in Ashford to complete 50km trek across the Peak District to raise money for The Kent Foundation, a charity providing free business support for young people in Kent.

The accounting firm have chosen The Kent Foundation as their charity of the year after hearing charity Director, Paul Barron speak at a seminar. He described the importance of investing in future business leaders and the direct impact this has upon the growth of Kent’s economy.

Lisa Brown, Senior Partner of Accounting Workshop said:

“At Accounting Workshop we like to support a specific charity each year. This year we had decided on the event to challenge us but not the charity we would like to support. When my colleague Georgie and I attended a networking event at which Paul from The Kent Foundation was speaking, we immediately looked at each other and realised we had found the perfect charity for us. We like to support new businesses as much as we can and this charity helps young entrepreneurs to achieve their ambitions with mentoring and practical advice.”

Accounting Workshop Ashford — The Accounting Angels Left to Right: Lisa Brown – Senior Partner, Louwrens Vorster – Accounting Assistant and Georgina King – Accounting Assistant

Intrigued by the charity’s free business support on offer to Kent’s young people and being in business themselves meant that they could really relate and see the benefits the charity provides to a young person.

Paul Barron, Director of The Kent Foundation said:

“We are extremely fortunate to be supported by Accounting Workshop who provide accounting solutions for entrepreneurs. I met their Senior Partner, Lisa, at a business event in the spring and there was immediate recognition of the synergy between our two organisations. I’ve been to their offices in Ashford and there is a fabulous buzz. They are a vibrant and determined group of people to work with. I’d like to thank them for their support”

Accounting Workshop aim to raise £1,500 in support of The Kent Foundation. If you would like to donate please use the link below: www.charitychoice.co.uk/fundraiser/accountingangels/my-events

Kent Foundation News

The Kent Foundation – Kent Charity Awards Finalist 2016

April 5, 2016

Kent Charity Awards 2016 Finalist…The Kent Foundation

On the 10th March we attended the Kent Charity Awards 2016 to see if we were a winner of Voluntary Charity of the Year. We did not win but came away as a Finalist. This in itself is a massive achievement considering the amount of entries. We are super proud to receive this award for the second year running. It serves as recognition for our work to support young people and not forgetting the crucial part here, the time our volunteers provide to our charity to make it all happen. Their time really is priceless to us – so thank you! It is always amazing to see so many good causes/people coming together in one place for this event. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists and keep up the great work!

Kent Foundation News

French work experience student supports Kent’s young business owners

April 5, 2016

Tell us about yourself:

Name: Cyntia Correia
Age: 19
Hobbies: I like dancing, shopping, laughing, watching movies, listening to music, going out with my friends or family, sometimes I like staying home by myself and relaxing…

Tell us more about where you are from in France…
I’m from Marseille a city in the South of France. About 1.7 million people live in the metropolitan area and about 850,000 in the city itself. This makes it the second largest city in France by number of people. It is the third largest by size. Marseille is in the South, just at the Mediterranean Sea. It has the biggest commercial port in France. The port is one of the most important ones in the Mediterranean. In Marseille we have very hot weather with beautiful beaches…

Why did you come to England for your work experience?
I’ve always loved English, learning new languages and new cultures, and I’ve always had a good level in English, so when I went to College on the first year they made us pass a test to decide if we had the right education to be in the European Section, and I passed the test (I had my best friend with me so it was great) 🙂
The European Section has a project called Erasmus and every year students travel to England for work experience.
That’s why I was interested in entering the European Section, because I was so excited to know that I could have the chance to travel to England.
It has been an incredible experience for me that I will take with me for the rest of my life.

What does The Kent Foundation do and what was your role?
Kent Foundation helps young people open up their own businesses. They train “Mentors” that are men or women that have experience in business and can help young business people. To decide which Mentor goes with which Mentee they have a “Matching” step which consists in interviewing the Mentee to know what their business plans are for the future, their ideas, their experiences, their skills and based on that they match the right Mentor and the Mentee hoping that everything will go just fine. My role at Kent Foundation was to support Liam and Paul with both office based tasks such as administration, preparing for events and managing/inputting data right through to external events such as meeting people at workshops, events and exhibitions.

Where did you go and what did you see in England?
During my stay England I went to London on the first week, me and my friends went to Camden Town and Oxford Street, it was very nice, but the most important thing was all the people I met during my work experience, English people are so nice, I participated in so many events and meetings. Everywhere I went people started talking to me without knowing me and asking me questions about my life and that for me, was so lovelyyyyy.

What have you learnt from your experience?
During my stay in England I’ve learned so much about myself and my motivations in life.
Once, in the office I had a conversation with Liam and Paul and they told me that everything that happens in your life it’s based on the choices you make, you got to know what you want, fight for it and work for it, not just wait for something to happen. That conversation made me think so much about what I want for my future, I’ve got to be more motivated in what I do so I can get what I want, they told me that if I’m not happy with something in my life I need to change it or just leave it like that.

I’m only 19 and it would be hard to continue with something that I don’t like for the rest of my life. I just want to say thank you to Paul, Liam, Stuart, Rob, Camellia and every other person that I met, I can’t remember the names of everyone because my memory is horrible, but I will never forget them. This work experience made me grow up so much.

Merci Beaucoup, Muito Obrigada, Gracias

Cyntia

Category: Kent Foundation News

“Collaboration in Business is the Way Forward”

Kent Charity Awards 2016 Finalist…The Kent Foundation