Kent Archives - Page 2 of 14 - The Kent Foundation

Instant Courier Service App UniRunners Crowdfunding Campaign on Seedrs

August 23, 2017

The UniRunners Crowdfunding Campaign on Seedrs has now launched. The instant courier service app launched towards the end of last year and has had some great traction since.

What does the UniRunners App do?

Users of the UniRunners app can choose any item to be delivered to them. Items range from favourite local foods, bespoke items and commercial brands. Initially targeted to students, UniRunners is a perfect solution for money conscious students. Rather than having part time drivers UniRunners have been able to keep a steady growth with full time drivers. Ensuring that the food and other products/brands arrive intact and on time. UniRunners allows the user to order any item they desire or they can choose from the pre-approved list. This means users can have their preferred meals rather than the limited menus competitors provide.After a successful beta launch primarily targeting students in Canterbury, Kent UniRunners have decided to raise their first round of investment. They aim to hire staff and focus on developing the app to make it more scalable in order to target other student populated towns across the Country. It is a brand new type of marketplace which allows business owners to list their own items and target directly to their preferred audience. It creates an instant 24-hour marketplace for local commerce and SMEs whilst concentrating on the user experience.

So far UniRunners have raised nearly 50% of their target from over 50 individual investments. UniRunners have overcome a difficult hurdle and are predicted to have a successful campaign. You can take a look a the UniRunners crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs here…

Business Advice

Does regulation in business need to be complicated?

August 1, 2017

Sue Harvey works for Kent Trading Standards, in their Business Advice Team. In this blog she’ll give you an introduction to regulation in business plus informs us about what’s on offer for businesses in Kent and Medway from the Better Business for All initiative.

Why do I need to know about regulations?

Regulations can get a bit of a bad name and can often be seen as ‘red tape‘ but in actual fact they are there to protect and ensure consumers, our communities and businesses are safe and fairly treated. As a business you will have certain responsibilities to meet but there’s also rights to protect you and your business.

Getting your regulatory responsibilities wrong not only means that you may end up breaking the law, but it can harm your business reputation and end up costing you more in time/money in the long run.
Knowing your rights means you can avoid losing money, for instance giving a refund or losing a deposit when you are not required to, doing unnecessary building work, or buying unnecessary equipment.

It really is best to get it right from the beginning, rather than learning from what could be an expensive mistake, it doesn’t have to be tricky though, all you need to do is ask.

What is Better Business for All?

Kent & Medway, Better Business for All (BBfA) is a partnership between local regulators and businesses. The business partners include Federation of Small Businesses, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, Kent and Medway Growth Hub and Produced in Kent.

The regulators included in this initiative are:

Building control – for new premises, alterations to your premises or new services and fittings within your premises
Environmental health – for food registration and hygiene, health & safety
Environment agency – along with local environmental protection teams can advise on pollution and nuisance prevention
Fire & rescue – help on fire prevention, fire procedures and firefighting equipment
Licensing – you may need a licence for your from serving alcohol, animal breeding and boarding to skin piercing
Planning – you may need permission for the use of land and the design of buildings
Trading standards – advice on consumer and traders rights, safety of consumer goods, food and animal feed labelling and selling goods by weight or volume

We all want Kent & Medway to enjoy the economic growth that businesses bring. Making it easier for the good businesses to comply with the law and be successful, means regulators can spend more time tackling the unfair competition from rogue traders.

How can BBfA benefit my business?

We can’t promise to change the law but we are keen to help businesses locally get it right. We do understand how daunting it is; being faced with lots of rules and regulations, especially when you are first setting out. Whether you are just starting to develop your business idea or are up and running, regulators can guide you through what appears a complex web of rules.

Better Business for All provides advice on how the law applies to you and your business helping you find the most cost effective way for your business to comply. To help small businesses in Kent and Medway on offer is:

A website to point you in the right direction so you can contact your local regulators in each district or borough council where your business is based, which may be your home address. Contact countywide regulators e.g. Kent Fire & Rescue plus find out about national initiatives and news.

Download the business start-up brochure ‘The Kent and Medway business guide to regulation‘ to guide you through the regulations that may apply to you as a new or expanding business.

The Blog

Kent and Medway Business Fund

June 20, 2017

The Kent and Medway Business Fund is now open for applications for one month until 14 July 2017. The aim of the scheme is to deliver investment to businesses across Kent and Medway and is funded by loan repayments from the Regional Growth Fund schemes.

The Kent and Medway Business fund offers 0% loans between £50,000 and £500,000 to small and medium sized businesses in Kent including:

Ashford
Canterbury
Dartford
Dover
Gravesham
Maidstone
Medway
Sevenoaks
Shepway
Swale
Thanet
Tonbridge and Malling
Tunbridge Wells

The main purpose of the fund is to boost business in Kent through the:

Creation of jobs
Development or expansion of products, services or processes
Enable business growth
Improve business productivity

If you’re looking for funding for your small and medium business in Kent and think you might be able to utilise the loans on offer from the Kent and Medway Business Fund then click below for more in depth information on the eligibility and criteria for applying.

Kent Cyber Crime Launched To Protect Kent Businesses

June 13, 2017

Kent County Council has launched Kent Cyber Crime a special website to help the county’s businesses tackle the threat of cyber crime, following the recent cyber-attacks on the NHS and big businesses across the world.

Companies and large organisations are prime targets for this type of activity, and the Federation of Small Businesses has reported that two-thirds of its members have been victims. Those affected have been victims on four occasions on average, costing each business almost £3,000 in total.

To counter this threat and help protect Kent businesses, KCC is launching its cyber crime campaign. Visit the Kent Cyber Crime website or #kentcybercrime on social media to find out more.

The National Cyber Security Centre is warning that all businesses, small and large, need to take urgent steps to protect themselves from a cyber ransomware attack.

Mike Hill, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: “The cyber security threat has become more complex and each business must first understand what it means for them, their level of acceptable risk and key areas that need investment in cyber security.

“Most business will carry out risk assessments, insure key elements of their business but IT equipment, online assets and data is often overlooked. Cyber crime can bring down an entire business, whether that’s stolen intellectual property, commercially sensitive information or operational data that can be encrypted by malware and held to ransom.

“That is why we have taken this action – to help protect Kent businesses from falling foul of this type of criminal activity.”

Almost all of the UK’s 5.4 million small businesses rate the internet as being highly important to their business, with two in three offering or planning to offer goods and services online. If action is not taken, the growing sophistication of cyber attacks could stifle small business growth and, in the worst cases, close them down.

Visit www.kent.gov.uk/cybercrime to find out how easy it is to protect your business today

Kent Cyber Crime in Business

South East Business Boost Grants Kent

May 2, 2017

The South East Business Boost Grant could help you with a financial contribution to help boost your business.

The final tranche of European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) has now been secured to support businesses in Essex, Kent and East Sussex, who are seeking to increase capacity & develop economically.

The funding is exclusively for small to medium sized businesses (SME’s) or start-ups based in the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP) area.

Growth grants are now available of between £1,000 and £10,000. The grant can fund up to 30% of the total cost of eligible goods or services.

The grant can contribute to the purchase of a wide range of goods and services related to increasing sales, improving productivity and boosting profitability. From market research, to new machinery, if it helps your business to grow then you could potentially re-claim 30% of the cost up to a maximum grant of £10,000.

Grant funding from South East Business Boost may be used to cover the following types of expenditure:

Business Development: funding required enabling expansion of the business (for example research costs)
Plant and Machinery: costs of re-tooling (upgrades) and installation of machinery and hardware and training required to operate it.
Intangible Assets: including costs of purchasing new patents, IT, software and licences
Consultancy Costs: including business planning and sector specialists

In order to be eligible for an ERDF grant a business must:

Be a small to medium sized business (with under 250 staff and a turn over under €50m);
Be spending on a project/purchase that has a growth impact on the business (not day-to-day running costs);
Have received a grant offer letter from SEBB before starting the project.

The following sectors are ineligible for ERDF funding:

Fishery and aquaculture sectors which are supported through EFF;
Primary production, processing and marketing of agricultural products, which is supported through EAFRD;  The coal, steel and shipbuilding sectors;
The synthetic fibres sector;
Establishments providing generalised (school age) education should not be supported as this is a statutory duty on local authorities; Banking and insurance companies;
Charities and voluntary sector organisations, that are not using a trading arm, are ineligible;
Membership organisations that are politically affiliated cannot be supported by ERDF funding, i.e. Conservative Clubs, etc.

Grant applications will be assessed within four weeks of being submitted and funding will be provided retrospectively against evidence of payments for approved items. To find out whether your business and your project is eligible for the funding and to get your application underway, please contact your regional Growth Hub (Kent and Medway Growth Hub) and mention the info you saw on this site.

The Blog

Purrfect Animal Services of Kent

April 20, 2017

Hi, I’m Clare and I run Purrfect Animal Services of Kent, an animal care service based in Faversham. It provides Pet Sitting, Dog Walking and Animal Day Care services in the East Kent area.

I came up with my business idea after I graduated with an Animal Science HND. I was frustrated working in dead end jobs, not earning enough money, and not being able to use my knowledge of animals and the skills I have gained in my working life. So, last year I took the leap and decided that I was going to create a job for myself, be my own boss, and build a business using my love and compassion for animals.

I have 10+ years of experience with animals, with a particular interest in cats. I have had many of my own pets over the years, volunteered at animal sanctuaries and shelters, worked on a farm, gained plenty of practical experience with a range of animals, and studied hard for several qualifications and certificates over the years – which all my customers are shown during their consultation. All this has helped me to provide a professional approach to my work. My customers know that animal welfare and their pet’s needs are my top priority. Each animal is treated as an individual.

I know it can be a stressful time for pets and their owners when they spend time away from home. Leaving them at a kennel or cattery, or even a boarding home, can be an extremely confusing and unpleasant experience for an animal that is taken away from both their home and their owner(s). I enjoy taking that stress away from pet owners by providing them with a peace of mind that their much loved pet(s) will receive the best possible love, care and attention.

Since Purrfect Animal Services of Kent launched, business has really taken off and I now enjoy the job that I have. My next step is to look in to getting my own transport so that I can expand the business. I would like to be more flexible and provide my services in rural locations and other areas of Kent.

www.purrfectanimalservicesofkent.co.uk

Tag: Kent