Anyone can apply to be an errand runner on the site. However, all runners are background checked which helps to ensure only serious people will apply to perform the tasks. This also helps make the site more secure, when compared to Craigslist and others.  Check it out at: http://www.tasksauce.com

 New businesses from the University of Kent Enterprise Hub

Enterprise Experience Application Form. Further kent.foundation@kent.gov.uk  Telephone: 01622 694341

The two University Enterprise offices have organised a coach for 30 students to attend on the day, with collections at each campus at 10.00 and leaving the 2020 show at 4.00pm. We will also be running a network session at the event so you can gain the maximum from your time there. More details about the show on the Kent2020 website

If you are interested in business and would like to take advantage of this opportunity please contact your enterprise officer

Tracy Crowther t.s.crowther@kent.ac.uk University of Kent 
Nicola Burr nicola.burr@canterbury.co.uk Canterbury Christ Church University

Limited places available and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. To register your interest or for more information, please email info@peopleunited.org.uk or register here

How should I greet someone from another country? Which fork should I use? What is expected of me at a business function? A good first impression is one of the most important parts of manoeuvring through life and business. This workshop will focus on social and business protocol, equipping you for situations life throws you.

Heather Pickering will cover such topics as: formal occasions; greetings; cross cultural situations; how to remember names; conversation skills; what to wear…and many more Participants will be provided with a manual that will include the workshop information www.protocolplus.com

Free Boooking for University of Kent Students 

Everyone wants success. It comes in different shapes and sizes and means different things to different people. So how do you know when you have success? Come and find out more at Network612 on 3rd March at the Bulb in the Canterbury Innovation Centre, 5.30 – 7.00pm.

The Retail Factor competition is for any small retail business looking to grow.

The overall prize is worth well over £10,000 You need to be over 16 years old, have a retail business which you are ready to expand, or an idea of a retail business you would like to start. More details and entry form.

Have you got a great business idea but just need that vital leg-up to get your brainchild off the ground?

Well take note, because we could have just the answer – welcome to the Retail Factor!

We’ve got together with the Mall Chequers, Maidstone busiest shopping centre, for an exciting competition which aims to seek out the next Sir Richard Branson or Sir Philip Green.

On offer is a unit at the Mall, which attracts 220,000 shoppers every week, completely free. The contest is linked in with the Mall’s sister centres around the country.

The local KM winner will get two months at the Mall plus other prizes but could be in line for a whole year’s trading plus a place at the renowned Oxford Business School if it wins the national competition.

Entries for the competition opened on Friday, January 14 and applicants can submit their ideas until February 20, when a shortlist of entrants with the strongest potential will be selected.

Those shortlisted will get a two week trial in a unit at the Mall Chequers, and a panel of judges – including the KM Group business editor Trevor Sturgess – will decide which is the most successful.

They will be rewarded with a start-up package worth £10,000, including two rent-free months of trading at the Mall, a Sony laptop, business mentoring from the National Skills Academy and the chance to win a place on the BHF-BSSA Oxford Summer School retail business course.

Our first interview concerns a business who’s ads you might have seen floating around on a side of your facebook page or sitting on a table around the library. The name of the business is uFlog and its purpose is to create an online exchange space where students from UoK and Christ Church can post ads about any belonging they might wish to sell. The founder of this enterprise is a postgraduate student here at Kent by the name of Piperis Filippaios. He is very excited about his idea and hopes that at some point in the future it could be expanded to other universities.

The perk of this service is that everything is entirely free for anyone who is looking to buy or sell; which makes the planned revenue come just from advertisements on the website. At the moment, the newly started business is advertising strong on facebook, twitter and around campus and has already found some local businesses willing to post ads on its website.  Firms who wish to do so, get their very own mini account through which they can track the number of impressions or clicks they’ve got through uFlog.

Although the business has just kicked off, the owner has already hired two marketing assistants to promote the website both online and at networking events. It has received good reviews from investors at the recent Kent Entrepreneurs Initiative event and the fresh business owner is already making plans for an expansion of the business into a consulting service. By doing so, Piperis is hoping to create a connecting business which could offer consulting services in marketing and PR and liaising that with advertising on uFlog.

Whether or not this could penetrate the already established similar markets such as Ebay or Amazon by adding a local feature to it can only be decided by time. It’s an outcome which could come down to how the consumers from UoK and Christ Church receive it in following months.   For now it’s a business worth keeping an eye on and you can do so by visiting it at www.uflog.co.uk and becoming a fan on Facebook and Twitter.

Until next time,

Alexandra