Artists urged to use Emergeination

A COVENTRY University graduate who has built a £1m company now has her sights set on supporting emerging artists all over the globe to promote themselves and make a living.

Susanna Westwood’s Emergeination platform is now being used by emerging artists across the UK and is supporting musicians, singers, dancers, artists and fashion designers, to promote themselves worldwide.

The business was launched in 2012, with the support of the Innovation University Enterprise Network (i-UEN) which is part of the Institute of Applied Entrepreneurship at Coventry University, and allows artists to sell their work and services on iTunes and Ebay, grow audiences through social media, and provides industry training and mentoring to fast-track their careers.

Westwood said: “It was while I was dancing and performing in New York that it really hit home how much artists struggle to make an impact and a wage from their talents.”

Emergeination was piloted in early 2014 with an aim of attracting 500 students to register online, but soon had 1,500 users and attracted 250,000 web hits within the first month of launching.

Westwood has since gone on to receive backing from an investor and has agreed deals with record labels in the US to promote artists in the UK.

FiB launches family business research project

FAMILIES in Business (FiB), the support organisation for family and privately owned businesses, has launched a research project to uncover the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the sector this year.
 
The organisation, headquartered in the West Midlands, operates across the UK via a network of regional offices, to provide support, consultancy and membership to family firms and their owners.
 
FiB is inviting family businesses and professional advisers working with them, to take part in the annual survey, so they can play a vital role in improving overall understanding of the current and expected challenges and opportunities facing family firms both at home and overseas.
 
FiB CEO Dani Saveker said: “The annual survey aims to uncover and identify the main professional and personal issues affecting the individuals working in the UK’s family businesses, reveal how family firms are adapting to meet the challenges and opportunities available, and how they are changing to match our evolving society.

”This year’s research will look at how well professional advisers, intermediaries, stakeholders and service providers understand family owned businesses, which are so different from other ‘conventional’ businesses.

“The information gathered helps us to shape the support and strategy we have as an organisation to best ‘be there’ for those in and around family businesses.”

Executive coach to speak at Ladies First event

LEARNING and development consultant Rita Sandford will be the guest speaker at the next Ladies First event at Kenilworth Golf Club on May 19..
 
Her talk to members of Ladies First is entitled ‘The Secrets of Successful Networking’ – during which she will share tips on authentic networking and how to yield genuine results.
 
Sandford said she had to be “dragged kicking and screaming” to her first networking event but over the years has won at least £50,000 in business as a result of others looking out for opportunities for her, or through chance conversations at a networking event.
 
She now helps other business owners to become more effective in their networking.

Lisa Kennedy, director of Ladies First said: “We are delighted to have Rita join us and share her professional advice on the benefits of networking.

“In today’s increasingly competitive business world, it’s important that business owners take time out to network and continue to seek new contacts and ultimately new business.”

MyEd launches guide to education institutions in the UK

BIRMINGHAM start-up MyEd has announced the launch of its brand new platform, designed to allow parents and students to search for and review nurseries, schools and universities across the UK.

The site has been designed to help users search for and identify the nursery, school, or university which best suits their needs. MyEd’s specialised search engine allows users to whittle down options depending on their preferred criteria.

MyEd draws on a broad range of data sources in order to give a complete picture of what an institution has to offer. First-hand insight is combined with data from recent Ofsted inspections, as well as reports UCAS, the Department for Education, HESA, and ISI.

Upkar Pardesi OBE, co-founder and chairman of MyEd.com, said: “For parents searching for suitable education institution, the selection process can be complex and frustrating.

“We designed MyEd to help alleviate those pain-points, by capturing relevant and informative data about institutions, and presenting it all in one place.”