The Hackney Hive

07/11/2020

Congratulations to President Elect Joe Biden, Vice President Elect Kamala Harris and everyone who worked so hard to win this Election.
Mama can go back to America 🇺🇸

13/10/2020

🤩 have you seen stories 🙈
Omg, Eulanda and Omo stayed at my little seaside pad over the weekend and I cannot tell you - their tour makes me want to cry - happy tears of course, big fat happy tears!
Also, why do I always miss the sun setting on the beach?
Thank you guys 🙏🏽 - you can stay anytime ☺️

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27/07/2020

I'll be sending out the details to everyone who's signed up Tuesday morning. If you're not on the list and want to be get in touch as there is homework ahead of the masterclass.

30/06/2020

I’ve been thinking long and hard about the contribution I can make to supporting the black lives matter movement in addition to my writing and sharing black women’s stories. My background is in business development and I have a long history of securing significant funds for many different types organisations. I was one of the in-house business development advisers at AFFORD (African Foundation for Development) where I worked exclusively with small businesses owned by black people who were based in the UK and on the Continent.

Despite millions of pounds of funding and grants being available to UK entrepreneurs’ black women are the group least likely to secure investment into their business. A few months ago I studied the reasons around this and created a masterclass covering the barriers relating to why black women don’t secure funding for their business and how we can get ourselves investment ready and secure funding. The masterclass was developed and successfully delivered for Hackney Council in my capacity as a small business adviser. I know I can be additive to the blm movement by helping black women business owners grow their businesses and make them more profitable so I am updating the masterclass into an online workshop. It will be delivered twice, on Zoom and during each session we will cover:-

Why black women don’t apply for funding,
How to get investment ready,
How to successfully apply for funding,
What funds are available in the UK.

There are two workshop dates available.
Wednesday 29 July from 5pm till 7pm and
Saturday 1 August from 9am – 11 am.

Because it’s really important that everyone has a space to be heard and discuss the topics that come up during the workshop each will be limited to 15 people. If we need another date, I’ll set this up for September.

Since deciding that my future was in the arts; working in it and creating it, I have done less freelancing and working on other people’s businesses and have instead taken up the role of Head of Communications and Public Affairs at the National Theatre. I am deep into my own creative practice and have recently completed the writer’s development programme run by London’s leading literacy charity, Spread the Word. Here I learned the importance of having people advocate for your work, something we’ll cover in the workshop.

The workshop is priced £7.50 per person. If you would like to book a spot please DM me your email address and which date you prefer and I will send you a paypal link. On payment you will receive the workshop link. You’ll need a notebook as there will not be any handouts after the class.

This workshop is for black women with a business footprint in the UK because the funds we’ll discuss and the legal frameworks we’ll be working to are UK based.

If you have any questions please let me know.

I’m looking forward to hearing about your business challenges and helping you find solutions to get over or round them. Feel free to share the workshop details with anyone who you think would benefit.

26/05/2020

Why you need a business bank account. Too many small business owners have not been able to access government support because they don't have a business bank account. A Starling business account can be applied for in minutes, now is the time to get this sorted.

Using a personal account for your business? Find out why it’s important to open a business bank account

23/03/2020

There are now over 1,500 officially confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and, sadly, 71 deaths. Many are worried about the UK impact of the virus, with events being cancelled, increasing numbers being asked to work from home, and a raft of new rules on sick pay and benefits. To help, we're worki...

16/03/2020

A funding opportunity which you’ll have time to complete in self isolation.

Government unveils almost £3 million new fund for visionary, entrepreneurial female innovators.

15/03/2020

https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/startups-and-smes-innovative-solutions-welcome-2020-mar-13_en?fbclid=IwAR2N38bhSWAhcTyNPk7ALEKRRIMpTKdlkukmZ6KFDL6481LMoIO02szZorw

The European Commission is calling for startups and SMEs to apply urgently to the next round of funding from the European Innovation Council

15/03/2020

Ready to work from home? These tips on the different video calls may be useful.

Experts say that companies need a "culture of trust" and a "social contract" to make meetings productive while working remote.

11/03/2020

Here is a really good summary of what the 2020 Budget means for small businesses and the current measure to support SME’s through the coronavirus outbreak.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his 2020 Budget on 11 March. Here are the key announcements for small businesses and the self-employed.

18/02/2020

Lots of people contact me asking for help in developing a fundraising strategy when they are desperate for funds which is far too late to be helpful. This is a really useful article in strategic fundraising. I’m thinking or running another workshop on fundraising, specifically for black women as this group are underrepresented in receiving funding, but for now this a great overview.

Make sure your message is clear, target your donors and encourage them to stay with you – Angela Cluff explains how to set up a fundraising strategy

07/02/2020

https://smallbusiness.co.uk/start-business-in-the-wedding-industry-2-2549050/

Here, we give some step-by-step advice on preparing and starting up a wedding business.