Small Business Saturday 2015 takes place on the busiest shopping day of the year – Saturday 5 December. It is a national campaign to celebrate small businesses and the value they add to the character of your community.
On the day you can shop for unique Christmas gift ideas and enjoy local promotions, offers, events and activities.
I wasn't sure whether it would be approriate or useful to add more words to everything which is being written about this sad situation but there's a lesson here which I think is being missed.
My Future is a new programme supported by Manchester College and Manchester City Council to provide young people aged 16 to 24 with experience in a real working environment and an opportunity to increase their knowledge and develop new skills.
The programme is based around a 4 week pre-employment training period followed by a 13 week paid (minimum wage) work placement with a local employer. This can be a voluntary sector organisation or social enterprise as well as local companies and public sector bodies.
The Spirit of Manchester Awards is a series of awards celebrating and highlighting all the excellent work being carried out in Manchester’s voluntary and community sector. As well as providing recognition to the sector in these hard times, we want to raise the profile of the sector amongst the general public and encourage local giving and active citizenship.
The Small Business Saturday campaign is seeking 100 inspiring or unique small businesses from across the UK. Each business will be highlighted on the campaign’s website and social media channels in the 100 days leading up to Small Business Saturday on 5 December, giving great free local and national publicity.
For the past two years, the 100 small businesses have also attended a reception in Downing Street with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
First Steps Enterprise Fund is a £300,000 pilot fund offering loan-grant packages to charities and social enterprises working in communities in the North West and South West of England.
Small community-led organisations can apply for up to £30,000 to help them grow their services and become more sustainable. The investments are the first steps towards accessing the wider social investment market and more financing options.
This fund is for community enterprises looking to take on their first loan to help the organisation move forward from start-up stage.