 In a mixed-media first for the Chamber the local college held a networking evening and rounded it off with a performance of their South Thames College Music Learners
Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce is open to new ideas and ways of communicating. On 21st May South Thames College held a networking event and business students mixed with Chamber members, then went to an uplifting performance by some of the talented music students at the event. Wandsworth Chamber CEO Steve Pinto introduced the event and spoke about the Chamber’s support for businesses in the borough and the Young Chamber, which is a partnership with Roehampton University which aims to help young people with an ambition to make their career within the business world gain valuable experience and guidance. The business students included Bilal, who has ambitions to be an entrepreneur, and is studying marketing at the moment and Alex, who has been surmounting his disability in an impressive way by calling businesses to get them involved with the college’s business outreach programmes. The music student were a mixture of year groups and had been practicing their performances since February. Four different sessions from different student music groups showed off a variety of skills and influences and musical techniques, which while rough around some edges, also showed impressive talent and some of the players demonstrated how they were proficient with different instruments. The event was held at STC’s Wandsworth Campus, which has excellent facilities, and look like it will launch a new generation of both musicians and business creators into the borough. https://www.south-thames.ac.uk/ Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com
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Mayor opens new bistro at historic pub in Putney Heath  The Mayor and Peter Linacre opening the Bistro
Wandsworth Chamber held a well-attended meeting at The Telegraph pub in Putney Heath, to celebrate the opening of its new French bistro and utilise a convivial location for its popular networking meetings. Peter Linacre, Co-owner and Managing Director of the pub, gave a short talk about its fascinating history. It was part of a series of stations set up in the Napoleonic Wars to transmit information about French activities via semaphore. A message could travel up from the coast to London in only 20 minutes. Apparently, when there were “pea-souper” fogs in London, and the semaphore signals couldn’t be seen, riders on horseback were needed to carry the messages from the telegraph station to their final destination of the Admiralty. The pub stands proud on the original location on Putney Heath, although the buildings have been much modified since then. Ironically, this evening was to be the start of a new French invasion, of a more benign kind, the opening of a downstairs bistro, serving good French fare and excellent wines, which the Telegraph stocks. It holds regular wine-tasting evenings. Steve Pinto, CEO of Wandsworth Chamber, described it as as “An amazing oasis of calm and a terrific venue for so many different types of events,” He emphasized how business networking could keep money circulating between businesses in the borough, so that everyone could support the vibrant business culture that exists here. The pub has good Wi-Fi connections so can be used as an office while you are having a pint. Douglas Shanks, the Chamber’s Chairman, said that the pub had been his local for nearly 40 years, and then paid tribute to a sadly-deceased Chamber member Lucy Gardiner, who had been very dynamic in promoting Wandsworth Chamber activities and passed away at an early age. After a preliminary networking session, aided by some of the Telegraph’s wine selection, the main speaker of the evening, the Mayor of Wandsworth, Councillor Piers McCausland. He started off his talk by mentioning one of Britain’s greatest Prime Ministers, Pitt the Younger, who lived, worked and died in Putney Heath in 1806, not far from the site of the Telegraph. He noted that the Borough of Wandsworth is an interesting fusion of both urban and rural areas, with a very young population. New developments, including the “town centre” in the former Battersea Power station would bring fresh commerce to the area. After this reconnaissance through local history, the Mayor went downstairs to cut the ribbon and declare the bistro open for business, like the whole borough. https://www.thetelegraphputney.co.uk Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk The Council's flagship business event Wandsworth Enterprise Month will take place from 4th - 29th March across the borough. The event features an exciting programme of seminars, motivational talks, interactive workshops and networking opportunities designed to help aspiring entrepreneurs and established business owners start or grow their business.
It shows the success of the event that this year, instead of being a week long, it has been extended to a month. The majority of events are free to attend, however, some flagship seminars have a nominal booking charge. Highlights include:
A full programme which includes fringe events organised by third parties can be viewed on the Wandsworth Enterprise Month website. There will be many speakers and business experts available to help local businesses develop and reach their goals, including Renee Elliott founder Planet Organic, Trish Halpin, editor of Marie Claire, Jessica Huie MBE, Author and founder, Color Blind Cards and JHPR. More speakers will be announced in the future. Food enterprise, digital marketing, PR, social media, youth, scale-up and women's enterprise are just a few of the topics the Wandsworth Business Month be covering in 2019. There's something for everyone, regardless of what stage you're at with business.Wandsworth Chamber supports this fully and will be on hand to give advice and assistance. Spaces are limited and popular events sell out fast, so early booking is advised. https://wandsworthenterprisemonth.biz/events/ Julian Jackson is a writer whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com South Thames College is running an innovative pilot project to introduce young people to the world of work  South Thames College is running a pilot project for student job placement. Formerly students might get a week with an employer, but that isn’t enough to either get the hang of a job and be useful to an employer, or for the student to decide whether this might be a career for the future or not.
Chris Dodd, Head of Employability at South Thames College, is pioneering a new type of qualification called “T Levels” which lasts for 45 days and is aimed at preparing students for the world of work. If this pilot project works well it will be rolled out nationwide in 2020. Chris says, “This is to prepare students for a career – it has to be a business sector relevant to their course.” He continues, “Lord Sainsbury consulted with a number of businesses, and produced a report, and this is one of the recommendations.” Young people can be unready for the world of work, so the longer placement is an attempt to assist them to gain necessary skills. Already some students (above) have been working in a gym – not just being involved in sports training, but clerical work like enrolments or marketing. STC are looking for local employers to taken on student placements. It depends on the size of the workplace but they like to place a couple of students if possible, ideally around five. There’s a big need for creative placements: art and design, journalism, film, photography and video students as these are more difficult to find vacancies, given the fluidity of the sector. Chris hopes to find a pool of employers, who will partner with STC year-on-year, to give learners an opportunity to join their workforce. Chris hopes that this will be a good introduction to the world of work, and that local employers will receive the benefit of enthusiastic workers. He stresses that the administration from the businesses’ perspective has been streamlined so there are minimum forms to fill. Some employers have been so pleased with their students that they are planning to offer them jobs at the end of the placements. Chris says, “Another innovation is doing placements now, rather than in the summer, as was traditional. This way it will be much more aligned to what they are doing on the course, and more relevant to what the students are doing.” If you are a local employer, please contact Chris to discuss student placements: Chris Dodd – Head of Employability Email: employWHS@stcg.ac.uk Tel: 0208 918 7219. Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk In October 2017, Lifetimes launched two homeless projects, Woman 2 Woman & Men Matter 2 that we would like your help with. Our aim is to end period poverty for women and men experiencing homelessness Woman 2 Woman is a project that aims to end period poverty for women currently effected by homelessness in the local area by providing a care pack, containing wipes, deodorant, socks, knickers, feminine hygiene products, toothpaste and a tooth brush to those in need. We believe that these items will allow homeless women to regain some freedom and restore some dignity, basic rights we often take for granted. Men Matter 2 was born as a result of the high demand for these packs and the fact that there are more men currently experiencing homelessness than women. These packs contain similar items but the tampons/pads are replaced by a razor. CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO VIEW A SHORT VIDEO  So far we have provided 173 women and 429 men across South London with care packs that have been extremely well received. We have worked with organisations such as Glass Doors, Western Lodge, Spires, The Robes Project, Merton Faith in Action and Street Pastors. Please join our campaign to keep the conversation going by following @LifetimesNews or go to our Facebook @W2WMM2 and help us raise awareness that not everyone is dreaming of a wite Christmas. For more information and to donate CLICK HERE Ben’s Canteen hosted a large group of Wandsworth Chamber Members to unleash its own-distilled Gin this week.  Earlsfield Business Network is one of several local networks within the auspices of Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce. This week was a lively networking session, held at Ben’s Canteen in Garratt Lane. Ben wanted to have a first tasting of his own-brand gin, which he has distilled on the premises, and Wandsworth Chamber sampled with delight.
It meets every second Wednesday of the month at various locations around the area. There was a quick pitch where everyone gave a 30 second outline of their business. Alexandra Wyatt, Community Engagement Manager of local charity Wandsworth Oasis organises the Earlsfield gatherings. Ben, owner of Ban's Canteen, (above) said, “I’d met a couple of gin-makers and they told me it was easy. Actually it’s a bit more complicated than that and it has taken us a good few months.” They are planning to launch their gin around the end of the month. It is a honey and orange gin, and I can personally vouch that it tastes rather good. Steve Pinto, CEO, said Wandsworth Chamber is about synergy. “There are so many synergies locally, by working with the larger organisations in the Borough, like the Power Station and South Thames College, Roehampton University and the Council. We encourage them to open up their supply chain to local companies, which is a win for all. We also run the Wandsworth Business Awards – the Gala Final is this friday. This is a great opportunity for businesses to generate extra PR.” He announced that the Chamber’s XmasDinner which is going to be held at lunchtime on 12th December at Ben’s Canteen. Note that the time has been shifted to lunchtime so as not to clash with Wandsworth Oasis’ awards ceremony which is being held in the evening. Another Chamber benefit is free 1-2-1 business coaching sessions for Wandsworth Chamber members provided by www.engineeringbusinessgrowth.com click here to find out more. Overall it was an excellent networking even, moved along with gin and some lovely food provided by the venue. Ben’s Canteen Wandsworth Oasis www.engineeringbusinessgrowth.com *** Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk Layperson digest for businesses looking to understand about this area of computing  Cloud-based services have been around for a while. Amazon Web Services (AWS), for example, is famous for being really the only profitable part of the Amazon empire. SMEs like many members of the Chamber may be using this technology to keep their costs down and avoid investing in hardware that may become outdated in only a couple of years.
The Hybrid Cloud is new ICT industry jargon for a mixture of cloud computing and using your own servers, sometimes in your own offices but also possibly a secured “private cloud” which only your own organisation has access to. However public clouds are outperforming private clouds. Lydia Leong, technology analyst in the IT Leaders group at Gartner says, “The problem for firms considering private cloud is that as the cost of public cloud drops and the major cloud platforms gain new features, it becomes ever more difficult for a private cloud to match the efficiency and capabilities of public cloud.” The costs for AWS have dropped 50 fold since it was introduced and added over 1000 new features since 2008. Many businesses use “legacy” IT systems. The advantage is that the costs have long been written down, and the systems are well known, and staff understand how to operate them. Moving to a new system would involve disruption – but these things happen in business and when a server farm becomes obsolete, there are factors which may well make it worthwhile to transition to a cloud-based operation. There may be some processes that need to be held on the companies own servers, so a migration might have 70% public cloud and 30% own servers. For example, GE is migrating 60% of its processes to AWS, but is not shutting down its own server centres – they will handle the remainder, obviously being smaller than now, and less costly. Public/Private hybrid cloud ICT offers scalability, efficiency and probably reduced costs. But it does come with overheads – for example security issues, which are an extra layer of complexity which needs to be managed. *** Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk The event will take place across the borough in March 2019 and will feature more than 30 individual, mainly free events, designed to help local SMEs start or grow their business  It will be a month long from next year, attracting more businesses and providing more opportunities for startups and existing businesses.
Wandsworth Enterprise Month will feature staple events such as Start-up Wandsworth, Women’s Enterprise Day, Youth Enterprise and one-to-one advice clinics. Food enterprise, digital marketing, PR, finance, branding, mentoring and social media will also feature during the month. The programme will launch in November. Wandsworth Chamber blog will keep you posted on developments with this exciting and expanded event. Local businesses are being encouraged to celebrate the month of enterprise in the borough by hosting their own business event, or to create a special offer of their services/product for Wandsworth businesses, during the month of March. For further information on sponsorship and branding opportunities, and how your business can be involved in Wandsworth Enterprise Month contact Jenni Asiama on 020 8871 7807 or email open4business@wandsworth.gov.uk. See information from last year’s excellent event: http://wandsworthenterpriseweek.biz/ ** Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk Powerful speakers show that dyslexia can be a gift not a problem  The annual Aspire2inspire Dyslexia (A2i) evening is always worth waiting for. Wandsworth saw a remarkable line-up of inspirational dyslexic people who showed how being bullied or called “stupid” in school was not going to stop them achieving their ambitions. Elizabeth Kwarteng-Amaning, the founder and CEO of the non-profit organisation, said “Welcome to our third year of inspirational dyslexic speakers who will share their stories, and how their struggles resulted in inspiration. Some of these speakers changed my life completely.”
Downstairs at Caius House in SW11 there was an exhibition of organisations and equipment vendors who help dyslexics and people with other challenges. The team behind Irlen glasses – which assist people who have reading problems due to imperfect colour vision, and the C-pen which scans and reads information, were there. Tonisha Tagoe, a dyslexic lecturer, introduced the event, with the first speaker being Margaret Rooke, an author who is not dyslexic but has written several acclaimed books about dyslexia and has a dyslexic daughter: Creative, Successful, Dyslexic, interviewed various successful dyslexics; and the wryly-named Dyslexia is My Superpower (Most of the Time) takes a positive view of dyslexia in children and adults. Margaret advises “Focus on your strengths.” The next speaker was Jasmine “Jazzy” Hearts, a 13 year old dyslexic, bullied at school, who has become a speaker and ambassador for dyslexia. Many people in the audience identified with her struggles as schools can be very cruel places to anyone who seems a bit “different”. She uses her gift for speaking to help other people now. Councillor Ian Lewer, the Deputy Mayor of Wandsworth Council, who came out publicly as dyslexic at last year’s event, said he was lucky enough to be diagnosed early and got special schooling, and extra time in exams which enabled him to start on a successful career. After a food break the second session started with a non-dyslexic, Jannette Morgan, who supports people with dyslexia, who amazed the attendees by giving her speech in poetry. It was hard for anyone to follow that. Pennie Aston, the Founder of GroOops dyslexia charity and Gaby Holford a nutritionist and healer gave presentations on different aspects of having a positive lifestyle. Gershom J. Allen is a very forceful speaker who says “It is all about accepting who you are, before you can become” (that is, who you want to be). His journey took him from being beaten at school in Montserrat for not being able to read, to working his way up in a factory from sweeping the floor to supervisor. “Every person with dyslexia has a gift. There are special people that are meant to do great things.” He became a coach, and a motivational speaker, like his heroes such as Tony Robbins. Many of the speakers were quite candid about their struggles and the psychological pain of undiagnosed dyslexia, although it does seem that schools are getting better at spotting this early on and getting help to those who need it. Overall it showed that many dyslexics find a different path in life – using their artistic, verbal, intuitive or empathic skills to benefit themselves and wider society, and that dyslexia can be a “gift” rather than a handicap. www.a2idyslexia.org.uk Photo caption: Speakers at the event: (L-R) Tonisha Tagoe, Gershom J. Allen, Gaby Holford, Pennie Aston, Jannette Morgan; photo credit Julian Jackson Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk Wandsworth Oasis are holding a fashion event at their Clapham Old Town shop on Saturday 1st September 2018  Style Me in Seconds was created by the Charity Retail Association, and is an event aimed at creating a positive image of charity shops as fun and interesting places to shop for the younger generation.
Local charity Wandsworth Oasis, who support people living with HIV, are holding their version of a “Style Me in Seconds” event on Saturday 1st September from 12pm-5pm at their shop in the heart of Clapham Old Town. Entry is free. This is a unique way to have fun, create a new look, and help a charity at the same time. If you fancy being styled with a look of your choice then email alex@wandsworthoasis.org.uk with your name, age, contact details, desired time of appointment, type of look you wish to be styled in and your clothes and shoe size. Style Me in Seconds Saturday 1st September 2018 From 12:00 to 17:00 Venue: Wandsworth Oasis, 45 Old Town, Clapham, SW4 0JL “Style Me in Seconds" is a brand of the Charity Retail Association. Website: https://www.wandsworthoasis.org.uk/Event/style-me-in-seconds-at-wandsworth-oasis-clapham-old-town *** Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk |
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