In through the outfield

The Future Face of Enterprise

I greatly enjoyed attending the The Future Face of Enterprise - Policy Summit 2007, part of the launch of Enterprise Week which this year was hosted by The British Library.

There was a good range of speakers including three representatives of government:

Rt Hon John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Jonathan Guthrie, Enterprise Editor, Financial Times
Ben Verwaayen, Chief Executive, BT
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Executive Director, Tesco Plc
Joanna Shields, President, Bebo
Phil Hope MP, Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office
Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Minister of State for Competitiveness, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.
Farzana Baduel (Founder, TaxClaim),
Julie Meyer (Founder and Chief Exec, Ariadne Capital),
Maive Rute (Enterprise and Industry Directorate General, European Commission)

Ben Verwaayen gave an impressive unscripted talk emphasising the global nature of business and how this gave opportunities for both developing economies such as India as well as mature economies such as ours. Technology meant that geography was no longer a barrier to employment opportunities. Several of the speakers mentioned that London is now the leading city for international business and finance. The positives that immigrants bring to our society (they are far more likely to set up in business) were also contrasted to the negative press they have been receiving recently.

Joanna Shields (originally from the U.S.) told the audience that she was shortly to take up British citizenship. This led to muffled laughter from the audience which I felt gave a fascinating insight into the British psyche. The same comment in the U.S. would have led to loud applause and cheering.

Perhaps most impressive of all (and I find that young entrepreneurs often are) was Farzana Baduel the Founder of TaxClaim. She was amazingly confident and poised. Her main message was just go for it, and don’t listen to those who would counsel caution.

Matthew Gwyther editor of Management Today led a very lively discussion on a range of issues but focussing on challenges for women entrepreneurs.

From left to right:
Farzana Baduel (Founder, TaxClaim),
Julie Meyer (Founder and Chief Exec, Ariadne Capital),
Maive Rute (Enterprise and Industry Directorate General, European Commission),
Stephen Timms (Minister of State with responsibility for Enterprise, BERR),
Phil Hope (Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for Social Enterprise, Cabinet Office), Joanna Shields (President International, Bebo)
Lucy Neville-Rolfe (Corporate and Legal Affairs Director, Tesco).

The future of home entertainment is behind you

Once again the latest technology seems to hark back to the past. At the recent What Hi Fi? Sound and Vision Show the most impressive home entertainment demonstration was not the 103 inch plasma screen, but the Epson projector.

These new proper (1080) high definition projectors also go against conventional technology by using lcd panels inside rather than dlp. Admittedly, just under £3,000 is a lot to pay for a big screen view. However given that it can project an image up to nine metres wide, this is better value than the Panasonic ‘rival’ with 103 plasma inches at just under £40,000. And that is without even mentioning the necessary strengthened wall and increased electricity bills.

The future of technology is a wind-up

At the recent What Hi Fi? Sound and Vision Show I spent a great deal of time on the Baylis stand talking to the friendly team.

They were demonstrating the new Eco Media Player which is a wind-up (sorry couldn’t resist that one). To be brutally frank, this product doesn’t exude the sheer desirability of an iPod. However, it makes a good attempt at addressing it’s shortcomings by packing in an fm radion, a led torch, and phone re-charger in addition to its rivals’ mp3, video and photo players.

Its real unique selling point though is the handle that unfurls from the back of the player. They claim that just one minute of winding is sufficient to provide up to forty minutes of play. I have to say that the idea of watching the battery life drain out of my mp3 player knowing that all is required is a few spins of the charger is very appealing.

All we need now is the mobile phone with built in charging handle. I have lost count of the number of times mine has run out of power, usually at the worst possible time.

St Pancras International opens (again)

I was fortunate to be invited to an opening party (the third of three to be precise) for the revamped St Pancras International station which will be the new home of the Eurostar.

The evening was truly impressive with actor Timothy West playing the role of William Barlow designer of the famous ’shed’. Then there was the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra assisted by a 40 strong youth choir and Katherine Jenkins singing a duet with Lemar.

Over 1,000 of us sat in specially constructed stands to watch a suspended giant screen on rails featured appearances from F1 driver David Coulthard, actress Kristin Scott Thomas and a range of personalities, promoting the new High Speed 1 service to Paris.

The video below was recorded on the Tuesday evening opening and gives a good idea of the evening plus the Queen’s opening speech.

British Standard for a cup of tea - BS 6008

I have been attending some of the workshops we provide at the Business & IP Centre. I think it is good to sample one’s own products from time to time. Rupert Lee’s workshop on Science & Technology Information for Business provided some unexpected information. For instance I didn’t know there was a British Standard for a cup of tea (BS 6008 to the cognoscenti). I suppose it is the logical result of something the British do best, tea and bureaucracy.

However, more usefully I did learn that standards are a useful source of business information which is often overlooked.

However, more usefully I did learn that standards are a useful source of business information which is often overlooked.

If you are really keen you can read all 11 pages of the standard in pdf.

1 Scope and field of application
This International Standard specifies a method for the preparation of a liquor of tea for use in sensory
tests, by means of infusing the leaf.
2 Definitions
For the purpose of this International Standard, the following definitions apply.
2.1 liquor
the solution prepared by extraction of soluble substances from dried tea leaf, under the conditions
described
2.2 infused leaf
tea leaf from which liquor has been prepared NOTE In the tea trade in the United Kingdom, the term
“infusion” is used with the meaning of 2.2, but, to avoid confusion with the more general usage of this word, the expression “infused leaf” has been used.
3 Reference
ISO 1839, Tea — Sampling.
4 Principle
Extraction of soluble substances in dried tea leaf, contained in a porcelain or earthenware pot, by
means of freshly boiling water, pouring of the liquor into a white porcelain or earthenware bowl,
examination of the organoleptic properties of the infused leaf, and of the liquor with or without milk
or both.
5 Apparatus
5.1 Pot, of white porcelain or glazed earthenware, with its edge partly serrated (see Figure) and
provided with a lid, the skirt of which fits loosely inside the pot.
5.2 Bowl, of white porcelain or glazed earthenware. NOTE Various sizes of pot and bowl can be used, but it is recommended that one of the two sizes shown in the annex, and depicted in the figure, be adopted.
6 Sampling
See ISO 1839.
7 Procedure
7.1 Test portion
Weigh, to an accuracy of ± 2 %, a mass of tea corresponding to 2 g of tea per 100 ml of liquor
(i.e. 5,6 ± 0,1 g of tea for the large pot or 2,8 ± 0,05 g for the small pot described in the Annex) and
transfer it to the pot (5.1).
7.2 Preparation of liquor
7.2.1 Preparation without milk
Fill the pot containing the tea with freshly boiling water1) to within 4 to 6 mm of the brim
(i.e. corresponding approximately to 285 ml in the case of the large pot and 140 ml in the case of the
small pot described in the Annex) and put on the lid. Allow the tea to brew for 6 min, and then, holding
the lid in place so that the infused leaf is held back, pour the liquid through the serrations into the
bowl (5.2) corresponding to the pot selected. Remove and invert the lid, transfer the infused leaf to it and place the inverted lid on the empty pot to allow the infused leaf to be inspected. In the case of fine,
powdery dust grades, special care should be taken and a sieve may be required.
7.2.2 Preparation with milk
Pour milk free from any off-flavour (for example raw milk or unboiled pasteurized milk) into the
bowl (5.2), using approximately 5 ml for the large bowl and 2,5 ml for the small bowl described in the
Annex.
Prepare the liquor as described in 7.2.1 but pour it into the bowl after the milk, in order to avoid
scalding the milk, unless this procedure is contrary to the normal practice in the organization
concerned. If the milk is added afterwards, experience has shown that the best results are obtained when the temperature of the liquor is in the range 65 to 80 °C when the milk is added.
While addition of milk is not essential, it sometimes helps to accentuate differences in flavour and
colour.

Levi Roots and his Reggae Reggae Sauce

Once again our Inspiring entrepreneurs events proved to be geniunly inspiring. For me the most surprising speaker at our recent Winners 2: The rise and rise of black British entrepreneurs event was Levi Roots.

He is a reggae musician, chef and entrepreneur, who achieved fame after appearing on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den looking for funding for his ‘Reggae Reggae Sauce‘.

He was a great speaker and joked about how he had slayed his person dragons and now had two of them on a leash. He also talked about the 12 years he had been producing his sauce before striking lucky on the Dragons’ Den.

Videos of all of the speakers have just been put up onto our website.

Crazy Coffins - thinking outside the box

Crazy Coffins have proved that by ‘thinking outside the box’ (apologies for the appalling pun) you can discover a whole new area of customers in what might appear to be a dead end business (oh dear…)

It all started in 2000 when a fan of the Red Arrows asked to be buried in a model fighter. They constructed a plane with folding wings and a cockpit casket. The word began to spread and after a being featured in the Sun newspaper the phone didn’t stop ringing for three months. Now they are even exhibiting their coffins as art at the
Museum für Sepulkralkultur in Kassel, Germany.

KEEN on enterprise for students in East London

Last Wednesday Striding Out organised the launch of KEEN, a student enterprise club supported by Knowledge East, a higher education partnership for undergraduate and  postgraduate students and academics from eight East London universities

The evening consisted of short presentations from:

• Sam Conniff from Livity a socially-responsible youth marketing agency.
• Zoe Stanton from Us Creates who design effective, progressive and individual initiatives for societal issues within the UK.
• Jordan Kensington, from the Invincible Media Group, founder of the Urban Music Awards and promoter of British Music Week.
• Henry Warren from Gemin-i, who specialise in developing innovative web-based solutions to empower, educating and inspiring people across the world.

The speaker who made the greatest impression on me was Jordan Kensington, the very confident (some might say brash) founder of Invincible Media. He is convinced that all an entrepreneur needs is a very clear view of their future. He explained that he started his business with no money, but he had a film running in his head of the future of his business. His belief in this image was so strong that everything else just fell into place. This approach is overlapping somewhat into NLP territory, but it obviously worked for Jordan as his business empire has grown rapidly. He even had the gall to succesfully export his Urban Music Awards from the UK to the USA.