Executive Playground

Special announcement from Executive Playground

This is a very special announcement from Executive Playground. Yesterday our Proof of Concept funding application was approved, clearing the way for us to develop TeamVention and turn it into a unique web-based application for Business Transformation & Innovation. This is so exciting for us. It's a paradigm shift for our business in one sense, but creativity and innovation in business in an area we absolutely excel in. This concludes a very long chapter which has lasted over a year, and yes on a few occasions I nearly gave up. This result couldn't come at a better time, just before a sparkly brand new 2010 which I am now so looking forward to. Merry Christmas everybody and a very Happy and Successful New Year to you all.

'Access to Finance' Business Funding Information Available Now

In our last post, we mentioned the Access to Finance seminar Anne attended at Aston Science Park. Given the huge finance/funding issues facing the business community now that the banks are playing 'hard to get', it will come as no surprise that this event was full to capacity. Amongst the attendees and presenters were Advantage West Midlands, ART Reinvestment Trust, Business Link, Barclays and Midlands Connect.

One of the messages was that 'small' businesses in particular, need to be much better organised, be better planned, be better presented, be more professional, understand the meaning behind the numbers and generally manage their businesses better.

Patrick Palmer, Head of Access to Finance at Advantage West Midlands gave an excellent presentation entitled "Access to Finance: Where is the money?" which was choc-ful of information about "sources of finance for a range of circumstances (even when the bank says “no”!)"

Steve Walker, Chief Executive, Aston Reinvestment Trust (ART) addressed "Accessing Finance: Alternative Sources of Finance." and again his presentation provided an invaluable breakdown of alternative funding sources along with information about who's lending how much and what investors and lenders are looking for.

So why are we telling you this AFTER the event? Well, we've managed to obtain copies of both of these presentations (in pdf formats) so we can share them with you! All you need to do to access BOTH presentations, is join our VIP OFFERS list. Simply enter your email into the form at the top right of the site and click on the JOIN button.  Then early next week, we will email you a link to a 'secret' download area for VIPs only. Go on then... you've got until Friday lunchtime (13th Feb) to sign up for this particular VIP OFFER. 

Access to Finance

There has been a lot in the press recently about the banks pulling the overdraft rug from beneath the feet of good companies and their general reluctance to lend.

On 27th January Anne attended an excellent seminar at Aston Science Park. Organisations that made presentations about Access to Finance included Barclays Bank, ART Reinvestment Trust, Business Link and Advantage West Midlands.  The message that came out strongest is that there is money to lend, arguably more of it than ever now due to the intervention and support of government, but to get it businesses will need to be more credible, convincing and much better planned.

We will be publishing more on this subject to give a helpful steer to businesses over the next few weeks. In the meantime we have compiled a helpful list of contacts and information that may help you if you are looking for financial support or investment for your business. To obtain a copy, simply send an email to  email address deleted UPDATE: JOIN OUR VIP OFFERS LIST. Simply enter your email into the form at the top right of the site and click on the JOIN button.  We will be releasing these notes along with other really useful reports and documents on a regular basis - but you have to be on that VIP list to receive them.