During November and December, new businesses will have the opportunity to receive support free of charge, courtesy of European Regeneration Development Funding.  This will be delivered by Colmena Associates Ltd which has successfully delivered business training and one-to-one support to four previous cohorts.

UCLan would like to hear from pre-start or new start businesses to join the latest cohort.  The programme will consist of a full business training day on Tuesday 22^nd November, one-to-one support and follow-up telephone mentoring.  The training day is aimed at giving anyone who is considering starting their own business a full insight into all the aspects that have to be considered including:  strategic planning, leadership, marketing, branding, financial and risk management.  The day will consist of interactive workshops and action learning sets plus some seminar style learning.

One to one sessions will be held with each business in the following two days at the UCLan Incubator Unit which is a free facility for those wishing to start a business in a professional office environment.

UCLan is particularly keen to help support those wishing to start technical, scientific or knowledge based businesses which will add value to Britain’s Energy Coast^TM.

Places are strictly limited and preference will be given to pre-start or newly formed businesses, although those under two years old may also qualify.

Please contact Sue Hearn at sue.hearn@colmena.co.uk or Sarah Craig at sarah.craig@colmena.co.uk to book your place or ring 01900 810559.

New Pathfinder Consortia have been formed and are already spearheading the implementation of this new way of working.  But what will these changes mean for GP practices and their patients?  At Colmena, we have skills that will be useful to GP practices as they transition to these new arrangements.  We want to make sure our services are targeted to deliver the best possible results.

We have therefore, today, launched our Colmena GP survey.  GPs and Practice Managers will be able to tell us how they feel about the impending changes, the challenges they face and how we can best support them.

To take part in the survey please click on the tab at the top right of your screen.

Over the course of the morning pupils have sessions with CBEC representatives learning about getting ready for the world of work.  They each have to complete a job application form and then have a 10 to 15 minute interview with a local employer.  Pupils are asked a little about their ambitions, strengths and weaknesses and what makes them suited to the job of their choice.

Over the two years we have been involved we have met pupils with ambitions to become an engineer, veterinary nurse, lawyer, musician, care worker, teacher and marine biologist!