New online support is now available to help small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) to be more savvy with their digital skills. As part of the Digital Enablement for SMEs (DESME) project , which is delivered by Devon County Council in partnership with YTKO and Cosmic, an online self-assessment tool, called the Digital Maturity Index , has been launched. It has been devised to enable businesses to gain an understanding of their digital strengths and weaknesses. It also offers insights into digital tools that may help their business develop and grow. This self-assessment tool is designed...
Small community-based businesses locally will be given the opportunity to be crowned champion of their town or the whole of Devon in 2021 following the launch of an exciting awards programme.
The Town & County Business Champions 2021 awards have been launched to highlight the achievements of the UK’s very best micro and small businesses who are keeping community spirit alive in their local area.
The awards are aimed at any businesses with up to 50 employees, including hairdressers, cafes, accountants, solicitors and graphic designers.
Exeter’s small business community has received a boost with the opening of a new work hub and the expansion of another.
Devon work hubs, which is supported by Devon County Council, is a growing community of friendly and flexible work spaces, perfect for home-based and mobile workers, business start-ups, freelancers and entrepreneurs.
The Generator, which opened in Dix’s Field almost four years ago to provide creative types Jim Strongand other freelancers with an alternative to conventional offices, recently opened a second location by the Quay.
Exeter Chamber’s subgroup, Exeter Sustainable Business Network (ESBN) held its latest event covering the topic, ‘The future of work’.
Speakers Kate Doodson, Business & Operations Manager at Cosmic and Robert Pye, co-founder of Ethos Valuable Outcomes spoke to delegates about how to make work in the future benefit their businesses.
Kate took attendees through the world of technology and what will happen in the very near future.
Kate Doodson, Cosmic said, “I think events like this are really important to stress to businesses how much and how far they have to move...
Thirty nine per cent of Federation of Small Business members identified access to broadband as one of the top five priorities for the incoming government, following last week’s General Election. Commenting on the findings, Mike Smith, Director of Small Business at Virgin Media Business, said: ”We already know that small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. Yet still more needs to be done to support them – and digital is a huge part of that. ”That’s why we’re committed to supporting SMEs and growing businesses across the UK. Earlier this year, we announced a £3bn investment into...
Small businesses across the South West are being advised to prepare themselves for pensions auto-enrolment says ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants). Figures show that there are 513,000 companies across the region that are classed as being a small or medium sized business.
The government reaffirmed their commitment to auto-enrolment (AE) in the June 2010 budget. The rollout has been phased so that larger companies were required to bring the scheme earlier, this started in 2012. Throughout 2015 the scheme will be extended to cover smaller businesses. Official...
South West small businesses could be inadvertently damaging their growth prospects by paying accountants who aren’t even qualified, warns ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).
The warning comes after research from cloud accounting software provider ClearBooksPro showed just eight per cent of small businesses considered an accountant’s qualifications when choosing one.
ACCA points out that there is no law preventing anyone from calling themselves an accountant, and that as a result small businesses could be unknowingly paying someone without the...
A group that supports businesses starting up has beaten off stiff opposition to win a prestigious award.
Exeter Business Support won Best Planning Initiative at the Federation of Small Businesses Devon Council Awards Scheme 2013.
The Awards aim to highlight best small business practice throughout the county and to build better working relationships between local authorities and small businesses. Exeter Business Support fought off tough competition from other local authorities to claim the award.
Exeter Business Support is funded by Exeter City Council and provides...
Learn how to create your own website using this powerful, user-friendly software. Aimed at freelancers, artists, small businesses or those wanting to create a website without learning a single line of code, this course will help to discover how to upload content, customise pages and understand tools.
All attendees of this class get 20% hot drinks and Café Bar meals on the workshop day.
