10. Creating absorbing digital experiences We design and develop compelling and robust digital content to educate, entertain and inform. David Squire Founder and Director, DESQ www.desq.co.uk
Editor's Notes
Hello Iβm Angela Pugh from NESTA Iβm here to tell you about the Creative Business Mentor programme we are running that matches creative companies with industry experts in their field to act as mentors β we believe that this support helps transform businesses and get them ready for whatβs next
NESTA is the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts. We work to support innovation in the UK through investment in to early stage technology companies Rigorous and independent policy and research And through innovative programmes that demonstrate new ways of working in the public sector and the rest of the economy specifically the creative industries
This is our second year of the programme The first year of the programme was highly successful. We matched 24 mentors with 24 companies β hereβs a list We also held industry event with Lord Puttnam, Greg Dyke and Sir Chris Powell. We worked with PACT and Grant Thornton. Our workshops tackled issues on business growth, leadership. finance and investment.
Some of the thing that mentors have helped businesses with include: Business structures Professionalising the business Planning systems & procedures Financial control & management Staff changes Marketing & sales approaches Exit & succession planning
And the positive impact on the businesses was in areas such as helping them becoming in a: Better shape for growth & exit have higher expectations/aspirations More confident leadership & management Quicker & better decision-making processes Better connected businesses Confident to face future challenges
As this is our second year of running the programme. What it offers is to the opportunity for high growth businesses within creative sectors to work closely with a senior executive in their industry for a year and to attend several workshops and events through out the year. What is particularly relevant today is that we believe mentoring provides much needed support to businesses who are looking to grow by better team management, accessing finance and strategic direction A few of the mentors are: Peter Bazalgette (Non-Executive Director, New Baz Limited), Tim Bonnet (CEO, Tequila) andΒ Patrick McKenna (Chief Executive, Ingenious Media Group) How it works: The programme runs for a year from August 2010 to August 2011 Mentors provide one-to-one mentoring to one company over the course of the year Mentees attend an induction workshop and three programme and industry workshops through out the year Along with mentoring the programme gives companies access to a executive coach β the mentors support the businesses and the coach supports the individuals to make the most of their mentoring sessions
So if youβre interested Application period NESTA website All companies that meet the criteria
The application will take about 15-20 mins We are asking for company details: description, structure, Aspirations for the future, turnover figures for the last 4 years (if you have them) and head count for last four years again if you have these as three is the actual requirement. Introduce David Squire from desq. Desq is a digital media company from Sheffield. They were on the programme last year mentored by Andrew Chitty the MD of Illumina Digital. David is going to talk about is own experience of the programme and what he got out of it. Thanks David
