Member Article

Manchester entrepreneurs to get top tips from City business brains

One of the City’s top business brains, Professor Vikas S. Shah, will be on hand this week to give the benefit of his experience to Manchester’s next batch of entrepreneurs.

A mentoring day, hosted by workplace platform, Hello Work, will be held on Wednesday 12 August at the company’s offices within the Old Granada Studios Manchester offering advice and top tips on the many aspects of starting and growing a company.

Mentors lined up for the day include award-winning entrepreneur, strategist and educator, Vikas, who has built businesses in diverse sectors for almost 20 years and acts as a consultant and advisor to numerous entrepreneurs and companies across the globe.

Managing Director and CEO of Swiscot Group, a leading global textiles and commodities trading business, Vikas is also founder of the consulting group Thought Strategy and CEO of the film company, Fifty Three Degrees North. He is also a board member of The UK Industrial Development Advisory Board , a respected speaker and, and, as a multi-award winning writer, has interviewed many of the world’s most influential thinkers including Sir Richard Branson, Buzz Aldrin, Maya Angelou, Noam Chomsky and more than 12 Nobel Laureates in economics, sciences and peace building.

Vikas is on the Council of Manchester Digital, a Trustee of Mustard Tree and Executive Patron of Manchester Cancer Research Centre. He is also the Founding Patron of mental health campaign, Life Fit and advisor to over a dozen charities in the North of England and internationally.

Also offering his mentoring skills on the day will be founder and owner of MWA Accounting Ltd, Richard Wilson-Artus, who has been giving his time to help Hello Work members for the past year. With a diverse range of clients, Richard, whose specialty is providing financial management and forward tax planning for owner-managed businesses, will be guiding members though the accounting and tax minefield that comes with starting and running a business.

Hello Work has already helped over 300 Manchester-based businesses to collaborate in person, connect and work virtually with other members. Partners include Business Growth Hub, Manchester Entrepreneurs, The SME club and TiE UK North, who work collectively together to encourage and support members with mentoring and acceleration.

Success stories so far include Uber, myhelpster, Rormix, Jimbag and ShinDigger Brewing Company which have already expanded and established themselves within the city with Hello Work’s help and support.

Alex Hill from Hello Work said: “We’re thrilled to have Vikas and Richard on board. These monthly mentoring days always prove very popular and are a great way for members to really get to grips with the complexities of running a business.

“Vikas and Richard will be offering their services on their specific specialties to help support the growth of our members’ businesses. We offer this mentoring as part of the Hello Work membership and as part of our commitment to help our community grow their businesses. The one-to-one sessions enable members to receive invaluable advice from these inspiring mentors.”

On the same day, Hello Work will host Yorkshire’s leading entrepreneurs who will be offering their advice to Leeds-based small and independent business owners at a mentoring day at Leeds Dock. The sessions will run between 10am and 4pm and will be followed by networking with complimentary pizzas and beers at the Digital Garage.

Leeds’ mentors will be former runner-up on The Apprentice and founder of School Speakers Claire Young and leading business development expert Tracy Sheldon.

From September, the monthly monitoring sessions - named ‘Start-up Series’ will have the benefit of an additional evening talk at which members will be able to join in a discussion about the specialty of the month’.

For more information on Hello Work please visit http://hellowork.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jayne Russell .