Farida Gibbs Honoured With Enterprising Women Of The Year Award

February 2012 – Gibbs S3, www.gibbs-s3.com, an IT Staffing, IT Project Solutions & Technology reSourcing business, has announced that Farida Gibbs, CEO, has received the Enterprising Women of the Year Award for 2012 by Enterprising Women magazine. This award honours women business owners who have demonstrated that they have fast-growth businesses, mentor or actively support other women and girls involved in entrepreneurship, and stand out as leaders in their communities. Many of the award recipients are also leaders in key organisations that support the growth of women’s entrepreneurship. Winners are to be recognised at the 10th Annual Enterprising Women of the Year Awards Celebration on March 12 at Office Depot headquarters and on March 13 at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.   “I feel incredibly priveleged and extremely honoured to received this prestigious award. It feels remarkable to be recognised for something I feel very passionate about. I love what I do, and it gives me greater pleasure helping people find employment and new career opportunities – it is what we do best for our customers who seek the best talent for their organisations” said Farida Gibbs. “Actively supporting other women involved in entrerpreneurship, and mentoring and rewarding/supporting the next generation of young children is pivotal in what we do, it gives me a great sense of perspective. I have an exceptional team by my side, and new customers opening their doors to understand who we are and supporting our traditional values, 2012 is going to be yet another ground breaking and exciting year for us”. “Enterprising Women of the Year honorees are so deserving of being in the spotlight,” said Monica Smiley, publisher and chief executive officer of Enterprising Women. “Farida has demonstrated that she has a thriving, growing business; she has mentored or given back to support other women in business, and she stands out as a leader in her community. We could not be more proud of the accomplishments of our honorees.”

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Business support is being unleashed, says Mark Prisk

Business minister Mark Prisk says cuts to public funding of business support does not mean that advice is no longer available.  Read More.....

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Launch of the Exclusive MSDUK YouTube Video Channel

MSDUK has today launched our very own YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/msdukvideos Developed in-house, this is another great innovative product MSDUK is launching enabling you to keep up to date with the latest videos and information from us.  The channel will have the following: 1. All MSDUK videos 2. MSDUK event promo videos 3. Featured playlists of other videos grouped under different categories of interest including: a. Inspirational b. Motivational c. Business Development d. Socio-Economic Issues To make the most out of this channel subscribe to it today using the link above and you will receive updates on new videos that we will keep adding periodically.  As well as this you can comment and share ideas on the channel - so take a look!  www.youtube.com/msdukvideos MSDUK can also be found on other major social media outlets to provide you with updates and the latest news and photos.  Our accounts are as follows: 1. Follow us on Twitter – www.twitter.com/MSD_UK 2. Like us on Facebook – www.facebook.com/supplierdiversity 3. +1 us on Google+ - MSDUK - https://plus.google.com/s/MSDUK

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Lack of finance major barrier to growth for ethnic minority businesses, new research finds....

The lack of access to finance for ethnic minority SME's in the UK is a major barrier to growth, a new study has revealed today. New research from Minority Supplier Development UK (MSDUK) has shown that ethnic minority business owners would like to grow their business, but lack of sufficient finance opportunities currently stand in their way. MSDUK surveyed over 300 businesses with 1 in 2 respondents saying that they have applied for bank finance in the last 18-24 months with 60% saying they had been unsuccessful. In addition, 100% of bosses said it is more difficult to access finance today than it was five years ago. The news just a week after the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg Britain's banks of discriminating against members of ethnic minorities in the way they distribute loans and set interest rates. Mayank Shah, director at MSDUK, said: “Although the lack of finance is not exclusive to ethnic minority businesses, this research is a good indicator of what issues need to be addressed if we want to help businesses and the UK economy grow especially in light of Nick Clegg’s comment recently. “Access to finance may not be easily overcome, but if we are ever to bridge the gap between desired and actual growth, banks must look at the problems small businesses face and the issues raised in this survey. Understanding the challenges should help creating policies that would help them to thrive. “Addressing the issue of how we can simplify access to finance and why it has become difficult to do so in the last five years as the survey has discovered will play a vital role in driving innovation, enterprise and ambition going forward.” The study also found that over 50 per cent wanted extra finance to grow their business, 30 per cent to help ease cashflow while seven per cent required the money to fund an acquisition or buy machinery. HSBC was the most popular bank used by ethnic minority businesses that were surveyed followed by Lloyds TSB. Although less than 20 per cent said they felt they been discriminated against by the banks as Nick Clegg MP has suggested, many businesses still wanted lenders to do more. Thalej Vasishta, Managing Director of Paragon Law, based in Nottingham, said: “We understand that banks have to weigh up all the possibilities when making their lending decisions.  “For a business like ours we want to expand the business and start building for the long-term. We would say to the banks that they should lend money, particularly where the money is to be used for growth.”

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