News and blogs
We’ve collected all of the news and blog posts from across the team at Allia – read on for insights about impact; spotlights on some of the exciting projects our tenants and partners work on; and interesting thought-pieces from across the sector
Preparing for pitch day
As we observe in Dragons Den, the process of pitching a business idea before a panel of judges is daunting, to say the least. A stage sweat, worsened by the overhead lights, and the loud sound of expectation and applause are enough to send most people home.
Four lessons that innovation can learn from impact
The impact field is often regarded as difficult to quantify, qualify, and monetise. Yet as more social enterprises and other purpose-driven businesses continue to emerge and shine, the fact of impact’s real success is becoming impossible to ignore. There may be specific learnings that corporate leaders can glean from the experiences of founders in the impact space.
Winning prize shared between ventures at the DIF-Allia Accelerator Challenge final pitch day
Six-month programme culminates in pitch day with three winning ventures awarded
GrandNanny, a social enterprise that matches working families with midlife+ neighbours to provide rewarding jobs and reliable childcare, has been awarded £10,000 by DIF Capital for winning the DIF-Allia Accelerator Challenge, with Greater Change and Appt also being awarded £7,500 each.
Free support for local businesses in Cambridge and Peterborough to help them grow
Allia receives 3-year European funding to support delivery of programmes across Greater Cambridgeshire
Allia Future Business Centres has been awarded funding from the European Regional Development Fund to support hundreds of local businesses across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough through a range of free training, advice and support programmes.
Innovation Lab relaunches at Allia Future Business Centre Peterborough
State-of-the-art lab for developing and testing innovative products that address environmental and social challenges
Allia Future Business Centre today announces the relaunch of the Innovation Lab at its centre in Peterborough.
Allia Future Business Centre supports NHS by hosting local Covid-19 antibody test clinic
The business centre at Peterborough United’s stadium provides venue for free testing for the region’s care staff
Allia Future Business Centre Peterborough is proud to be supporting the NHS by providing a venue for its local Covid-19 antibody testing clinic.
Our centres are Covid-safe – we’re here when you’re ready to move forward
Recovery. A word we’re hearing a lot right now, as we start to emerge tentatively from the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK. For some, the recovery will be a physical one, to gradually get well again after falling ill with the virus that has affected millions of people the world over.
Four lessons that innovation can learn from impact
The impact field is often regarded as difficult to quantify, qualify, and monetise. Yet as more social enterprises and other purpose-driven businesses continue to emerge and shine, the fact of impact’s real success is becoming impossible to ignore. There may be specific learnings that corporate leaders can glean from the experiences of founders in the impact space.
Meet Kate Hughes, our Facilities Manager
When did you join Allia?
June 2019, almost 2.5 years ago
Has your role changed since you started here – and in what way?
I started as an Assistant Facilities Manager and was promoted to Facilities Manager within my first year.
Amplify your impact with Allia’s new founder’s club
The last 18 months have caused a new kind of anxiety for small business and start-up founders. One of the key things we’ve been hearing about is a lack of engagement outside their founder ‘bubbles’. People haven’t been networking; they haven’t been chatting over coffee or meeting at the water cooler and thus have missed the opportunity to meet new contacts.
Check out our programmes launching this summer!
We’re busy at Allia Future Business Centres with lots of recruitment for our business support programmes across all locations!
Our free business support programmes started running in 2013 and are now delivered across East London, Peterborough and Cambridge. Our programmes are designed to help entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground, help small businesses and start-ups to grow and scale, and help ventures to create positive impact in social and environmental innovation.
Lessons from the Impact Accelerator
At Allia, we have been working with impact ventures for many years (70+ ventures and over £90 million raised by alumni). Yet we are still iterating on how we can make the Impact Accelerator more and more relevant to founders and the ecosystem as a whole.