Blogs
Allia C&C joins forces with other UK bodies to campaign for lower limit on Retail Charity Bonds
Allia C&C – an expert in socially responsible finance – has joined forces with the Impact Investing Institute, Big Society Capital and Social Enterprise UK to lobby for the threshold for Retail Charity Bonds (RCB) to be lowered to allow more charity borrowers access to this type of funding.
Peterborough, the city of entrepreneurs?
Given the year we’ve just had, it’s understandable to reflect on how far-reaching the economic effects of Covid-19 and lockdown will be, particularly on business and employment. Yet despite that fact, as a Peterborough native, I’m pleased to report the fiery entrepreneurial spirit of the people of Peterborough is burning brightly, with record numbers of business registrations in the last year.
Returning to the office – one size doesn’t fit all
As we start to see lockdown restrictions gradually lifted in the UK, much debate is being had about the big return to the office. It seems like a very long year ago that most of us office-workers had to leave our desks and work from home due to the Covid-19 crisis – and the experience has altered our lives and dominated our news feeds ever since.
Got a business idea? Test it out with Allia!
As applications open for our new Ideation and Validation programme that will run for 2 months from our centre in Peterborough, we speak to Emma Mee, Programme Manager, about the programme, who it can help and how it can identify if a business idea can be turned into reality.
International Women’s Day 2021
We always mark International Women’s Day (IWD) at Allia. And we’re not just jumping on the bandwagon for one day of the year either – our ethos has always been genuinely focused on equality and diversity for all. With a staff team that’s almost 65% female, and with women making up 3/5 of the senior management team, it makes a change from the many male dominated businesses around.
Staying Alive: Pivoting through the Pandemic
By Alex Potter, Programme Manager East London
We have all heard the importance of shopping local, increasing sustainable consumption habits and supporting our local businesses. From podcasts to news articles, we’ve been inundated with the importance of resilience in times of crisis; easier said than done – especially for businesses that have historically had less help in terms of community, resource and business support.
2021: the year to ask ‘how can I help?’
For many of us, 2021 could not come fast enough. I will not expound on the world’s collective gratitude in 2020 being finished, you can watch Netflix’s Death to 2020 for a much more humorous take on this! As we continue in yet another lockdown, I’d like to frame some of the work that Allia will be working on this year to support the impact start-ups and local businesses that are getting ready to step up and make a difference.
Future 20 spotlight: Sutrue
Medtech company Sutrue has created an automated suturing device that enables surgeons to easily perform stitches more accurately and safely in challenging sites.
Sutrue joined our Future 20 programme last year and is set to bring much needed innovation to the traditional suturing process which has not seen much progression in thousands of years.
Building resilience for local businesses over lockdown
Participants got expert advice in legal issues, HR, finance, strategy, marketing, productivity and coaching, with intensive and flexible 1-to-1 mentor support – through 17 workshops all delivered within one month. Two month-long programmes were run between May and July, and the cohort were able to form a tight-knit and supportive peer community, whilst learning practical skills such as how to take their business online, or to navigate a huge decrease in income.