HMRC Workshops

The following HMRC Workshops are being held at the Sandfields Young Business Centre, through Neath Port Talbot Borough Council’s Economic Development department.  The dates for them are :

Thu 2/6/11   Newly Self-Employed
Fri 10/6/11 Business Expenses & Capital Allowances for the Self-Employed
Wed 13/7/11 Self Assessment Online
Wed 10/8/11 Newly Self-Employed
Wed 7/9/11   Business Expenses & Capital Allowances
Tues 4/10/11 Newly Self-Employed
 
If you would like to attend, or find out more information about the courses and their content, please either call 0845 603 2691, or visit www.hmrc.gov/bst/ where further details can be obtained.

Launch of Swansea Regional Business Awards

Local FSB committee members recently attended the launch of these prestigious business awards in Morgan’s Hotel.  The local branch is sponsoring one of them – Most Promising New Business – and as part of the sponsorship package will be able to take part in shortlisting the finalists taking place later this year.

FSB Committee Members Mike Jones & Julie Williamson

Finalists will be invited to a black tie awards ceremony at The Brangwyn Hall, Swansea on 25th November  where the category winners and overall winner of ‘Swansea Bay Business of the Year 2011’ will be announced in front of an audience of over 360 guests 
from the local business community. Definitely an event not to be missed!

25th Business Startup Show

Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) members are entitled to free tickets for the 25th Business Startup Show at Excel, London on the 19th and 20th May.

This year, for the first time, the FSB is partnering the Show with its very own FSB Village and Seminar area, FSB dedicated conference room, and a large exhibition / networking stand.

It's going to be their biggest and best show yet, with a host of new workshops and show features, together with a speaker line-up that is extremely impressive :

• The Small Business Minister, Mark Prisk
• The Minister for Trade and Investment, Lord Green
• The Beermat Entrepreneur himself, Mark Southon

and a whole host of small business experts.

In the main show there will be over 200 companies all offering their services to anyone who is growing a business, together with a 150 free seminars, 5 business training workshops, 15 One-to-One meeting areas, Speed Networking Zone, Midas Touch and a couple of surprises thrown in for extra measure!

If you order your tickets before the show you will be also posted the free glossy pre-show guide, which is 124 pages detailing every aspect of the event – so that you can plan your visit in advance.  The organisers are doing all of this for free, so register now at: http://www.bstartup.com or call the organisers for free on 08000 68 69 70.

FSB Members’ Evening in The Mansion House

Little did we know the innocent 'new members meeting' at the invitation of the Lord Mayor, and organised by Federation of Small Businesses, would achieve so much front page publicity with not one but two days headline coverage in the South Wales Evening Post!

Lord Mayor Richard Lewis addressed local businesses at the event at the Mansion House.  He took the opportunity to congratulate the Business community in these challenging times but also called for action on so-called 'druggies' and vagrants who were making life very difficult indeed for retail businesses in the High Street and other City centre locations. The problem of vagrants seems to have worsened during recent times with the police and local authority struggling to cope. The Business Improvement district has done very little to address this particular problem and it is time for businesses to come together and take action.

The meeting was well attended, with some 40 or so local businesses from the Swansea Bay Branch of the FSB.