GCDA

Pre and Post Business Support

garygcda — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 10:44:52 +0000

Bussines Support in Greenwich

Do you want to start your own business?

Do you have a business and need further guidance or business support?

You have come to the right place. We are delighted to announce that GCDA has won a new contract from the Royal Borough of Greenwich to offer pre and post business support.

Thinking of starting a business – Pre-business support

We will be out and about in Greenwich over the next 2 years providing one to one advice on the business support programmes available to Greenwich residents.

This currently includes information about;-

New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) – for Job Centre Plus clients
Start and Grow / Enterprise for London
Enterprises courses from GCDA

Or for more information please call 02082694880 or email Sergio@gcda.org.uk

Are you up & running and want or need further support? Post Business Support

Come along to our FREE* post start-up support sessions. We run our post business support drop-in session on Thursday from 3 pm – 6 pm at GCDA. Bookings are taken through Eventbrite. Please click here to book ( you must be up & running as a business to attend).

Or you could join one of our enterprise networks Apply by clicking here

Bussines Support in Greenwich

February 22^{nd –}3pm – 6pm – Finding New customers Training Session with GCDA

Click here to book

March 1^st 3pm – 6pm – Open Session One to one bespoke support with a GCDA business advisor for an hour

March 8^th – 3pm – 6pm – Food Finance Training Session with GCDA food specialist

Click here to book

March 15^{th –}3pm – 6pm – Open Session One to one bespoke support with a GCDA business advisor for an hour

March 22^{nd –}3pm – 6pm – Excel for Business Training session with GCDA

Click here to book

March 29^{th –}3pm – 6pm – Open Session One to one bespoke support with a GCDA business advisor for an hour

April 5^{th –}3pm – 6.30pm – Social Media Introduction Training session with GCDA

Click here to book

April 12^{th –}3pm – 6.00pm – Open Session One to one bespoke support with a GCDA business advisor for an hour

April 19^{th –}3pm – 6.00pm – Employing and Managing Staff Training session with GCDA

Click here to book

April 26^{th –}3pm – 6.00pm – Open Session One to one bespoke support with a GCDA business advisor for an hour

May 3^{rd –}3pm – 6.00pm – Legal Issues for Businesses Training session with GCDA

Click here to book

May 10^{th –}3pm – 6.00pm – Open Session One to one bespoke support with a GCDA business advisor for an hour

May 17^{th –}3pm – 6.30pm – Crowd Funding Training

Click here to book

May 24^{th –}3pm – 6pm – Open Session One to one bespoke support with a GCDA business advisor for an hour

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GCDA Co-operative Development Support

garygcda — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 18:58:06 +0000

Have you got a co-operative business idea? You can test your idea with group advice delivered by us, via The Hive (register before the 8th of May www.thehive.coop)

The GCDA has successfully tendered to be a consultancy provider C0-operative development support.

Co-operatives UK and the Co-operative Bank have announced a three-year co-operative development initiative.

In 2015, the Bank committed £1m towards co-operative development, in a deal that would see Co-operatives UK delivering a range of programmes.

The Hive, which launches today (29 February), is aimed at people wanting to set up co-operative or community enterprises, and will also support the development of the existing 7,000 independent UK co-op businesses. Using a mix of online resources, training, advice and peer mentoring, the programme will cover key issues such as registration, membership development and co-operative finance.

The website, www.thehive.coop, includes sections where people and communities at different stages of setting up or developing their co-operative or social business can apply for advice and support. There are also tools, templates and checklists for organisations to work through, from Business Planning to Buyouts and Conversions, and a list of preferred providers who offer one-to-one and group advice for the Hive programme.

Please see the full article quoted from Co-operative New website write by Rebecca Harvey

GCDA supports local groups and co-operatives that need advice and support. If you are interested in obtaining support through GCDA or other Co-operative Development Bodies please read and register your interests through the national website www.thehive.coop and email gary@gcda.org.uk.

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GCDA Training Schedule January – October 2016

garygcda — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:26:06 +0000

Please see below for GCDA’s training schedule for 2016. Please note there is a £10 charge for all courses (+ Eventbrite admin fee of £1.49), but for anyone unwaged we can arrange a refund on completion of the course

Social Enterprise Training

Do you have a business idea, but are not sure where to start?

Are you looking for some advice on how to set up a social enterprise?

Then this 1 day introduction is for you. We will examine and explore the following:

What is a social Enterprise
Learn how to describe your idea
Understand how to establish if there is a market for it?
Learn how to conduct market research
Research Legal Structures Finances
Understand the elements of a business plan
Know where to look for further support and sources of information

Dates for next year:

Wed 20^th Jan; book here
Thursday 21^st April; book here
Tuesday 5^th July; book here

How to Establish a Food Growing Project

GCDA are delighted to offer a new training course for those wanting to set up their own food growing project. This day long training will give you all the information about the skills, time, resources and other requirements you’ll need to start a successful food growing project. We will cover:

Reasons for setting up a food growing project
The physical environments needed to support food growing projects
Managing requirements of developing and running a food growing project.
Project budget
Project growth & sustainability

Dates for next year:

Tuesday 26^th January; book here
Tuesday 26^th April; book here
Thursday 14^th July; book here

Setting up a Food Business

Running your own food business is an incredibly challenging role. You’re expected to be a chef, business person, promotions specialist and accountant all at the same time with never enough time to do it all! This course will show you easy and clear ways to make changes that can have a real impact on the health and sustainability of not only your business and profits, but also of the food you sell

You will learn:

Key principles of menu planning which maximise the financial opportunity of sustainable and healthy food
Menu planning and production systems which reduce chef time and save money
How to source and manage relevant suppliers that save time and money
The principles of financial management
How to promote your business effectively
Practical tools to implement the above

Dates for next year:

Thursday 28^th January; book here
Wednesday 23^rd March; book here
Wednesday 18^th May; book here
Thursday 29^th June; book here
Thursday 15^th September; book here

All bookings are made through Eventbrite where you can also find time and venue information.

For any further information about the training please contact Mel on 0208 2694880 or email mel@gcda.org.uk

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Good Food in Greenwich is 1 year old!

garygcda — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 14:10:04 +0000

It’s been a busy year at Good Food in Greenwich since our inaugural Steering Group meeting in October 2014. Building on our recognition as a Sustainable Food City, we initially formed a secretariat group to build some of the structures and ideas, and then invited organisations and businesses to sit on the steering group where the name Good Food in Greenwich was agreed. We also developed a Good Food Charter for individuals and businesses to sign up to to make a pledge to do something towards Goof Food. We have developed this website where we regularly update stories and news to keep people abreast of what’s going on in the network. We have held 3 big events including a winter Launch in December last year, a Food Growing Conference in June, and a large public event in July in Woolwich, and we have attended many more. We’ve been busy on social media with very active Twitter and Facebook accounts and have sent out 4 newsletters. This is all fantastic public facing work and we’ve engaged with hundreds if not thousands over the year this way.

However, the Steering Group and sub groups have also been beavering away working on the Action Plans that show the progression of work and plans for the future. We have achieved a huge amount through these groups and you can see some of the highlights below:

Greenwich to feature in the new Good Food for London Poverty Report and have been commended for the work we are doing
Mulgrave fruit & veg stall supplying easy, affordable access to families in the area
Thanks to our partnership with Fareshare, Rhodes Bakery now deliver all their surplus bread (over 40kg) to them
A project between Trust Thamesmead and Waste Services, RBG has piloted separating food waste in a block of flats – a notoriously difficult thing to achieve
Woolwich Common Community Centre is soon to be Fareshare Hub operating to distribute food to community groups and projects
Greenwich University pledged zero waste to landfill and have succeeded in this – see their sustainable food policy here
We have launched a Gleaning Project to help use ripe fruit falling from trees and Waste Services are supporting this project too
Healthier Catering Commitments has gone from strength to strength working with takeaways to make their offer healthier, and will now include tips on waste and other Good FiG priorities
GSPlus, the school meal provider has re-branded as Incito & employed a community chef
They have also been awarded Silver Food for Life, with Gold in 2 schools, and have also received Compassion in World Farming Awards for RBG for Good Egg, Good Chicken & Good Dairy. They are the only London borough with 3 awards!
GCDA has delivered 6 Food Business Training days to over 60 businesses & individuals
Greenwich University host Sustainable Fortnight offering free sustainable cooking sessions
GCDA’s Made in Greenwich Project works with people in recovery to produce healthy home-made meals and will now be a Fareshare Community Food Member, using food surplus
Growing Conference held at Woodlands Farm showcasing local & national projects and work began on a food growing strategy
GCDA launched ‘How to set up a Food Growing Project’ training – the first day was held in September and attended by 13 people including schools & community groups
Foraging walks with Charlton Athletic Community Trust have been trialled and will run this November during Foraging Fortnight

And these are just some of the amazing things that have been going on. We have partnered with over 60 businesses and organisations, recruited a volunteer, co-ordinated 4 steering group meetings and 16 sub group meetings to move the action forward, and so much more! We are so delighted with the work we’ve achieved, which couldn’t have happened without the support from and action of some amazing partners, particularly Royal Borough Greenwich who had the vision to fund this work in the borough, and the people of Greenwich. However, there’s still much more to be done, so join us to help make Greenwich a fairer, healthier and more sustainable borough.

If you’d like to get involved, please email goodfig@gcda.org.uk and come along to our steering group this Tuesday 13th from 10am – 12pm at Fareshare. Drop us a line if you’d like to come along.

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