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We would like to introduce you to a unique opportunity to join an exciting project carried out to address the problem of balanced participation of both men and women in local economic development.
This is an invitation to attend our 1st Project DIONE networking event for existing and future female entrepreneurs with background in science and technology.
The event will launch a series of meetings with carefully selected role models and experts who will share their experience and knowledge of the existing potential for establishing technology-based high-growth start-up companies in the region.
Please see event details below...
-Networking
-Mentoring -Access to Networks
-Business Support -Workshops
-Online Forum
Date: Wednesday 28th March 2007 Time: 18:00-21:00
Venue: Northern Counties Club, Hood Street, Newcastle
When Lisa Hart launched Acritas in 2002 she was the first to the UK legal market-research sector. Now, five years on, she has offices in Newcastle, London and New York, employs 15 full-time staff, fishes from a pool of talented undergraduate temps and is heading for a 2007 turnover of £1million with a goal to have increased profits by 65%.
While that all seems straightforward it hasn’t always been an easy ride! Lisa’s first business venture (after she returned to the north-east to round off her business training with Sage) ended in tears. The partnership business she established to fill the b2b legal services gap foundered on differences in cash management. Chastened, but undeterred Lisa decided to go ahead anyway and with five staff and a new brand she secured a foothold with London based legal clients from her Newcastle offices. By 2006 others competitors had entered the market and Lisa decided she needed to do something to create value in the business and give her competitive advantage. She and her co-directors took the brave step of investing £150k in designing research that would offer a route-map to purchasers of legal services. 800 company interviews on and Sharp Legal Service has interviewed more than 5% of the market and is producing findings that have produced sufficient subscribers to cover her costs and create interest in the US, Europe and Asia.
The secrets of Lisa’s success to date have been to focus on a niche market (services have now expanded to cover bespoke research for the legal, professional and financial service sectors); experiential learning from her entrepreneurial parents, joining networking groups (A for Acritas wasn’t an accident), building business relationships and taking advice from other female role models. To find out what comes next, this conversation is a must!
To register for this event, please contact Angela Smith at The Bridge Club:
0191 230 5742
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With support from the European Community –
Programme relating to the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality
(2001–2005).
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