Your weekly summary of entrepreneurship news, comment, and features. Sent by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (home of StartUp Britain). Sign up here. Read the original newsletter here.
News
Entrepreneur First, Europe’s ‘biggest startup creator’, extends to Singapore
Telegraph: The talent recruiter that aims to find the best startup founders has its eye on Asia for its first international programme. Read more.
£175,000 on offer for retail startups ‘of the future’
Startups.co.uk: Government-backed Innovate UK is looking to find businesses tackling challenges to food waste, in-store shopping, and fitting rooms. Read more. Enter the competition.
Big business urged to unleash ‘magic’ by working with entrepreneurs
Guardian: Larger companies should unite in partnership with creative entrepreneurs so that both can grow and prosper in the digital world, according to Creative England. Read more.
Struggling pubs will lose lifeline under new venture capital rules that ban angel investors from rescuing flailing businesses
CityAM: New rules from the EU preventing venture capital trusts and enterprise investment schemes investing in existing businesses are likely to hit the pub sector the hardest. Read more.
- Related: Trade bodies unite to confront EU about VCT and EIS rules (FT Advisor)
Crowdfunding to get flooded Calderdale businesses out of deep water
Guardian: Community crowdfunding project raises more than £110,000 for flooded traders, many of whom weren’t insured after previous floods. Read more. Donate.
Opinion
Gender equality in the tech sector will benefit the global economy
Imagine the developers we can train from UK’s unemployed women, writes Martha Lane Fox (founder and chair, doteveryone.org.uk). Read on FT (£). Read on doteveryone.
If politicians won’t defend capitalism, the job falls to business leaders
From Jeremy Corbyn to George Osborne, politicians aren’t ready to fight for profit. So capitalists must unite for their cause, writes John McTernan (Labour party political advisor). Read more.
Being a startup is a mindset, not a phase
Bigger companies must remain vigilant to keep the ‘magical’ energy of a startup, writes Sahar Hashemi (founder, Skinny Candy and co-founder, Coffee Republic). Read more.
The best companies channel their inner David Bowie Giving UK companies the chance to reinvent themselves will benefit us all, writes Karen Blackett (chair, Mediacom). Read more.
Equity crowdfunding’s success will depend on how we deal with coming business failures
If the regulators are kept at bay, some big-name catastrophes could be good news for the wider industry this year, writes Jimmy McLoughlin (deputy head of policy, IOD). Read more.
In praise of the gig economy
Services like Uber and Deliveroo create new, versatile, flexible jobs which snobbish professionals dismiss at their peril, writes Emran Mian (director, Social Market Foundation). Read more.
Restricting skilled worker visas will hit the economy and damage UK Commonwealth relations
The government risks further alienating skilled Commonwealth nationals who work in the UK with proposed changes to the Tier 2 skilled worker visa regime, which, if put into practice will undermine Britain’s future economic prosperity, write Lord Howell (president, Royal Commonwealth Society) and Tim Hewish (director of policy and research, Royal Commonwealth Society). Read more.
Features
Inside the world’s largest subterranean skatepark
The Source skatepark – first featured in the Centre’s seaside entrepreneurs publication last year – is preparing to launch next month. Originally a Victorian swimming bath complex, the derelict site was saved by two local brothers, Marc and Rich Moore, founders of The Source BMX and will re-open as the world’s largest underground skate park. The Telegraph pays a visit.
The Forbes 30 under 30 Europe list
Forbes unveils the 300 ‘top young leaders, inventors and brash entrepreneurs’. Read more.
How Larry Page’s obsessions became Google’s business
New York Times: Mr Page is hardly the first Silicon Valley chief with a case of intellectual wanderlust, but to a rare degree he has made his company a reflection of his personal fascinations. Read more.