6 01732 759725 NEWS LANDMARK WALK Staff at Konica Minolta have raised more than £4,000 for charity partners Candlelighters, Dynamic and Trust Links by completing the inaugural Konica Minolta 20km London Landmarks Walk. A team of 41 employees crossed the finish line together in Trafalgar Square after completing a circular walk past London landmarks such as Nelson’s Column, the Globe Theatre and the Tower of London. www.konicaminolta.co.uk ... NEW VENUE FOR TECH START-UPS Cloud computing company Civo is supporting London’s tech community with the launch of Civo Tech Junction, a multipurpose co-working and event space in the heart of Shoreditch. As well as providing facilities and a flexible workspace for freelancers, startups and established tech companies, the venue will host regular events on topics such as DevOps, machine learning, cloud computing, software development and security. Civo CEO Mark Boost said: “We’ve always believed in the democratic access to tech, whether through open source machine learning or truly interoperable cloud services. This is the spirit of the Civo Tech Junction, where we’re going beyond services to the open sharing of knowledge. We’re looking forward to further supporting London’s already thriving tech scene.” TECHNOLOGY ACCESSIBILITY GUIDANCE Business Disability Forum has introduced free online advice and resources to help businesses accommodate the technology needs of disabled customers and service users. Created by disabled people and accessibility experts from Business Disability Forum’s Technology Taskforce, the Technology Toolkit highlights how technology can improve the user experience for disabled consumers by making products and services more accessible (e.g. with live captioning on a phone), but also act as a barrier if the needs of disabled people have not been considered. Business Disability Forum’s Tech Taskforce Manager Lucy Ruck said: “Thinking about accessibility from the beginning reduces the need for retrofitting later and makes good business sense. But creating inclusive tech solutions is not just about disability. It is about making products and services that work better for everyone and for your organisation. This makes accessibility an essential issue for all businesses.” www.businessdisabilityforum.org.uk ... FROM SIDE-HUSTLE TO MULTIMILLION POUND BUSINESS Side-hustles have become a leading route for start-ups in the UK, with 39% of new businesses starting this way, according to a survey of 1,000 small business owners by Small Business Britain and eBay. Almost half (46%) of side-hustlers have grown these ventures to such an extent that they have been able to quit their jobs and run their businesses full-time. While one in five business owners (22%) starts their side hustle to make extra cash, the main motivations are to pursue a passion (43%) or to gain a better work-life balance (43%). Typical is joiner Joseph Holman who started his Luton-based restoration business, Green Doors, in 2014 as a side hustle after spotting a door in a skip. He restored the door, sold it on eBay and went on to start a sidehustle selling old windows and doors rescued from landfill. Today, Green Doors employs over 25 people, rescues 3,000+ items annually and generates nearly £2 million in turnover. Holman said: “Having dyslexia and ADHD allows me to see opportunities that others might miss, such as salvaging items that deserve a second chance. I began my entrepreneurial journey at the age of 12 on eBay, which provided me with a great platform to learn the ins and outs of running a business. This experience helped shape my current company, which now employs more than 25 people.” https://smallbusinessbritain.uk ... SMARTPHONES WANTED Virgin Media O2 and environmental charity Hubbub are calling on consumers to rehome unwanted smartphones through the latter’s Community Calling scheme. Established in 2020 in response to the pandemic, Community Calling provides smartphones to people who can’t afford devices or online connectivity, including refugees, victims of domestic abuse and disadvantaged communities. To date, the initiative has donated 20,000 devices to people across the country in partnership with Women’s Aid, Crisis, Migrant Help and Supporting Children with Diabetes. Devices are powered with free O2 mobile data from the National Databank, set up by Virgin Media O2 and charity Good Things Foundation. It is estimated that almost 15 million unused smartphones are gathering dust in homes across the UK. Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub are asking people to send unwanted working smartphones to Community Calling, where accredited tech partner Genuine Solutions will data wipe devices before passing them on to people in need who can use them to get online, access essential services, apply for a job or keep in touch with loved ones. https://www.hubbub.org.uk/ continued... Joseph Holman, 33, from Luton, started a side-line business restoring old doors and turned it into a thriving business rescuing and restoring thousands of items annually
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