CamperVantastic wins Lewisham Business Award

SEE was one of the sponsors at the Lewisham Business Awards ceremony on Thursday 11th March. SEE client, CamperVantastic, was the winner of Best Company and also the Best New Company of the Year award.

CamperVantastic hires out campervans and also gives travel tips and offers extras including bikes, camping equipment, surf and ski racks, hammocks and luxury bedding sets. The company was set up in December 2007 after camping expert and seasoned backpacker Steve Lumley discovered a niche in the market. The day they formed the company, they contacted Tony Goldstein from Lewisham Business Advisory Service. ‘He was great and has been with us all the way offering advice, networking opportunities and training seminars,’ says Steve. Read more about Steve's experience from Lewisham Life Magazine.

There were 10 categories at the awards, the winners are featured in Lewisham Life and the Mercury newspaper. Click on the links to read more.

International Women's Day Celebration

SEE regularly arrange Women Mean Business networking events to provide women the opportunity to develop personally and professionally – the events provide a friendly forum for networking and for business women entrepreneurs to

• be inspired by guest speakers  
• meet like-minded business women
• make new business and social contacts
• exchange ideas, share knowledge and experiences

SEE organised a Spring Networking Lunch to celebrate International Women’s Day at Manor House Library. The speakers included Toni Stacey-Blake from BOoSHiE BagZ and Yana Johnson from Yana Cosmetics, who have both received business support from SEE.

New Office Open in Lewisham

On the 4th March the Mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock, came to officially open South East Enterprises' new office in Lewis Grove, Lewisham. SEE is the provider of Lewisham Councils' Business Advisory Service (BAS). The new office provides much needed space for advisers to meet with clients and to hold seminars and workshops.

EXOR Business Breakfast at Charlton FC

Lewisham Council spends millions of pounds on the procurement of work, supplies and services each year, providing companies of all sizes with a wide range of commercial opportunities. For some contracts (construction and other related works) the Council creates an approved list, and the evaluation for inclusion on this list is undertaken by EXOR.

South East Enterprise, ELBP and South East Chamber hosted a breakfast to provide an opportunity for businesses to understand how EXOR can work for them. Businesses met Lewisham’s Strategic Procurement Manager, Andy Murray and found out why the council use EXOR to evaluate their suppliers. EXOR’s Account Director, Tony Eve explained why businesses should register with EXOR and detailed  EXOR’s plans for working with businesses in the future and how to get the most benefit from their registration. To see the Exor presentation click here.

New MD for South East Enterprise

Pauline Forrester was appointed as the new Managing Director for South East Enterprise on the 26 November 2009. Pauline brings with her a wealth of experience having worked in the public and private sector, and is very familiar with the strategic issues facing businesses in the boroughs.

Global Entrepreneurship Event at the Trafalgar Tavern

This year, to emphasise the Global nature of enterprise and entrepreneurship, SEE held an event to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship week (17-22 November). The evening event held at the Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich gave businesses the opportunity to talk to expert advisers and discover the wide range of free support and services available. The evening also featured a presentation from the inspirational speaker Mark Shaw. Mark is an expert on the use of social networking, in particular Twitter. As an expert user of Twitter he explained how to harness the power of this new marketing tool. 

A buffet and light refreshments was provided for attendees to enjoy whilst networking with like minded business people. The successful evening culminated in a fabulous free prize draw of goods and services donated by local businesses: SBS Printing, Mondmorn, Media Basement, Mogul Restaurant, FLR Spectrum.

Lewisham Global Entrepreneurship Speed Networking Event

South East Enterprise hosted a Speed Networking Event on the 18th November, to mark the launch of the 2010 Lewisham Mayors' Business Awards and to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week in Lewisham. This provided an ideal opportunity for new Lewisham start up business and pre starts to speed network. There was also a market place offering the opportunity to view the work of some of Lewisham's newest creative businesses.