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GRAMEEN
BANK FOUNDER WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE |
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 The
Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 to Muhammad Yunus
and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create
economic and social development from below.
Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional
banking practice by creating a banking system
based on mutual trust. 
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DYNSHAW
ITALIA IS FINANCIAL DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR 2006 |
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 Dynshaw
Italia, Finance Director & Chief Operating
Officer of Cobra Beer, has been named the
Financial Director of the Year2006 (for Growing
Business) at the Accountancy Age Awards. The
ceremony, which took place on 15th November,
recognises the success stories of the year
in the financial and accountancy fields.
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OLDERPRENEURS:
A SAFER BET FOR BUSINESS? |
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 Olderpreneur
Showcase is a set of case studies of people
who have set up businesses later in life.
It has been prepared to demonstrate the variety
and vibrancy of older entrepreneurship. "Enterprise
isn't just about youth", says Laurie
South, PRIME's Chief Executive. "People
of any age can set up in business, but it's
particularly useful for the over 50s as there
are not a lot of other options.
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INDIA
DENIED THE RIGHT TO PRODUCE AFFORDABLE MEDS |
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 Leading
charity Oxfam has recently taken on the pharmaceutical
giant Novartis demanding that developing countries
are granted the right to produce affordable
medicines. Pharmaceuticals companies are however
concerned about the increase in generics medicines
for the export market and how this will impact
their future investment in R&D.
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CLEVER
BUSINESS HABITS GUIDE |
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 Given
that up to 30 per cent of small businesses
fail after their first year in business, getting
the essentials right and listening to sound
advice is crucial. With this in mind, Alliance
& Leicester has launched the 'Clever Business
Habits Guide', to help businesses in their
quest for success.
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BUSINESS
BANKING MARKET CROWDED WITH CONFUSION |
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 A
new report commissioned by Alliance &
Leicester Commercial Bank has found that businesses
are being put off switching banks because
it takes three days’ work to wade through
the complicated myriad of fees and tariff
structures. The report has also found that
the complex and non-transparent market prevents
businesses saving up to £41,000 a year
each.
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ASIAN
WOMEN IN CREATIVE INDUSTRIES |
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 The
Dynamic Asian Women's Network (DAWN) will
be holding its latest creative event on 24
October 2006 with a panel of guest speakers
including dance choreographer Honey Kalaria,
Sumerah Ahmad, founder of a 'Club Asia' radio
and Lopa Patel, founder of South Asian Lifestyle
portal Redhotcurry.com.
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MORE
WOMEN SET UP THEIR DREAM BUSINESS |
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 Women
across the UK are setting up more businesses
than last year with 38,100 businesses started
in the first six months of this year, up 9%
on the same period last year (34,600), according
to research from Barclays. In some areas,
the growth in start ups by women overtook
those of men.
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TATA
STEEL ACQUIRES CORUS |
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 The
boards of Tata Steel and Corus today announced
their agreement on the terms of the acquisition
of Corus at a price of 455 pence in cash for
each Corus Share, valuing the company at £4.3
billion. Tata Steel is India’s largest
private sector steel company with 2005/06
revenues of US$5.0 billion. This acquisition
will make it the world's fifth largest steelmaker.
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EMPLOYERS
NOT DOING ENOUGH FOR MIGRANT WORKERS |
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 New
research has revealed the risks faced by migrant
workers in the UK and has suggested that employers
are not doing enough to ensure that these
workers have the correct skills. The report
found that migrant workers may be experiencing
higher levels of workplace accidents because
they are more likely to work long hours, to
work shifts and to have limited understanding
of health and safety.
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IMPERIAL
COLLEGE TO LAUNCH RAJIV GANDHI CENTRE |
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 Meeting
today in advance of the India-UK investment
summit, the Rector of Imperial College London,
Sir Richard Sykes, and Mr. R Seshasayee, President
of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
have signed a Memorandum of Understanding,
linking their two organisations.
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DRIVE
TO IMPROVE EMPLOYERS' ATTITUDE TO ILLNESS |
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 A
new initiative encouraging employers to improve
the way they deal with mental health in the
workplace was launched by Health Minister
Rosie Winterton. The three year initiative,
called 'Action on Stigma', urges employers
to change their employment practices to ensure
that people with mental health problems are
treated fairly and equally with others.
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AGE
DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE OUTLAWED |
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 New
laws coming into effect today will protect
workers of all ages from discrimination in
the work place. The Age Discrimination regulations
give important new rights and responsibilities
to every employee and business in Britain.
Trade and Industry Secretary, Alistair Darling
said:"Discrimination against you just
because you're older has no place in a modern
society."
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DISPATCHES
UNVEILS INDIA'S DATA THEFT SCANDAL |
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 In
last night's edition of documentary programme
'Dispatches' (5 October 2006), Sue Turton,
senior reporter for Channel 4 News, investigated
the Indian call centre security failures which
allows personal financial details to be stolen
and illegally traded. In a 12-month undercover
investigation, Turton infiltrated criminal
networks which trade British consumers' bank
details and confidential information.
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BARCLAYS'
ASIAN APPOINTMENTS |
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 Barclays
have made three major Asian appointments in
the last month; Barclays Global Retail and
Commercial Banking has appointed Ahmed Khizer
Khan as Chief Executive New Markets and Vinit
Chandra as Product Director, Treasury and
Investments. Barclays Wealth Management has
appointment Bobby Kapur as a Director in its
NRI division.
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SHITAL
ADATIA JOINS A&L'S BUSINESS BANKING TEAM |
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 Alliance
& Leicester Commercial Bank's East Midlands
Business Centre today announced the appointment
of Commercial Property Finance specialist,
Shital Adatia to its Business Banking team.
Shital started his career with Nat West in
1996. Over the last ten years he has managed
an extensive portfolio of businesses, helping
hundreds of local businesses develop.
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PARLIAMENT
BACKS KARIM'S EU-INDIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT |
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 The
European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved
a report by Sajjad Karim MEP, Liberal Democrat
International Trade Spokesman, on EU-India
trade and economic relations. The report calls
on the EU and India to demonstrate the political
will to build an effective partnership and
the EU to enter into a Free Trade Agreement
(FTA), with India.
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ASIAN
WOMEN PAY A HIGH PENALTY IN THE UK WORKPLACE |
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 Pakistani
and Bangladeshi girls are ambitious and forging
ahead at school – but they're likely
to pay a high penalty in the workplace claims
the The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).
The report paints a worrying picture of poor
prospects for young Asian women who face higher
unemployment, a lower glass ceiling and lower
pay. Most also work in a restricted range
of sectors and jobs.
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ASIAN
BUSINESS GROWTH RATE 3X THAT OF UK ECONOMY
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 The
ability of Asian entrepreneurs to adapt to
new business opportunities has seen the sector’s
wealth grow at three times the rate of that
produced by the UK economy. A new study reveals
that real Asian wealth increased by 69% compared
to the overall UK GDP growth figure of 22.8%
with a shift by business owners towards higher
value industrial sectors such as pharmaceuticals,
IT and media.
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SMALL
INCREASE IN NUMBER OF NEW SME BUSINESSES |
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 The
Small Business Service (SBS) today published
Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) Statistics
for the UK 2005. There were an estimated 4.3
million business enterprises in the UK at
the start of 2005, an increase of 59,000 (1.4%)
on the start of 2004, but 72.8% of SME's have
no employees.
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'TOP
10' EXCUSES FOR NOT PAYING MINIMUM WAGE |
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 HM
Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has published
a list of the more unusual excuses given by
employers for failing to pay the National
Minimum Wage to their employees. The list
proves that sexism, racism, ageism and ignorance
account for the majority of excuses but there
are a few new ones too!
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BUSINESS
CONFIDENCE AT HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 1997
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A
significant upturn in sales and orders in
the first half of the year has boosted UK
firms’ optimism for future profitability
to its highest level in nine years, according
to the ‘Business in Britain’ report
from Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. The biannual
survey of over 2,200 UK companies shows that
24 per cent more firms saw sales rise rather
than fall since January – a dramatic
jump from just 8% six months ago.
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A&L's
BUSINESS BANKING A BIG SUCCESS |
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 Figures
released by Alliance & Leicester plc show
that the number of businesses choosing to
bank with it has increased considerably year
on year. 12,800 new business bank accounts
have been opened, an increase of over 20%
compared to the first half of 2005. The bank’s
share of the business bank account market
has more than doubled since 2002 from 1.8%to
3.7% for the first six months of 2006.
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UK
SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS SPEND 60% LONGER AT
WORK |
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 Owners
of small and medium businesses in the UK work
24 hours longer each week than the rest of
the UK workforce according to research carried
out by Barclays. UK entrepreneurs spent an
average of 61.1 hours working each week in
2005, significantly ahead of the UK average
working week of 37.4 hours.
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QUARTER
MORE BUSINESSES SET UP BY UK ENTREPRENEURS |
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 Barclays
today unveiled new figures showing a substantial
rise in the number of budding entrepreneurs
opening their doors for the first time. Estimates
show that 110,300 new businesses started up
in the first quarter of 2006, almost one-quarter
more than in the same period last year (88,800).
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UK
ENGAGES INDIAN BUSINESS LEADERS ON CLIMATE
CHANGE |
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 On
26th June 2006, Barry Gardiner MP, Minister
for the Environment and The Confederation
of Indian Industry (CII) hosted a meeting
on climate change to discuss the role played
by the world's fastest growing economy in
driving forward the low-carbon economy of
the future.
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WHERE
IS THE UK'S CAPITAL OF ENTERPRISE? |
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 The
West Kilbride Craft & Design Town, the
Borough of Knowsley and the Kent Science Park
are just some of the places announced today
as exemplifying the UK's enterprise spirit,
with the publication of the regional winners
of the DTI's Enterprising Britain 2006 competition.
The competition is a part of |
