UnLtdWorld News

Hey guys!

A few weeks ago, we told you about the chance to win some awesome Amazon vouchers, just for answering a couple of questions about social entrepreneurs and the skills needed to be one, just because the UnLtd Research department were interested really(!)

Well there's still a chance to win!! Answer one or all three of the questions and you'll go into the draw..check em out here:

What do you think are the most important skills that a social entrepreneur needs to develop?  

Good luck!

Nic 

Hi everyone,

This week saw the launch of the brand new Social Enterprise Magazine website - and we have to say, we like it a lot!

The revamp is aiming to be the most engaging, informative and useful resource for business people who are passionate about changing lives, building communities and nurturing the environment.

Along with news updates from the sector, the site now houses a really cool section where you can upload your own news, which is an awesome way to let the sector know what your latest achievements or developments are.

Social Enterprise is also the home of the RBS SE100 Index  a tool that charts the growth and impact of any organisations that deliver social, economic or environmental change including charities, housing associations, co-ops, social firms, community enterprises or ethical businesses. Most recently UnLtd Award Winner Mow and Grow topped the index - which is a great achievement - the index is a really good way to keep up to date with up and coming social enterprises in the sector, watching their growth and potential..

So we'd like to say a huge congratulations to the team behind the Social Enterprise Magazine website, and we look forward to wacthing the news updates!  The Social Enterprise Magazine RSS fees is also fed into our news stream which appears on your dashboard - so watch out for the latest headlines!

Nic

Hi UnLtdWorld'ers

We occassionally post blogs about some cool opportunities that may appeal to you or your social enterprise..and today is no exception(!) you'll find below some information about Social Enterprise West Midland's Social Enterprise Summer School - Growing Your Social Enterprise.  If you are based in the West Midlands, this could well be the thing for you...

Social Enterprise West Midlands has organised a two day programme for established social enterprises that are preparing for the next stage of business growth and development. 

Growing your Social Enterprise is a high level programme for business leaders, senior managers or directors, and aims to equip participants with the practical knowledge and tools to develop and take forward sustainable business growth. If you are running a successful social enterprise and have ambitious plans for the future this two day residential is designed for you. 

Structured around four themes - Marketing, Finance, Growth Strategies and Leadership - and with guest speakers from some of most successful social enterprises across the country.  With only 40 places available demand is expected to be high! 

This event is part of SEWM's Trading Know-how project, funded by Capacitybuilders, and each place is heavily subsidised at £200 per person.

Full details can be found over on the UnLtdWorld West Midlands group (in the resources section) or at the Social Enterprise West Midlands website

Hi everyone!

It's been an excting few days for our friends over at UnLtd and we wanted to share some of their exciting news with you, as it may well be something that you could get involved in!

Saturday saw the launch of the Big Challenge 09.

This years challenge is called Your Chance, Everybody’s Change.

Many Cultures, Many Individuals, How can YOU create unity in your community?

If you are 16-25 and passionate about making your community a better place then visit www.bigchallenge.org.uk to be in with a chance of winning part of the £65 000 prize fund to implement your campaign idea!

Last year 10 fantastic winners won between £2500 and £8000 to set up community based projects that are making a difference to the lives of young people. Now it’s your turn. Make the change, let the Big Challenge be your Big Chance.

The deadline is 28th September. You can the team on 0207 5661129 or e-mail bigchallenge@unltd.org.uk if you have any questions.

And today, saw the launch of The UnLtd 4iP Awards

The UnLtd 4iP scheme will be giving awards of up to £5,000 to help individuals from across the UK to turn their digital media project into a reality. 

4iP will share its expertise in digital media and UnLtd will provide dedicated support including training opportunities, mentoring and access to resources to help individuals develop their skills and their projects. 

The programme will operate across the whole of the UK including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  

To find out more, head over to www.unltd.org.uk/4iP

Congratulations to UnLtd on these launches, and we hope that some of you will be able to take advantage of these great programmes!

Nic 

Hi everyone,

On this fine summers evening, we wanted to take a minute to tell you about an awesome campaign that we here at UnLtdWorld are well behind! UnLtd Award Winner Pants to Poverty are going to rid the world of bad pants!!

Pants to Poverty are a whole new type of underwear brand that began as part of Make Poverty History in 2005. They make great pants and sell them across 15 countries whilst working with thousands of farmers in India. 

What’s wrong with bad pants? Well for too long now bad pants have menaced our brothers and sisters around the world. One pair of non-organic cotton pants will have used 10ml of pesticides, enough to kill a person if directly exposed. According to the World Health Organisation 20,000 people die every year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries. Millions more suffer from acute poisoning with side effects including cancer, birth defects, respiratory problems and sterility. These abominable pants destroy our environment and push millions into poverty and despair. 

Fairtrade and organic farming and manufacturing practices will resolve these problems!

Now, the time has come to finally rid the world of bad pants! Sign up and protect yourself and our growing community of pant lovers. We have the means and the will. But that is nothing without you! 

SO, JOIN THE PANTS AMNESTY! 

When? Tuesday 7th July 2009, join thousands of people from around the world start a whole new and exciting phase in the campaign against bad pants! 

What to do? Get to the Royal Exchange for 1pm. Bring your worst pair of bad pants with you. For those hungry for media attention change into a free pair of pants to poverty pants! At 1.30pm line up for the photo shoot and be part of the campaign!  EASY! All you need to do now is gather as many of your mates as possible and get them all to come along! 

Check out Pants to Poverty’s website for more info www.pantstopoverty.com or have a gander at the video below!!

Hi everyone!

We are overjoyed to announce this afternoon that UnLtdWorld has been nominated in The Europas, the technology innovation awards for European tech companies!!  We're nominated in the Best Social Innovation (which benefits society) category, alongside some great organisations doing some really cool things - we're thrilled to be amongst them!

You can vote for us by clicking here:http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/06/24/the-europas-best-social-innovation-which-benefits-society-emea/ 

Thank you so so much in advance! Our nomination is a complete reflection on all of your contributions to UnLtdWorld to make it a vibrant community, and we are constantly humbled by your support!

Nic 

Since we launched UnLtdWorld just over a year ago, providing social entrepreneurs with tools to help your projects, organisations and businesses succeed has always been core to our mission.

We’ve noticed that some of you have been representing your companies on UnLtdWorld in a variety of ways – for example through personal profiles, groups and services.

Based on this we thought it would be helpful to create one consolidated way for you to let the world know about what your business is doing, and are delighted to announce the release of Company Profiles.

What is a company profile? 

It’s a profile page, like the individual one you have now, but for your project, organisation, business or enterprise. Company profiles aren’t just for large companies – they are for anyone running a project - no matter how big or small, indeed any one individual can set up a number of company profiles representing all the different projects they work on. 

Through a Company Profile you can let others know the key information about your venture and connect with people that are interested in your work, and through their enthusiasm, advice and support can help your work become even greater.

Company Profiles give you the opportunity to bring all the services, resources, events, products, photos and videos that your business generates into one easy to find place. For those of you just starting out, you can use the company profile as a place to direct friends, supporters and potential funders to without the expense of building and hosting a website yourself!  For those of you who already have a website, this is a way of forming long lasting relationships with your stakeholders and supporters. It’s a way for you to engage people, and interact with them in more direct way. Anyone who likes your company can “follow it” so they can keep up-to-date with your recent developments.

We’ve also decided to make specific elements of Company Profiles public-facing – this means members and non-members of UnLtdWorld can see parts of them! The public-facing elements will include fields that are specific to the Company Profile, such as about, location and external links. All associated content (such as photos and resources), comment wall and user profiles remain private.  We believe this gives you the opportunity to showcase your project to the widest possible audience and at the same time protect your privacy and security.

We also plan to launch vanity urls for Company Profiles, to make it even easier to share the page with your contacts.

We have lots in the pipeline for Company Profiles and see these pages becoming central to the UnLtdWorld platform over time.  In fact, we plan to integrate tools and services to foster better collaboration and information sharing between and within projects;  add to the Research Lab profile information for projects and make this available through an API; and finally integrate into Company Profiles tools to connect projects to skills and financial support.  

Most importantly, please let us know of any tools or functions that you think would help you to showcase and enhance your work better. We want to incorporate your ideas. You are the people who know what works best for you and we’re here to help you succeed!

All companies are listed in the “Do Business” section, and you can set up a company from there, or get started right now!

We look forward to your feedback.

-- Alberto 

Good Morning everyone!

Today we thought we'd celebrate finally having our full-team all full-time and on board by re-introducing ourselves to you..Some of you may already know us well from talking on the site, or following us on twitter..but keep reading if you want to learn a little bit more about us, in our own words..

Alberto Nardelli

CEO

http://unltdworld.com/profile/alberton/

(On Twitter: www.twitter.com/albertonardelli )

"I'm originally from Italy. When I was a kid, like most Italians I wanted to be a footballer. Like most Italian kids I didn't become one. As I wasn't interested in working in the public sector or for a trade union I decided to emmigrate and give the web a go. After a while I realised I didn't have many skills or talents, so like the creator of the Commitments had to choose between starting a rock band and becoming an entrepreneur. I went for the latter."  

Dan Lehner

Head of Business Development  

http://unltdworld.com/profile/danlehner 

(On Twitter: www.twitter.com/danlehner)

"I am Dan, the newest member of the UnLtdWorld team.  I've caused some disruption in the team since arriving.  Nicola is very jealous of me because my music taste is better than hers.  By that, I mean I like music that doesn't just come from Manchester. Alberto is also jealous because the football team I support is better than his.  He may point to our £300 million debt but then I would point to Stevie G.  My bad habits include growing old too quickly, staying in the office too late and coming up with new product ideas for UnLtdWorld too often.  I don't like flying, free London papers or the state of the current UK music scene."

Misja Hoebe

Director of Technology

http://unltdworld.com/profile/misja/

(On Twitter: www.twitter.com/misja)

"For a long time I've been working with Internet technologies, and am currently leading the technical development of UnLtdWorld.com. Before joining I was involved in the open source social networking tool Elgg and have worked as an educational technologist in higher education and as a technology consultant at CapGemini

Based in the Netherlands, I see myself as a product of a rapidly changing world where the Internet enables new ways of cooperating and doing business and greatly influences the way we work, live, learn and connect with others. We live in exciting times and the possibilities are endless!

I'm married and live with my wife and wonderful 6 year old daughter in Groningen, the Netherlands, completed by two greyhounds and a noisy cat. I'm an avid scrobbler, hate Coldplay and am yet to understand why according to some Oasis is the best thing that ever happened to pop music."

And last but not least...

Nic Jones

Community Manager 

http://unltdworld.com/profile/nicjones 

(On Twitter; www.twitter.com/navigatornic AND www.twitter.com/unltdworld) 

"As the youngest, and undoubtedly coolest member of the UnLtdWorld gang, my days are spent constantly trying to improve the music and general taste of the boys..an avid Oasis fan (a band all the others love, but can't face to admit it 'cos it's too mainstream), where Noel and Liam go, generally I follow. I'm fiercely proud of being from Manchester - hands down the best city in the world, and aim to escape back there at some point. I love watching Man City and in the summer can only really be caught at festivals..Pukkelpop this year!! My title as UnLtdWorld Navigator is apt, as I love the film Flight of the Navigator..and generally you can count on me to be going in the right direction..  Oh yeah...and I love Supernatural with a passion and I'm the one one the right in this photo..."

So that's us...don't be afraid to say hi every now and then!