Wednesday 6 January 2010

A Halloween Prediction for YOUR business!


As business owners in Barking & Dagenham, we’re brilliantly positioned to take advantage of something quite special happening just a few minutes up the A13 – The London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games!

As well as six weeks of the most incredible world class sport & spectacular ceremonies, the whole world will turn its eyes our way for inspiration & innovation as this once in a lifetime opportunity comes to East London.

“But we’re not going to get a piece of the action, its too big a thing for us !!” I hear you cry! How wrong you are !

Yep, the main events will be happening in the fantastic Olympic Stadium, the breathtaking Aquatics Centre and the phenomenal Velodrome, but the behind the scenes exciting (and hopefully profitable!) stuff is going to happen further a-field and likely on our doorsteps. And yep, the huge contracts have already been awarded to get the big buildings ready but as we speak, the smaller but equally important contracts are trickling through…..and these are the ones that will suit many our businesses in Barking & Dagenham.

The two organisations buying services from businesses, the ODA (the Olympic Delivery Authority) and LOCOG (the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games), have phenomenal spending power and are really keen to see a lot of this money spent at local levels. To help make this happen, they’ve developed a brilliant web based tool called CompeteFor where EVERY Olympic contract up for grabs is published openly and fairly and this makes them accessible for any local business. It takes only a few minutes to register and before you know it, you’re up there with the big boys pitching for some very interesting business opportunities. Have a look at www.london2012.com/business and register today.

But, if you need help getting your business ready for 2012 (or indeed any other business opportunity), Barking & Dagenham’s FREE business support network is highly visible, very well established and will make sure you do what’s right for your business.

Organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce, East London Business Place and Barking & Dagenham Enterprise are funded by the local authority for just that. To help your business survive and grow and get you ready for the opportunities just up on the horizon. Oh, and of course a shameless plug for my own organisation, the Barking & Dagenham Small Business Centre: we’re a great central point of contact for all things business, so pop into our office in Longbridge Road and if we can’t help you, we know someone who can !

Halloween is not just an excuse to get yourself dressed up to scare the neighbours and the kids. You need to use it as an excuse to start dressing up your business for something much more exciting.

In only 1000 days from the 31st October this year, the Olympic & Paralympic Games come to East London leaving you less than three years to get your business off its marks, on track for success and ultimately poised to go for gold.

My prediction for Halloween is that I expect to hear “and the winner is, Barking & Dagenham!”…….and I’m not normally wrong!

No comments: