Update for September

Over the past month, a lot has been happening.

Our Forum now has over 50 members, and the Forum blog has had over 3,000 views, which shows how our operation is growing. And there is a lot of interest, in the issues we are discussing.

Qualified Assessment

Thanks to Kevin, from DigitalMe; Sami from Youth Work, and others who responded to my invite to make a new kind of scheme, using qualified assessment to help NEETs. One London council's youth service staff have kindly been in touch about this, and I plan to begin our work over there.

I have set up a new subgroup, as a meeting room on LinkedIn, for us to discuss:

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=7494975&trk=my_groups-tile-grp

It is free to join, and I welcome all youth workers, and youth service people's participation.

Student Opportunities

For student opportunities, Nick Clapp from RMP Enterprise, has kindly accepted my invitation to become a Contributor to the blog. He will write articles about student placements, and I'm sure will have some recommendations for knowledge transfer as well.

I have invited several others to become Contributors, and if you or anyone you know would like to write articles on the blog, then please send me your contact email (to my email below) and I will send you the invite to join.

I am also attempting to build up the new LinkedIn page for the Guild Musical Theatre Group, whose founder is setting up a new drama school. I know that after 30 years in existence, the members and Alumni of this group, now have the collective talent and connections, to be able to build a full scale arts network, which will serve as a clear example to performing arts students, and to student-Alumni networking in general:

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=8342825&trk=my_groups-tile-grp

Job Creation/Business Start Ups

On the job creation side, I have been asked about the long term sustainability of the Gorilla database.

https://plus.google.com/108660978572646258999/posts

Over 8,000 people who have viewed this database so far, which is clear evidence, of a very strong interest in the concept. But as with the qualified assessment side of our Forum, what we need now, is
a practical example, to prove that it can work.

The database has a simple design. It allows users to put their contact details and innovations on a series of lists. Entrepreneurs will then have access to both the people and the products to start a business with.

To demonstrate this, we now need a successful example of a business, started from putting this kind of information on the database. After our progress with qualified assessment, I am confident we can find the same interest from entrepreneurs, and will put the word out shortly, to gauge their interest.

If you would like to contribute to this project, you are welcome to access the link above, or contact me on these Forum pages.

Summary

All in all, a lot is being done, and I am glad we are now using specific examples to develop our ideas for opportunity. I also welcome our new members, and look forward to their articles, posts and comments. The combined insight and experience of our members, will make this a very effective, growing operation.

The Gorilla Database

A Toolkit for Entrepreneurs

Job creation, through business start ups, is an important part of this Forum. Marcus Claytor has very kindly designed a database, whose purpose is to give entrepreneurs a Toolkit to start businesses with. The database can store contact details and product/service innovations: meaning that an entrepreneur would have access to both, to start a new business.

For entrepreneurs and others who are interested, here is the link to the database:

https://plus.google.com/108660978572646258999/posts

The over 8,000 views it has had so far, is a clear indication of Gorilla's potential. We will continue to build the database, which will eventually lead to a new app for entrepreneurs.