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I am London Private View

By Araceli On February 1, 2012 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to I am London Private ViewPermalink

23rd February 2012
6:30-9:00
@THECUBE

Studio 5
155 Commercial Street
E1 6BJ

THECUBE London is pleased to announce ” I am London”, an exhibition of photography, illustration, and graphic design that looks at describing what it is to be a young Londoner.  The images are those from the collective of young artist using their work to explore, respond, describe and answer questions and problems facing everyday in London. This group of artist is a mixture of those born and raised in London and those having only moved here a few years ago.

Shoreditch Fringe 2012

By Araceli On January 31, 2012 In Blog With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Shoreditch Fringe 2012Permalink

We are excited to announce that  the guys at Idea Generation are putting the first fringe festival in East London. It is a great idea to bring together all of the diversity and richness of the area. They  will have over 100 leading cultural organisations and businesses – from Vice & Village Underground through to Hackney Empire & Hackney Council – have joined together in support of the development of a Shoreditch Fringe Festival for the Summer of 2012.

Inspired by the spirit of the pioneers of the original Edinburgh Fringe festivals, the aim for the Shoreditch Fringe is to have an impact beyond both the borough and 2012 – creating an enduring legacy to build audiences for arts & culture.

For programmers, the Shoreditch Fringe will provide a framework & platform from which to promote their events to audiences; fast-track applications to the council; and share ideas with other venues & promoters – with all registration fees being directed toward the marketing & support of the programme.

For audiences, the Shoreditch Fringe will provide a hub of easy-to-access information, ideas & tickets – enabling them to explore the beating cultural & creative heart of London.

The resulting programme will be an all-inclusive 100 day cultural festival (from the Queen’s Jubilee super-bank holiday weekend on 1st Jun through to the end of the Paralympic Games on 9th Sep), showcasing all that the creative heart of London has to offer during the Summer of 2012.Preparing For The Biggest Cultural Event In London’s History

“The idea for the Shoreditch Fringe came from a group of local galleries, bars & businesses” comments spokesperson Auro Foxtrot, “all of whom were independently developing their own ideas to engage and entertain the crowds that will be in town for the 2012 celebrations next summer.”

“Instead of working independently, the Fringe can enable us to work together. We hope to bring the entire community together, creating a focal point around which everyone can share ideas, co-programme and make some noise.

“For a small registration fee, we aim to provide more than fringe benefits – a mixture of support, advice, networking, marketing and publicity.

“Reflecting the DIY DNA of the borough, the Shoreditch Fringe will be open to any type of event from across the creative & cultural spectrum – visual art, music, comedy, cabaret, craft, literature, poetry, food, film, theatre, dance, digital, design and debate.

“And in keeping with the spirit of the spectrum of 2012 celebrations, this rich variety of events will cater for every type of audience – local and London-wide; national & international; children & adults; experimental & mainstream.”

Registration Now Open

“We put the idea of a fringe to a small network of local businesses a few weeks ago – and the response was one of unanimous & overwhelming interest & excitement; within a month have attracted over a 100 supporters already working together to develop their programmes.

“We’re now opening it up to the community at large to ensure that there is sufficient demand for the idea before aiming to press the green button in January.

“The network is now open – at www.yammer.com/shoreditchfringe – and all venues, programmers and artists interested in participating are encouraged to sign-up before December 23rd. Get involved now!”

More than Fringe Benefits

A not-for-profit venture, the Shoreditch Fringe aims to provide benefit the broadest possible number of groups over both the short & longer term:

For Venues & Programmers:

- High profile online platform from which to promote their venue – Marketing & PR campaign support – Direct advice & fast-track processing for applications from Hackney Council – Networking & introduction opportunities via online community & special events – Long term, deeper community ties

For Visitors to London:

- Clear information straight from the heart of London’s cultural hub – Ideas across the spectrum of arts & entertainment – Simple ticketing process & special offers – Additional ideas & suggestions to visit the rest of London & the UK – A more varied & enjoyable visit to London & the UK

For Creative Community:

- Audience development & marketing support – A case-study template for community programming – A platform for London-wide collective marketing – The development of a legacy nation-wide fringe database

Looking Ahead At 2012

By Araceli On January 1, 2012 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to Looking Ahead At 2012Permalink

Dear CUBERS,

We are excited about what is ahead for the year 2012! Firstly we would like to thank you for choosing THECUBE once again to be part of  your entrepreneurial journey.

Over the last two years THECUBE has built its reputation on housing an exceptional entrepreneurial community, this is something we would like to continue to foster as well as create new ways to collaborate and innovate.

Looking Ahead
1. Virgin Innovation Lab: We will start with PLATYPUS to begin our rapport with the Virgin brand. This will bring new and interesting opportunities to the members. This partnership will showcase for the first time how corporations can collaborate and nourish entrepreneurial communities like THECUBE.

2. Pro Bono Projects: To continue building on THECUBE’s community we will be working with charities and NGO’s, who are creating an impact in their fields. The first one is Khulisa, who brought down the crime rate in South Africa and now is building their brand in the UK. The role of THECUBE will be to help these NGO’s & charities on a pro bono basis with strategy, branding, and digital media. We believe that we are now in a position as a business and community to create a strong and unique CSR platform.

3. International Collaborations: We are looking forward to creating projects which will bring NYC together with London as well as announce our partnerships with entrepreneurial communities in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Rwanda.

4. Inspiration: If THECUBE were a person it could not be faulted for its intellectual abilities and nerdiness, however this year we want to bring more inspiration to the space. Telling the story better, bringing inspirational speakers to the space, and sharing more CUBER stories.

We wish our entire CUBER community a prosperous, happy, and fulfilling 2012.

Thank You.

How An Entrepreneur Divides His Time Between His Start-Up & A Charity

By Araceli On December 19, 2011 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to How An Entrepreneur Divides His Time Between His Start-Up & A CharityPermalink

One of our CUBERS, Ashwin Saddul founder of  mobile strategy agency, Better Than Paper shares his time between his start up and a Charity. The charity has just been featured on the BBC and it focuses on helping street children in India.

If you would like to get involved, we have christmas cards at THECUBE.

Why did you start the charity?

  • After spending many years in advertising, the realisation my job will never make the world a better place
  • To make a visible difference to people who really need it by focusing on one particular cause instead of many
  • Had to create a balance between giving and taking
  • I have Indian heritage with family in India where poverty is a huge issue.
  • After being exposed to very bleak poverty -seeing and hearing, first hand, the personal stories of human suffering & tragedy, we became even more emotionally connected to the cause
  • To come back to England after our experience and continue as normal would be a travesty – to help educate people at home and give them a channel to contribute was the right thing to do
  • We met with like minded people who had similar experiences to us and wanted to continue their support in some way when they returned to England – this made it easier to motivate us all to do something. Easier said than done !

2 How does giving back influence the business ?

  • Not much influence yet as we’re in the early stages of launching both
  • The charity and my business are entirely separate at the moment – this means separate conversations with different clients or donors. There are no mentions of the charity on our company website yet.
  • As we are a new business, our client relationships are only starting to develop. Although some of my clients have donated, generally I don’t feel comfortable discussing it with them otherwise i feel i might be trying to off-load too much too soon or emotionally blackmail them ! One strategy would be to start donating a small percentage of profits back to the charity – but we’re a long way from that yet.
  • From a personal point of view, i feel more emotionally balanced and confident when approaching clients - the charity gives whilst the running our business means a lot of pitching which is one-sided to a certain extent.

3 How is change generated ?

  • Broad question, depends on the type of change desired and where it is directed. From a business and charity point of view: Its about value exchange /  mutual benefit. If you can communicate with clarity so people understand the immediate benefits of how a change in their behaviour (could be a change in purchase behaviour) could benefit everyone then i think that is a powerful tool in generating change. There are obvious mechanisms to achieve this such as advertising ( there – advertising isn’t so bad after all is it ??!)

The Idea
We always encourage CUBERS to do something else along side their enterprise to keep the brain open and scanning for new things. It is all well and good to stay focused on the goal, however this often creates tunnel vision, which can lead entrepreneurs to miss opportunities.

IFE Projects Offering Support To Young Fashion Entrepreneurs

By Araceli On December 14, 2011 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to IFE Projects Offering Support To Young Fashion EntrepreneursPermalink
CUBER, Bukola Dagiloke is the founder and CEO of IFE Projects, which is a company that helps young people break into the fashion industry. Their latest project is are below….
IFE Projects are now running Independent Fashion Entrepreneur Training and Innovative Fashion Enterprise Development courses, for more detail follow this link :http://www.theifeelexperience.com/ifespotlight.php?action=fullnews&id=64 Please get in contact if you would like to find out more information.
We also have opportunities for fashion creatives to get involved in workshops and other paid projects on a freelance basis and we have some intern roles available in 2012. More information about these opportunities can be found here: http://www.theifeelexperience.com/joinus.html

About THECUBE

THECUBE is a coworking space that houses diverse entrepreneurs and helps create community via events and curated introductions.

How Collaboration Works At THECUBE

By Araceli On December 12, 2011 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to How Collaboration Works At THECUBEPermalink

We asked CUBER Jonathan Lister to tell who he has collaborated at THECUBE. Below is his story.

Who have you collaborated at THECUBE?
I have collaborated with a wide range of people from digital to coworking, below are some of the projects.

Richard White – SeenOnScreenFitness.com
Charlotte Hambly – SweetSpot.com print brochures
Alison Coward – a project proposal Alison was working on
Adam Austin – SEO proposal for SweetSpot
Araceli Camargo – Coworking plans

Would you collaborate again?
Yes!

Why do we encourage our members to collaborate?

THECUBE’s reputation is highly founded on its community. We have worked meticulously to create a space that supports collaboration. Our members generate business leads, bid for jobs together, and share skills. When you are starting a business it can be a lonely process and you need people around you to stimulate ideas and help you generate contacts.

How we create collaboration
1. THECUBE is small and open plan, this helps take  away anonimity and thus encourages people to introduce each other

2. We set up curated introductions amongst our members and outside contacts

3. We hold monthly lunches and roundtables where members can meet each other and share ideas.

About THECUBE

THECUBE is coworking space in Shoreditch, East London dedicated to collaboration, building sustainable businesses, and driving innovation.

Accounting Clinic 15th Dec @ THECUBE

By Araceli On December 1, 2011 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to Accounting Clinic 15th Dec @ THECUBEPermalink

Cube members FKGB Accountants will be hosting an accounting clinic on 15th December from 2-6pm @ The Cube.

FKBG are offering Cube members a free 25 minute consultation aimed specifically at advising members of their obligations with the upcoming personal tax deadline on 31st January 2012.

Any members who wish to discuss other accounting issues that they have are also welcome.

Places are limited so if you wish to book a 25 minute slot please do so by contacting Gary Bloch direct… gary.bloch@fkgb.co.uk.

3 Questions With ArtDriver

By Araceli On November 14, 2011 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to 3 Questions With ArtDriverPermalink

We have asked our member Oleksiy Synelnychenko the CEO of  ArtDriver to answer three questions.

What are you working on?

In addition to helping a number of innovative startups and charities with their  web development and SEO projects, I’ve been working on our own Internet startup that will incorporate online booking, ratings and reviews for Kyiv, Ukraine restaurants. As you know, Kyiv will be hosting Euro 2012 European Football Championship in the summer 2012, and it is essential to help this city to accommodate the needs of hundreds of thousands of English speaking sport fans who will ascend upon the Ukraine’s capital and will be looking for places to eat.

2. What is the book that changed your life?

One book that comes to mind and really stands out is “The World is Flat” by Thomas Freedman. The author described the importance of globalisation and how countries, companies, communities, and individuals can and must adapt to it in order to be successful or “put it straight” survive in the modern and rapidly changing world.

3. What is THECUBE?

The very name of this place makes me think that I am a part of something great, a place that allows me to immerse myself into the world of creativity and become a part of the community of entrepreneurs. THECUBE also helps me to run my startup business efficiently, share my ideas and meet new people.

About ArtDriver
We are masters of utilising SEO and social media marketing to position our clients’ websites in top search results as well as increase clickthrough and conversion rates. ArtDriver provides Internet marketing services and carries out SEO strategies with a military precision.

Virgin Media Teams Up With THECUBE To Kick-Start Innovation Lab

By Araceli On November 10, 2011 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to Virgin Media Teams Up With THECUBE To Kick-Start Innovation LabPermalink

Virgin Media and THECUBE, a start-up incubator based in East London today announced a partnership that will see THECUBE members test and develop new products and services across superfast broadband, next generation digital entertainment, mobile and business services.

Unveiled during a Prime Ministerial visit to the area, marking one year of Tech City, ‘The Innovation Lab’ will see THECUBE members help evolve Virgin Media products, before they are launched to customers. Bringing together entrepreneurs, tech start-ups and experts from across the Virgin Media group, the collaboration aims to push superfast connectivity to its limits with new applications and services, make the most of Virgin Media’s new TiVo Service and its innovative apps line-up, develop ground-breaking consumer mobile platforms and new propositions that will enable organisations across the UK to innovate and grow. The partnership will also see Virgin Media’s marketing, technology, commercial and business teams hold seminars and workshops at THECUBE to share their expertise and experience with the community.

From this month, THECUBE will begin to trial a secure business-grade internet connection from Virgin Media Business, reselling the dedicated 1Gb/s internet access on a flexible commercial basis to its members. THECUBE will be enabled with a dedicated, carrier-grade 1Gb/s internet access, made available to start-ups on flexible commercial terms. The trial will run throughout the next year and is provided to THECUBE free of charge. During this time, the incubator will explore a range of commercial models and package the service so its users can benefit from superfast and dedicated internet connections without the need for long-term contracts.

“The start-up community has a lot to offer to British business and, with technology and innovation at its heart, our partnership with THECUBE gives us a fresh, informed and alternative point of view on how to take our products and services forward”, said Dale Barnes, Director of Advanced Technology and Innovation at Virgin Media. “We’re making the most of our unique fibre-optic network to deliver the connectivity start-ups need to get their venture moving in the right direction and it’s an exciting time to explore new ways of working.”

Araceli Camargo, Founder, THECUBE added: “Spaces like THECUBE are pioneering a new type of business in the UK and we can take our approach even further by partnering with one of the UK’s leading digital companies. Virgin Media is bringing new services to our members, providing entrepreneurs with previously inaccessible technology, and we’re working with them to make the most of the talent at THECUBE and the experience and expertise at Virgin Media.”

THECUBE’s new connection will be delivered via Virgin Media Business’ Big Red Internet proposition which will provide unconstrained bandwidth and lightning speeds, meaning that as THECUBE’s internet connectivity demands increase it will have the bandwidth there ready and waiting, without any costly upgrades.

About THECUBE London

THECUBE was founded in September 2009 as a direct response to the Lehman Brothers collapse. We hypothesised that it would catalyse an economic and societal shift, we wanted to be part of the solution. The most obvious and direct solution was to tribe people via social media and then provide a physical space from which to brainstorm, innovate and collaborate.

The space was designed using neurological and psychological principles. From the height of the ceilings, lighting, colours, textures, to the size of the space have all been chosen with a specific neurological and psychological outcome.

About Virgin Media

Virgin Media is the first provider of all four broadband, TV, mobile phone and home phone services in the UK.

The company delivers ultrafast broadband connections to over half of all UK homes, with speeds of up to 100Mb, and is expanding this cable network – the result of a multi-billion pound investment – to reach thousands more people across the country.

Virgin Media has developed the most advanced interactive television service, bringing together broadcast TV, thousands of hours of on demand programming and the best of the web in a single set-top box powered by TiVo. The company was the first to offer HD TV and 3D on demand to millions of UK households.

Virgin Media also operates the most popular virtual mobile network in the UK which, when launched, was the world’s first such mobile phone service. It is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the country.

Virgin Media Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market and the London Stock Exchange (VMED).

About Virgin Media Business

Virgin Media Business has the UK’s only nationwide fibre optic network, carrying 35 per cent of all business broadband traffic. Already able to reach 85 per cent of businesses in the UK, Virgin Media Business has the ability to connect to all organisations. The largest business-to-business brand in the Virgin group, it prides itself on delivering innovative, high quality solutions that breakdown the barriers facing UK businesses today.

Staff are located at 40 offices across the country, meaning that Virgin Media Business really is closer to its customers. Organisations working with Virgin Media Business include London City Airport, Nottingham Building Society, Arqiva, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Partnership and South West Water.

To see analysis on the current issues surrounding business-to-business telecoms please visit our blog or get involved and tweet us @vmbusiness.

3 Questions With NGO Consultant Olivia Munoru

By Araceli On October 31, 2011 In Blog With No Comments Permanent Link to 3 Questions With NGO Consultant Olivia MunoruPermalink
Today we are speaking with NGO consultant Olivia Munoro, she joined THECUBE community in the summer. Below is her story.

1. What are you working on?
In exactly 1 month, ministers from across the globe, government representatives, parliamentarians, civil society organisations and private sector representatives will come together for the 4th High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea. Approximately 2000 delegates will review global progress in improving the impact and value for money of development aid and make new commitments to further ensure that aid helps reduce poverty and supports progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

I am currently consulting for a global NGO, who will be attending this conference.  I am passionate about ensuring that this process is truly democratic which is why I have agreed to carry out some research to help prepare the delegates for this forum. They will be advocating for greater and more meaningfulchildren’s participation in policy dialogue, especially in regards to issues that impact children’s lives (such as health, housing, education and development). It is a real honour to be involved in such a process.
2. What is a book that has changed your life?
The book that changed my life was King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild. Until I read this book I had no idea of the scale of the genocide in The Congo during Belgium’s Colonial rule. Millions were killed (estimated 10 million) and millions more had their hands chopped off for disobedience or lack of productivity.
What inspired me were the early human rights activists, some real underdogs and unlikely heros in colonial times (an African American slave, a working-class shipping clerk and a closet homosexual) who risked everything for what they believed in.

What is THECUBE?
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