I founded my production company Glasshead in 1994 with a view to delivering outstanding quality in television, media and – once the internet was upon us – digital content. Through hard work and persistence we built up a great reputation.
We have been very successful with factual programmes such as My Monkey Baby and The Stuttering School, both for Channel 4. We have also won two interactive BAFTAs, again for Channel 4, most notably for Homework High, a free online service for kids, which also won two BIMA awards.
Our team at Glasshead is highly motivated and very talented. Fulfilling the role of managing director, I was very confident with the quality of creative work the company was doing. However, after we got our feet off the ground, I was concerned that my lack of business background was holding the company back and would prevent us from reaching our full potential.
I heard about a mentoring programme being run by Nesta which was targeted at creative companies like mine. With an impressive lineup of well-known names in the industry as mentors, the opportunity was too good to turn down. I applied with the aim of creating a more formal plan and a clear structure for the day-to-day practices of the company.
After successfully making it onto the programme, we were paired up with mentor Alex Graham, who is CEO of Wall to Wall TV and one of the leading producers of factual and drama-based content.
Mentoring in action
After our first meeting we decided to focus on managing and expanding the business, as well as improving various business processes in the company.
The mentoring relationship worked extremely well. I would usually set the agenda for our meetings, and Alex then worked through this, offering advice and comments that would result in a set of actions for me to complete.
Going through the day-to-day activities with Alex really opened my eyes to aspects of the business that perhaps I didn't pay enough attention to before. For example, I started to make better use of management information – such as company accounts and reports – to help inform strategic decision-making.
Talking to Alex also helped me target priority markets. We started the mentoring programme before the recession hit but even then, there were signs that the economy wasn't heading in the right direction so we identified other potential markets. Alex encouraged me to attend various events in other markets, including Realscreen in Washington, and gave me strategies to make contacts and find potential new avenues of work – all of which proved immensely useful.
The results
As a result of implementing the various strategies and Alex's mentoring, we have worked with five new major clients in the past couple of years including Discovery, Al-Jazeera, CBBC and currently BBC World. Like many other companies our size, we have been affected by the economy and government cuts but I can honestly say that without the mentoring programme it could have been a very different story. We're in business because we diversified at the right time.
One possible growth area for us is animation, where we're working closely with Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment looking for alternative funding models for future content. As we've been shortlisted for two children's BAFTAs for our previous animation work, this feels like a good fit.
My tips for running a business
As Alex used to constantly tell me; running a media business isn't brain surgery. Make sure you employ people who can sell ideas, in addition to hiring excellent creative staff. Relationships with clients are key so continuously work on that.
Always keep an eye on your overheads and don't delay in reducing them if the projects are slow in coming in. Set budgets, objectives and goals and then break them down to day to day tasks to make them manageable and achievable. Base important company decisions on information from management accounts and cashflow.
Finally, it's important to combine artistic satisfaction and profitability; this can be accomplished by using commercial projects to fund creative work.
Lambros Atteshlis is MD of TV and digital specialist Glasshead
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London 2012: French Olympics 'would be interested in gold not money' says Francois Hollande - Daily Telegraph
Highlighting the fact that his Socialist government detested corporate greed and was solely interested in winning medals, Mr Hollande said: "We don't talk of money, we talk of gold."
Mr Hollande stopped short of directly criticising the British, however, saying: "The London Olympics have been very well organised. I'm not here to be a killjoy or to give lessons to the British. It's not worthy of France."
But Mr Hollande made it clear that he disapproved of corporate clients being given free tickets which they did not use.
Most of the events in London have, so far, been blighted by rows of empty seats.
Mr Hollande also enjoyed a joke at the expense of Prime Minister David Cameron, who had promised to roll out the "red carpet" for French people escaping high taxes.
Pointing to the fact that France was currently beating Britain in the medals table, Mr Hollande said: "The British have rolled out a red carpet for French athletes to win medals. I thank them very much for that, but the competition is not over."
In another dig – this time at the Euroscepticism of Mr Cameron's Conservatives – Mr Hollande also said that "it is the results of Europe that will count in the games.
"We will put the French medals into the Europe pot, so that the British will be happy to be European."
Before losing 2012 to London, Paris failed to win the 2008 Games, which were awarded to Beijing.
Mr Hollande, who replaced the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as French president in May, attended a number of events involving French athletes on Monday, before returning to Paris.
France has had a successful Olympics so far – with seven medals, including three gold in the pool. Mr Hollande on Monday night watched Yannick Agnel defeat American Ryan Lochte in the 200m freestyle.
MONEY MARKETS-Hopes of ECB bond buying underpin trade - Reuters
* Hopes high ECB will restart bond buying this week
* Only limited relief seen from such a move
* Market prices in 50 pct chance of rate cut by year-end
By Kirsten Donovan
LONDON, July 31 (Reuters) - Markets are pricing in around a 50 percent chance that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates again this year but are likely to react badly if they have to wait longer than a couple of days for it to revive its bond-buying programme.
ECB President Mario Draghi said last week the ECB would do "whatever it takes", spurring expectations that the central bank will reactivate the Securities Market Programme (SMP) at Thursday's policy meeting.
The SMP - which the Bundesbank opposes - has been dormant for months but would be used to buy Spanish and Italian bonds in the secondary market.
The prospect of this has pushed yields on bonds issued by the two struggling countries sharply lower, but the rally is showing signs of running out of steam.
"Some of the confidence generated by Draghi is already fading - you can see that in the fall in Bund yields today," said BNP Paribas rate strategist Matteo Regesta.
"To make sure the relief rally we've seen is not further interrupted, at the very least we need a reactivation of the SMP. An interest rate cut by itself would fall short of what the market is expecting.
Money markets aren't expecting a cut in either of the ECB's two main interest rates this week, or the "bazooka" option of granting the euro zone's rescue fund a banking license, allow it to exchange bonds it buys for fresh cash from the ECB.
The main refinancing rate is at 0.50 percent, while the deposit rate paid to banks who park cash overnight is at zero. A cut in the deposit rate is increasingly priced in from September onwards, which would mean it would turn negative.
"Speculation may be overdone," said Commerzbank rate strategist Benjamin Schroeder.
"There are complications with negative rates but with the comments from the ECB members, the speculation could still run further."
The overnight Eonia rate, which is currently around 10 basis points above the deposit rate, is indicated at around 2 basis points by year-end, suggesting a deposit rate of around minus 10 basis points.
PROMISES
Financial markets are looking for a clear policy response from Draghi at the ECB's Thursday policy meeting .
Nineteen of 24 euro money market traders polled by Reuters said the ECB will soon resume bond buying.
"The bar has been raised very high for the ECB to deliver something," Schroeder said.
But analysts said even another round of bond buying would be unlikely to stabilise markets in the longer term, although it might ease the next few weeks combined with a sharp drop in new bond issuance over the summer period.
"It won't offer lasting relief, but it would allow August to be relatively stable," BNP Paribas' Regesta said.
"The real bazooka, even without activation, would be to grant the (euro zone rescue fund) a banking license... Just the presence of this vehicle with unlimited firepower would bring some peace to primary and secondary markets but we're not going to get that this week." (Editing by John Stonestreet)
My parents never have any money - should I get a job? - The Sun
I HAVE just finished my first year in the Sixth Form but I’ve failed two out of my three subjects.
I’d love to go back and try again but I just can’t concentrate. My parents have no money and are constantly in debt, so I’m worried about it all the time.
I’m a boy of 16 and all my life my parents have struggled with money. My mum is on the minimum wage and my dad works long hours for low pay.
My parents have always taken out loans to buy things for Christmas and birthdays. One December I found my mum out in the cold in the back garden crying about money.
My parents inherited a large amount of money when my Nan died. They paid off all their debts and got a better car. It was the best time in my life. I even forgot what it was like not to have any food or drink in the house for over a week.
Now that money is all gone. I don’t know how they have managed to spend it all but they have.
My parents are borrowing money again from family and friend just to pay off debts but then they owe even more.
My mum loves playing bingo. She spends at least £40 a week playing online and goes out to bingo twice a week and spends between £40 and £60.
It’s horrible at school. I live in a poor area but my school is in a wealthy area and it gets on my nerves to see everyone else dressing in nice clothes and with money all the time.
I want to drop out of education and get a full-time job, but I don’t like the thought of working five or six days a week for minimum wage for the rest of my life, like my parents.
DEIDRE SAYS
Go back to your school and ask to talk to the head of sixth form about whether you could return and do resits. I know it’s school holidays now but you should be able to get hold of someone.
Explain what’s been going on at home and how worried you are. They should be able to give you some support, and a quiet place to study away from the problems at home.
If you can’t go back, look for a job which involves training at the same time as being paid. Your local Job Centre can tell you about apprenticeships and other opportunities.
Get your dad on his own and explain that you think your mum needs help with her addiction to bingo. I’m emailing my leaflet about living with a gambler for you to pass to him.
You also need support for yourself. Get Connected will help you sort this out (0808 808 4994, www.getconnected.org.uk).
Good luck and please let me know how you get on.
Today's Daily Drama is about a woman who cheated on her fella with her friend's boyfriend. Do you think you should always confess if you’ve cheated or does honesty mean more heartache? Tell me on my Facebook page today.
Money well spent: Teenager who fell over while carrying Olympic torch is bought a new prosethetic limb by Britain’s biggest Euromillions winners - Daily Mail
- Kieran Maxwell had his left leg amputated after getting rare and aggressive cancer Ewings Sarcoma
- Last month while walking with his current prosthetic limb he fell while carrying the Olympic torch
- Euromillionaires Colin and Chris Weir pay five-figure-sum for a new lightweight leg for the 13-year-old
- 'He'll be able to walk, run and climb just like his friends,' his emotional mum Nicola said today
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A 13-year-old who lost a leg to cancer will get a new life-changing prosthetic limb from Britain's biggest-ever lottery jackpot winners.
Heartrendingly Kieran Maxwell had to be helped from the ground after he fell carrying the Olympic torch last month in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, because of his current heavy artificial leg.
But now he will be able to 'walk, run and climb just like his friends,' his emotional mother Nicola said today, thanks to Euromillionaires Colin and Chris Weir.
Scroll down for video
Brave: Kieran Maxwell carrying the Olympic Flame on the Torch Relay soon before he stumbled and fell because of his current prosthetic leg but hopefully those problems will soon be over for him
Despite undergoing gruelling chemotherapy the brave 13-year-old had his left leg amputated below the knee in March last year.
He was diagnosed with the rare and aggressive cancer called Ewings Sarcoma, which affects fewer than 30 children a year, in October 2010.
Since then Kieran has been determined to remain active but his current replacement limb is heavy and slows him down, so his parents Nicola and Alistair decided to try to raise the cash to buy him a lighter model from the US.
But Euromillions winners Colin and Chris Weir from Ayrshire - who scooped 161 million in a draw a year ago - heard about Kieran's battle and stepped in with a five-figure donation to buy the new leg outright.
And Kieran is said to have 'screamed with delight' at the life-changing news and will have his leg within six weeks.
The unexpected donation came after the grandmother of Kieran’s school friend, who lives in the same village as the Weirs, contacted them to ask if they could help.
Happy: EuroMillions lottery winners Chris Weir and her husband Colin Weir say it is a privilege to spend a little of their 161m on Kieran
Hero: His mother and family are incredibly proud of the happy teenager who lost a leg to cancer but will now get a new limb
Mum Nicola Maxwell said: 'Kieran is our hero and we have been touched by all the support and kindness we’ve received since he was diagnosed with cancer.
'We thought it was going to take a long time to raise the money for a new prosthetic leg, but this donation from Chris and Colin means Kieran can get his new leg within six weeks. We can’t explain how much this means to us and Kieran.
'He screamed when he heard the news because it means that not only will he be able to walk again like all his friends, he will be able to run and climb too.
'We can’t thank the Weirs enough, because this will really change his life.
Heartbreaking: Kieran's bravery was clear for all to see when he fell while holding the Olympic torch because of his current artificial limb. He got up and dusted himself off in yet another incredible show of strength
'Kieran started yelling and dancing around when he heard. He couldn't believe it. I am still pinching myself.
'What they have done for Kieran will be a small drop in the ocean for them but for him it will change his life.
'He can go back to being a normal boy. He can be himself. Words cannot describe what they have done.'
The Lottery winners paid tribute to his bravery and said it was privilege to help.
Mrs Weir said: 'When we heard about Kieran and his family’s fantastic efforts to raise money for a new prosthetic leg, we had to help.
'It is a privilege to support him and, with this new leg, we hope he will continue to be determined to remain active and live life to the full.'
Kieran's parents will continue to fundraise, but will now hand over proceeds to the Toma Fund, which helps teenagers with cancer.
Aww how lovey :-)
- Charlotte, UK, 31/7/2012 19:37
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