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qNomics

EnTwo

Can you tell us about EnTwo where you started where it is now?​ ​

I was studying for a master’s degree in journalism and my research for my dissertation was to support a local campaign to save my local library in Barnet.

I was interested in hyper-local journalism/community journalism after my degree and later, I moved to neighbouring borough Enfield, Gordon Hill, where I set up a local community website called EN.TWO which is the name of my local postcode.

I applied to the Arts council in England, for a small, almost pilot event, and I was awarded the funding.

So, this lead to a different direction of Entwo ltd, working to support the first ever literary festival in Enfield, in partnership with the London Borough of Enfield. The funding helped to support the activities.

For the festival, we ran creative writing workshops, local authors visiting hundreds of local schools, a workshop on local journalism, where ‘Enfield Despatch’ launched it’s plan to start running a local community newspaper.

 

How does EnTwo works?

It now runs as a sole trader, rather than under the company name entwo ltd.

I hope to initiate a regular cycle of content in order to attract interest from potential sponsors but this is an undertaken in addition to my existing full time job and I have realised I have limited capacity to develop this as an ongoing business with advertising, although this would be the ideal model.

 

What are the challenges you faced when setting you business up?

It was surprisingly easy to set up the company. I think the main challenge for me has been to allocate time and resources needed in order to make it a viable business proposition, and I have found this to be the biggest challenge.

 

What brought you to qNomics?

It was through the QM alumini newsletter and information where I spotted the offer of support, at the time, it was just an idea that I had, and having the opportunity to talk it through for free was very attractive.

I remember at the time, I was feeling quite excited about it all but I was also feeling out of my depth about how to start it. My thoughts were at the time; what do I have to do? How can I set things up and where do I go if I want to seek funding and advice?

I found it helped offer me some confidence to discuss it with complete strangers but in a supportive, friendly and constructive environment.

 

How did your experience with qNomics helped you with achieving your goals?

On reflection, it was following my meeting with qNomics, that lead me to apply for funding to run the festival. I read and re-read the information, the feedback report sent after the consultation and I found this really useful as I regularly referred back to it for all the links and references for further support.

It summarised my ideas and discussions about it, explained ways I could generate funding and offer tips on raising capital, so that was really good and this was all part of the service from qNomics.

I found it really offered a sounding board to explore if my ideas would work or not.

It was really useful for me at a critical time of setting it up, I had a lot of doubts and questions about how to go about raising funds, seeking support and it helped me to talk through these issues.

 

What was the quality of the advice you received from qNomics?

Overall it really helped to boost my confidence about my business idea. I was very grateful for the opportunity as I was often riddled with the imposter syndrome, you know, I can’t do it, it’s all silly and not right. It really helped me to start believing that perhaps my idea might work.

It also gave me a real sense of purpose. It was clear for me at the time that I did not want to take a business bank loan or risk getting into debt with it, and exploring some of the options, along with the report that followed from qNomics had to offer me, with a range of options, was just what I needed at the time.

 

Would you recommend qNomics to someone else who requires business advice?

Yes, absolutely! It offers a great unbiased service, and above all else, it is free. There are not many places you can go to seek free advice, support, information without someone trying to persuade you to take some form of business loan or land you with a fee for their advice.

It gave me the idea to be quite open and flexible, and this made me more willing to view my business idea more openly and it was after that conversation, meeting and the follow up information that helped me to decide to explore the business as a more events based business rather than just a standalone business magazine/newspaper, model.

 

What are your future plans?

I have not completely ruled out running another literary festival in Enfield. I learnt a lot from the first one and I feel that I would be more prepared, equipped with more realistic goals that are manageable, if I did it again.

 

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