Realising that traditional networking organizations focused too much on referrals and not relationships, Craig established ABC Business Club to provide a forum for local small businesses to network and discuss business issues in a friendly and relaxed forum.

Adam Desmond is a 23 year old graduate from Coventry University, and set up his first business, Instrol, with the support of The Prince’s Trust in 2006. He found starting up his own business fantastically well suited to his lifestyle, having the opportunity to meet lots of interesting and inspiring people all the time really has given him support through the times that have been tough.

Barry has set up a professional video production company which enableshim to direct and produce music videos and documentaries etc (anything that needs a story telling via moving image basically). He is also a performance poet. He has found that the best training for this kind of work throughout his many years in the industry is meeting new people and observing human behaviour, because ‘the best stories are in our everyday lives’……

Twenty three year old technology expert Chao Liu, from Coventry, gave up his job with an investment bank, in January 2007 to progress his ‘laptop alarm’ LapLock, an innovative idea he came up with whilst studying at Warwick University. Since working on the business full-time, Chao has been offered £100,000 by an American company who wanted the rights to distribute the alarm, but he has turned them down. Instead, he is now in negotiations with IT distribution companies in the UK to get the device into smaller technology outlets. Also, two insurance companies are considering offering a 10 per cent discount on laptop insurance if the user owns a LapLock; this would widen the market for the product and make it a more desirable purchase.

I am the Business Programme Manager for The Prince’s Trust in Birmingham and Solihull. This means I am responsible for starting 140 new businesses across Birmingham and Solihull for young people aged 18-30. We give advice, guidance and funding to help start those businesses. As well as this I have a network of over 150 mentors to help our businesses across a wide range of solicitors, accountants, business men and women and many other trades and skills. I also have around 400 active businesses to choose from if you need anything and I can connect you quickly to a whole range of different people and businesses to help with any needs you or your business may have. -

In work terms, i’m a person that really wants to make Coventry punch its weight. The City of Coventry Ambassadors group consists of around 250 people all of whom have a background of success in their field and, more importantly, all of whom desperately want to see the city punch its weight. Generally speaking they haven’t got the time to put lots of work into how they feel the city should go forward but the group gives them a vehicle to float ideas and I can hopefully do some work on their behalf. For instance one ambassador came up with the theory that Coventry should benefit as much as possible from the 2012 Olympics wherever they’re going to be held (2 years before the London decision was made) and as a result giant strides have been made including Coventry hosting the UK Schools Games next month.

David Wick runs Memorabilia F1 and Memorabilia Moto, supplying a range of signed F1 and Motorbike memorabilia from drivers like Michael Schumacher, and Fernando Alonso, and riders like Valentino Rossi, and Nicky Hayden. All the items are 100% authentic as they come from commercial signings.

21 year old Demetri Koursaris is currently a Student at Warwick University reading Mathematics and Business. He has set up and is president of The Warwick Entrepreneurs Society, creating a platform for Enterprising students to meet and discuss their ideas. While at University he has also set up www.TheUniExpress.co.uk providing students a cheap and safe alternative to club travel. He is also the Co-Founder of Caffe Yum ( www.CaffeYum.com ), a mobile cafe company currently being franchised nationally, and is currently on the team of www.LiveOut.co.uk an innovative student lettings company based at Oxford, Warwick and Coventry Universities.

Emma Saunders currently runs an online greeting card business, and hires herself out as a freelance web coder. She is a bona-fide, fully paid up geek, and says “I love designing and creating websites - getting a piece of code to execute well is a thing of beauty.” She currently has about twenty projects planned at the moment, split into two categories: Save the World, and Make a Million, but says she’ll “settle for achieving some positive social change and being able to afford a pint”. Emma’s background is in trading, and sees her future in journalism.

Emma Walker is the Regional Director for The Athena Network and has brought the womens networking groups to the Black Country. She is also the owner of CKPA Office Solutions, a Dudley based Virtual Assistant business working with clients to delegate their task list allowing them to focus on money making activities within their business. Emma is a serial entrepreneur, author and busy mum!