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Business & IP Centre Appoint Business and Life Coach

Renowned business and life coach Rasheed Ogunlaru launches one-to-one creative advice sessions and workshops at the British Library's Business & IP Centre.

The British Library, 30 November, 2006 - celebrated business and life coach Rasheed Ogunlaru today announced a series of one-to-one 'Ask an Expert' sessions and 'coach yourself to success' workshops to take place in the British Library's Business & IP Centre. Rasheed's programme of seminars and advice sessions aim to inspire and motivate SMEs, innovators and budding entrepreneurs to pursue and exploit their creative ideas.

Rasheed's series of 'Ask an Expert' clinics will begin with his seminar 'Boost your Business' on 8 November. The unique seminars will provide entrepreneurs and SMEs with personalised coaching and advice to help them develop the vision, belief and action to succeed in business. The creative clinics will help business owners build everything from goal-setting and business development to motivating staff & customers whilst creating work-life balance.

Rasheed Ogunlaru's 'Ask an Expert' sessions are part of a wider programme of workshops where successful business people and professional advisers will give tailored one-to-one advice to aspiring entrepreneurs on a variety of topics. Anyone interested in finding out more about Rasheed's Boost Your Business workshops and how to take part in his one-to-one clinics can visit: www.bl.uk/bipc

Announcing the launch of his clinics leading life and business coach, Rasheed Ogunlaru stated: "I'm delighted to be involved with this innovative partnership with the British Library which will boost and broaden entrepreneurship and enterprise across London and beyond. Hundreds of businesses emerge every year only to fail - usually through a lack of vision, planning, support or confidence that could be avoided. Meanwhile, thousands of budding entrepreneurs dream of setting up businesses and being their own bosses could succeed if only they believed in themselves."

"My monthly Boost Your Business workshop will enable people of all backgrounds to identify the vision, belief and action to start and build their new business or grow their established one. What's more, the Business & IP Centre is a world class resource providing all the exhaustive research materials and data that usually only major companies can afford. but for free."

Isabel Oswell, Head of Business Marketing at the British Library said: "We are delighted to be partnering with leading business & life coach Rasheed Ogunlaru. We are sure his workshops and one-to-one clinics will inspire and motivate budding entrepreneurs as well as deliver practical advice and guidance. As well as offering motivational business insights, Rasheed's clinics will introduce attendees to the British Library's Business & IP Centre - a fantastic, free resource that includes up-to-date information on companies, markets and intellectual property. The Business & IP Centre has a team of information experts to help users find the information they need and we run workshops and clinics on a range of relevant topics from how to protect your ideas to how to write a business plan."

On Thursday 9 March, the British Library opened the doors of its enhanced Business & IP Centre. The Centre includes a networking area for entrepreneurs to collaborate and exchange ideas and a suite of workshops rooms where users can attend workshops and clinics - held by the British Library and its partners - on topics such as how to protect their brilliant ideas or inventions and how to develop a business plan and marketing strategy. This trusted service cuts the costs for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and is designed to support entrepreneurs from the initial spark of inspiration through to successfully launching and developing a business.

Users of the Business & IP Centre have free access to 40 high value databases - a saving of over half-a-million pounds in subscriptions. These databases give up-to-the minute company, business and industry information and financial news, and include Fame, Amadeus, Economist Intelligence Unit Viewswire, Financial Times, Factiva, OneSource, Lexis-Nexis, Dialog and the Complete Business Reference Adviser (COBRA). Dr Daniel Brown, Entrepreneur in Residence at University College London - said that if he'd had access to the Centre [and its information] at the time he was setting up his business, he could have saved himself £20,000 on consultants' fees.

The Centre also offers free access to the UK's most comprehensive collection of business and intellectual property (IP) information, including around 50 million patent specifications, unique databases on trade marks and registered designs, thousands of market research reports, company reports, trade journals, business directories and guides to legal information and government publications. Various 'how to' guides are also available, including advice on writing a business plan. Many of these resources are unavailable online and the Centre is one of the few places where so many are available in hard copy in a single location.

The Centre is just a few minutes' walk from King's Cross, Euston and St Pancras mainline stations, and - from 2007 - the Eurostar terminal. This makes it easily accessible not just for businesses in and around London, but to users from other cities such as Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham.

For further information or to set up an interview with Rasheed Ogunlaru please contact: Rasheed on +44 (0)207 207 1082 / 07961 953 599 or Lawrence Christensen (telephone +44(0)20 7412 7114, email: lawrence.christensen@bl.uk)

Notes to Editors

  • The British Library - is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk, which currently records almost 2 million 'hits' or visits per month. Access to the British Library's Business & IP Centre is free. Users need a Reader's Pass, for more information visit: www.bl.uk/bipc.
  • Rasheed Ogunlaru's 'Boost Your Business' workshop is £35 + VAT (highly subsidised rate).
  • The London Development Agency is the Mayor's agency for business and jobs. The LDA prepares the Mayor's business plan for London and mobilises the support and resources of hundreds of partner organisations to help build a thriving economy for London's people, businesses and communities. The LDA is dedicated to improving sustainability, health and equality of opportunity for Londoners.
  • In May 2005, the Centre was awarded a £1 million capital injection by the London Development Agency to help fund its transformation from a successful pilot project to a permanent national resource.The enhanced Business & IP Centre's refit launched on 9 March offers:
    • Impartial library information experts trained in the needs of SMEs and entrepreneurs to guide users to the full range of resources.
    • Workshops run by British Library and its business partners on subjects including: using intellectual property resources to check if ideas are novel, capitalising on market research resources, financing, marketing and selling skills, and pinpointing customers. These will also include creative workshops and legal updates. Some of these workshops will have a specific focus on supporting the needs of women, black and minority ethnic groups, and entrepreneurs with disabilities.
    • Business partners supporting the Business & IP Centre include ABi Associates, Business Link for London, Business Plan Services, Camden Business Forum, Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, Dynamic Asian Women's Network, Everywoman, ideas21, Innovation Central, Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys, London Chamber of Commerce & Industry, oneLondon, Own It, UK Patent Office.
    • A networking area for SMEs to meet and network with other SMEs, find out about the Library's full range of services and get inspiration from success stories about products and services conceived by other Centre users.
    • Wireless internet access (WiFi) so users can connect to the internet and access e-mail from the Centre by using the Library's own pay-as-you-go service.
    • Large-scale role model events - featuring successful entrepreneurs - to inspire entertain and guide aspiring entrepreneurs on setting up and running a successful business and for SMEs to network. Previous examples include the sell-out 'Mothers of Invention', the ' Silk Road to Success' Asian Business events and the Creative Series events, including Anita Roddick.
    • The workshop spaces and networking area have been designed as a contemporary and inspirational intervention constructed without structural modifications within the existing shell of the reading room. Materials such as etched glass, Page Lacquer wall panelling and stainless steel fittings have been carefully selected and detailed by the architects, eldridge smerin, to match the quality of the existing Library. The coloured dividing walls sit within translucent glass panels and may provide display areas for case studies, artwork and graphic information.