Here’s a bit of info about Greece Entrepreneur Week, but stay tuned as Marty will be keeping us all updated via video here:

The schedule

Delegates are arriving over 2 days from 10 countries including Russia, Spain, Australia the USA and Saudi Arabia. The weeklong conference aims to ‘equip aspiring and existing entrepreneurs with the business skills, insights, tools, resources and networks needed to start and grow a successful business’.

Highlights include

• Formal opening addresses from Greek politicians and businesses leaders as well as the Founder of Entrepreneur Week (USA)
• 12 panel discussions on a range of topics such as the media industry, politics & entrepreneurship energy and innovation
• A gala dinner and a Business-to-Business Matchmaking & Mentoring Sessions with the EWgreece Delegation.

It’s going to be a great event and we trust Marty will return with some fascinating insights for us all.

Got a question or issue you want Marty to keep an eye out for during his visit? Drop him a tweet @merti. You can also follow the action yourself at @EWGreece and comment on the events using the #EWGreece hashtag.

Want to represent Virgin Media Pioneers at events like this?

We tend to select our most active Pioneers for these opportunities as well as past Pioneer of the Week or Pioneer of the Month winners. Make sure you get talking on the Groups and uploading videos to your profile, and you may be invited to a similar event in the future.

A bit about Marty

‘I’m Marty Bell, I’m 21 and live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I launched my first company, a nightlife brand named ‘We Own’ in March 2011. We Own is a clothing line and events company based in Edinburgh. We sell clothing via our online store (www.weown.org), at music festivals and at sponsored club events. We also organise monthly large scale DJ events around the UK with World class DJs – a highlight of last year was hosting Pete Tong & Afrojack in an Edinburgh shopping centre – selling out to 2,200 attendees. The company has been described as ‘one of the fastest growing youth music brands on the scene’ by International DJ magazine Mixmag. The brand has achieved a following of 23,000 loyal fans across Facebook and Twitter since launching.

This summer I’ll launch my second business, ‘Tens’. Tens is a forward thinking & charitable sunglasses brand set to make your day ten times better!’

Website – http://weown.org
Our Parties - http://vimeo.com/channels/weown
Facebook – http://facebook.com/weown
Twitter – http://twitter.com/weown

David Jones is CEO of worldwide communications agency Havas and Founder of One Young World , a global initiative to get young leaders leading. He’s written a book called ‘Who Cares Wins’ which argues that ‘social media is forcing businesses, politicians and leaders to be more socially responsible’.

The book maps several important radical shifts happening at the moment as a result of social media: increased transparency, the rise of socially aware consumers and waves of young social entrepreneurs who want to do well by doing good at the core of their businesses.

Social media is not only changing the way we do business, but it is also changing the way we collaborate and build relationships with each other. The most forward-thinking companies engage and work with their consumers in ‘collaborative production’ and we’re even getting together to purchase collaboratively e.g. Groupon or cut out the corporation all together (think ebay, Freecycle etc…).

Jones believes the most successful businesses in the future will be the ones who intersect the social media and social responsibility spaces – an idea which he calls The Social Business. It’s about finding the overlap between what the company is good at and want good consumers want.

This is a great read for Pioneers who want to keep on top of the changing business environment or are working on social enterprise projects. Reading is a brilliant way for Pioneers to keep abreast of the latest thought-leaders in business, seek new angles and keep up motivation. ‘Good books are the warehouses of ideas’ (H. G. Wells)

Snippets to whet your appetite

‘Mark Zuckerberg, one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world, wasn’t motivated by monetising Facebook. But the history books, read on whatever version of Kindle is around in 100 years, will portray him as one of the most important entrepreneurs in the revolution we are living through and Facebook as a major driver of societal change. Although, as Doug Richard amusingly commented, little did Zuckerberg know, that in his desire to get a date, he would change the world. ‘

‘The industrial entrepreneurs of the second half of the twentieth century were (generally speaking) focused on financial gain; in the new world the social entrepreneurs of the twenty-first century are focused on social change. If you compare today’s entrepreneurs with those from even just the previous generation, there are massive differences. People like Zuckerberg and his peers Jimmy Wales, Pierre Omidyar, (eBay), Andrew Mason and Craig Newmark place openness, sharing and collaboration at the centre of what they do, whereas their predecessors made ownership and closed business models their foundation.’

‘ Zuckerberg is also probably the best example of the dramatic change in the importance and power of young people in today’s world. Imagine explaining to people a mere decade ago that Time magazine’s person of the year 2011 and star of the 2011 G8 meeting would be a 27-year-old – who actually only attended the G8 on the basis that he was granted a one-on-one meeting with each of the leaders of the G8 countries – and that this 27-year-old had become the youngest billionaire on the planet at the age of 24 on the back of a business he had launched when he was just 20 years old.’

‘Groupon’s founder Andrew Mason began his journey as a social entrepreneur by founding The Point, which united people around collective action and fundraising. The idea was that people should do well or do good, but only when it matters. As its website explains: ‘Whether you’re asking people to do something or give money, people only contribute if they think it makes a difference. On The Point, all campaigns have a “tipping point” – people pledge to give money or do something, but no one does a thing until the conditions are met to make contributions worthwhile. That way, you can gather all the resources needed to be successful before anyone is asked to take action’, and so only when sufficient numbers of people had signed up for a cause of fundraising donation did any action occur.’

[image courtesy of Adweek, taken by Roger Hagadone]

We’ve also been talking about whether it’s a good idea to start a business with friends or family.

Jermaine Cameron-Pinnock says: ‘Its fine,as long as both parties are clear about goals and how they will be sought from the beginning.’

Youth Investment Fund

Boris Johnson supports Virgin Media Pioneers – so let’s see if we can get the VMP-led Youth Investment Fund into the Budget 2012. The Youth Investment Fund would make loans available to aspiring entrepreneurs on similar terms to student loans. Catch up on the story so far.

Blog highlights –  Community posts:

• Tech Tuesday Tip – Make more videos
• 5 ways to maximise your VMP profile
• 3 Pioneer video highlights from last week
• Pioneer spotlight: Stephane Alexandre – Milk and Honey

Blog highlights – News from the business world:

• Tech Tuesday:  Twitter to open self-service ad platform to SMEs

Pioneer of the Week:

Congrats to Tobias Bowman who was last week’s Pioneer of the week. We’ll be announcing this week’s POW on Friday.

Hot topics!

A new thread has been started in the Pioneers’ Questions group. Have you got some advice for Pioneers on this topic? Can you share your tips on how to go about getting new clients?

For more enterprising chat, join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Pioneer Video of the Week:

Pioneer Rosemary Chileshe says ‘Embrace the world of VIDEO and see it as a GOLDEN opportunity to maximise exposure to your BUSINESS, BRAND & YOU .’

First up is VMP team member Katherine whose tip for Pioneers is to make more videos in the VMP community as a change to text.

Pioneer Rosemary Chileshe of Rosellis Property Services says ‘Let people see who the person is behind your business name or brand.’

According to Mashable: ‘After making the platform available to just a few advertisers in November, Twitter will expand its self-service ad product to all small businesses next month. Twitter is partnering with American Express for the initiative, which offers preferential treatment for American Express card members. Such cardmembers will be invited first and AmEx will give $100 in free advertising to the first 10,000 businesses to sign up’.

Up until now, Twitter has been vague about  exactly what the new small business advertising will be like, except that it will involve Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts. They’ve also said:

‘We’ve partnered with American Express to make it easy for small business owners to advertise on Twitter. American Express card members and merchants based in the U.S. will be invited to try this new advertising solution before anyone else, and American Express will give $100 in free advertising to the first 10,000 eligible businesses to sign up. Starting today, American Express Cardmembers and merchants can register to participate in the initial introduction of this new offering via ads.twitter.com/amex. We will launch this new offering more widely later this year’.

According to the LA Times: ‘The automated system is like Google’s. Advertisers will decide how much they want to spend on ads and where they want the ads to appear, and they’ll write their own messages no longer than 140 characters. Twitter charges advertisers when the ad gets a response, such as a user following the advertiser, retweeting the message or clicking on a link’.

However, Adam Bain, Twitter’s president of global revenue, tweeted a few days ago that the initiative involves Twitter’s self-service advertising.

‘Proud to announce we’re rolling out our Self-Serve product to the next 10,000 businesses w help from American Express.’

The new offering will go live in late March.

Read the full Mashable article here.

1. Upload a recent and friendly picture of yourself. Logos are great for promotion, but if you are looking to make connections, an image of yourself is far more inviting.

2. Regularly update your status. By doing this, your profile will appear on the homepage of the Virgin Media Pioneers website, attracting traffic to your profile and ensuring that you get noticed as an active Pioneer (great for increasing your chance of winning Pioneer of the Week too! ). Tell fellow Pioneers what you’re up to, and more importantly, ask them for help when needed, or share links to useful articles.

3. Throw yourself into creating a video diary. The VMP Community wants to hear from you; we want to know how your entrepreneurial journey is going – the ups, the downs, the smiles and the frowns.

If you learn something that you think other Pioneers can benefit from, upload a video to your profile. The more videos you post, the more likely you’ll become  well-known in the community and make quality connections that could potentially help you with your business adventure.

Top tip – the more interesting or useful your videos are, the more tempted we’ll be to feature them on the VMP homepage, use it as Video of the Week in Wednesday’s Pioneers News, or consider you as Pioneer of the Week. We don’t mind how the video looks – whether you’re in your PJs, driving your car or lying in bed – it’s what you share with the community that matters.

4. Join relevant Groups. The VMP Groups that you join will demonstrate to other Pioneers which areas you are interested in or which industry your business is related to. For example, Running a Creative Business? By joining the right groups, you’ll make more suitable connections, helping you establish a useful network.

5. The Wire. Act as your own Community Manager. Regularly check your Wire and respond to people’s messages. Encourage people to post on your wire so that other Pioneers can join in with your conversations too.

Welcome back Pioneer Careen! In this video Careen shares her experience ‘friends and business don’t go together very well…’

Got something to say about working with friends and family? Please leave your comments below.

Thanks to Shafaey for his tip to Pioneers ‘Remember to always protect your work!’

Knives Not Lives – Putting the record straight – posted by Eliza Rebiro.

Google to offer desk space to London entrepreneurs in Tech City incubator

‘Internet giant Google is to provide workspaces for entrepreneurs in a new base it is opening in London’…read more.

The Bank of England Governor said “market failure” meant that businesses weren’t getting the loans they need

‘BoE chief King slams ‘market failure’ in banking that has seen loans to firms fall £83bn since 2008′…read more.

Entrepreneurs’s use of saving is ‘unsustainable

‘Two-thirds of small companies did not apply for any external funding in 2011, according to a survey of 450 business owners’..read more.

Workers miss out on £400 a year in expense claims

‘A survey reckons workers only claim back two-thirds of the expenses they’re owed. Not a terrible thing for businesses, we grant you’…read more

About Tobias

‘Head of Marketing for HP Group, working with Pioneers to provide expert advice on Digital Marketing for the VM Pioneers community. Find me on Twitter @TobiasBowman and please get in touch if you have questions or need support.’

Why we’ve chosen Tobias:

We have selected Tobias for his excellent input on the Groups pages this week –  particularly Pioneers questions –  and his willingness to offer help and advice to other Pioneers on digital marketing.

Tobias co-manages the group Digital Marketing Help & Advice. The group offers unmissable expert advice.

• How to hit your website targets
• The Digital Buying Process – Digital Strategy
• Get visible in local search! Google Places Tutorial

You could be a Pioneer of the Week contender!

Let us know what you’ve been up to, achieved, discovered, need or learned? Whatever’s happening with you and your business let us know by video blog, comment or status update and you could be our Pioneer of the Week.

Pioneer of the Week is announced every Friday and the winner gets special access to the Pioneer of the Week Group and is featured in the Virgin Media Pioneers homepage.

At the end of the month the community and Pioneer supporters get to vote on which one of those Pioneers should become the ultimate Pioneer of the Month.

That winner will be invited to our exclusive Pioneers of the Month Group and first on the list for Pioneer opportunities.

So don’t miss out. Get involved and keep learning, sharing and connecting with your fellow Pioneers.

She tells us about her company Milk and Honey, her career highlights, and also offers some words of advice to Pioneers looking to make more of the VMP community.

1. Tell us a little about Milk and Honey.

I started Milk & Honey when I was at University in 2009 and last November, I decided to let people know it was there. I spent the first year building up PR contacts so we would be able to get content, and now we have launched, we have an audience, strong content, and good relationships with the industries we like to cover.

The idea behind it is to empower, uplift and motivate young girls, giving them inspirational news. It’s all about Girl Power, but we do have guys popping in for some good advice. There are a team of writers from London, Canada and Cardiff who contribute and write a range of heart-felt articles from love, break- ups and sex, to supporting our charity, The A21 Campaign.This year we aimed to really support and push the work of this charity as they protest against human trafficking. It made sense, being that we are aimed at females, to really let other young women know that modern day slavery does exist and is very much affecting Europe.

2. What made you join the VMP community?

My mentor informed me about the site, she is also signed-up, and she informed me of a competition to go to SA with Richard Branson and meet his grandkids out there. It was also just after the launch of the new Milk & Honey website, so I used VMP as a way to get people to check out the site and the articles and it really worked. It was great to knock heads with other Pioneers about things they have too have ventured into.

3. What have you gained or learnt from being an active VMP community member?

That there are a lot of young and old hard working people, who have followed a vision or passion, and who are working hard to make something of it. It’s inspiring and motivating.

4. Are there any Pioneers in particular that you recommend your fellow Pioneers connect with?

Yes! Firstly my mentor, Matilda Egere Cooper, who runs the Culture Club, then a young man, Anthony Ogunbawale, who is the founder of Emerging Students Magazine; he featured Milk & Honey in their first issue OUT! ’The Shakers Issue’. Everyone I’ve met on here is super cool! These are the two I’ve worked closely with.

‘…I used VMP as a way to get people to check out the site and the articles and it really worked. It was great to knock heads with other Pioneers about things they have too have ventured into.’

5. What have been your career highlights so far?

There have been so many, that’s the great thing about my job; I get the chance to really put the work in and reap the rewards. A lot of people may think presenters just turn up on set and do the interview, and that maybe the case when you’re working for a mainstream network, but for me, I am involved in the research. I pitch to PR, follow it up and then have 15 mins to convey an interview that I pray engages the audience. The highlight… I love meeting new people from all walks of life, whether they are known to the world or not. Hearing life experiences and having people open up to me about their personal journeys is probably the most exciting highlight overall, but moments like working on BAFTA with the production company, or meeting Tyler Perry and Janet Jackson, to even taking the words of wisdom from Bishop TD Jakes. The list goes on, these are some of the best moments thus far, but the best is still yet to come…

6. Which area of buisness do you need most support in? We’ll do a shout-out for you.

Let people know that Milk & Honey is there. We have such an amazing team of strong writers who produce great features and we want the world to know we exist and spread that sweet juice to everyone.

7. We’ve been asking Pioneers if they’re addicted to social media. Could you resist the temptation of social media for 1 month?

No way. I love blogging, I love tweeting, and I tolerate Facebook! But yes, it would be hard. There are so many big world changing moments that I have learnt of through social media, from the death of my childhood idol, Whitney Houston, and the death of MJ back in 2007, to the first pictures of Blue Ivy Carter, or Obama breaking out into song to Al Green. It keeps me in the know, more so than the press itself.

8. What are your thoughts on the Pioneer-led campaign ‘Youth Investment Fund?’

I think it is an awesome idea. Having been to Uni already and graduated, I would have loved to have had this option and think that the government should invest in this generation more. There are many young people running successful businesses now – VMP is a clear example of that. Many of these businesses have no financial backing, so imagine how far they could go if there was that extra support. It would be amazing! Find out more.

9. Do you have any words of advice for Pioneers looking to get more involved in the VMP community?

Get involved, get plugged in. You have nothing to lose, only to gain! Go for it, join the family!

10. Anything else you’d like to add?

The sky is the limit, as cliche as it may sound. There is nothing you can’t do. Run with an idea, if it fails, start over and  try something else, because one day that vision, dream or little idea could not only change your life, but the lives of those around you. That’s the amazing thing – knowing that we all have the power to influence a life near or far.

Run with the dream or vision you have.

Visit the Milk and Honey website

See Stephane live in action