New Hands

The final update from 1st Series...Jim the painter

Jim was running a profitable painting and decorating business on his own with one or two employees when he needs them. He wanted to expand and, hopefully, take on ex-prisoners.

We are happy to say that Jim is still in business and doing well but much to his regret has not taken on ex-prisoners or contacted the local prison visiting committee as he hoped to do as part of the social enterprise idea. He did manage to have brief meeting with Scottish Enterprise to discuss this but has not pursued it due to his increased workload. He still feels that it’s a good idea and will hopefully look at it again this year when his workload eases.

Bumpbling from the 1st Series...Amanda Ishaq

Who can forget 'bumpbling'?

Fed up buying dowdy maternity clothes, Amanda invented the 'bumpbling' - a unique maternity and nursing wear garment which not only looked good, it was practical.

Here’s the latest from Amanda:

‘I’ve completed trademark registration and have been able to carry out the final tweaks on the designs while I also acted as model as I’m pregnant and my baby’s due in February (congrats Amanda!). I decided to keep the Mamma Fashionista name and have a fab new website!

Amanda is still in contact with her mentor from the show, Rachel Jones, who is still advising her and is helping in the marketing of the brand when ready to launch. Amanda also participated in the Nesta programme which is to helps entrepreneurs of all ages with practical and financial help. Amanda has found this support very helpful and has learned from their advice.

Updating from the 1st Series...Abdullah Khan

Do you remember Abdullah the gamer from the first series of New Hands? Abdullah reckoned he had come up with the next generation of computer games He had taken advice from business start up experts and was confident he was on the brink of making a fortune. The trouble was his start-up costs were much higher than normal – he was looking for a cool two million pounds.

Abdullah had this to say when we contacted him:

‘We have just started the process and hope to start officially working on the demo in the coming weeks. After the demo is complete then we stand on solid ground for negotiating for the production of the game. As the demo will eliminate the risks in the investors mind for: Can the concept be proved and developed? Can we get the rights/licenses required for the game? Can we get the participants for the game? Once these questions are answered (which they will be through the demo) negotiating can start and the company can then start properly.’

Watch this space gamers!!

Coming in from the wilderness...Helen McPhee from Programme 2

Helen’s family fosters children and when she graduated from Edinburgh University with a psychology degree, she decided to develop outdoor experiences for children in care, yet she hadn’t got it off the ground in spite of meticulous planning. When we contacted her recently, she had this to say:

" We had hoped to run a pilot scheme in October 2008, but, in spite of interest from both Perth and Glasgow, neither council wanted to fund a place, even when greatly subsidised. We are hoping that, on the back of our upcoming campaign, we can run a pilot or proof of concept course either at Easter or in Summer 2009, as we are fully prepared to roll one out given the groundwork set in place for our cancelled October pilot. Our main hindrance at the moment is our low profile, hence the preparation of the upcoming campaign. Nobody knows about us, so nobody’s biting. With all that we currently have in place, we can roll out a course with minimal notice, so the sooner we can generate interest, the better. We’ve set up a company: Pinnacle. If anyone’s interested, get in touch

The sparkle of Cava from Series 1

In programme 1 of the first series of 'New Hands' we met Coila and Karen, former models who set up CAVA, a promotions company, They had done all this using cash from their credit cards and not much else

Since then,it's been all change. We’ve learned that Karen is now sole owner and director of CAVA, having dissolved the partnership with Coila.She says the company is thriving despite the credit crunch and offers three main service departments, Cava Face to Face, Cava Events and Cava Consultancy. For more information on this success story, go to Cava Ltd.