An award-winning West Didsbury chocolatier is expanding into the city centre with the launch of Cocoa Cabana Chocolaterie and Cocktail Lounge in Ancoats – and is offering chocolate galore in return for pledges on Kickstarter.

Cocoa Cabana Chocolatiers was opened in West Didsbury, Manchester, by founder Sarah Gallacher in November 2012 and, since then, it has gone from strength-to-strength, moving to bigger premises on Burton Road as its customer base grew and winning Great Taste and Academy of Chocolate Awards along the way.

“Opening my first shop in 2012 felt like a huge risk and there have been ups and downs, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the ride.  I’m really passionate about independent businesses thriving and it’s always been my plan to have more than one Cocoa Cabana.  However, this one will be a little different as besides our usual handcrafted bonbons, afternoon teas and chocolate making classes, we will also have space for parties, and will have great tunes and delicious cocktails such as Chocolate Martinis.  Manchester Gin is curating our cocktail menu for us, so Mancunians can expect something special,” said Gallacher, who won Entrepreneur of the Year at the Inspiring Women Awards 2014.

She continues:  “Ancoats is such an up and coming foodie destination and there are already some brilliant independents moved in, so it feels the perfect place for us to launch another shop.

“I’ve managed to raise most of the funds I need to make it happen, but have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help me reach my target and ensure there is enough money for all those special extras.  It’s not easy for smaller businesses to raise finance through traditional methods; they don’t have the buying power of larger companies and it is more difficult to get loans.  I’ve already raised £50,000 and have another £15,000 to go, so please do pledge in exchange for some amazing chocolate related rewards and experiences.”

Buffalo 7, the specialist presentation design agency, today announced that it has now created presentations for 500 different clients. With the vast majority of their clients being repeat business, it takes their number of presentations created well into the thousands.

Since launching in 2009, Buffalo 7 has helped businesses across the UK and beyond craft and deliver stunning presentations that win the deal, secure the investment and so on.

“Every presentation we do is a combination of great storytelling, fantastic design and solid development all underpinned by robust project management. We’ve delivered presentations for pretty much every industry out there. Millions are delivered every day and that isn’t changing. It’s our job to help people achieve the desired outcome from their presentations,” said Richard Barnes, Managing Director at Buffalo 7.

Buffalo 7 began life as a full-service design agency but narrowed their focus in 2014 when Lyndon Nicholson, now CEO, joined as their third employee. Since establishing themselves in the presentation design niche they have experienced incredible growth.

“Since 2014 we’ve grown at a faster rate every year”, said Lyndon. “We now have over 40 members of staff, three offices and have now worked with 500 clients. It’s incredible but we’re showing no signs of slowing down. We moved into our new Manchester headquarters last October and are already looking to expand.”

Back in 2009 when Founder and now Managing Director Richard started the agency he won his first client pitching against some of the big London agencies. That first client was UEFA and this relationship is still very much in tact today.

“Buffalo 7 has provided us with industry-leading presentations. Not only do the presentations look best in class, the support Buffalo 7 has provided over the course of our sales process has helped our efforts enormously,” said Ian Warbrick, Director Sponsorship Sales.”

Manchester-based barber shop Skullfades is to take on a London-to-Manchester charity walk challenge with a very special guest completing the last leg.

Designed to raise awareness and money for their charity, the, Skullfades Foundation, and taking place on the 24^th September, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has agreed to join the team in the final stretch, entering Greater Manchester and walking to Skullfades Barber Shop in Sale.

Raising awareness of homelessness in the city and money for the homeless community, is a topic Andy Burnham and Ged King, founder of Skullfades, are both hugely passionate about. The walk will also see two Army Veterans, Jody Bell and Dan Smith, taking part in the walk alongside Jake Whalley and Danny Thomas, consistent supporters of the Skullfades foundation.

The event follows a hugely successful first walk in September 2017, where members of the team at Skullfades walked the 201 miles from London to Manchester in only seven days, and were completely self-sufficient, carrying everything they needed for the charitable adventure.

Ged King, Founder of Skullfades and Skullfades Foundation, said of the walk this September: “We are committed to making a positive difference to the homelessness community. This walk physically represents that the problem is nationwide and by walking from the centre of London we are literally ‘bringing it home’ and ending it in our city.

“The walk is a very tough and difficult challenge, even for ex army! But it’s worth it. We are very grateful to all of our fantastic volunteers and hope that our efforts will unite people up and down the country, encouraging those that can, to raise money for this great cause.”

Manchester commercial law firm Kuits has been named Regional Employer of the Year in the 2018 Chamber Business Awards.

Organised by The British Chambers of Commerce, the awards are to recognise and reward excellence in British business across all sectors.

The Employer of the Year award recognises organisations that demonstrate excellence in the promotion and implementation of a learning and development culture.

There was a detailed submission process for the award, which included Kuits demonstrating how its culture has contributed to the business achieving outstanding success.

Steve Eccleston, Kuits managing partner, said: “This award is testament to the unique culture at Kuits and is clear evidence of the firm’s commitment to the continuous improvement of our people, something we are extremely proud of.

“We continue to proactively invest in our workforce by promoting and supporting their wellbeing and encouraging them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. This award reinforces that Kuits is a great place for people to develop their talent and receive the best training, coaching and mentoring to progress their career.”

Stella Bowdell, Director of Membership at GM Chamber, said: “The Employer of the Year category entries were again of a very high calibre this year, and the Kuits team has seen off stiff competition to win this prestigious award.

“It’s a well-deserved success, and I’m delighted to see them recognised in this way. We look forward to celebrating their success and highlighting their award-winning ways of working throughout the coming year.”

Leading e-commerce and digital agency, Visualsoft, has reported a strong increase in revenue as it approaches 20 years of business in October.

Bidooh, a Manchester-based real-time, real-audience, digital advertising platform, is pleased to announce that is has today launched an Initial Coin Offering (“ICO”) pre-sale of its cryptocurrency, DOOH Token.

Bidooh is the world’s first facial analysis, digital billboard software platform on the blockchain, promising to revolutionise the $34.8bn Out-of-Home (“OOH”) advertising industry through democratisation, engagement and transparency.

Fully compliant with GDPR, its technology was inspired by the scene in the film ‘Minority Report’ where Tom Cruise’s character walks towards a screen and it changes. The Company provides a complete turnkey platform which allows businesses to create an advert on the Bidooh app or website and book space in real-time. Within 60 seconds, this is displayed on a selected screen around the globe and data analytics is made immediately available for advertisers to measure the performance of their campaign.

Industry regulators consider the process of purchasing outdoor advertising space to be slow, outdated and inefficient. With Bidooh, any business – no matter how small or local, can become an advertiser and any screen can become an advertising screen by plugging a Bidooh Box into the HDMI port.

The Company has an MVP in place and screens live in multiple locations, along with an ever-growing number of global partners.

Abdul Alim, co-founder and CEO, commented: “Out-of-Home advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry that is overdue for innovation. By providing real-time advertising – analysed and verified on the blockchain – Bidooh is presenting the future of digital billboard advertising. The DOOH Token sale will provide the impetus to advance our partnerships, further develop our platform and roll it out at speed. We welcome all those who share our vision and look forward to updating the market on our progress.”