MDHUB

The MDHUB offices will be closed from 20 December 2024 to 6 January 2025 to allow the team some well-earned rest and relaxation after another very busy year supporting our fabulous members. We look forward to seeing you all in the new year for new events, courses and training. In an emergency, send us an email and use the contact details in the reply to get in touch. #MDHUB 

Christmas is always a great excuse for a gathering.  We had delicious cheese fondue and wine with almost everyone from the MDHUB team at Artelium Wine Estate and caught up after a hectic but exciting year. As a hybrid team, it’s rare that we get so many of us in one room, which made our celebrations feel extra special. Merry Christmas all, we are looking forward to a rest before another year of exceptional business support in 2025. #MDHUB 

We can’t quite believe that the new year is just around the corner. After a year of political, economic and technologic turmoil, it’s hard to predict what 2025 might bring. This interesting piece in the Economist has got us pondering where we might be headed in the coming year…

We were absolutely thrilled to see MDHUB facilitator Phil Ashford MBA awarded winner of Social and Community Impact in Enterprise Award at the National Enterprise Network awards ceremony for his enterprise Supersonic Startup.   These lovely words by Oli Barrett encapsulate the incredible work that Phil does with Supersonic Startup:   Supersonic Startup deserves this award for its transformative impact on individuals facing significant barriers to employment, including those recovering from addiction, living with disabilities, or navigating life after incarceration. Their innovative, tailored programs empower participants to achieve self-employment, with success rates that far exceed traditional models. By partnering with specialist organisations, they provide holistic support that addresses both entrepreneurial skills and personal growth, ensuring sustainable outcomes. Their commitment to inclusivity and adaptability has created groundbreaking initiatives, such as the UK's first neurodiverse entrepreneurship program. Supersonic Startup’s work not only changes lives but also drives systemic change, promoting enterprise as a powerful tool for social mobility. Their unwavering dedication to fostering entrepreneurship in marginalised communities makes them a truly deserving winner.   Congratulations!

A huge congratulations to this year’s winners at the Sussex Business Awards!  The awards were attended by Fiona Shafer, MDHUB’s Managing Director, who had a lovely time meeting the best and brightest of Sussex’s business community.  We were especially thrilled to see MDHUB members Flare Audio Ltd awarded Gamechanger of the Year sponsored by Sussex Innovation for their incredible innovations in sound technology. Flare has also just released Immerse, their extraordinary invention designed to drastically improve music quality, both under headphones and in open listening environments – learn more about Immerse on their website: https://lnkd.in/exR9mgD8  We can’t wait to see what these amazing companies achieve next as we look ahead to 2025. #SussexBusinessAwards #BusinessAwards #MDHUB #FlareAudio 

With Christmas just around the corner, our facilitators have started hosting festive gatherings for their workgroups.   Our Managing Director Fiona Shafer joined one of Robert Day’s longstanding work groups for a festive supper at The Star in Alfriston, complete with stylish hats!    It is always a treat to gather our groups together, especially if they don’t always meet in person, to look back on a busy year and enjoy good food and a lot of laughter together.   #MDHUB

If you're a business leader based in Reigate and Banstead, don't miss your chance to join Peer25, a leadership programme designed for ambitious, growth-focussed business leaders. We're pleased to be collaborating with Reigate & Banstead Borough Council to deliver this training - read more about the programme and apply: https://lnkd.in/egMJpPrB

It’s so difficult to choose our winners for hubbub2024 that sometimes we simply can’t just recognise one winner. Our outstanding achievement certificates go to candidates in each award categories who we simply had to recognise alongside the winner. A huge congratulations to: Tim Green at GPsurgery.net in The Disruptor Award category Rosie Freshwater at THE SECRET LINEN STORE LTD in The Alchemist Award category  Alex Adgar at West Bridgford Joinery in The Braveheart Award category   and Emma B. of GoGecko Ltd, Steven Chick of Liqui® Group and Mark Wood-Davies of TKS Group (TKS Projects + The Kitchen Store) in The Best Supporting Act category. #MDHUB #Hubbub2024 #LeadershipAwards 

Congratulations to Dylan Jones at DJ Engineering, who was awarded The Kindness Award at our recent awards ceremony. The Kindness Award is a new award for 2024 in memory of our much-missed colleague Joe Mattelaer. The award was presented to Dylan by Joe’s parents. It will give Dylan access to mentoring and support from the MDHUB team in the early stages of his career. Dylan has established DJ Engineering, providing engineering and maintenance to the agricultural and heritage transport sector and offering a variety of timber products and services. He’s already completed several projects for customers with great feedback and attended a local wood fair to launch and promote his business. The MDHUB team are really looking forward to supporting Dylan as he continues to build his business.

It is with great sadness but a lot of love and affection that we will be saying cheerio to Kerry Kyriacou.  Kerry has been a key member of our team facilitating workgroups and delivering sales, pricing and business model canvass workshops for us over the past 12 years from the Business Hot House programme to the SWIFT project and from our work with Coast to Capital to working with The University of Chichester.  An excellent business and relationship broker and mentor, Kerry is an amazing champion of the MDHUB and all that we stand for.  One of Kerry’s secret skills is that he does not need an excuse or special occasion to dress up. We are constantly reminded of this as we have a whole cupboard full of all manner of toys, hats, masks, plastic skeletons and cobwebs back at MDHUB HQ. He is also the only person on our team who has managed to get every one of his group members to dress up in fancy dress at some points in his workgroups – no mean feat given he has a lawyer, accountant and a builder in his midst ...but manage it he does. Back in 2019 we awarded Kerry the Merlin award for all the magic he sprinkles about and as such we really couldn’t let Kerry go off into the night without a new outfit and wand to mark the occasion, which we presented to him at Hubbub2024, our recent leaders' lunch and awards ceremony. Thank you Kerry, you’ll be sorely missed 🧡