Margaret Mensah and Joyce Ademasa of Positive Elements. Pic: Sarah Whitehead

EastLondonLines investigates new start-ups in Croydon, starting with hair salon Positive Elements

In the past two years Croydon has become a launching ground for new entrepreneurs and is now a hub of diverse, local enterprise. In 2011 the numbers of start-up businesses in the borough increased by over 10 per cent and at present almost nine in 10 businesses in Croydon are classed as ‘small businesses’, with workforces of less than 10 employers.

“People now want to get on with things and start something new,” says Jeremy Frost, chairman for Croydon’s branch of the Federation of Small Businesses.

“I think the recession has gone on long enough and many people in Croydon don’t want to drift on and have decided they have had enough. The situation is not as bad as people think. Things are moving, banks are lending money in the right circumstances and innovation is happening.”

Elevating Success runs business courses in Croydon and is supported by the L&Q Foundation, L&Q’s community investment fund. Last year, there was a surge in individuals wanting to learn essential entrepreneurial skills and 47 people joined the course. Ten Croydon men and women made it to the final stage of the scheme and are now in the early stages of starting their new businesses, including an Afro-Caribbean snack bar, a homework club for local children and a herbal remedies shop offering nutritional advice.

The course leader, Andrew Brown, says: “Since the recession many people have lost their jobs and want to be their own boss. We have seen a dramatic increase in start-up businesses in our area and more people are now coming to us who have had ideas for a business and now want to know how to do it.”

Margaret Mensah and Joyce Ademasa are two of the rising numbers of women running their own business in Croydon and are recent examples of successful start-ups. In March 2011, the pair started Positive Elements, a hair and beauty course in west Croydon that is now in partnership with Elevating Success. Already Positive Elements has had to increase the number of courses it offers due to such high popularity and now Margaret and Joyce hope to expand their business and start their own school.

The pair have previously worked in beauty salons and both have had experience teaching. “We both decided we wanted to use our skills to do something our own,” says Margaret, “we love working together and we both have our own styles of training.”

But applying make-up and doing facials are not the only skills students learn at Positive Elements. “We have had people come from a range of backgrounds who want to do our course for a number of reasons” says Joyce. “It’s not just aesthetics. The people who come to us learn a skill that they can take away and use in society and for many it is really empowering.”

Amina Mangera of Come the Revolution. Pic: Lene Wold

EastLondonLines’ week of celebrating start-ups continues with a look at the community café that’s blossoming in Deptford

Update: EastLondonLines has been notified that this cafe has in fact closed – although, it remains a community meeting space. At the time of reporting, we were told it was not closing. This story will remain for archiving. You can read an update from People Before Profit here.

Currently, more than 12,000 businesses are up and running in Lewisham, and the council is continually working to provide more support and training for small start-ups.

Lewisham has a lot of regular networking events, workshops, surgeries and seminars on business development for local people and communities. The Lewisham and Southwark Business Advisory Service and the Community Based Business Support Service are good places to find advice and support for new start-ups.

In a business report from 2011, Lewisham Council said: “It is our view that more support should be provided to small businesses. They need to be given more information on the help available to them; and specifically, they need to be encouraged to tender for contracts with the council.”

Consequently, the council also arranges short training courses every fourth Friday of the month from 10am to 12.30pm.

However, Amina Mangera, managing director of a new start-up in Deptford, says: “Even though there is a rise in self-employed businesses in Lewisham, it is hard to get loans, and only two out of 10 start-ups survive.”

In her opinion, the problem by starting up a new business in Lewisham is the fact that the small businesses often are pushed out of the high streets by the big multinationals.

However, she pointed out that as a result of this many new start-ups are registered as a CIC (community interest company), which focuses more on the neighbourhood and less on profit.

Her purple café, located in the busy street halfway between Deptford Bridge DLR station and New Cross station, is one of the success stories in Lewisham. The café, called Come the Revolution, opened just seven months ago but has already become a favourite among locals.

Pete Millwall, from Deptford, said: “This place has the best food in the area. Everything is locally sourced and homemade, and they have a lot of things going on for the local community.”

Mangera says: “[Like] many new start-ups in Lewisham, Come the Revolution is not just a café, but also a community social space that offers everything, from a warm cup of coffee to free training, a green space to grow your own food and events and meetings for the neighbourhood.”

Among others, the café has a book-corner where people can swap their books for any of the other books on the shelf of similar value.

“With local libraries closing down left, right and centre, we felt it was important to try and give the community a chance to still have access to books,” says Mangera.

Additionally, the café offers a wide range of tea and coffee, delicious homemade cakes and snacks. The menu has a daily £2 special, plus a range of toasted baguettes – all locally sourced and organic wherever possible.

Mangera says the aim of the café is to “pull people together and share the positive sides of the local community.”

PLA Studios' creative director Robin Lacey (far right) and his team. Pic: Aaron Lee

On the fringes of London’s Silicon Roundabout, this tech start-up is making waves and winning awards

As one of London’s most deprived boroughs, and one of the poorest areas of the country, Tower Hamlets is perhaps not the first place you would think of to set up your business. Indeed, it has both high youth unemployment and the highest overall rate of unemployment in London.

According to data collected by the Federation of Small Businesses for its Small Business Manifesto, 70 per cent of all new jobs in the borough are created through self-employment and by small businesses. However, it is impossible to say whether these jobs are being created by existing businesses or start-ups, as Tower Hamlets is one of the few boroughs that do not include statistics for the number of new businesses in their Local Authority Agreement.

Nevertheless, the important role that entrepreneurship could play in Tower Hamlets is publicly acknowledged. In March, Chris Smith, Green Party mayoral candidate for City and East, told EastLondonLines: “We need to encourage more local entrepreneurs to set up businesses. One of the difficulties we have in ‘Tesco Hamlets’, as it’s sometimes called, is we have a lot of stores like Tesco who pay very low wages. They’re not even on the London living wage.”

However, the south west of the borough, the area around Spitalfields, is something of a different story. Around Brick Lane in particular, numerous new companies are blooming, fuelled by the Silicon Roundabout tech business boom.

One such company is PLA Studios. Founded in 2011, the team of six 20-somethings, headed by Tom Page and Robin Lacey, produce games “for brands and educational purposes”. They have recently worked with Universal and Island Records to produce an interactive game promoting Blink 182’s latest single. On March 15, the company won the social games category at the TIGA games contest for their upcoming game, Squaddies.

Concept art from up-coming game "squaddies". Pic: PLA

PLA is one of a number of small businesses and start-ups that inhabit the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. The complex, which is close to Allen Gardens, houses over 250 businesses in the former brewery’s warehouses and yards. According to Lacey, the fact that there were other like-minded businesses and, importantly, potential clients not only in the area, but in the same building, is the primary reason PLA chose to set up shop in the Brewery.

Things will not change overnight for Tower Hamlets. As Lacey says: “It’s not really as if a start-up comes to town and suddenly everybody’s got jobs.” But, as new businesses become more established, they do create jobs both directly and through their suppliers and potential clients moving to the area. And that is why, in areas like Tower Hamlets, start-ups need to be both celebrated and encouraged.

Photos by Aaron Lee and Jane McCallion

Christian Dillion and Ben Green of East London Furniture. Pic: Aaron Lee

A shop in Hoxton is making eye-catching furniture out of used materials. EastLondonLines takes a look inside its operation

The stock in East London Furniture could have come from a contemporary design studio. The sort of furniture you spy on TV or in a restaurant and think: where can I get my hands on that?

The twist is that all the products are made using recycled materials, such as reclaimed wood from shipping pallets. The store’s location, at the time of writing, in Hoxton was just over a year old.

In this special report, we hear from East London Furniture founders, Christian Dillon and Ben Green.

Dillon was made redundant from his previous job as a technician at an art gallery over a year ago. It was during this time that he had the desire to make furniture.

Dillon and Green, both aged 33, are originally from Australia and have backgrounds in woodwork. It was thanks to a scheme offering temporary, rent-free leases, called Meanwhile Space, which enabled the duo to setup shop, in Whitechapel, Exmouth market and then Hoxton.

East London Furniture’s Hoxton shop is owned by the Shoreditch Trust. Thanks to their success in the last 12 months, the team have now moved to a large warehouse space in Bermondsey.

“Sustainability is central to the concept, we use materials that we find, materials that are already in the area,” says Dillon, “Although they’re sometimes not the materials that you need at a certain time, we try to work out a way to make those materials do what we need.”

Everything in the shop has been made from materials found in and around the Hackney area. The team have relationships with certain businesses that let them know when opportunities to salvage materials arise.

Handmade tables, chairs, stools, pencil pots, doorstops, floor lamps and picture frames are all made in store, by Dillon, Ben and a small set of volunteers. On a good day, the team makes six chairs. A more substantial product, such as Rubin’s Desk, can take three to four days to finish.

All of the products have a refined rustic feel, curved edges and brushed timber, and they have attracted a sizeable amount of attention for the store. Last year, East London Furniture supplied café Salt, in Covent Garden, with chairs and tables to complete its atmosphere. Some of its products are stocked by the Design Museum and have featured in magazines i-D and Elle Decoration.

“It’s the products we design that are our brand. That’s what we have to do as designers – come up with products that people like. That’s our point of difference.”

Dillon is amazed at how far his furniture store has come in only a year. He says that having your own business allows you to fulfil want you want to do with your life.

“If we can do this, then anyone can do anything,” he says, “It’s about having a good idea. It’s got to be something that people can connect with.”

With thanks to the East London Business Alliance.

It must be love... pic: Dmoder101

Valentine’s Day is once again upon us. Whether you’re in for a romantic evening or still adrift in the sea of singletons, we’ve all got a piece of music that expresses how we feel about love.

This year, with the help of EastLondonLines users, we have collected a series of songs and the personal tales behind what makes them important. Have a look at Daniel O’Donnell’s video compilation of these.

If you’d like to share thoughts on your own song, leave a comment below.

My love song…
Now it’s over to our users to talk beautiful strangers, long-distance love and Sydenham sweethearts…

Merwan Rim – Vous
“How many times have you heard a song and thought ‘wow, this is so about my life…’ The song I would pick is ‘Vous’ by Merwan Rim. It’s about a ‘beautiful stranger’ – someone you don’t know, someone you’ve seen on the street and were unable to stop thinking about. Someone you observe and admire from distance – without intruding. I think there’s just a lot of charm to the song – as well as the video. The fact that it’s in French might also contribute to my choice: it’s the perfect combination of a love song and the most romantic language.” – Ema Globyte, from London

Puddle of Mudd – Blurry
“‘Blurry’ by Puddle of Mudd, because I was a teenager when it came out and still cared about V Day.” – Jane McCallion, from Oxford

Lou Rawls – You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine
“It was in Crystal Palace that I fell in love for the first time. His name was Gary Johnson. I loved him so much, he was mixed race, like me, and I thought he was so grown-up and handsome. I couldn’t believe it when he actually said he liked me and wanted to dance with me… I was only young so there was no sex involved just good old-fashioned first love.

“One night, he took me in his arms for the first time and I held on tight and then he kissed me. I tell no lies, I actually floated on air, the air of love.

“The innocence of it just makes me feel so warm inside and I’m so glad that I remember it because with all the hardships I’ve had to endure it means that I have not become bitter and I have known love.” – Delores William, from Sydenham

David Bowie – Heroes
“Love songs have to be bitter-sweet. Just like love. It has to contain the words ‘forever’ and ‘us’ in the same sentence. Otherwise there’s not much sense in it.

“Absolutely nothing is bad about ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie. Charming and cruel, kissing and biting in one moment. We do need to fall in love and we do need to get hurt. Without those two feelings, nothing seems very special. Everyone needs a warrior fighting for their heart. Even just for one day.” – Olga Casablancas, from London

Joanna Newsom – Bridges and Balloons
“I was 18 and interrailing in Europe when I met a very tall, 19-year-old Australian. We were in Nice and stayed up until 4am, walking around the city and talking.

“We hadn’t explicitly made plans to do so, but after he left Europe the Australian and I ended up writing letters to each other, and as the years went by, the letters got more and more elaborate (and romantic). Maybe a year or so into the exchange, I sent him a copy of Joanna Newsom’s album The Milk-Eyed Mender. In the next letter I received from him, he revealed that he had been planning to send me that same album himself.

“The Australian and I have long since parted ways, but The Milk-Eyed Mender, and particularly the first track ‘Bridges and Balloons’, always takes me back to that heady time.” – Anonymous, from London

Uncle Kracker – Smile
“To love someone isn’t having massive gestures or spending money, like buying rubbish on a day created by gift card shops to make money. It’s the little miracles in life that let you feel and ultimately love. My ‘better’ half is the one that puts rhythm in my bones and heat in my heart. She never fails in being her, and that’s all it takes, you find someone that is perfect as they are. She never fails in just making me smile.” – Robert Hoy, from Surrey

The Mountain Goats – No Children
“The Mountain Goats are an obscure band that inspire cult-like devotion in 10 per cent of listeners and indifference in the rest; evangelism is a common symptom. My now-girlfriend tried repeatedly, and often sneakily, during our courtship to get me into them. I played hard to get for as long as I could, but once I reached this point in the album I felt I had fallen into a new universe that was rich and utterly self-contained. Which is what love’s like, innit?

“This song is about two people who are so inextricably a part of each other’s lives that even when they cannot stand each other anymore they cannot imagine separate fates. It is about loving somebody so powerfully that when that love turns to hate its force is just as powerful. It is about devotion, madness and the reckless, wild, all-or-nothing abandon that we also call love.” – Laurence Dodds, from New Cross

Nan Quan Mama – Vanilla Puff
“This song reminds me of love when I was in junior middle school. The love between middle school students is pure and lovely without any purpose or social complicated reasons. The lyrics tell a story of a boy trying to get a girl’s attention. The boy practices playing basketball on the playground late, and every morning he brushes his teeth and washes his hair in a hurry without having breakfast just to wait for his dream girl to walk passed his classroom. This really reminds me of first love on campus, which is beautiful.” – Heidi Gao, from London

Barry White – You’re the First, My Last, My Everything
“For me, it’s got to be ‘You’re the First, My Last, My Everything’ by the late, great Barry White from 1974, dedicated to my boyfriend Fergie who is a bit of a star.” – Nikki Spencer, from Hither Green

Pic: Soy of the North, Flickr

If you only had one song to express your love, what would it be?

Valentine’s Day is just three weeks away and this year EastLondonLines wants your help.

We want to know what song you are most attached to when it comes to love: feelings, memories, anecdotes – we want to hear about them. Do the lyrics make you feel you can fly? Does the music take you back to the moment you first met? Or does it heal a broken heart?

Tell us what song expresses your love and why?

Send up to 150 words on the song that expresses your love to news@eastlondonlines.co.uk (subject: My Love Song).

Submissions close on February 10, 2012.

And remember, as High Fidelity’s Rob Gordon says: “Using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel … is a delicate thing.”

All of the organisation's trees are sustainably farmed pic: Brent Flanders

If you buy a Christmas tree from Caring Christmas Trees before Wednesday, you can help homeless people in Lewisham rebuild their lives.

Caring Christmas Trees donates all the profits from the sale of their trees to charities across the UK. All trees bought in south east London raise money for the Jericho Road project, a homeless charity run from Kings Road Church, Catford since 2001.

The charity offers advice and support to homeless people and rough sleepers in the area, offering help with benefits, housing and drug advice. The charity also takes groups away twice a year on activity holidays.

Your contribution will help reduce rough sleeping in Lewisham, help ex-offenders integrate into society, help the mentally ill in the area maintain stability in their lives, and help former addicts to stay clean.

Recently, the project has expanded to include low support housing, sleeping 26 people within six houses in Catford. Rent is kept low to encourage residents to seek work and look for a stable way of life.

Every penny of profits made by Caring Christmas Trees stays in the community and helps local people. Susan Smith, administrator for the organisation, says this is why customers are choosing to buy their trees from the site year after year.

“The profits raised stay in the local are. People who hear about us love the idea – they were going to buy a Christmas tree anyway, and ours cost the same amount and are exceptionally good quality, and they help people”, she said.

So far, 306 trees have been sold in south east London, and 3801 have been sold across the UK. All trees are Nordman Firs, grown in Scotland’s sustainable tree farms. The British Christmas Tree Growers Association, from who the trees are sourced, says: “the trees are as near to 100% carbon neutral as you’ll ever get”.

Trees can be bought in various sizes, from 4ft to 8ft, with prices ranging from £35 to £59. Home delivery costs an extra £6.95. To check your postcode is catered for, click here.

You can also collect your tree from a number of pick up points in Catford, Deptford and Beckenham at a time to suit you.

Volunteers are vital to Caring Christmas Trees in Lewisham to help make sure distribution days run smoothly.  Last year 350 trees were sold and distributed from the Kings Road Church. This year, the charity plan to sell over 400 trees and recruit 80 volunteers who are willing to give up three hours of their day.

To volunteer with the Jericho Road Project please contact dave.barlow@kingschurchlondon.org or call: 0208 690 4646.

Trees should be ordered by Wednesday December 14 to avoid disappointment and ensure delivery in time for Christmas! To read more about the charity, or to buy a tree, go to www.caringchrismastrees.com.

pic: Olive Loves Alfie

Stuck for Christmas present ideas? Are those two-for-one Sainsbury’s selection boxes looking appealing? Before you resign yourself to giving everyone gift vouchers, EastLondonLines has picked the five best places in Hackney for unusual presents.

Lifestyle Bazaar, Kingsland Road

Grow your own edamame kit, anyone? This shop is a treasure trove of totally unnecessary but highly entertaining stocking fillers. ELL particularly liked the ‘southern softie’ and ‘it’s grim up north’ slogan mugs. Their range of kitchen gadgets will brighten up the most slovenly of student digs, though how thrilled a trendy young thing would be to open a foldable cheese-grater on Christmas morning is debatable. The pick-up sticks game (remember that?) is the ideal post-Christmas dinner amusement, especially for adults with a red wine handicap.

The website is here, and you can order online.

Niko B’s Santa Baby Pop-up Chocolate Shop, Dalston

If you must buy chocolates for people, for goodness sake get good ones. For the cocoaphiles on your Christmas list, visit Niko B’s pop-up shop. You can see the chocolatier himself at work, try the chocolate soup (a blend of liquid dark chocolate, port, coconut milk and winter spices), and pick up some freshly made gifts. The boxes are beautifully packaged, and even delivered on your behalf if you so choose. Why not confuse and delight people with an edible chocolate box full of truffles; or for those worried about their five-a-day, invest in Amaretto soaked figs, filled with ganache and dipped in dark chocolate.

Drool over Niko’s creations here.

Hackney Homemade Christmas Markets, St John at Hackney Church Gardens

If you’re still not sorted by the last weekend before Christmas, fear not! Hackney Homemade is holding markets on both December 17 and 18. Shop for handmade presents (we won’t tell anyone if you pass them off as your own) whilst the kids enjoy the free pop-up ice rink. Expect knitted goodies, beautiful jewellery and traditional toys. Homemade Christmas tree decorations could be the perfect solution for a picky relative. After all that shopping, sneaking a few homemade mince pies before dinner is a sensible way to keep up energy levels.

More information can be found here.

Olive Loves Alfie, Stoke Newington Church Street

Stuck for what to get the kids? If Argos has sold out of the latest craze, why not go traditional? Olive Loves Alfie call themselves a family lifestyle store, but the real joy of this shop is in their brilliant array of children’s toys. From customizable birdhouses to the traditional doctor’s kit, there is not a DVD in sight. The toys on offer encourage hours of lets-pretend games, re-defining the concept of ‘playing’ in a way far removed from sitting on the sofa, clutching a game controller.

Check out the ‘love to play’ section of the website here.

Viktor Wynd’s Little Shop of Horrors, Mare Street

Relatives and children are now sorted, but what about the achingly cool twenty-somethings that haunt the coffee houses of Dalston and Shacklewell? If Christmas is an originality contest in your flat, then you need to visit Viktor Wynd’s shop of curios. From winged taxidermy dogs to floral teacups baring rather rude phrases, this store has it all. ELL particularly liked the book entitled ‘The Art of Faking Exhibition Poultry’. Don’t bring the children, and prepare to spend at least an hour staring with your mouth open.

Click here for an idea of what you can expect.

Breathe a sigh of relief, and cancel that dreaded trip to Oxford Street.