Our first members include Jeremy who has a life long interest in books and was keen to have a business selling second hand books. Starting trading last year he has tried various outlets some of which worked better than others. We have now decided that miEnterprise is going to work with Herefordshire council to rent a permanent market stall in the Buttermarket in the centre of Hereford. As a marketing co-operative this is one of the proactive things we can do to help our members businesses. This stall will be a different ‘shop’ on different days of the week, so Jeremy will rent it one day a week. Other days, to start with, will be cakes, ice cream and cookies on Friday and Plants & produce on a Thursday. Soon we will add arts & crafts too. The council’s market’s department have been really helpful in letting us build up the days gradually. This will open up a lot of new opportunities for our members. This market was the place Jeremy liked selling from most and it was also the best for his business. miEnterprise has also been able to broker a deal for Jeremy to buy ex-stock non fiction books from library services. He particularly enjoys the relationship and status he now has with customers.

Matt & Mark are friends who have been maintaining an environmentally sensitive site in Hereford city for a couple of years now. This was voluntary work. They are now paid, through a contract, to do the same work. The site, on the riverbank, is of Special Scientific Interest and a Scheduled Ancient Monument so it needs sensitive management. This fits very well with how the guys want to work as they are using hand tools and working regularly which suits the site better. miEnterprise brokered the contract and arranged some on site support as well as tool hire. We are now aware that there are a number of similar sites around the county that the council struggles to maintain sensitively. One of the the guys is now thinking seriously about the possibility of some more work.

Marianne is a very talented artist who has never had support to sell her work commercially. She works in a very detailed way on cityscapes, landscapes and buildings. Due to the mathematical way she approaches a subject she has decided to call her business Calculated Art. We are now working together on different formats and media before selling locally and online through miEnterprise. We have just arranged for a commercial scan of a couple of Marianne’s pictures and she is now thinking about the prints she would like to have made and framed, as well as getting some high quality cards printed.

We will shortly be adding video clips about these people and their businesses and adding some new stories.