Close X

Leave a comment


Name:
Email:
Comment:
  I have read and understand the terms and conditions
 

Please click the post button only once - your comment will not be published immediately
This website is currently in BETA

Business Focus >>

The new manufacturers The new manufacturers

A great British renaissance has been taking place. From Aberdeen to the West Country, the zing is back in manufacturing. It’s about time this spectacular story was told.

  • hot
  • hot 100
  • 50 to watch in mobile
  • Entrepreneurs Summit

All I want for Xmas is... my placenta?

by Melissa Hancock - Thursday, 20th September 2007 -

All I want for Xmas is... my placenta?

Britain's "umbilical entrepreneurs" have a message for Santa...

Babygros and cuddly toys are so last century. Today, the best present you can give your newborn baby is a £1,500 set of stem cells.

“It might just save a child’s life,” explains Shamshad Ahmed, CEO and founder of Smart Cells, a London-based company that collects umbilical cord blood stem cells that are then frozen in liquid nitrogen and banked for up to 25 years.

Such cells have the potential to treat a host of illnesses in the future.

Wayne Channon, chairman of Brighton-based Cells4Life, is another entrepreneur who believes it is a growing industry and has put serious money into Cells4Life.

This is no industry for the faint-hearted, mind you. Start-up costs are mega. And in how many industries do your employees have to be vetted by the Human Tissue Authority?

And as for technology back-up, "you have to have completely fail-safe systems so the labs can be monitored on a 24/7 basis,” says Channon.

More on this, er, growing industry in the October issue of Real Business magazine. Or watch this space for the next chapter.

BUSINESS NEWS >>

Grass Roots entrepreneur receives an MBE for social responsibility

By Kate Pritchard - July 03, 2008 5:24pm GMT

David Evans set up Herfordshire-based performance improvement firm Grass Roots in the eighties. Today, he turns over a whopping £247m, employs over 1,000 people and has just become one of only three people in the country to receive an MBE for services to CSR.

Foresight invests in Silvigen

By Real Deals & Real Business - July 03, 2008 3:45pm GMT

Silvigen, a supplier of biomass fuels for use in the power industry, will use £1.75m from Foresight to finance the development of a processing plant in Goole, North Humberside.

Countdown to Human Capital Awards

By Catherine Woods - July 03, 2008 3:38pm GMT

At last year’s CBI/Real Business Human Capital Awards, prison administrator Vicky O’Dea was crowned the ‘people’s champion’.

Farmer focuses on versatile local product

By Catherine Woods - July 03, 2008 3:10pm GMT

Farmer Andy Fussel has turned a low-value crop into a product that appeals to those who want to lower their carbon footprint, the health conscious and even Michelin-star chefs.

Nine ways to grow your business through franchising

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 03, 2008 2:28pm GMT

Brian Duckett, MD of Howarth Franchising, gives his top tips on franchising your business.

Brochures on Saving and investing

BUSINESS COMMENT >>

Lee McQueen pulls a sickie

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 02, 2008 2:55pm GMT

First day on the job and Apprentice winner McQueen has been struck down by a flu-like virus.

Look out Boris! Sir Alan for Mayor?!

By Ally Papasodaro - June 27, 2008 4:10pm GMT

Sir Alan Sugar has been mooted as a possible labour candidate for Mayor of London, and the grizzly entrepreneur is up for the challenge.

The world's first Tibetan consumer brand?

By Matthew Rock - June 26, 2008 4:41pm GMT

Bizarre.

Elnaugh Vs. Paphitis. The Dragons are at war

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 26, 2008 2:45pm GMT

When Theo Paphitis suggested all women’s brains “turn to mush” when they get pregnant, fellow Dragon Rachel Elnaugh, entrepreneur and mother-of-five, breathed fire and brimstone.

I’m so excited. And I just can’t hide it.

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 25, 2008 11:09am GMT

Anyone else gearing up to go wild over the new domain name changes? No? Just think of the wit, variety and confusion it will bring to the world wide web.

Business Comment 

Click here to sign up for the Real Business newsletter
Real Business Front Cover