07/11/2008 - Article by emda

Nottingham bioscience business, CrossGen Ltd, has scooped the Best New Business Plan Award at the First Enterprise Business Agency (FEBA) Ethnic Minority Awards which were held recently.

CrossGen Ltd, which supplies software application tools to enable gene expression data analysis, impressed the judges with a detailed business plan that clearly identified and addressed all of the main components of the process going forward.

CrossGen Ltd uses both wet and computational science principles to develop cross-species gene expression technology for biomedical applications in drug development. Specifically, the CrossGen technology (patent pending) aims to reduce genetic variation between laboratory species and humans, which is an essential aspect of drug toxicity to humans.  The technology has the potential of reducing the number of animals used in experimentation since only cell culture techniques are employed rather than whole animals.

CrossGen Director and Molecular Biologist Dr John Okyere received his prize from award category sponsor EnterpriseLoans East Midlands, the loan fund established by the East Midlands Development Agency (emda), and managed by FEBA which helps regional entrepreneurs to raise finance for new and existing ventures.

Speaking at the event, which celebrates the achievements and contributions of East Midlands business and entrepreneurs in the local ethnic minority sector, Dr Okyere said:

“This award is a significant endorsement of our business model. The complexity of the multidisciplinary technology was a challenge in developing a business plan that was readable to the investor. Support from business professionals with experience in the sector was sourced through Connect Midlands. The business skills I developed through the BioEntrepreneur School were very useful in bringing together the business and the science to develop the business model.”

John O’Reilly, emda’s Business Support Director, added: “The entries were judged on how each plan would make a meaningful contribution to the business, as well as identifying the potential customers which may be attracted to the products or services that they offer. CrossGen’s business plan explained the principles of what is a quite complex subject in layman’s terms and there was a very clear understanding of the business model and what they were aiming to do.”

Cross Gen Ltd is based at BioCity in Nottingham. It secured funding from an Enterprise Loan in June 2008 and since then has recruited a marketing firm to handle the company’s advertising, as well as a sales consultant.

ENDS

Issued on behalf of emda by lava. For further information please contact
Matt, Stuart or Louise at lava on 01522 842 800 / 07870 567 968 or matt@lavapr.co.uk / stuart@lavapr.co.uk / louise@lavapr.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Photo caption:

Quamar Zaman,  FEBA CEO
John Payin Okyere, Winner
Valerie Dwyer emda Board Member
Des Coleman, Master of Ceremonies

About emda

• East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development.
• Working in partnership with public, private and voluntary organisations the aim is to deliver the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy (RES) ‘A Flourishing Region’, which sets out regional priorities until 2020.
• The RES, coordinated by emda, highlights the themes of productivity, sustainability and equality and builds on the previous two strategies; ‘Prosperity Through People’ and ‘Destination 2010’.
• In early 2007 the National Audit Office announced emda had received the highest possible grade of 'performing strongly' in an independent assessment of our work - scoring 22 out of 24.
• For more details visit www.emda.org.uk.

About First Enterprise Business Agency (FEBA)

• First Enterprise Business Agency (FEBA) was established in 1989 to meet the challenges faced by the ethic minority community by bridging the gap of accessibility of support and provide a confidential and culturally sensitive business support service.
• FEBA is a non-profit-making organisation, which registered as a company limited by guarantee in May 1993 after it gained independence from the Nottingham City Council.
• First Enterprise Business Agency’s (FEBA’s) role is to help people from disadvantaged communities to create and sustain economic advantage through self-employment by providing pre and post start-up support in many forms.
• FEBA is an Enterprise Agency in the East Midlands region with a specialist remit to serve the ethnic minority community, and the disadvantaged groups.
• First Enterprise is a member of the following organisations:
• BERR Approved Enterprise Agency
  - Full member of the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA) 
  - Member of Community Development Finance Association (CDFA) 
  - Licensed by the Office of Fair Trading under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, license number 381033 
  - Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce membership number 369975 
  - Meets the requirements of the National Standard for Effective Investment in People 
  - Registered for BS EN ISO 9001:2000 certificate number 19088 
  - Accredited by the Customer First Framework certificate number 1490
  - Committed to Business in the Community’s Community Mark