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New UEL business offers helping hand to time-stressed London workers

Thursday 27 March 2008

A new business based at the University of East London (UEL) Docklands campus is now offering a unique solution to the time management issues of stressed-out London workers: pay-as-you-go personal assistants!

Errands Etc offers customers the opportunity to book private errand-runners online or over the phone. The team can perform a range of simple but time-consuming tasks, from weekly grocery shopping to queuing up for tickets at the theatre.

Jennifer Nabwogi, a former management accountant, came up with the idea while struggling to balance the demands of a full-time job with regular day-to-day tasks.

Jennifer said: "Little things can take up so much of our time; when I worked in accounting, I was often so busy that I'd happily have paid for someone to bring me in lunch or take back some books to the library.

"The more I thought about the idea, the more I saw the need for it. Time-stress is a constant complaint these days, so offering instant access to affordable errand-runners seemed like the perfect solution."

With the support of UEL's Knowledge Dock enterprise development service, Jennifer has now made her vision a reality. Errands Etc is based in Knowledge Dock's HotHatch Business Generator, which offers aspiring entrepreneurs the use of an office address and facilities.

Jennifer said: "I came to UEL for a business seminar in March 2007 and spoke to Thorsten Klein, Knowledge Dock's Business Incubation Manager. Thorsten and his team guided me through the early stages and my company was born in the HotHatch.

"Errands Etc is primarily aimed at office workers who spend long hours behind their desks, but new parents, business owners, pensioners and people moving house can also benefit greatly.

“We've already had some amazing requests. One customer paid for an errand-runner to fly all the way to Milan with a particular brand of baby milk, and someone recently asked one of our team to buy adult accessories at Ann Summers.”

Errands Etc offers instant price quotes for errands, based on a unique online system. The affordable service is already proving popular with busy professionals.

Tracey Beecham, who works for Errands Etc, said: "One minute you're delivering hair extensions to a client, the next you're banking cheques or posting clothes off to New Zealand. It's definitely an unpredictable job!"

UEL's Knowledge Dock enterprise development and support service contributes to the economic and social development of East London and Thames Gateway through provision of a range of business development and support services to inventors, businesses, academics, students and entrepreneurs. For further details, visit www.knowledgedock.com.

For details and pictures contact Daniel Cherry: 020 8223 2194

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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