Business

Two-week Digital City Festival coming to Greater Manchester in 2021

The sprawling event is set to return in April - streaming live from MediaCityUK.

The Manc The Manc - 25th March 2021

A two-week event exploring ‘what it means to be a leading digital city’ is coming to Greater Manchester in 2021.

Digital City Festival will stream live from Salford in April – broadcasting a wide array of Q&As, roundtables, gigs and cultural exhibitions completely free of charge.

The event will also see the official launch of StreamGM – a creative platform that follows in the footsteps of United We Stream to showcase Manchester’s greatest talent.

Digital City Festival will be hosted on the Digital City Network live from Europe’s first ‘connected neighbourhood’ MediaCityUK.

The large-scale celebration will be produced by Badger & Combes – a team who worked on United We Stream – and underpinned by infrastructure from dock10.

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Discussions and showcases will cover digital infrastructure, skills and talent, inclusion, culture, innovation and more – with tracks for Tech, Marketing, eCommerce, Media and Culture.

Each track will see a range of specialists share their expertise and insights to create an all-round digital experience.

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The Digital City Network will also host this year’s Digital City Awards on April 19th – celebrating top talent in the industry and recognising the best individuals, teams, projects and platforms.

The network will remain open after the conclusion of the festival to allow organisations to keep connecting – utilising matchmaking functionality and other networking features.

Digital City Festival 2021 will run from April 12-23.

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The event’s Headline Partners are tech leader BJSS and international agency Dept, and its Lead Sponsors are iomart, MiQ and HOST; with the likes of Hootsuite, EY, Zip and Deloitte also involved.

Head over to the Digital City Festival website for more information on how to get involved.

Business

Professional cricketer wins University Campus of Football Business grand prize at Old Trafford

Danny Jones Danny Jones Cricketer Marie Kelly wins £50k UFCB business prize

British cricketer, Marie Kelly, has won the prestigious University Campus of Football Business (UCFB) Sports Entrepreneur Competition for 2025.

Winning the whopping grand prize of up to £50,000, the Blaze – Nottinghamshire women’s team, formerly known as ‘Lightning’ – and Northern Superchargers star took home the potentially game-changing investment for her own apparel company, Versatail.

Being given the substantial grant late last month, the professional cricket player was presented as the lucky recipient following an intense deliberation process.

Expert judges chose the Birmingham-born young businesswoman from a shortlist of nine finalists selected from countless submissions.

At 29, Kelly fell just within the eligible 18-30 age bracket for the new UFCB Sports Entrepreneur Competition, with 2025 marking a decade of the further education institution here in Manchester.

Held at Man United’s home stadium, Old Trafford, it’s safe to say that the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ felt like a fitting venue to deliver news.

The judging panel was comprised of UCFB Founder, Brendan Flood; Andrea Chilton, CEO of the English Schools Football Association; Eni Shabani, Founder of Rising Ballers; Adrian Harris, Chief Supply Chain Officer of Castore, as well as the CEO of Altrincham FC, Sam Mackenzie.

As the founder of Versatail UK, which specialises in women’s and active headwear, including lifestyle caps and bobble hats, Kelly has taken her sporting background to create products that cater specifically to long hair and female-centric styling.

For instance, her label has helped oversee the design ‘Magni-Strip®’ trademarked technology, which allows people to adjust their ponytail heights.

Learn more about the inspiration behind the project here:

Votes were based on five criteria: market opportunity, innovation of the idea, feasibility, the pitch quality, and sustainability/impact of the idea.

Other runners-up included a non-league football app called Touchline, and even an anti-bacterial boxing glove liner conceived by a brand specialist at Amazon.

Speaking on the momentous milestone for her still relatively small start-up, Kelly said: “My main emotion is shock. I really didn’t think I would win – I was here for the experience.

The process really helped me strategise the business and really think about where I wanted to go with it. To be named the overall winner, I’m really delighted.”

“The financial prize takes a bit of the weight off my mind about how to supply the demand that I’ve already got for my products and my caps. Hopefully, I can just really develop the product so it’s even better and service even more women and girls in sports.”

As for UCFB, aforementioned CEO Flood went on to add: “As we celebrate 10 years in Manchester, we want to celebrate not just our own journey but empower the young entrepreneurs who will shape the future of sport.

“This competition reflected everything UCFB stands for: ambition, innovation, and the
belief that the sports industry is powered by creative ideas. The calibre of the entries was incredible, so everyone who made the final judging stage deserves immense credit, but Marie was the unanimous choice overall.

“She has done an incredible job establishing her brand, and we hope that this financial reward can help Versatail continue to cater for the diverse needs of women and girls in sport at an even greater scale.

You can see the full video from the most recent event down below.

If you’re looking to make moves in this space, keep your eye out for when entries open for the UCFB Entrepreneur prize in 2026.

Read more:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — University Campus of Football Business (supplied)

Business

Greater Manchester restaurants are adding an extra £1 to bills to help fight homelessness this Christmas

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Dozens of local restaurants will be adding an extra £1 onto every bill over the festive season to help fight street homelessness.

People in Greater Manchester are once again able to give back while they dine at some of the best restaurants the region has to offer in the run up to Christmas, as the successful StreetSmart fundraising initiative is back for another year.

This year, 26 fantastic restaurants have come together to support local homeless charities as the campaign launched this past Saturday (1 November).

Manchester independents such as Mana, Erst, Climat, 10 Tib Lane, Ezra & Gill, Tartuffe, and Blue Eyed Panda are among those taking part in the campaign this year, alongside several city centre chain restaurants such as Lina Stores, Tampopo, Banyan, Manahatta, and San Carlo.

StreetSmart works by each participating restaurant adding an extra £1 to every bill they deliver throughout November and December, with all of the money raised going directly to local homeless organisations, thanks to StreetSmart’s official sponsorship from LandAid.

The funds raised by StreetSmart in Greater Manchester this year will support the crucial work of organisations such as CentrePoint, which funds Independent Living Advisors for young people, and Real Change Manchester, which plugs into the existing homelessness charities to provide that extra boost of funding that makes all the difference.

The StreetSmart team says it’s determined to deliver another record-breaking year in 2025, and provide much-needed support to the services that help some of the most vulnerable people in the city. 

Manchester restaurants are adding an extra £1 to bills to help fight homelessness this Christmas / Credit: Supplied | Rifqi Ali Ridho (via Unsplash)

“The festive period can be an incredibly tough time for the vulnerable people in our community,” explained Glenn Pougnet, who is the Director of StreetSmart.

“StreetSmart provides a simple way for people to help some of our city’s most in need. Giving back whilst dining out at Christmas is what StreetSmart is all about, and we’re thrilled to have so many restaurants already taking part.

Read more:

“Every £1 added to a bill adds up and makes a huge difference.”

Featured Image – John Carey (Supplied)

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