I don't think I can be called a blogger, as I have not found the time to write any postings for 4 months!! Well, now on the last day of 2008, I have made sure that at least I have written a small posting.

Most of the discussions on radio and TV have been about the world financial crisis, but so far this has not affected Poland, nor some of teh other countries in Central Europe. In addition, the University of Buckingham is attracting more students that for many years. As a result, the "credit cruch" has not yet affected my two jobs!

Who knows what will come along in 2009, but here's hoping that despite all the problems that we will face with a downturn in the UK, entrepreneurship and international business will help us to succeed.

If you visit my website and read my blog postings, you will have seen that until last month, though they weren't frequent, my postings were at least regular, at the end of each month.

Not good for a blogger, you might think? How would I get on in the Google ratings? Well, according to a blogging seminar I attended, "regularity" in blogging is as important to the Google "spiders", as "frequency" in blogging!

I therefore try to write my blog regularly at the end of each month, so why did I fail last month? I am pleased to say it was due to pressure of work. This is because both my Nigel Adams & Company Ltd work and university activities have "taken off".

Although there is a "credit crunch" and even Alastair Darling is forecasting "woe and doom" for the British economy, the need for my services continues to grow.

One of the reasons must be that, apart from Hungary, the economies of Central and Eastern Europe have not been negatively affected by the situation in UK or USA. Economic growth...

As those of you who read my blog know, I really do enjoy teaching, mentoring and working with my young entrepreneurial students at the University of Buckingham.  However, this time of year is not so enjoyable, as I must mark exams and coursework.

This is not an enjoyable task, as exams must be designed to ensure that the learning outcomes from each course are achieved. It also means that I must mark exam papers and coursework in a fair way,

I would like to find a bettter way of checking students' performance, but academcs have tried to do this for many years and have not yet found a better method!

Well exam marking is now almost finished and so, thank goodness, I can look forward to 5/6 months before the next set of exams.

With all the bad news about the UK economy, I am surprised that the Export Managers of British companies have not considered opportunities in Poland.

Unlike Britain, the Polish economy is booming and since 2004 the Polish Zloy has increased in value against the Pound Sterling by about 40%. The Zloty is 20% more valuable this year compared with last.

This combination of a booming economy and a major reduction in the cost of British products and services means that theer are now great opportunities for British exporters.

Has this resulted in a boom in British exports? Sadly no, in fact according to the British Polish Chamber of Commerce, in the first two month of 2008 British exports to Poland only increased by 1.7%, whereas Polish exports to UK increased by 12.8%.

If you are an Export Manager and you would like to get more information about the export opportunites that exist in Poland, please contact me (na@nigeladams.com).

I do enjoy working with the young students at the University of Buckingham Business School.  They are studying for honours degrees in Business Enterprise, whilst also developing, establishing and running their own businesses.  See http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/business/bbe.

The students work hard, as not only do they have to study and run their businesses, but they have only two years to achieve their honours degrees!  No long holidays, plus coursework and exams every 6 months.

The second year students are deeply involved in running their businesses, whereas the first years are completing their business plans in preparation to "pitch" for their "seed-corn" capital on 30th May 2008.

It will be interesting to see how all the students' businesses develop.

In my work at the University of Buckingham I am involved with start-up and small companies, whereas in my consultancy business I have recently found that larger corporations are approaching me for my expertise and experience in Central and Eastern Europe.

This is quite strange, as I had thought that most larger corporations had already established their operations in Central and Eastern Europe or did not need my type of expertise to help them do so. I still think that most large European and American corporations that want to do so have already established their operations in the region, but there are still many corporations from Asia that have not yet established.

For me, it makes my business life very varied, as one day I can be helping a young student to establish a tiny start-up company and the next day in discussions with the Managing Director of as multi-national corporation about the strategic and practical development of the corporation's business into Central and Eastern Europe.

Being...

Well, I have now had two jobs for about 6 weeks and I must admit that I need about 48 hours each day. The reason for this is that my workload in Nigel Adams & Company Ltd increased dramatically, as soon as I accepted the additional job.  In addition, the start of any university year is busier that other times.

Although I am enjoying the challenges, I do hope that this is just a short term situation and after Easter things will settle down. I will keep you advised of developments.

I have been appointed as the Programme Director for the unique BSc in Business Enterprise (BBE) at the University of Buckingham. However, I will also continue my work in the "real world" as Managing Director of Nigel Adams & Company Ltd.

In addition to my internal teaching, advising and mentoring the BBE students, my role will also be external, include the promotion of the programme to prospective students and their parents and fund-raising for the "seed-corn" capital that our students will need.  This should "keep me out of mischief".

I will keep you advised of developments by postings in my blog.









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All the website and search engine optimisation advisers I meet tell me that I must post blogs regularly on my website, so that I can maintain or even improve my website's ranking in Google.

Some advisers say that daily blogging is essential and the minimum should be weekly (on the same day each week), however I am a realist and so my new year resolution is to write a blog posting at least each month. If you read my postings, you will see if I can maintain this resolution during 2008!!

During October 2007, I attended several seminars about the EU Structural Funds of about €90 billion that will be available for the development of Poland during the next few years.

If you are involved in business in Poland, you do need to check if your company is eligible to apply for any of these EU funds.  They cover a wide range of business activities (e.g. Training personnel, research and development, increasing Polish exports) and geographic areas throughout Poland.

In the first instance I suggest that you check with the British Polish Chamber of Commerce website, but if you have any questions about these funds, please contact me by e-mail: na@nigeladams.com