October 2025
Our October meeting was held at Browne Jacobson
We're passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship. Through our successful startup legal support programme, Grow, we will guide you through investment rounds so your startup secures funding to grow its operations. We advise on all areas of employment law to assist with hiring and managing your first employees. We implement tax efficient share option schemes to incentivise and retain your staff. We support on the drafting and negotiation of commercial contracts and arrangements with customers and consumers and minimise risk and exposure to your business. We help you navigate the increasingly complex regulatory landscape relating to financial services and data and help shape your brand and intellectual property protection strategy.
Our aim is simple: to partner with you on your startup journey through the full growth cycle of your business, all the way through to exit.
We work with exciting, growing businesses and their stakeholders on venture capital and angel-led funding rounds across a range of sectors, including FinTech, InsurTech, HealthTech, AgriTech, automotive, retail and consumer and CleanTech.
Jon Snade welcomed the 3Cs Community on behalf of Browne Jacobson
Guest Speaker
Tony Harrison - Building and exiting businesses
From 2006 to 2013, Tony ran his first business with a long-term friend, achieving a £3.5M T/O before his partner was diagnosed with terminal cancer. To protect his partner's family, they decided to sell. After a potential buyer and banks tried to exploit the situation, Tony secured a new buyer and sold the business on 8th December 2013, and completed in 10 working days, just before his partner passed away.
He soon launched his second business, managing to bypass a non-compete clause; by selling desktop printers. This company was sold in September 2019 to the original buyer of the first business (they weren't going to lose a second time).
After a brief retirement, Tony got bored! and started his third business in January 2020. This venture involved remanufacturing second-hand printers to 'as new' condition and charging companies based on usage, which helped make the business look more sexy! with the idea of a 'circular economy' as its unique selling point. The business was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic with very little revenue coming in. Despite an offer of a £250,000 investment from the local government, Tony realized he no longer wanted to expand and sold the company to his services team in December 2022. Tony is now formally "Retired" and relaxing, but helping and mentoring a few young businesses, but watch this space!!"
Business Pitches
Bridging the Gap; Education & Employment
Education should prepare young people for meaningful careers, equipping them with critical thinking, problem-solving, and digital literacy. But is it truly preparing them for work, better opportunities, and an improved quality of life? Too often, education lags behind workforce needs. As a parent, Clementina has recognised first-hand the lack of workplace exposure for young people, trying to source placements for her children post-university. As an Ofsted inspector for over 25 years, she discovered a disconnect between education and tomorrow's workforce across schools and colleges I reviewed in the UK, USA, the UAE, the Cayman Islands, and Saudi Arabia.
The Missing Link: From career fairs and work placements to industry-led workshops, efforts exist-but they remain disjointed. Without structured, continuous collaboration between academia, employers, and jobseekers, we risk a future where students question the value of education entirely. Imagine a transformative approach where candidates showcase real-world skills and future potential-before they're even hired! That's exactly why we created 6C's Skills-First. The 6Cs for work web platform bridges the gap between education and employment. Through the 6C's framework, candidates collaborate on employer-led projects, demonstrating their job readiness in a real-world setting.
This journey has been shaped by insightful discussions with educators, employers, local authorities, and industry leaders-from JPMorgan, KPMG, APCO, UCL, University College London, Brunel University, etc.. Watch this space-6C's is redefining hiring with a skills-first approach!
Mads Nybo Jorgensen - "Make Me a Factory"
On a mission to expand the UKs manufacturing industry through creating 35,000 new jobs over the next 10-years. Mads Nybo Jorgensen, in July 2016 devised it as a TV reality show (just after that referendum vote). By going 'independent', the UK would have to become self-sufficient whilst addressing the root causes of austerity and poverty, in part by creating jobs. 10-years later, with Covid and EU exit behind us, now is the time to expand the Great in "Made in Great Britain" again.
Manufacturing industries used to thrive in the UK, creating local jobs, and a strong export economy. However, with increased competition from overseas, mainly the Far East, the modern shipping container, outdated practices and a disgruntled workforce led to the demise of UK industries starting in the 1970s.
Today, the UK is facing uncertainties as extreme temperatures are changing our landscape and threatening the food supply, the rising cost of overseas manufacturing and import, 3Ts Trump Trade Tariffs and that national stability is tied into the strength of the Pound Sterling and low inflation. As COVID taught us, in a global emergency, a nation should not rely on poor manufacturing practices taking place on the other side of the planet Earth. Instead, it must develop the skills and technologies and manufacture at home.
To do this, Make Me a Factory will start out as a Business TV reality show. Think "The Apprentice" meet "Dragon's Den", all with the 'spiritual' help of the "Trouble Shooter". It will be a team v team competition of new factory workers to win a share, eventually the whole share, of the factory that they will build and manufacture a product that has appeal to British customers. Whilst working with experts and universities to develop an educational, business program that shows anyone interested how to make a factory.
Mads has previously presented to 3Cs in September 2011 and also at our 100th meeting in June 2018.
Hannah Mellow and Michelle Pereira - Nendo
This is not just an irrigation system for crops, it's an irrigation system for the soil. A quiet, powerful solution that nourishes from beneath the surface, restoring the land's natural rhythm. From the earth, for the earth, Nendo redefines how we think about water, farming, and resilience.
Use Every Drop Efficiently
Water scarcity leads to food scarcity. As farmers face increasingly unpredictable conditions, they need irrigation solutions that go beyond today's limitations. Nendo is answering that call, safeguarding against drought by eliminating water evaporation from irrigation entirely.
Unlike modern drip systems, Nendo's clay pipe irrigation eliminates 100% of evaporation loss. It enhances yields by up to 70%, promotes healthy, living soil, and drastically reduces farmers' dependence on fertilizers. By improving water efficiency, we help farmers lower their costs while ensuring healthier, more sustainable harvests, season after season.
By working with local manufacturers, we empower every part of the agricultural supply chain and bring prosperity to the communities we serve.
Our Mission
To cultivate a future of regenerative farming-resilient, rooted in local strength, and capable of helping communities thrive in the face of drought.
** Nendo was voted best business pitch by the audience
