A 38-year-old mum from Manchester has her sights set on taking over the letterbox gift industry with her new business Olive and Bloom.

Entrepreneur, Gemma Robinson, started making soaps to sell at craft fairs but soon expanded into making beautiful gift boxes full of natural, luxurious products; and the best thing is that they can be delivered straight through the letterbox!

“I’m aware that today’s busy lifestyles mean that people don’t have time to wait in for deliveries or go to the post office to collect items they’ve missed,” says Gemma.

“I wanted to create luxurious products that would be a joy to receive, without any inconvenience.”

Gemma spent months coming up with the product formulations and making sure all the ingredients were natural, organic and ethically sourced. “People are a lot more aware of what goes into their products these days,” she says. “They don’t want goods that are artificial and full of chemicals.”

She was also meticulous about the packaging and branding. “I’ve been very hands-on with design,” says Gemma. “I wanted something that looked and felt really special as a big part of the gift experience is opening the box.”

Gemma still makes all the soaps herself from her kitchen, on top of running another business and being mum to an energetic toddler. “It’s a difficult juggling act,” she she added, “but Olive and Bloom is a real passion project. I want it to be the go-to company for letterbox gifts and have lots of ideas for it going forward.”

A company is drawing on university research to further develop a portable tech-enabled device that can cool, heat and compress muscles to treat common sports injuries.

The lightweight Swellaway, a shin guard-type electronic-enabled device with a fan that clips around the affected body part, does not require ice, water or heavy items of equipment that are normally needed to treat such injuries.

Swellaway shareholders include professional footballer Wayne Rooney, of Everton, Manchester United, D.C. United and England fame, who is the lead investor in the company that bears the product’s name.

The innovative piece of kit allows physiotherapists and healthcare professionals to accurately treat injuries through controlled compression, combined with cooling and heating in a fully portable device for the first time.

To draw upon the skillsets of researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Swellaway’s shareholders have sponsored a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) – where academic expertise is applied to private sector product development or work processes – so that Manchester Metropolitan University’s Professor James Selfe can work along Professor Jim Richards from UCLan to help further develop the device.

James Selfe, Professor of Physiotherapy and lead academic from Manchester Metropolitan, said: “Traditionally, there has been a lack of devices that provide all-in-one solutions to common sports injuries.”

“Our research will provide evidence as to what the best dose response is for the device. By the end of the project, we hope to have a number of protocols that will guide practitioners to optimum use of this device. We also hope to see improved patient outcomes as a result of its use.”

UCLan’s Professor of Biomechanics Jim Richards said: “The exploration of the interaction between temperature and pressure, using the Swellaway device, provides an opportunity to explore the optimisation of treatment through a better understanding of the relationship between these factors.”

Dentsu Aegis Network today announces the acquisition of B2B International, which has an office in Manchester, the world’s leading specialist business-to-business market research company. B2B International will become part of gyro, the world’s first full-service global agency dedicated exclusively to B2B marketing.

Headquartered in the UK with offices across Europe, the USA and Asia-Pacific, B2B International provides bespoke market research solutions for its global clients, which include 600 of the world’s largest blue-chip companies including Stanley Black & Decker, BASF, E.ON and Bridgestone. It has carried out more than 3,000 B2B market research projects across every continent and every industry vertical gaining powerful cross-industry experience.

The addition of B2B International further enhances gyro’s offering to create ideas that are humanly-relevant for its global roster of clients, which includes HP, Vodafone, Danone, eBay and Google. The agency, which launched in 1981 and was acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network in 2016, has 17 offices worldwide and is headquartered in New York.

This acquisition has been spearheaded by gyro UK and the benefits of the deal will be leveraged internationally across its global network.

Kate Howe, CEO, gyro UK, said: “We’re really excited to be joining forces with B2B International – a company we have long admired – at a time when the business-to-business space is growing fast and becoming more sophisticated than ever.  The combination of our highly complementary services will create an unrivalled end-to-end marketing powerhouse for B2B brands, delivering greater value to our clients and continuing our trend to innovate in the market.”

Nick Hague, Founder and Chairman, B2B International, said: “The rapid speed at which the marketing landscape is changing demands world-leading insight-led creative communications capable of helping B2B clients win in every industry sector. We believe that our combined businesses can achieve just that and deliver a broader B2B offering, driven by insights and intelligence.”

Stef Calcraft, Executive Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network, UK & Ireland, added: “The union of gyro and B2B International will transform the B2B marketing landscape, creating the world’s largest marketing network offering specialist B2B insights and solutions for the world’s most iconic brands. I’m delighted to welcome the team at B2B International to Dentsu Aegis.”