Laura Vane recently appeared live on Holland's equivalent of the One Show with an average audience of 2.5 million with her band The Vipertones, you can see the whole thing here. [Read More]

Earlier this month, ten new members joined our panel of established Network Ambassadors and came together at The Future Gallery for an evening of introductions and, of course, a selection of delicious Courvoisier Exclusif cocktails.

Our 20 strong panel now offers an inspiring mix of expertise ranging from sustainable luxury and social marketing to future trends analysis and mixology. They have been bestowed with the heady responsibility of fronting each of their sectors on the network and acting as spokespeople for the CVTF500, bringing their recommendations and suggestions for the network to the front line. [Read More]

Photographer Tom Oldham has had an incredibly busy schedule of late, including shooting The Fly magazine's Top 10 artists for 2010, and will also be shooting members at the Picture Me event at The Future Gallery on the 23rd of this month.

Two of our members, sculptor Nick Hornby and founder of Terra Plana shoes, Galahad Clark (pictured above), were featured in the London Evening Standard's 'Who to watch in 2010'.  Nick also has a piece in the Spitalfields Sculpture Prize Public vote, so please take a minute to vote for him! [Read More]

Long gone the time when sustainability meant poor design, cheap or even hippy looking products... CVTF500 members have been leading the way proving this assumption wrong for a quite a while now...

Isabella Macpherson's Arts Co and Elvis & Kresse, working in the areas of art and design and the environment respectively, have joined force to create Elvis & Kresse Arts. The handbag and accessories company with ongoing collections created with award-winning artists and designers who have accepted to create beauty from waste showed their products at Sotheby's last week before officially launching at esthetica London Fashion Week this month. [Read More]

One of the many perks of being a member of the CVTF500 network is the £1,000 of Future Bank funding that is up for grabs each month. Funding is awarded for initiatives that are innovative, experimental, ethically-aware and demonstrate collaboration between members. So who better to win the latest backing than a duo aiming to revolutionise the way you shop forever…

Tamsin le Jeune and Cyndi Rhoades have come together to create The Ethical Fashion Manifesto. As the founder of the Ethical Fashion Forum (www.ethicalfashionforum.com) and fair trade fashion label, Juste, Cyndi has plenty in common with Tamsin who has been who founded Worn Again (www.wornagain.co.uk), Anti-Apathy (www.antiapathy.org) and the RE:Fashion Awards (www.refashionawards.org). United in their commitment to furthering the cause of sustainability in fashion, the two have now created a manifesto setting out a 10-year plan for some of the UK’s largest retailers and fashion influencers. After an initial event to launch it, the manifesto aims to change the lives of millions –and set a precedent for other industries.

It’s once again time for some of our hard-working members to take a break, with a trip to the ancient home of Courvoisier: Jarnac. Here they’ll experience the true history of the brand and no doubt get down to the serious business of tasting some Courvoisier-based cocktails too! And while our members set about packing their bags, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce some of our new members who will be going on the trip…

First up is Freddie Fellows –and if you haven’t heard of The Secret Garden Party (SGP) then where have you been for the past five years?! The annual four-day festival started by Freddie, (aka The Head Gardener) has been hailed as “the best festival ever” by band Reverend and the Makers and is now the event to see and be seen at each summer. [Read More]

Like Rajeeb himself, the network has been on tenterhooks waiting to find out the result of this year’s O2 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards for which he was shortlisted. On Tuesday night, the waiting was over as nominees, judges and some of the country’s top entrepreneurs - including Michelle Dewbury from the Apprentice, Will King of King of Shaves and Nicky Kinnaird, founder of Space NK – gathered at Paramount members club on London’s Tottenham Court Road to hear the results. After champagne, mini bangers and mash, a bit of celeb-spotting (Yasmin le Bon and Leah Wood put in a performance, while Davina McCall played host) and some all-important networking, Rajeeb was honored with the award for O2 Young Entrepreneur of the Year for his site, www.enternships.com.

Speaking at the ceremony, Simon Devonshire, Head of O2 SME Marketing had nothing but praise for Rajeeb: “He applied his own experiences to find a gap in an already tough business filed, and has demonstrated business acumen and insight far beyond his years.” [Read More]

As one member comes back down to earth, (well – sea level anyway) after a heart-stopping trek in Kathmandu, another is branching out into the South West of England…

• After reporting on Deborah Leary commencing her 17-day trek in Kathmandu in our July newsletter, our network member has now completed the journey, lived to tell the tale – and is already planning her next adventure! Deborah, who took part in the trip with Charity Challenge (www.charitychallenge.co.uk) in aid of Charity Child Victims of Crime, (www.cvoc.org.uk) is also the founder of Forensic Pathways, (www.forensic-pathways.com). As such, Deborah is involved on offering unique data analysis solutions in the area of Due Diligence. As well as being the Deputy Chair of the United Nations UK Global Compact Network and the Vice President of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs she was also this year voted among Britain’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs by Real Business Magazine and is now on the lookout for a publisher for her new book – ‘Eureka and Beyond’. And just in case that wasn’t enough, she’s now planning on setting off for the Sahara..! [Read More]

A nail-biting time for Rajeeb Dey…

Congratulations to Rajeeb Dey – founder of www.enternships.com - who has now been shortlisted as a finalist for both the prestigious O2 X Male Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the Best Young Entrepreneur category. His innovative idea to launch a site dedicated to helping graduates find and rate hands-on work placements couldn’t have come at a better time given the current recession and increasing numbers of unemployed uni-leavers. The public vote has now closed and there’s only days to go until the winner is announced, (the award ceremony is on 29^th September). Rajeeb is facing stiff competition from four other finalists but we’re keeping our fingers firmly crossed until Tuesday night! Check back here for an update on the result… [Read More]