Budding entrepreneurs in the city were invited to Spring into action in March when business and patents, city development and the local chamber got together with the support of Europe Direct to create an event for local businesses.
The aim was to encourage small businesses in the city to take the next step to getting their business to grow, survive and flourish in these challenging times by creating a morning of networking opportunities, workshops, activities and access to local business support.
On the day over 100 attendees and exhibitors took part in the event.
We kicked off with a networking breakfast in the Tiled Hall café where local entrepreneur Pete Mills of Calls 9 talked about the challenges he faced in growing his business, mistakes he’d made along the way and what made running his own business worth the blood sweat and tears! The event then moved up into the 1st floor exhibition space where Tina Boden from Enterprise Rockers got everyone facing their fears and networking so successfully that only switching the lights off and on stopped them!
18 local business support agencies had exhibition stands at the event where business owners could get a wealth of information about trading in Europe, Protecting their brands and products, finding premises, funding opportunities, marketing their products and taking on staff.
Workshops were run by a local accountancy firm WGN, a marketing company Aer8, HMRC and Business and Patents which covered selling, finance, tax and National Insurance and protecting brands and products.
The packed day concluded with everyone coming together for a talk by Geoff Barker of HMRC and feedback from the attendees was very positive with almost everyone taking something useful from the day.
