January Round Up

January has been a wonderful whirlwind of activity across the East Midlands & East of England in Enterprise, here's just a snippet of the highlights...

My first gig of the year was proudly supporting Digital Boost with a masterclass for 100 SMEs online who wanted a plan to kick off their social media content. If you arent already plugged in to Digital Boost do it now!

I've recorded a couple of podcasts that went live in Jan; starting with Let's Talk Startups talking about out the barriers that startups face, and a goal setting episode for the hair and beauty industry with Phil Jackson .

Last year I chaired the inaugral East Mids #WomeninBusiness taskforce and together we curated a webinar series involving hive minds from British Business Bank , various Angel groups across the patch, LEPs and councils, network & community leads and expert thought leaders. January saw us deploy the four part online events and almost 200 business owners signed up for the opportunity that will culminate in live inperson events across the region in February. One final webinar left on 8th; be quick to get involved.

We have explored the funding and finance landscape, demystified and humanised angels (and attracted a few more on the way!), heard from experts around creating the perfect pitch and also explored the confidence blockers many #wib report and overcome. In February at the in person events we'll be connecting angels and networks with enquisitive entrepreneuts excitied to expand their investment networks.

All month I've been supporting a #secretproject with Women Leaders Uk in association with Milton Keynes College Group ; a group of incredible young women are helping us bring a concept of inspiration to life for March. Of course there were concrete cows involved (and a few super celebs to boot!) ... it's Milton Keynes after all.

We reached the shortlist of the #MKBAA awards in the Impact in the community and Championing Diversity categories, but sadly that was the end of the road for 2024 for us, no finalist place, but that didnt stop me feeling incredibly proud of the contents of the application form- my goodness we achieved alot last year and -glassware or not- I'm so thrilled to be part of this team who deliver with purpose for our rich tapestry of SMEs across the patch. Oh and it wont stop us celebrating on the night and cheering on all those who did reach the final as well as all our extended Enterprise family up for their respective awards.

Super proud of Ricke Williams , Mark Taft , Asy Ho and Heidi Franklin for the fast start to 2024 (East Mids Dream Team!) and the brilliant #SUFS they are deploying with our ecosystem partners keeping those relationships and collaborations alive with start up support very much at the heart of community activity, building a strong pathway for everything else that we do and offer.

SUFS (Setting Up For Success) is a short programme for entrepreneurs not quite right, ready or reappling for our accelerator (yet!) there is no interview, no pressure, just a solid weekly programme of workshops, activities and signposting and a community of likeminded individuals to start or support SMEs.

Our event managers Ciara Labrum and Andrew Bishop have kept the events stages busy and those pop ups buzzing for local charities and businesses in #Mk and #cambridge- January looked wonderful.

It was thrilling to catch up with Shalom Ijeoma Lloyd MBE and hear about her new years honours list surprise, visit Holy Moly | B-Corp? HQ as they launched their #getsmashedthisdryjanuary campaign and catch up with a handful of other alumni. I was sorry to hear of another small business closure, we are here for our networks for the good and the bad; if you need support please reach out. (hugs)

We've delivered some press coverage for a handful of Accelerator entrepreneurs, as soon as they are publically landed I'll give them a shout and share! Kudos for Michele D'Souza for picking a stellar mix of successful applicants to help me leverage any opportunities that arise.

Oh.... and did I mention that applications for the accelerator are still open until 16th Feb?? Spread the word ;0)

Some people moan that January drags on for 834857 days... but for me to passed in a flash, they say time flies when you are having fun!