NatWest Enterprise, East Midlands & East of England Community Newsletter July 2023

Oh boy! It's the 7th and I still haven't hit 'publish' on my July newsletter. But as I always say; "posted is better than perfect"- today it's getting uploaded. Even if it IS #donteverpostona Friday!

June was INSANELY busy and I find myself longing for the mid summer lull when events slow down and I can have some headspace for impactful and considered conversation- as opposed to the current headwind of a gazillion incredible opportunities and invitations to support, represent or observe.

Has anyone made a cloning machine yet??

Threads! Are you (like me) an early adopter? has your battery been drained this week by all the activity on the app? I'm a fan. Come find me mrs.d.lewis. Twitter is strangely one of the most effective platforms (for interactivity) for my role, but the experience has changed and its exciting to consider an even more utilised and active competitor! Let's not even get started on ChatGPT which continues to blow my mind every time I explore it.

I'm currently chairing two incredible taskforce groups focussed on supporting underrepresented business owners, it brings together thought leaders, experts and heads of communities to collaborate on activities and resources that seek to amplify (rather then duplicate) activity in the local market. I cant wait to share with you the content and opportunities coming out of those working groups- fingers crossed for my next edition.

Before I head off to the Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce expo today (including the birthday bbq!) let me tell you what else is coming up...

July is #SouthAsianHeritageMonth and we'd love you to come and celebrate with us an MK Ethnic Business Community (MKEBC) at MK Gallery on 19th July from 17:30 with Dr. Gilu George CMgr MCMI . click here to book.

Also this month we're supporting Collaborate MK with their networking event at MK Museum on 12th July from 16:45 If it's your first visit, you go free!

Join protospace on Thursday 13th July at 6:30pm @ Brewhouse & Kitchen for a Made in MK summer special. Also a shout out and directive to follow Female Techpreneur , City Girl Network , Iconic Wealth for Women and The Man Cave UK who have all been an absolute pleasure to work with in June and still have lots coming up.

We'll be cheering on hubstar Antoinette Oglethorpe at her book launch on 13th July at MK:U . Another one of our community smashing through their goals. Just like the amazing reflection session we had last week at our summer mixer with Tyrelle McLeod-Bentley . Our accelerator crew are truly amazing.

Landmark Space, who run The Pinnacle Building and Luminous House are holding open days from the 12th to the 14th July. If you attend one of their open days you will receive complimentary office space for a week. Would that be useful to you or anybody you know? Simply email Rebecca Khan at [email protected] to book your open day.

On 18th & 19th July Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship are running a two day business exit programme. Take a look if you are ready to move on.

Also on 19th July our own monthly #boostbreakfast networking that we hold at the hub; breakfast is on us!

On 21st July in Cambridge Ricke Williams and the team at BIPC Cambridgeshire have a #wibtribe event at Grafham Water Centre klooks like alot of fun!

We're in Leicester on 28th July for a #FuellingInclusiveGrowth event with British Business Bank , LLEP and a number of our local ecosystem friends. 10am-midday, we'd love to see you there. https://bizgateway.org.uk/events/fuelling-inclusive-growth-investment-money-matters/

Don't forget to give our Local Enterprise Managers Ricke Williams and Asy Ho a follow on their LinkedIn profiles and their eventbrite pages to be the first to know what's on in your area. We also have a new fella on the #EastMids patch (and a new person still to announce for the East of England next month!)

Meet Mark Taft :

Mark is a commercially minded business professional who has worked directly with business owners and senior management teams to provide strategic guidance and deliver practical business solutions. Having worked with many SME’s across various sectors and through setting up and running a couple of businesses, Mark understands and appreciates the issues business owners face and can quickly build confidence with clients allowing them to fully explore their business challenges. He is very passionate about working with entrepreneurs in providing the support required to scale and accelerate their growth. Having worked within business support for over 10 years he has a strong understanding of entrepreneurial mind-sets and capabilities and is looking to provide regular start-up and entrepreneurial events along with building strong internal and external networks to enhance NatWest’s commitment to support businesses to scale. He is also recognises the importance of understanding the various partner programmes across the East Midlands in order to continue the businesses journey of growth or refer them into the appropriate programme that it better suited for the customers business challenge.?

My #fundingfridays podcast is coming back- after a short (dry) hiatus I've found some more moneypots for you to explore from across the East Midlands and EofE.

Give me a 'subscribe' to be notified of the new episodes: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mrsdlewis

Don't forget that on the first Tuesday of every month we host Women's Business Club at the hub for their #coffeeandcoworking between 10am-1pm. We'd love to see more #femalefounders joining this lovely friendly small group.

Our hub mentor Ian Taylor ?? Empowering Your Success ?? has a new Business Buzz networking group kicking off in Towcester soon, check it out if you're local.

Looking for funding, finance or investment? We have a very exciting H2 planned for you. Subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to get the invites.

And did I mention our fully funded Entrepreneur Accelerator programme is open for applications? Just over a month until it closes for our September cohort. Ready to give your business a boost? Work on your blockers? Get off your island? Work 'on' and not 'in' the beast? Start or grow a team? Take a look.

Happy Friday y'all!

Debbie x