NatWest Midlands & East of England Community Newsletter - November 2022

For those who follow my 'feed' updates you'll appreciate the sad loss of the first finished draft of this edition of the newsletter yesterday. The therapy hobnobs were (of course) chocolate covered, thanks for asking, and I'm fine now; cheers :0) Let's try again; Take two...

Fireworks have not been the only things lighting me up this month with some incredible opportunities to support entrepreneurs; from a (rare) London gig with Organization of Women in International Trade (OWIT) , an event with Meta in Birmingham to celebrate #BlackHistoryMonth and #smallbiz founders at the Custard Factory, the opening of the eagerly anticipated and long overdue new MK branch & enterprise space and the TechWM Awards. It's been a bloomin busy October. Now here we are in November and it's showing no signs of slowing down; so here's my highlights and things I don't think you'll want to miss...

So #WhatsOn ..

My biggie for the month is ONE WEEK TODAY!!! And it really is for ALL of you across the Midlands & East of England no matter where you are or what stage you are at. We would all like more money to help with business right?? Well -to appease the financial promotions regulators- lemme start with the disclaimer; I'm not selling anything, or advising you. BUT I am recommending you get your #founder butt along to meet the experts and be signposted to all the funding, finance and (especially) the grant network options available to you! Phenomenal speakers like Ashley Shipman , Louise Barth , Rory Alkin and firm local favourites such as Davies Okeowo and Lewis Stringer . Check out #MoneyFest taking place in Birmingham , Milton Keynes & Cambridge (simultaneously) this coming Tuesday 15th Nov. It's a FREE exhibition (small one) and speaker schedule (sign up required) bringing them altogether in one place, for just one day. Pop in for an hour or stay the duration; up to you!

Leicester Business Festival kicked off yesterday but there's still time to sign up for all their events, especially the one that Asy Ho is hosting at 2pm this Friday to get you Pitch ready for networking, investor conversations and really anytime someone asks you 'what do you do?' This is the session that I delivered for Meta a few weeks ago- and they loved it!

Our friends at the British Business Bank are hosting #BizFinanceWeek this week, and I definitely cant wait for the Angels Session with the UK Business Angels Association .

This Thurs 10th Nov (always the second Thursday of alternating months) join us online for virtual networking 10-11am with women from across 5 counties. Our?Inspirational Women's Network ?is co hosted by South Midlands Growth Hub and supports the mission to raise successful female founder profile, celebrate and normalise success, share challenges and support. This months speaker is Samantha Poole .

Another for the ladies (yes until that outputs gap is closed, they're getting extra ok!?) Every month we host?#CoffeeAndCoWorking ?on the first Tuesday of the month to encourage women across the region to collaborate, co-share workspace, support and empower each other with the Women's Business Club. You can join a session in?Cambridge ,?Birmingham ,?Milton Keynes ?or?Islington ?starting at 10am. Its free, there's coffee (and biscuits) and secure wifi. Bring your laptop/device and make some connections while you work.

In or near MK? Grab free tickets to?The Art of Entrepreneurship Expo ?from McCall events in Milton Keynes on 21st November or sign up for the networking breakfast or speaker events throughout the day. See Angela McCall for more info.

Based in Cambridge? Check out Ricke Williams mammoth list of events being held there!

#WhatsOn in our NatWest Accelerator world?

Tomorrow Gemma Casey will be hosting Rachael Flanagan 'Mrs Bucket', a multi-award-winning commercial cleaning company with clients across the UK, and a turnover approaching ￡10 million on our virtual National #AnAudienceWith event at 10am, free and open to all

Next week is our #MoneyFest Event on the Tuesday 15th with private pitching events for our cohort on the Wednesday & Friday. Have I mentioned #MoneyFest enough yet?

On 23rd Nov we have a whole day of virtual funding upskilling webinars:

Funding your Start-up , 23/11, 10.00 – 12.00

Funding your Business, Equity & Lending ￡500K to ￡3M , 23/11, 12.30 – 14.30

Funding your Business, ￡3M+ , 23/11, 15.00 – 17.00

There are also Accelerator 'Discovery Sessions' running for Birmingham, Warwick, Milton Keynes & Cambridge coming up later this month, so if you've got FOMO and you want to get on that next cohort in spring 2023 get booked in to meet the team in your area.

Shh! Don't tell anyone, but applications are opening soon.

Awards

Milton Keynes Business Achievement Awards close in just 10 days, take a look before its too late.

The Small Business Awards are open until the end of November and free to enter this year

Not long now until the closing date for the 'This is Us' D&I Awards . There are 12 categories inc individuals, young persons, small and large organisations.

Debbie's World...#mrsdlewis

If you are an entrepreneur who is currently on the Accelerator programme, or have historically been (we call you alumni even if you only completed 6 months), or a mentor of the programme, OR indeed a speaker who has added value at one of our events, then you might want to join my community group here on linkedin BUT only if you promise to comment on the posts, engage, support each other and generally be an awesome community member.

Have you checked out my #FundingFridays podcast ? Introducing you to all the grant providers in your area to help you explore the pots of money being given away* in your area, Disclaimer: *Those pesky restrictions on not being able to say 'free money'. Sometimes its match funded, eligibility criteria apply, terms and conditions apply, application required, restrictions and exclusions apply, hard work and writing applications permitting, see the individual funders, I'm not a financial advisor or a horse whisperer, but I'm a fairly reasonable signpost and cheerleader. *exhales*

Oh and an enormous heartfelt thank you to Harinder Kunor who really has helped me to nail 'being in two places at once' this quarter, she totally rocks and I don't say it enough.

Well, Ta'ra for now. My next edition will be January frankly because you lot have kept me so busy in 2022 that I've managed to book almost the entire month of December off, in an attempt to use up that thing called annual leave that you get when you're employed by a marvellous organisation (don't make that face at me, I was self employed for 17 years! I'm ready for it, I've earned it, darn it!.)

Stay enterprising. Stay awesome, and stay tuned! #notificationsON

Debster x