Businesses in the West Midlands will have the opportunity to quiz a former Dragons Den star and the youngest finalist in the history of the BBC’s The Apprentice about the importance of collaboration to run a successful company.
Entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den panelist, Piers Linney, and Camilla Ainsworth, founder of dairy free drinks brand Mylkplus, which is sold in 645 of Holland & Barrett’s stores and is a top 10 Amazon UK best-selling drink, are confirmed as the keynote speakers at the event “Strength in Numbers: Build your Business Through Collaboration”.
The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) Growth Hub is hosting this event on behalf of the West Midlands Growth Hubs, to build awareness among local businesses of the advantages of the Peer Networks programme. The free virtual event will take place on the newly launched West Midlands Growth Hubs website on Tuesday, June 29 between noon and 1.30pm.
The event line-up has been designed to highlight the importance of collaboration and building trusted peer networks, and attendees will also hear from SMEs who have previously completed the Peer Networks programme.
The event is for businesses throughout the West Midlands who are eligible for the Peer Networks programme who have a turnover of at least £100K, a minimum five employees (unless they are a digital business), have been trading for at least one year and have an aspiration to improve.
This high-profile event is among a number of free events the West Midlands Growth Hubs have organised to give a helping hand to businesses next month.
Advice on VAT and import, for businesses affected by the UK’s exit from the EU, will be the focal point of a series of EU business support 1-2-1 clinics throughout June. West Midlands SMEs will have the opportunity to speak to a VAT or import expert at free 30-minute sessions, and find further support and advice on the new West Midlands Growth Hubs website – a collaboration of the six Growth Hubs who continue to work together on national and regional programmes.
The Home Office is also running an event for the West Midlands region, about the points-based immigration system, on Tuesday, June 8 from 10am, which will cover the EU Settlement Scheme, skilled workers, employing a worker – sponsorship, right to work checks, the seasonal worker route, highly skilled workers/global talent and start-up and innovators.
Craig Humphrey, Managing Director of the CWLEP Growth Hub, said 107 businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire had been involved in the first Peer Networks programme which was launched by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in 2020.
“The aim is to help businesses grow and develop to achieve future success and, ahead of the start of the second Peer Networks programme, we thought SMEs would find it helpful to hear from two businesses who had experienced the programme already,” he said.
“We have also arranged for two motivational speakers, Piers Linney and Camilla Ainsworth, to give their first-hand experiences about the importance of the support of business peers and collaboration.
“They will both give practical advice and pass on their knowledge about entrepreneurship, innovation and financing as well as their insights into the significance of building businesses through collaboration.
“They have interesting stories to tell since Piers also has a professional background in law, investment banking and fund management, while Camilla was listed in the ‘Top 10 women to watch list’ of 2020 by Forbes and has huge plans for the business this year including a new product range and multiple retail listings.
“As well as finding out about their top tips for business start-ups or scale-ups, we have organised a second series of our EU business clinics following the end of the transition period and the UK’s exit from the EU.
“We are re-running the VAT and import advice clinics since these sessions were in high demand following the end of the transition period, and because receiving this kind of specialist advice can often cost hundreds of pounds and many import and export businesses are already experiencing a financial impact from EU exit so this free expert advice is vital.”
All the events can be booked via the new www.wmgrowthhubs.co.uk website, which focuses information for national and regional programmes in one central resource, and provides access to SME support for EU exit advice, the Peer Networks and upcoming Made Smarter programmes, and B2B events.
The Peer Networks event listing is at https://www.finditincw.co.uk/events/strength-in-numbers-build-your-business-through-collaboration
Caption: Camilla Ainsworth who is speaking at an event called “Strength in Numbers: Build your Business Through Collaboration”