On Thursday 28th November we attended the SBS Winners’ event in Birmingham at the ICC Arena, to collect our certificate and hear more about the SBS initiative and future plans.
It was an extremely enjoyable, interesting and informative day. After collecting our registration badges we networked and chatted with 2013 and 2012 SBS winners,including lovely people from Bridge in the Box, Muddy Matches, DemobJob.co.uk, artist Alan Reed and Strange Fruits amongst many others. An eclectic and diverse mix of SME businesses which is what SBS is all about!
After the lunch buffet and drinks, we took our seats ready for the speakers and the main event.
Kypros Kyprianou (CEO of Ryman Group) opened the event, set the scene and introduced representatives from the SBS sponsors including RAC, DHL Express, iLaw, and Bartercard.
Then, Theo Paphitis came on to loud applause, and proceeded to explain the rationale of Small Business Sunday to become a forum and community of small and medium-sized businesses, which is the ‘lifeblood of growth’ as he put it!
The Q & A session was so popular that it overran by quite some time, which just goes to show how stimulated the audience was by the SBS project. Pre-booked sessions with experts from Theo’s businesses were also popular, providing tips and tricks to help our smaller companies prosper and flourish.
A brand new initiative – SBS Angels – was also announced at the event. This completes the circle as companies in which Theo invested on the BBC programme ‘Dragons’ Den’, are now investing themselves into new and small enterprises.
Rounding off the day was a photo opportunity and certificate presentation by Theo to each SBS winner from 2013. Decorque is proud to have been chosen – after only a year of trading – to join the list of prestigious winners.
As we have just celebrated Small Business Saturday UK (7th December), this is the time to really get behind and support SMEs throughout the country. The SBS day underlined that creativity and innovation are thriving in the U.K. A quick glance through the list of companies represented reflects the diversity of talent and ideas out there!
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