The country’s leading business owners, entrepreneurs and life coaches joined us for the exciting two-day event sharing their most valuable tips and insights on how to navigate a pandemic world
The first day at Elite Business Live kicked off to a riveting start, with our host Oli Barrett and his co-host Hannah Prevett, taking the stage to welcome our key speakers and panellists bringing valuable knowledge and insights into how small and medium businesses can pave their way through these challenging times amid the global pandemic.
Serial entrepreneur and former BBC’s Dragon Den’s investor, Piers Linney, who led the commercial business growth talk, giving some tips and tricks on what it takes to win the attention of investors. He also touched on why it is important for businesses to understand their audience and focus on their needs and demands, and why their business fits their market. He explained the key factors for growth that businesses can look at to expand and platforms during these challenging times. He later joined a panel of speakers including Saasha Celestial-One, the co-founder of OLIO, Josh Wintersgill, the founder of Able Move, Nick Dormon, the Managing Director of Echo and Marko Ilincic, the group chairman of Vistage. The panel discussed their concerns around how the pandemic affected growth and the various strategies they took to work around the issues faced in their business.
Founder of Small Business Britain, Michelle Ovens CBE, joined us virtually to speak to us about digital transformation and how businesses can make that transition in this day and age of emerging new technology. She was joined by Biplab Rakshi, the Managing Director of Atomic Acquisitions, Kim Antoniou, Co-founder of Kafoodle, Melissa Snover, Founder of Get Nourished and Pete Oliver, Managing Director of BT and EE to discuss the various technologies businesses can explore and why SMEs need to employ the right tech for them ‘ and also, why businesses should ask for help when they need it.
Picking the right talent for your business can be challenging, especially during this time during the pandemic without face-to-face meeting and with most of Britain’s workforce working from home. Sunny Dhami, the senior director of EMEA Product Marketing & GTM, spoke about the different demographics such as Millennials, Gen Z and boomers, and the different strengths they can bring into your business. He was joined by an exciting panel, including Rachel Carrell, CEO & Founder of Koru Kids, Joanna Dai, Founder of Dai and Matthew Phelan, co-founder of The Happiness Index. The panel touched on the importance of the mental well-being of staff members and how to cultivate a positive work culture and helping employees during this difficult time.
Symmie Swil, Head of SME Banking at Starling bank held a keynote speech exploring the economic uncertainty ahead and also shared several success stories of their clients who managed to pivot their way through the storm. Catherine Young, Founder of ThinkRoom, Gary Turner, Co-Founder of Xero, Lucy Mullins, Co-Founder of StepLadder and Richard Bearman, Managing Director of the British Business Bank joined in an insightful panel discussion to speak about the financial solutions available for businesses, and why it is important to set short-term and long-term financial goals ‘ and even touched on exploring blockchain as a funding option.
Lastly, Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter, Chairman of Coltraco Ultrasonics held a keynote speech discussing the importance of overseas expansion into different territories and touched on the pros and cons of diving into global trade during the pandemic. Anna Morsa, the Group Commercial Director at Genuine Solutions Group, Natanel Bigger, CEO of Monpure and Rashida, the CEO of Strand Sahra sat down on stage to discuss concerns with EU trade in a post-Brexit world and how businesses can take the opportunity to expand globally, without having boots on the ground. They also talked about Clubhouse, the latest app to take the entrepreneurial world by storm, and how businesses can use audio-based social media as a way to network during the pandemic.
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