Inspirational Events Unveiled For North East Entrepreneurs

Any entrepreneur or successful business owner will tell you that they didn't get to where they are today without some form of help, regardless of the size, scale or type of venture.

Whether it’s supported with finance or advice from someone who’s been there and done it all before, there are plenty of avenues for aspirational entrepreneurs to go down when they are looking to grow their business or finetune their ideas.

At the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, we bring together business leaders so that they can learn from the experience of one another.

Help comes in the form of peer-to-peer mentoring, introductions to valuable new contacts, as well as a year-round calendar of inspirational events which aim to lift the lid on the challenges of growing a successful business.

Offering much more than a typical business seminar, our latest event schedule includes chaired round table discussions on topical subjects that encourage people to share ideas. We have focus dinners where you will spend an intimate evening with a small group of reputable entrepreneurs and personalities, on-site visits to some of the fastest growing and best ran businesses in the region (and beyond), as well as our annual entrepreneurs’ conference in May, that will feature a host of world-class speakers throughout the day.

With events spread across the length and breadth of the North East, our programme is designed to inspire entrepreneurs from all sectors and at all stages, generating conversation and connecting like-minded people; in many cases leading to long and fruitful business relationships.

Committed to helping ambitious people improve their leadership skills, we kicked off our 2019 event calendar with a fantastic Chairman’s Dinner, hosted by James Robson MBE and with Gerald Ratner as our special guest.

In an honest, frank and often funny talk, Gerald told the story of his spectacular fall from grace at The Ratner Group, including sharing the details about what has been dubbed the “worst business mistake of all time”. In true entrepreneurial fashion, Gerald dusted himself down and launched a new venture, geraldonline.com, which now trades across the world and it’s the largest specialist diamond retailer of its kind in the UK.

Earlier this month, we also hosted our first round table of the year, which, of course, centred on Brexit. Chaired by Sally Jones, Deloitte’s UK global Brexit insight lead, it brought about plenty of heated debate and discussion as you’d expect.

Over the coming months, there are a plethora of events for Entrepreneurs’ Forum members, featuring amazing business leaders and their inspirational tales.

Guest speakers include Jonathan Warburton, chairman of household name Warburtons, Simon Biltcliffe, founder of Webmart, and international brand guru Simon Middleton. Local entrepreneurs taking us through their personal journey include Phil Cronin, of Britain’s largest bingo website, Tombola, Zoe Farrington, of Realsafe Technologies, and Paul Callaghan, cofounder of The Leighton Group.

Toby Bridges, of NBT Group, Gary Dawson, from AV Dawson, and Kevin Brown, MD of Pacifica Group, are all award-winning entrepreneurs with fascinating stories to share about scaling their businesses; and these are just a few examples of the many people we have in store. The Entrepreneurs’ Forum is a place where business owners can come together, be inspired and share knowledge to the benefit of everyone. In what is an unprecedented time for privately owned businesses, by coming together to help and support one another we will all become stronger, be able to adapt to change quickly and continue to fuel the growth of our regional economy. If you’re interested in coming along to any of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum events or would like to find out more about our eCommerce Group, Scale-up Leader’s Academy or mentoring programme, then simply visit entrepreneursforum.net or get in touch with our team at info@entrepreneursforum.net.