One month left to submit Business Festival events

Businesses wishing to run an event as part of the Leicester Business Festival (LBF) have just one more month to submit their applications before the website portal closes on Friday 4 September.

The LBF is taking place from 2 to 13 November is now in its sixth year. So far, the level of interest from businesses has been exceptional and the Festival stands to have a big impact on the local community.

Despite the global pandemic, the LBF is continuing to evolve. A recent webinar outlined the focus and changes for LBF2020 including key sectors, digital aspects and the new core themes of Business Support, Innovation, Health and Resilience. This presentation is available on the LBF website www.leicesterbusinessfestival.com/downloads

Richard Osborn, regional director at Excello Law, is a director of the LBF Community Interest Company (CiC). He said “The situation and advice seems to be changing on a daily basis and no-one really knows for sure what it will look like come November, but we have put measures in place to ensure the Business Festival will go ahead and will be just as successful as previous years.

“Event organisers have a choice as to how they would like to run their events. They can be digital; a ‘hybrid’, such as live-streaming with a limited number of attendees, or a purely physical event, which, at the current time, is being permitted by Government from October. Our recent LBF webinars covered this in detail and are available on the LBF website to watch.

“We all recognise that Leicester has suffered further set back with the extended lockdown, but I feel that this region is resilient and collectively, we can get our economy moving again. The Business Festival is one of the most critical catalysts to re-energise the business community and I would encourage individuals and businesses to capitalise on the opportunity to get involved.”

Pattersons Commercial Law is one such company that is embracing the LBF. The legal firm is currently planning three events to help businesses that might be changing through mergers, acquisitions or exit strategies for example.

Managing Director, Rik Pancholi (pictured left) said, “Pattersons Commercial Law is a proud sponsor of the Business Festival. We recognise there are many businesses looking to shift, change or mould right now and through the Business Festival our team of friendly and helpful experts will be on hand to guide businesses and their owners through these challenging times.”

LBF events can be about anything so long as they stand to help or benefit other businesses. So far there are already almost 40 events in the programme which are a mix of physical and digital events.

Scott Charlish, divisional director at Brewin Dolphin and chair of the LBF programme board, said “The LBF is envied by other regions and it is a great platform for businesses to get noticed. We are looking for good quality, relevant events and I would say aim high with events that capture this attention.”

The LBF was originally established by the Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) in 2015 and handed over to the Leicester Business Festival Community Interest Company (under which it still operates) in 2017.

It is headline partnered by De Montfort University and is run in association with Associate Events. Partners are East Midlands Chamber; Business Gateway Growth Hub. Sponsors are Brewin Dolphin; Pattersons Commercial Law and the University of Leicester and supporters are: Everards Brewery; Leicester Castle Business School (DMU); Bradgate Estates, PPL & PRS, Highcross Leicester, Novotel and Team Leicester. Media partners are Metro News and the App partner is Infonote.

Applications to run events in the festival are open until 1 September and businesses simply need to submit details about their events on the LBF website (www.leicesterbusinessfestival.com/apply )

For more information visit the LBF website www.leicesterbusinessfestival.com, contact Elisa at hello@leicesterbusinessfestival.com or 0116 464 5995.