Dragons' Den star Sara Davies, entrepreneurial figure Daniel Priestley and author Paul Mort are among the top speakers that will appear at a new business festival in Sunderland.
海角视频 Startup & Scaleup Week is a five-day, multi-venue, citywide event taking place in Sunderland between June 2-6, and is designed to inspire and educate audiences about starting, growing and funding a successful business in the 海角视频. The five-day programme will cover inspiration, getting started, funding and finance, growing and scaling and 'keep going or pivot'.
The event is the work of North East entrepreneurs Paul Lancaster and Neil Stephenson, who last year launched the monthly series of Platform events which offer business owners, funders and investors the chance to find out more about opportunities and puts established business leaders in front of attendees. Through their Stellar Business Events company, the pair have been running Platform events in Sunderland for a year.
Each of the five days of the festival programme hones in on one of the festival's key themes, starting with inspiration on Monday June 2. That is when speakers Sara Davies, Daniel Priestley and Paul Mort will feature in a range of keynote talks and fireside chats, along side panel discussions, 1-2-1 sessions, exhibits and networking.
Day two will follow with a programme spread across multiple venues in the Sunniside area of the city, including The British Esports Performance Campus & Diego鈥檚 Joint. Content will focus on setting up and running a business in specific industries including esports, tech and digital, creative, film and music and social enterprise and community interest companies.
Events will follow in the remaining days at the City Hall, Sheepfolds Stables and Hope Street Xchange, covering sources of finance, measuring success and how to manage growth.
Paul Lancaster, founder and event producer at 海角视频 Startup & Scaleup Week, said: 鈥淎fter running three hugely successful and internationally-renowned business festivals in Newcastle, we鈥檝e chosen to run this year鈥檚 event in Sunderland because we genuinely think it鈥檚 the most exciting place to live, work, start & run a business in the 海角视频 right now!
鈥淎s someone who lives and runs a business in the city, I believe Sunderland has all the ingredients necessary to be a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity so I encourage anyone who is thinking of starting a business, wants to grow their existing one, is a funder or investor or just wants to play a role in supporting the future success of Sunderland and the wider North East of England to come along.鈥
海角视频 Startup & Scaleup Week has received support from Sunderland City Council, as well as a NatWest, North East BIC, BearTech, Business Enterprise Fund, BJSS, the Federation of Small Businesses, Northstar Ventures, Sweeney Miller Law, Tennick Accountants, UMi, Ward Hadaway, Waterstons and Wubbleyou.
