It’s time to fill your diary to bursting with events for 2012
FOLLOWING in the successful footsteps of StartUp America we have StartUp Britain: “A national campaign by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, harnessing the expertise and passion of Britain’s leading businesspeople to celebrate, inspire and accelerate enterprise in the UK.” It has just unveiled StartUp 2012: The Enterprise Calendar (www.startupbritain.org/calendar), which aims to be “a new resource to help entrepreneurs find inspiration through enterprise events and initiatives around the country”. Although a bit rough around the edges, it could and should form an invaluable tool for entrepreneurs.
Taxpayers can rest easy, although the government backs StartUp Britain, it is the sponsors – AXA, Dell, Intuit, PayPal, Intel and X.commerce – that are stumping up the hard cash for this. The crucial dates in the calendar are 9-16 March: Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Arena and Convention Centre, Liverpool (www.gec2012.com). Below, Jonathan Ortmans, the chair and founder of GEC sets out his vision for the event. Other key dates for the diary include:
● 18-20 March: Business 2012, The O2, London, www.business2012.com
● 10 May, Real Business: The Entrepreneurs’ Summit, The Lancaster Hotel, London, www.realbusiness.co.uk
● 21 May-2 June, Digital Shoreditch, East London, www.digitalshoreditch.com
● 17-18 May: Business Startup Show 2012, Excel London, www.bstartup.com
● 19-21 September: MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival, City Hall, Sheffield, www.madefestival.com
● 2-13 October: Youth Enterprise Live, Earls Court, London, www.youthenterprise-live.co.uk
● 12-18 November Global Entrepreneurship Week, Nationwide, www.gew.org.uk
Ongoing events worth checking out include:
● Intuit Financial Fitness Programme, www.quickbooks.co.uk/financialfitness
● StartUp Saturday, www.enterprisenation.com/events/ startup-saturday-2012
● Web Fuelled Business Initiative, www.webfuelledbusiness.com
● Mentorsme, www.mentorsme.co.uk, and Get Mentoring, www.getmentoring.org
This is just the tip of the iceberg. With so many interesting events, budding entrepreneurs might struggle to find time to actually set up their business.