Kitchen Table Talks: adapting to the times with Julie Deane OBE

Join Julie and the BIPC to hear the ways the Cambridge Satchel Company are adapting to the times and how, with creativity, practicality and optimism, we can continue to move forward.

Have you found yourself spending more time than ever around your kitchen table? Maybe you’ve been collaborating with team members over video call, or swapping nights out with home-cooked meals? Luckily the kitchen table can be just the place where great ideas can be born. Take it from Julie Deane. Starting at her very own kitchen table with a budget of just £600, her company - the Cambridge Satchel Company - has become one of the UK’s greatest retail success stories. Julie now invites you back to her kitchen table to share her experiences and thoughts for the future to help your own business thrive.

Julie will cover how going back to basics doesn’t mean downgrading ambition and growth, but instead, helps create focus where it’s needed and opens doors you may have overlooked. She will discuss how gaining clarity on the business you need to be today can help you make your money and resources go further.

Speakers

Madeline McQueen

Your Confidence Coach

Julie Deane CBE

Founder & CEO Cambridge Satchel Company and Entrepreneur in Residence British Library

More Events

Getting started and seen by your new customers

This session will help you think creatively to generate the visibility and traction to establish your new business in the market.

With thousands of new businesses launching every month and more information consumed around the clock than ever before, to get your start-up noticed, you will need to cut through the noise. We’re here to tell you that although it doesn’t necessarily require a large budget, it will require planning and the ability to seize the moment.

Karen Campbell from The Small Awards will be on hand to outline some tips to help you identify what are the special and differentiating factors about your business, how you can get these messages out, and, most important of all, how to ensure those messages get noticed.

The Small Awards showcase the variety and quality among small start-ups and Karen will be joined by Fran Gubbay, co-founder of Stamptastic, winners of Best Digital Business in 2019.

When you have a clear voice about what your business does and what it stands for, it increases your chance of being heard. 18 months ago Fran decided that they as co-founders, and their personalities, needed to feature more in their business, which led to news interviews, new leads and a couple of awards as well.

Listen in to learn some practical advice on how to make your own luck for exciting marketing opportunities.

If this session is of interest then do also look at the earlier free-to-watch presentation at 09:45 – 10:30 on the latest consumer trends from market research analyst Mintel. This can help underpin any marketing strategy you develop for your business.

Getting started with your sales strategy

Your idea becomes a business once you have those first customers and cash flow. It sounds simple, but in reality there are many complexities to defining how you will draw in customers, retain their loyalty and continue producing profit. In this session you can get to grips with the essential early decisions needed to set out how much it will cost to deliver your products and services, how to determine what price to charge and how to keep people coming back for more. And importantly, we will discuss how you can do all of this with heart and the social impact front and centre.

You will hear from the 2020 winner of The Small Awards’ Bricks and Clicks category, MODO Creative who have experimented and evolved an impressive multi-channel sales strategy.

MODO Creative also focus on the idea that a money-making business can also be community-forging and impactful. They will discuss how you might consider independent makers, designers and services to pass on sales further down the supply chain and keep them retained within the small business community.

Karen Campbell from The Small Awards will be on hand to outline some tips and best practice as well as moderating the interview.

Though you may be starting small at the beginning, join us to learn about some clever ways to cultivate a winning customer experience for your walk-in and online audience.

Santander - The Business of Sustainability

Sustainability is no longer just a requirement for businesses; building a business that is more sustainable for its people, its investors, and our planet presents a huge opportunity.

Rather than treat sustainability as an afterthought or as a boost to brand image, our panellists will discuss how they have infused sustainability into their core businesses model from day one and share the inexpensive methods they used to help you do the same.

The session will be moderated by Lynne Robertson – Enterprise Education Lead and Sustainability Business Partner for Santander Business Banking.

Followed by Santander key note - Susan Davis

BIPC Glasgow: Making a difference – starting and running a business with environmental impact

Meet the local businesswomen making an impact in the environmental space at this event hosted by BIPC Glasgow, during COP26. Join us to hear their inspirational stories - their motivations, challenges and aspirations.

Sustainability is an increasingly important issue for many businesses. At this panel event you’ll hear how and why Trudi Donahue (Wild & Kind CIC), Lynne Haddow (Extincts CIC) and Fiona Lindsay (Reblade) took life changing decisions to start and run businesses with sustainability as a core principle.

The panel discusses why protection of the environment is important to them, their start-up journeys, sustainable business practices and sources of support.

Circular Economy Panel: prosperity in a world of finite resources

Circular economy models regenerate resources across their lifecycle in order to mitigate the effects of climate change, which threaten our planet and its people. In addition to operational and strategic benefits to your business, it also maximises value creation in our economy, environment and societies.

In this panel discussion with Innovating for Growth alumni businesses: FRUU, Urban Cordial and Two Lives, moderated by Anna Triponel (Triponel Consulting), we will explore the practices and processes of circular economy businesses, so that you may be inspired to incorporate the same in yours.