Explore the benefits of sustainability for your business and learn how transparent practices can enhance trust and engagement with your audience.

How your small business can drive positive change

Webinar

 delves into the transformative potential of businesses, both locally and globally. He shares how talking about sustainability in a positive way can get more people involved.

You will discover the importance of transparent practices in building trust and fostering deeper engagement with stakeholders. Moreover, he explores the essential relationship between corporate and personal responsibility, highlighting how this synergy can drive meaningful change within our immediate surroundings and the broader environment.

. He started the company in January 2021 after spending a long winter in lockdown and desperate to become a key worker. The aim was to provide community-driven nutrition sustainably.

This webinar is part of a series for business.connected. 

business.connected: Grow your business with free digital training

Free video training, exclusive offers and workshops

The business.connected hub is a free online training programme of workshops, webinars and e-learning modules designed to help businesses go digital and adopt new technology. 

Lunch and Learn: How your small business can drive positive change

Discover how businesses can serve as catalysts for positive change within our communities.

I&apos;m a <a href=&apos;https://danmartinuk.com/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>freelance content creator and event host</a> who helps small businesses and the organisations that support them. I&apos;m also Enterprise Nation&apos;s Local Leader for Bristol.
I have 20 years of experience as a small business journalist having interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs from famous names like Sir Richard Branson and Deborah Meaden to the founders behind brand new start-ups.
I&apos;ve worked for a range of leading small business publications and support groups, most recently as head of content at Enterprise Nation where I was responsible for the prolific output of content on the company&apos;s blog and social media. I now freelance for Enterprise Nation as the website&apos;s <a href=&apos;https://www.enterprisenation.com/business-news&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>news reporter</a> and as the host of the <a href=&apos;https://www.enterprisenation.com/podcast&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Small Business sessions podcast</a>.
I&apos;m based in Bristol where I run and host regular events with the local small business community in my role as Enterprise Nation&apos;s Local Leader for Bristol. I also have strong connections with other major business organisations in the south west region.
In total, I&apos;ve hosted over 100 events including conferences with an audience of hundreds for international brands like Xero and Facebook and live web chats from inside 10 Downing Street.
With my partner, I co-run <a href=&apos;https://www.lifestyledistrict.co.uk/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Lifestyle District</a>, a lifestyle blog focused on culture, art, theatre and photography.

Freelance content creator & event host

Elsie Rutterford: From blogger to multi-million pound beauty brand – Small Business Sessions podcast (S7E1)

Enterprise Nation's podcast is back for a seventh series of inspiring entrepreneurial stories and expert business tips.

Croydon Business Bootcamp

Build your business alongside other Croydon entrepreneurs by participating in a free three-week bootcamp.

I am the Founder at Quest Consulting Services and I started my business to enable small - medium sized businesses get honest and practical advice in all things HR and people related.
I have built the business with a team that have business experience as well as HR expertise and so we pride ourselves on the fact we won&apos;t sit on the fence!
We support start ups who are employing their first member of staff right up to well established business with over 250 employees. Our message has always been the same - to give an affordable service, straight talking advice and for my team to be an extension of yours.
I also developed our People Plan Programme which gives smaller businesses access to an affordable way to think about their Employee Journey and how to put a people strategy in place to attract and retain the best people and have an engaged workforce behind your business.
To better develop Line Managers, we have created a range of workshops that are only 1/2 days and give very interactive and practical guidance on the types of issues Managers experience day to day - and if handled incorrectly can cause huge issues for businesses.
I love working with businesses that value their people and have a passion for what they do.

Founder and Director

The People Plan Programme

Our People Plan programme allows business owners / leaders to develop a people strategy by mapping the employee experience / journey to highlight their strengths and areas for improvement.

We start the process with a Prople Plan audit which is a quetionnaire style survey sent to all Management within a business to gain their perceptions on how well the business addresses the 6 stages of the employee journey. From this survey you receive your People Action Plan which gives you the 3 key areas of

Serial entrepreneur and innovation director across multiple verticals, with a technology and sector agnostic approach to consulting. Currently consulting to various ventures ie Medtech, CPG, FMCG, Fintech, Adtech, HeathTech etc

Having been deeply immersed in the Startup / SME EcoSystem for approximately 25 years, in 2 distinct sectors and countries with various business models. Providing both product / services for b2b and b2b segments has allowed me to gain a solid amount of diverse knowledge and understanding.
This entrepreneurial experience also allowed to gain insights of the innovation value chain and operational requirements of building / scaling ventures, for product market fit. The critical component of fundraising through various mechanisms, is an area that I understand well, having bootstrapped businesses and then raised circa 3m Euros across angel, Venture Capital and the European Development Fund (EDF).
The full spectrum of the fund-raising process was arguably the most challenging aspect of venture building for a multitude of reasons and it was a definite grind to get it done. Learning to dealing with brutal reality was a crucial part of success and helped test / fortify my resilience and growth mindset.
The last venture Zveetz had a regenerative aspect with a mission to make a dent against sugar pollution and its consequences to people and planet. Working cross functionally with a stellar team of individuals including food and behavioural scientists to deliver an impactful value proposition was highly rewarding. The business model was multifaceted with transactional, subscription and asymmetrical revenue streams. We were able to move the needle on sugar reduction and enabled people to be more sugar smart, thereby hitting multiple impact and revenue KPI’s.
Previously to that, I had the privilege of deep diving into the world of AI, machine learning &amp; ontologies to build a recommendation engine SaaS for the e-commerce sector, although there were multiple future use cases for the technology. This immersion and venture was very challenging for multiple reasons but ultimately the outcomes were net positive, so the juice was worth the squeeze.
hankfully, I have been able to transition into the role of an Innovation Director and apply skills / experience to provide consultation across the Oxford Innovation ecosystem to various stakeholders.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Performed 96 one to one business support sessions and workshops for students, faculty, startup and SMEs teams.</li>
<li>Consulting with the KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnerships) department to revamping program offering and positioning to meet desired Research Excellence Framework (REF 29) standards.</li>
<li>Supporting faculty members across the UnIversity’s different schools, on commercialisation of their research and various potential fund-raising strategies.</li>
<li>Working with the AI Research group within the University to develop their strategic roadmap.</li>
<li>Supporting the establishment of “Managementfest”, a student led innovation &amp; entrepreneurship conference and accelerator programme at BNU.</li>
<li>Regularly meeting with the university leadership committee to report all innovation initiatives and results.</li>
<li>Leading Oxford Innovation AI working group with a remit to i) develop a wholistic adoption strategy for competitive advantage. ii) Steering AI integration and operationalisation across the org, towards ISO42001 (trustworthy) compliance.</li>
</ul>

Innovation Director

Vishal Kawatra

Serial entrepreneur and innovation director across multiple verticals, with a technology and sector agnostic approach to consulting. Currently consulting to various ventures ie Medtech, CPG, FMCG, Fintech, Adtech, HeathTech etc

Having been deeply immersed in the Startup / SME EcoSystem for approximately 25 years, in 2 distinct sectors and countries with various business models. Providing both product / services for b2b and b2b segments has allowed me to gain a solid amount of d

How your small business can drive positive change

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