A big thank you to everyone that attended our relaunch last week! After months of hard work it was great to share with you all what we had been working on.
As we move into this next chapter, we remain committed and ready to providing high quality support to businesses and entrepreneurs from across the world under our new philosophy of ‘Bigger Leaps, Fewer Steps‘ – helping those we support achieve big, bold missions by simplifying their journey & getting them to move forward faster.
We’re changing BECause we want to translate our success over the last years into quicker successes for you.
Turning all we’ve learnt as Entrepreneurs, from raising finance to building relationships to initiating sustainability, into invaluable lessons and services that help startups and businesses leap further and faster from thinking big to doing big things with their work.
During the event we presented some of the key points that we need to always consider and take action on. Some of these points not only applied to business support organisations like BEC but to startups and small businesses too. Also check here some tips our guests anonymously shared with the community.
1. The only Win is a Win Win
When you work with others there must be very clear value for both parties in order to create sustainable, long-term relationships. If there is only value for one side then the party not receiving anything will soon become disengaged – relationships give return over the long-term so you must ensure it is setup with longevity in mind.
2. Don’t count your happens before they happen
It is easy to fall into the trap of mistaking a potential opportunity for a done deal. We’ve experienced several situations where we thought projects were going to happen but then have been disappointed when they’ve not come off due to circumstances beyond our control. It is important to make a difference between ‘potential business’ & confirmed business to avoid disappointment or gaps when you plan around something that may not actually happen.
3. Inward and Outward bring the Biggest Reward
While we focus on brining inward investment into the region, there must be support of internationalisation and encouraging our businesses to explore growth worldwide. There is very little support for businesses that want to enter the international market such as Europe, LATAM, Asia, Middle East and the GCC. By building bridges with the outside world we will have a strong and attractive base for businesses and investment not only across the UK but also internationally. We should help business to grow beyond the horizon and not only lock them in our region. Through our international business support and working with the DIT, Embassies and Incubators around the globe we gained a network that is invaluable to share resources and experience that helps businesses locally and internationally.
4. Success can’t be Segregated
Rather than isolating these groups into segregated programmes and projects that might not be reaching everyone, we need to create programmes that are open for everyone and provide extra support for the underrepresented groups. We don’t need programmes just for female founders, we need programmes that gives female founders priorities and extra support. Its way more impactful when male and female founders work side by side so male founders can first handedly see what the female founder are able to do rather than just hearing about it on events and PR stunts. On our Startup Sprint Programme that is open for everyone we provide priorities to the underrepresented groups which led to %70 engagement with them, working with others as one towards mutual goals.
5. Empower the Frontline
In the modern fast-base changing environment we need to be agile in our approach and cut short the time to take decisions on initiatives and taking action. Here we might need policy changes alongside hierarchy change to give more power for those who are engaging with the community to take decisions as they are on the front line. This way we make sure that your services available for your community are relevant and delivered accurately on time and as needed.
6. Support early stage businesses for Survivability as well as Sustainability
The inception and early-stage businesses are usually neglected because they can’t report on the current KPIs and measurement of success. Yes, we have hundreds of thousands of businesses starting in the region every year but that means nothing when the majority of them are failing. When it comes to funding and supporting these early stage businesses we need to develop new KPIs and metrics that fit this group so they can access the needed support to improve their survivability. Also in terms of sustainability is much easier and efficient to ensure new upcoming businesses start with great understanding of sustainability to prevent any new innovations that doesn’t consider sustainability at the core and costs more resources and time to tackle their environmental impact at the later stages.
Now why don’t you head over and check out our brand new website for more. Also be sure to check out our new Learning Hub to plug directly into the range of fantastic Self-abased Learning programmes of support we have on offer currently.
If you are an entrepreneur looking for support or a business support organisation looking to add extra value to what you currently deliver please get in touch.
