SBS Event with Theo Paphitis, Birmingham
A couple of weeks back I was lucky enough to pack my bags and head to Birmingham for a few nights. Way back in December 2013 the one and only Theo Paphitis had chosen Shop Scotland as a winner of SBS. SBS (Small Business Sunday) is a weekly Twitter competition run by MrP. Each week he chooses and retweets 6 small businesses who have caught his eye and who he thinks show drive and passion.
At the start of each year he generally holds an SBS event. Exclusive to winners it’s a great opportunity for meeting other winners, networking, business advice and of course receiving your certificate and meeting MrP in person. This years event held at the ICC in Birmingham was the first one I’d been able to make.
The first hour or 2 was networking, followed by business, Brexit, Trump and Shop SBS chat from Theo. After this was a fantastic heartfelt presentation from Jodine Boothby on her journey to inventing and selling over 1 million Gummee Gloves, this was my favourite part of the event for sure. After lunch there was a really interesting and informative Q&A session with Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden and Sir John Mills of JML fame. And the day rounded up with being presented with our SBS certificates and a quick meet and greet with Theo.
It was lovely to meet and chat to so many other small business owners at the event. In particular it was a joy to meet (and head to the pub after with) Shop Scotland businesses Galloway Chillies and Puffinpatchworks after chatting online for so long. I also loved meeting the people behind and hearing all about Mysteries in Time (monthly history subscription boxes), Rayeesa’s Indian Kitchen (Indian cookery school and amazing sauces) and Ask the Midwife (a midwife led health advice app for pregnant women) among many others.
A really amazing event. Huge thanks to Theo Paphitis for putting it on and to everyone who was involved in organising it. I look forward to hopefully returning next year.
