Manchester’s start-up community to gather at GC Business Growth Hub’s first ever Festival of Enterprise

Manchester’s budding business community is set to come together on Wednesday 2^nd March for the very first Festival of Enterprise, hosted by GC Business Growth Hub.

Taking place between 10am and 3pm at the city’s new garden neighbourhood, Kampus, the free event will celebrate all things start-up, self-employed and entrepreneurship – showcasing the fact that Greater Manchester is the place to be when it comes to starting and growing a business.

The festival will feature speakers from a variety of industries across the city, sharing valuable insights on investment and growth plans for the region.

An additional 30 speakers have already been confirmed, including figures integral to Manchester’s powerhouse economy, such as Sacha Lord, co-creator of Parklife Festival and The Warehouse Project and Nighttime Economy Advisor for Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and Lou Cordwell, Co-Chair of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership. Chef and owner of The Creameries, Mary-Ellen McTague, will also be at the event to share her business story and the work she does as Co-Founder of Eat Well MCR, a collective of Manchester chefs and restaurants, which has delivered over 50,000 meals across Greater Manchester since March 2020, to people sidelined by poverty.

Attendees will hear from local businesses that have previously been through the GC Business Growth Hub start-up journey, with the opportunity to learn from people who have just set up or successfully grown their business, as well as experts in every area of business start-up and growth.

There will also be an exciting opportunity for businesses to win two months’ worth of business space at Kampus, the garden neighbourhood near Piccadilly station.

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the event will showcase stalls from the food and drink, clothing, cosmetic and creative industries including latest Northern Quarter institution Gooey, women’s fitness brand Kiht collective, The Manchester Soap Company and greeting card and gifting store The Playful Indian.

The festival will also mark the launch of GC Business Growth Hub’s annual Recipe4Success programme, which invites small food and drink businesses to build their offering with the support of the programme’s workshops. Previous success stories from Recipe4Success include Didsbury Gin, Raw Bake Station and Amal’s Pantry.

Speaking on the event, Hilary Centeleghe, Head of Start-up and Growth at the Business Growth Hub, said:

‘‘The Festival of Enterprise will showcase many of the fantastic Greater Manchester businesses GC Business Growth Hub have supported over the years. In recent times, businesses have had to cope with unprecedented challenges: but many have also found opportunity in the face of adversity, and we want to give them a platform to tell their stories.

“We will bring together our stakeholders, partners, clients and advocates all in one place to celebrate their successes, discuss the future of the GM business support landscape and encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs. We will also be using the Festival of Enterprise to launch the next cohort of our popular Recipe4Success programme, aimed at Greater Manchester’s brightest Food and Drink producers”

The Festival of Enterprise is open to small businesses, entrepreneurs, and anyone keen to help grow Manchester’s business community. Admission is free and tickets can be secured here.