In the run-up to the crucial pre-Christmas shopping period, small businesses right across Newham are revving up for Small Business Saturday.
- Businesses invited to sign up to the small business finder and get mentoring training and advice.
- Newham shoppers urged to choose local and spend local for their shopping.
In the run-up to the crucial pre-Christmas shopping period, small businesses right across Newham are revving up for Small Business Saturday. This is a national campaign to celebrate all that’s best about quality local small shops, businesses enterprises and traders, whether that’s bricks and mortar, online or both.
The day is a call to action to the public to shop local and support the fantastic businesses in their borough; it’s also a way for small businesses to benefit from a range of support from the organisers of Small Business Saturday, such as one-to-one mentoring and online training workshops
Businesses can get access this by signing up at https://smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com and being listed on small business finder. Over 50 Newham businesses from around the borough have already signed up.
During the pandemic the council has processed an enormous amount of government funding: over 5,000 businesses have received £119m worth of grants and 2,880 businesses have received over £100m in business rates relief.
Councillor Gen Kitchen, Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Wealth Building and Inclusive Economy, said: “The council recognises the critical importance of small businesses. Small Business Saturday is a brilliant way to focus on these fantastic small businesses and enterprises that are beating heart of Newham’s economy.
“I’d urge everyone in Newham to do all their shopping locally on 4th December and also for businesses to sign up to the small business finder to market and list themselves to spread the word about their fantastic goods and services. Spending money locally in our borough is a key value of our community wealth building principles.”
Now in its ninth year, the campaign has been growing significantly each year with a record £1.1bn spent locally by 15.4m people nationwide last year.
All kinds of small businesses can get involved. Whether you're a family business, wholesaler, service provider, small manufacturer or purely in e-commerce, Small Business Saturday will help you to get involved.
Newham businesses such as Smart Pest Control of Stratford, Pure Jewels of Forest Gate and Miss Tutu of Beckton are just three who have signed up already. One of the advantages of doing so includes gaining access to one-to-one mentoring and online training workshops, including help on:
- creating engaging online content
- business planning
- using Instagram for business growth and more.
Register your details with them and they will promote you through their small business finder. You'll then be promoted in the community, with more potential customers being made aware of what you have to offer. This small business finder is online, all year round.