We’ve had a bumper week here at BIPC Devon. We’re mid-way through our fantastic Women in Business Course, specially designed to support women on their small business journey. From step one of creating your business plan to launching your brand or scaling your business, we’ve got a webinar for that! All our webinars are delivered by a local small business expert! In addition to our weekly webinars, we held a craft fair, launched pop-up coworking, and hosted a networking event.
Our craft fair at Paignton was a roaring success with over 450 people arriving at the library to browse 80 stalls selling treats, gifts and life’s essentials. Hosted by Sam from Her Small Biz, the face behind Devon’s first all-female maker’s market. This craft fair featured early-stage creative businesses run by women. There were delicious cupcakes from Bangin Bakes, knitted plant pot covers from That Crafty Stitch, sensory gifts from The Gift of Sensory, dog accessories from Absolute Animal Designs and so much more!
We also welcomed 22 women from all over Devon to our first Women in Business networking event in Exeter library. The event was a great success, and for some of our attendees it was their very first experience of networking: “Having never been to a networking even before, I didn’t feel nervous or like the “newbie”- it was just lovely to connect, and I met some great women. Thanks for hosting”.
We’ve got even more events planned between now and the end of May!
We are really proud of anyone taking that first step into networking. It can be quite daunting to walk into a room of strangers, not knowing what to expect. We aimed to keep our first networking event friendly and informal and we think we succeeded. One attendee said: “it was relaxed and felt like a nice way to meet like-minded women over a coffee and just chat through our situations, ideas, plans, goals and challenges in a very informal way. It really does feel as though we are there to support each other as we start our new ventures. Great environment at the library. Left feeling inspired and I’m looking forward to meeting up again.”
The 22nd of April sees our first pop-up coworking event launching at Exeter Library. This afternoon of collaborative coworking is a pilot event that we hope to repeat throughout the year. There will be four hours of free desk space for an afternoon of focus time, in the company of like-minded women, with an hour’s informal networking at the end of the day to keep you motivated, swap stories, learn from others and make some valuable business connections. Reserve your free place now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pop-up-co-working-exeter-library-tickets-309951000787
For our next networking event we’ve teamed up with Six Degrees Networking for another event on 25th April. Six degrees was created to combat the lack of representation locally for ambitious businesswomen within networking organisations across Devon. This is a unique opportunity to experience one of their events, for free. Book your free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-business-networking-with-six-degrees-tickets-314779502967
To browse all of our events head to: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/women-in-business-215899