Soapbox Day 23rd July!

Emma and Lou host the VIP Bus, John Ryland picks up his cart and walks, Barry Parker takes a tumble

Where else to start this month but with our reflections on the SoapBox Derby?!

Our huge thanks go to members  Gary Newell of Jigsaw Property Maintenance and Barry Parker of BTE Automotive for all their exceptionally hard work last weekend and in the 12 months running up to the Soap Box Derby in Bordon! Without their hard work and dedication the event could not have succeeded. News of the event’s success has spread up and down the county and the praise being heaped on the management team is very well deserved. 

We love that these two well-loved local businessmen met through SiGNAL and created a partnership that went on to give Bordon the best community day we have had in years. 

Gary has been coming along to the SiGNAL business networking meetings every month this year to promote the Soapbox and the business opportunities available on the day. As a result huge numbers of our SiGNAL Community were involved. No space to list here but heartfelt thanks to you all for giving up your time, energy and cash, you did your community proud and we hope you had as great a day of entertainment as we did!

It was a wonderful day and a real testament to the power of our local business community to get things done. The SiGNAL team are already looking forward to working on the next one! Next year, apparently. Anyone seen Gary?!

This month's business article: How do we fix our town centres?

Small businesses are at the heart of our town centres and the decline of High Streets is hitting them hard. How do we reverse the decline and what lessons can we learn for Bordon as we go forwards with the development of the new town centre here? This is the second of six articles looking at ways to bring about lasting change and build town centres for future generations to enjoy. you can read it HERE

SiGNAL is here to facilitate small business and make sure that our business community voice can be heard. As an example of this, last month the WBRC development team invited the SIGNAL business community to have their say in the development of the new town centre. The plan was to create a framework for those business owners with boots on the ground to give positive thoughts and feedback to the architects, planners and developers working on the scheme. The event was very well attended and generated a lot of creative ideas. The organisers are collating feedback which I hope to be able to report on in the next newsletter . The community has been invited to take part in a second workshop in early September.

Speakers at The SiGNAL BiZHUB

Every month we invite a keynote speaker and this month we were delighted to bring Emma Jones CBE to the BiZHUB Stage. Emma has an extraordinary list of achievements to her name, as well as being founder and CEO of Enterprise Nation she has served as SME Representative for Crown Commercial Service (Cabinet Office) and UKTI ambassador. She has also written a number of business books including Spare Room Start Up, Go Global and Turn Your Talent into a Business and is a renowned speaker and expert.

Emma shared many fabulous tips for scaling businesses in her usual calm but entertaining manner. We hope she'll be back soon with news of her global expansion!

If you would like to know more about Emma you can watch Lou and I chat to her on the SiGNAL Website: SiGNAL Broadcast with Emma Jones

Available Space

We remain 100% full across all SiGNAL sites but there may be an office upstairs at The Shed becoming available from September. Enquire within, or contact the SIGNAL Office.