Between 18th-20th May, BGF and Scaleup Institute hosted the inaugural Scaleup Week: The Business Plan. The week-long series of free virtual debates examined the crucial issues and opportunities facing growing businesses as they navigate towards a sustainable, diverse and prosperous future.
The week had active engagement from the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, Industrial Strategy and the Prime Minister’s Build Back Better Council and came at a crucial time for the UK, with the prospects of the re-opening of the economy highlighting the urgent need to drive swift recovery and renewal, as well as long term investment.
Across ten events, attendees heard from more than 60 speakers on topics including: funding the future; enriching our communities; finding a purpose; unlocking ingenuity; navigating towards net zero; and fostering diversity and inclusion.
Speakers included: Boris Johnson MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Poppy Gustafsson OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Darktrace; Johnny Boufarhat, CEO & Founder, Hopin; Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE, MH Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London; Vin Murria, Founder, Advanced Computer Software & investor and Noel Quinn, Chief Executive, HSBC.
Across Hopin and audio platform Clubhouse, more than 6000 viewers listened or viewed sessions, which brought together CEOs, founder and scaleup teams alongside the policy makers, business leaders and advisers looking to support scaleup growth. Over 25 fringe events also took place across the scaleup ecosystem.
On the theme of innovation in the UK, Stephen Welton, Executive Chairman of BGF said “The UK has no shortage of talent, innovation, science, research & development, and if there is an opportunity coming out of this pandemic, it is to recognise the art of the possible.”
Irene Graham OBE, CEO, Scaleup Institute talked on building a nation of scaleups, saying “we need to focus on the drivers of local growth – skills, clusters and access to regional equity – and in so doing address the needs of our scaleups.”
You can watch the highlights video here, and catch up on the on-demand sessions here.