DMU joins celebrations of successful 2017 Leicester Business Festival

Business leaders have praised the success of this year’s Leicester Business Festival which drew more than 10,000 people to the region.

Figures released from the organisers show one in four people who attended the two-week event came from outside Leicestershire and nearly 90% of firms and entrepreneurs who hosted events said it had positively affected their business.

The festival’s headline partner is Leicester Castle Business School. Pro Vice-Chancellor Enterprise and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, Professor Dana Brown, said DMU had welcomed the opportunity to cement existing business links and build new relationships.

She said: “What makes Leicester so successful is positive energy of institutions across the board - government, local communities, schools and universities and businesses all working together toward common interests.

“There is nowhere more fitting to demonstrate the reality of this than the business festival, with 88 per cent of businesses saying the Festival positively affected their business.

“Leicester Business Festival has and continues to enable us to parade all that we have to offer here in Leicester and Leicestershire on a huge stage. Promotion of our city and region is a core component of DMU’s mission, and we firmly believe that universities will have a greater than ever role to play in regional economic development as a partner of business and government.”

Dana Brown with DMU graduate Peter Cooper, head of retail shopping, Hammersons

DMU hosted 14 events as part of the festival, covering a raft of topics including the creative industries, higher apprenticeships and renewables.

A quarter of the festival’s 154 events were completely sold out, which included DMU’s Connect at the Co-Working Café, the launch of a new monthly meet-up for entrepreneurs. A contest for best event went to LATi and 'inCharnwood' (a Charnwood Borough Council initiative) for their Advanced Manufacturing event, ‘Innovation inCharnwood – How to Innovate and Win’.  

Scott Knowles, Chair of the Leicester Business Festival CiC Board said: “In our first year as a Community Interest Company, I am delighted with the direction the Festival has taken. It has been a truly fantastic fortnight, with so many inspiring events offering something for everyone from micro-businesses through to large corporations.

“This year saw almost a quarter of delegates travelling into Leicestershire from outside the county and about 80 people flying in from as far afield as Russia, China, USA, France, Greece and even Ecuador, just to attend Business Festival events. This confirms that the Leicester Business Festival has developed an international as well as a national presence and is helping to place Leicester firmly on the global map in terms of business.”

RELATED NEWS:
* Find out more about DMU's professional courses
* Entrepreneurs share top tips
* How arts organisations have coped with funding challenges

Festival organisers, Associate Events’ Managing Director, Alister De Ternant said, “Having been involved in all three of Leicester’s Business Festivals, I can hand-on-heart say this has been the best yet. The business community shown astounding engagement with more events in the programme than ever before, many of them selling out and the sheer number of attendees has been amazing.”

Along with headline partners, the 2017 Festival has the support of well-known business organisations including East Midlands Chamber; LLEP Business Gateway; East Midlands Airport; the Federation of Small Businesses; Highcross Leicester; Brewin Dolphin; Leicester Racecourse and IBM.

The festival’s other supporters include East Midlands Trains, IOD, De Montfort University, University of Leicester and media partners, Capital FM, Global Radio, FU Media and the Leicester Mercury.