Organisers of 2023 Leicester Business Festival said 800 businesses took part this year with some 2,000 people joining events in person and online. The annual celebration of business ended on Friday following a fortnight of networking, presentations, fundraising and workshops.
The organisers said it was the region’s biggest business event and one of the UK’s biggest business festivals, and said early feedback suggested that the vast majority of attendees rated the events they took part in as good or excellent.
One of the biggest impacts already from the festival was money raised from a #BossBreakOut event for Leicester Hospitals Charity. The unique fundraiser saw 12 of the city’s business leaders, CEOs and directors ‘locked in’ a pop-up shop in Highcross which was created by the hospitals charity.
Bosses who took part collectively raised more than £15,000 in order to secure their freedom, which will fund 12 fold-away beds so that parents can comfortably stay with their children during hospital stays.
A closing event attended by festival organisers and supporters at the PPL PRS headquarters in St George Street, Leicester, saw three awards given out. A 'First Event to Sell Out' award was given for a Create Better Content session hosted by Paul Ince at Like Mind Media. 'Most Engaged Event Organiser' went to Nicola Moss at Moss Social, while a 'Most Unique Event' award went to Jim Willis at Create Leicester for a Bitter Sweet event.
Excello Law regional director Richard Osborn chairs the festival and is a director of the LBF Community Interest Company (CiC). He also took part in the #BossBreakOut event.
He said: “LBF 2023 has been a great success for so many reasons including raising money for the local hospitals.
“In the world of social media we have seen incredible positive feedback being shared from people across business sectors who have attended or hosted events.
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“New collaborations have emerged and relationships have formed and the annual occurrence of the festival means that ideas, innovations and shared knowledge create great outcomes for the wider business community.
“Thank you must go to every single person who gets involved in the festival but especially to those businesses who support and partner with the festival including De Montfort University, Pattersons Commercial Law (recently acquired by Nelsons), University of Leicester, Everards of Leicestershire, The Sir Thomas White Loan Charity, Leicester Hospitals Charity and TheMusicLicence, by PPL PRS Ltd.
“Watch this space as next year LBF celebrates its 10th anniversary, a superb milestone and opportunity to develop something extraordinary as a business community together.”