Southampton: Santander hosts five-day business growth festival

Business owners in Southampton and across the Solent have a unique opportunity to better understand how to grow their business as the Santander Corporate & Commercial Breakthrough Moments Box arrives in the city. The five-day festival, which starts today (September 14), consists of free-to-attend masterclasses and events aimed at ambitious business owners and local entrepreneurs.

The Breakthrough Moments Box, which is located on Guildhall Square in the centre of Southampton, is a versatile space for people to meet and share ideas and expertise with a range of stakeholders, including Microsoft, PwC, G4S, Funding Circle and Peninsula. Today, for example, Keith Warburton at Sannam S4 will host a session looking at trading opportunities in India to help provide practical support to UK businesses looking to expand into this market.

A session on Thursday September 17 will see Charles Garfit, head of manufacturing at Santander, run a masterclass with Graham Cooper, head of Commercial Credit South, and Stewart Chanter, regional risk director, on focusing the skills gap. The session will provide insights on how risk decisions are made and how SMEs can best present their business to a bank.  A full breakdown of the events and further information can be found here.

With exports and international trade a major focus for businesses in the UK, the Box will contain Santander Corporate & Commercial’s International Trade desk. Visitors will be able to use and experience the Santander Trade Portal, a unique online tool that allows businesses to discover and better understand which global markets provide the biggest opportunity for their business – and how to enter those markets. The Box will also showcase Santander’s Growth Capital lending programme, aimed specifically at helping business owners and entrepreneurs to fast-track growth.

Alex Fuller, regional director, Solent, Santander Corporate & Commercial, said: “I’m pleased that we can bring this great event to the centre of Southampton and therefore to the Solent region as a whole. We believe business owners and local entrepreneurs will find real value in coming along and listening to best-practice ideas about how to grow their businesses.”