It was an absolute pleasure being invited to attend the inaugural ACCELERATE roundtable event with British American Business in London today.
The discussion took place in London at the impressive offices of BAB members @DeloitteUK who were great hosts, so a massive thanks to Peter Badenhuizen and his team.
20 SMEs from across the UK attended all of whom have transatlantic ambitions with a view to discussing the realities and pitfalls of expanding businesses to the US.
Background
The transatlantic trading relationship is the most successful on earth and every day, goods and services worth millions of pounds are exported and imported across the Atlantic. Thousands of British and US firms have already invested in or are finding their way towards successful transatlantic growth and throughout this series of events growing companies will have an opportunity to learn first-hand from the experiences of their peers.
BAB Accelerate series
In the first of this series, the Accelerate roundtable session opened up the floor to companies interested in growing transatlantic trade. We all know that listening to peers is a great way to learn, and together with the opportunity to pick up expert knowledge and guidance, is a winning combination to accelerate growth.
The group heard the case study from Circus Street CEO, Richard Townsend, about the realities (and pitfalls) of expanding and transforming business across the Atlantic – logistics, staffing, legislation, financial etc. – the conversation provides many answers.
A positive and insightful discussion over 3 hours. Rich Townsend gave some forthright and direct viewpoints from a business that’s clearly living and breathing transatlantic business growth. Congratulations to him, his brother Johnny and all the team at Circus Street for making the leap so successfully.
It was moderated by the excellent Alex Chisnall, who has a successful track record of advising entrepreneurs and small business owners on funding and scaling their businesses. He began his career working for Virgin Atlantic Airways and was inspired by boss Sir Richard Branson to start his own business. After launching two successful startups, he rejoined the Virgin family by mentoring for both Virgin StartUp as well as YMCA.
Alex also hosts the show “Screw it, Just do it”, a weekly podcast where he interviews one of the world’s influencers and leaders in business as well as an entrepreneur who is aspiring to be a leader in their space.
BAB’s latest report titled ‘Finding Your Way’ can be seen here
