A whole day of free workshops for start-ups and growing customer-facing businesses is set to take place next Tuesday as part of the York Business Festival.

Focused on ‘Growing your business in challenging times’, the day is organised by the York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub and will feature workshops covering topics such as securing funding, content planning and social media, and customer service.

Held at York’s historic Guildhall, the day will kick off with a breakfast networking event followed by morning workshops on managing social media, selling online, access to finance for start-ups and creating a world class customer experience.

York Press:

After a lunchtime networking session, further workshops will cover how to use Facebook and Instagram for business; creating a content strategy from scratch; and the key things hospitality businesses should be doing now.

The day will culminate with an evening event hosted by respected business broadcaster and journalist Simon Jack, alongside a range of local business owners and leaders, who will share their insights and experiences on challenges and keys to success for businesses in York.

Andrew Raby, Manager of the York & North Yorkshire Business Growth Hub, said: “I encourage businesses to make the most of this opportunity and attend as many of the events as they can. The format of the day means people can take part at a time that suits their working schedule.

York Press:

“The day will provide networking opportunities and free breakfast and lunch for those wishing to drop in to meet some of the exhibitors providing a range of services for growing businesses, or just use the opportunity to meet contacts for a coffee in the historical Guildhall space.”

The day-long series of events is part of York Business Festival, which runs for the duration of November. Now in its 12th year, the festival brings together businesses and industry leaders to focus on rebuilding the economy across York’s key sectors and inspires growth, creativity, and innovation.

This year’s programme of events will tie in with the launch of York’s new 10-year economic strategy. The strategy sets out to improve living standards and livelihoods for all of York’s residents and businesses through increasing productivity, raising earnings, and maintaining the city’s skills advantage.

City of York Council has developed five themes to help achieve this, which form the basis of events.

The themes are: An economy driven by good business; Thriving businesses- The right conditions for sustainable growth; Reducing Carbon- a greener economy; Developing our people – A thriving workforce and York as a global city.

The festival launch on Tuesday November 1 at the Guildhall focussed on the issue of ‘good business’, as previously reported by the Press.

York Press:

To see the full line-up of events and register to attend go to https://www.ynygrowthhub.com/events/york-business-festival-b2c-day/

Details of the growth hub can be found at: https://www.ynygrowthhub.com/