Horsham business event Microbiz to return for 12th year

Organised by Horsham District Council Microbiz will return for its 12th year on Saturday March 8 from 10am-4pm at Drill Hall in Denne Road, with more than 40 businesses exhibiting throughout the day.

The free to attend event started in 2003 after research found that business owners wanted to get out more and attend networking events.

Sharon Walker runs the eponymous baking business Cakes by Sharon Walker from her home in Southwater and has been a regular at Microbiz.

She said: “I took a stand at Microbiz to help promote my corporate offering and further expand my network contacts. My presence at the exhibition not only brought me new contacts and general business but also led to me working with Collyer’s College.

“I was asked to give talks to students on running a business and attended their careers open day, which also led to one of the students coming in to work with me on the odd occasion.”

Gareth Sear, business start-up manager at the University of Chichester, has been coming to Microbiz for a number of years and has exhibited with different businesses.

He said: “I first attended Microbiz in 2005 and have been every year since. Each year and with each organisation that I have worked for (or owned) we have taken out stand space.

“Back in 2005 I was working for Business Link and providing a range of business support for small businesses in and around Horsham. The association with Microbiz was always a benefit to Business Link as small businesses needed support to grow and develop and small businesses were always in abundance at the event.”

Gareth is also leading the University of Chichester Be the Business(BtheB) Programme for West Sussex County Council.

There are four strands to the Be the Business support programme:

- Enterprise Roadshows – these are planned to be held in Crawley on February 28, in Worthing on March 17 and in Midhurst on April 14 in Sussex in 2014,

- Business Start Up Boot Camps - the Business Camps are two-day programmes aimed at pre-business start ups and business start ups at an early stage. They are intensive workouts designed to get people to define, refine and make their businesses real.

- Peer to Peer Business Workgroups,

- Subsidised advice for business owners.

Be the Business aims to drive up the levels of entrepreneurship, productivity and employment growth within West Sussex. It is funded by West Sussex County Council’s Kick Start Programme and was set up in 2011 to help unlock the potential of the local economy.

To find out more about Be the Business visit their website, email [email protected], or call 0844 371 5400.

To find out more about this great event, visit the website or call Horsham District Council on 01403 215264 or emailing [email protected]

Photographs of Sharon Walker and Gareth Sear by Toby Phillips Photography.