Lincoln International Business School, Business Lincolnshire and Team Lincolnshire hosted its fifth LIBS Connect event, which focused on how businesses can grow and expand beyond their current region and size, and break down existing barriers.
Bright and early at the White Hart Hotel, guests were welcomed with the sounds of African drums and the smell of pastries, for a morning of insightful discussion.
After a warm welcome from Ruchi Aggarwal, Director of Business Development at LIBS, Peter Ivanov began the day. Peter Ivanov is an experienced keynote speaker and author of “Virtual Power Teams”. Peter was our compere for the event and also shared many insights into how to lead a team when members are based all over the world.
Following Peter’s discussion, we welcomed Jan Bertelsen to the stage. Jan is General Manager of the Norwegian Chamber of Commerce and his presentation outlined the support the chamber could provide to businesses looking to work with companies in the Nordic region. Jan also discussed some of the cultural aspects worth noting, such as the importance of deadlines, punctuality and the importance of family time.
Next up, we had David Gregory from the China Britain Business Council discuss what’s happening with the economy in China and the sort of businesses that are likely to thrive in the East. We learned that the population of China is aging and the top consumer products and services are education and food and drink.
Following David Gregory, Sean Ramsden shared the story of Ramsden international, which now turns over £58m and sells 24,000 products worldwide from over 650 manufacturers. Sean divulged his lessons learned from his extensive experience in exporting.
As a fun exercise during the break, we invited guests to mark on our International trade map, where they are currently trading and where they aspired to do business. This enabled guests to find out who was currently trading in areas they wanted to grow and discuss the opportunities.
After the break, we welcomed our first Connect-ED speaker of the day, Alex Ferguson, Managing Director of Delta Simons. Alex explained the unique way that Delta Simons deliver to international clients using a network called Inogen.
Following Alex, we heard from Clifford Spencer, CEO of the National Aquaculture Centre. Clifford talked us through the development of his company and his story highlighted the benefits of constantly exploring your product and capabilities. Cliff also discussed his work with Africa and explored the vast opportunities for businesses there will be in the future.
Michael Brunton, then spoke about his business, which provides mobile air traffic control systems and mobile hospitals. He also discussed the challenges he faced with NGOs and how their processes can sometimes block innovative solutions.
After Michael, Dr Craig Marsh began his presentation cultural differences. Craig examined how different cultures view concepts such as time and the rules and how these differences can influence the way we work.
We then ended the day with a quiz on governance from Dr Chris Pierce. On our tables, we answered nine questions on which countries and industries posed the least risk in terms of business. There were ten teams but only one winner – the middle table of ladies took home the chocolate! After celebrating the team’s victory, we all enjoyed an Asian inspired lunch and networking.
More from LIBS Connect: Business Beyond Boundaries:
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About LIBS Connect
For those new to our network, LIBS (Lincoln International Business School) Connect is our premium networking event through which our business community can engage with our team and their peers. LIBS Connect aims to provide themed events throughout the year focusing on topics that are most relevant to our audience as recommended from you.
Upcoming events
We are looking to host our next LIBS Connect this summer with the theme “The Future of Work”