London Enterprise Festival

LONDON ENTERPRISE FESTIVAL: Bringing together the Business Leaders of Today and Tomorrow

More than 50 CEOs and senior executives from the some of the world’s most recognisable brands are assembling in the Camden Foundry this March for the capital’s first ever London Enterprise Festival, in an effort to engage and nurture local talent. Business leaders across nine distinct sectors will gather in the City to share insights, experience and discussions with aspiring entrepreneurs and industry professionals.

The London Enterprise Festival (LEF) is a two-week celebration of entrepreneurship, bringing together the business leaders of today and tomorrow. Speakers at the event include John Bird MBE, founder of The Big Issue, Will Hobhouse, chairman of Heal’s and Jon Wright, co-founder of Innocent. Other participating companies include Teach First, Etsy, RBS and Microsoft.

The LEF will celebrate the diverse range of business opportunities available in London by going well beyond the traditional finance and tech sectors. Each day will cover a different industry, with sector-specific events designed to give London’s aspiring entrepreneurs the knowledge and local networks they need to set up their own successful business.

Industries covered range from financial services, fashion and food to social enterprise and education. As well as providing unparalleled insight from already established big brands, the Festival is also there to encourage co-operation between budding entrepreneurs, sharing skills and ideas to build the businesses of the future.

London is already home to one of Europe’s biggest populations of start-ups and entrepreneurs, many of them in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) industry. Currently one in ten jobs in London are in TMT, and the industry contributes £123bn annually, equivalent to eight percent of GDP.

The sector is set to create another 50,000 jobs in central London over the next 10 years, but the LEF hopes to demonstrate that plenty of opportunities exist outside TMT with a strong attendee list of executives from across the business spectrum.

Erez Nounou, organizer of London Enterprise Festival, said:
“At the London Enterprise Festival we want to showcase the City’s remarkable character as a diverse and dynamic business hub, and connect attendees with the brands and local networks they need to realise their own entrepreneurial goals.”

All profits from the Festival will be reinvested in local communities and local business ecosystems to create a resounding social impact and boost entrepreneurship among Londoners.