This week marked the official launch of the London location of the Entrepreneurial Spark business accelerator, powered by NatWest, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The accelerator, located at NatWest’s Regents House, is the 13th opened as part of the partnership.
Through its collaboration with NatWest, Entrepreneurial Spark has become the world’s largest free business accelerator program for start-up, early stage and growing businesses, with over 2,000 businesses supported to date. The incubators approach intake with a gender lens, accepting 50 percent male and 50 percent female entrepreneurs — a meaningful target given that of the 5.4 million formal businesses in the UK, only an estimated 1.1 million are women led.
As part of the program, Entrepreneurial Spark accelerators offer business owners physical workspaces, a start-up “boot camp,” mentoring and business advice, educational seminars, funding clinics and networking opportunities. To deliver many of these services, the accelerators leverage the know-how and talent of Entrepreneur Development Managers from NatWest, whose mission is to help make the entrepreneurs credible, backable and investable as they develop behaviors and skills that further business growth.
GBA Summit attendees will be offered a firsthand look at the London Entrepreneurial Spark accelerator during a Study Tour to the facility on November 16, courtesy of Summit host NatWest. There they will be able to meet NatWest staff responsible for the incubator strategy, hear about the rationale for developing the initiative, and discuss experiences and lessons learned.
GBA members have received their instructions on how to register for the November 14-16 Summit via email. If you are a member but have not yet received the link and code to register, please email summit@gbaforwomen.org to request this information. We strongly urge all members to register for the Summit as soon as possible, as hotels are filling up fast. Early registration is particularly important if you will need a visa to enter the United Kingdom, which can take up to two months to process.
Admission to the GBA Summit is by invitation only. If you are not a GBA member but are interested in attending the 2017 Summit in London, please reach out to the email address above stating your name, title, organizational affiliation and a brief description of your interest in the event.
