Member Article

Putting the ‘business’ in Small Business Saturday UK

Scarborough businesswoman Tina Boden sets off on her travels around Yorkshire and Humber again this weekend promoting all things local and independent as part of Small Business Saturday UK.

Back in July, Tina completed the Local Indie Explorer Challenge personally visiting over 190 independent businesses across the Yorkshire and Humber region in 36 hours, and securing hundreds of signatures from people pledging to spend 25% or more of their shopping budget with independent businesses. This time round, the challenge in the run up to Christmas is looking at how the pledges have turned into reality by the levels of footfall in particular areas.

Small Business Saturday UK takes place this Saturday 7th December and as voluntary independent business ambassador and Small Business Saturday UK Ambassador for Yorkshire and Humber, Tina will be visiting York, Boroughbridge, Ilkley, and Helmsley determined to show and celebrate the strength of local trade in the region.

“Getting the pledge signed to ’shop local’ last time around really did open people’s eyes to how easy it can be to spend a pound locally and the difference this can make to struggling indie retailers“ says Boden

“…but there is always more that can be done. It’s really important to promote the benefits of small business, and show how collaborative working can benefit not just the businesses but whole communities.“

Tina isn’t the only one who believes this, as the Small Business Saturday UK initiative gathers momentum right across the country with support from many of the small business associations, well-known entrepreneurs, and business leaders.

Stuart Golden, MD of One&Other based in York says:

“Contained within York’s local business community are hundreds, if not thousands, of inspirational stories. We believe each and every one add character to our high streets and economy but are all too often drowned out by bigger marketing budgets. Small Business Saturday UK is a day of celebrating this uniqueness and helping the little guys compete on a level playing field.“

Back in 2012, Boden herself made a commitment to buy goods and services from independent businesses, and now spends 97% of her shopping budget with them – so she is living proof of what can be achieved not just on one day in December but every day throughout the year.

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Notes to Editor

About Small Business Saturday UK

Small Business Saturday is a grass-roots campaign encouraging people to ‘shop local’ and support small businesses in their communities, both on Saturday 7th December 2013 and beyond. Supported by a growing movement of organisations and individuals from Small Business Ambassador Karren Brady, to Piers Linney, Martha Lane Fox, the Federation of Small Businesses, Forum for Private Business, the Association of Convenience Stores, the British Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Town & City Management representing hundreds of thousands of local businesses. More information about the initiative can be found at www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com/

About Tina Boden

Tina is 3rd generation self-employed. She has been running her own businesses for over 24 years, since the age of 21, and currently runs 3 micro businesses. Her business, Only Me Here, works with not just micro businesses but micro charities and social enterprises as well to help them develop and flourish. In January 2012 Tina co-founded Enterprise Rockers with Tony Robinson OBE, an independent community interest company that they co-fund working to make life better in micro business and bringing together the power of plenty through micro business collaboration. A Trustee of Ellie’s Fund - Brain Tumour Trust Tina gives back 20% of her time to voluntary work with charities and good causes of all different sizes often helping with their strategy or fundraising needs.

For press enquiries, please contact Enterprise Promotion on 0843 523 6835 or email lorraine@enterprisepromotion.co.uk

Photography credit: Mya Fawcett, Silvery Moon Photography – Enterprise Rocker & Small Business Owner

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lorraine Allman .