Small Business Sunday London Bootcamp 2025
17th June Moorgate
We had the pleasure of attending our second London Regional Business Bootcamp, hosted by Natwest Business and organised by Theo Paphitis and the Small Business Sunday Crew.
We heard from the founder of SBS, Theo Paphitis, himself on video, who introduced the event and welcomed new winners to the network. He shared what SBS is and what the attendees can get out of today's event, plus the benefits of being a winner.
They had speakers from Natwest, Google and an SBS winner, followed by some networking. The talks were on fixed and growth mindset, Google spoke about the use of AI in business and it's advantages and disadvantages, followed by SBS winner Lydia, who spoke about marketing and building your brand to help your business stand out.
6 Accessible Events To Enjoy In July
July 2025
July marks the celebration of Disability Pride month, with many organisations putting on their own events and activities. This is a great opportunity to raise awareness and showcase disabled people's talents and contributions to society.
The children's summer holidays are coming up too, and we have you put together a list of 6 accessible events for disabled people and their families to enjoy and keep everyone entertained.
1) Birmingham Disability Festival
5th July - 12pm - 6pm
Aston Street, Birmingham
Aston University hosts the Birmingham Disability Festival to celebrate Disability Pride Month. It will be a day of celebration, talent and achievements and it will feature live performances, workshops, information stalls and the opportunity to network and connect with organisations that champion diversity, equality and inclusion. Follow the link to find out more Disability Festival 2025
Accessibility
You can watch a video showing a walkthrough of the campus and it's accessibility by following the link above. If you have specific access needs and require further information or support, please email the university at bhamdisabilityfestival@gmail.com.
2) Parallel Winsor
6th July
Winsor Great Park
Parallel Windsor is a fully inclusive mass participation sporting event. It’s an opportunity for everybody, disabled or not, to come together at Winsor Great Park in a national celebration of inclusion and diversity. Participants could choose their distance – up to 10k – and set their own goal using any mobility aid of their choice. To find out more and get your tickets, follow the link Windsor 2025.
Accessibility
Parallel Winsor is an accessible event. They will have the following facilities available for disabled visitors and participants.
- Parking
- Accessible toilets
- Medical assistance
- Sensory and quiet spaces
For more detailed information on the park's accessibility, please email Andrew at andrew@parallellifestyle.com
3) Accessible Festival
20th July 2025 – 12pm – 6pm
Bury Athletics Club
Bury Athletics Club is hosting an accessible festival that will be fun-filled with music, food and a range of activities to enjoy. To book your ticket, follow the link Accessible Festival
Accessibility
The venue offers a range of accessible facilities, including accessible toilets and changing places toilets. For more detailed information, please email them at info@buryac.co.uk or call them on 07947 184181.
4) Early Birds Science Museum
26th July 8am 11am
Exhibition Road, London
The Science Museum hosts Early Birds, an event dedicated to those with sensory needs. It runs on selected dates across the year. The event is free to attend, but booking is required. To find out more, follow the link Early Birds | Science Museum
Accessibility
- Lifts - The venue has lifts with the majority being wheelchair accessible, including audio announcements and braille labelling on the buttons.
- Accessible toilets – They are available on all levels of the venue
- Mobility equipment – Manual wheelchairs and folding stools are available on the day and can be pre-booked.
The museum offers carer tickets for some of their paid activities and exhibitions. To get one, please email info@sciencemuseumgroup.ac.uk with your order number for the staff.
5) National Portrait Gallery
Sensory Tour 28th July - 3pm – 4pm
St Martin's Place, London
As well as hosting audio-described and tactile tours, the National Portrait Gallery puts on sensory tours for disabled people with complex support needs. It’s a chance for individuals and their carers to experience the work of art with the use of touch, smell, sound and movement. To attend this free event, follow the link to book National Portrait Gallery Sensory Tour Please note, booking is essential.
Accessibility
The venue is committed to making their visitor experiences accessible as possible for disabled people. All their entrances have step-free access, including their cafe, restaurant and shop. They have the following facilities available.
Wheelchairs and scooters - A limited number of manual, self-propelled wheelchairs and walkers are available to borrow free of charge. If you require mobility equipment, it's best to book these in advance of your visit. Email info@npg.org.uk or call them on 020 7306 0055.
Assistance dogs - They are welcome to the gallery. A water bowl and toilet are available for your dog.
For further detailed information on the venues accessible, follow the link Access - National Portrait Gallery
6) National Portrait Gallery
29th July - 3pm - 4.30pm
St Martin's Place, London
If you are into paintings, the National Portrait Gallery hosts audio-described and tactile tour for visitors who are blind or partially sighted. They can enjoy a free audio-described tour and tactile workshop, which showcases the work in their exhibition. To attend this free event, follow the link to book Descrptive Tour National Portrait Gallery. Please note, booking is essential.
Small Business Sunday Event 2025
21st February 2025 ICC Birmingham
We were in attendance for a second time at the Small Business Sunday event, organised by Theo Paphitis and his team. It was great to be in a room full of energy, packed with a lot to take in from the day. The show had stalls, networking opportunities, speed advice sessions, ask the experts and hearing from some great speakers.
One of our favourite speakers has to be hearing from Imran Hakim, and how his journey started from first appearing on Dragons Den to now earning a multi-million-pound business.
We can't wait for next year's event!
Turning Adversity Into a Mission To Make a Difference For Others
19th February 2025
Our founder and co-host had the pleasure of speaking to Amit Singh Kalley, a former Deputy Headteacher. He turned adversity into a mission to create a purpose through his work as a speaker, business owner and advocate for those living with ADHD, especially in ethnic minority communities.
Follow the link to listen on Spotify https://lnkd.in/emmE8ZHQ
You can follow Amit on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
To learn more visit his website at www.forworkingparents.com and for a unique taste on tea go to www.mixala-chai.com.
Advocating For People Living With Chronic Illness
18th November 2024
In the latest episode of My Voice Podcast, we were joined by Shabnam Rakhiba, who is a mentor and life coach for people with chronic illnesses.
Together with, co-host Raya Al Jadir, we spoke to Shabnam about her work, her lived experience of chronic illness and how it led her to start her own business, supporting and advocating for people in this community.
Follow the link to listen on Spotify https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/myvoicepodcast/episodes/Advocating-For-People-Living-With-Chronic-Illness-e2r1kmh
If you would like to get in contact with Shabnam you can connect with her on LinkedIn, or email Shabnam@chronicwellenesslounge.com.
Networking Event For Disabled Founders
2nd October 2024 House of Lords
It was a privilege to be invited to the House of Lords on the 2nd of October for a networking lunch, for disabled founders, hosted by Small Business Britain, in partnership with Lloyds Bank.
It was good to hear about the updates on the Lilac Review since it was launched. We also heard from a disabled founder and their journey into business and entrepreneurship.
It was a great opportunity to meet and connect with other businesses too.
Disability In The World Of Sport And Literature
23rd September 2024
In this episode of My Voice podcast, Zubee and co-host, Raya, had the pleasure of speaking to Danielle Brown MBE who is a 2 x gold medal winner paralympic champion in Archery, keynote speaker award-winning author and entrepreneur.
As the Paralympics have come to an end we thought it will be great to hear from a former Paralympian who’s competed at professional level and been through the challenges to winning gold.
She’s now retired from the sport but continues to help others through her work, providing training and consultancy to organisations in inclusion. We spoke to her about her journey and what inspired her to get into sport to becoming a children's author.
Follow the link to listen on Spotify: Disability In The World Of Sport And Literature
You can follow Danielle on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn
Disability And AI Revolutionising The Way We Work
14th September 2024
In the latest episode of My Voice podcast, our founder, Zubee and co-host Raya speak to Kiran, who is a disabled student studying computer science, specialising in AI and Robotics at the University of Hertfordshire.
She talks to us about her career and what interested her in learning about AI and the challenges she faced while studying as well as her achievements and future plans.
Listen now on Spotify by following the link.
My Voice Podcast Revolutionising The Way We Work
SBS London Regional Business Bootcamp
13th May 2024 250 Bishopsgate
On the 13th of May we attended the SBS Regional Business Bootcamp in London organised by Theo and the SBS team. We enjoyed hearing presentations from Natwest on understanding your customer, Google Digital Garage on understanding Google analytics and SBS winner Fran on Instagram and influencers.
The SBS team had organised a special guest appearance from #SBS creator Theo Paphitiis who was interviewed by James Holian, Natwest's Managing Director of Business Banking. They spoke about SBS and how it started, how to grow your business and mental health.
This was a great opportunity for the SBS community to meet and network. We really enjoyed it and look forward to attending future events.
Access My Events At The Small Business Sunday Event 2024
23rd February 2024
Access My Events attends their first Small Business Sunday #SBS event, organised by Theo and his team. This is an amazing opportunity for businesses in the #SBS community to network and meet with former and new winners. We share our journey from how it all started and what it meant to us to be in attendance among other amazing businesses, including hearing and meeting with #SBS creator himself, Theo Paphitis.
About Small Business Sunday
On the 24th of July 2023, we entered the Small Business Sunday, #SBS, weekly competition on Twitter. This is one of the UK’s leading business networks, founded by Dragons Den star, Theo Paphitis. We didn’t expect to win and when it was announced that Access My Events was a winner of #SBS, we couldn’t believe it. As a winner of #SBS you get a boost on social media through Theo’s large social media following and you get to join a large community of small business owners with the opportunity to attend an annual event organised by Theo and his team.
Planning Our Journey
When the event date was announced for the 23rd of February, we were very excited and couldn’t wait to attend, being our first #SBS event. We started to plan our travel and book accommodation in advance. While doing this, the excitement was building to the day of the event. We decided to travel a day before so that we could take it easy and be there on time because it was a full day from 9.00am until 5.30pm. For the first time we booked passenger assistance for our journey from London Euston to Birmingham by train and both ways Zubee had the assistance with no problems.
When we arrived in Birmingham, we took an Uber to the hotel and the Uber had dropped us off at the wrong hotel because there were two hotels with the same name. When we eventually got to the right hotel we checked in and went to have a bit of a walk around to explore the area. For Zubee, it felt like a mini holiday because she has not had the opportunity to go out of London much and to see some of the well-known shopping centres and restaurants in Birmingham. Event day had arrived, we took an Uber to the event venue, which was not very far and went straight to the reception area located on the 4th floor to get our name badge and were then taken into the hall to our reserved seats towards the front of the stage.
Event Day Highlights And What Went On
It was a real privilege to be among so many amazing businesses in the network from former and new winners. The event was opened on the main stage by guest speaker, Kypros Kyprianou, CEO of Theo Paphitis Group, followed by the creator of SBS himself, Theo Paphitis. It was amazing to hear him speak and how he started SBS, to it becoming a large community supporting small businesses. He said it’s all about planning for the week ahead and it was on a Sunday that he was sitting in Mrs Paphitis’s kitchen thinking how he could help entrepreneurs and small businesses because he knows how lonely the entrepreneurial journey can be. It was back in October 2010, that he created SBS, this being the 11th event, which has since grown with 4000 plus Small Business Sunday winners.
It was interesting to hear some of the stats from Theo, on the winners with 80% being female and 53% sole traders. It was a very motivating and inspiring event with a lot to take away from the day with expert advice sessions from the SBS partners and sponsors with breakout presentations throughout the day. The room was full of so much positive energy. There were many highlights from the event some of which were, hearing from Theo himself, a former SBS winner who turned an idea into a £1 million business, the Natwest panel of entrepreneurs talking about their journeys into entrepreneurship and business success to meeting with Theo and having our photo taken while being presented with our award.
Special Fireside Chat Guest Stacey Solomon
Finally, Theo welcomed Stacey Solomon to the stage for a fireside chat, followed by a Q&A. It was wonderful to hear about her journey from X Factor, presenting on TV, becoming an influencer with 6 million followers, to investing in her very first business, and what it means to her to support small businesses. It was the first time that the winners were so touched by a guest that Theo had to try and take control as she was getting side tracked during the Q&A, and some of the winners were getting very emotional while speaking to Stacey, and even giving her presents. She got off the stage and allowed the winners to take photos with her. It just showed how much Stacey's words meant to the winners.
You can read our article in the latest issue of Business Connect Magazine, which also features an interview with Theo about #SBS in the Press and Media section of our website. It was great to meet with the Business Connect team in person and to see our article in print at the event.
We would like to thank Theo for choosing and awarding Access My Events, to be part of this amazing network and we look forward to attending again next year.😊
If you are a business that would like to be in with a chance of winning, follow the link to our SBS Winners Blog to find out what it meant to us to be chosen as a winner and how you can enter for free. To see images from the event, go to the gallery page of our website.