NEXT EDITION : 18 May 2010 at ING

Lions' Den II: Fine tune your business plan & get your product to the market.

more information - want to participate? - register to attend

About the first edition:

“The Britcham Lions’ Den”
3 companies show that they're ready for the upturn

An Afternoon Conference organised by the Britcham Business Development Group in collaboration with

18 November 2009 - 15:30-19:30 - ING - Avenue Marnix 24 - 1000 Brussels

This event was sponsored by:

3 micro businesses presented their own companies’ business plans with the objective of explaining the actions they’ve undertaken to prepare their company for the upturn.
A panel of experts (Lions) reviewed the presentations, digged deeper into their business plans and offered them some additional tips for them to be even better prepared.

The format of the seminar is based on the BBC’s “Dragons’ Den”.
© http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/about/tv.shtml

The Companies:

Local Knowledge - Louise Hilditch
The Good Time Company - Johan Hamid
190 Design - Luke Stephenson

The Lions:

Dave Deruytter, Senior Manager, ING
Frederic Van Hoorebeke, Director Deals, Mergers & Acquisitions, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Oliver Gajda, Venture Capitalist specialist, Fanshaw & Fothergill SCS
Seán J. Burke, Managing Director, New Frontier Services
Duane Schulthess, Science Business
Christopher Thubron, Moore Stephens Wood Appleton

Moderated by Steven Maisel, President British Chamber / Alexander Hughes

Feedback from the Companies:

"As a start up business I found the Lion's Den format to be extremely useful in gaining professional insight. Being able to profile our business in this way and the resulting networking opportunity where invaluable."
Luke Stephenson - Creative Director at 190design.com

“The Britcham Lion’s Den initiative provided invaluable feedback both from the Lions and the audience that will help us focus our plans for growth. The atmosphere was very positive and it was also a useful networking space. I’ll definitely be back next year.”
Louise Hilditch - Director at Local Knowledge

"I learned more in Funding during these 3 hours than in the last 6 months"
Johan Hamid - CEO at The Good Time Company

Feedback from the Lions:

"Well done to the British Chamber for organising a support initiative that offers real value for anyone starting or growing a business, expat or not."
Seán J. Burke - Managing Director at New Frontier Services

"In a few hours all business owners present received a wealth of information on how to be ready for the upturn in the economy: either from the 3 presenting companies, or from the 5 lions (experts), or during the networking from fellow business owners."
Dave Deruytter - Senior Manager at ING Expatriates & Non-Residents

"This Lion was happy to see such an enthusiastic and entrepreneurial spirit in these depressed times; inspiring hope for the future."
Chirstopher Thubron - Accountant at Moore Stephens Wood Appleton

“The Lions did not savage the lambs who emerged better prepared to fight the wolves in the big bad world. Other lambs will have been encouraged to participate in future Dens.”
Steven Maisel - President British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium

"Britcham's Lions Den is a useful event through which small- and micro businesses can network with peers and new clients, while receiving coaching on their business strategy. This is a much needed and welcome initiative for the many small businesses affected by the current economic situation. We at Fanshaw & Fothergill are proud to have been asked to be part of this event."
Oliver Gajda - Managing Partner & Venture Capitalist specialist at Fanshaw & Fothergill

Feedback from the audiance:

"It was a great event – very well put together, interesting speakers and good company!"
Nicole Thomas - A La Carte consulting

"The Lions Den was a very interesting event, demonstrating how a variety of experts from different disciplines think about the business plans of 3 very different SMEs. The preparation beforehand that had been done by the participating companies and the experts ensured that there was real depth to the thinking. I think that this is an event that can easily be repeated at regular intervals as the different companies participating will have different issues facing them. There are benefits for all, the participating companies get good advice about their business plans, the experts get exposure and networking opportunities, the audience gets to understand more about the challenges faced by other businesses and their potential solutions. Well done Britcham for coming up with an innovative and interesting format!"
Angela Jones, You & More Ltd

"What an extremely enjoyable and interesting event – thank you so much for all your hard work in making that happen! It was also interesting to see people I hadn’t met before. Clearly this business-approach brings certain people out of the woodwork. May there be more of them!"
Sheila Arora - Consultant at Value Retail PLC

Download the presentations from the Lions here:

Dave Deruytter - ING

Frederic Van Hoorebeke - PWC

Interested in participating as a Company or a Lion in a next session ?

Contact the Business Development Group Team

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