INTERVIEW Shouting about the region is something Steve is


intensely passionate about. With the team at Quiet Storm, in 2012 Steve founded


Love Business, a free business-to-business expo and conference aimed at celebrating everything that is unique and special about the East Midlands region, and the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire in particular. Love Business enters its ninth year in 2020 and this


year’s event, which takes place on 27 February, at Holywell Park Conference Centre, in Loughborough, is set to be the biggest and best yet. The Chamber has been the headline partner of the event


since 2015 and has been proud to help it grow from a simple B2B trade show into a firm fixture in the annual business calendar, which attracts thousands of people through its doors every year. How has the event evolved since those early days? “The Love Business brand has sort of outgrown the event


in recent years, to become its own thing. The event is just one part of what Love Business now stands for, which is a B2B brand which provides opportunities for businesses to network with one another and raise their profile all year round. “Love Business started as a one-off


business event, but it has grown into a movement which really touches and engages people. “Most people I work with love


business, are passionate about doing business and love the buzz of it. “Our aim with Love Business was to encapsulate all of that, which I like to think we have achieved successfully, as


well as help to connecting the businesses which align themselves with the Love Business brand and the event – either by partnering with us, exhibiting or just attending on the day - with all the organisations which can help SMEs. “The initial idea was born out of a frustration that there


are so many organisations out there which can help SMEs, but as a business owner, there was nowhere I could go to see them all in one go. “Our plan was to bring them all together – the grant


funding agencies, the business support organisations like the Chamber, the universities and colleges – and enable them to focus on serving the SME sector as a customer base.” Over the course of the past nine years, the emphasis of Love Business may have evolved, but the central theme of promoting the East Midlands – and Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire in particular – has come more to the forefront. This year’s event will continue that theme. As well as the expo, which this year sold out in record time and will see hundreds of exhibitors showcase themselves on the day, the line-up of speakers in the presentation theatre has been designed to give a real flavour of the best of this part of the region. As well as East Midlands Airport providing a strategic overview of the East Midlands Gateway and the role it will play in driving the economy forward, a host of top names from the worlds of business and politics have been secured to talk about the issues that matter most to local businesses and inspire them to strive for better. It will culminate in a Question Time-style discussion, by a panel comprising some of the region’s most prominent senior business leaders and


Steve Megson, Managing Director of Quiet Storm


business network February 2020


59


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100