Military in Business® Virtual Networking Event

By joining your local Military in Business® Virtual Networking Event you can:

• Gain and share knowledge to accelerate your path to success in business ownership – through networking with peers from the Armed Forces business community, XFE partners and organisations who support enterprise

• Hear from invited specialists on topics that can help you with your plans, whether you're at the stage of exploring your options, you have started your business or are scaling up

• Combine business with socialising, meeting like-minded people in a relaxed and friendly environment

Guest Speakers

The event will be hosted by our XFE Yorkshire & Humber Ambassador - James Wilthew and XFE North East Ambassador Lee Harris Hamer.

RAF Veteran James Wilthew owns and operates The Afghan Rug Shop in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire - the only shop purely selling fairtrade Afghan rugs and products outside Afghanistan - anywhere in the world.

Of the four operational campaigns, James took part in, one was a 6-month tour of Northern Afghanistan in 2003 as part of the UK Provincial Reconstruction Team. It was here that his fascination for rugs started and where he founded a friendship that was reignited 12 years later.

Lee Harris-Hamer, the Owner of White Horse cleaning services, founded the business in 2016 and has found great success through referrals over the past couple of years.

Lee spent 8 years in the British Army, which taught him to be forward-thinking, disciplined and has a great eye for detail that has enabled his business to expand in a short period of time

FSB's Regional Sales Manager for the Federation of Small Businesses, will be in attendance to answer any questions regarding FSB.

Our Keynote Speaker is Ren Kapur MBE:

A lifelong entrepreneur and Founder of X-Forces Enterprise (XFE), Ren is passionate about enabling individuals and communities to support themselves through enterprise. She channels her experience and contacts to bring together corporates, charities, Government, and local stakeholders to concentrate growth strategies that enable sustainable business.

XFE directly contributes to the UK’s long-term economic growth and stability by creating businesses, expanding the jobs’ market, and ensuring the present and future wellbeing of the military community.

In 2016, Ren was awarded an MBE for services to entrepreneurship in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours and proudly serves as a Reservist in the British Army. She was appointed by the Chairman of the Federation of Small Business as their Armed Forces Champion and is a board member and SME Lead for Enterprise M3 LEP.

Am I eligible?

This event is available for the following individuals (aged over 18):

TRI-SERVICE // VETERANS // SERVICE LEAVERS // FAMILY MEMBERS // RESERVISTS

Do I need to prepare anything?

If you have not already done so, please first sign up to the XFE Knowledge Exchange Hub here. This will give you exclusive and confidential access to business information, free events and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange within the network.

Connectivity

In order to participate on this virtual networking event, you will need a personal laptop or tablet with webcam and microphone enabled, and a stable broadband connection with at least 2Mbps spare bandwidth and a fixed, quiet environment. The workshop will be hosted using Zoom, and you can join via most browsers, or use the Zoom app. As this is a networking event it is expected that both video and voice will be enabled.

You will be emailed further information nearer the time, including how to get online and join the virtual workshop for free.

The XFE Military in Business® Network is supported by The Royal British Legion.

For any queries please call 0121 724 0655 or email events@x-forces.com

Extra Details

Please note there may potentially be photos taken at the event so do contact us directly if you have any issues surrounding privacy. These networking sessions are also recorded for internal training purposes.