51Âþ»­

Practical, innovative ways in which businesses in all sectors have dealt with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic will be shared at this year’s Leicester Business Festival.

The festival – which is the region’s largest business event, designed to showcase and celebrate the city and county as a great place to do business.

Everards Brewery has some great accounts of how pubs have adapted and found new ways to meet the challenges. Firms in the retail and tourism industries will also be sharing how their staff stayed through business festival events.  

51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) is headline sponsor of the festival, which takes place from November 2 to 13.

Helen Donnellan


Helen Donnellan, Director of Business Engagement at 51Âþ»­, is the festival’s lead for education which focuses on events highlighting training, development, and more.  

She said: "All of us have had to learn new ways of doing business since the pandemic and there’s so many good ideas to share.

"This year’s Leicester Business Festival provides us - the business community of Leicester and Leicestershire – with a unique opportunity to drive collaboration, share new learning and identify skills gaps in our organisations. 

"Learning new skills and sharing best practice is the best way we have to equip ourselves and our employees for the challenges ahead. As one of the region’s top business schools, 51Âþ»­ can be part of that solution."

Richard Osborn, regional director at Excello Law, is a director of the LBF Community Interest Company (CiC). He said, “It has been an incredibly difficult time for Leicester, but the LBF is a great opportunity for Leicester and Leicestershire to showcase its resilience, strength of partnerships, innovation and excellence.

“It will be an active demonstration that our businesses are open about the future, positive about rebuilding optimism and want to show the world exactly what Leicester is about. I would like to encourage everyone to get involved, if not running an event, by attending.”

There is still time to apply to host an event at the festival.  All applications must be submitted on the LBF by 5pm on Friday 4 September.

Tickets to events will be going live on the LBF website over the coming weeks, on a first come, first served basis.

The LBF was originally established by the Leicester & Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) in 2015 and handed over to the Leicester Business Festival Community Interest Company  in 2017. It is headline partnered by 51Âþ»­ and is run in association with Associate Events.

Partners are East Midlands Chamber; Business Gateway Growth Hub. Sponsors are Brewin Dolphin; Pattersons Commercial Law and the University of Leicester and supporters are: Everards Brewery; Leicester Castle Business School (51Âþ»­); Bradgate Estates, PPL & PRS, Highcross Leicester, Novotel and Team Leicester. Media partners are Metro News and the App partner is Infonote.