Celebration of Business 2019
This year we are excited to hold the inaugural Celebration of Business Evening Reception and Dinner in the Cathedral's Lady Chapel raising funds for Ely Foodbank. Admission to this part of the day will be ticketed but like other events, will remain inclusive and accessible to all.
Schedule
Exhibition and Networking | 9am - 5pm
More than 100 exhibition stands are available free of charge in the main body of the Cathedral and Cross Green. A unique opportunity to network and meet other local Fenland business leaders!
Grow your Business through Technology | 9am - Midday This morning workshop with Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce is designed to help small and medium sized businesses understand and engage with technologies that can support business growth. Experts will explain how Artificial Intelligence is being used and impacting on everyday life, and attendees will leave with better knowledge of how you to embrace this in your own organisation.
The Generation Game | 1pm - 3pm
There are already four generations in the workplace, and soon to be five. 'They' say that Gen Y are flighty and that the older generations make more mistakes. 'They' call Generation Y the 'me, me, me' generation yet Time magazine thinks they will change the world. What are the generations, what are their differences, how do they view work, what do they each value in work? Russell Beck from the Impellam Group shares their latest research and thinking in this free workshop.
"If you go to only one seminar this year, make sure it's this one. Russell is an exciting, engaging speaker and captivates his audience from his first word to his last."
Celebration of Business - Lady Chapel Dinner | 6.45pm - 10.30pm
Building on feedback from previous events we are proud to introduce a revised format for the evening event with the Celebration of Business dinner in the Cathedral's magnificent Lady Chapel. Dinner tickets are priced at an accessible £25 per person and include a drinks reception and three course dinner provided by The White Pheasant Restaurant. We will be raising money for our designated charity the Ely Foodbank, and are delighted that the businessman turned Everest summiteer Ricky Munday will be joining us for the key note speech.
Keynote Speaker
Ricky Munday CA
Ricky Munday is an inspirational speaker, international expedition leader, Red Cross delegate and Chartered Accountant. To overcome redundancy, in 2004 he completed the toughest footrace on earth - the 150-mile Marathon des Sables. With a decade of expedition experience behind him, he reached the highest point on earth - the summit of Mount Everest - on 18 May 2018. He's since visited over seventy schools and businesses across the UK to deliver inspirational talks to over 14,000 people. He has delivered talks on perseverance, developing resilience, goal-setting and overcoming adversity at many of the UK's leading independent schools and corporations. A qualified Mountain Leader and Polar Ambassador who grew up on a council estate, Ricky founded Inspire Alpine as a social enterprise to help close the attainment gap that exists between disadvantaged young people and their peers. As a Chartered Accountant, Ricky is a resilient and highly motivated corporate services leader with an unusual breadth of experience transforming large, multidisciplinary and multicultural support functions in complex and insecure environments across the public, private and third sectors, and completed field missions in post-disaster scenarios in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Attire: Smart / business casual
Celebration of Business 2018
Tuesday 24 April
Social enterprise is about doing good business - where every pound spent improves someone’s life. Lord Bird MBE
Over 100 local businesses exhibited their services, wares and connecting with each other within the inspiring surroundings of the Cathedral. These strong relationships are testament to the success of all business and creative industries in our region.
Grow Your Business
The Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce led an engaging Grow Your Business workshop in the Lady Chapel. This event encouraged businesses to think about business growth, develop their employees and consider the skills required to attract and employ people for the longer term. There was a focus on People, from apprenticeships up the chain through to mentors. We’ll also heard successful stories of local businesses and took part in a fun, interactive and thought-provoking activities designed to help support your organisation’s growth ambitions. There was plenty of time to network over tea and sandwiches.
Tough Times : Good Business
Our first keynote address for this year's event was delivered by Louise Nicholls, Corporate Head of Human Rights, Sustainability and Food Packaging for Marks & Spencer. Louise warned that our society needed to drastically change in order to survive for the future, and challenged business and consumer alike to change their sourcing, manufacturing and buying habits to help combat issues such as global warming, pollution, and slavery. If a price tag sounds to good to be true its probably at someone else's expense!.
We were also delighted to be joined by Lord Bird MBE, Founder and Editor of Chief of the Big Issue. John is a prime example of how business can both empower and help those living in poverty or other difficult circumstances. John hinted that our attitude toward big business might be differently if they were run as social enterprises. John also encouraged us to continue to place pressure on businesses to play their part in contributing to the well being of their employees and the societies in which they operate in return for public trust and reputation.
Louise Nicholls
Corporate Head of Human Rights, Food Sustainability, and Food Packaging at M&S
Louise Nicholls has worked for Marks and Spencer for over 20 years, and has been leading the retailer's ethical trade programme for over a decade. She formed part of the small team that developed the company's ground-breaking Plan A, a 100-point, five-year plan to address a wide range of environmental and social issues. Louise was also instrumental in setting up the supplier data exchange initiative, Sedex. Much of her time is spent travelling the world to meet and interact with M&S' global supply base, as well as speaking at global business responsibility and sustainability summits.
Lord Bird MBE
Founder and Editor-In-Chief, The Big Issue
Born into poverty, John Bird's life has included spells as a thief, young offender, artist and poet. Now an established iconoclast, activist and publisher, John Bird is the force behind The Big Issue, the world's most successful street magazine. He is an inspirational business leader with an outstanding record of using business as a tool for social change. At a time when Corporate Social Responsibility is preoccupying business leaders and consumers alike, John Bird offers an authoritative, fresh approach, and some original perspectives on the interaction of business and society. Bird was nominated for a life peerage in October 2015 and sits as a cross bench peer.
ECBG Celebration of Business 2015
Friday 15 to Thursday 21 May
Keynote Speeches
"The role of business in the well-being of community"
Lord Stephen Green - Former Minister of State for Trade & Investment and former Chairman of HSBC
Dame Julia Cleverdon - Vice President of Business in the Community
Play the audio file or save the file to your PC for future reference.
headphones To save the file right click Audio below and select "Save Target As...", "Save Link As...", or cntr + click on a Mac. Audio (62Mb)
file-pdf Flyer
ECBG Celebration of Business Exhibition 2014
Friday 16 - Wednesday 21 May
Celebration of Business Reception keynote speakers audio and video (see below) - Lord Williams of Oystermouth, Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College Cambridge, former Archbishop of Canterbury "What is wealthfor?" and Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, Simon Wolfson Chief Executive of Next PLC "Wealth - creation, destruction or stagnation. A choice."
Play the audio file or save the file to your PC for future reference.
headphones To save the file right click Audio below and select "Save Target As...", "Save Link As...", or cntr + click on a Mac. Audio (57Mb)
Watch the videos on YouTube
file-pdf Flyer
ECB Celebration of Business 2013
Keynote addresses from Bishop David Thomson "People or Profit?" and George Freeman MP - "The Crisis of Disconnection"
file-pdf Flyer
ECBG Celebration of Business 2012
Charlie Mayfield
Chairman of John Lewis Partnership
The Right Revd Stephen Conway
Bishop of Ely