Networking Opportunities for Small Businesses In London

Networking is especially important for small businesses in London. You’re a little fish in a big city, so you should make use of any opportunity to connect and market your business. In this blog we’ve collected a few of our favourite business networking opportunities in London, particularly with small businesses in mind.

If you’re a contractor, consultant, freelancer, micro business or small business in London, it can feel quite isolating, especially if you tend to deal with the big multinational companies. So it’s good to get in touch with a community of like-minded individuals to share business advice, successes, challenges and help each other grow.

Small Business Networking Events in London

In London there’s certainly no shortage of professional business networking opportunities; any day of the week, any area of London, you’re bound to find one to suit your schedule. But we’ve picked out a few to write about here today.

• Business Junction | Multiple Locations | Weekly Meetings – Business Junction host a great number of business networking breakfasts or lunches, which are a great opportunity to use your breakfast or lunch time smartly and still fit in a commute. Their locations are often popular commuter train stations or close to tube stations and meetings are frequent.Non-members can expect to pay around £25 to attend, but that price includes complimentary drinks and snacks to keep you going. An added bonus is that the attendance list is circulated ahead of the event, so you can quickly see if there are any particular professionals you’d like to speak to and vice versa, a great added bonus if you’re looking to market your business.
• NetworkNite London | Simmons Bar, Fulham | Weekly Meetings – You’ve heard of speed dating, but this is speed dating for your business, it’s speed networking. As you would expect, you have a limited amount of time one-to-one with another professional, just 5-6 minutes and you all move on. You’ll be given a card to make the professionals you’d like to connect with, and at the end of the event, if you and the other professional have both selected each other, your details will be exchanged. Join this event if you’d like to make a lot of business contacts quickly, and prefer networking without the presentations. Great for those getting started in business who need to increase their business contact circle, entry is around £15.50 (US$19.43).
• StartUp Grind | Various Locations | Monthly Events – StartUp Grind events are a little different than other networking events, aimed specifically at Start Ups they showcase successful Start Up companies who share their story with the group. This can be a great way to learn and to network at the same time, as you’ll be in a room full of Start Up professionals too.Early Bird tickets are usually under the £10 mark and there’s a great variety of events to choose from.
• Coffee With Toshiba | Toshiba, The Monument Building | Monthly Meetings – This free, monthly event provides refreshments and networking opportunities as well as a monthly themed presentation that will be relevant to most small businesses.
• Fun Business Networking | The Boutique Workplace | Weekly Meetings – Turning business networking on its head, the Fun Business Networking group actively discourage business chat to begin with. This group is more about making new friends and connections in business, before getting into the sales pitch. This can be a great approach for smaller businesses who might want to get to know a person better before agreeing to do business with them. Their philosophy is, ‘First get to know the person, and then decide if you want to know what their business does’. This group is particularly good if you work on your own or in a very small team, and especially if you’re new to London.

How To Find More Small Business Networking Opportunities

Eventbrite is a great source of inspiration if you’re looking for small business networking events in London. You can even narrow down your search area if you’re looking for a group that meets just around the corner from you, and there are certainly plenty of smaller local groups all over London that you could join.

Check out the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s events page for networking and business training opportunities.

In addition to networking in-person, you really should be networking online. If you’re not on LinkedIn, you should be, LinkedIn is a great destination for local and niche business groups where you can collaborate and help one another. Here are some of our go-to LinkedIn groups for small businesses in London:

• Small Business UK Network
• The UK Small Business Network
• London Small Business Network for Entrepreneurs
• London Small Business Network

In addition, we welcome all Warr & Co clients to participate in our Client Spotlight article series. If you’re interested in being interviewed for a Spotlight article that will be sent out to our marketing database London contacts, please get in touch with our marketing team.