What makes a business better in today’s fiercely competitive market?
Join us at the UK’s first Passivhaus Plus workspace to find out how doing well goes hand in hand with doing good at the Better Business Expo.
This event aims to help you foster new, positive connections in the local area. Join us for networking, inspiration, lunch and an expo highlighting businesses that are paving the way for purpose in Oxfordshire.
A chance to get your business in front of over 50 other local businesses, partners, founders and support providers. A chance to find new suppliers and connect with new clients from across Bicester and the wider Oxfordshire area.
Covering a wide range of industries, it’s the place to bring people together, ideal for those who are starting or growing a business and looking to grow their network.
General admission is just £5 and are available until Wednesday 20th March.
10.00-11.50 – Coffee, Networking & Better Business Expo
11.50-1200 – Welcome and launch of the whitepaper, “What If There Were No Freelancers?”
12.00-12.15 – Talk from Grant Hayward, “Why you should be interested in B Corp”
12.15 – 12.30 – Talk from Roy Magara, “What’s Mental about Mental Health?”
12.30 -13.00 – Lunch served by Sarnie 67
13.00 – 14.00 – Networking & Better Business Expo continues
Our Speakers
Grant Hayward
Talk Title – What is a B Corp and why should you be interested?
Bio – Grant has trained with the B Corp movement and is a “B Leader”, he is also Co-Chair of the Oxfordshire+ B Local, a growing group of local B Corps.
Grant has championed the B Corp movement even before it launched in the UK. He now focuses almost all of his activities through OSEP, a community Interest company, which has established itself across Oxfordshire to provide support for impactful businesses and also works closely with other key stakeholders across sectors in the county including the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership, the universities, local authorities, OxLEP and voluntary sector support organisations to help ensure the strong local economy we enjoy is even more inclusive and one that works for everyone.
Roy Magara
Talk Title – What’s mental about health in the workplace?
Bio – Did you know that we statistically spend most of our time thinking about, talking about and in many cases worrying about our work. As an Employment Solicitor Advocate at Magara Law, Roy works hard to help you through the legalities and complexities of your ‘every day’ and take the “worry” out of your statistics. People are at the heart of Roy’s practice – whether employer or employee – and Roy’s aim is to ensure that whichever side of the relationship you are, your employment rights and obligations are in check.Talk title: What’s mental about health in the workplace?
White Paper Launch – “What If There Were No Freelancers?”
Join us as we launch the latest in our series of white papers challenging the assumption, preconceptions and ideas around work.
“What if there were no freelancers?” explores the world without the independents, the sub-contractors and the individuals that keep projects and businesses going.
What if all the freelancers went and got jobs? See the valuable addition freelancers make to our economy.
Better Business Expo
Check below for more information on the businesses that will be showcasing their services and products in our Expo – –
B-Hive Living
B-Hive Living is a multi award-winning coliving brand and asset manager with a strong focus on wellness-driven design and tech-enabled operation. Our mission is to empower professional renters to lead a more connected, healthy and fulfilling life. This relentless focus on our residents’ wellbeing ensures a sustained demand wherever we operate. Staying in one of our coliving spaces in Bicester or Kidlington you will share a range of beautiful communal spaces, facilities and services with an exciting vetted international community of professionals. Our homes and communities offer everything you need to truly live well.
Darcica Logistics
Award-winning Darcica Logistics offers sustainable and cost-effective delivery solutions. The brand, inspired by our daughters Darcey and Jessica, centres on family values and environmental care. Operating from our 15,000 sq. ft. facility in Bicester, featuring a fulfilment centre and secure storage, we specialise in plastic-free Ecommerce fulfilment, stock management, pick and pack, same-day/next-day courier services, and eco-friendly deliveries with electric vehicles.
Our commitment extends to providing CO2 saving reports, showcasing your positive environmental impact. Additionally, we provide parcel and pallet storage, tracking, and streamlined courier management for local, national, and international deliveries on a unified platform.
With a dedicated team that has over 20 years’ experience in the transport logistics and environmental management, Darcica Logistics provides services for several high-profile organisations, working with over 100 organisations across Oxfordshire, last year alone we delivered over 2 million parcels and 30,000 pallets.
Dwelling Place Therapy
Dwelling Place Therapy offers a range of wellbeing support, from counselling to yoga. Founded by Rebecca West who has been in education, care and counselling sector for over 10 years. Rebecca, believes our mental health is best taken care of when we look at ourselves as a whole, mind, body and spirit. With this in mind, Rebecca offers two main services, firstly counselling which mainly supports young people using a mixture of talking, play and art therapy. Secondly, yoga which she uses to support clients with trauma, anxiety and depression as well as offering restorative and energising yoga classes in her local community.
Exec Recruitment Solutions
We connect top Executive Assistants, Personal Assistants and HR Business Support professionals to exciting permanent opportunities across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and surrounding areas.
Exec Support Solutions
Award-winning Virtual Assistant agency based in Bicester, providing valuable operational support to busy business owners, entrepreneurs and execs.
Grateful
Grateful delivers Design that cares about you, your users and your place.We help you create journeys that nurture grateful customers who’ll join you & advocate you. We help you build an authentic, stand-out brand that communicates, with confidence & passion, in your users’ voice – from brand to websites to print to socials to merch.
Happiness Express Coaching
Happiness Express Coaching empowers people to find happiness and high performance in both their personal and professional lives.
Sarah Fraser is a Master Certified Coach, a credential held by less than 4% of all coaches worldwide. She supports people to develop their career, define their personal brand, grow an authentic leadership style, and maximise their strengths.
Offering one-to-one coaching and a programme designed to build mental fitness, Sarah helps you cultivate a mindset that allows you and your organisation to truly shine.
Magara Law
Magara Law is an employment law firm founded in September 2020 by Employment Solicitor Advocate, Roy Magara. The firm acts for employers and employees across all sectors and focuses on helping people to achieve satisfaction with their working life.
MOAI Health
MOAI Health provide a gold-standard, three-pronged approach to workplace mental health and wellbeing:
Strategic Mental Health Framework: MOAI Health assists organisations in designing and embedding a comprehensive mental health strategy. This includes regular monitoring or psycho-social risk factors staff face and access to a suite of support for employees and managers.
Corporate Training: Our corporate training segment focuses on educating employees and management on mental health awareness, first aid, neurodiversity, and fostering an environment of belonging.
Clinical On-Demand Support: Our clinical service provides immediate access to psychiatrists, psychologists, and therapists, ensuring that employees receive timely and effective care for mental health issues as they arise.
Together, these services form a holistic approach to mental health in the workplace, ensuring organisations are equipped to support their employees’ well-being comprehensively.
OSEP
OSEP CIC is a social enterprise, set up to support social entrepreneurs, Social Enterprises, enterprising charities and purposeful business across Oxfordshire – All trading as a way to address social and environmental challenges.
OxLEP
As the Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP), it is our role to champion Oxfordshire’s economic potential, acting as a catalyst and convener to drive a dynamic, sustainable and growing economy.
.PLANQ
PLANQ UK specialises in importing sustainable and circular furniture from PLANQ B.V. in the Netherlands. Our primary goal is to assist clients in achieving their sustainable objectives by providing sustainable and circular products for their offices. As a company, we are commited to becoming carbon neutral and reducing the carbon footprint associated with importing products from the EU.
Notably, the textile industry contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than the combined impact of the shipping and aviation sectors. The UK alone generates approximately 350,000 tonnes of tex4le waste annually, with a staggering 11 million garments disposed of in landfills each week.
In the face of these challenges, PLANQ UK is on a mission to transform the narrative within the interiors industry. Our objective is to significantly reduce the volume of post-consumer textile waste designed for landfills and incineraon, thereby positively impacting our delicate ecosystem and the environment at large.
Ridgefield Consulting
Ridgefield Consutling is an independent, family-run firm of chartered accountants serving the Oxford and wider Oxfordshire area. They’re registered with both the ICAEW and ACCA, and their wealth of experience means they can offer their expertise to all sizes of businesses as well as private individuals. From self-assessment tax returns to company formation, and even claiming R&D tax credits, their dedicated approach is focused on meeting your needs and helping you achieve your goals. With a strong and proven reputation for delivering excellent quality service levels, they offer cost-effective and good value tax, accounting, and business support solutions.
TESLA
Tesla is coming to Bicester…
Tesla is a clean energy company which designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, stationary battery energy storage devices from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar shingles, and related products and services.
The Nurture Works
The Nurture Works provides evidence based therapy for mental health difficulties. The core delivery is based on protocols from Cognitive Behavioral Pyschotherapy and EMDR. Jenna’s approach is gentle, creativem playful, evidence based and empathetic.
Velocity
Delivering for Oxfordshire: faster, cheaper, greener!
Reducing the emissions associated with your business deliveries is a simple way to improve your company’s environmental performance. Velocity Cycle Couriers, an independent local business, can help achieve this with our fleet of e-cargo bikes and fully electric vans. We deliver quickly, efficiently and sustainably around the county and within Oxford.
Whether it’s bakery, catering, coffee, flowers, stationery, medical samples or other items, Velocity’s friendly, flexible and responsive courier service can meet your same day or next day delivery needs for small to large packages, while reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion and improving safety and air quality across our county.
Venogy Talent
Venogy Talent is a specialist recruitment consultancy building incredible teams for incredible clients throughout the Energy Transition.
With over 30 years combined experience, we are proud to partner with leading international companies across utilities, consultancies, startups, energy-tech, smart energy and renewable energy development.
Our extensive network and experience allows us to recruit across the whole value chain within the energy sector, from Engineering, Commercial, Development, Operations and C-Suite.
We are passionate about contributing towards the Energy Transition and are deeply driven by the global efforts to achieve Net Zero targets by 2050. This fills our team with great purpose to support all businesses with the best talent in this field.
Whatley Manor
A charming 17th century hotel, bar and restaurant dating back to 1677, this historic inn boasts many original features such as stone passages, priests’ holes and a fine wooden staircase. Spacious public areas include the oak-panelled restaurant, which overlooks the attractive well-tended gardens, a choice of lounges and our opulent art deco style Berkeley’s Bar and Restaurant.
Y.O.U Underwear
Y.O.U underwear is Fairtrade, PETA-approved vegan and made from 100% GOTS Certified Organic Cotton, and we work with one of India’s leading ethical and sustainable manufacturers.
Purpose, people and planet really do mean more to us than profit. We’re the highest scoring B Corp in the UK, and the top fashion brand in the world!
Who Is This Event For?
This event is aimed at Oxfordshire SMEs looking to make a difference. Whether you are a social enterprise, social entrepreneurs, enterprising charities or just a company who is looking to do business…better. This is the event for you!
