Bdaily meets BiY's Darren Shaw

BiY (Business in Yorkshire) is building a thronging network group across the region and Bdaily caught up with founder Darren Shaw to find out more about the group.

What sets BiY apart from the competition?

BiY is unique in providing inspiration and support that delivers both personal and business development for SME owners so that they do things better, or differently.

Since our inception in 2012, we’ve witnessed countless examples where people are winning new business. That’s something we’re really proud of. For example, in some cases, that new business has come as a result of changing the way they package their offering, others have learned more effective ways of communicating what they offer… and some have totally new sales strategies in place.

Through a combination of Peer Groups, Workshops, Speaker-led events and Networking, BiY provides unparalleled opportunities to learn from each other, be inspired by those who have been there and done it before, and to get specialist support in key areas. It is a powerful community that harnesses positive thinking within a culture that thrives on challenge and enables everyone to move forward.

Could you explain a little about how the peer group sessions run, and how businesses benefit?

The Peer Groups typically include a dozen business owners who are at a similar stage in the evolution of their business, whether that’s micro business owners and sole traders or more established businesses where they already employ a small team. Whatever stage they are at, these are ambitious people who are seeking to take their business to the next level.

Peer Group members bring their most pressing business challenge to the meeting, where they then develop new perspectives, new ideas and fresh thinking as a result of being challenged in a positive way by their peers. Members tell us that a major benefit of this approach is tapping into the collective wisdom in the room, as well as helping them to feel they are not alone with their challenges. They develop bonds and build their personal support network as a result, as well as quickly feeling confident about referring business to each other.

One of the unforeseen benefits of BiY has been the amount of referred business that is taking place within our business community. Peer groups in particular, fast-track the bond that makes it easy for members to do business together, and to refer business to each other.

What’s the incentive for businesses to reveal the issues and challenges they are facing?

Our members are a group of like-minded people who recognise that if they’re going to survive, never mind grow, they need to constantly evolve the way they look at their businesses and how they do things. They’ve recognised it’s okay to ask for help, it’s okay to talk to others in the same boat. In fact, feedback tells us that business owners often feel alone in dealing with their challenges, so a confidential place where they can share their issues with others who are running a business delivers real value.

We ensure that the Peer Groups only include one business from each specific category so that everyone is confident that they can speak frankly about their key issues.

How have you grown the organisation?

We began in early 2012 with a series of events aimed at supporting SME business owners, including Business Surgeries, Peer Groups, Workshops and Seminars. These events were well-attended and very positively received, which confirmed the appetite amongst SME business owners for this type of support, and they now form the bedrock of the BiY package - as demonstrated by our Events calendar: http://www.biy.uk.com/events-calendar/. Word of mouth has been a major contributor to our growth over the past 12 months. We also deliver several Taster sessions each month, a quarterly open event such as a seminar that is open to both members and potential members, and our sales and membership managers hold regular 1:1 meetings to support business owners who want to understand how BiY can help them and their business.

What are the ambitions for BiY?

The plan is to grow our membership base to c.300 members and consolidate our associates (50). Our intention is to continue to develop our programme of services that add value to our membership as they develop and grow their businesses.

We are currently introducing a number of affiliate partners - organisations who offer the ubiquitous services that most SME businesses require e.g. legal services, insurance, office supplies, telecommunications, IT support. One example of this is the dedicated legal helpline provided by our affiliates, Brilliant Law, who can provide a specialist in the area required to deliver relevant advice.

Another initiative is the launch of our Graduate Academy, which is designed to develop the workplace skills of new graduates and connect them with SME business owners, and vice versa. The objective is to connect the two sides so that graduates see the exciting career opportunities within the SME business community, and business owners see the benefits of recruiting from this pool of new talent. Our first group of graduates through the academy will be meeting our SME business owners in early December.

Under consideration for the longer term is the potential for reconstituting BiY into a not-for-distribution organisation owned by its members.