21 Aug 12.00-14.30 Gatwick Diamond Business - Networking at Ease, Hartsfield Manor,  RH3 7AA. Find out more 

31 Aug 11.00-12.00 Gatwick Diamond Business - Educational Seminar, Reigate Manor Hotel. Find out more

5 Sept 17.30-19.30 Redhill Business Guild, Three Central, Redhill. Let them know you're coming 

11 Sept 17.30-19.00 Banstead Business Guild, Cafe Italia. Let them know you're coming.

12 Sept 09.30-12.30 Gatwick Diamond Meet the Buyer (seminar), Situation Awareness and Crisis Management, Pilgrims Academy, Redhill  RH1 5EL. Book your space now 

12 Sept 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch - Visual Digital Marketing, Instagram Emma Turner, My Social Secretary – Town Hall, Reigate. Book your space now

27 Sept 17.30-19.30 Morrisons R&R Connects, Reigate Rugby Club. Book your space  

17 Oct 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch - Fitness – Frank Sinclair, Fit with Frank  Town Hall, Reigate. Book your space now

31 Oct 09.30-12.30  Gatwick Diamond Meet the Buyers (seminar) Social Media needs a purpose to succeed, Ashdown Park Hotel, Forest Row  RH18 5JR.  Book your space now 

8 Nov  09.00-13.00 Employment Law and Health and Safety event with Peninsular in conjunction with Langton London Ins Brokers, Town Hall, Reigate. Book your space now 

9 Nov 09.30-12.30 Gatwick Diamond Meet the Buyers - Developing your presentation and public speaking skills, American Express Community Stadium, Brighton.  Book your space now 

14 Nov 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch - Managing challenging employment relationships and undertaking difficult conversations - Martin Buckland, HR at work.  Book your space now

21 Nov Gatwick Diamond - Meet the buyer, Aurora Hotel, Crawley - a chance to connect face to face with some of the regions largest buyers.  Find out more 

12 Dec 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch - Getting your message across with persuasive presentations – Kevin Horlock   Book your space now

A chance to take your business to the next level.  Connect face to face with some of the biggest businesses - both private and public sector. Big businesses are looking for local or small suppliers and may be able to offer you exciting new contracts or opportunities.

When you register for the event, your profile will be assessed and given to the buyers, so that appointments can be scheduled for you with businesses who are looking for the products or service you offer.

To get you prepared there is a series of free workshops that can be booked in advance. Find out more

We are delighted to welcome back Emma Turner from My Social Secretary for September's Learning Lunch. She will be informing us about visual digital marketing, focussing on how your business could benefit from using Instagram.

Spaces are filling quickly and are already limited for this event, so make sure you book your space.

Congratulations to Reigate's CF Architects, one of six finalists in the Architects Journal retrofit schools category, for their work with Fennies in Woking. 

Local firm Shopper Anonymous recently re-branded to Insight6. The change reflects works undertaken with businesses in many sectors, as well as retail. Insight6 has many ways of capturing customer feedback - not just mystery shopping. Local Customer Experience Director Jim Smith said: "This is an exciting time for the firm. We have new tools to help us track and verify the customer experience of firms, and help them improve it, leading to greater customer attraction and loyalty. We are now one of Britain's biggest Customer Experience firms with 26 franchisees countrywide and over 1,000 clients." 

YMCA East Surrey is working with Surrey County Council to encourage local businesses and organisations to provide help in improving staff health and wellbeing. They recognise that healthier workforces are an asset to the employer: healthy, active staff are shown to be better motivated and take less time off sick, therefore reducing business costs and improving efficiency. YMCA East Surrey has become the preferred provider of free NHS Health Checks across the area and has already provided services to a range of local enterprises.

Free NHS Health Checks for the over 40s are available for Surrey workplaces and are carried out by a trained health advisor who will come to your workplace.  Click heading for more...

Coast to Capital has launched its Strategic Economic Plan. Its vision for 2030 is focused around eight economic priorities:

1. Deliver prosperous urban centres

2. Develop business infrastructure and support

3. Invest in sustainable growth

4. Create skills for the future

5. Pioneer innovation in core strengths

6. Promote better transport and mobility

7. Improve digital network capability

8. Build a strong national and international identity.

To produce the plan it engaged with local stakeholders (including businesses, local authorities and education providers) and held a public consultation, over the course of a year. The publication is the first step in planning and negotiating a strong Local Industrial Strategy with Government and attract significant investment for the region. Read the Strategic Economic Plan 

The Department of International Trade (DIT) has announced a number of events, including training and trade missions, over the autumn. For more information and to book a place, read more on the Exporting is Great newsletter.

The Utilise Plus programme is funded by the European Regional Development Fund. Utilise Plus helps eligible small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) save energy, reducing their costs and greenhouse gas emissions in the process. Since starting the programme in late 2017, the programme has already helped SMEs make an estimated combined annual saving of 125 tonnes of CO2 by reducing their individual annual energy usage, on average, by 27%. It has achieved this by offering a variety of complimentary services, including:

• Grant funding of between £1,000 to £5,000 to cover one-third of the cost of an energy saving project.
• Energy Audits, fully funded by the ERDF, to identify energy and cost saving opportunities that SMEs can then act upon.
• Energy Saving Workshops, outlining the business case for saving energy and helping participants create their own, unique action plans to tackle energy use in their organisations.
• Business Networking Breakfasts, featuring expert speakers on a particular aspect of sustainability and connecting like-minded SMEs.

Sustainability Tours of interesting organisations that have implemented significant energy saving measures, to inspire.

Surrey Business Awards 2018 Why not enter the Surrey Business Awards which celebrate the best businesses in Surrey?  Find out more 

Reigate & Banstead Business Support Grant Do you have a business based in the borough with less than four employees? Are you looking to grow?  Why not apply for our Business Support Grant of up to £1,000?

Small Business Grants Do you represent a business that has been trading for at least one year and has a turnover of between £50,000 and £500,000?
SmallBusiness.co.uk has launched a free-to-enter competition called Small Business Grants, offering £5,000 every month.

Do you need start-up funding for your business?  Struggling to get funding from a mainstream provider? Have a look at responsible finance provider Fredericks Foundation, who may be able to help.