Small Business Saturday announces December date for 2015

Small Business Saturday – a nationwide event to support, inspire and promote the UK’s five million small businesses – is set to return on Saturday December 5 this year.

This is the third year for the event which last year saw over 16 million people support a local independent on Small Business Saturday, with an estimated 64% of the UK aware of the campaign. The UK’s small businesses are accountable for approximately 60% of private sector jobs and nearly 50% of private sector turnover.

Following the format of previous years, events will be planned in the build up to and on Small Business Saturday itself, including a nationwide bus tour. Small businesses are once again being encouraged to participate by creating special events to mark the day.

Inspire, a nationwide series of free workshops run by experts and entrepreneurs for existing and aspiring small business owners will kick off the build up on April 1. The talks will be informal and participatory, with each followed by a Q&A and live Twitter Q&A. The events will be streamed live online and will also be available on the Small Business Saturday YouTube channel after each event.

Workshops include Nottingham’s Shake Social showing businesses how to stay ahead of competition on social media, and ‘Dare to Dream’, aimed at mum’s wanting to go into business by Bristol’s Freelance Mum. Other events are ‘Strategies for High growth Management’ from Awesome Merchandise in Leeds, tips on how to handle press and PR by Amanda Ruiz and a panel of Yorkshire and Humber-based small businesses exploring the benefits of collaboration hosted by Tina Boden from Enterprise Rockers.

American Express, the founding supporter of the UK scheme, established the initiative in the US in 2010.

Michelle Ovens, national campaign director for Small Business Saturday UK, said: “Last year, small business owners, local authorities, a wide range of other organisations and members of the public really embraced Small Business Saturday.

It succeeded because people recognised the importance of having a vibrant and successful small business sector and not only came out on the day itself but got involved in the run-up to it in their local communities. We will mobilise that support again this year to achieve our ambition of putting small businesses at the centre of everyone’s lives.

“We are tremendously excited about this year’s event, and we expect tens of thousands of FSB members across the UK to take part again on 5 December 2015. Small Business Saturday is a great moment for everyone to celebrate the best of British. Let’s hope this year can be even better – encouraging thousands more people to support small businesses.”