Last Thursday 28th May we organised the session “What’s next? How to Expand your Business in London” in collaboration with London & Partners, Patron of the Spanish Chamber, at their outstanding premises facing several of London’s most iconic sights.
The aim of this event was to support SMEs companies that have recently set up in London in order to provide them with insightful information from expert institutions as well as from other companies that had successfully overcome a similar process and could provide attendees with useful tips to succeed in this market.
From left to right: Xavier Bru (Enrique Tomás), David Fried (Virtualware), Jesús Agra (Spanish Chamber of Commerce), Núria Corominas (Román y Asociados) and Cristina Custodio (London & Partners)
First of all, Cristina Custodio, Business Development Manager –EMEA at London & Partners welcomed all guests on behalf of the organisers and kicked off the round of presentations by providing a short presentation on how L&P supports companies.
She then passed over to Jesús Agra, Foreign Trade Manager at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, who briefly introduced the institution and the tools that we provide and which can be useful to the attendees for the purpose of expanding their business in this city and increasing their professional network.
Jesús Agra, Foreign Trade Manager at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce during a brief presentation of our institution and services.
The session was followed by presentations of the keynote speakers, who not only covered different sectors, but also provided a case study on their experience landing in London.
To begin with, Xavier Bru, from Enrique Tomás, presented their case: a successful family business from Barcelona that decided to come to London because although everything seemed to work in a different way in this city, they knew that “if you work hard enough, you can achieve it”. And this is what happened to them as they will be opening their second shop here by next week.
Afterwards, Núria Corominas, Director at Román y Asociados, a PR consulting company, member of the Spanish Chamber, showcased a presentation video and highlighted the importance of marketing and communication for any business, especially in London. She encouraged the guests to try hard as “once you succeed in London, you can succeed anywhere else in the world”.
Our keynotes speakers presented their business case. From left to right: Xavier Bru, Núria Corominas and David Fried.
Finally, David Fried, Director of International Business Development at Virtualware, closed this section by explaining the main challenges they experienced when they decided to expand this company with humble origins in Bilbao to London. He also brought a few key learnings from these last 3 years: be focussed, do networking and meet local partners, as competition in this city is incredibly high.
After the presentation, an engaging Q&A session followed, where the audience could address the different speakers directly. When the Q&A round was over, it was time for participants to mingle while enjoying the amazing views from the London & Partner offices. They could exchange their impressions on the evening in an informal atmosphere while tasting a splendid piece of Iberian ham, as well as some other canapés, all courtesy of Enrique Tomás.
Our attendees had the opportunity to enjoy the outstanding views from L&P offices and taste some Iberian ham and wines from Enrique Tomás.
Last but not least, we would like to extend our gratitude to London & Partners for kindly hosting this event; and thank the speakers also for sharing their knowledge and the attendees for actively contributing to this evening with their participation.
We wish them all luck in their way to the conquest of the British market and recommend that they keep up to date with the activity of the Spanish Chamber through our UPCOMING EVENTS section.