Start-up Day 2026
About this Event
A free, full-day event for anyone thinking about starting a business or who's just taken the leap.
Expert speakers, real founder stories, practical workshops, and genuine networking - all in one room.
We’ll be hosting the BIPC Network’s annual Start-up Day on Tues 24th November, 10.00-4.00pm, at the Millennium Library, Norwich.
Whether you've been sitting on a business idea for months or taken your first steps, Start-up Day 2026 is designed for you!
Come with an idea. Leave with a plan.
Please select tickets for all the sessions you wish to attend when you 'reserve your spot'
Schedule - Please book onto the session (s) you'd like to attend
10.00-10.30 Welcome over coffee
10.45-11.45 Starting a Business? The Stuff Nobody Tells You
Starting a business? Brilliant. You’ve got the idea and the expertise, and that’s a cracking place to begin.
But here’s the thing. Most new businesses fall into one of two traps. Some get the idea, set up the socials (maybe a website at a push), head off to networking and market the hell out of it, skipping everything in between. Others spend weeks, even months, perfecting the tiny details, and nothing actually happens.
Kicking off the day, award-winning Business Mentor, Coach and Trainer Kathy Ennis of LittlePiggy shares the stuff nobody tells you. Being an expert in your field is one thing. Running a business is a skill set of its own, and the good news is that it can be learned. You’ll leave knowing what really sits between “great idea” and “paying customers”, and how to build foundations that last.
12.00-12.30 From Expertise to Enterprise: Building a Personalised Health Business from Scratch
Catherine Eagles has just launched her personalised health business, helping people take a more confident and practical approach to their health through nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle support. Her work focuses on helping people reduce their risk of, or better manage, conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
After many years researching and teaching in physical activity, nutrition and health, Catherine is now turning that experience into a service shaped around people’s individual needs and everyday lives. Her background includes a PhD in Medicine and training in nutritional medicine, sport and exercise science, nutrition and exercise referral.
Like many founders, Catherine discovered that expertise is only the starting point.
In her session, she’ll share an honest, practical account of starting out: what she’s learned so far, what has surprised her, and what she wishes she’d known earlier.
12.30-13.00 From Clicks to Bricks: My Journey to the High Street
Claire Howard is a jewellery designer and maker based in Fakenham, Norfolk. Inspired by the Norfolk coastline, nostalgia and the stories behind everyday objects, she creates handmade silver jewellery designed to hold special meaning.
Claire began making jewellery full-time in 2015, gradually building her business through online sales, craft fairs and a growing community of loyal customers. In August 2024, she took a significant step and opened her own shop in Fakenham, bringing her workshop and retail space together under one roof.
Today, customers can browse her collections, watch her making jewellery at her bench and take part in jewellery-making workshops.
Claire's journey from an online business to high street retail has involved plenty of learning, a few challenges and some unexpected rewards. She'll be sharing her experiences of making that transition, the realities of running a physical shop and what she's discovered along the way.
13.00-13.30 Light Refreshments Over Networking
13.30-14.00 Meet the BIPC Norfolk Team!
Whether you're just setting out, need advice on protecting your intellectual property, or simply have a brilliant idea you want to discuss, we're here to guide you.
14.00-14.45 Q&A With Our Guest Speakers
14.45-15.00 Break
15.00-16.00 Know Your Customers: Using AI to Move Beyond the Demographics
If you think understanding your customers means knowing their age, gender and postcode, think again. Demographics tell you who might buy. They don’t tell you why.
Most new businesses guess at their customers (or skip this bit altogether) and hope for the best. The result is marketing that doesn’t land and products and services that don’t quite fit.
In this session, Kathy will show you how AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can help you discover what really drives your customers: their motivations, challenges and buying decisions.
16.00 Close
Agenda
🕑: 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Welcome over coffee
🕑: 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM
Getting Off to a Good start - Start-up Best practice
Host: Kathy Ennis, Little Piggy Ltd
Info: Kathy Ennis is an award-winning Business Mentor, Coach and Trainer and the founder of LittlePiggy. She’s run her own business since 2000, and along the way she’s weathered a financial crash, lost every client almost overnight and rebuilt from scratch. That’s taught her more about business than any textbook could.
Today she helps people to start, grow and scale their businesses by building strong business foundations using her 5Ps framework: People, Product, Price, Promotion and Productivity. Kathy is an Enterprise Nation award-winning adviser and the host of Women Talk Business for BIPC Norfolk.
🕑: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Founder story : Moving into Business - First Steps
Host: Dr Catherine Eagles, Diabetes Nutritionist
Info: Catherine Eagles has just launched her personalised health business, helping people take a more confident and practical approach to their health through nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle support. Her work focuses on helping people reduce their risk of, or better manage, conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
🕑: 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM
Founder Story : Moving From Online to High Street Retail
Host: Claire Howard, Jeweller
Info: Claire Howard is a jewellery designer and maker based in Fakenham, Norfolk. Inspired by the Norfolk coastline, nostalgia and the stories behind everyday objects, she creates handmade silver jewellery designed to hold special meaning.
Claire began making jewellery full-time in 2015, gradually building her business through online sales, craft fairs and a growing community of loyal customers. In August 2024, she took a significant step and opened her own shop in Fakenham, bringing her workshop and retail space together under one roof.
Today, customers can browse her collections, watch her making jewellery at her bench and take part in jewellery-making workshops.
Claire's journey from an online business to high street retail has involved plenty of learning, a few challenges and some unexpected rewards. She'll be sharing her experiences of making that transition, the realities of running a physical shop and what she's discovered along the way.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Refreshments over Networking
🕑: 01:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Meet the BIPC Team
Host: BIPC Norfolk - Ashley, Will, Julie
Info: Learn How BIPC Norfolk Can Support You on your Business Journey
🕑: 02:00 PM - 02:45 PM
Q&A
Info: It's Your Turn to Ask The Questions of the Businesses!
🕑: 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Know Your Customers - Use AI to move beyond the Demographics
Host: Kathy Ennis, Little Piggy Ltd
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00
