This weekend Highcross welcomed an additional host of up and coming companies under its roof as part of the Small Business Challenge.
The aim of the Small Business Challenge is to see whether small businesses can thrive in a big business environment and hold their weight against familiar high street companies; and what better place to do it than at Highcross, home to over 100 well-known and well-loved shops.
On Saturday 28th ten businesses were given a space inside a specially opened pop-up shop with the chance to promote themselves and their product or service. The idea of a pop-up shop allows companies to jump in to empty spaces and sell their product for a limited amount of time.
The Small Business Challenge is a not-for-profit venture founded by Ricky Shah, a business and personal development mentor and Avnesh Pandya, a business consultant. The Challenge provides planning, logistics and marketing to the businesses, as well as a space to showcase their services.
Avnesh told Pukaar News “We have chosen ten businesses that have the ability, the capacity and the personality to take their business to the next level and we’re providing them with that opportunity. I think today’s event has been amazing; the footfall, the interest, the story that we’ve got and the businesses have had some fantastic exposure which is exactly what we’ve tried to set up today.”
The footfall for Highcross on a typical Saturday is around 90 thousand people, offering a unique and profitable opportunity for the ten businesses. Ventures ranged from authentic Columbian coffee, beauty products and greeting cards. From 9am until 7pm, the businesses chatted to shoppers about their brand as well as offering exclusive offers.
Sunita Patel from Newtrition, who creates nutritious food that’s both healthy and delicious, commented on being part of the Small Business Challenge telling Pukaar News “Who wouldn’t dream of doing this. If you’re a small business, you’re never going to get a chance in the early stages of your career to get a prominent position in Highcross on a Saturday. Today has been awesome, it’s been great and people have been genuinely interested in giving us support.”
