Women In Business Co-Working & Connections by NatWest
The NatWest Accelerator team in MK hosts a free of charge monthly co-working and connections session for female founders, held in their branch within the C:MK shopping centre once a month on the first Tuesday of the month. The session aims to provide a collaborative space for women in business to come together to inspire, empower, signpost and support each other. Fully funded by NatWest, they provide the workspace, wifi, unlimited tea, coffee, filtered chilled water and of course biscuits completely free of charge!
Location: NatWest C:Mk branch; 164 Midsummer Arcade, Milton Keynes, MK9 3BA (door 14 of the shopping centre, John Lewis end, Theatre/Post office side) There is free parking a short walk from the branch and 3 hours free parking opposite the branch over the road.
Format: Arrival at 10am for introductions around the room before informal networking - or just working- until the session closes at 1pm. Bring your laptop or tablet to get stuff done.
Costs: Tickets are free of charge, fully funded by NatWest.
CoHosts: The event is hosted by Debbie Lewis (know her?) Community Manager at the Accelerator and Michele D’Souza, Accelerator Manager.
Typical Attendee: Mainly early stage founders and start up ladies but not exclusively so. All women in business, those who identify as such, or are non binary and also male allies who exclusively support female founders are very welcome.
Upsides: It’s free. It encourages working not just networking. You can get advice and support as well as conversation. There is a vary varied attendance, many of whom don’t attend the other larger events.
Downsides: Due to the tickets being free there are often ‘no shows’ so you never know if there will be 2 or 20 people- every session is different, both in terms of how much work you get done and how noisy it is.
Top Tip: Take your laptop or tablet and aim to get some work done in-between valuable conversations; the super fast wifi code is on the wall sign (dont use the local free wifi).
** prices correct at time of writing