Oxfordshire Business First


Businesses helping business

Get Connected

Oxfordshire Business First is a not for profit company bringing together the best business people in Oxfordshire.

We primarily focus on the following issues: promoting entrepreneurship, facilitating business innovation, campaigning for 21st-century infrastructure and sharing of best practice.

We work best by connecting people and sharing information.

Our network is diverse and extensive with members drawn from Oxfordshire businesses that have been involved in events or are interested in learning from their peers.

They benefit from attending events and working on joint projects. Its networking, but not as you know it!

You can also join our LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/790937/

Upcoming Events

Our next Virtual BIG gig is coming soon.

 

The BIG gig is an innovation event at which a business leader shares a problem or issue with teams of business people who respond with innovative solutions. BIG gigs are open to anyone, but attendees must register with Paul Essery before the event as availability is limited.

We’ll be online from 6 p.m.

The BIG gig will be run using Zoom from 6pm to 8pm.  For more information please contact paule@mysalesguru.co.uk or call 0771 782 3377
Book Now

Latest Blog Posts

6th June 2021

In the Zoom Room with … Wendy Tindsley

Interview with Wendy Tindsley, Director of Innovation at Oxford Innovation and an Oxfordshire Business First Board member
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6th June 2021

In the Zoom Room with … Frank Nigriello

Interview with Frank Nigriello, Director of Corporate Affairs, Unipart Group and Chairman of Oxfordshire Business First
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6th June 2021

In the Zoom Room with … John Knights

Interview with John Knights, Chairman of LeaderShape and Oxfordshire Business First Board Member    
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4th May 2021

Liminal Health does the Big Gig!

A few weeks ago, my co-founder Christine Beardsell and I were in the privileged position of presenting our work at Liminal…
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12th April 2021

BIG Gig with Oxfordshire Mind

Oxfordshire Mind is renowned for providing advice and support to people experiencing mental health problems.
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2nd April 2021

Does culture matter in your Zoom Room?

Tips on how to handle cultural differences in online meetings.
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13th March 2021

Calmer: a happy mind makes for a happy business

Join the Calmer Community
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13th March 2021

Support from Oxfordshire Mind

Oxfordshire Mind offers mental health training and support to help businesses and entrepreneurs
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13th March 2021

How to use Mind’s Wellness Action Plans

This guide from Mind is designed for anyone who would like to learn more about how to use Wellness Action…
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13th March 2021

MIND Guide for line managers

This downloadable guide from Mind is designed to be a starting point for line managers team members with their mental…
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2nd March 2021

Sales stories: Nigel Allen, CEO Carbon Colour

Sales Stories - Paul Essery interviews Nigel Allen from Carbon Colour
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2nd March 2021

Sales Stories: Treve Wearne, CEO Nazca Services

Sales Stories - Paul Essery interviews Treve Wearne about Nazca Services
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2nd March 2021

Sales Stories: Louisa Wheeler, CEO Ilona Design

Sales Stories - Paul Essery interviews Louisa Wheeler from Ilona Design
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19th February 2021

Sales Stories: Leah Spasova, CEO LIFESEXPERTS

Paul Essery from My Sales Guru International interviews Leah Spasova from LIFESEXPERT
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15th February 2021

Manufacturing with Purpose BIG Gig

Starting a small business is staying ruthlessly focussed and being tenacious and the Big Gig was a massive spur on…
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10th February 2021

Telling a compelling tale

Around a dozen entrepreneurs have formed a storytelling group
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5th February 2021

Business Parable

This is an example of a business parable that we're discussing in the Storytelling workshops.
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29th January 2021

The Busy BIG Gig

The BIG Gig challenge: How do I scale this project to a size that makes it a business?
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14th January 2021

Meet the Storytellers

Paul Essery and Frank Nigriello are leading the storytelling initiative that captured the interest of business people in Oxfordshire
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14th January 2021

Business storytelling group starts in Oxford

Oxfordshire businesspeople are working together to use storytelling as a way of navigating the difficult business conditions in pandemic Britain.
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4th January 2021

Learning about entrepreneurship with the Movie Gig!

A third Movie Gig looking at films with ‘Storytelling’ as the common theme going to run early in 2021.
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11th December 2020

The importance of purpose for next-gen leaders

In this podcast from Leadershape, Caroline Dowd-Higgins joins Danielle Grant to discuss the importance of purpose for the new generation of…
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11th December 2020

COVID-19 and the increasing importance of purpose

In this podcast from Leadershape, Danielle Grant speaks with OB1 board director John Knights, about COVID-19 and the increasing importance and value…
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11th December 2020

Ethics in Leadership podcast

Danielle Grant from Leadershape speaks with Annabel Beerel about ethics in business leadership. Explore how leaders must go beyond traditional norms…
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5th December 2020

Learning Leadership Skills

Frank Nigriello, chairman of OB1 and Director of Corporate Affairs for Unipart Group, was asked to provide an overview of…
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5th December 2020

8 Steps to a Great Story

Oxfordshire Business First Chairman Frank Nigriello provides a personal view on what makes an impactful story.
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5th December 2020

Six Customer Service Tips from Disneyworld

Oxfordshire Business First Chairman Frank Nigriello shares some personal views on how Disneyworld delivers outstanding personal customer service and provides…
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29th October 2020

The resilient leader podcast with Frank Nigriello

The Resilient Leader podcast is a brand-new podcast series dedicated to finding out what makes business leaders tick, and in…
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29th October 2020

How to develop good relationships with potential clients.

My Sales Guru International founder Paul Essery interviews Leah Spasova, psychologist and founder of LIFESEXPERTS about the importance of developing…
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29th October 2020

Episode 7: Ethics in Politics

Danielle Grant speaks with Duncan Enright about ethics in politics. Listen and explore how political leaders must lead beyond the…
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29th October 2020

Episode 6: Leadership in Politics

Duncan Enright joins Danielle Grant to discuss leadership in politics. Listen and explore how must leaders act, think and perform…
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29th October 2020

Episode 5: How to develop ethical leaders

Greg Young joins Danielle Grant to discuss how to develop ethical leaders, a topic that is increasingly important both in…
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28th September 2020

Episode 4 : Transpersonal Leadership and “the New Normal”

John Knights joins Danielle Grant to discuss how transpersonal leadership is needed to lead effectively in “the new normal”, a…
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28th September 2020

Episode 3: Finding New Levels of Productivity as a Virtual Leader

John Knights, Chairman at Leadershape Global and a board director of Oxfordshire Business First, talks with Danielle Grant about developing…
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28th September 2020

Episode 2: The “New Normal” of Virtual Organisations

Greg Young, CEO of Leadershape Global, talks with Danielle Grant about “The New Normal” of virtual organisations. Listen for action…
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28th September 2020

Leadership Comes Alive

This is the first in a series of podcasts by Oxfordshire Business First member, LeaderShape Global, describing how you can…
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15th September 2020

How working with a sales coach helped me sell better!

I first met Paul Essery completely by chance at a networking event I happened to have been given a ticket…
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15th September 2020

The Big Gig – An Opportunity For Peer-to-Peer Research

Frank Nigriello and Paul Essery invited me to present at the Big Gig innovation event in August 2020. As Founder…
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24th August 2020

New campaign to find school governors

Louise Askew, head of governance at local school trust RLT, on why she is reaching out to the Oxfordshire business…
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29th July 2020

The BIG Gig, a personal experience

Frank Nigriello and Paul Essery offered me the opportunity to present our business at the next BIG gig in July…
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24th July 2020

The commercial value of charities: Why business acumen may be the best donation

By Frank Nigriello The charity sector makes a distinctive and widely recognised contribution supporting or replacing activities often delivered by…
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17th July 2020

Learning during Lockdown

How we kept learning about selling from watching great movies! Someone (unfortunately I can’t remember who!) once said to me…
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15th July 2020

Gaining visibility and building trust in the B2B sector

Educator and psychologist Leah Spasova from LIFESEXPERTS talks about her experience taking part in OB1’s BIG Gig innovation event. 1.…
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13th July 2020

Bouncing back from mental health issues

Sales and marketing professional Placi Espejo talks candidly about how she overcame the mental health challenges she faced.
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26th June 2020

An episode of crisis, contingency, change, innovation, and adaption

by Ross Jordan MBA, PGCertHE, FHEA The second of my blogs focuses upon the cohort of students who are just…
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26th June 2020

Looking for the sixth wave

by Ross Jordan MBA, PGCertHE, FHEA A few short weeks ago I was invited to give a guest presentation to…
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25th June 2020

Inequality: Overcoming a Human Default

by John Knights Chairman, LeaderShape Global & Lead Author “Leading Beyond the Ego: How to Become a Transpersonal Leader” The…
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23rd April 2020

A more compelling focus for business?

Charly Cox argues that coronavirus is bringing forth a more humane, relevant kind of business. Charly is the Founder of…
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13th March 2020

SOFEA’s Commitment to Supply Food to Those in Need

SOFEA is an Oxfordshire based charity distributing hundreds of tonnes of good quality surplus food to the vulnerable and disadvantaged…
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10th March 2020

The BIG gig – what’s in a name?

by Oxfordshire Business First Director Paul Essery When we first started out I thought the name – BIG gig –…
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6th March 2020

The Importance of Wellbeing in The Workplace

It’s just as important to provide a healthy wellbeing inside the working environment as it is outside. Here’s how you…
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6th March 2020

The Role of Leadership in Diverse-Ability (not Disability!)

A thought piece by John Knights As I have developed greater levels of awareness and an increased sense of consciousness,…
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14th January 2020

Wooftastic proves to be a howling success

If you live in Oxfordshire you probably know places that are dog friendly. However, if you are a visitor coming…
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19th December 2019

Productivity Improvement through Transformational Leadership

Productivity in any organisation lies primarily with the CEO and the senior leadership team, and their ability to establish a…
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17th December 2019

Enabling young people to become the future (part 2)

by Frank Nigriello, Chairman of Oxfordshire Business First We need to change the clock speed of our thinking when it…
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17th December 2019

Enabling young people to become the future (part 1)

by Frank Nigriello, Chairman of Oxfordshire Business First In industry, many of us have something of a passion about developing…
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13th December 2019

Three factors that make the difference in Big Gigs

  A study of the BIG Gig innovation events has found their success is down to three factors – a…
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25th April 2019

How the Big Gig Helped Education charity SOFEA

At SOFEA we have been tremendously fortunate to have gathered in a room some very talented people with some very…
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25th April 2019

The ‘secret’ network that transformed my startup.

From an original blog post for Enterprising Oxford. Keen to follow the best advice, when I first started my business…
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25th April 2019

Tech not taxes to tackle traffic

Business people are increasingly worried about the county’s plans to charge more for its roads Ask anyone about the problems…
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25th April 2019

How the BIG Gig helped my business: Renée Watson, The Curiosity Box

Renée Watson is the founder and Head of Explosions at The Curiosity Box. The Curiosity Box gives children, and their…
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