Bloomberg Co-Hosts First Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Coaching Session in the UK

Last week, Michael Bloomberg – co-chair of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Advisory Council – addressed 400 small business owners at Goldman Sachs’ London headquarters.
 

The fireside chat between Bloomberg Television’s Francine Lacqua, Mike and Richard Gnodde, co-chief executive of Goldman Sachs International, was the culmination of the inaugural 10,000 Small Businesses Coaching Session in the UK, in which 60 volunteers from Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs delivered customized training for some of the highest performing program alumni to help accelerate their growth.

Mike, having founded Bloomberg LP in 1981, shared his advice for the young entrepreneurs in the room, which included:

Hard work: “If there’s only one key to success, it’s hard work.”

Enjoy your job: “If you like it, you’ll do it better and there will be more reason to like it.”

Be genuine: “There is a characteristic that all good leaders have and it’s that they’re all genuine.”

Before the chat, 14 small business owners from London, the Midlands, the North West of England and Yorkshire, received a day of professional guidance from Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs experts in the fields of human resources, finance, operations, marketing, strategy and IT.

These selected small business owners also had the opportunity to hear more about corporate culture and small business challenges from Goldman Sachs’ Head of Impact Investing Dina Powell, Bloomberg’s Kevin Sheekey and Second Home’s Rohan Silva during a panel moderated by Bloomberg Television’s Manus Cranny.

The evening concluded with a celebratory reception at Tate Modern, one of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ arts partners, where the teams continued their conversations and were given tours of the museum enhanced by Bloomberg Connects, a program that connects cultural institutions with technology from mobile applications to immersive galleries and other dynamic tools, designed to transform the visitor experience, encouraging interaction and exploration of cultural institutions on and offsite.

Feedback from a small business owner:
A young growing business will always have challenges. The opportunity to spend time with leaders and managers from companies as successful as Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs has been incredible. It focused my plan and it focused my mind. I now have to impart my learnings from the day to the rest of my organisation with the same focus and passion as was achieved during the coaching session. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of being part of the first sessions.

Feedback from a Bloomberg volunteer:
The 10,000 Small Business opportunity is unlike any other in my career. In the span of seven hours, our team created a comprehensive communications plan, devised two separate strategies on how to scale, and overhauled the website. The energy in the room was electric – everyone throwing out ideas and building on each other’s strengths. I had no idea I would walk away from the day having learned so much.

The 10,000 Small Businesses initiative was launched in 2009 to help small businesses create jobs and economic growth by providing entrepreneurs with a practical business education, business support services and links to capital. To learn more about the program and Bloomberg’s partnership with Goldman, read our blog from last year, here.

To watch Francine Lacqua’s interview with Mike Bloomberg and Richard Gnodde on Bloomberg Television, click here.