The landmark moment arrived when Chris Hornbuckle, Managing Director of Sports Optimus, signed up after visiting the Saunderton Business Hub at the Clare Charity Centre near High Wycombe.

Sports Optimus is a sports marketing consultancy based in Aylesbury that helps its clients maximise returns from an involvement in sport by developing beneficial commercial programmes. Chris previously ran sponsorship for Vauxhall and was responsible for their sponsorship of The FA and England football team, and he now produces and delivers a wide range of sporting events, including the World Street Soccer Championships.

"Thriving business community"

Fittingly for the 10,000th member of the largest business support organisation in the Entrepreneurial Heart of Britain, Chris has a very positive business outlook, saying: “I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I’ve always wanted to do something on my own and build my own business.”

Buckinghamshire Business First Managing Director Philippa Batting said: “We are delighted to welcome Chris into the Buckinghamshire Business First membership and equally delighted to now be supporting more than 10,000 businesses across the county. Chris’s desire to build his own business is indicative of the spirit of Buckinghamshire’s business community. We look forward to supporting Chris and all of the other business owners in the county with their growth ambitions, funding requirements and business support enquiries as we continue to nurture our thriving business community across the whole county."

From 10 to 10,000

Philippa continues: "Buckinghamshire Business First was the brain child of 10 local entrepreneurs with a ‘do-it-for-themselves’ mentality who wanted to encourage business growth and a vibrant economy in Buckinghamshire. In growing from 10 to 10,000 members since we came into being, we have been privileged to work with nearly one third of all businesses in the county. Buckinghamshire Business First’s own success story enables thousands more to be written thanks to the wide range of support on offer, including one-to-one business support, grant funding programmes, skills workshops and networking events.

Buckinghamshire Business First is recognised by the government as the Growth Hub for the county. Buckinghamshire Business First has helped create almost 3,000 jobs through its own business support programmes and has brokered to many others. It has distributed grants worth £10.7million to businesses at the coalface, and brought new business into Buckinghamshire by supporting 80+ companies to relocate to the county.

Get more out of Buckinghamshire Business First membership

While we now have 10,000 members, some businesses have gone further by co-investing in Buckinghamshire Business First and benefiting from a range of perks.

With three investment levels – Stakeholder, Partner and Ambassador – businesses at all budget levels have the opportunity to get involved.

Just some of the benefits of co-investing include:

• Advertising your events and getting free entry into our Simply Networking events (Stakeholder)
• Hosting your own member workshops and getting free entry into other member workshops (Partner)
• Being a contributor to the local business community and getting free entry to the Business Leaders’ Dinners (Ambassador)

Find out more about the co-investment opportunities available with Buckinghamshire Business First here: https://bbf.uk.com/packages.

Contact our business support team to speak directly about these opportunities: 01494 927130 / [email protected].