SETsquared Exeter recently hosted the latest instalment of their Discovery Room series at Node Cowork in Barnstaple, helping to increase the reach of their world-leading business support into Northern Devon. The event was primarily hosted at Node Cowork in Barnstaple, but fully embraced hybrid delivery by including a satellite in-person session at The Hive, SETsquared Exeter’s accelerator space at the Exeter Science Park, as well as an online session.

The Discovery Room series is enabled through the University of Exeter Enterprise Zone, with funding from the European Regional Development Fund. This has allowed SETsquared Exeter to increase the reach of its flagship business acceleration support throughout the county. This most recent Discovery Room, titled 'Making Sustainable Changes With Positive Impacts For Your Business’, featured two headlined speakers in Steve Roberts and Dr. Russ Wakeham, as well as a facilitated workshop led by Rebecca James.

Steve Roberts is the managing director and founder of Turnstyle Designs Ltd. He established it in 1992 after relocating to North Devon, with previous experience of running importing and manufacturing companies in London. Steve is also working with Plastic Free North Devon, currently piloting The Sustainable Business Resource which is focused on assisting Devon based companies to become more sustainable.

Dr. Russ Wakeham is the Chief Executive Officer at Two Drifters Distillery, which he founded with his partner, Gemma, in Exeter. Two Drifters Distillery is a pioneering rum manufacturer that focuses on hand crafted quality and carbon neutrality. Russ said: "It was a great event and I was very honoured to be asked to speak. It is really pleasing to see that startup businesses are taking sustainability seriously from the ground up. Look forward to seeing their progress."

Rebecca is a highly experienced sustainability professional and B Leader who works with purpose driven SMEs to help them become sustainable by design. Rebecca drew on this wealth of knowledge to lead the workshop and help participants design steps towards sustainability. Rebecca commented: "The Discovery Room hosted by SETSquared Exeter allowed collaborative and motivated conversations with local businesses to evolve. It was a pleasure to engage with individuals from a range of industries to share ESG knowledge and best practise with one another. It highlights that regardless of where you are on your sustainability journey as a business, taking those first initial steps are the most important." 

“This Discovery Room event is our first outside of Exeter and reinforces our drive to extend the reach of our business support programmes throughout the county,” said Rowan Mould, Business Support Manager at SETsquared Exeter. “It’s been great to get people together in a room again and tackle big challenges that face start-ups in the region.”

An attendee from Exeter, Tom Halliday, Founder of Quoss Ltd who design and manufacture high end HiFi electronics and speakers spoke of his experience: "This was the second SETsquared Exeter event I've attended. It is always inspiring to be around like minded people with similar goals. The eye opening presentations from forward thinking directors, helped demonstrate the various benefits of sustainable business planning."

Our next Discovery Room event will be taking place on the 23 March, continuing on the sustainability theme with an emphasis on funding. More details about this event will be released shortly.

To find out more about the UEEZ project or to book for our next Discovery Room, please visit our website: https://setsquared.exeter.ac.uk/ueez-project1