The Good Business Festival (TGBF) showcased global brands and local businesses to help create a change for the future on how we can all do business better and more responsibly. Through provoking debates and conversations, The Good Business Festival invited some of the sharpest minds on the planet including Social Chain’s Co-Founder and the youngest ever Dragon on Dragon’s Den, Steven Bartlett.

TGBF set out to address the relationship between business and society - from macro issues such as the climate crisis to helping businesses of all sizes to future-proof themselves.

Two weeks on, the Gather team and partners reflect on what resonated with them from the festival…

We learned, discussed and debated to drive change

Across the 3 days, Firestarters x TGBF ran partnership events that brought local and global partners together to ensure the impact of the festival continues beyond the main event; sessions included Powering Community, Green Revolution and Cultural Inclusion.

Host and Project Lead for Firestarters, Aaron Fontenot, has spent the last couple of years bringing the region's leaders together to take action in becoming more purpose-driven he said,

“This has involved a lot of starting challenging conversations and exploring ways to spark change by bridging gaps between stakeholders. The Good Business Festival is great because it positions the region firmly as national leaders in this space which gives us the confidence to continue growing, making change, and expanding on our activities" - Aaron Fontenot, Matchstick Creative / Firestarters

Ben Dalton, Programme Manager at Agent Academy said

“During the Firestarters Cultural Inclusion session, the panel spoke about collaboration, self-care and the importance of bringing more underrepresented voices into the industry. We are not short of talent in the city, let’s utilise them and as Alex Furguson from Homotopia said during the session “Great art and culture bring people together."

We networked and became stronger

TGBF was all about a community that already exists in Liverpool. Businesses across the region gained access to practical support and training from experts through the Good Small Business Programme. Whilst Good Liverpool brought the GOOD Market, a curated market of Liverpool’s finest independent businesses to festival-goers.

Laureece Nuttall from Gather shared

“TGBF was a great way to connect with the local community with such a positive impact on society. It sets the tone of conversation on what networking should be about - making a good impact on society and business.”

Local businesses also helped sustainably decorate the festival. Make CIC produced the ticket booths, planters and seating in partnership with Transition Liverpool on its sPark It project.

The future is Liverpool…

As we close on a special event that originally was meant to take place back in 2020. It has been a brilliant contribution and opportunity to the local community and has opened our eyes to many topical subjects but it doesn't end there...

We caught up with TGBF Project Director Aimee Walsh who explained that,

"The Good Business Festival has been on quite a journey since we first announced in 2020 – transforming through the pandemic from a one-off gathering into a programme of virtual and in-person events that has lasted more than two years. We were delighted to finally bring everyone together last month in Liverpool for some powerful debates, creative ideas and practical advice sessions. Our aim is and always will be to inspire businesses of every shape, size and sector to look at how society is changing, what that means for them and how they can address evolving consumer and employee needs going forward to future-proof themselves by doing the right thing.

Over the coming months, we will take the conversation to the next generation with the TGBF Youth Summit as part of the Knowsley Borough of Culture programme in May."

We look forward to seeing what else TGBF has to offer.