Here’s Redactive’s Deniz Arslan accepting ‘Best Membership Engagement during Covid-19’ on behalf of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) at yesterday’s 2021 Covid Response Awards. Well-deserved recognition for the FSB’s series of 10 webinars, which provided help and support for FSB members at a time when small business owners were thrown into a state of confusion, anxiety and fear for the survival of their livelihoods.
The very same week the UK was forced into its first lockdown, the FSB responded by broadcasting a webinar addressing the pandemic on Friday 20 March 2020. ‘Coronavirus: Help and support for your business’ attracted thousands of registrations within hours.
Key to the authority of the webinars was the calibre of the expert panels. Figureheads from the FSB’s own highly experienced legal, financial and policy teams were joined by top-ranking speakers such as Patrick Magee, Chief Commercial Officer of the British Business Bank, and – a particular coup – the then Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss, who took on questions about the global trade recovery.
At a time when there was information coming from all angles and lack of clarity about pressing issues such as the furlough scheme and financial support, small businesses owners needed a source of advice they could trust and rely on.
The FSB webinars provided just that.