Held in collaboration with Enterprise Nation and The Guardian Small Business Network, the Amazon Academy will offer ideas and support to help SMEs boost growth by increasing online sales and exporting to customers around the world

SMEs will hear from a selection of speakers including London’s Deputy Mayor for Business, and be able to attend a range of practical workshops

Registration now open to small businesses ranging from retailers, manufacturers, food merchants, restaurant owners, web developers, authors and others

London – 13 October 2016 – Amazon today announced that it will host its first ever Academy to enable SME growth through ecommerce and exports. The free event is taking in the UK on Wednesday 23rd November at Amazon’s Fashion Photography Studio in Hoxton, and will be run in partnership with small business group Enterprise Nation and The Guardian Small Business Network. The Amazon Academy will offer practical support to help SMEs succeed in the digital economy.

Small businesses from across the UK are invited to attend the free event to learn how they can use the power of digital to grow their business, boost export sales and improve the customer experience. From retailers, tech start-ups, and web developers; through to food merchants, restaurant owners, and authors, attendees of the Amazon Academy will be able to hear from a range of speakers who will provide ‘how to’ advice and insights on:

• Getting their business online to boost revenue, geographic reach and productivity
• Reaching new customers by exporting across the globe
• Scaling their digital infrastructure to successfully grow their business
• Publishing their own book to a potential audience of millions of customers around the world

“The internet and technology have the power to level the playing field between big and small businesses, empowering the 5.4 million UK SMEs who provide 60 per cent of UK private sector employment,” said Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon. “We are committed to supporting these businesses in going digital to help them create jobs, export more of their goods and services and improve the customer experience.”

Attendees will hear from Deputy Mayor for London, Rajesh Agrawal, about how the Mayor of London’s office is working to ensure more SMEs can embrace e-commerce and export opportunities. Agrawal commented: “Having run my own international business, I have seen first-hand the power of the digital economy and what it can do for growth and job creation. The Mayor and I are working hard to ensure that small businesses are supported to grow and scale-up through initiatives like The Mayor’s International Business Programme. I am therefore delighted to be supporting Amazon, Enterprise Nation and The Guardian in helping SMEs build the skills needed to succeed on the global stage.”

“British businesses are without doubt missing out if they don’t develop their digital expertise, but many firms find it hard to get access to realistic early stage support,” added Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation. “Today more and more people are setting up at home while holding down a day job and quite a lot of it can be guess work with success being hit and miss. The Amazon Digital Business Academy can help address this by showing how and in what way the digital economy can play a role in every business endeavour.”

The Amazon Academy follows the launch of theSME Growth Tracker– a new independent report by Capital Economics, commissioned by Amazon and Enterprise Nation to assess the current state of British SMEs. The report found that just 45 per cent of British SMEs use e-commerce for their business and 46 per cent of SMEs currently export.  At the same time, the SME Growth Tracker found that SMEs who do export and use e-commerce are more upbeat about their business prospects and project higher revenue growth in the year ahead than those who do not.

Registration has now opened for the first Amazon Academy which is to be held on Wednesday 23rd November from 9:30am to 4.30 pm at the company’s Fashion Photography Studio in Hoxton, East London. Admission to the event is free, and registration is required.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact:
Amazon UK Press Office
E: pressoffice@amazon.co.uk
T: 020 3680 0888

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, , Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.

About Enterprise Nation
Enterprise Nation is a growing small business network and business support provider with more than 70,000 members. Its aim is to help people turn their good ideas into great businesses – through expert advice, events, acceleration and networking. Enterprise Nation was founded in 2005 by Emma Jones MBE, also co-founder of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain. She is author of best-selling business books including Spare Room Startup, Working 5 to 9, Go Global, Start a Business for £99 and the StartUp Kit, Going for Growth. In 2016 she was announced as the Government’s Trade Ambassador and SME Crown Representative.