Be the Business and American Express launch productivity partnership to empower small businesses across the UK

London, 26 July 2023 - Be the Business and American Express announce the launch of a partnership to provide support for the UK’s small business community, helping them to improve their productivity and become more resilient to disruption and change.

Through the partnership, Be the Business and American Express aims to empower small to mid-sized (SME) businesses by offering a range of tailored programmes and support designed to meet the individual needs of leaders. The partnership will also connect American Express’ SME customers to relevant experts, guidance and tools in collaboration with Be the Business designed to boost performance. Partnership activity includes:

• Mentoring provides business leaders with 1-to-1 expertise and advice, helping them to drive tangible impact through in-depth support on productivity and resilience. The Be the Business Mentoring programme matches senior executives from leading firms, including American Express, with SME leaders to help accelerate business growth and competitiveness. Over the course of 12 months, mentoring pairs build relationships, and mentors share their expertise and advice while further developing their own leadership capability.

• Advisory boards offer business leaders the opportunity to experience trusted non-executive director style support to collectively tackle business-critical issues. Experienced business people will offer guidance on finance, marketing, operations, HR or other specialist areas over the course of 12 months.

• A Workshop series will support business leaders to take practical steps to enhance the resilience of their businesses. Delegates will explore how they can use external insight and their experience to navigate uncertainty. Leaders will also explore the leadership skills needed to make decisions and embrace change. The series will inform the creation of a guide to support other entrepreneurs to improve business resilience.

The partnership will also give American Express colleagues professional and personal development opportunities by participating as Be the Business mentors and board members, further supporting the small business ecosystem through knowledge sharing and guidance.

Anthony Impey, Chief Executive of Be the Business, said: “We're delighted to announce our partnership with American Express. It demonstrates our shared commitment to help business leaders on their paths to improvement, by boosting productivity and building resilience. Working with American Express, we want to put business leaders at the heart of the economic growth agenda and tackle the UK’s productivity problem head on.”

Stacey Sterbenz, General Manager, UK Commercial at American Express, said: “Through our new partnership programme we aim to help SMEs grow and succeed during these challenging times. American Express has a long-standing commitment to backing small businesses and this collaboration opens up new opportunities for our existing SME customers along with developing fresh insights that will help empower the UK’s small business community.”

Learnings from the partnership will in turn drive further developments to Be the Business programmes to best support business leaders on their quest for improved productivity and resilience.

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For further information please contact Sophia Wedderkopp, Senior Communications Manager, Be the Business, sophia.wedderkopp@bethebusiness.com

About Be the Business

Be the Business is an independent charity that inspires greater productivity, by connecting leadership teams to the curated expertise needed to answer today’s challenges.

By combining peer-to-peer networks, the employee expertise found within pioneering corporate partners, independent business experts and our research and insights, we inspire leadership teams to create and deliver sustainable business change.

Collectively we’re transforming the UK’s productivity, raising the value of businesses

in our communities, safeguarding jobs and improving standards of living.

Be the Business – Inspiring greater productivity.

About American Express

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

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