Former Dragons' Den investor Piers Linney is hosting a business clinic for Staffordshire SMEs.
Stoke-on-Trent-born Piers is travelling around the UK as part of a 10-day tour to engage with small business owners and entrepreneurs – and he will arrive in the city on Friday, November 5.
The event, which is taking place at Commerce House on Festival Park, will give companies with fewer than 10 employees the chance to talk to Piers to discuss their business and any challenges they are currently facing.
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Piers is also offering a grant of £10,000 to a small business who can demonstrate their innovation and use of technology which has helped it to survive and thrive through the pandemic and beyond.
A spokesman for the event said: "Piers is at the heart of the small business community in Britain and has been a campaigning voice for small businesses that withstood the worst of the lockdown.
"He is a passionate advocate for the millions of small business owners nationwide that are the backbone of the economy but routinely overlooked."
Piers has been championing entrepreneurship and small business growth for more than 15 years.
During an interview with BusinessLive last year, Piers told how he started his first business at the age of just 13 delivering Sunday papers.
He said: "I set up my own business on Sundays doing Sunday papers and never looked back from there really.
"I've always been in business one way or another – and I'm a big champion of small businesses and how they should be embracing technology to remain competitive.
"Some people start businesses because they've always wanted to and they're passionate about it but some people start businesses because they have to, as a way of generating income if there job is not there anymore."
