East London Meet the Buyers

More than 100 small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) gathered at the ExCel in London for the East London Meet the Buyer event to learn about tender opportunities with London City Airport and partners. Buyers hosted in excess of 700 meetings with suppliers to discuss the work that the airport and partners will need completing in the upcoming months throughout their supply chain.

In addition to the pitching and networking, suppliers attended a range of workshops with OneSource, Newham College, Living Wage, and the University of East London covering issues such as ‘Paying a real living wage’ and ‘learning new ways to recruit’.

Supported by local companies such as Circle UK Group and Fusion Blu, this event saw prestigious buyers such as Glenman Corporation, HSS Hire, Jerram Falkus, Higgins Partnerships, One Source and Berkeley Homes provide an insight into what they are looking for from prospective suppliers. Previous years have seen the likes of Balfour Beatty, Greater London Authority and Transport for London offer more than £3.5m of new work to local SMEs, with 100% of past buyers saying they have looked to place business with suppliers met at the event.

"We met several companies that we have an interest in pursuing relationships with that we would not have met outside the event" - Sisk