Started in Bristol just 3 years ago, YENA is the young networking social enterprise that’s now sweeping the UK.
To celebrate, Founder Ash Phillips (pictured right) is hosting the enterprise’s first mini-conference at creative coworking space, Bath Road Studios this September.
“We hope to bring together business leaders, key decision makers and aspiring young entrepreneurs into the same room”
Ash tells us: “The YENA Showcase is our official launch of the many projects we’ve been working on for the last 3 years. We hope to bring together business leaders, key decision makers and aspiring young entrepreneurs into the same room, to meet the other pioneering faces in their region.
“We’ll be showcasing the roadmap for the next 12 months at YENA along with the new products, services, digital tools and partnerships we’re rolling out right now.”
Ambitious audience
Guests can expect to hear about how YENA could help them connect with other like-minded people and grow their business through its events and online platform. They’ll also hear talks from YENA’s young entrepreneurs themselves about the challenges and advantages that working with and running a young startup can bring.
“We’ll soon be releasing public tickets in the hope of attracting young, ambitious minds”
Although most of the tickets available are by exclusive invite only, the next couple of weeks will see the release of 30 public tickets. Ash tells us: “We’ll soon be releasing public tickets in the hope of attracting young, ambitious minds who might want to start their own venture or be working on one right now.
“We also hope to see more experienced curious business minds who know that they need to maintain a dynamic business strategy in order to adapt with the next generation of consumers/businesses.”
“I truly believe that YENA can provide pivotal opportunities for many people to connect and grow”
As well as inspiring talks, attendees can expect to be treated to some delicious local beer, wine and food from Strawberry Theif and Novel Wines – which by the sounds of all the hard-work put into YENA by its members, is well deserved.
In further anticipation for the showcase day itself, Ash tells us what he’s the most excited about: “I’m actually looking forward to presenting what we’ve been working on for so long.
“I truly believe that YENA can provide pivotal opportunities for many people to connect and grow so it’ll be awesome to have people find out all about it. Plus, I quite enjoy the pressure of speaking to a room of people, so that’ll be fun too.”
Keep an eye out on YENA’s Eventbrite page for more information on when public tickets are released. You can also stay up-to-date with the event by following the enterprise on Twitter: #YENABristol.
- You might like: The Young Entrepreneur Network launches in Bath this week

Shona Wright
Shona covers all things editorial at TechSPARK. She publishes news articles, interviews and features about our fantastic tech and digital ecosystem, working with startups and scaleups to spread the word about the cool things they're up to.
She also oversees TechSPARK's social media, sharing the latest updates on everything from investment news to green tech meetups and inspirational stories.