--- title: Touker Suleyman, Piers Linney and Poundland's Founder Headline The Business Show London description: Touker Suleyman, Poundland founder Steven Smith, Piers Linney and Holland & Barrett's CFO speak at The Business Show London, free at ExCeL on 11-12 November. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-10-23T18:11:52.890Z updated: 2026-10-23T18:11:52.909Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/the-business-show-london-2026-keynote-speakers image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/the-business-show-london-2026-keynote-speaker.webp categories: Networking content_type: News region: London publication: Sovereign Magazine about: - type: Event name: The Business Show London 2026 description: The Business Show London 2026 is the UK's leading event for starting or scaling a business, expecting 25,000 entrepreneurs, SME owners and startup founders at ExCeL London on 11-12 November 2026. Entry is free, with 500 exhibitors, 200 keynote and seminar speakers, and speed networking sessions across both days. url: https://www.greatbritishbusinessshow.co.uk/?utm_source=PARTNERsovereignmagazine startDate: 2026-11-11T10:00:00.000Z endDate: 2026-11-12T16:00:00.000Z --- Dragons' Den investor Touker Suleyman opens the keynote programme at The Business Show London at 11:00 on Wednesday 11 November, with Poundland founder Steven Smith on the same stage that afternoon and former Dragon Piers Linney speaking on AI the next day. The organisers have now published the seminar agenda for the [free two-day show at ExCeL London](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/the-business-show-london-2026), with 162 sessions across three keynote theatres and nine seminar theatres. AI is in the title of 38 of them. Speakers from Microsoft, Barclays, Accenture, Canva and Confused.com are also on the programme. ## Touker Suleyman and Poundland Founder Steven Smith on Day One Suleyman's session in Keynote Theatre 1, "What Would a Dragon Do? Building a Brand That Means Business", covers building a brand from scratch and turning an idea into a company. He started in business in 1984 when he bought a small cash-and-carry, which became the clothing manufacturer Low Profile Group, a supplier to Marks & Spencer. He also owns the shirtmaker Hawes & Curtis, and joined BBC's Dragons' Den as an investor in 2015. Steven Smith follows at 14:45 in the same theatre with "If You Don't Work, You Don't Eat: The Journey of Poundland's Founder". Smith and co-founder Dave Dodd opened the first Poundland in Burton upon Trent in December 1990, selling every item for £1, and he ran the business at first from an office above an indoor market in Sedgley, near Dudley. John Munday, chief executive of Colliers UK, speaks in Keynote Theatre 1 at 12:30 on how the property consultancy reorganised its UK business to match its global standing. Luke Tobin, who grew the digital agency Digital Ethos from a £100,000 start-up to an eight-figure sale, closes the theatre at 16:15 with a session on founder-led growth. ## AI for Small Business on The Business Show Agenda Vineta Bajaj, group chief financial officer of Holland & Barrett, gives a Wednesday keynote at 13:15 titled "AI Won't Fix a Broken Business". She will set out which investments in brand and AI paid back in the businesses she has worked in, and why data, processes and clear ownership need fixing first. Bajaj spent nine years at Ocado and was chief financial officer of the online grocer Rohlik Group before joining Holland & Barrett in September 2025. Chris Knox, Microsoft's global director of regulatory strategy for financial services, talks in Keynote Theatre 1 at 14:00 on Wednesday about moving generative and agentic AI from trials into full use in regulated businesses. Alkim Mete, from the company's cloud and AI platform sales team, covers practical ways to scale a business with AI in the same theatre at 14:00 on Thursday. Linney's session, "Putting AI to Work", runs at the same time as Mete's on Thursday, in Keynote Theatre 2. He was a Dragons' Den investor from 2013 to 2015 and is executive chairman of Implement AI, a consultancy he co-founded to help small and medium-sized businesses use AI. The session covers using AI to increase revenue and improve customer service, and moving from trials to what he calls an AI-powered workforce. Elsewhere on the AI programme, Christopher Lane, Accenture's head of AI and data for the UK and Ireland, covers where smaller firms should focus and how to adopt AI safely (Wednesday, 11:45, Keynote Theatre 2). Canva's Daniela Nyarko presents figures from the company's 2026 European marketing and AI report, which found that 73% of UK marketing leaders use AI regularly and 76% of UK consumers expect a future dominated by low-quality AI content (Thursday, 11:45, Keynote Theatre 3). The AI company Maybe* runs a free masterclass four times on each day. Its chief executive, Polly Barnfield OBE, trained 25,000 businesses in AI on a UK government-funded programme, and each session ends with an AI agent built live on screen inside Slack, Microsoft Teams or Outlook. Visitors are asked to bring a real task from their own week. Masterclass places are booked separately through the show website. ## Brand and Funding Keynotes at ExCeL London Thursday's Keynote Theatre 1 programme opens at 11:00 with Confused.com chief executive Steve Dukes on how the comparison site competes with larger, established rivals. Louize Khan, a former global brand director at Unilever, follows at 11:45 on building brands that work for both customers and AI systems, and ITV Ignite's Callum Taylor speaks on brand building at 12:30. In Keynote Theatre 2, entrepreneur and adviser Mike Soutar gives leadership lessons for new chief executives at 11:00, followed at 11:45 by Natasha Davies, brand strategy and activation director at PwC UK. Barclays has two sessions on Thursday on how small and medium-sized businesses can fund expansion, acquisitions and technology spending. Sarah Collins, head of SME industries, speaks in Seminar Theatre 6 at 11:45, and David Shinkins, a managing director at Barclays Bank UK, in Keynote Theatre 2 at 12:30. On Wednesday, Paul Edwards, head of specialist businesses at NatWest Commercial Mid-Market, opens Keynote Theatre 2 at 11:00 with a session on growing a business through uncertain conditions. ## Panel Discussions and Free Tickets for The Business Show London A dedicated panel theatre runs a new panel every hour on five topics: brand building, team performance and leadership, AI, cybersecurity, and digital branding. The topics repeat on both days with different experts, and the organisers will name the panellists closer to the show. Other free masterclasses cover marketing with [Constant Contact](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/why-now-is-the-time-to-scale-erika-robinson-on-small-business-growth) and starting a property business with Premier Property Education. The show runs from 10:00 to 17:00 on Wednesday 11 November and from 10:00 to 16:00 on Thursday 12 November. Entry to the keynotes, seminars and exhibition is free with registration through [The Business Show website](https://www.greatbritishbusinessshow.co.uk/?utm_source=PARTNERsovereignmagazine). The organisers are still adding sessions to the agenda, and times may change before the show. Sovereign Magazine is a media partner of The Business Show London. ### Event: The Business Show London 2026 11 November 2026 – 12 November 2026 In-person Venue: ExCeL London, London, United Kingdom Organized by: The Business Show The Business Show London 2026 is the UK's leading event for starting or scaling a business, expecting 25,000 entrepreneurs, SME owners and startup founders at ExCeL London on 11-12 November 2026. Entry is free, with 500 exhibitors, 200 keynote and seminar speakers, and speed networking sessions across both days. [Event website](https://www.greatbritishbusinessshow.co.uk/?utm_source=PARTNERsovereignmagazine) ## FAQ **Q: When is Touker Suleyman speaking at The Business Show London?** At 11:00 on Wednesday 11 November in Keynote Theatre 1, with a session titled "What Would a Dragon Do? Building a Brand That Means Business". **Q: What brands does Touker Suleyman own?** He owns the clothing manufacturer Low Profile Group, which he grew from a cash-and-carry business bought in 1984, and the shirtmaker Hawes & Curtis. **Q: Who founded Poundland?** Steven Smith and Dave Dodd opened the first Poundland in Burton upon Trent in December 1990. Smith gives a keynote on the business at 14:45 on Wednesday 11 November. **Q: Do the masterclasses at The Business Show cost extra?** No. The masterclasses are free, but places are booked separately from the show ticket through The Business Show website.