As the 2025 Season Draws to a Close, It’s Time to Honour the Brave Ones
As the final stretch of the 2025 season comes into view, Team BEC have been reflecting on what this year has meant for our two Centres.
Every year has its own personality, but this one carried a particular kind of energy, an energy shaped by bravery, experimentation, and a willingness to lean into uncertainty.
Zoe Galea, Centre Manager says… “When I look across our community of seventy-five businesses, I see a richness that goes far beyond what’s written on registration documents…it is the humans that make our centres amazing”.
At Broxbourne Enterprise Centres there are founders building innovative products that could easily sit inside a national accelerator. There are service-based entrepreneurs rethinking how their industries operate.
And then there are the people whose shift in mindset and how they see their work has been the real innovation: the ones who arrived unsure of what the year would hold and ended up growing into pioneers of their own making.
Innovation Director Julie Creffield says,
“Seeing CHEXS one of our voluntary sector organisation build a partnership with global tech giant Google, to further their aims has been one of the most rewarding outcomes from this year”
Staying true to your vision as a charity, company or sole trader isn’t always easy in todays climate, but our companies continue to think BIG and make BOLD moves.
“Seeing growth with companies like T6 employing new staff, expanding at Hoddesdon, and creating a base in Bolton via one of our other centres has been awe inspiring to watch”
We have had companies raise funds, win grants and awards, launch new products, win high profile, sector shifting court battles, secure government tenders, submit patents…there seriously hasn’t been a quite moment.
All of this has unfolded against the backdrop of emerging technology evolving at lightning speed and political conditions that often felt unpredictable. Yet the thing that stands out most is how our founders chose to respond. Instead of retreating or waiting for things to “settle,” they acted. They tested ideas, changed direction when needed, asked better questions and leaned into collaboration in ways that felt genuinely refreshing.
Our team has expanded too bring a new energy, Deputy Centre Manager Sam Lemay says,
“One of my highlights in my first 3 months has to be securing my first sale at Hoddesdon with Ovia Capital!
It was such a satisfying and amazing experience to take them through the entire journey- from the initial tour of the building to welcoming them on their very first day. Seeing their business settle in and start to flourish has been truly rewarding”.
We’ve watched unexpected partnerships take shape, creative businesses teaming up with construction firms, tech founders supporting wellbeing practitioners, consultants pooling their knowledge to solve shared challenges. It’s been collaboration fuelled not by pressure, but by generosity and curiosity.
Our partners have played a huge role too. Google’s presence on the local landscape continues to influence ambition and opportunity in ways that ripple through the centres. Their involvement has sparked conversations about skills, infrastructure and what a future-ready Broxbourne might look like, helping local businesses think bigger and bolder than before.
Look out for our new Emerging Tec Incubator which we will be sharing more info about next year.
And then there’s our new café, Theo’s Bites & Co at Theobalds. On the surface, it’s a place to grab a drink and something to eat. In reality, it’s become one of the most significant catalysts for connection this year…with the most delicious of freshly prepared Mediterranean food.
We’ve seen business models sketched on napkins, proposals pulled together over quick lunches and brand-new relationships formed at tables that have become unofficial co-working hubs.
Our buildings are carefully designed and managed to give our customers space to focus on their businesses.
Abigail Assistant Centre Manager at Theobalds,
One standout moment for 2025 was supporting our building through our ISO 9001 and 14001 audit, a significant achievement for the organisation. As a newcomer to the company, diving into the audit process gave me a deep understanding of our procedures, systems, and the high standards we work to every day. It was a challenging but rewarding milestone that truly helped me find my footing here.
And Finally…
Perhaps the most transformative shift of 2025, has been the introduction of The Wire, our closed online community that connects all seventy-five companies here to each other and to the wider Oxford Innovation Space network across the country. For the first time, founders have access to a living ecosystem that travels with them, not just a physical workspace.
Inside The Wire, people are sharing challenges, supporting one another, trading expertise, and tapping into hundreds of peers beyond Broxbourne’s borders. It has opened the door to more learning, more bespoke advice, more collaboration and a deeper sense of being part of something bigger. It has made innovation more accessible, regardless of sector.
Izel Polat, Customer Experience Assistant at Theobalds said,
“My standout moment this year was organising The Wire Launch party in the Cafe in June. It was a sunny summer get-together where TEC customers came along, enjoyed an ice-cold slush, and caught up with familiar faces. Seeing everyone connect and the space come alive made it truly special.”
We’re ending this year stronger than we started. More united. More ambitious. More connected. The challenges didn’t disappear, but our community grew more resilient, more collaborative and more future-focused in spite of them.
This has been a year shaped by brave ones, the people who turned up, asked questions, tried things, shared ideas and kept going even when the world felt loud and challenging.
Team BEC would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has shaped this year at the Broxbourne Enterprise Centres.
Our incredible staff who keep the wheels turning with so much care. Our customers who show up with ideas, grit and generosity every single day. And our partners, from local organisations to national innovators like Google, who continue to open doors and expand what’s possible for this community.
If reading this has sparked something in you and you’d like to explore basing yourself here in 2026, now is the perfect moment.
Book a tour, come and see the spaces, meet the team and get a feel for what could be your new home for growth. Act quickly and we may be able to get you through the doors as early as the 5th of January 2026.
