Rugby breakfast hits the spot
Businesses in Rugby have been told it is good to talk if they want to push forward expansion plans.
MP Mark Pawsey and Rugby Borough Council leader Michael Stokes joined business leaders at a major event which attracted more than 100 companies to the Benn Hall in Rugby.
The event, organised by the Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub (CWGH), Invest in Warwickshire and Rugby Borough Council, was designed to highlight the support available to businesses in the area.
The CWGH was formed by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, and aims to help businesses grow by providing specialist advice.
Rich Warren, account manager at Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub, said there was one clear message which emerged from the event.
“There is real feeling Rugby has a host of successful business which could, if things go well, expand significantly. But quite often companies have their heads down, working hard and are unaware of the help and support that is out there to grow their business.
“The message that came loud and clear from this event was that there is a mass of practical help and support that can make the drive for expansion that much easier. Whether it is planning, getting the right skills into their businesses or finance, help is at hand and companies need to use it to their advantage.
“The whole point of the Growth Hub is to signpost businesses to the right support and to take that burden away from them so they can concentrate on what they do best.
“But it was clear from the session that Mark Pawsey, who ran a business before becoming an MP, and Councillor Stokes, who works in the area, fully realise the importance of making that expansion as easy as possible for local firms and they have expressed their full support for what we and others are doing.”
The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce – which is mounting a year-long Go For Growth Campaign - and the Federation of Small Businesses were at the event along with other business support agencies.
Warren added: “We invited a group of agencies – such as UKTI – whose sole aim is to help businesses thrive and succeed and it was really good to them attract so many enquiries.
“Businesses know that not only do they have that level of support, but Mark Pawsey is happy to assist at a higher level of needed.”
Julie White, boss of concrete sawing and diamond drilling firm D-Drill, was joined on the panel by Clive Hickman, Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Ansty who was the keynote speaker.
Left to right: Ian Flynn (Warwickshire County Council), Craig Humphrey (Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub), Clive Hickman (Manufacturing Technology Centre), Rich Warren (Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub), Julie White (D-Drill), Cllr Michael Stokes (Rugby Borough Council), Mark Pawsey (MP), Paul Miles Rogers (FSB).
