Contacts
TELEPHONE
08455 240 240
BRadford OFFICE
Devere House, Vicar Lane, Little
Germany, Bradford BD1 5AH
www.bradfordchamber.co.uk
Leeds OFFICE
I’m losing count of the many events that we are
holding across Bradford, Leeds, York and North
Yorkshire. You’ll find that as well as the large
annual dinners (John Sergeant was good at the
Leeds Chamber Dinner), we are aiming to reach
different sectors, locations and cover a wide
range of themes. Feedback from many of you
is that you are willing to travel to other areas to
meet a wider range of businesses and to learn
about a particular subject. The latest specialist
forum is a manufacturing alliance in Leeds,
supported by Leeds City Council, which was
launched last month at Agfa’s premises.
Measures from the Budget, the EU referendum,
transport and skills continue to dominate
conversations at Chamber Leadership Group
meetings and events. HR and recruiting the
right people are issues that are often raised.
If you relate to the last two, have a look at the
top recruitment tips in this edition and if you
have responsibility for HR you might want to
join the Chamber HR Forum in May – details on
the website.
Sandy Needham
Chief Executive,
West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce
4 MEMBERSHIP
“How do you identify the skills needed in
your organisation for future growth?”
News from Chamber members
11 EVENTS
Upcoming networking events
12 LOBBYING
How your Chamber is working for your business
16 INTERNATIONAL
YORK OFFICE
18 ANNUAL DINNER
Tips on working with Letters of Credit
President says ‘devolution needs sorting’
20 HEAD TO HEAD
York & North
Yorkshire Chamber
of Commerce
Bradford
Chamber of
Commerce
Leeds
Chamber of
Commerce
York & North
Yorkshire Chamber
of Commerce
Bradford
Chamber of
Commerce
Leeds
Chamber of
Commerce
York & North
Yorkshire Chamber
of Commerce
Pure communication through networking
22 FEATURE
Skills feature including interview with Omnicom’s Stirling
Kimkeran
CONNECTING
Editorial
Press & PR
Send your news, press releases, or
any advertising and sponsorship
queries to:
West & North Yorkshire Chamber,
Devere House, Vicar Lane, Little
Germany, Bradford BD1 5AH
Editorial
SUPPORTING
‘businessplus’ is produced and
designed in-house at the West &
North Yorkshire Chamber.
T: 01274 230057
E: [email protected]
W: www.wnychamber.co.uk
Disclaimer
REPRESENTING
Information provided in this
magazine is reproduced in good
faith, and is believed to be correct
at the time of publication. West &
North Yorkshire Chamber is not
responsible for information from
third parties.
The editor reserves the right to edit
articles in accordance with the style
of the magazine and to decline any
unsuitable material submitted.
26 ENVIRONMENT
Eco Fair returns
27 SUPPORT
Case studies from our start-up team
28 WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?
How would you go about ensuring school leavers and
graduates are work ready?
29 MANUFACTURING
Launch of Leeds Manufacturing Alliance
30 SAVINGS
Use healthcare benefits to retain and recruit
31 FUNDING
An update from the Business Enterprise Fund
32 RAISING THE BAR
New charities for York & North Yorkshire Chamber
33 ENTERPRISE AND EDUCATION
Your Future Career event
34 EMPLOYMENT
People on the move
36 NEW MEMBERS
Who has just joined the Chamber?
37 MEMBER OFFERS
Member to member offers
Printed by Hart & Clough
cover photo
Simon Vine Photography
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Leeds
Chamber of
Commerce
In the spotlight: Helen Smith and Simon Wright
T: 01274 863200
E: [email protected]
2
Bradford
Chamber of
Commerce
21 MEMBERS WORKING TOGETHER
It’s been a busy first quarter of the year for many
businesses and you’ll find this issue packed with
members’ news. We’ve been reviewing your
thoughts of the magazine and if you haven’t had
a phone call but want to give your views, let us
know here http://chmbr.co/bp1
A regular feature of ‘businessplus’ is “what’s
your view” and this quarter we hear from
Graham Cooper, Richard Flanagan and
Russ Piper.
Presidents’ view
2nd Floor, Elizabeth House, 13-19
Queen Street, Leeds, LS1 2TW
www.leedschamber.co.uk
Innovation Centre, York Science
Park, Innovation Way, Heslington,
York, YO10 5DG
www.yorkchamber.co.uk
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
CONTENTS
West & North
Yorkshire Chamber
of Commerce
West & North
Yorkshire Chamber
of Commerce
Someone once said “A
winner is someone who
recognises their Godgiven talents, works their
tail off to develop them
into skills, and uses those
skills to accomplish goals.”
(Can you guess who it
was?)
In 2015 the Chamber
carried out extensive
research into this subject
and the response by
many business owners
was that whilst they may
have had a business plan
or marketing strategy
they didn’t actually have
a skills plan and that
Having a useful, adaptable furthermore unless skills
and sometimes versatile
was brought up in the
set of skills will never
interview it didn’t actually
go out of fashion, but
feature as a corporate
we often have to keep
priority.
learning new ones as we
go along. In life and in
As the Leeds economy
business, those skills will )