Business News

It has been announced that JN Bank UK deputy CEO, Paulette Simpson, has been ranked among Britain’s top 10 most influential people of African or Caribbean heritage. An executive director of the UK’s only Black national newspaper, the Voice, which is also owned by The Jamaica National Group, was ranked at number eight on the Powerlist 2023.

Organisations across the region have officially been recognised by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) for their work in actively promoting the health and wellbeing of their staff.

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and Dr Julie Nugent, the WMCA’s executive director for economic delivery, skills and communities, joined a virtual event this week in which 53 employers received accreditation for their work under the Thrive at Work scheme.

Tackling inflation, protecting public services and investing in infrastructure were at the heart of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s visit to Birmingham today, where he met NHS staff working on the frontline and reiterated his commitment to a major new rail line.

The Chancellor visited Solihull Hospital, run by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, where he saw the Minor Injuries Unit which is being remodelled and spoke to patients and students before leading a roundtable with doctors and nurses.

International multi-asset broker, Vantage (also known as Vantage Markets), has announced its participation and sponsorship of the Finance Magnates London Summit for the second year running, with a renewed push for ESG. This year, Vantage was accompanied by their partner NEOM McLaren Extreme E to exhibit the fully electric SUV vehicle - named ODYSSEY 21 - at Old Billingsgate in London, next to the outdoor gazebo.

Faced with the uncertainty of the coming months, it is more important than ever for businesses in Greater Birmingham to work together to overcome tough hurdles and seize opportunities, the annual meeting of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) was told today. 

Greg Lowson, in his first year as GBCC chairman following the retirement of David Waller, was speaking to members at the Edgbaston cricket stadium.

An innovative scheme set up by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to fund apprenticeship training for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is within touching distance of its £40m target.

The region’s Apprenticeship Levy Transfer Scheme now stands at £39.6m and the WMCA has launched a fresh push to get even more SMEs to take advantage of it through its levy donor delivery partners.

Two thirds of professionals under the age of 24yrs claim to have a ‘side hustle’ – with 74% stating it is ‘too risky’ to focus on just having one job as they may have done pre-pandemic.
In a poll - of 6,000 white-collar professionals - undertaken by recruitment consultancy Robert Walters; 54% of young professionals expressed a desire for a ‘portfolio career’ – the concept of monetising your skills in several ways and having multiple income sources, rather than a single job at one company.

Retail trade union Usdaw hosted a summit of retail employers and their representative bodies, looking at the continuing problem of violence, threats and abuse against shopworkers, along with wider issues related to retail crime.

The summit, in London, took place at the beginning of Usdaw’s annual Respect for Shopworkers Week and the union released new statistics to demonstrate the scale of a growing problem.

MOL, one of the leading providers of professional training in the UK, has now been appointed as an Organisational Delivery Partner to the Chartered Institute of Professional Development (CIPD). In addition to allowing MOL to continue delivering CIPD qualifications, the gold standard for HR and L&D professionals, it gives them the opportunity to support a greater number and range of employers.

The boards of medium-sized businesses are being warned to step up and not be complacent about the risks posed by cybercrime. The alarm call, from security specialists Digital Craftsmen, comes as cyber criminals are widening their focus to include not just large, listed enterprises but medium-sized firms too. In fact, every business is now at risk from a cyber-attack - cyber criminals are not selective about who they target. 

The Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), Andy Street, has been confirmed as the latest big-name speaker to join the DIB (Downtown in Business) national Planning, Property & Regeneration conference that will take place in Birmingham on Thursday 9th February next year.

The Midlands Internationalisation Fund is open for applications from SME businesses that have high international growth potential and a product or service suitable for export.

Match-funded grants of between £1,000 and £9,000 are available for future activity, subject to eligibility and availability. For eligibility criteria please visit https://www.great.gov.uk/campaigns/internationalisation-fund-for-english-businesses/.

A new charity which enables people with mobility issues to explore the countryside is building on its success with plans to take the scheme nationwide.

Access the Dales aims to secure funding which would allow it to extend the services it offers in the Yorkshire Dales to other parts of the UK. The charity currently runs four hubs from which people can borrow all-terrain mobility vehicles free-of-charge to enjoy the fells and dales of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Jutexpo have reached the 100 million bottle mark having been recycled and converted into reusable shopping bags. 

With nearly 1 million plastic bottles being sold every minute across the globe, and the average time for them to biodegrade being 450 years, Jutexpo have taken action, by quite literally taking the bottles from our oceans and converting them into the shopping bags we all use on a daily basis. 

GXO Logistics, Inc. the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider, will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the expansion of its partnership with innovative furniture designer and manufacturer Floyd that began in 2019. The new warehouse space, situated in a GXO Direct facility, a shared space solution in Horn Lake, Mississippi, is 120,000 square feet and will be used for picking and packing large furniture items as well as supporting kitting and returns management.

Using the government’s Value Toolkit and a review of the economic outlook of the fast-changing construction industry are two of the topics to be discussed by experts at the upcoming CE Midlands Construction Summit.

The annual summit, organised by industry collaboration organisation Constructing Excellence Midlands, will take place on 9 November at The Arup Campus at Blythe Park in Solihull.