Express & Star

Big Staffordshire turnout for Lets Do Business

More than 800 businesses and business people attended Staffordshire’s largest business exhibition, Let’s Do Business.

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More than 800 businesses and business people attended Staffordshire’s largest business exhibition, Let’s Do Business.

The annual event, which took place at Uttoxeter Racecourse, welcomed businesses from across Staffordshire where they had the opportunity to network, form mutually beneficially partnerships and raise their business profile.

A range of businesses attended and exhibited at the event, including legal professionals, construction services, education organisations, creative industries and local charities. The Greater Birmingham & Solihull and Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire Growth Hubs exhibited and sponsored the business expo, alongside Uttoxeter Racecourse, Higher Level Skills Match, Signal 1 and WR Davies Stafford.

Chris Plant, director at the Chambers of Commerce, said: “Let’s Do Business is the highlight of the business calendar for Staffordshire, and this year’s exhibition did not disappoint.

“It is always fantastic to see businesses networking, forming new partnerships and relationships and helping each other to develop and grow. Businesses that come to these sorts of exhibitions are always sure to come away with contacts and new, potentially, fruitful prospects.

“I’m pleased to say that the event did indeed prove fruitful for a number of businesses this year, and I am looking forward to how connections made here today, will materialise for businesses in Staffordshire.”

Delegates also heard from guest speaker and BBC’s The Apprentice finalist, Michaela Wain - founder of construction magazine Design & Build UK. The magazine is a leading online construction magazine and boasts a readership of approximately 150,000.

Michaela said: “The one piece of advice I would give to anyone in business is, remember the reasons you started your company in the first place and the confidence you had.

“At some point you believed in yourself so much that you invested time and money and left careers to start this.

“That confidence should never waver. Remain realistic and positive work harder than you ever have and you can make a success of anything.”

Karen McElroy, director of FCM spoke said about the event: “The beauty of the expo was that it offered FCM the perfect networking platform to meet hundreds of businesses from across the region in just one day. The team has really enjoyed talking to people from all different businesses, across a wide range of sectors.

“We love communicating and it was amazing how many stories we uncovered from our chats with people. There was a genuine interest in how people could use PR and Communications to grow and build the profile of their businesses.

“We also took advantage of the wealth of professional advice on offer at other stands and speaker sessions, picking up lots of top tips and inspiration for the future. We’re looking forward to next year already.”

Martyn Jupp, CEO of Burntwood company Veriserv, said: “What a fantastic day the expo was, we made many contacts and was extremely impressed by the level of company representation both as delegates and exhibitors.”