City's busy business week

The city’s annual Business Week will run from Monday, September 26 to Friday, September 30 and will provide a platform to engage with businesses by showcasing the opportunities available now and in the future through multi-million-pound investment and developments.

The showpiece event of the week is the city’s annual Business Breakfast on Thursday, September 29, from 8am to 11am, in the Grand Station events and conference venue, Sun Street.

The panel for the breakfast will feature a respected line-up of speakers, with the key theme being the Levelling Up agenda and how the council, working with city partners, will utilise its Our City: Our Plan model to maximise opportunities – building on the infrastructure that has been put in place as part of the £4.4 billion of investment on site or planned across Wolverhampton.

Councillor Ian Brookfield, leader of City of Wolverhampton Council and Scott Thompson, chairman of the Wolverhampton Economic Growth Board, will be speaking and panellists include Jessica Bowles, Director of Strategy at Bruntwood; Jo Nugent, Head of West Midlands Markets, Partners and Places at Homes England; Cathy Francis, Director General – Resilience and Communities at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities; Ninder Johal, Chair of the Wolverhampton Town Deal Board; and Tim Johnson, Chief Executive at City of Wolverhampton Council.

A range of Business Week events will be hosted by the council and city partners across the week. These include Meet the Supplier where businesses can engage with procurement teams from the council, University of Wolverhampton and other public bodies on September 27, at Molineux Stadium; and a jobs fair at The Way on September 28 to support local people into work.

Business support will also be on offer at events related to business growth, finance, carbon reduction and digital technologies - many at the new IGNITE Hub at i10 in the city centre.

Businesses interested in attending the breakfast and other events taking place during Business Week can register at www.investwolverhampton.com/businessweek

Councillor Stephen Simkins, council deputy leader and cabinet member for city economy, said: “Regardless of personnel changes, levelling up is likely to remain a key policy of Government and City of Wolverhampton Council, through its own Our City: Our Plan model for levelling up, has positioned the city well to benefit from this and improve our citizens’ life chances.

“Fundamentally, it provides an opportunity to establish an effective partnership between national and local government - for us both to channel our respective resources on delivering a shared strategy to level up.

“Wolverhampton Business Week will bring this into sharp focus and will highlight the many investment opportunities, created by strong public and private sector collaboration, for businesses, developers and investors – as well as showcasing emerging sectors providing skills and jobs for local people.”

Mr Thompson, added: “As a business leader in the city I am delighted the City of Wolverhampton is again delivering this key conference programme to support business in the city. Now more than ever we need to come together to help businesses grow and gear up for continued success.”