18 February 2015
Recognising the professional and financial services community’s unique position as advisors to the region’s businesses, Coventry & Warwickshire First is launching a new initiative in 2015: Driving Economic Growth in Coventry & Warwickshire.
The advisory community has an extremely influential role to play helping businesses identify and exploit opportunities for growth and navigate commercial and regulatory challenges. As a result the sub-region’s professional and financial services firms are a true driver of economic growth in the sub-region.
“The strength of the professional and financial services sector is an indicator as well as facilitator of the success of local businesses,” explained Martin Gibbs, Senior Partner at Dafferns LLP and Chair of Coventry & Warwickshire First. “The purpose of this initiative is to define and evidence the issues our members face and use the insights to advocate on their behalf. For example, anecdotally we know that access to skills is a recurring issue. With evidence we can work with local colleges to make sure their students emerge with the skills our members are looking for.
“Creating such an environment to help our members grow will increase the expertise local businesses can drawn upon and in turn drive economic growth in Coventry & Warwickshire.”
Driving Economic Growth in Coventry & Warwickshire combines qualitative and quantitative research. Members will first be surveyed, quantitative data on their size, number of employees, levels of optimism and barriers to growth being gathered. A series of themed invitation-only dinners will provide richer, qualitative data. In the autumn 2015 a report will be published, providing a platform for advocating on behalf of the membership.