Welcome from Monica Fogarty

Hello and welcome to the February edition of Warwickshire Means Business.

Working together is so often the key to success and this month we bring a brilliant example of collaboration which will benefit many people in Warwickshire far into the future.

Nine health service employees across Coventry and Warwickshire are being upskilled thanks to an apprenticeship levy donation from the BBC. Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Integrated Care Board, the BBC and training provider Multiverse have come together, facilitated by Warwickshire Skills Hub, in a great example of proactive partnership working. At the heart of the story is the benefit that a business can deliver by donating any spare apprenticeship levy funding, so please do consider whether that could be the case with your business, And if so, please get in touch!

This month’s edition of Warwickshire Means Business truly reflects the scope of skills and expertise in our business community. We report from the Growing Your Innovative Agricultural Resources event at Stoneleigh where agricultural and farming businesses looked very much to the future. At the MIRA Tech Park, meanwhile, advances in virtual engineering were outlined when Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce held its first Manufacturing, Automotive, Construction & Engineering (MACE) group event.

A big part of Warwickshire County Council’s support for the business community across the county is our network of business centres. We hear from Louise Malin who has just taken on the role of Customer Service Team Leader for Warwickshire Business Centres and is on the case for making their service the absolute best it can be. Our Warwickshire Women in Engineering series features Penny Taylor who has built an excellent career in that sector and encourages young women to consider following in her footsteps - “An engineering degree is a great foundation for lots of different careers.”

From the north of the county, we reflect upon the major milestone for BMW at Hams Hall. From the south we look forward to the Rural Enterprise Hub event coming up soon in Shipston-on-Stour. We also hear how Skills Escalator training has benefited a small business in Rugby to such an extent that the benefit is spreading around other businesses in the community. 

There are also the customary, comprehensive round-ups of Upcoming Events and local business News-in-Brief.

All our articles contain the relevant links, so please do get in touch if we can help your. For more information, please visit warwickshire.gov.uk/businesssupport and skillshub.warwickshire.gov.uk/

MONICA