Business forum tackles social governance
There is just a week to go until the second edition of the Chamber 's Good Business Forum, where environmental and social governance (ESG) will be on the agenda.
The Good Business Forum launched in January as a quarterly forum for Chamber members to explore topics that impact on business ' wider role in society.
These include social value, profit with purpose, environmental and social governance and CSR.
The forum for GBCC members explores how businesses are tackling this subject and why, as well as the tangible business benefits to doing so.
The event 13 April (3pm to 5pm) takes place at the Birmingham office of law firm Pinsent Masons.
Speakers at the event include Michael Watson, partner and head of climate and sustainability advisory at Pinsent Masons.
Michael leads the climate and sustainability advisory practice at Pinsent Masons which enhances and develops services for clients, manages the firm wide development of skills and expertise and advises the board in relation to ESG matters.
He is an energy and infrastructure finance specialist, having led and developed the global finance and projects practice prior to taking on this role.
Joining Michael will be Natalie Webster (pictured), senior social sustainability manager for Kier Construction.
Her role involves developing the strategy for delivering maximum social value on Kier 's construction contracts and leading the team of local CSR managers.
In her previous role at Kier, Natalie was responsible for delivering social value in the East and West Midlands.
Also on the panel is Birmingham City Council 's Rokneddin Shariat, who will be sharing the council 's approach to social value in procurement.
Shariat is the policy and governance manager at Birmingham City Council and specialises in social value.
He has been leading the social value development at the council since 2012, with a three-year gap as an independent consultant.
Previously, Shariat managed the publicly funded business support programmes at the Chamber of Commerce in Birmingham for 10 years.
He is a non exec director at Ashley Community Housing which provides support to refugees and migrants.
Henrietta Brealey, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said: “I 'm really looking forward to welcoming our members to the second Good Business Forum meet up.
“Environmental and Social Governance is ever growing in importance to businesses, particularly in light of ongoing global events.
“In this session we will be exploring the general direction of travel on ESG and advice for businesses on developing their strategies, as well as doing a deep dive into social value - how businesses can gain a competitive edge on bidding for public sector contracts by focusing on it alongside what measuring social value looks like in practice for our business case study.
“100 per cent of delegates at the January session fed back that they were likely to recommend the Good Business Forum to their colleagues and networks and that they made new contacts through the event.
“The Good Business Forum is all about insight and network building and I 've been delighted to see contacts made between our members at the last session already start to develop into valuable connections. ”
Book a place at the Good Business Forum event.