President welcomes progress on Chamber's key focus areas
A continued focus on sustainability, equity and diversity and engagement with the future workforce will be at the heart of Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber’s activities over the next 12 months, attendees at the organisation’s AGM heard.
Addressing delegates at Drayton Manor Hotel, president Fiona Rouse said the Chamber would look to build on those three key pillars during the second year of her term.
Fiona, director of programmes at PI-Kem, will continue to be supported by vice-presidents Hannah Montgomery of Golddust Marketing and Julie Poppleton of Chase Terrace Academy.
She said: “The committee began the year with a survey asking local members their thoughts on topics they felt affected their business sustainability the most, as well as asking how they engaged with local schools and training providers.
“Topics highlighted were Strategy and Planning, Risk Management, Effective Marketing, Staff Well-being, Staff Retention, Cash Flow, Achieving Net-Zero and Hybrid Working.
“We used the information gained from this to plan our events for the year. There has been continually improving engagement through our business sustainability series, and have put on a range of events including discussion panels.
“We are continuing to work with education and training partners to increase involvement with our future workforce.
“The survey showed that a high number of businesses offered work experience but equally a number were not engaging at all with young people.
“The positive news was that all respondees would be happy engage with young people if asked. Our next stage is to work on matching companies with schools/ training providers for them to develop ongoing partnerships with them.
“We have begun our work to highlight the need for equity within the workplace. Kate Johnson from Pickerings Solicitors wrote an insightful blog on Unconscious Bias, I spoke at an International Women’s Day event around hidden disabilities in Birmingham, and we are looking to run some further speaker panels focusing on this later this year.”
Also at the AGM, Michelle Ohren, director of The Cyber Resilience Centre for the West Midlands, shared her tips and advice on how businesses can protect themselves against cyber-attacks.
She gave a fascinating insight into how law enforcement agencies across the UK fight cyber-crime.
Pictured (l to r): John Moore (Fruition Accountants), Louise Lewis (Lichfield District Council), Thomas Hobbs (Tamworth Borough Council), Fiona Rouse, Hannah Montgomery, Julie Poppleton, Dawn Candy (Number Eight Tamworth), Klaudia Haines (Tamworth Borough Council), Nicole Plowman (KEP Print), Matthew Clay (Lichfield Garrick Theatre), Sharon McCormick (The Listening Centre), Clare Lubrano (Raphael Design) and Janice Silvester-Hall (Lichfield District Council)
