Welcome from Cllr Izzi Seccombe
Hello and welcome to the November edition of Warwickshire Means Business.
There are many joys to living and working in Warwickshire and one of the greatest is the rich diversity of the county - a diversity fully reflected in its business community.
Within our boundaries lies an amazingly broad range of business skills. Every edition of Warwickshire Means Business emphasises that range - in this edition alone the spotlight falls upon craft beers, electrically-assisted pedal cycles, sales and marketing, fibre-optic cable-cutters, facilities management and camels!
We should all be very proud of a county harbouring such a breadth of skills, enterprise and innovation. Part of the reason for that scope is that we have such a spread of environments, from small and larger towns to villages and rural areas - and Warwickshire County Council is passionately committed to supporting businesses in every location.
Our rural economy continues to perform strongly but, as our chief economist Dave Ayton-Hill writes here, it has potential for significant further growth. Warwickshire's rural economy is powered by much more than the traditional food, farming and tourism. Nearly 40 per cent of our advanced engineering businesses and 36 per cent of IT and digital media companies are in rural areas.
During the last three years the county council was proud to co-pilot the Government’s Rural Growth Network initiative. In Warwickshire, the Rural Growth Network supported 738 small businesses and created or safeguarded more than 550 jobs in rural areas. Its legacy will be long-lasting as we take other projects forward and its excellence led to recognition in London this week with a commendation at the Enterprising Britain Awards at Westminster.
Of course we are every bit as committed to supporting business in our towns. That support takes many forms including our own business centres which offer a well-equipped and cost-effective base for almost 200 SMEs.
Each of those businesses helps power the local economy and many flourish to further enhance the reputation which Warwickshire enjoys, nationally and internationally, for excellence in business. These include Eskuta, based at the Bermuda Innovation Centre in Nuneaton, and it was nice to hear their managing director Ian O'Connor describe the centre "as perfect as you could get." That's what we aim for!
It is also great to hear that Warwickshire has so much to offer that companies like Vitsoe are relocating from London. Vitsoe managing director Mark Adams describes their new Leamington Spa base as "the perfect location." That is the message our Inward Investment team works tirelessly to promote.
I hope you enjoy this edition of Warwickshire Means Business. Please do get in touch with brianhalford@warwickshire.gov.uk if you have a story to feature in the next edition or think there is an issue that we should cover.
Finally, in this edition please do take a look at our detailed explanation of the complex new Apprenticeship Levy which will come into place next April. And don't forget to check out those camels!