Kim's on a mission to make growth inclusive
"My goal is to meet every individual from every team across Economy & Skills. It’s about being humble enough to sit there and not speak but just listen to people tell me about their job and what we do well and what I should be prioritising."
Kim Fraser-Bell admits that she is very “mission-driven” - and in her new role at Warwickshire County Council her mission is broad and clear: To help keep the county’s economy strong by giving businesses and employers every possible element of support.
As WCC’s Commissioning Manager, Economy and Skills, Kim oversees the teams which expedite the incredibly diverse range of business support delivered across the region by the County Council and its partners.
It is a role to which she brings great energy, much relevant experience and a passion for leadership. It also dovetails perfectly with her fascination with the economy – how it works and how it should best work for the communities that power it.
"Everything starts and stops with the economy,” Kim said. “People sometimes separate business and communities and health but actually everything flows from the economy. People's health, education, all the big things, are linked to economic opportunity so for me this is an absolutely vital role and I feel very fortunate to be in it and hopefully able to affect a lot of the fantastic work that the Economy & Skills team does.
“I am very mission-driven and feel incredibly passionate about the Levelling Up agenda and trying to make growth inclusive and spreading opportunities to areas that have historically not had them. The adaption to Climate Change and Net Zero is also something I feel very strongly about. How can we help businesses adapt and look at how they can change in a cost-effective way and identify where to create new businesses?
“I am also very passionate about the skills agenda. How can we identify which skills are most needed and valued by employers going forward and how can we help young people acquire those skills? We know productivity is heavily linked to a well skilled population and if we are to ensure growth, we need to make sure we have people with good quality skills to fit business needs now and for the future.
“Investing in skills also supports people in accessing better economic opportunities. Poverty and deprivation are usually generational. If you enable people to build aspirations and skills and encourage business to see the bigger picture, whether that may be relocating or developing staff, everything is lifted - and that will benefit not just this generation but the next. That's how we can help people to help themselves.
"I think the partnership element of business support is crucial. I really want to invest my time in understanding our partners and championing them where needed. I'll be going out to meet all of them in person – our district and borough councils, the Growth Hub, the Chamber, the FSB.” We live in uncertain times with a wide range of complex problems, collaboration is key to finding and delivering solutions.”
Lincolnshire-born Kim joined Warwickshire County Council last summer as Lead Commissioner Corporate Policy & Strategy. That role, working mainly on the cost of living, interested her but a move to Economy & Skills appealed for its more direct influence on people’s lives.
She arrives with extensive experience stretching back to immediate post-uni days, when she worked briefly in finance. She became a team leader at 22, before joining the graduate scheme at Apple. That brought her from East Midlands to West as she worked at Apple’s retail store in Birmingham
Next came roles in the Office of Police Conduct, Legal Ombudsman and Solicitors Regulation Authority where she headed a department of 50. During the evenings, she added a Masters in International Development at the University of Birmingham to her earlier International Relations and Global Politics degree from Nottingham. This further expanded her knowledge, ready to apply to a role which affects people’s lives.
Kim’s mission is complex and wide-ranging, so her first objective is to get right up to speed with all its many elements.
"I know I’ve got a lot of learning to do,” she said. “So my goal is to meet every individual from every team across Economy & Skills. It’s about being humble enough to sit there and not speak but just listen to people tell me about their job and what we do well and what I should be prioritising.
“There are so many brilliant people in our teams here I like to think one of my skills is not only seeing what needs action but also seeing where things are working nicely so not to interfere there – and there is so much great stuff already going on in the team.”