Welcome from Monica Fogarty
Hello! and a warm welcome to the November edition of Warwickshire Means Business.
This month we are delighted to announce that the Warwickshire Skills Show will take place on March 3rd, 2026, at the Coventry Building Society Arena. The show, organised by Warwickshire Skills Hub, promises to be a fantastic event, enabling vital connections between businesses and career-seekers. Many businesses from across the sectors will be represented and more are welcome to join the list of exhibitors. Please do get in touch if you would like your business to be part of this great opportunity to share knowledge, information and ideas.
In this edition of WMB we also welcome Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce to the ever-increasing membership of the Fair Chance Employment Programme. The Chamber is one of our key partners in supporting businesses and the local economy and it is great they have pledged as a Fair Chance Employer. That almost 100 businesses have done so is a measure of our county's commitment to an inclusive approach to recruitment.
The High Street Roadshow, taking business support out and about around the county, is underway. We report on the success of the first two and look forward to more in the pipeline for after Christmas. We also look ahead to Small Business Saturday on December 6th, a great opportunity for us all to celebrate and support the wonderful small businesses around our county.
Underpinning much of the available local business support, and the strategy behind it, is the powerful and longstanding bond between the county of Warwickshire and the city of Coventry. That bond was front and centre at the recent Annual Business and Economic Conference, delivered by Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce. It is integral to the economic stability and success of Warwickshire and it is one we will explore further in next month's WMB.
Plenty of positivity is coming out of Coventry City Football Club at the moment, of course. How wonderful it would be for the local economy if the Sky Blues make it into the Premier League with the commensurate lift in profile and visitor numbers that would bring. On the subject of football, Aston Villa are also flying high at the moment and in this edition of WMB, our Executive Director for Resources, Rob Powell, argues that business leaders could learn a lot from the strategic and people skills of Villa managers past and present.
Warwickshire County Council and our partners across the county and region are fully committed to supporting businesses, education-providers and jobseekers in every way we can. There are many links within all our articles in WMB but please do visit https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/businesssupport, Warwickshire Skills Hub, and https://cwgrowthhub.co.uk/ for all the information you need.
MONICA