Welcome from WCC chief executive Monica Fogarty

Hello and welcome to the September edition of Warwickshire Means Business.

In this edition we again focus on some of the businesses that are growing, prospering and recruiting after accessing support from Warwickshire County Council and our partners. Our small businesses are the lifeblood of the local economy and every single one is to be valued and supported as they play their part in helping to strengthen our economy, power our communities and give our high streets the vibrancy and variety they need.

Please have a read about how Top of the Rock Tuition is drumming up success, Forest of Hearts is flourishing and Molly's Cotton Tails is breaking new ground after benefiting from business support.  A huge range of advice and support is available so please have a good read and see if any of it could help your business or, in the case of JumpStart, help someone you know turn their idea or passion into a business reality.  

In our Special Feature, we explore the excellent news that our world-renowned Games Sector continues to attract multi-million pound investment. We welcome Luke Pulford as our new Business Centres Manager and announce the launch of 'Project Warwickshire', a new support package to help small businesses in the hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors bounce back from the pandemic.

There is plenty of positive news around (Warwickshire's cricketers winning the County Championship, for example - well done The Bears!) but we do still have to recognise that, whilst there are some good high-level economic indicators, many challenges remain for our businesses, such as staff shortages and continuing complications with importing/exporting following the EU exit.

Panic buying of petrol this week perhaps shows that many people remain jittery following the challenges of the last two years, certainly in the short term, therefore the recovery will be fragile.

Warwickshire County Council's Economy & Skills will, of course, continue to look to support economic growth throughout all the twists and turns in the road ahead.

MONICA