The Institute of Directors (IoD) in Lancashire hosted the first in a series of ‘Growing Lancashire’ events last night, aimed at helping to spread Lancashire’s inspiring growth story whilst facilitating peer-to-peer networking opportunities.
Outgoing IoD Lancashire Chairman, Lee Petts, said that it’s great to see Lancashire finally develop a unified narrative and value proposition: “Lancashire is a great place to do business, and has lots to offer, but it’s undersold itself in the past.
“It’s really inspiring to see the work that’s going on to remedy that and promote the county as place where businesses can grow and thrive.”
Ruth Conor, Chief Executive of Marketing Lancashire, addressed the meeting and began by showing delegates ‘The Lancashire Story,’ a short promotional film that showcases everything that’s great about the Lancashire economy and makes it such an attractive place to live and do business.
She said: “We have so much to shout about in Lancashire and we have started to market ourselves more confidently and ambitiously than ever before.
“By all of us in the business community sharing the Lancashire story of our key strengths around creating and making, leisure and pleasure, food and drink and connectivity, then it really does start to create a momentum to attract more inward investment, interest and enquiries – ultimately more business being done here in Lancashire. The county is an economic dynamic region in its own right – it is influential, international, ingenious and innovative, and by collectively promoting this we can all help drive growth and prosperity for Lancashire.”
Andrew Leeming, Programme Manager at Lancashire County Council, then told delegates about the work of Boost Lancashire and the help available to businesses with an appetite for growth. Speaking afterwards, he said: “Boost has already helped thousands of Lancashire businesses to grow and we’ve got a wealth of business support programmes available for the county’s ambitious firms.
“A big part of the work we do is providing opportunities for Lancashire businesses to celebrate and share their success as part of a willing coalition of partners helping Boost reach businesses who haven’t used business support before.
“I’d urge all ambitious Lancashire businesses to get in touch with Boost to see how we can work together.”
The event was attended by over 50 members and non-members of the IoD and hosted at Baffito’s on Preston’s waterfront where proprietor Phil Thomas explained how he came to re-establish his successful Warrington-based in Lancashire after his Cheshire premises were compulsorily purchased to make way for a multiplex cinema development.
