Business event aims to boost Shropshire’s creative and digital sector
Shropshire’s creative and digital businesses are being invited to a special event on Thursday 12 June 2014 that aims to strengthen this sector in the county – by encouraging businesses to work more closely together, and by teaching them the skills needed to successfully run a creative or digital business.
Open to businesses in the Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council areas, the ‘Creating Success’ event is being held at Shirehall in Shrewsbury, from 12 noon to 5pm and is free to attend.
Organised by Shropshire Council and Telford & Wrekin Council, and supported by Shropshire Business Board, the UK IT Association (UKITA) and Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, it will be made up of a series of short talks from expert guest speakers, followed by round-table discussions about some of the key issues facing business in this sector. Refreshments will be provided.
The event is particularly aimed at new and existing web design companies, web and software developers, graphic designers, web and print marketing companies, and film businesses, as well as graduates/undergraduates interested in starting a business in these areas.
Introduced by Shaun Carvill, MD of Clickingmad Ltd and Shropshire Business Board’s creative sector champion, there will be talks about business planning, accounting and legal issues, together with keynote speakers Aaron McGrath, European SMB Advertising Lead, Microsoft Bing, and Paul Noon OBE, Regional Director for UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) West Midlands.
Martin Wright, Editor of the Shropshire Star, will talk about the Star’s online and digital operations.
Shaun Carvill said:
“The creative and digital sector has been identified as one of the priority sectors in the Shropshire economic growth strategy 2012-2026.
“We want as many people as possible to come along to this event, to talk to us, to talk to each other, to listen to our speakers, and to tell us what else they think could be done to boost this sector.
“We will be encouraging businesses to work together for the greater good, helping to attract business into Shropshire from outside, which will strengthen the sector and benefit everyone who works in it.
“And we’ll be advising people about the skills needed to be better business people, to help ensure the long-term success of their company.”
Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for business growth, said:
“We want to do whatever we can to boost and strengthen the creative and digital sector across the county and one of the best ways to do this is to encourage the county’s businesses to work more closely together, and to learn the skills needed to help ensure the success of their business. This is the first time an event like this this has been staged in Shropshire, for Shropshire’s creative businesses and I urge all businesses in this sector to come along to benefit from the advice on offer, and from talking to their fellow businesspeople.”
Councillor Bill McClements, Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet member for funding and enterprise, said:
“We are pleased to be supporting this event, bringing together businesses from the creative and digital industries to share knowledge and access support.
“Telford in particular has a high level of its work force that specialise in the technological industries and we are keen to see this grow even further by supporting the creative and digital sector.
“Growing our own talent is vital to the development of our business community and will be strongly encouraged by Telford & Wrekin Council.”
For more information and to reserve a place at the ‘Creating Success’ event, go to http://creatingsuccess2014.eventbrite.co.uk.
