Member Article

Business Advisors Panel for budding entrepreneurs at Meadowhall

Meadowhall Shopping Centre is to work with a group of the region’s most talented and experienced business leaders to offer support and advice to the next generation of entrepreneurs and enterprising SME leaders.

Working with Sheffield Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the centre will invite a team of top business experts to sit on the Meadowhall Business Advisors Panel. The line-up, to be announced next week, will offer a series of business advice forums to budding business owners.

Darren Pearce, centre director at Meadowhall and chair of the Meadowhall Business Advisors Panel, commented: “Sheffield has a strong reputation for attracting and nurturing small to medium sized businesses - indeed statistics show that a significant percentage of our local economy is driven by this sector.

“Therefore, we have gathered together a panel of highly respected leaders with experience across business, finance, marketing and human resources to offer advice and guidance, completely free of charge, in the hope that the talent on our doorstep can be encouraged.

Meadowhall’s announcement follows news that the Regional Growth Fund is to support the revival of textile manufacturing across South Yorkshire, approving £25 million to help the county’s businesses in the sector grow. The regional economy was further boosted by a PWC report last month which showed that Yorkshire and Humber’s total employment has risen by 4.9% over the last three years - outperforming the UK average of 3%.

Amanda Pilgrim, head of business development at Sheffield Chamber of Commerce & Industry commented: “We have a wealth of creativity in the Sheffield City Region and we need to nurture these business ideas to help shape Sheffield’s future.

“As an organisation delivering business support we were delighted to be asked to work with Meadowhall on this exciting project and cannot wait to hear the amazing business ideas presented by our future business leaders. These companies will be Sheffield’s wealth creators and will help our region grow.

“We know from the many start up and established businesses we work with as a Chamber, setting up a new business or diversifying an existing one can be daunting and can seem high risk. That is why it is important to get the right advice from the outset. By challenging the panel of business experts, people will get a firm idea whether their ideas are viable or not.”

The Meadowhall Business Advisors Panel forms part of the Centre’s summer ‘Pop Up’ retailer, business and event campaign.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by David Gatehouse .