Partner Article

West Midland’s SMEs hear how to successfully transform their businesses

Small businesses from Birmingham and the West Midlands met on Tuesday evening (22nd Oct) at the new Birmingham Library to hear how they can make the big and transforming changes needed to ensure their businesses not only survive but grow in the current challenging economic times.

At the event, attendees heard about the past, present and future in how small businesses (SMEs) can thrive.

Gabriela Butler, ACMA, CGMA from CIMA who organised and chaired the event said: “The West Midlands is an area where growth is low and unemployment is high but the region’s small businesses are in a prime position to invest in growth and generate economic success. Those who attended this’ Who Dares Wins’ event were inspired by the panel of speakers to invest in innovation and take the brave steps to make the transformation that is needed to be at the forefront of this re-energising.”

The speakers at the event included:

Dr Chris Upton, Reader in Public History at Newman University Birmingham, who spoke on Bimingham’s industrial and economic history to highlight what modern business can learn from the past and take on in their current quest for innovation and growth.

Stephen Jones FPFS, Chartered Champion of the PFS Birmingham Region and Vice President of PINWM, who talked about the transformational changes in financial services sector over the last 20 years, in particular over the last five years after the 2007/2008 financial crisis, the mass transition from sales industry to advice profession and what small businesses can see and learn from in the context of their own challenges in making changes.

Simon Beckett, Managing Director of Becketts Farms, who told the other SMEs about the transformational change that had been made in his own family business, inspiring those present to have the confidence to make changes in their own enterprises.

He said ‘I am a third generation in a family business which has evolved over the past 70 years. My grandfather was a dairy farmer and my father made him sell all his cows. My father was a poultry farmer and I made him sell all his chickens. We now have changed a business which in 1992 was technically insolvent to a business with an asset base pushing 50 million and the winners of the 2012 family business of the year.’

Dr. Michael JR Butler, Director, Centre for Innovation, Change and Renewal (CICR), Aston Business School; and Founder/Director, The TRANSFORMATION Project (www.thetransformationproject.co.uk), spoke on ‘Transformation for Growth – Securing our Future, with Ambition’.

He discussed the current context of growth, the seven characteristics of successful SMEs and how the Transformation for Growth Project is helping SMEs to thrive. Transformation for Growth Project is a two year partnership with Birmingham City Council and part-financed by the West Midlands European Regional Development Fund Programme (ERDF) 2007-2013. The total project value is £479,276. Michael is keen to hear from SMEs with high potential for growth and who would like to become beneficiaries of the Project (info@thetransformationproject.co.uk).

The event was organised by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) in partnership with Aston Business School, Library of Birmingham, Robert Half , Personal Finance Society, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Science Capital and Punk Zebra.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by CIMA UK Regional News .