Member Article

Young professionals in Coventry and Warwickshire given lowdown on how to become business stars of the future

A packed room of young professionals from across Coventry and Warwickshire have been given an insight into how they can become the business stars of the future.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce launched its new Chamber Talent programme at WCG’s Stem Centre in Leamington to an audience of companies from across the region.

The new membership package has been launched in response to businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire saying there is a shortage of skills and that a new generation of leaders needs to be developed.

The launch event heard from Sean Rose, the Chamber Talent project lead; Keely Hancox, operations manager at the Chamber; Tracey Sawrey, of Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber Training; Dominika Walker, of CityFibre; and Alejandro Perez-Llabata, of IUDRO.

Sean explained the benefits of being part of the programme, including a series of networking and social events to help young professionals get together with and learn from their peers.

It also includes training workshops on topics such as communication and problem solving to equip members with skills to help them develop their careers. Those sessions will be delivered by Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber Training.

Sean said: “Every time we get the results back from our Quarterly Economic Surveys from businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire skills is very high on the agenda and part of that is development leaders for the future.

“The launch of Chamber Talent is a perfect platform to start to overcome this barrier. It’s aimed at businesses to help them identify potential stars of the future and to sign them up to the programme.

“It’s also a chance for entrepreneurs or university students who want to equip themselves with new skills and contacts to help them achieve their business ambitions. “We were delighted with the response and have already had several individuals sign up to Chamber Talent on the back of it.”

Dominika, who will be a founding board member of Chamber Talent, described some of the hurdles she has overcome to land her role as City Marketing Manager for CityFibre. She said: “I have faced many barriers during the early part of my career and have worked out how to overcome those in order to get myself where I am today.

“The reason I wanted to be involved with Chamber Talent is I believe a programme like this would have helped me to get here much faster so it will be great to be able to support the next generation of business leaders in fulfilling their ambitions.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .