Athletics stars back business summit

A West Midlands business community is set to unite for a landmark event aimed at driving collaboration, investment and regional growth.

M3.agency is launching Birmingham’s first Business Leadership Summit, bringing together 100 senior leaders at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery on April 30.

The event will feature high-profile speakers including UK Athletics chief executive Jack Buckner and Olympic medallist Katharine Merry, alongside Paralympian Naomi Riches and author Omar Sharif.

The summit will highlight the role of major sporting events in boosting the city’s profile, with Birmingham preparing to host the Novuna UK Athletics Championships this summer and the European Athletics Championships in 2026.

Organisers aim to challenge perceptions of the city while encouraging stronger connections between business leaders and future talent.

The event will also raise funds for the Beaudesert Trust youth charity.

Jack said: “Birmingham will host two fantastic events this summer, underlining how the sport of athletics loves the West Midlands.

“Events staged here always benefit from significant interest and engagement from the local fans, but even more importantly, we know that there are huge economic and commercial opportunities, and we are looking forward to bringing that to you.

“The Business Leadership Summit is a great platform to share what is coming up and I look forward to meeting with many local and regional leaders later this month.”

M3.agency, founded in Birmingham in 2019, has grown rapidly to employ 50 people and manage more than £50 million in media billings, working with clients across multiple sectors.

The summit marks a further step in its ambitions to support regional growth.

Nick Lovett, chief executive of M3.agency, added: “As a full-service agency committed to the overall success of Birmingham, we wanted to bring together our city’s amazing business leaders in one iconic location to connect, to inspire, to share ideas and to build momentum for the future.

“The Birmingham Business Leadership Summit is the result, and this will hopefully be the start of an annual event moving forward. 

“We have some amazing talent and firms here and want to ensure we are seen as the UK’s second city for the best possible reasons.

“We need to shout louder about what Birmingham has to offer and, more importantly, what we can deliver – like fantastic Athletics Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

“There has to be an increased appetite to build a community that works for the greater good of the city and not just to boost personal revenues.”

Jonathan Jesson, growth director at M3.agency, added: “A big focus for us this year is giving opportunities to the new ‘creative and digital’ talent that is coming out of the three excellent universities we have here in Aston, University of Birmingham and BCU.

“We want to retain as many of the next generation of leaders here and, to do that, we need to have a city that doesn’t hide its light under a bushel but instead have a city that is unashamedly proud to be their home for the next decade.”

To register your interest in the event, click here.

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