Date: Thu 30th April, 2009
Venue: Marriott Hotel, Smith Way, Grove Park, LE19 1SW
Leicester needs to market itself more efficiently – that was the message coming out of Insider’s Leicester Economic Forum at the Marriott Hotel in the city.
Over 100 people attended the event and questioned a panel consisting of: Charles Amies, East Midlands head of investment at the Homes and Communities Agency; William Presland, head of inward investment at Leicester and Leicestershire Economic Development Company; Shahid Sheikh, managing director of Clifton Packaging Group; Martin Traynor, chief executive of Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce; and Vicky Vass, pro-vice chancellor at De Montfort University.
Traynor said: “I think for some years Leicester and Leicestershire has punched well below its weight. The difficulty we have in attracting businesses or government departments out of London is that Leicester doesn’t even come on the long list never mind the shortlist. A lot of that is to do with profile. A lot more needs to be done. The difference between now and a few years ago is that we’ve actually got something to sell.”
Presland, who is now part of the new Prospect Leicestershire inward investment agency, countered this by saying: “When we talk to businesses we always try to have the soft aspects as well as the hard aspects. We always like when we are talking to people to find out what they enjoy doing. It is not just about working but about living here. I do think the quality of life here is excellent.”
The panel went on to discuss how the city could keep its best people, and touched specifically on the role of the universities.
Vass said: “One of my roles is to develop the links between the business community and the university. The other aspect for us is to work with local businesses to help them upskill and, more importantly, to reskill.
“There’s more of a requirement for that because we need to diversify. We have a project at the moment to help SMEs to upskill and develop their businesses. We are going to spread that out to bring in the whole business community.”
Sheikh said the universities needed to show their worth to local businesses, adding: “The issue I have with universities is that they have got so much to offer but how can they demonstrate that they are actually giving benefit to businesses? Having to do research and development yourself is painful. Projects can take one, two or even three years.”
The event was sponsored by Business Link, Tenon and Coutts in association with the Leicester Marriott hotel.
