e-bulletin - August 2006 | Birmingham Forward

News & Events

Birmingham Forward forges link with The City of London

At a meeting in The Council House Birmingham Forward presented to The Lord Mayor of the City of London Alderman David Brewer and Sheriff Kevin Kearney about gaps in funding and difficulties experienced over deals. The event was prompted by a visit to the West Midlands of the Lord Mayor to discuss funding and better links between the City of London and the City of Birmingham. Birmingham Forward fielded a team of Chairman Diane Benussi; Director Richard Jinks; AIG: Guy Thomas, Partner, Deloittes; and Michael Ward, Senior Partner, HBJ Gateley Wareing.

A search for common ground and resolution of issues was sought. The Lord Mayor was anxious to assist in funding gaps. Birmingham Forward emphasised skills gaps, diversity and graduate retention as three stumbling blocks to the growth of the City professional quarter.

We expect this link to be developed and a greater dialogue to be established with the City of London.

High Court Judges in Birmingham

As you will remember in January this year we published a report jointly with Birmingham Law Society, St Philips Chambers and No5 Chambers calling for increased court resources for Birmingham and the Midlands, particularly in commercial and administrative law cases.

The report has led to wider consultation and we are delighted to announce that an open meeting will be held in Birmingham on October 10th to discuss the establishment of an Administrative Court in Birmingham. If we are to continue the momentum already established around this issue we need to see as many members with an interest in the courts present on the evening of October 10th.

This is real opportunity for Birmingham to be seen taking the lead in reforms to the judiciary – for the moment please reserve the date in you diary, further details will follow in September. If you have a particular interest and want more information before then please email Richard Brennan at richard.brennan@birminghamforward.co.uk

Race For Life - we did it!

Jo, Parmi and Sam plus some of their friends and family successfully completed the Race For Life in Sutton Park on the 15th July raising funds for Cancer Research. Thanks to all T-shirt sponsors, West Bromwich Building Society, Index Fund Advisors, Lawlors Property Services, Leisure Security Training Organisation and PCL. and everyone who pledged sponsorship- we raised in excess of £1,000.

“Facing Challenges” Lunch at Aston Villa Football Club.
David Jones, the former Chairman of Next Retail Group and Deputy Chairman of supermarket chain Wm Morrison, will be the keynote speaker at the “Facing Challenges “ lunch on Thursday September 28th being held in the Trinity Lounge at Aston Villa Football Club.

David was credited with the turnaround in fortunes at Next taking the company from a market valuation of £25 million to £3.5 billion. He is also winning the admiration of many in the city for his contribution to the development of Morrisons. As well as highlighting many of the business challenges he has faced during his career, David will also reveal how he has battled Parkinsons Disease for many years- keeping it secret from family and colleagues- and how he has managed to separate his business and personal challenges.

The lunch is kindly being sponsored by Pertemps People Development Group.

Sarah Gee takes over the Chair at Birmingham Future.

Birmingham Future held its AGM on Wednesday, 19th July at BT in Brindleyplace when the new Chair, Sarah Gee took over from Chris Robertson. Sarah, who is managing consultant at Dixon Raines the Birmingham based marketing and fundraising consultancy, announced her key themes for the year would be exploring the issues and solutions around work/life balance and developing and diversifying the membership to other business sectors.

Alex Bishop, partner at national law firm Shoosmiths, has been appointed as the new Deputy Chair.

IP Forum

Birmingham Forward were one of the keynote speakers at the new AWM Intellectual Property Forum (IP Forum) that has received substantial funding to support the creation, licensing and development of IP across the region. The launch event for professional partners was held at the Coventry TechnoCentre and was attended by over 80 professionals from across the region. The initiative is chaired by Birmingham Forward member Karl Barnfather, Managing Partner of Withers & Rogers here in Birmingham, and administered by Simon Tulitt who was previously part of the AWM professional services COG, and is an Associate member of Birmingham Forward. If you would like further information about this exciting initiative please contact Simon: s.tulitt@cad.cov.ac.uk

Business Opportunities in North America

Advantage West Midlands (AWM) are planning a Financial/Professional Services roadshow to North America early next year. On Friday September 22nd Birmingham Forward together with AWM are running a lunchtime event with Bill Brickley, who heads the AWM Washington team, to get the preliminary views of the professional community in advance of the final planning for the roadshow. We would welcome attendance from those of our members who currently do business in the US and those who are interested in developing relations with this important market. To register your interest for this event please e-mail Halina Bromberg in the events team or via the website.

The Graduate Apprentice makes his first public appearance!
Darvinder Kang, the first ever Graduate Apprentice, will be one of the guest speakers at the forthcoming Winning “The War For Talent”- Student Perceptions of Birmingham’s Professional Sector event being held on Thursday 31st August at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Darvinder will share his thoughts on being chosen as the first ever Graduate Apprentice and how he has adapted from university life to working full time in the Professional Services sector. Darvinder is now nearly two months in to his first four month placement with Deloitte in Birmingham.

UKIT Association Event.

Birmingham Forward has forged a working partnership with UKITA and will be hosting a small number of joint events in the forthcoming months. Meanwhile UKITA are hosting their own event in Solihull on 10th August with Oracle aimed at new members which explains all about the organisation. Further details from Julie@ukita.co.uk

Common Purpose needs you!

Common Purpose is searching for senior business leaders to join the next Birmingham Matrix Programme starting in September. Louise Teboul, Senior Programme Director explains the aim behind Matrix.

“This is a unique leadership programme because it is outward rather than inward facing. By using real life challenges- it covers everything from business issues to crime in the city. Each programme day is filled with visits, keynote speakers and panel discussions covering the big issues facing the city.” The next Matrix Programme begins on 13th -14th September. For more information contact Common Purpose on 0121 625 3269 or email: Birmingham@commonpurpose.org.uk

The United Nations & The World Bank- become a preferred supplier.

Our colleagues at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce will be holding a seminar on Friday October 13th entitled “How to Become a Preferred Supplier: The United Nations & The World Bank” The event will explain how firms can benefit from the significant contracts placed in to the private sector by the two organisations. More information from c.gamage@birminghamchamber.org.uk

New members

Birmingham Forward would like to welcome the following new members;

Beermat Online is a way of doing business. From the very start, from the moment you first have the idea; all the way to that triumphant moment when the business achieves its goals. Beermat has been described as 'anything that will facilitate doing business that you could write on a beermat'.
Limitless Consulting is a development consultancy that focuses on enabling individuals to remove the barriers to peak performance. They specialise in working with people in "reactive" service focussed roles, creating tailored development solutions for individuals and teams. Through encouragement, motivation and inspiration, Limitless transforms “overheads” into exciting assets that contribute proactively to business success.
Ortus Professional Search works with law firms to increase their fee earning capabilities by the aquisition of partners, teams and other law firms.
Robin Simon LLP lawyers are qualified to advise on UK and US law. Their area of expertise spans coverage, defence and regulatory work. Their clients include global composite insurers, Lloyd's syndicates, underwriting agencies, adjusters and major insurance brokers.
Unique Computer Systems - You see a disaster. They see a solution. No Data. No Fee. UCData are a local leader in the field of data recovery. Utilising 20 years of experience their in-house team of specialists can recover data from almost any catastrophic system failure.

Patrons