Member Article

Major new campaign to get Coventry and Warwickshire companies trading locally

A major new campaign is being launched to help grow the regional economy – by encouraging more companies to do business with each other.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, which represents 2,000 business members across the region, is behind the Go For Growth:

Trade Local campaign that aims to get companies, local authorities and other organisations using more suppliers in the area.

The Chamber will be holding a series of events to help bring companies face-to-face with potential partners and suppliers, and it will also host business opportunities on its website www.cw-chamber.co.uk to keep firms up-to-date with potential contracts.

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said it was the right time to launch the campaign in support of the regional business community.

She said: “Firstly, this isn’t about being inward looking. The Chamber is a massive advocate of international trade and being an outward looking area that wants to do business right around the world. That won’t change.

“But what we see and hear from businesses is that there is the potential to bring more companies together to work with one another – and that would have a major positive impact on the local economy.

“Due to our location and areas of expertise, we have a plethora of superb companies on our doorstep and it makes sense on every level to tap into that bed of talent.

“One element, of course, is asking bigger companies and organisations – such as local authorities – if they can work more closely with local businesses through procurement.

“Can they make opportunities more easily accessible and can they work with organisations such as the Chamber to help us ensure our members hear about them and bid for them?

“On top of that, this applies to small and medium sized businesses too and how we apply that thought process of thinking about local businesses for goods and services when we are looking for a new supplier.

“Again, it might come down to awareness rather than a lack of willingness to use a local business to trade with, so that’s why we want to ensure that we do even more as a Chamber to bring more businesses on our patch together.”

Louise added: “It comes on the back of our Go For Growth campaign which we launched in 2016 to help raise the profile of many of the issues that businesses across our region face as they try to expand.

“Of course, as the voice of business, we continue to ensure that any barriers to growth are put firmly on the radar of decision-makers at a local, regional and national level.

“However, this campaign will be much more about getting companies in our region to trade with one another and make the most of the fantastic skills, goods and services we have across Coventry and Warwickshire and how we can work to make that happen here at the Chamber.”

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