Business West, the region’s largest business group, has broken with its traditional method of recruiting for its board to take on three new non-executive directors. The £10m turnover group, which runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce, said the move was designed to access a wider talent pool that represented the...
Nick Sturge, the former director of the Bristol’s pioneering Engine Shed innovation hub, has been appointed as the first non-executive director of the Centre for Modelling & Simulation (CFMS). CFMS, based on the Bristol & Bath Science Park, is a not-for-profit specialist in digital engineering. It has pioneered new...
Regional alternative finance lender SWIG Finance has strengthened its board again with a non-executive director appointment as it prepares for its new chair to take up her role. The arrival of Chris Butters, pictured, who has considerable non-executive director and senior executive experience, comes ahead of Christine Allison taking over...
Bristol-based mutual insurer National Friendly has seen a lot of change in its 150 year history. Originally it provided sickness benefits to working men, but also, uniquely among friendly societies at the time, it welcomed working women and children too. This pioneering stance – when poverty, poor education, poor...
Bristol’s small businesses can access help and advice to grow internationally through a new, free, post-Brexit programme. The Export Academy involves overseas trade experts from the Department for International Trade (DIT) hosting a series of online workshops and events offering advice and support directly to business owners. The programme...
Malachy McReynolds, the chair of regional alternative finance lender SWIG Finance, is to step down in March after five years in the role. He will be replaced by Christine Allison, a former lead economist for the World Bank, who has been a non-executive director of SWIG Finance for the...
The Greater Bay Area of China will come under the spotlight at a webinar to be hosted by the Bristol and West of England China Bureau next week. The free Zoom event takes place between 9am and 10.30am on Tuesday, January 12, and will give an overview of the...
The latest lockdown will be another “body blow” to Bristol firms, coming after the uncertainty caused by Brexit and lost trade in the run-up to Christmas, the region’s biggest business group has warned. Business West, which runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce, said firms that had survived so far with...
The Bristol office of national accountancy group Smith & Williamson capped off a successful 2020 by completing two deals – a management buyout at a robotics firm and a sale of an e-learning business. The management buyout at Gloucester-based CKF Systems secures the future of the 30-year-old business, which...
Fresh calls for a rethink of government support for businesses hit by Covid-related restrictions have been made as more parts of the South West join Bristol in Tier 3. While Bristol’s status remained unchanged – having gone from Tier 2 to Tier 3 on Boxing Day – Bath and...
Business West, the region’s largest business organisation, is aiming to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and has introduced three new steps to help it – and firms across the South West – reach the ambitious target. The organisation, which runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce and the Bristol...
Bristol business leaders have welcomed the city’s move into Tier 2 from tomorrow but the group representing its major hotels said it had come too late to enable them to cash in on Christmas and secure any meaningful income. Bristol Chamber and Initiative chief executive James Durie joined the Mayor of...
More than two-thirds of high-growth firms in the South West plan to continue to expand next year after adapting for a post-Covid world, new research shows. According to the first survey to chart these businesses during the coronavirus pandemic it has created significant barriers to growth for 58% of...
