Anniversary for Worcestershire networking group.
Worcestershire County Council’s online business opportunities portal is celebrating a huge milestone; seven years of connecting Worcestershire businesses to lucrative business deals online via its website and face-to-face at monthly breakfast meetings.
The FinditinWorcestershire team, who have built the network’s membership to over 8,000, hosted a special cyber security themed breakfast meeting to mark the occasion, where they launched the #IveDoneBusiness campaign. The campaign encourages members to share their good news of work won at meetings, through opportunities on the website and successful one-to-one meetings with buyers at its renowned meet the buyer events.
The team used the event to thank members who have supported the website and breakfast meetings to become one of the county’s leading business networks, since its launch in 2011.
The birthday celebration marked the seven-year milestone with networking, keynote speakers, a guest panel of experts and a complimentary breakfast.
Lorna Jeynes, Project Manager at Worcestershire County Council presented some of FinditinWorcestershire’s achievements to date and highlighted that the website has advertised £41 billion worth of supply chain opportunities to local businesses.
In addition, its monthly breakfast meetings have attracted over 6,000 delegates across seventy events, with the venue Sixways Stadium serving attendees 18,000 cups of coffee and 9,200 breakfast baps.
Lorna Jeynes said: “To be celebrating our seventh birthday here in Worcester is amazing and it was important to us to mark it with a high-profile event to say thank you to all our members, old and new. It’s a big milestone for any project and we wouldn’t be here without the support of our members – that and copious amounts of coffee!
“But in all seriousness, FinditinWorcestershire is about more than clicking online. It’s about making business relationships face-to-face and discovering the great suppliers on our doorstep.
“Over recent years we have held meet the buyer events for local SMEs to talk to supply chain and procurement managers to help improve their chances of winning more work. Both public and private opportunities have always been at the heart of our network and through the posting of opportunities on the website and regular procurement events, we will continue to promote the use of local companies. In turn, this strengthens our local economy and ensures ‘Worcestershire is Open for Business’.”
In the last two years alone, FinditinWorcestershire has launched its new look website with innovative features including Quick Quote and Marketplace, functions which allow buyers to send requests for quotes and a member’s section to promote products and services. It sends out regular emails to local businesses to alert them of relevant business opportunities and has further plans to develop functionality and access to more public and private opportunities.
The celebration of work won will be an ongoing theme, with the promotion of local business success through press releases, website news and social media channels. Local businesses are encouraged to register at www.finditinworcestershire.com and to follow @finditinworcs on Twitter using the hashtag #IveDoneBusiness to join the conversation.
