Two senior figures from the British Chamber of Commerce lead the speaker line-up at the Doncaster Chamber’s annual Doncaster, What’s Next? Business Conference on June 6th.
Both Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the BCC, and its President Baroness Martha Lane-Fox, will deliver authoritative keynote speeches about the state of the national economy and the relationship between business and central government. Of course, they will also be ready to hear from Doncaster’s business community as well.
With illustrious careers — having, between them, worked in senior positions for the likes of Disney, Twitter, Chanel, The Open University, The Cabinet Office, and LastMinute.Com — they will have plenty of great insights to share.
On the subject of nurturing local talent, Lindsey Glasby, Senior Vice Principal at Doncaster UTC, Colonel Stephen Padgett OBE, Chief Executive of The National Horseracing College and Chris Nicholls, Area Director for Workforce with the Association of Colleges, will all be offering their unique perspectives. Also sitting on this panel will be Luke Lawson, Automation Engineer at Polypipe Building Products, who was recently named Apprentice of the Year at the 2022 Doncaster Business Awards.
Elsewhere, Jon Duffy, CEO of Clean Power Hydrogen, So Him Fong, MD of King Asia Foods, and Rebecca Crawforth, the Founder of internationally-recognised makeup brand Navy Professional, will be talking about how to nurture a climate more conducive to growth in Doncaster.
Dan Fell, Chief Exec of Doncaster Chamber, said: “I am immensely looking forward to next week’s conference, as we have a packed agenda and a long list of heavyweight guests.
“Hearing from our incredible entrepreneurs and business leaders always proves to be a true highlight for the event and this year’s iteration is looking to be no exception in that regard.
“From major investors — such as Hybrid Air Vehicles, who are doing game-changing things right now in the aviation industry — through to our anchor employers, like LNER, and those inspiring success-stories from our SME community, I am confident that Doncaster will be shown in its best light here.
“Of course, we will also get to hear from those who have a major role to play in shaping our economic destiny. The local authority, government stakeholders and our very own umbrella body, the BCC, will be outlining what they envision for the economy and places likes Doncaster. They will also be listening attentively to what firms on the ground have to say and will hopefully be going away with homework set by our delegates and members.
“With that being said, this is intended to be an open forum, where attendees can join in with the debate and generate their own ideas. And now is certainly the appropriate time to speak up.
“We have to acknowledge that the last twelve months have taken a toll on South Yorkshire, and things haven’t exactly been going our way. Our GBR campaign ended with a near-miss, we’ve had to reckon with the closure of our region’s international airport and businesses have been met with an onslaught of economic challenges.
“Doncaster is fiercely resilient and I still believe that we can rebound quickly from these setbacks. Yet it’s imperative that this journey begins as soon as possible. The business conference is a chance to help get us back on track, to identify new opportunities that are available to us, and to reinject some much-needed optimism back into the community.”
