Business News

The first Official Retail Store for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has now officially opened. Located on New Street by the iconic Bullring, the 3,200ft² store is stocked full of official Birmingham 2022 merchandise, including clothing, hats, caps, water bottles and soft toys. Sports fans can also get their hands-on Team England T-shirts, vests and hoodies.

Passengers using the West Coast main line between London Euston and Crewe can rely on the railway to get home to loved ones this Christmas during railway improvement work.

This year major bank holiday upgrades will take place on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, when traditionally the railway shuts down for a festive face-lift.

English football needs an independent regulator to stop it "lurching from crisis to crisis", says the chair of a fan-led review into the sport.

Former sports minister Tracey Crouch is calling on the government to create a new independent regulator for English football (IREF).

Businesses are poised for a blockbuster Black Friday, as shifts for temporary staff in warehouses and distribution are up 42% compared to last year, according to new data from Indeed Flex, the online marketplace for flexible workers. 

Employer demand is strongest for delivery drivers, with businesses posting more than three times as many shifts for drivers (up 226%) for the week leading up to Black Friday as they did during the same time last year. 

Cyber criminals will be looking to exploit shoppers during the Black Friday sales – an expert from Birmingham cyber security firm CSS Assure has warned.

People in the UK are planning to spend an estimated £4.8bn on Black Friday (26 November) and Cyber Monday (29 November) purchases this year, according to research by comparison site Finder.

ActionCOACH Black Country managing director Andy Hemming has scooped a top industry award for the fifth year in a row - beating hundreds of others to get the accolade.

Mr Hemming was awarded the ActionCOACH ‘UK Best Client Ratings’ once again, after first receiving the award in 2017. The nationwide competition saw more than 200 coaches compete for the award. 

Birmingham has been at the forefront of so many inventions but it is easy to forget just how much we have contributed to the modern world. The new book: ‘Invention & Design; Elkington of Birmingham’ looks at the discovery of electroplating in the city, with author Jonathan Berg saying we should: “Shout-out more about the city’s role in modern science and industry”.

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity (MAAC), in partnership with longstanding supporter, M6toll, is inviting all secondary schools in the region to register their interest in the MAAC Moguls business initiative.

M6toll has worked collaboratively with Midlands Air Ambulance Charity for several years on campaigns that target the education sector.

National law firm Clarke Willmott LLP has been named among the top 200 legal practices in England and Wales by The Times.

The Times Best Law Firms 2022 is a peer-selected directory of the best lawyers for business, public and private client law, with survey respondents asked to recommend the best law firms across 26 practice areas.

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Board has today asked Transport for West Midlands to conduct an independent review into the WMCA’s oversight of the region’s metro services.

The review, to be carried out by an industry expert, will look into the way Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) manages the delivery of new extensions and operation of metro services through a wholly owned company.

A new scheme has been launched to help homeowners make their properties greener, more sustainable and save money on energy bills.  

City of Wolverhampton Council, in partnership with Marches Energy Agency, will deliver the Green Homes Grant - Local Authority Delivery Scheme. The scheme will enable city homeowners on low incomes, who may be struggling to pay their heating bills, to make energy efficient improvements to their homes that will help to keep them warmer and reduce energy use.

Health and wellbeing charity The Active Wellbeing Society (TAWS) have been crowned Asian Business of the Year for their prompt and selfless response to helping local communities throughout the pandemic.

The charity was presented the award, sponsored by Lets Sanify, at the annual ABCC awards celebration on 18 November during an online ceremony recognising the remarkable achievements of businesses and professionals over the past 12 months. Headline sponsors were Aston University, Doug Wright (T/A McDonald’s), Inspired Energy and Lioncroft Wholesale Stores.

The Active Wellbeing Society is a community benefit society and cooperative working to build healthy, happy communities living active and connected lives. The not-for-profit organisation play a pivotal role in connecting the voluntary and community sector, including hundreds of grassroots groups and organisations, with the system – working with GPs, adult social care, public health and the NHS, to ensure that communities are supported to meet their needs.

Pre-Covid, TAWS’ service delivery focused on bringing people together. They worked with communities in parks, on streets and in health centres, to deliver wellbeing interventions and activities building up trust in some of Birmingham’s most vulnerable communities.

Over the last two years, TAWS has shown up and pitched in –navigating a period of crisis and uncertainty with bravery and integrity. When lockdown restrictions were announced, they changed their delivery overnight and began working with partners across Birmingham to coordinate a citywide emergency response.

As supermarket shelves emptied and many services shut their doors, TAWS was there to help people access the support they needed. Working with partners from across the city – including faith groups, mutual aid groups and community organisations – TAWS were part of a network of volunteers providing emergency food parcels to those in need and set up distribution hubs across the city.

Their campaign #BrumTogether provided 200,000 emergency food parcels, 50,000 community meals, 6,000 tonnes of clothing, to 2,300 people, 15,000 phone calls, supporting 5,500 people, and 1,203 virtual wellbeing sessions. They demonstrated a new way of working collaboratively and at pace to respond to need, showing the system how it needed to behave.

Their work has not only met the immediate day-to-day needs of people they support, but also has created a partnership of over 200 organisations to work together now and in the future. The organisation’s work in Birmingham has been recognised nationally, and across Europe, as best practice in system leadership and wellbeing.

Anjum Khan, director of the ABCC, said: “I would like to extend a huge congratulations to everyone at The Active Wellbeing Society on being awarded the overall ABCC Business of the Year Award 2021.

“TAWS are highly deserving of this award for their incredible contribution to our community and their seamless response to the pandemic. Their willingness to support our city’s most vulnerable individuals displays just how efficient and dedicated they are to actively making a difference.

“They should be very proud of all they have achieved.” Other category winners included:

Outstanding Business Resilience in COVID19 - Sponsored by Squire Patton Boggs

MotorServ UK Solihull

Outstanding Charity of the Year - Sponsored by Learner Engagement Training Services

The Active Wellbeing Society

Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion - Sponsored by Edgbaston Stadium

Shelforce

Outstanding Customer Service of the Year - Sponsored by The HR Dept (Birmingham NE & SW)

MotorServ UK Solihull

Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year - Sponsored by Burton & South Derbyshire College

Voilo Limited

Outstanding Financial Services of the Year - Sponsored by SME Outsourcing

Central Business Finance                                

Outstanding Start-Up Business of the Year - Sponsored by Awan Marketing Plc

The Leadership Coaches

Outstanding Young Achiever of the Year - Sponsored by South & City College Birmingham

Yung Lau, Jacobs UK Ltd

Deb Leary has become only the third female president of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) in its 208-year history and pledged to put the region’s interests “front and centre”.

Her two-year term as successor to Steve Allen was confirmed at the GBCC annual meeting at the Radisson Blu in Birmingham city centre where chief financial officer Helen Bates reported an income for 2020-2021 of £5.5 million, generating a surplus after tax of £80,000.

Some 180,000 jobs could be lost across the UK Travel & Tourism sector this year, if travel restrictions are re-imposed this winter, according to alarming new data from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). 

WTTC, which represents the global private Travel & Tourism sector, made the warning after an analysis which showed the impact caused by a further tightening of borders.

Kura, a leading transport technology provider offering safer, greener and smarter travel for education and businesses, is celebrating a host of achievements made over the last 12 months. The company, founded with the intention of transforming the traditional school bus run, enables schools and businesses to maximise the safety, wellbeing and productivity of their students and employees, while driving down transport costs and CO2 emissions.

Full service content marketing agency, HDY Agency, has expanded its portfolio of clients after securing a number of new projects with global biotechnology company, The Binding Site.

Founded by researchers at the University of Birmingham, The Binding Site provides specialist diagnostic products to clinicians and laboratory professionals around the world.