Business News

Over 500 people attended this year’s BAME Apprentice Network Annual Apprenticeship Awards with HS2 apprentice, Bintou Keita, among those recognised as a rising star in the UK’s BAME apprenticeship community.

The event, held at the Edgbaston Cricket Club, signalled a welcome return to in-person gatherings, with organisations across the West Midlands in attendance.

The Black Country is full of exciting and innovative businesses and the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise is a great way of celebrating their success. Whether a small business with a great innovative product or service, or a larger company running an impressive social mobility programme, this award is a prestigious way to recognise your contribution to enterprise.

Shakespeare Martineau’s Birmingham office has supported engineering and manufacturing company Avingtrans plc with its £2.5m participation in a £12.9m fund raise by emerging medtech leader Adaptix.

In return for the investment and post the closing of the fund raise, Avingtrans – which designs, manufactures and supplies critical components, modules and systems to the energy, medical and industrial sectors – will own approximately 5.9% of the total issued share capital of Adaptix, which focuses on transforming radiology by allowing low-cost, low-dose 3D portable imaging.

An instore scheme to help wilko customers recycle their masks has proved so successful that the home and garden retailer will further extend it until the end of the year. The scheme, which allows shoppers to drop off used, disposable face masks so that they can be recycled, will now be in place until the end of December 2021.

This further extension of the scheme, following an initial three-month pilot in April, sees the service remain in place at the retailer’s original 150 participating stores. 

To celebrate CISI Financial Planning Week 2021, wealth manager Charles Stanley is offering free one-hour consultations with a financial planner. Advisers in the Birmingham office will be on hand to help people understand how they can achieve financial wellbeing and identify what steps they need to take to help reach their future goals. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused much disruption to consumer personal finances, working patterns and the wider economy.

The 2021 seasonal hiring spree is failing to live up to Christmases past as employers struggle to attract candidates amid a glut of jobs, according to new analysis by the world’s largest job site Indeed. With official data recording that there were 1.1 million vacancies in the three months to September[2], Indeed’s research reveals the huge challenge faced by employers battling to hire extra staff in the run-up to Christmas.

Three digital training bootcamps funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) will enable up to 40 local people to start new careers with global technology giant UST. The digital transformation solutions company which operates worldwide with FTSE 1000 and Fortune 500 companies in areas like software products and platforms, automation and artificial intelligence, has partnered with the WMCA to recruit residents from the region.

A pilot programme has been launched in Wolverhampton to offer enterprise mentoring to Black businesses in the city. Wolverhampton Black Business Network (WBBN) has joined forces with HSBC UK, who are funding the scheme until the end of March 2022 and are providing mentors to support businesses across the city.

WBBN also plans to work with City of Wolverhampton Council through events and workshops to upskill small businesses to ensure they can take advantage of procurement opportunities.

The Association of Plumbing and Heating (APHC) is hosting Quality Plumber Week 2021 on 11-17 October in partnership with Installer in order to celebrate the essential and highly skilled work plumbers carry out every day.
 

Organised by APHC annually, the week aims to raise awareness of the skills within the plumbing and heating industry whilst shining a spotlight on the many plumbing businesses that play a vital part in our communities from unblocking sinks to making sure drinking water is safe to ensuring our homes are kept warm.

With the High Street already on its knees following the pandemic, which has decimated the retail industry, both physical and online retailers will be desperately looking to their e-commerce systems to make up for lost revenues and profits this Christmas after a disastrous year.

However, British tech bosses are warning of potential systems crash as we approach Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the extra demand running up to the Christmas trading period.

Open College Network West Midlands is strengthening its commitment to promoting race equality in its organisation by signing up to the RACE Equality Code – the first awarding organisation (AO) in England and Wales to do so. Launched in October 2020 by Birmingham-based The Governance Forum, the RACE Equality Code 2020 is an accountability framework designed by leading governance experts to assist organisations in tackling boardroom race equality.

MadeForMums, the UK’s number one parenting site for product reviews, has today announced the winners of the MadeForMums Toy Awards 2021, as judged by children and parents, as well as toy industry and parenting experts.

The MadeForMums Toy Awards 2021 celebrate the best children’s toys at every age and stage, from newborn to teens and cover 44 categories from Best Toddler Toy and Best Doll to Best Science Toy, Best Playset, Best Educational Toy and Best Scooter.

Edgar Chibaka and Jamal Tahlil, Co-Founders and Directors of First Response Group Ltd, have been announced as the Business Persons of the Year at the Black British Business Awards virtual ceremony on 07 October 2021.

These inspiring entrepreneurs immigrated to the UK from East Africa in 2007 and built their security, fire and facility management solutions company from scratch.

The UK government’s Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has defended the government's handling of the energy crisis after suppliers said the system of having a cap on prices was not fit for purpose. Gas prices are at record highs, with some domestic energy supply firms failing as they pay more for gas than they are able to charge.

Employees at Dudley libraries should earn at least the real living wage of £9.50 per hour to safeguard against deteriorating pay levels, says UNISON. The union’s Dudley General Branch says current pay levels are not sufficient to meet the everyday needs of staff and is calling on the company running the town’s libraries to raise its rates.

Midlands Housing Association Nehemiah Housing Association welcomed Walsall South MP Valerie Vaz to their newly refurbished and extended Nehemiah Court retirement scheme in Caldmore, Walsall, on Friday 1 October to celebrate the scheme’s transformation.

The newly extended and refurbished retirement scheme was officially opened by Valerie Vaz MP who unveiled a plaque to mark the scheme’s upgrade and planted a tree as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative and the ‘Plant A Tree For The Jubilee’ scheme.