Growth, funds and red tape on menu

Welcome to the business breakfast (left to right): Sue Barnard, William Lees-Jones, Dave Benstead, Gavin Wheeldon and Andrew Nickeas.

GROWTH, investment and what’s the secret of success were all up for debate as Oldham business leaders marked Global Entrepreneurship Week.

The Oldham Business Leadership Group (OBLG) breakfast event proved a success, with more than 70 people taking part in the workshop and Question Time session at Mahdlo Youth Zone, in Egerton Street.

There were three speakers from the Manchester-based Business Growth Hub — relationship manager Sue Barnard, mentoring manager Andrew Nickeas and Graham Niven, who spoke about funding issues affecting the business community.

The Business Growth Hub is a community for businesses in Manchester and the wider North-West that have the potential, ambition and commitment to grow, from established and large organisations to small and medium-sized enterprises.

OBLG chair David Benstead, a director at Diodes Zetex plc in Chadderton, introduced a Question Time-type panel featuring William Lees-Jones, the managing director of J W Lees Brewers. Ltd., of Middleton Junction, and Gavin Wheeldon, chief executive of So Purple Group, a collective of marketing and creative agencies in Delph.

Mr Wheeldon, from Greenfield, was the founder and, until recently, the chief executive of Applied Language Solutions, also in Delph.

This element of the breakfast gathering proved hugely popular with the pair fielding, and answering, a host of questions, from “How would you persuade an investor with £100 million to come to Oldham?” to “What is the secret of being successful in business?”
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