Newcastle Business Forums say 'Let's Do Business'

In celebration of Newcastle Business Forums first anniversary of its membership scheme, and in response to requests from its 450 members, an event on 9^th June will explore ways of creating opportunities to inter-trade.

 

"As businesses you are not just part of the local community, you ARE the local community. You help to generate well-being, employment and opportunity. Therefore you could argue that ‘Keeping it Local’ is part of being a responsible business", comments Karen Langdon from DEAL Group, the hosts of Newcastle Business Forums.

 

It is reported that an impressive “50-70% of money spent in the local economy stays in the local economy”, state the Friends of the Earth – Shop Local campaign.

 

At the Members Event on Thursday 9th June we will hear from the 'Keep it Local North East' campaign and delve into the motivations and extraordinary benefits that sourcing locally can bring.

 

The campaign was founded by Sarah Nixon of Recruitment Now and encourages companies to look at what they spend and where. It was born after Sarah attended a local sector procurement event and found that actually it would be in the "too difficult to do" box but she was surprised at how little the actual commitment was to buy from local suppliers.

 

Sarah describes herself as "results driven, a solutions seeker and action orientated", therefore the first thing she did when she got back to the office was to look at her company's supplier list. After looking at her own business spending Sarah realised that only 51% of it was going to businesses in the North East, so she immediately took action; changing three suppliers to local companies at once. She has now not only reversed the trend but found she has saved herself money in the process.

 

"I’m passionate about this, I live here, my family live here and my children will grow up here in the North East. I actually love buying and attracting new suppliers, meeting new people and hearing how they can contribute to the growth of my company. I’ve had 100% support from those I have talked to about the campaign, we already have a great success story to tell as since joining ‘Keep it Local’ our supporters have shifted at least £220,849 into the North East region!"

 

The event on 9^th June will encourage you to look at who you are buying from and consider if you could be buying more from local suppliers. 

 

Today cost-effective local sourcing is as important as ever. Working with local suppliers can bring closer and more flexible relationships, the opportunity to jointly develop your business and products and allow agile service delivery methods with often more innovative solutions. 

 

There will be a mixture of fun things for you try out at this event in order to get closer to more local suppliers. This will include enjoying the new, unique interactive digital media platform which creates real-time, two way interactive experiences by Newcastle company Screach.

 

Go to our events page to find our more and how to book.