Business Networking Group Helps Local Small Businesses Grow

At a recent breakfast meeting of the Silk Chapter of BNI (Business Network International), David Rutley MP spoke with group members to find out more about how they are working together to help their small businesses grow, as they seek to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

David joined members from a variety of business sectors including mortgage and legal services, IT and web production, graphic design, members of the building trade through to landscaping, and telecommunications. As we seek to navigate our way forward and approach more normal times, BNI members are helping each other grow their businesses through their commitment to BNI’s principal core value, ‘Givers Gain’. Members meet with other trusted business leaders to establish and build lasting relationships, helping to establish other opportunities for new business.  
 

At the meeting, David provided an update on the Government’s economic policies to support businesses, as we move on from the pandemic. As a recently appointed Minister at the Department for Work & Pensions, David spoke about the vital work being done on a national, as well as local level, to help get people into work and progress in employment through the Plan For Jobs. David also set out plans to help strengthen the local economy and to regenerate Macclesfield town centre and make it a more distinctive destination.

During the Question and Answer session, David responded to issues raised on how current vacancies can be filled in key sectors, including social care, and how working space can be made available for young people so that they can be better supported in realising their entrepreneurial ambitions.  

BNI is the world’s largest and most successful business referral network and members of BNI Silk, which is part of the Cheshire East region, regularly meet in Macclesfield with the prime intention of providing each other opportunities for new business. David was told how membership in BNI offers access to business training, peer learning and opportunities to network and do business with hundreds of thousands of BNI members around the world. Last year, BNI members in the UK generated over £482 million worth of business for each other.

After joining the meeting via Zoom, David Rutley said, “I was delighted to be able to attend this positive meeting with such an enterprising group of business people, who are clearly driven to help the local economy move forward and assist entrepreneurs with growing their businesses. It is good to see local businesses working in a pragmatic and structured way to help each others’ businesses succeed. This entrepreneurial spirit is what we need as we recover and rebuild from the impact of the pandemic.”

Pictured - A screenshot from the BNI online meeting that David Rutley MP attended.