AS A CHAMBER MEMBER, YOU'RE WELL CONNECTED.
AS A CHAMBER MEMBER, YOU'RE WELL CONNECTED.
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For the latest addition of our monthly news summary, Forbes Low (CEO, Kingston Chamber of Commerce), shares exciting updates on October’s activities and more details on our upcoming events.
On October 11th, Kingston College hosted a Planning and Recruitment for a Neurodivergent Workforce – a spotlight on Autism.
In July 2023, The Government recently released data stating that the number of children and young people with Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP) was 517,000. That’s up by 9% from 2022 and it is increasing. To fill acute skills gaps, businesses need to consider developing more inclusive recruitment strategies that embrace a future workforce that will be neurodivergent.
We were delighted to be joined at the beginning of the morning by the Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Diane White, Sir Ed Davey MP and the Leader of the Council, Andreas Kirsch.
Led by Clive Lissaman, the Head of Employability at Kingston College, the aim of the morning was to encourage more employers to recruit more neurodivergent young people with autism from the local community and to raise awareness of the barriers for young people classified as neurodivergent transitioning from education into employment.
The Chamber were proud to be a partner in this event as the conversations explored how to help employers understand the characteristics associated autism and prepare them to embrace a neurodivergent workforce.
The Chessington Business Expo was held on Thursday 26th October 2023. With our headline sponsor, Kingston Council and Chessington School, the focus for this unique day was helping businesses to grow. We were delighted by the turnout of just under 200 attendees.
There was an excellent programme of marketing, finance and digital business seminars and a new roundtable discussion with local business leaders. We are fortunate to have excellent speakers and advisors, who are not only smart in what they do, but able to share their expertise in a manner we can understand. Our advisory zones were also kept busy and we know that there were plenty of good connections and conversations shared.
There are always areas we can improve upon with such a large event and we will do so next year but for now, we would like thank all our advisors, speakers and, as always, our engaging attendees for contributing to another important Expo in Chessington.
The Kingston Borough Business Awards (KBBA) submissions deadline was on Monday November 13th and we were delighted by the response from so many different areas of the borough business and charity sectors. With a fantastic 180 entries, we already know that judges are finding this challenging to score as the bar keeps rising with the quality of the submissions. A huge thank you to all of you who put in a submission. We know it has taken time and considerable thought so this is much appreciated. The results of the KBBA finalists will be released on December 5th 2023 so watch this space.
Kingston Chamber is very pleased to be the chosen provider of this new, fully funded, programme of business support. It is a comprehensive programme which will provide the opportunity for businesses and pre-start ups to learn, explore and grow their ambitions.
The programme is split into two different sections:
If you are thinking about starting a business, the Go Set Up programme will help you with planning, getting set up, marketing, funding and finance. It will provide advice and guidance from the team of experienced start-up advisors who will detail the key foundations to a successful and sustainable business.
The Go Growth programme combines specialist resources with the expertise and knowledge to help you drive growth and build capacity successfully. Go Growth offers a broad range of support, including expert webinars, essential diagnostic sessions using the Business Model Canvas tool and one-to-one business mentoring.
We are very excited with this programme and it will start in January 2024 so if you are interested, register at the links above and we will share updates with you.
This programme is funded and supported by Kingston Council, UK Government, Mayor of London and Levelling Up.
December 6th: Chamber Introduction. Join us for this informal conversation about the Chamber and how we can help support your business.
Sign up here to attend.
December 7th: Business Breakfast at the Kingston College. Join us for our last Business Breakfast of the year, network with fellow members and guest of Kingston College and sample the excellent catering from Nikki’s Kitchen. Sign up here to attend.
December 14th: Chamber Festive Social. Join us at Kingston’s contemporary bar, Bone Idyll to celebrate the holiday season in style and good company. It’s always a fun evening with a few surprises! Sign up here to attend.
For more information about the latest events, subscribe to our weekly events newsletter.
If you would like to know more about how we support our local business community, please visit www.kingstonchamber.co.uk, email us at [email protected], or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
