AN organisation that shares knowledge, experience and connections to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses has appointed two new managers to drive its own growth plan.
The Entrepreneurs’ Forum was established more than ten years ago and has gone on to support hundreds of business owners in its aim is to make the North East the number one region for entrepreneurship.
Its new business development managers Gillian Marshall and Jessica Williams will recruit and support members.
They will also arrange access to the Forum's highly regarded mentoring programme, both for those seeking support and established business leaders who want to give something back.
Jessica’s appointment as Tees Valley business development manager marks renewed focus for the Forum on the growing entrepreneurial community on Teesside and Darlington.
She said: “The Forum has been fortunate to count many leading figures from the Tees Valley’s thriving entrepreneurial community among its membership and our recent If We Can, You Can challenge highlighted the high calibre of young entrepreneurs that the region is developing.
“As the area continues to flourish and enters a new phase of post-recession growth, the Forum aims to be at the heart of supporting entrepreneurs, both established and emerging, through inspirational events, the sharing of experience and knowledge, and creating the connections that can lead to success.”
Jessica has spent her career to date with Yorkshire Bank having started as a 16-year-old cashier and working her way through the ranks to private client manager for high net worth clients, many of whom ran businesses.
She moved to Teesside with the bank nine years ago and came into contact with the Forum through its corporate partnership with Yorkshire Bank.
Gillian, who will concentrate on business development in the north of the region, has also spent many years in the banking sector as well as being involved in the development of business and growth of the region.
She worked for Barclays for 22 years and latterly was regional development manager for the corporate sector, based in Newcastle.
From 2003 to 2007 she was a business advisor and business development manager with Business Link North East and later Business & Enterprise Group.
She spent the last year at UK Trade & Industry as commercial partnership manager, developing relationships with professional organisations and foreign inward investment opportunities.
Executive director of the Entrepreneurs’’ Forum Nicola Short said: “The Forum has entered its second decade at a critical time for business and a time when more and more people are becoming entrepreneurs.
“Gillian and Jessica have very strong backgrounds in understanding the challenges of business and investment and in bringing people together. They will play a vital role, in both the north and the south of the region, explaining how the Forum can support our entrepreneurial community and helping more business owners go for growth.”
