Every month, finditinsandwell hosts its Breakfast Club at Sandwell Council House, offering you fantastic networking opportunities and the chance to hear from influential and insightful guest presenters.

On Tuesday 11 May 2010, with the launch of finditinbirmingham just around the corner, we were delighted to welcome Stuart Horton from Birmingham City Council to talk about the business opportunities stemming from the second city's regeneration programme.

Stuart is project manager for finditinbirmingham and he was accompanied by colleagues Neil Hopkins (head of procurement for special projects) and Jenny Howarth (procurement manager for Birmingham's Green New Deal).

Here's a quick overview from Neil Hopkins on how finditinsandwell's success will help finditinbirmingham:

"Sandwell and Birmingham have created a unique partnership which aims to boost and complement both of our economies," said Steve Massey of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council - Stuart's counterpart here at finditinsandwell. "It is our aim to form closer working links between businesses from Birmingham and Sandwell."

Stuart told delegates about finditinbirmingham's progress to date. The site has been live for nearly a month with 1,500 members already signed up. Several events are in the pipeline, too, including the first breakfast meeting on Thursday 3 June (at the ICC in Birmingham) which will focus on the use of social media in business.

Here's an introduction to finditinbirmingham from Stuart Horton:

"finditinbirmingham is a project that is based strongly on the Sandwell initiative. We can see in Sandwell the benefit [that finditinsandwell has] on the local business community, and so we want to take that back to Birmingham and do something similar. We're working collaboratively with Sandwell on a number of employment initiatives," he said.

Stuart recognises the importance of posting business opportunities on the website from the outset, so people can immediately see the benefits of using it.

"We are in the process of creating a mandate to make sure all people in Birmingham City Council with buying responsibilities use finditinbirmingham to advertise their contracts," he said.

Stuart talked briefly about the exciting regeneration and development work taking place in Birmingham over the next few years, including the Highways PFI (private finance initiative), new acute hospital, Green New Deal, Building Schools for the Future, the redevelopment of New Street Station and Birmingham Central Library.

He said there would be work generated for the Midlands by the 2012 Olympics, with Birmingham already set to host the US and Jamaica athletics teams, and negotiating to host the India hockey team.

Like finditinsandwell, finditinbirmingham will be more than just a buying portal; it will serve to upskill the local supply chain and put Birmingham businesses in a better position to win work.

"We want to give sufficient early notice of contract opportunities and give businesses the means to acquire additional skills and resources if necessary. We're going to be working with principal contractors to develop training programmes, and this ties in nicely with Birmingham City Council's priorities on jobs and skills."

Afterwards, Jenny Howarth took one-to-one sessions with finditinsandwell members interested in supplying to Green New Deal: a programme offering energy-efficiency retrofits and solar power installations to homes around Birmingham. Stuart Horton and Neil Hopkins were available to talk with delegates and answer questions. Everyone was offered a cooked breakfast - and the chance to network with dozens of other professionals.

This was Jenny Bedward's first Breakfast Club. "I found it very interesting. especially when having conversations with other women here and finding out what they're doing with their businesses," said Jenny, who is a Mary Kay Cosmetics consultant.

"I also thought it was interesting to find out what's going on in the area, and with my son just starting his own business in carpentry and joinery, the information on Birmingham really came in very useful. Hopefully projects such as finditinbirmingham can help him to climb up the ladder himself."

Inspired by the Breakfast Club? You can register at www.finditinbirmingham.com and start posting quote requests / business opportunities today. We'd also love to hear your thoughts on how the morning went for you - did you win any work? Make some interesting leads? Email stephen_massey@sandwell.gov.uk and let him know.

Next month: BT will be here to tell you about 'Digital Sandwell'!



[Pictured above: 'findit' counterparts: Stuart Horton (left) and Steve Massey.]