Engaging local businesses in Dalton
21st December 2023
Dalton Ward Councillors alongside Dalton Together (a community partnership organisation based in the Dalton Ward) invited local businesses (sole traders, small, medium to large) to join us between 11am and 2pm on Tuesday 21st November 2023 to find out how the Council and its partners can best support and profile our business community.
What was the purpose of the event?
The event provided an opportunity for us to explore how we may work more closely together and meet the needs of our local businesses as well as aiming to better connect our local businesses to the wider community.
Was the event successful?
Thank you to all of the businesses that turned up to our event making the day a huge success!
Overall we had 29 businesses whom attended the event ranging from large companies E.g. Cummins, Syngenta, Mama’s and Papa’s to sole traders and those in between from various sectors. CIC organisations also attended who had a trading arm to their non profit making organisations.
Feedback and what we learned from the event
We learned that…
- Future events need to be shorter
- Time to network is important (E.g. possibly a speed networking format so everyone knows who’s in attendance)
- Have focussed topics E.g. marketing, sales and LinkedIn/social media training, tips on how businesses can pitch to each other
- Include rising cost of living issues E.g. energy efficiency measures that can benefit companies, grants and loans businesses can access, support agencies they can share with staff
- Share models of good practice on how local businesses better engage with their communities (corporate social responsibilities)
- Explore how businesses can form their own local business association/forum so they become self managed and better connect to their local communities
If you would like to find out more about the event you can access the letter we sent out to all the businesses in Dalton below.
We are hoping to run another business engagement event in February 2024 – if you are interested please contact Cheryl.reid@kirklees.gov.uk