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Louise is keeping busy with major new role
If plate spinning was an Olympic sport – Louise Bennett would be a gold medallist.
Louise has led the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce for more than 18 years, helping it become one of the strongest in the UK.
While that in itself is a professional feat, she is also the High Sheriff and a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands, has two daughters, is a foster mother, owns numerous cats and dogs, is a keen horse rider and motorcyclist.
In short, she fits the idiom “if you want something doing, ask a busy person.”
“It’s true I do like to keep busy – you won’t find us sitting watch TV very often and we are not one for box sets, that’s for sure,” she said.
What does occupy her time is batting for businesses across Coventry and Warwickshire, and the wider region.
It is partly the reason she was proud to accept the role of High Sheriff of the County of the West Midlands, a voluntary post that is a one year term, and which represents the sovereign on matters pertaining to the judiciary, law and order. “Before I accepted the role, I ran it past the Chamber board to check they were all happy for me to do it and I will be using it where I can to promote business and the good that commerce does in our communities,” said Louise.
“I am there primarily to support the judiciary but it does give you a platform and I will be showcasing some unsung leaders in business and I want to focus on how we bring to life the opportunities for young people.
“So many of our companies do amazing things. We all go about our business and probably don’t get the air time needed to talk about the good that our companies and organisations do. That can be through creating wealth and opportunities but also a whole myriad of other things to do with the place.
“That does not get talked about. Usually we only get that depth of airtime when there is a crisis such as Brexit or Covid. When there is an issue, businesses are featured on national media but it is to talk about that particular issue.
“We get great positive regional coverage for the Chamber and our members through radio and press, but not at that higher national level. Of course, social media has helped companies talk about the good that they do – and I want to help amplify that during my year in the role.
“Employees more than ever want – and expect – their employers to do good things and behave ethically. Most businesses do that and I know from our Chamber membership that many have a real sense of place and commit hugely to their localities.
“I think our young people value that highly and the companies which act responsibly on issues such as diversity, equality and the environment, will be the strongest going forward. No longer can firms just tick the CSR box, it is about how they behave and how they are seen to behave.
“Often that is down to leadership. A prime example of that is the Deeley Group. I have no idea if they have a written policy on ethics, but everything they do and represent makes people want to do business with them.”
Louise has long been a champion of business. After time working in corporate retail and the National Health Service, she was policy director of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, before moving to the top job in Coventry and Warwickshire.
Her services to enterprise saw her awarded an OBE in 2007, while, closer to home, she has made the Chamber a profitable organisation which punches hard at national level.
Like most events, Louise’s declaration ceremony had to be conducted virtually – yet another sign of the Covid crisis – but it did mean nearly 200 guests took part and allowed Louise to spotlight Coventry’s year as the UK City of Culture.
As the country starts to emerge from lockdown, offices begin to be repopulated and some level of normality returns, the true impact on the local economy will be revealed. The same is true of the impact which has, media-wise, been overshadowed by Covid.
Louise feels it is a mixed picture.
“Unprecedented must be one of the words of the last 18 months and certainly I have not experienced anything like it before.
“Business leaders are used to pressure and, while this might be pressure like we have never felt before, I think they will have dealt with it.
I fully except it depends on the sector in which you operate and where you are in the life cycle of your business, but our evidence is that businesses are resilient and working hard to come through the worst of the pandemic. “Business which have been able to operate to some level – not for example, those in hospitality – are well established and have been able to build up healthy reserves and have flexed their offer, will, by and large, get through this.
“In the first two weeks after lockdown, there was a sense of fear. No-one had lived through this before, no-one knew what was coming and there was no light at the end of the tunnel.
“That is no longer the case, and now companies have to reset their culture. This has been a watershed time, but businesses and their leaders have to make sure that they are establishing – for example – the ways they work and not let it just happen and become fixed.
“With Brexit, I think there is a realisation now that early issues are still there and are not just teething problems and that will take time and maybe to reform, but business will find away – that’s what it does.”
And that, is exactly what Louise has done in her career. She has moved through the ranks from a Saturday shop assistant to gaining a firstclass degree, and from working in acute care management to mixing it with ministers and now she is the new High Sherriff in town.
No wonder she never sits still!
“So many of our companies do amazing things. We all go about our business and probably don’t get the air time needed to talk about the good that our companies and organisations do. That can be through creating wealth and opportunities but also a whole myriad of other things to do with the place.”
