FOCUS ON EASTBOURNE
Business in Eastbourne
by Christina Ewbank, Chief Executive of Eastbourne unLtd Chamber of Commerce
W
ell, what a busy few months for the Eastbourne unLtd Chamber of Commerce! May saw us present the Best4Biz Conference in Uckfield for all the Chambers of Commerce in East Sussex supported by East Sussex County Council and Rix & Kay solicitors. Over 230 business leaders came together with local authority leaders to see a wide variety of excellent speakers and panellists talking about scaling-up business. Conversations included mental wellbeing at work, overcoming barriers to business, improving the A27, Gatwick expansion plans, funding and, most importantly, how to achieve growth by creating a high performing team of people who deliver world class customer service. We were fortunate to hear from Andrew McMillan, the executive responsible for developing the “Customer Experience” at John Lewis, Tim Norwood the architect of the Master Plan at
Gatwick Airport, Lord Lucas on regenerating seaside towns, Huw Merriman MP and Transport Select Committee Member, Ian Fletcher-Price of Posturite, Nikki Gatenby of Propellernet, Michael Dale of Firebrand, Joel Fielder of Switchplane, Mark Bridgland of BMW & Mini and Eastbourne MP, Stephen Lloyd. The conference started with an excellent Mental Wellbeing at Work networking breakfast with over 95 business people. This was a precursor to the Mental Wellbeing Conference in Eastbourne on October 16th at the Devonshire Park Welcome Centre. We learnt that three out of five people suffer mental health issues brought on by work so join us in October and find out how to reduce these numbers.
B
ack in Eastbourne we held the first Bike Nite in Terminus Road in April. We close the road at the seafront end on the last Wednesday of every
month, provide live entertainment and welcome up to 300 motor bikes to the town. More information here: https:// en-gb.facebook.com/EastbourneBikeNites/ We have also run several business networking events including a business breakfast with a theatrical excerpt of Shell Shock at The View Hotel and a speed networking event with Crowborough, Uckfield, Hailsham, Seaford and Sussex Chambers of Commerce. Over 95 business people from across the county attended the speed networking and several said “this is the best networking event I’ve ever attended!” Finally, cyber security remains a concern as we learnt of an email breach while we were setting up the Best4Biz Conference from our advisers, the turremgroup. They told us that one of our email addresses had appeared on the dark web with passwords and personal data, so we shut it down immediately. It was therefore timely that our member Southern IT ran another Cyber Security Seminar in May to help members tighten up their cyber security.
Matt Harquail
If you would like to know what’s happening in Eastbourne join Eastbourne Chamber from as little as £59.00 per year plus VAT.
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Andrew McMillan
www.eastbourneunltd.co.uk/how-to-join