Business News IKEA signs in as Chamber gold partner
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etail giant IKEA has become a Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce gold partner as it looks to forge closer links with the city’s business community. The company, whose Milton Keynes store near Stadium MK opened in 2005, employs 450 staff and is one of 20 across the UK. Its Milton Keynes market manager David Manser (pictured below) said: “I am delighted to be starting this partnership. We are looking forward to working together to leverage our ability to be a good neighbour for our customers, other businesses in the area and the people of MK.
“There is so much potential here not only today but looking into the future as well. A partnership such as this will help us to learn more about life in MK by allowing us to have a dialogue with other business leaders who we would not ordinarily talk to in our day-to-day work. “I am sure this will give us new and unexpected ways of meeting the challenges in our business and being better tomorrow than we are today.’ IKEA joins Towergate Insurance and Nick Freeman Photography in holding Chamber gold partner status. The Chamber’s group commercial director Sunny Singh said: “Our valued Chamber Business Partners are influential companies from across the region and we are delighted to welcome IKEA into this exclusive group. We believe that our business community is Stronger Together, and these partnerships offer the chance for greater opportunities and more collaborative working. “We look forward to a long and successful partnership with IKEA.”
Telecoms firm is sold to tech partner B usiness technology specialist Focus Group has completed its acquisition of Milton Keynesbased Boxx Communications. The deal adds to Focus Group’s growing UK-wide presence and brings under its brand a company with which it has worked closely for the past five years. Boxx’s chief executive Dean Burgin, who founded the business in 2011 with fellow director James Green, is to remain with the combined business. Mr Burgin said: “Over the years, our rapport has matured into an important relationship for us and we had no doubt Focus would prove to be an ideal fit for the next stage in our journey. Our valued customers are set to benefit from an exceptional range of technological products and solutions while our dedicated team is looking towards a promising future.”
Dean Burgin Focus Group, established in 2003, is a leading provider of essential business technology. The acquisition of Boxx, whose offices are in Central Milton Keynes, is part of the group’s expansion plans across the UK. Ralph Gilbert, co-founder and director of Focus Group, said: “When the opportunity arose to acquire Boxx Communications, the decision
was an easy one. Beyond their clear commitment to service excellence and an enviable organic growth trajectory, the team at Boxx are quite simply the nicest people in telecoms. Our longstanding relationship and shared vision will no doubt provide the springboard into exciting times together.” Lawyers at Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors in Milton Keynes acted for Boxx in the negotiations. Lead adviser Danielle Austin (inset), senior associate solicitor, said: “Boxx Communications are well known in the Milton Keynes business community. They have an excellent reputation for high levels of customer service across the region, so we were thrilled when Dean and James selected Geoffrey Leaver Solicitors to advise them. It has been a real pleasure and a smooth deal to
have been involved with.” Focus Group now has a team of more than 900 staff and provides technology solutions to more than 27,000 businesses in telecoms, IT, cyber security, connectivity, mobile and energy sectors. Mr Green said: “Working with Focus Group for a second time, on what is naturally a huge step for Boxx, has been a genuine pleasure from start to finish. The team on all sides have moved incredibly fast, enabling us to complete the transaction in a way that has minimised impact on day-to-day operations.” Mr Burgin said: “Boxx has been a success by truly connecting with local businesses and their goals. We can now unlock endless possibilities through The Focus Group portfolio.”
Sound artist Jason Singh Left: Rebecca Louise Law’s The Place Between which was installed in centre:mk during the festival Below: Kevin Duffy
From page 1 >> material, featuring immersive soundscapes generated using biodata captured from plants and trees. Its aim was to reveal the secret life of plants and flowers, inviting visitors to think about the environment, the planet and how humanity’s future will be dictated by its actions. “It took you to a completely different place and a monment in your really busy life to think about the impact on the environment of what we are doing,” said
‘The festival is making a great difference to so many people’ centre:mk’s centre director Kevin Duffy. “We want people to have an emotional connection with the shopping centre because if you have an emotional connection to a destination, you are more likely to go back. The shopping centre creates that - having worldclass installations is hugely powerful for the community.”
Milton Keynes Community Foundation was IF’s inclusion partner this year. Chief executive Ian Revell said: “The festival is making a great difference to so many people’s lives and it is glorious.” The festival celebrates the diversity of Milton Keynes, he added. “It is fantastic. IF is displaying the DNA of the city
and it makes me really proud to be Milton Keynesian. It is what we are about as a city.” Dame Ann Limb, chair of the festival board, paid tribute to the support of businesses in staging the
festival, which first took place in 2010. “It is very hard in these times to persuade businesses and individuals and organisations to give for the arts, culture and creativity because there is so much need everywhere else. But I feel that arts, creativity and culture are the best education for people and are the best community cohesion you can possibly have. “The fact that Milton Keynes is using creativity to build community is a wonderful thing.”
New networking group aims to connect innovators and support
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odcasts and a community news channel are among the plans of a networking group set up for innovative organisations and individuals based in Milton Keynes. The Milton Keynes Innovation Circle met for the first time in October, with almost 50 delegates listening to a panel discussion led by representatives of national law firm Shoosmiths,
accounting software leader Xero, chartered accountants Advalorem Group and advertising agency Uptown Style on Building a Happy Innovative Organisation. MKi aims to connect centres of innovation in the city and those who support them, including universities, investors, professional service providers, consultants and other networking groups.
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Meetings are hosted in Central Milton Keynes by office rental agency Spaces and organised by video and media production agency the Video News Factory. Its managing director John Allard said: “With half a dozen universities, science and technology parks, several new business hubs and the new East West railway connecting us to Oxford and eventually
Cambridge, well over £100 million of private investment has come to into MK this year alone. But we have no real way of knowing with ease who the movers and shakers in innovation are because of our famous grid layout fragmenting our communities. “The job of MKi is simply to connect those with ideas to those who can invest and help them.”
Business MK | December 2023
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