Held at The Barn at Faenol Fawr, this year’s North Wales March for Business Dinner saw over 100 people attend. The dinner’s theme was assisting business owners and managers to cope with the rising cost of doing business.

This was the first business dinner since 2019 and was part of the Council’s ‘March for Business’ month. This is a campaign that runs every March and includes a series of events within Denbighshire to support and promote the business community in the area.

The night was opened with a drinks reception, before opening remarks from FSB’s Mike Learmond and Sandra Wilson officially kicked off the evening.

The dinner was sponsored by FSB, Denbighshire County Council, Business Wales and was supported by the Ministry of Defence.

Ben Cottam from FSB then hosted a Q and A session with local business owners Anna Taylor from Chilly Cow, and Andrew Peers from Lavinia Stamps. Both businesses told their unique business stories around how they were founded. They also spoke about how the pandemic impacted business and provided advice on topics such as business growth.

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Lock, OBE, Joint Regional Liaison Officer for North Wales then spoke about employing military veterans, reservists, and military aid to civil authorities.

The night’s key speaker was Stu Meades from Greener Edge LTD, who gave a speech on how to help reduce the amount of carbon and energy businesses are using. He also provided knowledge and tips on how to do so.

The closing address came from both Graham Boase, CEO of Denbighshire County Council and Councillor Jason McLellan, Leader of the Council. The two spoke about how the council can help local businesses and what grants and schemes were available.

Speaking about the evening, Councillor Jason McLellan, Leader of Denbighshire County Council and Lead Member for Economic Growth & Tackling Deprivation said:

“It was great to see so many local businesses attend the event. Over a 100 people attended and had the chance to network and learn valuable business knowledge and insights.

This event was a huge success, and I am glad we could host it this year after not being able to in previous years.

I’d like to thank the Federation of Small Businesses, all the speakers and Denbighshire’s Economic and Business Development team for all their hard work in making this event such a success.

I would also like to encourage businesses in Denbighshire who may want some help or advice to contact our Economic and Business Development team.”

Michael Learmond, Senior Development Manager at FSB said:

“It was a pleasure to see the business community come together once again to network and gain valuable insights into the rising costs of doing business, and the support available to help small firms thrive.

The practical advice and funding opportunities were shared by our talented speakers, from small firms Chilly Cow, a local farm-based ice cream company and Lavinia Stamps, a local craft company to the leader of Denbighshire Council, Jason McLellan.

It was a truly inspiring event and I have no doubt that the around 100 small firms that attended will benefit greatly from the networking and advice shared.”