More than 150 local business people were at Orsett Hall this week for a special Breakfast Briefing organised by Thurrock Council in partnership with Essex FSB (Federation of Small Businesses).

Leader of Thurrock Borough Council, Councillor John Kent, said: “At the Thurrock Business Conference last November the business people attending said they wanted more opportunities to hear from the council about what is happening in the borough and this breakfast briefing is the first in a series of such events being delivered in partnership with Essex FSB.

“There is no doubt it was a great success with more than 150 business people attending and 14 exhibitors having stands to promote their work which has set a high bench mark for future events to reach.

“Best of all it was held at a venue within the Borough allowing Orsett Hall to demonstrate its suitability for conferences, seminars and business meetings. All of our events are being held at different venues within Thurrock which shows that we are a place where conference and tourism businesses can thrive alongside engineering, retail, logistics and manufacturing companies.”

Essex FSB spokesman for Thurrock, Steve Dickinson, said: “This Business Breakfast Briefing was a great success with a real buzz in the room as more than 150 local business people:

  • heard Chief Executive Officer of Thurrock Council, Graham Farrant, provide an update on major developments in the borough which will bring benefits for businesses
  • discovered from Nigel Byatt, Head of Business Services at Thurrock Council, what they had to do to win contracts with the council
  • listened to Helen Marini of Westminster Compliance explain the benefits of working together as a consortium to help small firms win big contracts
  • found out how to use networking and social media to boost their business from Caroline Thomas of Thurrock based company The Social Accelerators
  •  Were told about how apprenticeship schemes and working with schools will help boost skills in the borough by Tim Rignall of Thurrock Council and
  • Were briefed on grants and support available to help them cut their costs and reduce their carbon footprint by Chris Seamark of the Low Carbon Programme.

“These were great presentations which were sandwiched between some excellent networking sessions where some real business was being done.

“Essex FSB is pleased to be working in partnership with Thurrock Council to deliver these events and is already looking forward to the next one on Tuesday 26 June 2012 and any business wishing to attend should book early at http://thurrockbreakfastbriefing260612.eventbrite.com“

The FSB represents more than 200,000 business people across the United Kingdom and is the largest single organisation representing business interests in the country.

The South West Essex Branch of the FSB represents the interest of small businesses in the following postcode areas – CM13 to CM16, SS17, RM1 to RM20, and IG1 to IG11 – which includes Brentwood, Epping Forest, Havering, Redbridge and Thurrock Councils.

More information on the Essex Region of the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) can be found at www.fsb.org.uk/essex or at @essexfsb on Twitter.