East of England Enterprising Britain Judges Visit – NWES inspires Judge Maurice Helfgott (hopefully!)
July 7th, 2009 by beccieOn Friday 3rd July the great and the good of Lowestoft came together to celebrate NWES being hailed the East of England Enterprising Britain Winner.
As part of the official national judging day, Maurice Helfgott CEO of Amery Capital and former Executive Director of Marks & Spencer visited the town to find out about the enterprising work that NWES have done in the last few years and judge whether Lowestoft and NWES is the most enterprising place in Britain.
On a beautiful sunny and hot day, Maurice, Laurie and Rachel came to the seaside town and were greeted by NWES Chief Executive Kevin Horne, along with Simon McGuiness and Peter McCarthy Ward from EEDA, Jodene Barron, Marcelle Castle, Karen Bolton and John Balch also from NWES and of course myself and Hazel from Enterprise Insight.
In a wonderfully air conditioned mini bus (the coolest place to be in the whole town) we were escorted to our first stop, Riverside Business Centre. It was here that Kevin Horne conducted an inspiring presentation about the work of NWES and how it has helped to transform the business and enterprise potential of the area. Aside from grilling Kevin about stats and figures, Maurice met with business people from the Riverside Business centre, which is run by NWES, to find out how NWES has helped them.
We then moved onto Lowestoft Enterprise Park and were met with a fantastic song and dance performance by some inspiring young people from The Venue of Performing Arts. The Venue, which is run by performers and entrepreneurs Libby and Phil Hawkins, is situated in another NWES business centre, and provides young people with a state of the art performing arts facility. Founder and teacher Phil was keen to convey how NWES have supported and helped him realize his dream; of running a performing arts school, and in turn help young people to also realize their dreams of progressing to London performing arts colleges.
After a visit to The BodyChef, an innovative company who supply people with tailor-made diets, we moved onto the final stop at OrbisEnergy, a state of the art five storey building on the country’s easternmost point. It was through NWES’ hard work, scope and determination to put Lowestoft on the map that this renewable energy building was built here. Run by NWES, OrbisEnergy is helping to drive local regeneration, giving suppliers and investors direct access to a dedicated business network. With the East of England already the offshore wind energy capital of Britain, OrbisEnnergy is a focal point for investors, suppliers, large utilities and small and medium enterprises.
Upon arrival, the party was met by local business people and Waveney MP Bob Blizzard, who proceeded to do a presentation about the transforming work of NWES, as did Philip Watkins, Chief Executive of 1st East. Judge Maurice Helfgott concluded the day by expressing his gratitude to NWES and assured all that he would certainly be regaling the other judges of his wonderful day on the east coast.
pictures by CHPV
pictures by CHPV
pictures by CHPV
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