With the continuing uncertainty of global markets, the ongoing difficulties in the Euro Zone, and unemployment levels in the UK rising we live and operate in very challenging times. Indeed the economic challenges we face as business leaders, despite the nation slowly emerging from recession, would appear on the surface not to be getting any easier. 

Many changes have taken place in recent times; we have seen the abolition of AWM, resulting in traditional funding streams effectively drying up, and Business Link West Midlands being replaced by a website and national telephone enquiry service. Yet in such challenging times inevitably comes new opportunities, the creation of the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, reflecting one of those opportunities.

The Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP is a major step in the right direction for the County in which we operate. This partnership linking the business community and local authorities behind a common goal of reinvigorating the local economy is a major step in the right direction, and in many respects is doing exactly what SBEN has been doing successfully and proudly for the past 19 years, as a genuine partnership between private, voluntary and public sectors. 

We can rightly be proud of what we have achieved, but despite our successes, of which there are far too many for me to list here, we like every other business are not immune from change. SBEN has benefited greatly from the strong support it has received from Staffordshire County Council, and although this support is to be continued, SBEN has been challenged by the County Council, as it looks to make savings of £75 million while continuing to deliver high quality services, to become self financing in the long term. A challenge that I believe SBEN should not only rise too but embrace wholeheartedly.

Financing from within our own organisation has to be our goal for long term sustainability as well as seeking new and emerging opportunities for external funding when complementary to our core objectives. If this can be achieved, and I firmly believe it can, SBEN has the opportunity to go from strength to strength, and as a completely independent organisation representing the interests of its members, has the potential to become even more influential, during a period when finding environmentally friendly solutions to achieve business needs and reduce costs has never been so vital.

This challenge presents SBEN with a new opportunity to re-launch itself as we enter our 20th year as one of the top environmental business networks in the Country. A status owed, I believe in no small measure to Dave Hallam, our former SBEN manager who shaped the network we are so proud of today. I would like to take this opportunity to thank David and his team at the County Council for the tremendous work they have done over the years, and to wish Dave a very happy and fulfilling retirement.

As we now enter another chapter in SBEN’s development it is appropriate that I also take the opportunity to welcome Diane Roberts, who was previously the Renewable Energy Co-ordinator, as our new manager. Having worked with Di, and seen at first hand her knowledge and passion regarding environmental issues I know SBEN’s future is in excellent hands. 

As for our many members, I would like to thank you for helping to make the Network the success it is today. SBEN is rightly seen as a role model for others to follow, we have an excellent reputation and are well respected by our peers, we should all be proud of what we have achieved both individually and as a collective network. Most importantly, however,  we all need to work together to ensure that the foundations laid in our first two decades are now built upon to ensure that we stay relevant and focussed long into the future as the Country’s number one independent environmental business network.