The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 34: Dec/Jan 2017/18 | Page 5

BUSINESS NEWS INTRODUCING THE TECHIES Celebrating Swindon & Wiltshire’s vibrant tech community. The Techie Awards 2018 is a Business Exchange initiative to celebrate the innovation and entrepreneurship of the IT community in Swindon and Wiltshire. Despite the area being a hotbed for technology, there is currently no other award scheme dedicated to recognising this sector and its impact on our local economy. The Techies will be hosted at Hartham Park, Corsham in May 2018, a fitting venue as it’s home to the Corsham Institute, a not-for-profit organisation focusing on research, learning and enterprise in a digital society. The awards have been designed to be fully inclusive, with all categories open to one-man-bands to corporations. It will cost just £5 to enter the awards and no IT/technology firms are permitted to be sponsors. The idea is that these awards should be supporting this sector, not taking from it. Ethics are important to us and The Techies will be completely transparent in terms of judging. No one on the judging panel will be allowed to enter the awards. Judges so far include, James Eades, managing director of Systemagic, Jeff Thomas, serial investor, entrepreneur and owner of Hartham Park, Ali Hadavizadeh, program manager for Farm491 (a space for innovators to grow their tech businesses) and Mirabelle Mack, business growth officer for Swindon Borough Council. Each award winner will receive a certificate and an award. We are also in negotiation with several companies to get ‘Pizza Friday’ vouchers, doughnuts and team building perks to ensure there is a real sense of inclusion for each and every winning team member. 1) Most Innovative Tech Solution 2) Best User Experience 3) The Cutting IT Award (recognising emerging technology) 4) Using Tech to Transform Business 5) Driven by Data 6) Tech Team of the Year 7) Cloud Innovation of the Year 8) Best Tech Security 9) Social Impact Award 10) Future Tech Superstar 11) Best Tech Support Service 12) Flying the Flag for Swindon & Wiltshire Tech If you want to align your business with the best in Swindon and Wiltshire tech, get in touch to find out more about our sponsorship packages. Call 01793 847966 or email: [email protected] The Techies website is currently being created by Boson Web and will launch in early January. To register your interest in the interim email: press@ tbeswindonandwilts.co.uk Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag: #TheWiltshireTechies @TheTechiesUK Juice launches new division to PM congratulates Business specialise in senior positions West for global win Leading recruitment consultancy, Juice Recruitment has announced the launch of a new division specialising in management positions across finance and accountancy, HR, commerce and business. The new division will be headed up by Juice business manager, Alison Watson, who has been with the agency for 13 years, during which time she has built relationships with Bath, Bristol and Wiltshire-based businesses. Alison has expertise in IT, accountancy, financial services, HR and project management roles. Juice Recruitment has been supporting businesses in the region for over 19 years, during which time it has opened offices in Bath, Bristol, Cheltenham, Swindon and Trowbridge. This is, however, the first time it has launched a specialist service for middle and senior management roles, with salaries between £40K and £100K per annum. Juice Recruitment founder and managing director, Emma Summers says that the new service reflects the growing requirement for top-tier talent in the region. She explained, “We are responding to a definite need for senior level candidates in the West’s major cities. There are some incredible business success stories here. These hugely entrepreneurial and high-growth firms are now looking for the expertise and experience of senior management hires.” She continued: “We are so pleased to launch our first specialist division, bringing together our amazing network of professional and highly skilled applicants with our exceptional client base.” Speaking on behalf of the new division, Alison Watson, business manager said:“I am delighted to head-up Juice’s specialist division. Having worked across the Bath and Bristol markets for 13 years, I have met so many superb candidates and worked with fantastic businesses. It will be wonderful to provide this additional service to those clients and hopefully to many, many more in 2017 and beyond.” For more information on the new division, visit: www.juicerecruitment.com @JuiceRecruit The South West’s most influential business leadership organisation, Business West has received a letter of congratulations from Theresa May. Business West, the Bristol-based Chamber of Commerce for Bath, Bristol, Gloucestershire and the Initiative in Swindon & Wiltshire, was one of five chambers that walked away at the 2017 World Chambers Competition as champions winning the categories, Best Job Creation and Business Development project. The Prime Minister, Theresa May, has sent the association a letter of congratulations in which she acknowledged the win, writing, “With over 50 applications from 27 countries, the fact that Business West Chambers of Commerce was only one of five Chambers to be honoured at this prestigious event makes your award even more special. Mrs. May continued, “please accept my congratulations on your win and my best wishes for many more years of success.” Organised by the ICC World Chambers Federation, this year’s World Chambers Competition was held in Sydney and is the only awards programme of its kind. Recognising chambers for their “forward- looking approaches” to solving some of today’s global challenges, 18 finalists competed across four diverse categories, each presenting their “ground-breaking” initiatives to an international judging panel and an audience of 1,000 delegates. David Riches, executive director – Commercial, Trade and Marketing for the British Chambers of Commerce, said, “Our warmest congratulations to all at Business West for a tremendous achievement. Through its work, Business West has helped create thousands of jobs and generated millions of pounds of new export business.” Ian Larrard, director of Swindon & Wiltshire Initiative, part of Business West, said, “We are delighted to win this award as recognition of achieving almost ½ billion pounds worth of additional export sales and creating nearly 4000 new jobs. The launch of our International Trade Centre was instrumental in helping Business West to achieve a 40% increase in our website traffic, 250% more potential first-time exporters using our services, and our social media channels saw more engagement than ever before. “All of this has been against a challenging national and global backdrop where instability currently tops the media and business agenda in the UK. Yet we have seen that businesses still want to do business with each other.” He added, “never has Business West and its network of global contacts been so relevant in driving jobs and growth.” THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017 5