Hive sews seeds of business growth

Business leaders got together to mark a new direction for the Hive business network.

The Hive which has over 250 members was launched as a Community Interest Company at a special event held at King Georges Hall.

The event saw fashion guru and Saville Row tailor Patrick Grant take to the stage as the main speaker.

He told the audience that he’d been ‘blown away by the willingness to help that I have found from everybody in the borough’ since taking the helm at Blackburn manufacturers Cookson and Clegg.

He praised the ‘can do’ attitude of the town.

Hive was first launched in 2012 with the aim of turning Blackburn with Darwen into a world-class business area. Since then, 250 local organisations from micro to multinational have pledged their support.

The new C.I.C structure will help Hive to create a platform where businesses of all size and sector can share knowledge, share experience, collaborate and trade locally. It also has its sights set on promoting the borough locally and across the wider UK as a great place to do business and invest. This will help to improve employment opportunities for the borough’s residents, especially the towns’ young people.

Chairman Khalid Saifullah praised Blackburn with Darwen Council for its efforts promoting businesses and employment.

He said:

 This is about creating towns of opportunity.

We want people across the UK to know the identity of Blackburn and Darwen.

We want that identity to be a place where people have creativity, make things and want to come and live.

For more information regarding the Hive visit www.business-hive.co.uk