Liverpool and Manchester come together at IFB

ECONOMIST Jim O’Neill’s concept of “Manpool” is sure to get a mention at the International Festival of Business next week when key figures from Liverpool and Manchester will come together to discuss the future prosperity of the region.

On Tuesday Liverpool city council’s chief executive Ged Fitzgerald will be joined by Robert Hough, chair of Liverpool City Region local enterprise partnership (LEP), Mike Blackburn, chair of the Manchester LEP, and Iwan Griffiths, chair of Marketing Manchester.

A former Goldman Sachs economist, Jim O’Neill now chairs the City Growth Commission and advocates a closer relationship between Manchester and Liverpool, or “Manpool” as he calls it.

The event is part of the Liverpool festival which will focus on professional and financial services next week.  It will also feature Santander’s summit for SMEs, the International Business of Health festival, the UK Property Forum and the fifth International Banking & Finance Forum.

Former Tesco boss Sir Terry is speaking at the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) Investment Summit on July 1 at St George’s Hall and the ICAEW Business Futures Conference at Liverpool Town Hall on the same day, where he will be joined by Jonathan Dimbleby, presenter of Radio 4’s political show, Any Questions.
 
UKBAA’s investment summit also contains a roundtable by Silicon Valley comes to the UK – an organisation set up by the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman and serial Entrepreneur Sherry Coutu – aimed at high growth potential companies.
 
John Humphreys, presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme, is a speaker at the Investec Investment Conference at the Hilton Hotel on July 4, and former rugby player Rory Underwood is involved in three events: the Battle of the Economists, the World According to Finance Directors, and Leading Across Cultures, all at Liverpool Cruise Terminal.

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