pro-manchester targets £1m revenue in next two years
PROFESSIONAL and financial services group pro-manchester is aiming to grow revenues to £1m in the next two years.
The target to grow turnover from £586,000 this year was announced by recently-elected chairman John Jones at a city centre event.
Mr Jones, a corporate partner with accountants Beever and Struthers, said this would be achieved through an extended membership policy to include corporates and an enhanced events programme.
pro.manchester is also looking to expand its SME Club which following strategic partnerships with The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce and The Business Growth Hub has seen its members increase to 20,000 in the past year.
A two day event, The Big Social Media Conference will take place on the 9th and 10th July next year. The conference which will boast some of the biggest names and brands in social media including Mari Smith, relationship marketing expert and Facebook guru, will be held at The Point, Lancashire County Cricket Club.
Chairman John Jones said: “pro-manchester will firmly remain in the heart of the financial and professional services sector but with a greater commitment than ever before to linking our members to other sectors and a whole range of beneficial partners through our increased business development activity.
“pro-manchester will return to profit in the coming year (it made an operating loss of £71,000 in the year to March 31) and revenue growth will increase significantly as we commercialise areas of our programme such as sector groups.”
Chief executive John Ashcroft added: “pro-manchester is heading in a great direction; we are in a fantastic position of remaining committed to our core membership and offering whilst being able to offer new and exciting business development opportunities.
“Our Sector group programme offers so much opportunity for businesses to position themselves as industry specialists whilst the growth of products like The SME Club and the addition of key flagship events like The Big Social Media Conference allow us to become a successful revenue-generating business ensuring we are able to continue to develop and expand our programme for the benefit of our members and the Manchester business community.”
