Lord Paul to be guest speaker at IAB dinner 

LEADING industrialist Lord Paul of Marylebone will be one of the guest speakers at this year’s Institute of Asian Businesses annual dinner.

Lord Paul, 83, is chair of the Caparo Group, which makes everything from auto components to parts for the Large Hadron Collider. Additionally, he is Chancellor of two universities – Wolverhampton and Westminster.

He joins entrepreneur Hussein Lalani, co-founder of 99p stores on the podium at the IAB dinner at the ICC on November 29.  
 
Steel, automotive, engineering and property group Caparo has its major regional office in Oldbury and a technology division on Wolverhampton Science Park. It has other Midland facilities in West Bromwich, Stourbridge and Warwick. Worldwide the company has sites in Europe, Asia and North America.
 
The £2bn group operates from more than 80 locations across the globe and posts profits in excess of £50m on sales of £921m. The company’s growing Indian businesses alone are now worth well over £1.5m.
 
Lord Paul said: “It will be a pleasure to speak at the IAB dinner.  I am delighted to see how Asian businesses are flourishing in the West Midlands where the exceptionally dynamic community, who are all great citizens of the UK, make a very significant contribution to the economic and cultural life of the region.”

Business leaders debate future cyber trends  

FUTURE trends in the cyber sector and the skills needed to accommodate them occupied the thoughts of business leaders and IT professionals during a new technology event in Worcestershire.

Phish and Chips, hosted by the National Cyber Skills Centre at the Malvern home of Morgan Motor Company, attracted delegates from across the IT sector and beyond.

The conference, organised in conjunction with the Federation of Small Businesses and supported by HP, Deep Secure and Sandcastles in Waterfalls, offered a pragmatic approach to safely conducting business online.

Open to businesses both large and small, around 200 attendees were given a complementary tour of the Morgan Motors factory before settling in for a day of panel discussions, targeted workshops and networking opportunities with industry professionals and fellow business owners.

Split into two sessions; the first aimed at cyber professionals and medium and large organisations, and the second aimed at SME’s, panellists included sector specialists from companies including BAE Systems, CISCO, Deep Secure, e-skills UK, IASME, QinetiQ and the College of Policing’s High Tech Crime Training unit, while breakout sessions were taken by experts from Hewlett Packard, Pen Test Partners and Sutcliffe and Co.

Topics covered during the event included recent cyber incidents, the current thinking around them, future trends and skills to move the industry forward, as well as the steps micro and small businesses can take  to ensure they are not a target for cyber criminals.

Colmore Business District to use AGM to outline future plans 

DEVELOPMENTS set for the future of Birmingham’s Colmore Business District are to be discussed at the BID’s AGM.

Directors of the Business Improvement District said they would outline the organisation’s plans for the year ahead at the event, which takes place at 6pm on Thursday (October 2) at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

The BID said its work had been made possible by the ‘yes’ vote declared after the re-ballot which took place from October to November last year. The re-ballot secured a second five-year term for the BID, which began in April.

Chairman Gary Cardin said: “During the meeting we will update on projects and services we have delivered and progressed during the past 12 months. We will also present our plans for the year ahead.”

Prior to the main business, those attending will consider plans to convene a general meeting to discuss two resolutions concerning amendments to the BID’s articles of association.