{"id":2117947,"date":"2026-10-08T06:59:59","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T05:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/?p=2117947"},"modified":"2026-10-08T08:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T07:24:11","slug":"barclays-calls-on-west-midlands-to-spread-growth-to-small-businesses-and-young-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/news\/2117947-barclays-calls-on-west-midlands-to-spread-growth-to-small-businesses-and-young-people","title":{"rendered":"Barclays calls on West Midlands to spread growth to small businesses and young people"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">More than 150 business leaders gathered at Coventry Cathedral last night for a Barclays-sponsored event ahead of today&#8217;s inaugural West Midlands Growth Summit.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The pre-summit event brought together senior business, political and civic leaders, along with government representatives, to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the region&#8217;s economy.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/uk.linkedin.com\/in\/paulfaulknerbusinessadvisor\">Paul Faulkner<\/a>, vice chairman for the Midlands at Barclays, used his welcome address to argue that the success of the region&#8217;s investment and regeneration projects should be judged by their impact on the people and businesses around them.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He said: &#8220;The West Midlands is entering an important period in its development. Across the region we&#8217;re seeing investment, innovation and regeneration that will help shape the future of our towns, cities and communities.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Those projects are important, but their real value is measured by the impact they have on the people and businesses around them. Whether it&#8217;s a smaller business winning work through a growing supply chain, an entrepreneur securing new opportunities, or a young person developing the skills needed to succeed in the jobs of the future, that&#8217;s where growth becomes meaningful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The event forms part of Barclays&#8217; Backing Britain&#8217;s Future commitment, which aims to support 1.5 million businesses and entrepreneurs by 2030 with access to finance, expertise and networks.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Today&#8217;s summit, led by West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker with the West Midlands Combined Authority and the West Midlands Growth Company, will showcase progress against the region&#8217;s Growth Plan, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/news\/2117534-west-midlands-growth-summit-to-set-out-next-phase-of-regional-investment-plan\">Parker expected to unveil the next phase of the plan<\/a> and new investments and partnerships.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Ahead of the summit, HSBC UK&#8217;s head of commercial banking Stuart Tait <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/news\/2117795-31.6bn-exports-show-west-midlands-is-powering-uk-economy-says-hsbc\">said the region was helping to power the UK economy<\/a>, while Imperial College London and the University of Warwick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/westmidlands\/news\/2117812-imperial-college-and-warwick-university-forge-pathway-to-scale-deep-tech-firms-in-the-west-midlands\">launched a new Scale-up Pathway,<\/a> linking West London&#8217;s deep tech sector with West Midlands manufacturing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over 150 business leaders gathered at Coventry Cathedral last night for a Barclays-sponsored event ahead of today&#8217;s inaugural West Midlands Growth Summit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":284306,"featured_media":2117948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120782,120784,136545,58124],"coauthors":[137138],"class_list":["post-2117947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-events","category-local-government","category-professionals","tag-coventry-and-warwickshire","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Barclays calls on West Midlands to spread growth to small businesses and young people | TheBusinessDesk.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over 150 business leaders gathered at Coventry Cathedral last night for a Barclays-sponsored event ahead of today&#039;s inaugural West Midlands Growth Summit\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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