High Growth Markets: Leeds and Partners steps up investment drive
THE chief executive of Leeds and Partners has plans to open up not just the city but the whole of West Yorkshire to the transformational opportunities to be had by luring investment from overseas markets.
Lurene Joseph is in no doubt that because of the recession, more than ever the city should look outside of its footprint to help drive economic growth.
She makes no apologies for the organisation’s “bullish” and “strategic” approach, with a focus on key sectors and assets to sell the city nationally and internationally.
Leeds and Partners is the inward investment agency for Leeds that launched a little over a year ago.
“You cannot rely only on the companies in Yorkshire but have got to look outside nationally and internationally to drive jobs, growth and skills. We have the right sectors for where the global economy is going,” she says.
Those sectors are financial and professional services; health and innovation; and the digital and creative sectors.
To see the full interview with Lurene Joseph see our new High Growth Markets supplement which you can read or download by clicking here.
Joseph says: “We have focused on those sectors we can move forward most rapidly for the quick wins.
“So, for health, we have the biggest teaching hospital in Europe, great universities – all those things working together along with companies like TPP, Tunstall and Surgical Innovations – it makes sense to focus on that.”
The Leeds City Region LEP has offered Leeds & Partners the opportunity to broaden its remit so it covers not just Leeds itself but the wider city region, with a decision expected imminently.
Joseph is keen and thinks it would result in even greater opportunity for both the city itself and the wider region. She uses the example of the health sector, where she says Leeds has considerable synergies with Bradford.
She says: “My work now is Leeds focused but if it broadens it would encompass West Yorkshire. We are working with the city to drive that forward. It’s a £54bn economy so it makes sense to join up what we are doing.
“As a city region we have a certain momentum so it makes sense to do that as we can leverage assets between the geographies.”
