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BUSINESS connect MAGAZINE
December/January 2022
networking
The BITA Manchest
Bridie Cunningham, Chair, London BITA Chapter
Sarah Mangan, Consul General of Ireland for the North of England
Mid-October saw the inaugural gathering of the British and Irish Trading Alliance (BITA) Leeds and Manchester Chapters at the Lowry Hotel in Salford. The event was marked with a sell-out luncheon, attended by over 140 business leaders and decision makers from across the UK and Ireland, and sponsored by ourselves Business Connect Magazine, KrolCorlett Construction and Network Plus. The event started just before noon with networking in the spacious bar area of the hotel until we were called in to enjoy a delicious three course luncheon in the conference suite of the Lowry. Here we enjoyed short
Eamonn Boylan, CEO, Greater Manchester Combined Authority
speeches from the sponsors and an address from Bridie Cunningham, BITA’s London Chapter Chair, where she talked in detail about the skills shortages in the Construction sector and the work needed to improve the situation. We also heard from Paul Whitnell, President and Founder of BITA, along with Sarah Mangan, Consul General of Ireland for the North of England, and Eamonn Boylan, CEO of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, who closed the addresses. The event ended up back in the large bar area, where more networking took place offering a fantastic opportunity to bring together many
Simon Krol, Director, KrolCorlett Construction
businesses not just from the Greater Manchester and Leeds regions but all across the UK. Business Connect asked Paul Whitnell for a comment on the event and of course on BITA as an organisation: “The British and Irish Trading Alliance is a non-profit organisation with a mission to ‘help more people and influence further, as a collective.’ Our mission statement is that we are the ‘People who know people that help people’. “We started life as a networking group that offered fun and relaxed events in London in 2012. Almost 10 years later we now operate across the UK and Ireland, and have expanded
our services to include advice and resources in HR, training, procurement, mentoring and more. “BITA is proud to have great representation across the north, with Chapters in Liverpool, Isle of Man, Manchester and Leeds, and a partnership with networking organisation Causeway Exchange which represents businesses in Scotland and Northern Ireland. “We’re pushing forward with many more face to face events like this luncheon for the Manchester and Leeds Chapters, a great example too are the regular networking lunches at Anfield Stadium, hosted by our well-established Liverpool Chapter. “We recently announced our growth strategy for 2022, announcing five key areas that we will be focusing on for the next 5 years. These are: Encouraging Manufacturing, Labour Supply and Apprenticeships, Sustainability, Innovation, and Championing the Leaders of Tomorrow. “As an organisation with hundreds of member companies, including some of the biggest names in construction, and
