Future Leaders Forum

Supporting the development of our future leaders

“As a chamber, we’ve been keen to do more to support our future business leaders, our next generation, in terms of supporting their personal and career development. Mazars also raised this as an area they are very keen to support and, following discussions, we were delighted to hold the first meeting of our Future Leaders Forum on 26 January at the Mazars office in Poole.

“Our Future Leaders Forum is a new network for our next generation of leaders, younger people in the early stages of their career where they can come together to network, learn from each other, and develop their skills as they look forwards in their career.

“Around sixty people aged under thirty from a wide range of businesses attended the event and, I have to say, the room was absolutely buzzing with conversation. I outlined our ongoing ambition to be a modern, relevant and inclusive chamber – that is very much in touch and engaged with our next generation. This message was well-received and we had a lively and positive discussion about the support people attending the forum would welcome. This included areas such as networking skills, hearing from inspiring business leaders, development of soft and interpersonal skills and the opportunity to discuss key issues such as sustainability within business. We’ll also be introducing wellbeing activities such as our walks in nature, which have become incredibly popular, as well as some social events. Mazars have very kindly agreed to sponsor and become the regular home for future events although we would very much like to visit other businesses as well.

“I was absolutely thrilled with the response and enthusiasm from the forum from all who attended. Our original plan was to form a committee to oversee and direct future activities for the forum; however, with thirty people putting themselves forward for the committee and our aim to be fully inclusive, forward events and activities will now be discussed at the main events so everyone has an input into the forum. We are also very keen that we have younger representation on our board and will be seeking to appoint someone from the forum as a Dorset Chamber board member.

“The forum is open to all people aged under thirty with a small fee for events. The next meeting will take place on 30 March, 4-6pm at Mazars in Poole and the focus in this session will be ‘Networking with Confidence’ – watch out for this event on our website.

“Huge thanks to all who attended and we really look forward to seeing you at the next event.”