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Last week in Nottingham, we held our Rainmakers Lunch, which was sponsored by Blusource Recruitment and Cubo Work. This event brought together the regional rainmaking community to discuss the deals market in 2025. Thank you to our panellists Paul Kithoray, partner at Cortus Advisory Group, Amanda Betts, manager at Provantage Corporate Finance and Sebastian Saywood, partner at BGF. If you missed out on this lunch, we're back in Nottingham on Thursday 15 May to hear from Emile Heskey.

The share price at Derby manufacturer Rolls-Royce continued to tumble on Monday morning (April 7) as Trump’s tariffs spooked investors. https://lnkd.in/eVK8Pqgg

The first in a new event series in Yorkshire, will see Julian Kynaston the founder of brand consultancy, Propaganda Agency Ltd, share his remarkable journey from a misspent youth with Leeds’ notorious football gangs to creating his industry leading firm. 📆 Thursday 15 May 📍 Gino D'Acampo Restaurant, Leeds LS1 6EN What to expect at the event?  🗣️ Julian will share his unique journey and how Propaganda evolved from a fledgling branding agency to the first planning-led agency outside of London 🤝 Coming alone? Most of our attendees do, so this will be an excellent networking opportunity 🍴 Enjoy a two-course lunch and welcome drink at Gino's Sponsored by Reward Funding Grab your ticket here 🎟️ https://lnkd.in/eiRDe97Z

There's only one more week to enter 2025's South West Leadership Awards! You don't have to be a CEO to be a leader, the awards were created to celebrate the people that are role models within their organisations. Submit your free entry by 📆 Friday 11 April. Some of our previous winners include Bristol Beacon, Land & Wave, Clarke Willmott, Goram Homes.

The shortlist for the ♻️ Midlands Sustainability Excellence Awards has been revealed and features some of the region’s most exciting and innovative small businesses alongside international brands! Take a look at the shortlist here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e5Z-AxHY Incredible strides are being made in sustainability across the Midlands 🌍 We received an excellent number of entries, and the calibre of submissions was superb, which gave the judges a tough time deciding the shortlist. The awards have been created by TheBusinessDesk.com in partnership with Deloitte and the Edgbaston Park Hotel & Conference Centre. The winners will be announced at an exclusive lunch at Edgbaston Park Hotel on 📆 Friday 23 May 2025. #MidlandsSustainabilityExcellenceAwards25 #sustainability #awards

Yesterday with Freeths we hosted our latest roundtable in Manchester: 'Preparing a business for a significant deal' Whether it be equity fund raising, a full sale, or a significant expansion through acquisition, our invited participants shared their wisdom and experiences. Chair: 👤 Michael Taylor - TheBusinessDesk.com 👤 Laura Tracey - Freeths 👤 Rosanna Brown - Freeths 👤 Dave Burke - NW Mutual 👤 Simon Edwards - Civic 👤 Sean Keyes - Sutcliffe 👤 Dave Clegg - AMS Group 👤 Jon Else - DJH (Corporate Finance) 👤 Charlotte Harrington - Cortus Advisory Group 👤 Danielle Tierney - HURST Corporate Finance 👤 Catriona Lang - Dow Schofield Watts 👤 Michelle Laithwaite - FuelHub 👤 Lina Tejoprayitno - Pop Specs 👤 Stewart Haworth - OakNorth 👤 Amanda Ruddiman - KPMG Link to the write-up of the discussion is in the comments 👇

I’ve known Mark Schweiger and his brother Danny Schweiger for almost 20 years.  They make a brilliant team - and poured their all into building a highly successful business, Character World, which they sold last week to a US buyer. Danny and Mark are very different from each other and their differences worked in harness to bring their leadership and vision to Character World over the years. It was fantastic to hear their experiences - good and bad - as they grew the business, navigated through private equity investment, and then the sale. Danny and Mark were speaking at the second in the series event of The Bold and The Brave, hosted by Kuits and chaired by TheBusinessDesk.com’s editor Michael Taylor.  It was a fascinating evening, and I loved being in the audience rather than on-stage as I was for the first in the series back in January.  As well leading as Character World, until moving into non-exec roles a few years back, the brothers are busy in other ways too. Danny is a highly regarded mentor, supporting senior leaders while Mark works alongside senior leadership teams more broadly. Thanks to Robert Levy, Kirsti Pinnell and the team at Kuits for hosting. I can’t wait for the next edition of the series. #TheBoldAndTheBrave #Kuits #UKentrepreneurs

At Deloittes office in Birmingham today our judges created the shortlist for the first-ever Midlands Sustainability Excellence Awards 🌱 We have been blown away with the amount of high quality entries we received, which didn't make our judges decision an easy one. Thank you to our judges Richard Hopkins-Burton from Deloitte, Henriette Breukelaar from the Canal & River Trust, Anna Bright from Sustainability West Midlands, Billy Harris from Edgbaston Park Hotel & Conference Centre and Matthew Bunn ARPS from Nottingham College. 👀 Make sure you're subscribed to TheBusinessDesk.com to see the announcement. The awards are backed by Deloitte and Edgbaston Park Hotel & Conference Centre.

Fancy some networking next Wednesday? Join us at 📍The Alchemist in Leeds to grow your network with fellow Yorkshire young professionals. Over 45 tickets sold, don't miss out grabbing a ticket for you or your team 👉 🔗 https://lnkd.in/d7ARQbgm Sponsored by FB FASHION BALL/NATIONAL BUSINESS HER0 AWARDS

Last night's event, 'The Bold and the Brave', hosted by Michael Taylor from TheBusinessDesk.com did not disappoint. It was thought provoking, revealing, moving, funny, warm and utterly enjoyable. Of course, there was brotherly banter from Danny Schweiger and Mark Schweiger. Of course, it was interesting to hear them talk about the success of their business Character World. However, the most compelling and interesting part of the interview was hearing Danny speak so candidly about the unseen mental struggles he faced along the way, which nobody but those closest to him knew about. Since exiting the business, both have turned their attention to helping others but in VERY different ways. No spoilers from me ... you'll have to read Michael's article, when it's published. It will not disappoint. The event was made even more enjoyable thanks to the generous hosting by Robert Levy from Kuits and a super guest list. It was so lovely to catch up with, among others, Steve Oliver, Jonathan Dobkin, Howard Gill, Jeremy Cole, Tony Goodman MBE, Alan Townley and Lucy Moore, who used to work at RMS - PR | Marketing | Design and is flying high! It was just like the good old, pre-pandemic, days!