Making Connections Welcome...


...to Chamber Connect


James Muir, Chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, takes a look at the challenges faced by local businesses - and what can be done to overcome them


Untapped potential will help our region rise to the challenge


A


s a region, we are facing some stern challenges. Perhaps the most daunting is one around productivity.


The Sheffield City Region is facing a low


productivity challenge. Productivity is below the national average, but that’s not because of negligence. We find ourselves in a position where, despite


being home to cutting-edge assets, and recent flagship investments such as those from McLaren and Boeing, our economy still has embedded constraints. As the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise


Partnership (LEP) Chair, it’s important for me to connect with businesses as often as possible to understand whether the reality backs up the data we’re seeing on our economy. Since taking the role earlier this year, I have


been getting out and about meeting businesses across our region and what I have discovered is that this is a region with huge untapped potential.


4 CHAMBERconnect Autumn 2019 In each corner of the Sheffield City Region


there are innovative, ambitious, and dynamic companies, across every industry, with the potential to grow further and drive our economy. More priority is getting this region to be more


successful economically than it has in the past. I think it has a lot going for it, but it doesn't sell itself very well. It has a fantastic reputation with those people


who know all about it. From my experience of going out and meeting


businesses there is a real sense of optimism, regardless of the challenges at hand. Companies are determined to succeed. This story of untapped potential, optimism


and determination is one that I push when speaking to decision makers, inward investors, and the Government about why our region needs to be backed. We are a region worth the time and the


investment. The McLaren Composites Technology Centre


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