More than 100 guests from Shropshire’s business community attended the first-ever Express Networking event held by Shropshire Chamber of Commerce.

The inaugural meeting was hailed as a huge success by Chamber chiefs who said it gave professionals the chance to meet and talk with fellow business people with a view to working together.

Shropshire Chamber director Richard Sheehan said: “We recognised a need and desire for this type of event, especially in these challenging times.

“Our objective is to fully support Shropshire’s business community and our proven track record in hosting networking events gave us the confidence to launch this new initiative and expand our supportive role.

“We opened the Express Networking scheme to all businesses in our catchment area, in addition to our own Chamber members, and the feedback has been fantastic with lots of testimonials confirming that the event was a great success.

“We structured the event so that it achieved its objective of being an informal, but fast-paced and cost-effective way of meeting people, generating lots of positive business contacts and sales leads, exchanging ideas, and making new clients.

“Subject to capacity we aim to continue running the scheme and we are looking for a corporate sponsor for this prestige innovation.”

Membership is £105 (plus vat) for Shropshire Chamber network members and £165 for Shropshire Chamber of Commerce members and non-Chamber members.

“We are also seeking self-nominations from signed-up members of Express Networking for the role of chairman, and a democratic election will be held to decide who will hold this position. I am really excited by this new facility and the valuable business opportunities it has created,” added Mr Sheehan.

l Businesses which would like to take part should telephone 01952 208200.