Roadshow hailed as bug success as tour ends at Shrewsbury Town FC

Shropshire’s ‘Business Growth Roadshow’ ended its tour of the county with a well-attended breakfast session in Shrewsbury this week.

Shropshire Chamber of Commerce joined forces with the county’s two-time company of the year Aico to share best practice on the six-date event.

The free event stopped off in Oswestry, Ludlow, Whitchurch, Telford, and Bridgnorth, before ending with a final gathering at Shrewsbury Town football club’s stadium.

As the reigning Shropshire company of the year, Oswestry-based home safety company Aico outlined how its core cultures and values are at the heart of continued multi-million-pound growth.

The chamber also brought together a range of experts for presentations and panel debates, hosted by Shropshire Business magazine editor and SBLTV presenter Carl Jones.

For the Shrewsbury event, they included Colin Thaw of SBC Training, Niamh Kelly from The HR Department, and Keith Winter of accountancy firm Dyke Yaxley.

Neal Hooper, managing director of Aico, said: “The idea of this roadshow has been to provide businesses with a range of short, sharp, thought-provoking presentations designed to help them to be the best that they can be.

“We have put systems and policies in place here at Aico which are hugely successful, helping us to grow rapidly and win a number of awards – and we wanted to share this intelligence with other Shropshire businesses.”

Members of the Aico team explained how they have adopted the ‘Lencioni model’ created by consultant Patrick Lencioni.

“His philosophies, based around his best-selling book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, explore the benefits of teamwork, and the importance of getting your organisational politics right,” Mr Hooper explained.

“We have also been keen to share our experiences around how corporate social responsibility has helped to foster a fantastic community spirit among our workforce, for the benefit of Shropshire.”

Shropshire Chamber director Rachel Owen said: “It has been fantastic to be able to take this different kind of business event to all corners of the county.

“We’ve held the roadshow in a fantastically diverse range of premises – everything from a brewery to a cinema – and feedback has been fantastic. It has been a great opportunity to discuss current business topics, share best practice and establish new strong business connections.”