Lorna Fitzsimons

The Greater Manchester Business Board brings together the private and public sectors to support business growth, develop local skills and innovation, direct investment and reform public services. The Board works in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and works through a range of delivery bodies. With a growing economy and a population of 2.8 million people, Greater Manchester already competes on a global scale. The Greater Manchester Business Board - formerly the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise (LEP) - sits at the heart of Greater Manchester’s governance arrangements, ensuring that business leaders are empowered to set the strategic course, determine local priorities and drive growth and job creation within the city-region. It is central to the wider partnerships established between local government, businesses and educational institutes, and the public, private, voluntary and community sectors. Our strategic ambitions for the city-region and our key priorities are set out in the Greater Manchester Strategy. We have also set out where people can see how we are delivering on that vision. Recent devolution agreements have provided Greater Manchester with powers and flexibilities to shape the decisions which affect the city region so we can work together to develop a truly place based approach.

The UK Fashion & Textile Association is the largest network for UK fashion and textiles, bringing together designers, manufacturers, agents and retailers to promote their businesses and our industry throughout the UK and internationally. UKFT supports companies throughout the UK which cover menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, lingerie beachwear, accessories, footwear and textiles. Our membership includes designers and companies who manufacture their products in the UK, as well as those that have their collections made elsewhere. Many of UKFT’s members are major international brands but a large part of our work is with smaller companies, helping to build the industry of tomorrow.

The Greater Manchester Business Board brings together the private and public sectors to support business growth, develop local skills and innovation, direct investment and reform public services. The Board works in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and works through a range of delivery bodies. With a growing economy and a population of 2.8 million people, Greater Manchester already competes on a global scale. The Greater Manchester Business Board - formerly the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise (LEP) - sits at the heart of Greater Manchester’s governance arrangements, ensuring that business leaders are empowered to set the strategic course, determine local priorities and drive growth and job creation within the city-region. It is central to the wider partnerships established between local government, businesses and educational institutes, and the public, private, voluntary and community sectors. Our strategic ambitions for the city-region and our key priorities are set out in the Greater Manchester Strategy. We have also set out where people can see how we are delivering on that vision. Recent devolution agreements have provided Greater Manchester with powers and flexibilities to shape the decisions which affect the city region so we can work together to develop a truly place based approach.

The UK Fashion & Textile Association is the largest network for UK fashion and textiles, bringing together designers, manufacturers, agents and retailers to promote their businesses and our industry throughout the UK and internationally. UKFT supports companies throughout the UK which cover menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, lingerie beachwear, accessories, footwear and textiles. Our membership includes designers and companies who manufacture their products in the UK, as well as those that have their collections made elsewhere. Many of UKFT’s members are major international brands but a large part of our work is with smaller companies, helping to build the industry of tomorrow.

The Pipeline helps large organisations build the business case for gender balance and ethnicity. We use data-driven insights to shape diversity and inclusion strategies and deliver leadership development programmes proven to advance and retain more women. Founded by Lorna Fitzsimons, former CEO of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), and Margaret McDonagh, a former Non-Executive Director of TBI Plc and Standard Life, The Pipeline’s team understands the barriers women face and how to overcome them. The Pipeline’s programmes are designed to overcome the weakest points in a company’s organisational structure. By addressing areas where corporates are most likely to lose their female talent, The Pipeline rapidly improves the return on investment in female staff for participating organisations.