The evening kicked off with award winning illusionist and magician, Craig Petty. Who as well as sharing some tricks up his sleeve, provided attendees with sound business advice.
Craig discussed how magic can be implemented into any business, to increase further revenue and sales. His insightful definition of ‘show business’ explained how focusing on business is just as paramount as focusing on ‘the show’.
Our host for the evening was ‘Thanyia Moore’ who kept guests entertained throughout, and introduced the founder of Pathway2Grow, Safaraz Ali, onto the stage. Following a heartfelt welcome to all the attendees, Safaraz thanked the community for their continued support in making the organisation a success. Special thanks were offered to his team and the directors of the networking groups, for volunteering their time to organise and manage consecutive events.
We also had the pleasure of hearing from Kasim Choudhry, the recently appointed National Director of Pathway2Grow. Kasim shed light upon the newest members of the team this year including Edwin Ladd, who will be launching Coffee & Natter Wolverhampton on April 12th, and Ian Preston- selected to manage Coffee & Natter, Birmingham.
As well as this, Kasim spoke about Pathway2Grow’s exciting plans for the future. This includes the launch of a brand-new breakfast networking event, called ‘Cereal Network’ – Breakfast, Business, and Banter.
Cereal Network will be free to attend and will have a similar format to the existing P2G events, consisting of refreshments, open networking, and a guest speaker. Finally, Kasim announced the soon-to-arrive launch of ‘P2G Live’- a live streaming platform, embracing the current craze of social media, and digital technology.
Paul Cadman former Chief Executive of the automotive design business The Futura Group delivered a fantastic Keynote presentation outlining some important factors that are currently affecting the Midlands economy and what we as SME’s need to do to survive the current storm.
We also had Andy Gwynn a leading Business Coach, Speaker & Author talk about his formula for success. Andy has coached 100’s of Business Owners & corporate Directors to greater profitability, more free time and successful relationships across their business and personal lives using the same formula.
The night was drawn to a celebratory close, as the winners of the P2G Awards were announced. As well as recognising the stand-outs from each pre-empted category, the Pathway2Grow team also presented Mr Nazir Awan with a highly-deserved ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.
This was in light of his massive contribution towards the organisation, and for aiding businesses across the region for over the past three decades. The award was presented by Dipak Shelat and during his acceptance speech, Mr Awan stated that he would never retire, and stressed upon the importance of hard graft, and paying taxes. His final message to the attendees was to work hard, and play harder.
| A huge congratulations to all our award winners:
_______________________________ Best Elevator Pitch: Haider Mustafa Keynote Speaker of the Year: Justice Williams MBE Business of the Year: Leap Minibuses Networker of the Year: Aftab Muhammed Overall Contribution to Networking: Naeem Arif |
