This event is delivered in collaboration with Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds Beckett University.
Join us for the next in a quarterly series of masterclasses providing SME business owners and directors the opportunity to share insights and experience, as well as hear from business support professionals about the wide range of advice and financial support available.
Business owners are increasingly focusing their attention on the environmental and social impacts of their business and the supply chains they operate in, adapting governance structures to become more accountable to shareholders and customers, and placing fairness and sustainability at the centre of the way they do business. Some have gone a step further by achieving B Corp accreditation, which commits businesses to maintaining the highest environmental, ethical and social standards.
Hear from business owners Chris Broadbent, director of Naturaw Pet Foods, and Holly Kragiopoulos, co-founder of North Star Coffee Roasters, who will talk about what achieving B Corp accreditation involved and what it represents for their businesses. Naturaw won the first ever Kings Award for Enterprise for Sustainable development, while North Start Coffee Roasters has built long-term partnerships with suppliers, supporting projects in Rwanda and El Salvador to help growers build viable business models and a more certain future, free from the cycle of debt and poverty
They will be joined by Jonathan Sanderson, managing director of tech recruitment firm Corecom Consulting. Jonathan has made equality, diversity and inclusion central to the way Corecom does business and co-founded the Corecom Technology Academy to help individuals from all backgrounds launch careers in the tech industry. His commitment to making a difference, is evident in Corecom’s ‘green’ headquarters, utilisation of recycled technology, charitable giving and championing of sustainable practices and partners.
Dr Adalberto Arrigoni, associate fellow to the Centre for Leadership, Governance and Global Responsibility, takes a keen interest in business ethics, governance and social responsibility.
Rounding off the session, Gavin Howarth, managing director of HR and employment law consultancy Howarth’s UK, will talk about the work of the Howarth Foundation. Set up by Gavin’s father Andy Howarth, the foundation works with business to provide housing, employment and training opportunities for people who are homeless and recovering from drug addiction and alcohol abuse.
