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Opportunity Peterborough held its May Business Partner Breakfast on Wednesday the 12th at the Bull Hotel, which gave attendees the chance to update themselves with exciting news and projects to come in the near future. This was the second of a number of OP breakfast meetings that are being organised this year and the turnout was high with over 80 businesses.

The morning’s speeches were kicked off by Chairman of OP, John Bridge OBE and guest speakers included Alastair Grant on the Halford Tour Series, David Grange from Pera, talking on Supply Peterborough, the new sustainable procurement project funded by Opportunity Peterborough and Tim Martin Head of PR & Communications at OP, on the new city website, Business Map website.

Alastair Grant confirmed the Peterborough leg of the Tour Series will be taking place on 15th June, which OP will be sponsoring again. Last year the Tour Series was a huge success, with hundreds gathering to watch and an average of 150,000 viewers tuning into the highlights on ITV4.

Another exciting piece of news delivered to the meeting was on the Peterborough Business Map website, which has come about through collaboration between EEDA and OP. The site is designed to help businesses in the East of England navigate the network of support available to them and will offer them an online portal to promote themselves, access information about the city, as well as marketing the city and developing investment opportunities, regionally, nationally and internationally.

OP is looking to establish a steering group to test run the site before the official launch, scheduled for the end of June. Attendee, Kevin Walker from Growborough said: “The Business Map will be inspirational; it’s something fresh that Opportunity Peterborough can push forward and approach the wider market with.”

David Grange from Pera, the business support organisation, closed the breakfast with a talk on Supply Peterborough, a project that will provide smaller businesses with the skills and knowledge to successfully secure contracts. The programme is being funded by OP and delivered by Pera and it’s hoped that it will help participating organisations to win over £600,000 worth of new contracts, leading to new jobs and safeguarding current positions.

There were positive comments from many of the partners on the Supply Peterborough project, including Andrew Morley from CCM Associates who believes the programme should provide ‘very good support for smaller businesses in the city.’

The next business breakfast is planned for the 23 June which will see Business Link East provide the majority of presentations. We look forward to seeing you!