Last week members of the DriveWorks team attended Warrington Annual Business Conference 2024. It was the 5th annual event, and the 5th year that the DriveWorks team has taken part.
The theme for this year’s event was “Brand Warrington”, highlighting the importance of an effective brand for business. Warrington is home to a number of local companies with international success, including Hoover, Greenall’s and Eddie Stobart, all of whom have a major presence in the local area. Both Warrington South, MP, Sarah Hall and Warrington North, MP, Charlotte Nichols also attended.
As an international business with headquarters in Thelwall, we are very proud to be part of Brand Warrington.
The event was held at Cineworld, and hosted by Chris Maguire of iMeg Partnership. The agenda included two panel discussions, exploring “product” and “place” in the context of “Brand Warrington”. There were also presentations on “Global Brand Building” from Hoover-Candy (Haier Europe), and “Balancing Heritage & Innovation” by Greenall’s (Quintessential)
As sponsors of the event, the DriveWorks team had a booth presence at the event, which provided a great opportunity to share our export insight with other local companies. In 2020, DriveWorks VP and Co-Founder, Maria Sarkar MBE, was honored to be recognized as an Export Champion by the UK Government Department for Business & Trade. Export Champions are from UK companies that have successfully sold overseas and want to share their insight to encourage others to consider growing their international business through exporting. This year we are celebrating Maria’s 5th consecutive year as an Export Champion. We are also the proud recipients of two Queen’s Awards, one for Innovation, and one for International Trade.
Why Warrington?
We’re really proud to be part of a strong business network in Warrington.
In April 2021, Warrington was named the best area to live and work in the UK, with a happy population and good job prospects. Warrington also appears fifth in the national rankings for the highest number of new economy firms. The ‘new economy’ means businesses that are at the forefront of new technologies and innovations. This is particularly important for the UK’s overall productivity, and shows that Warrington is one of the leading places for innovation in the country.
With many of the DriveWorks team living in and around Warrington, we think it’s a great place to live, work and socialize but it’s not just us who think that, more and more research suggests that Warrington is the place to be.
In our converted barn offices, we have the best of both worlds. We’re just outside of Warrington, close enough to make the most of all of the great facilities the town provides but also rural enough to enjoy beautiful scenery, peaceful lunchtime walks, less traffic and easy parking. Our offices are really close to the major motorways that connect the UK (M6/M62/M56).
The villages around Warrington, like Thelwall, Lymm and Stockton Heath are worth a mention too. These villages and Warrington’s vibrant town centre are where we spend most of our time as a team. Whether it’s a drink at the pub after work, a kick around on the football pitch, a weekend park run, the Sunday evening pub quiz or a meeting at one of the nearby modern facilities, there’s everything we need right here.
Connecting with other businesses in Warrington
There are more and more tech and digital businesses like ours in Warrington and a community of like-minded companies is emerging. The Business Exchange by Warrington & Co. is a local networking initiative to bring these companies together.
The business exchange brings so much value to the local business community, to create a better connected and stronger economy in Warrington. Through the business exchange we’ve already made connections with many other local businesses. We’ve found suppliers for our events, made connections with local education, met companies we’re now working with, and even discovered new restaurants and bars to spend time at as a team.