What Makes the West Midlands Great for Modern Business Services?

We spoke to the people leading companies to success in the Modern Business Services Sector across the West Midlands. We wanted to know exactly what drew them to the region, and how being here has helped them succeed.

Watch the video below, or read the transcript.

Our deep and diverse talent pool of over 861,000 residents qualified to degree level or higher is one of our biggest assets, and it’s constantly growing.

In the West Midlands, we are lucky to have a series of world-class universities that supply us with over 55,000 graduates per year, with a retention rate of 55%. Over 36,000 students are studying business-related degrees within the West Midlands Combined Authority.

We have the people and the talent to help elevate a modern company and help it succeed.

Simon Collinson – University of Birmingham
The West Midlands has really been going through an amazing Renaissance.

Andy Cardoza – KPMG
The West Midlands is one of the biggest growing areas in the country.

Jane Whitlock – Deloitte
The West Midlands is becoming increasingly the place to do great business.

Sally Williams – HSBC
Forming our head office here has really proved really successful for us.

Inez Brown – Institute of Directors
Goldman Sachs are now here as well. You have a vibrant legal centre, financial centre, business centre, and also the government choosing to have Wolverhampton as their home for Levelling Up.

Jane Whitlock
There is a natural, virtuous circle that evolves from that, as other businesses see that and want to come and see what it’s all about.

Sandra Wallace – DLA Piper
We felt that our clients would expect us to be operating in from a regional centre that had a strong professional service influence. And we thought that all of that was in abundance here.

Simon Collinson
We’ve attracted huge amounts of inward investment, a lot more industry is coming to set up shop.

Hilary Smyth-Allen – SuperTech West Midlands
If I was a business thinking about moving into the West Midlands, maybe moving into the UK for the first time, I’d absolutely pick Birmingham and the wider community that we have here. Because we have that depth of talent pool.

Sandra Wallace
You can access skills from a whole range of industries. We employ so many different people for different aspects of our business, and the talent is here.

Jane Whitlock
And that is partly due to the five fantastic universities in our region, which are producing graduates across a range of skills.

Simon Collinson
Now, if those universities are connected with the place, with the region, then there is knowledge exchange, there are spin-outs, there are startups, there’s skills and knowledge that spills over and helps firms and businesses and organizations in the region.

Dr Noreen Akram – Eczemadoc
There’s investment, there’s networking opportunities. That’s why the region is quite good for young startups and young companies like myself.

Neil Whelan – Wesleyan Financial Services
So as the name suggests, the West Midlands is in the middle, which means it’s easily accessible to pretty much every other part of the country. You can be in London in an hour and 20 minutes. You can be in Manchester in an hour and a half.

Andy Cardoza
We needed a place that had great connections to the rest of the country. So, we’ve got an airport, we’ve got a fantastic international train station, we’ve got really good infrastructure in the roads so we can get anywhere, and our clients can get to us really easily.

Jane Whitlock
From a Deloitte perspective, we want to work with those businesses that are growing. Those businesses that are really focusing on the future that are at the forefront of innovation and technology.

Jof Walters – Million Labs
We call this area the area of 1000 trades, which means that we have people that have come up through engineering through technology through Medtech. And that means that we get founders with lots and lots of different ideas mixing together. That’s great for innovation.

Neil Whelan
People from all over the world, they come to Birmingham and make a home here. You know, it’s often said that in some cities you can spend decades there and not feel at home. I know people who’ve moved to Birmingham, you know, they’ve just been immediately accepted.

Sally Williams
Colleagues that have relocated to the Midlands, often say how many great things there are to do that’s on the doorstep, but also the surrounding areas as well that offer great history and great natural beauty.

Sandra Wallace
You can set your roots down here as I have. A lot of the time, people that come here to study and so on, want to stay here want to raise their families here and they’ve got all the culture, they got all the retail, and they’ve got the jobs.

Simon Collinson
We have an excellent work life balance. And I think that’s one of the key things that attracts people, you attract people, you attract talent, you attract skills, then firms will come as well.

Sally Williams
Forming our head office here has really allowed us to create a better bank for both our customers and our colleagues.

Neil Whelan
We want more people to come here and enjoy what we enjoy – to see what we see.