Earlier in the month, our business programme, Grow, kicked off with a business day held at the Digital Media Centre in Barnsley. It's the first time JCI Barnsley have held an event like this in quite a few years, so we wanted to make sure that it was memorable. Working with local companies, the day was packed with useful sessions and covered areas including PR, finding new markets, how to win awards and increasing employee engagement. We were really pleased with the number of people who attended and all the feedback we received has been positive.

The event was just the first one of many coming up this year aimed at engaging the business community within Barnsley and increasing awareness of JCI and what we do. As they find out more, we hope they will either want to become members or patrons, but the main thing about organising these events for me, is that people find them useful. The measure of success of these events for me when people leave having gained something useful from it, whether that's a business contact, a new idea or hopefully some new work. In my opinion, the purpose of a JCI Business programme is to drive business for the people attending and anything else is a bonus.

All our business events are open not just open to JCI members, but everyone. We've got loads of events coming up throughout the year, so keep an eye on the website and our social media feeds for more information. We'd love to see you there.'

Ben Hawley
Deputy President & Business Director JCI Barnsley