The Black Country Business Festival is an annual, ten-day celebration which aims to boost business, stimulate innovation and shine a spotlight on business our region. The 2021 festival runs from Monday 4 to Friday 15 October and will include over one hundred free events, staged by local businesses across Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Sandwell Council via Think Sandwell will be hosting four events this year, addressing the festival’s core themes of inclusive growth, innovation, business growth, regeneration and ‘this is the Black Country’. At 9.30am on Monday 11 October we’ll be working with colleagues in Regeneration Planning and Sandwell Business Ambassadors to deliver a session all about the exciting projects being put forward in Sandwell as part of the government’s Towns Fund initiative.

Three towns in our borough – West Bromwich, Rowley Regis and Smethwick – are the focus of investment plans worth £67m under the scheme. This involves identifying ways to boost sustainable economic regeneration and deliver long term growth. The festival event will showcase Sandwell’s Town Fund projects in more detail, outlining the partners involved and the expected benefits and outcomes.

This will be a great opportunity to see how Sandwell is planning to make a genuine and meaningful difference to the competitiveness and profitability of its businesses, as well as to the prosperity and potential of its citizens.

To find out more, and to register your place, visit the event website. The other three events hosted by Think Sandwell are about the Sandwell Inclusive Recovery Plan, the Smethwick to Birmingham corridor and the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. All are taking place online and are totally free for anyone to attend.