The launch of our third regional business council

Throughout 2025, we are very proud to have been able to begin the rollout of our network of regional business councils – which we hope will cover every nation and region of the UK by 2027. In May, we launched our first regional business council in the North East, and in September, we launched our second regional business council in the South West. 

This week, more than 130 senior business leaders, charity leaders, educators & politicians from across Yorkshire gathered at the Pennine Five Campus in Sheffield, for the launch of the Jobs Foundation’s new Yorkshire Business Council – underling the Jobs Foundation’s work to champion business as force for good in its work to bring businesses together in their efforts to lift people out of poverty through jobs and training.

We were delighted that ‘Opportunity for all: Growth and Employment in Yorkshire’ was attended by some of the region’s most influential voices such as Councillor Safiya Saeed, the Lord Mayor of Sheffield; Councillor Rukhsana Ismail, the Mayor of Rotherham; and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire Jerry Cheung.

Following opening remarks from our Business Council Manager, Kellen Hadfield, and Ken Ross OBE of RBH Properties, our Chief Executive, Georgiana Bristol, interviewed Edward Naylor, CEO of the Naylor Group.

Edward took over Naylor Industries in the early 1990s, when the business was facing serious challenges, and has since grown the business to 7 factories employing more than 400 people. Throughout the 20-minute interview, Edward reflected on the strategies that have been most important to achieving & maintaining growth, his charitable roles with Lighthouse and Barnsley Football Club, and how businesses across Yorkshire can work together to help tackle regional unemployment and economic inactivity. 

This was followed by a speech from our Yorkshire Chairman, Martin McKervey. Martin is a Non-Executive Director at AESSEAL, a Director of Vulcan Engineering Limited, and the former Chair of the Northern Regional Assembly of the British Chamber of Commerce. Before introducing the event’s panellists, Martin closed his speech by remarking “Working together we can change lives, we can help communities and, we can indeed be the catalyst for opportunity. We all have a role to play. We all have a responsibility to help.”

Speaking alongside Martin were our President, Matthew Elliott; Kate Josephs, Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council, and Kamran Rashid, Founder and CEO of Impact Hub Yorkshire.

It was great to hear the panellists discuss a range of pertinent topics, including the relationship between local and national Government, the role of startups and CICs in creating jobs throughout the local economy, and the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget. A recurring theme from Tuesday’s discussion was the thriving ecosystem in Sheffield –where businesses, local authorities, charities, and universities work together – with Matthew highlighting that this was one of the reasons we profiled Sheffield in Two Million Jobs. Martin then opened to conversation to the audience, with questions coming from the Mayors of Sheffield & Rotherham, and Ben Woolard, founder of the Ascend Initiative. 

The event closed with final remarks from Martin & Mattew, who highlighted our plans to further develop our Yorkshire Business Council by establishing a steering group of senior business leaders to help direct our future work in the region. 

Special thanks must go to Ken Ross OBE, and the team at Pennine Five and RBH Property, for their generous support of our launch event, and to Spencer Pitfield OBE, Ben Woollard and the Ascend Initiative for their support in ensuring the event was such a success.We will be returning to Yorkshire in 2026, as well as launching further regional business councils across the UK, to continue our work with local businesses to create opportunities for the most disadvantaged members of our society and highlight the all-important role of job creation  If you would like to learn more about our plans for the Jobs Foundation’s regional network in 2025, please contact Kellen at kellen@thejobsfoundation.com.