Fylde coast business leader says diversity can help firms thrive

Stephen Hart, of Lytham-based InterSys Micronics, said the push to attract people from a wide range of backgrounds would create a “diversity of thought” which would encourage different ways to tackling challenges.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the agency which awards government funding for research in engineering, has recently handed out £5.5m to projects which aim to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.

InterSys, a technology solutions firm with almost three decades experience of supporting businesses, is sponsoring the Engineering Business of the Year award at the Be Inspired Business Awards, the BIBAs.

Mr Hart added: “By encouraging people from different backgrounds, you are getting people who will tackle the same challenges in different ways and that kind of diversity of thought can be a huge benefit.

“If you approach these challenges the same way as you always have, you are likely to get the same results you have previously and sometimes that is not the best thing.

“There are many initiatives to get people from across the spectrum involved in engineering and companies everywhere need to play their part in supporting this push.”

The BIBAs will hold its awards night at the Tower Ballroom in the Blackpool Tower on Friday, September 14, in front of a sell-out audience of leading members of the Lancashire business community.

There will be 18 prizes handed out culminating in the lifetime achievement award, Lancastrian of the Year, which will be handed out to a long-standing business leader from the county.

In 2017, the prize was handed to Simon Rigby, the serial entrepreneur whose latest investments has seen him pump cash in to the Guild Hall entertainment complex in Preston city centre.

For full details, visit the awards’ official website at www.thebibas.co.uk.