“British entrepreneurs will come on top and go from strength to strength after Brexit.” claims multi-millionaire businessman Jojar Dhinsa, Chairman and CEO of The Athlone Group.

He told an audience of more than 450 entrepreneurs at the second Nachural Entrepreneurship Awards 2018 set up by Ninder Johal president of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce and a Black Country LEP board member.

The awards were set up to encourage networking between the East and West Midlands whilst recognising wealth creating businesses of all backgrounds and sectors. The awards set out to recognise excellence from early stage businesses to those that had matured but also included companies who modus operandi is to disrupt the marketplace. There was also an emphasis on international and community based work too.

Ninder Johal spoke about the positive growth of the UK over the last 12 months but warned about the slowing down of the global economy and in particular the uncertainty around Brexit, the EU and potential world trade which starts to operate on a protectionist level .

He also emphasized the need to concentrate on the importance of education and how this will impinge on the ability of the UK to remain competitive in the global marketplace. He warned on the need to have a balanced economy both in terms of sectoral coverage but also from a geographical basis where London was still seen as overheating. He also warned the region to collaborate and work together in order to safeguard funding for crucial issues such as transport infrastructure and local skills development.

Some of the winners on the evening included: