Devon Chamber's First Dinner a Success

Devon Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Business Dinner, held on Thursday, 19th May at Sandy Park Exeter has been hailed as a success.

The first annual dinner for the Chamber since it achieved Devon Accreditation in April 2015, featured a key note speech from Deborah Meaden.

Sponsored by Babcock, Wessex RFCA, Devon County Show, Redrok UK and Transport Partner Plymouth Citybus the event saw over 260 business people gather at Sandy Park, Exeter for an evening of black tie networking. The evening was also supported by Chamber members JH AV, Chimpsta and Celebration Balloons.

Successful female entrepreneur, Deborah Meaden, joined Devon Chamber of Commerce and an audience of business people at Sandy Park on Thursday, 19th May to give a ‘Dragon’s eye view’ of business. Having left school after O-Levels, Deborah studied at business college before launching her own business at the age of 19.

Throughout her career Deborah has embarked on a number of other business ventures and worked her way up to further her career through a variety of roles within Weststar Holidays, growing the business and undertaking a management buyout before selling the company in 2005.

Deborah joined the panel for series three of BBC 2 programme ‘Dragons Den’ and has since invested in a number of businesses. Today Deborah’s portfolio of investments ranges from a market research company to Value My Stuff, an online valuation service.

Suzi Cumberland, Head of Operations at Devon Chamber of Commerce said: “This Annual Business Dinner is a highlight in the Chamber’s calendar, attracting businesses from around the county to celebrate a successful year and hear from a high profile business speaker. I’d like to thank our sponsors and guests who joined us on 19th May to hear from our key note speaker, Deborah Meaden. Deborah provided a fantastic speech and engaging Q&A session which was well received by the assembled guests.”

Deborah Meaden added: “I was delighted to speak at Devon Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Business Dinner. Devon has a vibrant, thriving economy and I was pleased to share a ‘Dragon’s eye view’ of business with the guests present on the evening. Having lived and worked in the South West I’m familiar with the challenges that Devon businesses face and hope that the advice and pointers shared from my own experiences were of use to those businesses looking to grow.”

Devon Chamber of Commerce hosts over 80 events each year for the business community. Find out more at www.devonchamber.co.uk