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TOP BUSINESSMAN JOINS WALSALL’S REGENERATION TEAM - 1st September 2006
A top businessman with international experience, who believes Walsall can learn from communities around the world, has joined the team spearheading the area’s regeneration.
Mohammad Nazir, chairman of the West Midlands Ethnic Minority Business Forum and a member of the International Trade Investment Board, has been appointed as a non-executive director at Walsall Regeneration Company (WRC).
He joins a 12-strong board that is working to attract more than £750 million in private and public sector investment to create new jobs and homes and a better future for local people.
Business consultant Mohammad is a member of the West Midlands Enterprise Board and knows Walsall well. He has worked in the area with the private and public sector in delivering business support and initiatives around social enterprises. He sees skills training, education, the right investment and business incubation in leading edge technologies, as key to its economic prosperity.
He said: “WRC’s board has a clear vision and innovative ideas to revitalise Walsall. It works in partnership with Walsall Council and local stakeholders and it is achieving its bold ambitions. I am delighted I have been selected to join so I can give back some of the knowledge I have gained.”
Mohammad’s experience includes international business research and overseas trade missions. He believes Walsall can learn from the experiences of other countries and can change and develop to ensure it competes in a technological world.
“We need to invest properly and have the right talent and the right industry for a viable and prosperous future. We have to plan ahead and make sure the right skills are coming out of our colleges and universities and that industry works with us,” he explained.
Born in Pakistan, Mohammad emigrated as a child and lives in Birmingham with his wife and four children.
His three-year appointment is an unpaid post. It involves advising the WRC management team that is charged with developing proposals that will restore Walsall as a leading Black Country town.
WRC chairman Ben Reid said: “Mohammad Nazir not only has valuable business skills and experience, he also understands the importance of regeneration and shares our commitment to restoring Walsall as a town for enterprise. We look forward to working with him.”
WRC is private sector led and driven and backed by a powerful partnership comprising Advantage West Midlands, English Partnerships and Walsall Council. It has identified eight major transformational projects, some already well underway, which will regenerate Walsall, creating 5,500 new jobs, more than 1,600 new homes and revitalising 174 acres of land.
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Caption: Dr Peter Cromar, WRC’s chief executive, welcomes new non- executive director Mohammad Nazir.
For further information please contact Nigel Pipkin or Lorna Bishop at Seal Communications on 0121 200 0780 or email nigelpipkin@sealcommunications.co.uk