I am honoured to take over the role of Kent chairman from Emma Liddiard, who steps down after three years hard work.

Although the role of chairman is daunting, I am excited at the prospect of building the profile of not just the IoD but its 1,500 Kent members.

I know people join the IoD for various reasons but mine are all about how it can support collaboration and growth.

What are the untapped opportunities for members to collaborate and forge new partnerships with a single purpose of growing the Kent economy?

I am equally interested in the barriers to growth and how to tackle them. Having been in business now for 20 years, I’ve had first-hand experience of dealing with challenges and becoming resilient.

I’ve asked members to share what they think, which amongst others it could be:

1. Having a product or service that really solves a customer’s problem;

2. Finding the right people to work for them;

3. Really understanding who their customers are and where to find them;

4. Having the appetite to scale up;

5. Having access to the right finance.

Their feedback over the next month will be invaluable as I put together a new Kent committee to be the voice of the IoD locally and plan events for the rest of 2016.

One date for everyone’s diary is the Kent County Show breakfast on Friday, July 8, where speaker Rosemary Shrager will share why Kent produce is hugely important to our economy.

Book tickets today and I look forward to meeting you there. You can get in touch with me at chairman.kent@iod.net