West London Business (WLB) is a UK non-profit business leadership forum. It represents businesses and enterprises with a presence in the seven 'West London Alliance' boroughs:

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

, Brent, Ealing,

Hammersmith and Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The bor ...

, Harrow,

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civ ...

, and

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...

. The boroughs have a combined population of 1.4 million people. Established in 1994 WLB seeks to represent the interests of 100,000+ businesses, from small to multinational, located in

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

, which contribute an estimated (in 2016) £50 billion (GVA) to the UK economy. The organisation's mission is to ensure West London stays the best place to do business.

Membership

WLB has around 200 members, including major corporates and multinationals such as

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

, the Fuller's Brewery, Heathrow Airport, HSBC and SEGRO, through to

SMEs Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems store energy in the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a Superconductivity, superconducting coil which has been Cryogenics, cryogenically cooled to a temperature below ...

, we well as Further Education and Higher Education institutions. The organisation claims the results is a forum for promotion and networking in West London. In joining WLB members commit to work together to raise West London’s global economic competitiveness, whilst pursuing social and environmental sustainability.

Activities

West London Business is active in: * providing members with knowledge of London-wide and local political and economic developments * lobbying to influence public policy decisions that affect the local business environment. * promoting economic development, entrepreneurial activity and innovation, *supporting growth sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food,

information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...

logistics Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics manages the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption to meet the requirements of ...

, creative industries and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

. Under CEO Andrew Dakers they developed more services and partnerships including:
Park Royal Business Group
– WLB provides this local business group's secretariat and legal structure.
Spark! Kick starting careers
– WLB supports this education-business charity.
Golden Mile Transport. Group
– WLB supports the group.
Cross Party Group for West London
– WLB works in partnership with Fuller, Smith & Turner Plc to provide the secretariat for the group.
West London Export Club
– WLB works in partnership with Hounslow Chamber of Commerce to provide the secretariat for the club.
West London Alliance
(the public body incorporating the councils that cover Northwest London) which includes Hounslow, Ealing, Brent, Harrow, Hillingdon, Barnet and Hammersmith & Fulham. WLB promoted the

West London Orbital The West London Orbital is a proposed extension to the London Overground railway system in London, UK. The extension would make use of a combination of existing freight and passenger lines including the Dudding Hill Line, North London Line and ...

underground railway scheme. WLB and partners are working on the possibility of converting freight lines into passenger services. This would include linking Brentford to Barnet via the Dudding Hill line.

History

The organisation emerged from the merger of West London Inward and West London Chamber of Commerce in the early 2000s. Much of the energy from

Business in the Community Business in the Community (BITC) is a British business-community outreach charity promoting responsible business, CSR, corporate responsibility, and is one of the Prince's Charities of King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales). BITC work ...

's West London Leadership team folded into WLB in the early 2000s. Recent chief executives: * Kate Ashton (2003-5) * Frank Wingate (2005–15) * Andrew Dakers (2015-) West London Business has in the past offered: * free support for business start-up and micro companies through the 'Business London West Consortium' * commercial consultancy services, using specialist partner consultants where appropriate * promoting inward investment and business growth services with funding support from the

London Development Agency The London Development Agency (LDA) was from July 2000 until 2012 the regional development agency for the London region in England. A functional body of the Greater London Authority, its purpose was to drive sustainable economic growth within ...

References

{{Reflist Chambers of commerce in the United Kingdom Business organisations based in London Economy of London