Rachel Maclean, MP for Redditch and a successful technology entrepreneur, was guest speaker when Herefordshire Conservative Business Forum held a breakfast meeting at the Harewood End Inn on Friday, December 8th.

Rachel co-founded a Birmingham-based business with her husband David. It provides a platform for small businesses to access the latest technology.

She said: “The economy is changing and the UK has to be in front and to have strategic vision with robotics, technology and automation”

The MP told how she helped set up the LoveBrum charity, supporting grassroots, volunteer-led charities that receive no government funding. It links the skills needed by local employers to the curriculum and the programme is used in many schools across the country.

Recruiting for her own business made her identify the need for people with the right skills along with the desire to helpother businesses grow, she said.

“I am a full supporter of Business Technology. We don’t always need university skills but we need to recognise that there are different pathways available so that the young can release their potential. We need to open young people’s eyes to the possibilities”.

Business forum chairman Anthea McIntyre, Conservative MEP for the West Midlands and a member of the European Parliament’s Employment Committee, said: “Redditch and the Conservative Party are very fortunate to have Rachel as an MP. Her enthusiasm for business and the employment of young people is so refreshing and enlightening."