Finditintheblackcountry and finditinwolverhampton provide opportunities for local businesses from council contracts, projects, and large businesses. The sites make these opportunities transparent and provide support for companies. Finditinwolverhampton is part of the finditintheblackcountry network. The sites allow businesses to register, complete profiles, search and receive alerts about opportunities, network at events, and find resources to help win contracts. Over 13,000 businesses are registered and over £3 billion in opportunities have been posted to support the local economy.

1. Introduction to finditintheblackcountry.co.uk
and finditinwolverhampton.co.uk
by Jennifer Long
‘Investing in Wolverhampton’
30 April 2012

2. What is finditintheblackcountry all about?
• Business opportunities are being generated from council procurement, London 2012 opportunities,
Building Schools for the Future schemes, regeneration partners, large Black Country businesses and the
business to business network.
• We have a fantastic Black Country supply chain.
• Finditintheblackcountry makes these opportunities transparent, whilst supplying the business contacts,
skills training, support and events that are offered by the councils and its partners to help companies to
tender and have a better chance of winning those opportunities.
• Finditinwolverhampton is part of the finditintheblackcountry network.

3. Black Country Businesses
Contractors working on Black Country Projects
Interserve, Thomas Vale, Skanska, Bower and Kirkland, G F Tomlinsons,
Carillion, Britannia, McLaren
Black Country Businesses
Council Opportunities
In-tend – Wolverhampton
In-tend – Dudley
In-tend – Walsall
Transform Sandwell - Sandwell
Contracts Finder
Projects
i54 JLR and Moog
Hospital Smethwick
London 2012 Olympic opportunities

4. Black Country Businesses
Contractors working on Black Country Contractors
Interserve, Thomas Vale, Skanska, Bower and Kirkland, G F Tomlinsons,
Carillion, Britannia, McLaren
Black Country Businesses
Council Opportunities
In-tend – Wolverhampton
In-tend – Dudley
In-tend – Walsall
Transform Sandwell - Sandwell
Contracts Finder
Projects
i54 Moog
Hospital Smethwick
London 2012

5. What does it look like?
• Finditinwolverhampton is part of finditintheblackcountry
• Automatic registration by postcode

6. Home page
• Free to register in just three clicks
• The same login works on finditintheblackcountry
• You’ll get access to local products and services
• You’ll find networking opportunities with local businesses
and buyers
• You can fill in an online profile, giving you free local
marketing
• You can advertise on the site
• You’ll find the latest news and information about grants
and business regulations, plus more…

7. Complete your mini-site
• Go to ‘Edit your Profile’
• Make your profile as detailed as possible
• Select the ‘Sectors’ tab and select the correct sectors, so
you’ll receive opportunity alerts
• Sectors are CPV (Common Procurement Vocabulary)
codes to make procurement more transparent and
efficient
• SDR approval will be displayed

8. Opportunities
• Opportunities are posted into a sector
• If you are registered in that sector you will receive an
email alert
• You will then be sent the relevant contact to apply for
the contract
• NB - make sure you complete your mini-site and are
registered in the right sectors to receive these alerts
Watch out for tier two supply chain
opportunities for Wolverhampton
housing contract projects – coming soon!

9. Post an Opportunity
• The ‘post opportunity’ function allows you to source
products and services from fellow members
• It has a PDF upload facility
• Members in relevant sectors receive email alerts when
an opportunity is posted
• You can look for opportunities by sector or keyword in
the search facility

10. Events
• This page promotes face to face relationships and
networking
• The ‘Events’ section promotes events run by
finditintheblackcountry, the Wolverhampton Business
Solutions Centre, the Black Country Chamber of
Commerce and any other business that can up-skill and
educate the local workforce
• The event-booking system allows you to book online

11. Business Forum
• From the home page, you can access the Business
Forum
• You can use the same finditinwolverhampton login
• Discuss issues that matter to you and your business
• Forums include: Finance; Business Solutions Centre;
the Citywide Business Network and the Business Crime
Forum

12. News
• The ‘News’ section is frequently updated to let you
know what’s happening in and around the Black
Country – with stories on regeneration projects and
new opportunities in the region
• Local companies promote good news stories of
business won - whether through the site or otherwise
• Find out what happened at networking events
• All the news is submitted to Twitter/ Linked
In/newspapers/and press to help promote the Black
Country and its businesses to a wider audience

13. Finditinwolverhampton site stats and facts….
Launched in September 2010
• Has more than 3,000 members with approximately 100 new members per month
• Networking events have already included…
– ‘Apprenticeships: Good for business’ breakfast meeting
– ‘Meet the Carillion BSF Team’
– Meet the Buyer’ with McLaren Construction – i54 Moog R&D Centre
– ‘How to Use Creative Media in Your Marketing’
– Business Crime Prevention and security grants with West Mercia Police
Since September 2010
• Approx 28,000 visits to the site – and increasing every day
• More than 155,000 page views
• Average ‘dwell time’ on the site is more than 4 minutes per visitor

14. Since its launch, finditintheblackcountry.co.uk has….
• Over 13,600 registered members
• Over £3 billion pounds worth of opportunities that have been posted
• Over £200 million pounds of these opportunities are posted by the Black Country business community
• Won an LGC Award for procurement in 2010 and is a finalist for IT Initiative of the Year in the
LGC Awards 2012
• Hugely successful monthly breakfast meetings with attendance of over 300 delegates
• Over 315,000 visitors to the site

15. In conclusion
The site is only as strong as its members. You could just use it to look for opportunities, but you’ll get much more
out of it if you network, post opportunities and get to know local businesses.
Next Steps:
• Register
• If you are registered, complete your profile to maximise your marketing
• Select the correct sectors to receive email alerts – including opportunities for housing contract projects
• Post an opportunity; start using the site to source your goods and services from local companies
• Attend the events, network and get the most out of the business opportunities
• If you win a contract, submit your good news to the team!

16. Thank you – Any questions?
If you need any help with any of the findit sites please contact us
on 01384 563050 and the team will be pleased to help