The FSB is proud to be a member-led organisation with nearly 200,000 members in the UK supported by around 200 full time staff. For the past 10 years, Kent and Medway FSB has been organised around the structure of one regional team of volunteers with five branches – North, South, Mid, East and West Kent.
GROUND-BREAKING VOTE
At a recent regional committee meeting, Kent and Medway Regional Committee members voted on changing this regional structure to pave the way for more topic-led work, and to enable FSB members with specific skill sets to lead on local projects and campaigns.
The new regional team will consist of a minimum of 10 volunteers, all Kent and Medway FSB members and therefore business owners, and will consist of the following roles: Regional Chairman, Regional Treasurer, Regional Secretary, Policy Lead, five Local Ambassadors, three Project Leads and a Deputy National Councillor. Project leads will be allocated a budget and asked to arrange appropriate training or events in line with a new business plan for FSB Kent, to be drafted over the coming weeks.
LOCAL AMBASSADORS INSTEAD OF BRANCHES
“Kent is a diverse and vibrant county to do business in. We want to make sure that the FSB in Kent reflects this, and is doing as much as it can to promote and protect its members,” said Bill Fox, Regional Chair Elect. “Our new structure will allow individuals to lead on campaigns or topics that are important to independent businesses. We will keep a local representative so that we can cover the wide county of Kent but will make sure that the new team fights those corners that small businesses can’t do alone.”
CHOOSE YOUR NEW FSB TEAM
FSB Kent members are invited to attend the Kent and Medway AGM at Oakwood House, Oakwood Road, Maidstone ME16 8AE, where members will be able to volunteer for one of these new roles, vote for the new regional representatives, learn more about the success of this year’s FSB campaigning and help shape 2015 for all Kent small and medium businesses.