The UK's most important international conference for ethnic minority businesses, organised by experts at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester, is taking place next month. 

The 14th annual ethnic minority business conference will be held on Thursday 14 October 2010 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Organised by DMU's Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME), sponsors of the event include Barclays, EMBAN (Ethnic Minority Business Advocacy Network) and Business Link West Midlands.

This year's theme is 'Making diversity everyone's business' and focuses on the dynamic changes in national enterprise policy and practice. The event will highlight cutting-edge research and policy initiatives, and will address key themes such as public-private collaborations to promote diversity, access to finance and access to markets.

The work of the pioneering Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre of Expertise (MEECOE) and its partners will be a major feature of this timely and highly interactive conference.  MEECOE is an exciting two-year project, funded by Advantage West Midlands (AWM), with the potential to reshape policy and practice for ethnic minority enterprise in the region.

Delegates will include ethnic minority business owners as well as representatives from business support agencies and intermediaries, employer groups, the corporate sector and local authorities who will hear influencers from the corporate, educational and business support sectors set out how they engage with ethnic minority entrepreneurs in the UK. 

Key speakers at the conference include, Dr Richard Roberts, SME Market Analysis Director at Barclays, Simon Leggett, Sales & Marketing Director at The Consortium and David Darlaston, Regional Director at Business in the Community. De Montfort University's new Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dominic Shellard, will give a closing address.

There will also be a panel discussion on the changes in business support and their implications for diverse communities. Panel members include Katrina Reid, Head of Analysis, Enterprise Directorate from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and Stephen Smith, Chief Executive of EMB Ltd.

Professor Monder Ram OBE initiated the annual ethnic minority business conference in the late 1990s. He is Professor of Small Business and Director of CREME at DMU's Leicester Business School and an internationally acclaimed researcher on small and ethnic minority businesses and entrepreneurship. 

Professor Ram said: "The challenging economic environment makes it more important than ever to promote the importance of diversity and develop imaginative ways of engaging entrepreneurs from all communities. This year's event presents a number of exciting initiatives to support inclusive approaches to enterprise, and will demonstrate how the public and private sector can work together for mutual benefit."

The conference runs from 9.00am - 5.00pm, followed by a drinks reception and gala dinner at 6.30pm. Anyone interested in more information can email creme@dmu.ac.uk