19th February 2026

Black Country Business

Thursday, 19 February 2026 - 30 minutes

Guests in this podcast are Catherine Bray, Becky Simner-Withers and Philip Smith.

Next week sees a gathering of female-led business owners at Himley Hall “Her Business, Her Growth, Her Story”. Catherine Bray of Oxford Innovation Advice tells us about the event and what she’s most looking forward to.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/her-business-her-growth-her-story-tickets-1980174308662?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://oxfordinnovationadvice.co.uk/

Becky Simner-Withers tells us the story about how Zebra PR and Marketing grew out of friendship from her student days - and their approach to supporting businesses, especially those who don’t have their own PR department.

https://zebrapr.co.uk/ / hello@zebrapr.co.uk / 07854 170307

https://www.facebook.com/coachingbyzebra / https://instagram.com/marketingbyzebra / https://www.tiktok.com/@marketingbyzebra
 

Philip Smith introduces us to the Halesowen High Street based Aikido centre - Ren Shin Kan - which engages people of all ages and abilities in the community.

https://rskaikido.com/

https://en-gb.facebook.com/Ren-Shin-Kan-124413560994726/ / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDr9YdFEiqhVJIJ_x3styXA

Links for information, events and funding:

Black Country Chamber of Commerce: https://www.blackcountrychamber.co.uk/events-training/

Business Growth West Midlands: https://www.businessgrowthwestmidlands.org.uk/events/

Access2Business: Access2Business.co.uk

If you're a business in serving people of the Black Country and would like to be featured on the show and podcast, email presenter Chris Allen via chris@wcrfm.com - or find him on Linked In (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-allen-frsa-81030b34/).

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