BUSINESSES are playing a key role in Bradford’s resurgence so I will be delighted to attend the Telegraph & Argus’s seventh annual Bradford Means Business Awards, writes Bradford Council's deputy leader Imran Khan.

It’s important we celebrate excellence in our private sector and the wider contribution that businesses make across our district.

As well as wealth and jobs creation, businesses can help to build the kind of inclusive growth we’re so keen to achieve in Bradford where no one is left behind. In these challenging economic times nationally, it’s more important than ever to create opportunities for all.

Bradford is undoubtedly on an upward curve with growing confidence as a place to do business. We are ripe with potential as the UK’s youngest city, with a great industrial heritage and a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Enterprise is in our DNA.

We have high business start-up rates and our global links can be beneficial in a post-Brexit economy. We have significant manufacturing activity, spearheaded by advanced engineering, as well as digital innovation and a rapidly progressing university and further education sector.

We have highly productive companies and a £9.5 billion economy, yet we can achieve much more. We are working closely with the business community, the third sector and education providers to develop skills and job opportunities for local people.

As a Council we have helped deliver SkillsHouse, Get Bradford Working, the city centre growth zone and the shop fronts scheme and business improvement district in Keighley, to name a few, and we’ll continue to support growth.

We have a rich diversity of businesses in this district, from small to large and rural to urban.

I wish all the very best of luck on the night. It’s great to see them getting the credit they deserve.