Sarah Darch

Business Birmingham’s investment manager Sarah Darch specialises in the digital and financial services sectors.

Hear more from Sarah on her plans to expand Birmingham’s digital media sector. 

Why is Business Birmingham specialising in the digital and financial services sectors? 

The digital media and financial services sectors have been identified as offering the most potential for driving investment into Birmingham. Both industries are thriving – the city is known as a significant financial services hub, attracting companies such as the Business Growth Fund, Islamic Bank of Britain and Deutsche Bank, and there are over 12,500 digital media businesses based across Birmingham. 

What is Business Birmingham doing to build awareness of Birmingham’s strengths in digital media? 

We are highlighting some of the ground-breaking work taking place in Birmingham by attending international events and speaking to inward investors. I recently took part in the Gamescom and Games Developer conference in Cologne, meeting industry players to discuss Birmingham’s offer. November has been a busy month because we hosted 2DigitalDays, an event in Birmingham specifically aimed at showcasing the digital media sector to potential investors. The Business Birmingham team also attended the Serious Game Expo in Lyon in November, and will be present at the Serious Games Development Conference in San Francisco during March next year. 

What experience does Birmingham have in attracting businesses from this sector? 

Household names including Codemasters, Sega and Microsoft’s Rare Games studio are already based in the area and Business Birmingham is building on these existing success stories to attract further international investment. Birmingham’s digital media sector already contributes more than £2 billion of GVA to the economy, and we want to build this up even further. I expect that the new Enterprise Zone in Birmingham’s city centre, which incorporates the digital business cluster in Digbeth, will be particularly attractive to digital media and financial services companies because it is providing benefits such as lower business rates and superfast broadband. 

What achievement are you most proud of since joining Business Birmingham? 

2DigitalDays was the first event of its kind to be run by Business Birmingham, and was a real success. The two-day programme enabled companies interested in locating to Birmingham to meet university specialists and local industry experts to showcase Birmingham’s digital sector. 

As part of 2DigitalDays, the delegates attended ‘LAUNCH Future Gaming and Digital conference’ at Birmingham Science Park Aston and took part in tours of Birmingham, its digital districts and digital media companies. This included visits to Microsoft’s Rare Games studio, Codemasters and BBC Birmingham.

We’ve had incredibly positive feedback from the delegates, some of whom had limited knowledge of what Birmingham can offer but now see it as a really attractive place to visit and invest in. A number of companies are now very interested in setting up offices in the city. I’m hoping that we will welcome some new additions to Birmingham’s digital media industry very soon. 

What excites you most about the potential the digital media sector has? 

Digital media is a vibrant sector inhabited by energetic, enthusiastic people who are passionate about what they do. The willingness of existing investors to network with industry peers, offer mentoring to new entrepreneurs and champion the city’s strengths is ensuring that Birmingham has a cohesive approach to attracting more investment. 

There are also a wide range of training opportunities for young people here, creating a highly-skilled talent pool for local companies. Birmingham City University’s Gamer Camp provides practical training for budding game developers, for example, while Birmingham Ormiston Academy is the first specialist digital media academy of its kind in the UK. 

And finally, as a relative newcomer to the city – what is your favourite thing about Birmingham? 

Birmingham is a really buzzing city, and there is something to do here every day. I’ve lived in the city for several months now, and keep hearing of new places I need to visit. With Christmas around the corner, it’s great to have so many shops and the Frankfurt Christmas Market nearby! 

Say hello to Sarah at sarah.darch@marketingbirmingham.com