Membership applications open
The alliance is accepting expressions of interest from prospective members with varied experience, sector knowledge and perspectives. It will hold regular meetings with Craig, council leaders and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) officials.
Members will help mobilize businesses around the region's long-term economic priorities. Their remit includes identifying opportunities and obstacles to growth, advising on policy and investment, and supporting work on innovation, skills, net zero, trade and investment.
Craig said she wanted the membership to reflect Greater Manchester's business community and provide a productive forum for dialogue. She argued that businesses need the right conditions to thrive if the region is to achieve its ambition of good growth and create jobs and opportunities.
Business input into regional plans
Roche said she was proud and honored to lead the new forum. She credited public-private partnerships with helping Greater Manchester develop and said the alliance would continue that collaboration. Her aim, she said, was to ensure business insight informs policy and decisions, supporting economic growth and routes into high-quality jobs.
Ahmed, Deloitte's practice senior partner in the North West, said businesses should help shape policy and the delivery of sector plans under the Greater Manchester Strategy. She said closer collaboration with the public sector could turn those ambitions into action and support sustainable, inclusive growth.
Craig described Greater Manchester as the UK's fastest-growing city region and the country's best place to do business, attributing that success to cooperation between the public and private sectors. She said the alliance would build on those relationships by giving businesses a central role in local decision-making.
Craig became mayor on August 3, 2026, following the July 30, 2026, election. She previously led Manchester City Council.
From the LEP to the Business Board
The alliance follows two earlier business bodies: the Greater Manchester Business Board and its predecessor, the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
According to Wikipedia's entry on the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the LEP remained independent of the GMCA until April 2024, when it became part of the combined authority and took the Business Board name.
The Business Board's membership comprised four GMCA representatives and up to 15 private-sector members. Its chair was entitled to attend GMCA meetings and speak, but had no vote.
