Huddersfield-based businessman Ajaz Ahmed has highlighted how companies can back the arts.

The co-founder of LCF Law’s Legal365.com led a roundtable discussion organised by the law firm to explore ways that local businesses can help the arts community thrive.

LCF Law, which has offices in Leeds, Bradford and Ilkley, welcomed philanthropist Neal Gandhi and Faye Formisano, principle of Pennine Wealth Management, to the discussion – along with directors from the four organisations that make up Yorkshire’s only based arts consortium, Here to Thrive. The four include Huddersfield’s Chol Theatre.

Mr Gandhi is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist who started his first company when he was just 21 years old. He has founded four companies and is an advocate of capitalism with a conscience.

Mr Ahmed, who founded Freeserve and is president of the Yorkshire Asian Business Association, spoke about how businesses can offer support to the arts through donations, pledges, event hosting and other means.

He said: “This roundtable meeting has been designed to showcase how the arts can benefit businesses on a wider scale and vice versa.

“Charities such as Here to Thrive touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of people from diverse backgrounds. We want to encourage Yorkshire businesses to get involved and support worthy arts charities as a way of bolstering our local community.

“We firmly believe that an engaged and passionate society is the ideal place for a business to flourish and the arts can help to achieve this.”

Here to Thrive is supported by a £114,000 grant from The Arts Council England through the Catalyst Arts funding scheme. Along with Chol Theatre, it includes South Asian Arts UK from Leeds, Bradford-based Fabric and the Balbir Singh Dance Company, of Leeds.