Simon Keegan

Simon Keegan is editor of North West Business Insider, with a business journalism career spanning several decades. His coverage focuses on in-depth features and interviews that explain how leaders, investors and policymakers are shaping the fortunes of companies across professional services, property, manufacturing, technology and other sectors. He distinguishes himself by combining magazine-length analysis with direct access to senior decision-makers through interviews and roundtables, giving his reporting a strong emphasis on strategy and leadership rather than day-to-day news.

Cross-sector business features and leadership interviews

Keegan’s core work at the magazine is long-form business features that cut across sectors, often built around interviews with senior executives and entrepreneurs.

He leads high-profile pieces such as rich lists of leading business figures and inaugural lists of ESG-focused companies, which dig into how wealth and responsible business practice interact in the regional economy. He produces recurring features on business leadership and the changing C-suite, including coverage of wealth management after company sales and profiles of finance directors and other senior roles.

His features frequently spotlight growth companies and founders, from lists of “ones to watch” to detailed interviews with high-profile business leaders and owners. Recent work includes exclusive interviews with figures such as the co-founder of EG Group and co-owner of Asda, drawing out their views on international expansion, retail strategy and the wider business climate.

He also writes company-focused spreads that look at the people behind successful firms, such as detailed profiles built around factory and site visits to manufacturers and engineering businesses.

Corporate finance, deals and growth companies

Keegan plays a central role in the magazine’s corporate finance and deals coverage, including guides that map trends in mergers, acquisitions and fundraising in the business community. His work in this area explains how changing debt markets, alternative lenders and investor appetite are affecting dealmaking, often using tables, case studies and commentary to show where capital is flowing. He writes sponsored and editorial features with finance providers, such as interviews with senior executives at specialist banks about structured lending, SME support and changes in their lending teams.

He regularly explores how different growth models and ownership structures affect businesses, from owner-managed firms to fast-scaling technology businesses. Roundtable features he chairs with leaders of owner-managed companies examine succession, governance and funding challenges, while his coverage of advisory firms looks at how alternative models can support entrepreneurs who are building firms within larger networks.

His reporting on policy-facing interviews with the chancellor’s entrepreneurship adviser examines the tension between support for high-growth technology companies and long-established SMEs, framing government priorities through the eyes of investors and founders.

His business coverage also extends to skills and investment in specialist sectors, including reporting on major defence skills funding allocations and the institutions tasked with delivering training and capability. In these pieces he treats funding announcements as part of a wider capital and skills ecosystem, explaining how such investments connect to industrial capacity and local growth.

Manufacturing, industrial strategy and skills

Manufacturing and industrial strategy are recurring threads in Keegan’s work, both in sector-specific features and in broader analyses of the business environment. He writes on international pressures facing domestic manufacturers, highlighting global competitors, regulatory shifts and trade dynamics that threaten established industrial bases.

He also covers the way companies are modernising operations through smart building infrastructure and advanced technology, linking these changes back to environmental responsibility and long-term profitability.

Keegan’s articles often connect manufacturing to place and heritage, focusing on businesses that build on industrial legacies while adapting to new markets and sustainability demands. Features based on factory visits examine how acquisitions and consolidation have created new groups in sectors such as containment technology and engineering, and how these groups manage growth while maintaining specialist expertise. He pays attention to the skills pipeline, writing about colleges, apprenticeships and training programmes as part of future-proofing both manufacturing and the wider business community.

Coverage of targeted skills funding and education initiatives in areas such as defence further illustrates his interest in the human and technical foundations of industrial strength.

Events, roundtables and awards coverage

Keegan’s journalism is closely tied to a heavy events schedule, which feeds his editorial work and gives him direct access to decision-makers. He has interviewed a prime minister on industrial strategy and hosted launches for major regional policy initiatives, including transport strategies and employment charters, using these platforms to gather insight that later appears in his features. His role includes chairing hundreds of roundtables, breakfasts, dinners and awards evenings, often with large audiences, where he moderates discussions between business leaders on topics such as growth, finance, manufacturing and workplace practices.

These events frequently lead to in-depth write-ups in the magazine, turning live conversation into structured coverage that captures the concerns and priorities of boards and founders. Whether hosting international trade awards, sector-specific roundtables like owner-managed business discussions, or large awards dinners, he uses the format to test themes and gather viewpoints that later underpin his narrative features.

Alongside this, he presents panels and films video content, bringing a presentational discipline and broadcast-style clarity into his written work, which keeps his features tightly focused on the questions leaders are asking in real time.

Across these strands, Keegan’s reporting is distinguished by its combination of deep sectoral knowledge, regular access to senior figures and a consistent focus on how strategy, finance and skills decisions play out inside real companies. His pieces move between boardroom interviews, policy analysis and on-the-ground visits, making his coverage a reference point for understanding how different parts of the business ecosystem connect.